#this was originally going to be a part of a web weave but i thought the poem was better as a stand alone
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Who You're About to Be, ari banias
(photo credits: denis brodeur / mark buckner / dave sandford / claus andersen)
#this was originally going to be a part of a web weave but i thought the poem was better as a stand alone#matthew tkachuk#do i tag keith ? yeah okay#keith tkachuk#mere.png#hockey poetry
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Bobby's 2023 Media Wrap-Up
So! Like I said before, this past year I kept a running list of everything I watched, every game I finished, every new album I listened to, etc., and wrote one-paragraph blurbs with my thoughts on every single one. Please enjoy this journey through everything I liked, or didn't like, in 2023, with my favorites of the year listed at the bottom.
(Yes! This is long!!)
Some notes:
I mainly only included things I finished. Exceptions are marked with an asterisk.
I included some YouTube stuff as "TV shows" - mostly particularly long, high effort video essays and documentaries.
I was a bit less adventurous than I'd like to have been this year. Part of this was just that I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with Big Releases I felt obligated to check out, and part of this was just executive dysfunction from burnout. Wait until you see how long it took me to beat Mario Wonder lmao
Yes, I need to read more books. I don't read a lot of books these days. I need to get back to Discworld.
COLOR KEY
Video Games • TV / Web Video • Movies • Comics • Music
January
1/15: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (MSQ) - Very slow at times, the Primal shit is generally extremely lame to me outside of the boss fights themselves, but god if the quality of life improvements over WoW, the JRPG energy, and the fact that it Actually Has A Story carry it pretty hard.
1/18: Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island miniseries - One of the most creative and compelling uses of the Sonic IP… ever? Fantastic little self-contained arc about the struggles of Eggman’s abandoned creations that gracefully weaves between heartfelt optimism and moody horror with some of the best art ever seen in a Sonic comic.
1/18: Mega Man X4 - Glad I finally actually beat this after never even beating any of the Mavericks as a kid! I can see why it’s a lot of peoples’ favorites. The gameplay has very little of that X series bloat and is just fun, especially after getting X’s armor upgrades. (But the story really is a long series of missed opportunities.)
February
2/2: Donks - Felix Colgrave continues to be an exceptional artist. The sound design on this is fantastic and really sells this short as something unique. Had to go back and watch his older stuff again after this.
2/4: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0 - 3.3 MSQ) - I get it now. I get why people say this is just a proper mainline Final Fantasy game built into the framework of an MMO. That shit ruled. Not even walking back the drama in Ul’Dah from the end of ARR can sour me on it because the main storyline was so strong.
2/8: Disneyland's Forgotten Sci-Fi Rock Band - Live From the Space Stage - A nice and honest tribute to a group of artists who could have easily been forgotten. In hindsight this feels like a precursor to Kevin’s Disney Channel jingle video, a tribute to the unsung artists pouring their hearts into “lesser” art for a megacorporation, art that was designed to be transient but sticks with people nonetheless.
2/9: Metroid Prime Remastered* - Not gonna finish because I just played through the Wii version in 2021, but still. Very, very pretty remaster.
2/16: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - It’s more Theatrhythm. What more could I want
2/17: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (anime) - Probably the best part of the anime so far (assuming they continue on to SBR). A near perfect mix of the more structured plot of part 5 with the goofiness of parts 3 and 4 that crescendos into a fantastic, bombastic, emotional, bittersweet ending. The use of footage from the original opening and the new ending set to Roundabout in the finale were perfect, and made me intensely nostalgic for the early days of my JoJo fandom between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.
2/22: Aggretsuko Season 5 - I don’t really know what to make of this one. Once you get past the agonizing initial arc all about Haida where Retsuko has to be his overbearing mommy GF who flips out and starts spying on him when she’s left on read and chides him when he misbehaves, it feels like an improvement over the previous seasons. But I don’t know how much of that is due to the extremely low bar set by season 4. And then the ending is extremely rushed and anticlimactic. They got legally married and the only acknowledgement was a shot of them signing the paperwork in a montage partway through the final episode?????????
2/24: Double Fine PsychOdyssey - God, what a journey the making of this game was. I already loved 2 Player’s past efforts at documenting Double Fine’s process, but this takes it to a whole new level. This feels culturally significant. The depth and honesty with which they depict not just the nitty gritty of making a game, but also the inherent struggles of working on a collaborative creative work for years at a time, is astounding. Not to mention that they were there to capture the shift from office life to remote work as COVID hit. So much of this would have been nightmarishly stressful to watch if I didn’t already know how successful the game was, but that’s just because they really didn’t sugarcoat it. And yet even after all that, it leaves me feeling optimistic about video games as an art form in a way that the constant headlines about cynical live service games don’t. There are still people out there pouring their hearts into making real art, and this is their story. Everyone who plays video games should watch this.
2/25: Cracker Island (Gorillaz) - New Gorillaz albums feel like less of an event these days, but after Humanz it feels like they’re just more chill with the project and their ambitions with it. Every couple years we get some more laid back jams from Damon along with some fun new collabs. Hard to complain. Favorite track: New Gold
2/25: Pool Kids (Pool Kids) - I discovered this band because Derek knows them and was excited when they got a song added to Fortnite through the Bandcamp collab. Always down to find more cool indie rock bands I can vibe with. The mix of dreamy vocals and energetic riffs on some of the tracks here almost fill the Crying-shaped hole in my heart. Almost… Favorite track: Conscious Uncoupling
2/25: Insane in the Rain (insaneintherainmusic) - I thought it was really funny timing when Carlos announced that his first original project would be a jazz fusion album inspired by acts like T-Square and Casiopea right as I was getting into those two specific bands. The final product does not disappoint. Favorite track: Insane in the Rain
2/26: Get Up Sequences Part Two (The Go! Team) - I’ve never been one to believe that a band’s sound has to remain exactly the same forever, but it really does hit you hard that the first two tracks here sound like classic The Go! Team. Their more recent cleaner sound is still here too, though, for a nice mix of old and new. Favorite track: Divebomb
2/28: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Season 1) - Oh my god. Oh my god. I got distracted around the time I was finishing SLARPG, but finally catching up now, wow. My assumption that the seemingly lighter tone of the series compared to the prologue was there to lull us into a false sense of security before twisting the knife when war finally breaks out was spot on. This is peak Gundam.
March
3/4: Pizza Tower - One of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. It transcends its blatant Wario Land inspirations with the sheer speed at which Peppino can move and the way things like the level design, his wall running, and even the hidden ability to do a second lap around the level reward getting into a flow state where you’re just constantly moving. This is the type of game that wants to turn you into a speedrunner. My only real complaint is a few iffy enemy designs that I wish would get patched.
3/6: Bloons TD 6 * - I bought this before bed one night on a nostalgic whim and then the next morning woke up and saw the Steam receipt email on my phone in one of the most “what did I do last night” moments of my life. I like when the monkeys pop the balloons.
3/7: The Book of Boba Fett - I put off finishing this show for a very long time but finally caved upon the release of The Mandalorian season 3. This show spends four episodes failing to make me give a shit about Boba Fett trying to be “the daimyo” and drive the drug trade off of Tatooine, then just gives up and becomes season 2.5 of Mando, which in turn feels like it undercuts the main series. It fails as both its own story and as a spinoff. I know that finishing this after Andor did it no favors, but WHOOF.
3/12: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Some interesting ideas in the first half hinting at a more introspective show, but it’s mostly swept aside in the back half so it can become a generic Star Wars adventure remixing things from A New Hope and Rebels (and apparently Jedi: Fallen Order). Action scenes have zero stakes because you know nothing can happen to any of the returning characters and none of the new ones are particularly interesting. Why there’s a second climax hinging on a Luke Skywalker death fakeout eludes me. Obi-Wan throwing the rocks at Vader is one of the funniest things in Star Wars history. But it was still better than Book of Boba Fett, I guess.
3/19: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar - Wow, cool robot indeed… GaoGaiGar isn’t going to blow anyone away with its writing, but sometimes you just need a really fun monster of the week mecha show with great action and lovably goofy characters. This is a show where like 20% of every episode consists of recycled transformation, combination, and signature attack sequences and I ate it up every time because they look fucking cool as hell. I don’t care. I’d watch Final Fusion another 49 times.
3/21: The Last of Us (HBO) * - Watched the first two episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue because I don’t give a shit about The Last of Us. It’s definitely a well done adaptation, though, even if I know it’s inevitably going to devolve into miserable torture porn with questionable politics if they adapt Part II faithfully. The ending of episode 2 also lines up perfectly with where I stopped in the game in 2013 lmao
3/27: The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse (Folding Ideas) - Another banger from Dan Olson. This time the premise inherently gives him more time to just show off a bunch of stupid ugly bullshit made by crypto guys, which is fun. My main complaint was that I wished he would’ve brought up Second Life more as a point of comparison (a thing I basically always want out of discussion of “the metaverse”), but he at least did touch on it in the last section.
3/31: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - I can’t believe after years of begging for the supporting cast to get more and better material in a Sonic game I got my wish in the form of a freeware murder mystery VN released for April Fools. This kicked ass.
April
4/7: Berserk - Completed Miura’s run and caught up on the chapters that have been released posthumously. It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said about Berserk, universally agreed upon as one of the greats of manga and fantasy fiction as a whole. What begins in its first few volumes as a nihilistic and edgy action comic built to facilitate as much sex and gore as possible quickly evolves into something deeply human and vulnerable and beautiful, both figuratively and in terms of its lavish art. The world sucks and is immeasurably cruel, and you will see that cruelty illustrated in graphic, sickening detail repeatedly throughout the series. (Perhaps a little too often throughout the Golden Age, where it feels like Miura never misses an opportunity to threaten Casca with sexual assault mid-battle.) But the point isn’t to wallow in that misery. It’s the story of a victim of horrific abuse learning to slowly open up to others, having those people he cares about torn away from him in the worst night of his life, hardening himself into a cold killing machine, and then slowly learning to open back up again, even if it means leaving himself vulnerable to more hurt. Anyone who says that the series peaked with the eclipse and went downhill in the “Guts’ JRPG Party” era is missing the point. Guts needed to find new people in his life to care about, to begin to find happiness again. Because no matter what unspeakable things Guts has gone through, it’s still possible for him to heal and to be loved. It takes time, but eventually you stop and realize that life has moved on.
4/8: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe - Skipped it upon release because I didn’t particularly care for the minigame in Triple Deluxe, and I didn’t miss much. It’s fine as a little distraction, but not as a standalone rhythm game with only seven songs. If you don’t bother with the hard modes or chase after high scores this game is 15 minutes long. Oh how I yearn for Kirby to get the Theatrhythm treatment.
4/10: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar FINAL - Eh… It was okay. Lots of cool robot fights, but said fights are stitched together with a mediocre plot that tries too hard to be more “mature” than its unabashedly schlocky kids’ show predecessor. Not crazy about the ending, either, which tries to be a bittersweet farewell closing off the series once and for all while also teasing that maybe there’ll be ANOTHER sequel after the OVA series they literally called “FINAL.” Ah well.
4/11: The Owl House - Sad to see this one go, but it’s hard to imagine them doing a better finale than this, even if they had gotten the six seasons they deserved. I’m not as obsessed with The Owl House as I probably would’ve been had it come out when I was, like, 20, but it’s a really fantastic show for all the reasons people always say. Great characters, great world, great story. I love that this starry-eyed fantasy story about a teenager finding love and a place where she belongs is also set on the rotting corpse of a titan with Hieronymous Bosch-inspired scenery and freaky monsters everywhere. What a great mix. If anything, I just wish I would’ve watched the first season as it aired so I could’ve had more time with it.
4/29: Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version - FINALLY beat this via the new collection, 20 years after playing it as my first Mega Man game. (Technically my first was White, not Blue, but whatever.) There are more annoyances than I remember - lots of really really bad forced backtracking sections where you have to revisit every previous part of the internet, low chip drop rates, some really aggravating bosses like BubbleMan and KingMan, etc. But it’s still a great time overall. It’s Battle Network. In the back half the story gets surprisingly emotional, too. I was always under the assumption that the Hub stuff never came back up much in the story after 1, so I was pleasantly surprised with how relevant it was to the emotional arc of 3.
4/30: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun * - Yeah I’m not playing through the whole thing lmao. I just wanted to play the first couple hours for nostalgia’s sake, and as a baseline for how much better the rest are. Even before getting deep in the game and having to deal with all the shit gated between doing two new game+ playthroughs, it’s immediately obvious how much of a downgrade this one is. Tons of glaring errors and typos all over the script, blander music, a way more boring aesthetic for the internet, and a premise that mostly just recycles the tournament idea from 3.
May
5/14: The Venture Bros. - Glad I finally sat down and watched all of this with Anthony after having seen one (1) episode as a teenager and a bunch of random clips in the years since. Great show. Some jokes in the early seasons haven’t aged gracefully, but what the show grows into over time... man. Hank and Dean go from being the butt of the joke to being characters you actually sympathize with - while still also being funny little goofballs. And the journey Henchman 21 goes on throughout the show. Man. Amazing that a comedy like this could run for 20 years and maintain its level of quality. Can’t wait for the movie.
5/18: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) - Okay yeah I’m now just discovering bands through Fortnite lmao. I can’t complain really, they pick some really great indie artists for the in-game radio stations. Anyway: It’s very easy to win me over with a combination of energetic power pop, catchy guitar riffs, and earnest lyrics like this. One of those albums where three or four tracks in I know I have to buy it. Favorite track: Not Running
5/18: Jump Rope Gazers (The Beths) - Ditto. Favorite track: Dying to Believe
5/18: Expert In A Dying Field (The Beths) - Another good album. (I’m listening to these in release order.) I’ve been a bit slower to warm up to this one, initially thinking it was a little too mellow overall, but it might be my favorite after a few listens. Some real high highs. Interestingly, the lead singer’s New Zealand accent is also coming out more in her singing? Favorite track: Your Side (or maybe Head in the Clouds)
5/19: The Super Mario Bros. Movie - As a Mario fan, I think I enjoyed it? As a movie, less so? It was decent, in spite of feeling like they came up with a list of fun action setpieces first and then wrote the absolute bare minimum possible for the story scenes tying it all together. Full thoughts here. (This is the first movie I’ve seen this year, huh? I really don’t watch a lot of movies.)
5/23: Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out (Gladie) - I feel like I don’t like Gladie as much as I should. Their style of noisy indie rock is very much in my wheelhouse, and I do enjoy listening to them, but I dunno. Maybe it’s that the particular style of vocals makes it more monotonous to me. A good album nonetheless, if not 100% my thing. Favorite track: Nothing
5/24: City Slicker (Ginger Root) - Yes I am still making my way through Bandcamp artists I heard on Fortnite don’t @ me. Any excuse to get me to listen to some cool city pop-inspired funk like this is a good excuse. Favorite track: Loretta
5/24: Rikki (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: Why Try
5/25: Spotlight People (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: The Classic
5/29: Succession - A good dramedy series that increasingly focuses more on the drama than the comedy as it progresses, but it’s hard to complain about that since the drama is so compellingly produced. I enjoyed it. That being said, I kind of rankle at the claims that it’s The Greatest TV Show Of All Time. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. Amazing performances all around. But the show LOVES to spin its wheels, to repeat itself, and to let most of its interesting dramatic developments fizzle out before anything really comes of them, almost as if the show is constantly getting bored with its own ideas. To some extent this is intentional - Logan Roy is the untouchable billionaire, his kids fail at everything (but will nonetheless remain billionaires), and in the long run none of them really give a shit about anything other than their own status. But it’s not like things tend to visibly impact anyone else, either, be they supporting characters or the world at large. Even the Big Scary Election, where the Roy siblings are directly responsible for plunging the nation into chaos, ultimately has zero impact on the finale a mere two episodes later. Certain Other Things do have an impact in the last season, though, allowing things to meaningfully change for the cast and for the show to sit with the ensuing drama, which has stopped me from souring on Succession more. There was finally a payoff for something. But it does still kind of feel like a show that goes in circles until it’s ready to call it quits, even if those circles did contain a lot of great acting and music along the way.
5/29: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - I’d watched the first 12 episodes when they originally released, but I guess the Netflix binge release and the fact that all three “seasons” came out in one year led to me waiting until it finished… and then I just never got around to finishing it. Glad I fixed that! Really fun and stylish cartoon with an art style reminiscent of Teen Titans, a hip hop-filled soundtrack, dynamic fight scenes, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant (mostly anthropomorphic) animals. I’ll admit that at times I do kinda roll my eyes at Kipo’s unshakeable belief that everyone can be friends in a way that I don’t necessarily with similar shows like Steven Universe, and not every joke lands, but I dunno. It’s a kids’ show. That’s to be expected. It doesn’t detract from the overall package for me.
June
6/1: Craig of the Creek (Season 4) - It’s been years and I’m still processing the fact that kids can turn on Cartoon Network and hear Jeff Rosenstock. Anyway! Craig continues to be one of the best cartoons on TV, consistently funny and creative and way more engaging than a show about a bunch of kids LARPing in the woods has any right to be. This season turned into One Piece with the gang effectively hunting down the Poneglyphs in search of a legendary treasure. The kids think it’ll be magic. It isn't. An increasing number of cartoon logic gags aside, this show is firmly set in the real world. Does that make it any less interesting? Hell no. Season 3 turned a game of capture the flag into an all-out five episode war between the heroes and villains, filled with dramatic turnabouts and a climactic guest appearance from Del the Funky Homosapien. I’m sure however they wrap things up in the (sadly shortened) final season, it’ll be great. (Also? I would watch a whole show based on that “what if” episode that jumped forward to everyone’s 20s.)
6/6: Barry - Holy shit, what a show. I ended up binging it in less than a week in a cycle of “okay, just one more episode.” The way this show is able to swing between tones and genres while still feeling like a cohesive whole is truly masterful. It’s a layered character drama, a tragic crime thriller, a farcical comedy, an understated action series, a surrealist morality play, and a scathing satire of Hollywood, all in one. Even within the criminal underworld subplots the show ranges in tone from Breaking Bad to Paddington 2. And it works! While the show naturally gets bleaker over time as it confronts the repercussions of Barry’s murders, it never completely loses sight of its comedic roots. My favorite episode was easily season 2’s “ronny/lily,” a mostly self-contained episode that somehow manages to keep throwing the perfect curveballs to escalate its dark comedy.
6/12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) - Y’all heard of this movie? Pretty good, it turns out. (I’d seen the theatrical cut before, but this was my first time watching the extended edition. I’ve also only seen parts of the other two movies, so it’s time I finally watch all the extended cuts. The Gollum game pushed me to this.)
6/13: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) - give it to us RAW and WRIGGLING
6/17: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) - I’m not crying YOU’RE crying
6/22: Clone High (Season 2) - While the first episode being about “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, a teenager from 2003 being transported to 2023 and putting his foot in his mouth a lot) put a lot of people off, I ended up enjoying the new season of Clone High. The new clones grew on me as the season went on and their roles in the web of teen romance melodrama crystalized, and it made me laugh a lot, and Cleo/Frida is galaxy brained. Also they played one of my favorite Antarctigo Vespucci songs like a minute into the first episode. I don’t think I could really ask for much more.
6/28: The Mandalorian (Season 3) - I'd been watching this weekly but put off the last episode for no real reason. Responses to this season have been all over the place, but my blistering hot take is… it was fine. Is it as good as the first season? Probably not. But Mando no longer needs to carry the whole franchise on its shoulders and set the bar for how good the live action Disney Star Wars shows can be, because Andor exists, and it’s never gonna top Andor. The Mandalorian is free to just be a pulpy space adventure show where Giancarlo Esposito plays a scenery-chewing cartoon villain and a little puppet does wire stunts. These are things Andor cannot and should not do, but that’s Star Wars, baby. It’s delightful. I could watch Grogu get underhand tossed like a sack of flour all day.
July
7/2: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Season 2) - LOVE WINS. (More nuanced take from way later: It definitely feels like a lot of the more messy political conflicts in this show got swept aside by the big final battle where some more easily resolved family conflicts take center stage. I’m not sure the ending is the most satisfying. But also this show only got half the episode count that damn near every other Gundam show ever made got, so that might be a factor here. Idk. Still one of my favorite Gundams.)
7/4: Final Fantasy XVI (watched Anthony play) - I had to write my longest Medium article ever about this one because I was so frustrated
7/10: Home Movies - “Things I like that I’ve never seen in full” has certainly been a recurring theme this year. Home Movies remains an all-time classic of animated comedy that went out on a high note before things got stale or the characters became parodies of themselves. While it’s mostly known for its funny improvised banter, throughout the last season you can really see the arc where Brendon no longer enjoys making movies, yet he feels obligated to keep using them to escape from the real world. In that light, the ending where the nature of their dysfunctional makeshift family is cemented, Brendon’s camera suddenly breaks, and life moves on really does feel like the perfect note to end on. Truly one of the best to ever do it.
7/15: The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - Wow. Just… wow. I had serious doubts about TotK in the months leading up to release due to how close Nintendo was playing their cards to their chest. I didn’t want this to be a Saints Row IV, where the game is fun enough but the recycled map makes it feel like a rehash. Instead, I found a game that made me look at BotW’s map in a whole new light, brimming with so many more things to do and people to meet. Add on a better, more versatile set of tools, more varied dungeons and bosses, and a story that I felt was told somewhat better and we’ve got a real contender for my new favorite Zelda game. It was hard to tear myself away, but as this list shows, it’s been basically the only game I’ve played since it came out.
7/16: Sonic Prime (Season 2) - I liked the parts with Shadow and Chaos Sonic, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that most of this show is just mediocre. More thoughts here.
7/18: We ♥ Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie - “I’m a dog, but I love Katamari Damacy.” Truer words have never been spoken.
7/19: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Pretty good! It didn’t blow me away, but after how bad the Bay movies got I’m just thankful to have a decently cohesive Transformers movie where the human story is okay and I like the bots (although half of them needed more screen time), even if it is just another Hollywood blockbuster about two sides fighting over a macguffin that devolves into a big CGI battle against an army of nameless monsters in the third act. This is basically a mid-tier MCU movie but with Transformers, which won’t do much for most people, but again: the bar was underground.
7/22: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - God DAMN. A phenomenal ending for the series. While I would have loved to see a full final season to get some more one-off episodes in there, this doesn’t feel creatively compromised in any way–either due to the time constraints, or due to a desire to make it more marketable as a movie. It really does feel like they just took their outlines for the canceled final season and gently massaged them into the shape of an 84-minute movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s completely on par with the previous seasons. A hilarious and fitting sendoff for one of the greats of adult animation.
7/23: Beautiful Katamari - This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and am better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that it just doesn't have the same soul without Keita Takahashi's input.
August
8/4: Doom Singer (Chris Farren) - I’ve been waiting so long for Chris and Jeff to do another Antarctigo Vespucci album, but god damn. This is the best of Chris’s solo work, and a contender for his best record, period. Every track’s a banger, with more energy than some of his previous solo work but also a good deal of variety. Favorite tracks: First Place, Cosmic Leash
8/4: Transformers Earthspark (Season 1) - This show had a bit of an uneven start, unsure if it wanted to have the emotional maturity of a more serious action cartoon or a preschool cartoon where the characters have little kid mood swings and outbursts and learn basic lessons. It also felt like it was speedrunning its Wholesome Found Family Dynamic with characters who just met, which didn’t feel earned. While these problems never completely go away (see: the cheap and corny way the otherwise very dark season finale suddenly resolves), the show improves quickly, and the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s so great to have a Transformers cartoon that feels fresh, giving us a post-war setting with a bunch of new characters and new dynamics between the Cybertronians and the humans. The returning characters are also uniformly great as the old veterans overseeing the new generation. (Reformed Megatron! Danny Pudi as Bumblebee! Steve Blum returning as Starscream! Keith David as Grimlock!!!) And those super dynamic action scenes! I can nitpick, but Earthspark’s a ton of fun, and easily the best new Transformers cartoon since Prime and Animated.
8/5: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (remaster) - Everyone who told me this game was a masterpiece was right. I had played the first chapter when it dropped as the demo for the iOS version years ago, but never went further than that until now. What a game. Absolutely incredible through and through. Great story, great twists, great characters, great puzzles, great art direction. Everything comes together so perfectly to form a totally unique, unforgettable package, a top tier video game murder mystery. Everyone should play this, preferably going in as blind as possible.
8/15: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16) - Wow! Recent seasons of Sunny have been kind of up and down, with some interesting experiments (Mac Finds His Pride, the Ireland arc, etc.) paired with some comedic duds. Most of this latest season is standard fare for the series with fewer big creative swings, but it’s just hit after hit in terms of comedy. Not a single dud, whether we’re seeing Mac and Dennis try to start a rental business for inflatable furniture or watching the gang meet Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, believing the entire time that the latter is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle. Even the attempts at topical comedy landed better. Easily the funniest season in years.
8/16: One Piece Film Gold - It’s easy to see why this one has kind of been forgotten in the wake of Stampede and Film Red, which revolve around established fan favorite characters, but this was still pretty fun. Perhaps a little too long, but it’s fun to see the Straw Hats fool around in a giant casino and do a heist. They definitely cranked the fanservice up even more than usual in this one, though, as I probably should have expected for a movie made alongside the anime’s adaptation of Dressrosa.
8/17: One Piece: Stampede - This one goes for a different kind of fanservice. While most One Piece movies are isolated from the ongoing plot and its expanded cast of characters, Stampede instead asks “What if we just put damn near every active character on the same island and had them fight?” The answer: a fun time! It would get old if all of the movies were like this, but after a bunch of movies that are just like “the Straw Hats are gonna land on another new island and fight some more weird guys” it’s fun to see characters like Law and Buggy and Smoker get in on the fun. It’s also nice to get a movie with the Wano era art style, and Usopp surprisingly gets some really good character moments in here.
8/18: One Piece Film Red - This really is the best of the One Piece movies, huh? (Baron Omatsuri is a close second.) It really feels like a change of pace after the last four with the most interesting and emotionally engaging story out of any of them. And even if the events of these movies are never canon, it still feels significant in my understanding of Shanks as a character as we move into the final phase of the manga.
8/21: Pikmin 4 - The opening hour of the game made me really question if they’d changed too much, with all the focus on your new dog unit over your Pikmin and the extremely dull, drawn out dialogue scenes with your new companions back at the base. But once I got into the swing of things I had a blast. This is probably my new favorite Pikmin game. There’s a great mix of activities here to keep things fresh. I also really ended up liking Oatchi’s role as basically your second captain who can also serve as your tank or a rideable mount. The Dandori stuff and nighttime missions in particular show off how useful Oatchi is for your multitasking without necessarily overshadowing the Pikmin.
8/22: Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story - I literally backed this on Kickstarter eight years ago (my name is in the credits!) and then never got around to watching it for no reason. It’s on YouTube now, and Jeff’s got a new album out next week, so now feels like the perfect time to watch it. And man… what a great documentary. Obviously I’m just a fan of the band, but this also really spoke to me as an artist. Jeff wanting to stick to his principles and give out his music for free and play cheap all ages shows, his discomfort over the idea of selling merch, and the struggles that come with not playing the game like that… It's hard. They readily admit that Jeff is an idealist, that people fight him on this stuff, that he’s missed out on some big opportunities because of these stances, and that he’s had to compromise a bit on some of these things over time. But that incredible climax with their final show, including a full opening performance of the slowly building “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” and the closing performance of “Future 86” where the whole audience is singing along as the members of the band are hugging and crying… it’s beautiful. This may have been a band where the members had to go back to their shitty day jobs after every tour because they weren’t selling out arenas, but their art meant something to people, and that makes it all worth it.
8/25: Nimona - I haven’t read the original comic (yet), so I can’t compare them too much, but it’s nonetheless pretty apparent that some things were softened and easy kids’ movie jokes were added by the studio to squeeze this graphic novel for teens into a PG animated movie. Regardless, the emotional throughline hits REALLY hard, particularly the very blatant trans allegory and the climax. (It’s no wonder Disney was afraid of this movie seeing the light of day lmao.) The animation is also very squishy and fun to watch throughout. Great movie.
8/26: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Spider-Verse really has done so much for animation, huh? This one was as good as everyone said. Beautiful use of stylized color and lighting throughout, and every time this movie very conspicuously shifted to different framerates for a flashy fight scene it owned. Very cute and heartwarming story, too, which thankfully gave its second act plenty of time to explore the cast and let them go on their journey, unlike a certain plumber movie that came out a few months later. Also I would let Death [redacted]
8/28: Holocure: Save the Fans! - This isn't really something I can beat, but I've been addicted to Holocure lately. I don't even watch VTubers aside from maybe seeing a funny Korone animation every now and then, this is just a really, really good freeware Vampire Survivors clone with a huge roster of varied characters to pick from.
8/31: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock) - A new album from Jeff is always a major event for me. If there were any worries that he was starting to go soft at 40 (because one of the three singles off this album was a gentle acoustic piece), the frantic opening of this album put those worries to rest. The first two tracks are Jeff screaming out for help as he’s pulled in a million directions by the chaotic state of the world, a theme that becomes the thesis of the album. I’d say it lags slightly in the middle, but overall this is another extremely well-rounded record full of bangers that’s unapologetically Jeff, with possibly my favorite closing track he’s ever done. Favorite tracks: I WANNA BE WRONG, 3 SUMMERS
September
9/3: One Piece (live action, Season 1) - They did it. I can’t believe it, but they did it. While I have my nitpicks (Usopp and Sanji don’t get enough big moments to shine), this is an extremely solid and faithful adaptation of the first few arcs of One Piece with a great cast. For the most part the changes feel smart and logical, and the big emotional beats of the story are all there and executed very well. I doubted it a little in episodes 2-4, where the Orange Town and Syrup Village arcs saw some major changes to shift the action indoors, and the increased focus on the drama in favor of repeating every gag and battle from the manga 1:1 took a bit of getting used to, but by the end I was having a blast. It’s a different take on One Piece, but it still feels like One Piece. Genuinely very excited for season 2.
9/4: Pseudoregalia - A great little N64-style 3D Metroidvania focused on platforming and very satisfying movement. I always love entries in the genre that are less prescriptive in what order you have to tackle areas in, a la Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight, and this one’s great in that regard. While there are a number of new moves to find, most of the map is open to you very early in the game, and smart use of your moveset can allow you to “sequence break” without even realizing it. (You would not believe how long I went without getting the wall run.) I do wish it had a map, but that’s already being patched in.
9/6: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk * - Not a bad game at all, but I quickly remembered how bad I am at skating games, so like… eh? Not sure I have much desire to play past chapter 2. Also the soundtrack is sadly kinda hit or miss for me outside of the obvious Naganuma tunes.
9/9: The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Dorktown) - Jon Bois never misses. Even as someone who doesn’t actively follow sports, Jon Bois is a master storyteller, using graphs and statistics and funny anecdotes to explore these deeply human stories. He can convey why people care so much about these teams, these people, and sports in general, and how our popular sports reflect on American culture. He could tell the story of just about any team or player in any sport and I just know I’ll come out the other side a misty-eyed fan. And what a fascinating cast of characters we have this time, with origin stories for everything from the Hail Mary pass to a Minnesota state supreme court judge to the Griddy. Nine hours well spent.
9/10: Timespinner - A fun and highly polished Metroidvania that maybe doesn’t quite have enough of its own identity in its quest to replicate Symphony of the Night…but also, like, this was pitched as a Symphony throwback on KickStarter in a pre-Bloodstained, pre-Hollow Knight world, so I can’t really blame ‘em! Stopping time to avoid boss attacks is fun, the pixel art is gorgeous, and I liked the dark science fantasy story about warring empires and meddling with time a lot more than I thought I would - lore journal text dumps and all.
9/14: The Decay of Sam & Cat (Quinton Reviews) - All the stuff at the end with Matt Bennett (the actor who played Robbie on Victorious and Sam & Cat) in this was really good and sweet. It’s that kind of thing that makes these videos feel like they’re still worthwhile on some level. But the padding and the things Quinton chooses to spend the colossal runtime on does drive me more and more insane with each passing Nick sitcom video. I don’t know how much longer he can keep this schtick up. I hope he’s able to move on to other things before too terribly long instead of continuing to extend this “miniseries.”
9/19: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - AKA Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 1.5. It’s fun for the same reasons Peter’s first game was fun. I had a good time swinging around New York again in preparation for the sequel, and there’s a lot of cute stuff with Miles becoming Harlem’s neighborhood hero, but WOW did the Underground v. Roxxon conflict fall flat for me.
9/20: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson - I understand so many posts now.
9/25: Spider-Man (2002) (rewatch) - It’s you who’s out, Gobby! OUT OF YOUR MIND!
9/25: Futurama (Season 8) - I was ready to be a hater, recalling the fact that Futurama has already had three “perfect endings” with the show getting a little weaker with every revival. Then I watched the first new episode on a whim and thought it wasn’t bad, so I was like, eh, sure, I’ll watch the rest. Overall Hulurama is hit or miss. There are chuckles to be had, and it sure as hell beats modern Simpsons, but almost every episode is either a belated take on an overplayed Topical Issue (the pandemic, Amazon, cancel culture, etc.) or a direct sequel to an old episode people liked. Or both! It’s also really noticeable that certain voice actors sound way older - Billy West is struggling with the Fry voice in particular, and it hurts his comedic timing. But just when all hope seemed lost after the nigh-incomprehensible toy-themed anthology episode, possibly the worst episode of the entire series… the last episode, where the Planet Express crew explores whether or not the universe could be a simulation, was really, really solid. Great note to end on to make me not regret my time with this season as a whole.
9/26: Spider-Man 2 (2004) (rewatch) - Once the GOAT, always the GOAT.
9/27: Spider-Man 3 (rewatch) - Revisiting this movie for the first time since I saw it in theaters… it’s not bad. It’s fine! It continues to have the heart and sincerity that make the first two movies work. It’s just not as concise with three villains vying for the spotlight, but I also wouldn’t cut any of them, necessarily. I guess Eddie/Venom would be the easiest, but Peter getting the black suit and giving in to his resentment feels too central to cut. (Yes, even with Emo Peter becoming a meme.)
9/28: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, especially since I was never really a fan of the genderbend episodes in the original show. (At the time they mostly just felt like an excuse to crank up the teen romance stuff to 11.) But MAN. This was a fantastic coda to the original series. It made me care about Fionna and Cake and their friends as their own characters separate from their original counterparts, it gave the Simon/Betty arc a much more satisfying (if no less bittersweet) resolution than the original finale had time to do, and it even managed to be a multiverse story that didn’t make me roll my eyes in 2023. A+ all around. Makes me wanna rewatch the original show again. [spoiler: I did]
9/29: Meanwhile (aivi & surasshu) - It’s been a whole decade–they were busy with, you know, all the music in Steven Universe, among other things–but we finally have a new aivi & surasshu album! Their chiptune/piano fusion style is familiar, but they’ve definitely grown as composers in subtle ways. Favorite track: Time Travel
October
10/1: This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) - A lot of the nitty gritty finance law stuff turned into white noise for me, but still, great video. I had no idea that the GameStop stock craze devolved into this bizarre cult that thinks they’re going to crash the global economy and rise from the ashes as the new kings with the value of their GME stocks. Glad this video exists to try and balance out the narrative.
10/5: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon DLC - Good ideas, absurdly frustrating and tedious execution. Full thoughts here.
10/10: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (rewatch) - I didn’t plan this, but very fitting that I would end up rewatching this on 10/10.
10/12: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - ha he! (Seriously though, that finale was a fucking masterpiece. The RTVS crew has an incredible knack for using the framing device of video game livestreams to blur the lines between comedy and horror, or ironic anti-humor and complete sincerity. I’ve never seen anything else like this.)
10/15: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said. The most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen, grounded by some really excellent storytelling about Miles (and now Gwen) that’s probably better than his actual comics. But it also does feel like it’s about to end and then the movie just keeps going like ten times over lmao. Can’t wait to watch this a second time on a better TV.
10/20: Sonic Superstars - A mostly really solid and fun 2D Sonic game that’s unfortunately dragged down by an extremely hodgepodge soundtrack and some overly drawn out boss fights. I spent HOURS trying to beat the final boss of the bonus scenario (which is required for the true ending in this one) before giving up. Really a shame that that’s the note I’m leaving the game on, because I otherwise enjoyed it, but ah well. More thoughts here.
10/27: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Another good Spider-Man game from Insomniac. Liked the story more than the one in Miles Morales, but maybe not as much as the first game. Extensive thoughts here.
10/28: Venom - Was in the mood for more Venom after the game. As expected this was not a very good movie, but the dynamic between Eddie and Venom made it a fun watch. Tom Hardy is constantly about to shit his pants in this movie. It’s great.
10/28: Venom: Let There Be Carnage - I had a way better time with this one. Is this a good movie? No. But it cranks the insanity of the first movie up to 11. Goofy as fuck in an extremely watchable way.
November
11/5: Pluto - An absolutely masterful series that anyone interested in sci-fi needs to watch. The anime adaptation was great, and I immediately understand why people who’ve read the manga speak so highly of it. Really makes me want to get into Astro Boy more, and also read some of Urasawa’s other works.
11/18: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - Wow, just wow. When news of a Scott Pilgrim anime broke I was cautiously curious to see if we’d get a more direct adaptation of the comics, and instead it veered off in the exact opposite direction in the best way possible. This is almost entirely a different story, one that’s in conversation with the previous versions (sometimes in very meta ways), and I think it’s really valuable to see O’Malley revisiting these characters with new things to say about them. The major story divergence gives us a chance to examine the characters from a new angle - particularly Ramona, who’s the real protagonist of this version, and the evil exes, who completely steal the show. This was a great reminder of why I fell in love with this series as a teenager. I now genuinely hope we get more Scott Pilgrim.
11/22: Void Rivals (Issues #1 - #6) - The first arc of the new Robert Kirkman series that kicked off Skybound’s new “Energon Universe” is now complete, and I’m left thinking Void Rivals is… okay? I thought the first issue was a decent (if not particularly original) sci-fi comic with an appealing art style, which just so happens to also briefly have a Transformer in it so there can be a Big Surprise. And the series still hasn’t quite shaken that feeling to me. It’s an okay sci-fi series that arbitrarily dedicates a couple of pages of every issue to something from Transformers, but I’m not really sure what the shared universe stuff adds to Void Rivals, or what Void Rivals adds to Transformers and GI Joe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
11/22: Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland) - Yeah, gotta be honest, I only got halfway through this one. It seems like Kevin just 1) really wanted to push himself creatively and 2) make a love letter to Epcot, and while I respect that, I think it suffers as a historical documentary. It’s Fantasia but for the creation of Epcot. That might be very impressive on a technical level, but it feels more like a piece of Disney propaganda than prior Defunctland videos due to a lack of context and nuance.
11/24: Aperture Desk Job - A short, sweet, and funny little tech demo for my new Steam Deck set in the Portal universe. More effort was definitely put into this than was strictly necessary.
11/26: ESCHATOS - I am not good at bullet hell games, but I enjoy them from time to time and I really love this one’s FM synth soundtrack, so I picked it up on a whim in the Steam sale. I only beat it on Easy, but still, I had a lot of fun with it! It’s straightforward but very flashy, with the camera dynamically zooming around from set piece to set piece at ridiculous speeds and each level segueing directly into the next. The lack of a powerup system on the main mode in favor of just needing to know when to use your different shot types makes it feel very approachable.
11/27: Lunistice - A great little 3D platformer with a good soundtrack that I had fun hunting down all the secrets in. This is an easy recommendation for fans of games like Kirby or Klonoa - whimsical games set in colorful dream worlds where the underlying story can get a bit more somber. (Although the story in this one is mostly told through mildly cryptic lore dumps, so your mileage there may vary.)
11/28: Spark the Electric Jester 2 - The leap from 2D to 3D here is impressive, but this is very clearly a rough draft for Spark 3. Very, very fun Sonic-style 3D platforming, but the combat is lacking and the storytelling is just kinda bad. More extensive thoughts on this and the above two games here.
December
12/2: Fortnite (Chapter 4) - This was my first full chapter of Fortnite, after having been roped into the game by the siren songs of Zero Build mode and Goku during Chapter 3. This means it’s harder for me to compare this chapter to previous ones, but still, Fortnite remains a genuinely very well made Battle Royale shooter that’s a blast with friends. If I have any complaint about this Chapter, it’s that they would regularly introduce zany ideas and then slowly reel them back in, whether it was the Augment system or the increasingly mundane movement items. It also felt like it was a little too easy to get the perfect loadout in every match, meaning the final showdown would almost always be against players with Slurp Juice and gold shotguns. And I missed the smaller mid-season map updates of Chapter 3. But overall I still had a really good time, and look forward to playing more for the foreseeable future.
12/4: Plagiarism and You(Tube) (HBomberguy) - This will get written off by many as “YouTuber drama,” but this really is an excellent video essay that feels like the kick in the pants that YouTube needs. If video essayists are gonna be a major source of information for so many, then they gotta have standards. I also think it does a good job of highlighting the people that have been plagiarized and trying to drive more attention their way in an attempt to right those wrongs.
12/6: Transformers (Skybound comic) - We only got the first three issues of this in 2023, but I just HAVE to say something about how incredible this series is here. Daniel Warren Johnson is knocking it out of the park. This is the new bar for Transformers. The hand-inked art is extremely dynamic and full of character, and the story is using the familiar beats of G1 Transformers but doing very new things with them. You can tell this from the very first page, but the emotional scene of Optimus accidentally crushing a deer in the forest and realizing how fragile life is on Earth sealed the deal for me. And yet in the very same comics Optimus can do suplexes and clotheslines and lord knows how many other wrestling moves on Decepticons, and it doesn’t feel like tonal whiplash? These comics just fucking rule, and anyone with even the slightest interest in Transformers should be reading them.
12/8: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5) - [spoilers] WWDITS has very much settled into being a status quo show. Every season has its own little arc where one or two things change to keep things interesting, but then everything returns to normal by the end. Guillermo finally becoming a vampire, only to become a human again in the end, might just be the most egregious example of this yet. But also… the show’s still really funny? And I continue to be happy that Kristen Schaal has stuck around as a series regular as the Guide. So it’s hard to complain. I could see the show running out of steam over the next few seasons, but it’s still hitting for me right now.
12/12: Pony Island - Finally got around to this since the trailer for the sequel dropped. I feel like playing this years later in a post-Inscryption world where Pony Island is a known quantity kind of lessens its impact, but still, it’s a fun and funny puzzle game where you try to hack your way out of a possessed arcade machine. I’m not sure I found it particularly scary, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be? The way the game messes with you during the Asmodeus “boss fight” was probably the highlight for me. I also like being able to say things like “The part where you have to not kill Jesus was so hard. I kept getting terrible butterfly patterns.”
12/16: Breaking Bad VR but the AI is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - As always, Wayne and co.’s commitment to the bit is unrivaled. This kind of got interpreted as just a way to troll HLVRAI fans, but so many moments in this genuinely made me laugh out loud.
12/18: Soul of Sovereignty Prelude - As someone who would list Cucumber Quest as a big creative influence, I was naturally very excited for this first chapter of GGDG’s new visual novel. Their mentality of both scaling things back in terms of labor while also going more shamelessly self-indulgent in terms of storytelling after burning out on making webcomics has really spoken to me, and WOW, the end result of that new process of theirs is shaping up to be something really special. The art and music are sparse but extremely evocative, giving you the rough sketch of the world and letting your mind fill in the rest. The story blends literary high fantasy vibes with the style of fantasy seen in ‘90s JRPGs (you can definitely tell this came from an idea for an RPG), but rather than constantly winking at the audience and making self-aware video game references it plays these storytelling ideas extremely sincerely, giving them real dramatic weight while still indulging in fun tropes to their fullest extent. While it’s a far cry from their most famous work with much more mature content, GGDG always excels at creating characters and worlds that immediately grab me. I can’t wait for the rest.
12/18: Barbie - I’m only… what, five months late for the whole Barbenheimer thing? Perfect timing. Anyway! On the one hand, I get the critiques saying that this movie is just a major corporation funding a self-aware feminist critique of their own product as a marketing ploy. And I kinda agree with that. And the movie is a little too long, and I don’t really know what to think of the way the Barbie/Ken conflict plays out. Anthony asked me to summarize what the story ended up being about, and I had no idea what to even say. But also… I did still like the movie? We don’t get a lot of cartoonish, absurdist, fourth wall breaking comedies like this anymore, and this is a good one of those. Also the whole cast is great, the set design is kind of stunning, and the cinematography is consistently appealing. I wouldn’t say it’s a revolutionary work of feminist filmmaking by any stretch, but it’s a good comedy movie.
12/21: Dr. Stone: New World - Man, Dr. Stone is great. I’ve said this many times, but I just love that this series uses all the trappings of shounen that would normally be used to hype up the protagonist learning a new move to instead hype up things like the protagonist building a loom or a hot air balloon. It’s shounen Bill Nye. I didn’t completely love everything about the Treasure Island arc this season, but it all built towards a really fun climax with a lot of satisfying turnabouts where the heroes use their ingenuity to just barely win.
12/23: The History of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out World Records (Summoning Salt) - Truly one of my favorite Summoning Salt videos ever, even with how repetitive Punch-Out can get to watch. It’s just so hard to beat “and that runner… was me.”
12/24: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - What more can be said that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best and most creative 2D Mario game since the ‘90s. The only real flaws are that it’s a little easy, the Search Party stages are annoying in singleplayer, and I wish that every boss prior to the final boss wasn’t just some form of Bowser Jr. fight. But those aren’t nearly enough to drag the whole experience down. It was a blast.
12/24: Do a Powerbomb! - Got this from Anthony as a birthday present. This is the previous series by the creative team currently doing the new Transformers comics I was gushing about a few entries ago. Even with the high bar set by those comics, Do a Powerbomb! exceeded my expectations. Holy shit. An absolutely entrancing fantasy wrestling miniseries full of dynamic, energetic action and tons of heart. These comics where a guy wrestles a giant talking orangutan almost made me cry. Twice. An instant favorite.
12/25: Adventure Time (rewatch) - We ended up finishing our rewatch of Adventure Time (the main series, anyway) on my 30th birthday, which feels appropriate. I already kinda knew this, but this rewatch has truly confirmed that Adventure Time is my favorite TV series of all time. The entire show is even better on a full series rewatch. In hindsight, even parts that annoyed me when they aired end up being important parts of the beautiful tapestry that is this series. The many low points of Finn’s adolescent love life are important stepping stones in his growth as a person, which leaves him in an extremely satisfying place by the end. Jake having kids didn’t get to be a huge status quo change because they grew up instantly, but then they did a bunch of fun episodes about Jake’s relationships with his adult children that deepened him as a character. And most of the big lore questions they kept teasing over the years (“Where’d the humans go?” “Who are Finn’s parents?” “When’s Finn gonna get a robot arm?” etc.) ended up getting satisfying and creative answers, because the show left itself the room to figure those things out later. This is a truly special, one-of-a-kind series, one that lasted nearly 300 episodes and yet still seems like it was over too soon. And yes, I did in fact cry during the final montage, like I knew I would. I will always cherish this show with all of my heart.
12/25: Olive the Other Reindeer (rewatch) - Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid! It was a favorite of mine back then, and while it might not be quite as funny as I remember it’s still very cute, with a 2D/3D hybrid art style that remains very unique and appealing. As an adult I can also appreciate the cast they got for this, with like half the cast of Futurama bolstered by guests like Michael Stipe from REM and The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano.
12/26: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio - Anthony and I capped off our Christmas with the most jolly and festive stop motion movie of all! Jokes aside, man, what a beautiful movie. The animation is immaculate, and we really just don’t get children’s animated films like this anymore. Ones that overtly feature real world politics and religion and so many other dark themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids or sugarcoat things. This one hits hard. We need more movies like this.
12/31: Oppenheimer - This was an interesting one. Despite being three hours, the way that first hour jumps around in time makes it feel like Oppenheimer is constantly being propelled forward through life at a breakneck pace, swept up by the rising tide of nationalism in spite of his personal left wing politics, never really reflecting on what he’s doing until it’s too late. Then when he’s no longer useful to the empire, he’s chewed up and spat out, only to eventually be honored as a national hero as a symbolic gesture. It’s a compelling story. However, I’m a little torn on how certain aspects of history were framed. Does the abstraction of the bombings detract from the true weight of those events, in favor of sympathizing with the man who built the bomb? Or is it clever a way to show how the realities of the war were compartmentalized away by people who were complicit in its most heinous acts of violence? One minute a bunch of physicists are talking theory, thousands of miles away from the theaters of war, and the next they’ve killed 200,000 people. So which is it? Eh, probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. But I liked it overall.
12/31: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe - I’ve been really surprised by how good this rerelease is. It kind of flew under the radar for me. I liked the original game, but at the time it also almost felt like the New Super Mario Bros. of Kirby. It was a straightforward throwback game where you went through a grass world, then a desert world, then a water world, etc., and also they added four player co-op. But returning to this one after the kinda mid Star Allies has made me appreciate just how solid RtDL is as a Kirby game. I really like the updated graphics, too - yes, even the new cel shaded outlines around the characters - even though I didn’t think it looked that great in screenshots. Also the two new copy abilities (Sand and Mecha) are fun, the minigame collection is shockingly fleshed out to the point that they could’ve sold it as a standalone eShop game, the collectible character masks are fun, and the new epilogue mode where you play as Magolor is one of the coolest bonus modes they’ve ever done. This is a top tier Kirby remake any fan of the series should check out.
Ongoing things I followed in 2023 that don't have a blurb:
Halo Infinite multiplayer
IDW Sonic the Hedgehog (main series + specials)
One Piece
Chainsaw Man
My Hero Academia (not caught up)
The JOJOlands (not caught up)
Things I started in 2023 that I still need to finish:
Freedom Planet 2
Hi-Fi Rush
Live A Live
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Picross 3D Round 2
Rhythm Heaven MegaMix
Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Spark the Electric Jester 3
Sonic Dream Team
One Piece (Wano arc, anime)
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 (I’ve already read the Shibuya arc already in the manga, though)
Astro Boy (2003 anime)
Futurama (original run rewatch)
One Piece (manga reread)
The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee/Ditko era)
Scott Pilgrim series (reread)
And finally... my favorites of 2023!!!
Overall favorite game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Favorite indie game: Pseudoregalia
Games remastered in 2023 that are now among my all-time faves: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, We Love Katamari
Most pleasant surprise in gaming: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
Favorite film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Favorite live action show: Barry
Favorite anime: Pluto
Favorite anime written by a Canadian guy and an American guy based on the Canadian guy's old graphic novel series: Scott PIlgrim Takes Off
Favorite live action adaptation of an anime that I still can't believe they didn't fuck up: One Piece
Favorite Western cartoon: Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake
Favorite older cartoon I only got around to watching in its entirety this year: The Venture Bros.
Favorite documentary: Double Fine PsychOdyssey
Favorite semi-improvised semi-scripted absurdist comedy/horror/tragedy Twitch livestream performance art thing: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware finale (wayneradiotv)
Favorite manga: Chainsaw Man
Favorite older manga that I only read this year: Berserk
Favorite Western comic book: Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers
Favorite album: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock)
And that's a wrap!!!!! Happy new year, everyone! Here's to me maybe actually reading a goddamn book this year
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Honestly, the Sumin of the live-action adaptation freaks me and icks me the hell out more than the one from the webtoon. Didn't think that was ever gonna be possible.
I read a post on this tag the other day about how people are hating on Sumin because she "acts cutely" and it was said with the undercurrent of "y'all just hate women" (at least that's how i took it). It sat with me for days and I was pondering on that before I settled on a response.
Sumin gets hate not because she "acts cute". She gets hate because she manipulates and weaponises her "cuteness" to weave her webs and warp things around to suit her. Sumin is hated not because of her comfort in expressing her femininity but the way she uses that femininity to, for the lack of a better word, abuse the trust, respect and love that others have for her.
But do people love her, is yet another question? In the narrative, original Jiwon definitely loves her -- friend, family, sister, her other half... all that jazz. Minhwan definitely loves her for what she gives him -- an ego boost that a beautiful woman could want him (how manly /s), the inflated pride of being able to bag the wife and the whore.
I digress.
We were talking about Sumin of the live-action adaptation.
Too often I find myself watching live-action adaptations and going, "oh this could have been done like that", "oh they omitted that but they left this part in", "huh that's an interesting narrative choice", and much more often than not, I find myself hating it outright (re: howl's moving castle). But with this? Gawd, this version of Sumin is far more obsessed, far more cruel. You get the feeling that she is spiralling and you know she is going to keep doing even crazier shit to keep Jiwon by her side.
And that, if I'm being honest, is her appeal.
This "cute" girl who deadass speaks in aegyo and cutely charms her way through life with her big wide eyes and pouty lips, but who is just as adept at staring at you with those bug eyes and a serial killer smile when the switch flips for her.
I genuinely have been loving the changes that they've been making and I think it keeps it fresh and exciting for us who had loved the webtoon. I don't know. The thoughts are escaping me for now but whatever tendrils I could make sense of, I hope they made sense to you too.
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Origins
Title: Orgins
Word Count: 2,033
Warnings: Some cursing and mentions of violence! Nothing graphic but be safe! (Also maybe some OOCness, I tried tho!)
Ship: Mainly this is a Spider-Siblings fic (my new tag for when I'm with the group) but some allusions to 'A Different Web to Weave' (Miguel x myself)
Summary: Rebecca finally sits down to explain her origin story over lunch.
"Wait, so you never did tell us," Miles spoke as he and his friends bobbed and weaved through the crowded hallways of the Hub towards the cafeteria.
The one leading the group was the smallest out of all of them. Her vibrant amethyst hair bounced with each step she took. Out of the group and all of the passersby, the girl stood out like a sore thumb, her only attire being a black satin sundress. But the smile on her face, as she turned her heel and stumbled to face Miles, spoke volumes in her view.
"I never told you, guys, what exactly? How I got Mr. Scary to crack a smile?"
Her tone was coy but the way her smile spread across her face revealed that she had an idea to what they may have meant. The teens rolled their eyes but Rebecca could hear their low chortles and silent breath of laughter.
"Yeah! I mean, no, tell me that another time." Miles pleaded as she stepped forward to fall in line with her own forward-facing steps again. "You never told us how you began to don your mask!"
"You mean the mask I basically never wear?" Rebecca laughed as her hand glided across the table that they so often sat at.
"I still don't understand how that works..." Pavitr murmured thoughtfully as he slid into his seat.
Rebecca only shrugged as she plopped down into her usual spot to claim it. "My dimension's logic? Either that or magical girl logic! But gimme a sec."
Rebecca then got up and took a mental note of everyone's orders before she skipped off to get it. After a lunch line wait and a wobbly trip back, Rebecca slid everything to everyone before dropping her body back onto her stool. Her friends were quite familiar with the sickening sweet shakes she loved but were curious to see her with actual food in her tray.
"Empanadas? Tryna piss off the 'big boss'?" Hobie asked with a quirked brow.
Rebecca smiled as she went to wrap the napkins she brought over the scalding breaded pastries. "As disappointed as you may be, I got these for him. The guy hasn't eaten and that's not good for anyone, trust me!"
"You're too sweet to him. Why bother?"
"Eh, someone needs to keep peace in the Spider-Verse. I'm just doing my part! Besides, I think he may actually tolerate me now!" Rebecca said with her smile causing her eyes to crinkle.
The others in the friend group and a few nosy eavesdroppers stared at her in disbelief. On one hand, they all knew how turbulent the pair was when Rebecca had first gotten involved with Spider Society. But on the other, in more recent times, they had seen her perform what they could only describe as miracles in regard to their ruthless leader. Some of them even thought that the recluse would have her head if he heard her speak as though they were mere acquaintances.
But before anyone could dwell on the subject, Rebecca threw down some light novels. No one could call them comics but they weren't traditional manga either. All of them had Rebecca in a new cute outfit and a different pose per issue. "Okay this is not the last time, but as odd as it'll sound, it's all for real! Here we go!"
My name is Rebecca Grace Rozenaria! I'm a twenty-one-year-old part-time student, part-time retail worker, and the sister of Earth-9612's Spider-Man.
"Take that as you will," Rebecca wistfully mused as her fingers lingered on the panel where a man in typical red and blue colors swung through the city.
"Wait... you're the sister of Spider-Man?" Gwen asked as she brought her drink to her lips.
Rebecca nodded as she drew her hand away. "Yup, Zachary Parker's his name."
"But then what's with the different last name?" Miles questioned, leaning across the table to examine the art.
"Half-siblings, same mom but different dads. Something he'd remind me of so much when we were younger... Anyways! You've all heard of being bitten by a radioactive spider, right? That's what happened to you all and my brother."
I have a different take though! When I was nineteen, my two friends and I were messing around in an abandoned building a few towns from my own. My one friend, Ren, had been hearing about some odd events after an old sword went missing and felt drawn to check it out. My other friend and I went with because one) I'm always down for an adventure. Two) A lot of Security Bots from Alchemax have been going rogue and it's best not to be alone when that happens.
"Wait, what year are you in?!" Gwen questioned now, the way her piercing glimmered in the light brought Rebecca out of her thoughts.
"2023, my dear. But the difference I think is that Alchemax isn't just a chemical lab in my universe. It's a household name that seems to mask a privately owned military-based company, at least that's what I've been able to dig up." Rebecca spoke of this as she sipped her cotton candy shake, acting as if this was just some weekly high school drama she heard in the showers.
"How'd you manage that?"
"I've got contacts! It pays to be sweet and harmless. ...Maybe that's why each branch wanted to recruit me after high school. That or they're more desperate than an ex-partner." Rebecca smiled with another sip.
Once again, the others could only eat the food as they hung to her every word.
Anyway, my friend Ren had discovered an old rite or something that may calm down the area's weirdness so as college kids do, we tried it. Nothing happened at first, and honestly, we were going to write it off as a night of fun. But then the wall fell away revealing a blinding gold light. I honestly thought that we had reached the heavens!
Rebecca then flipped a few pages until she found the centerpiece. The picture displayed the glowing hole in the 4 story building and the silhouette of a towering male drider. Her pale fingers tapped the silhouette's head repeatedly as she leaned in.
That's what I thought anyway, but I'm pretty sure angels of ANY type aren't LITERAL spider people. Angels also don't go hunting as far as I know. Regardless, this towering being growled that killing us at that moment would be boring. So he demanded that one of us become worthy prey. Both of my friends have such promising futures, so I stepped forward. This being and I made a pact. He'd give me some power to harness as I saw fit, but at the end of the day, I am his hunt.
Rebecca laid her left wrist across the pile and turned it to reveal faint puncture marks in her veins. The others all leaned in trying to wrap their heads around the story. Their thoughts rushed to explain this as a normal bite from some uncommon animal, but then they remembered where they sat.
Unbelievable, I know. To this day, even after more run-ins with him and everything I've seen and done, I wouldn't buy it if I wasn't there. My own brother didn't and... that got him killed.
Rebecca's eyes fell to her lap as her voice faded and her lips tightened. After a few shakey breaths, she flipped her hand over to turn through the pages.
Remember how I said some security bots often went rogue? Well, at a party, another 'virus' broke lose in them and they were desperate to gain vengence on their captors. The only problem is that they tend to view any bio-organism as such. So they were on a rampage and I went in to save who I could, so did my brother. We were doing fine on our own, until he saw me. He demanded I run, that I shouldn't be here, that I was of no use here, but there were still so many. I tried to listen but I saw one coming at him and I out-maneuvered it. I told him this wasn't the time to argue but he seemed pissed! He started going off that I couldn't 'outdo' him and I 'always had to be better than him.' I tried to reason with him saying he could lash out later once we were safe but he didn't get that chance.
Once again, Rebecca flipped the page and revealed the gruesome scene from her memories.
While he was raving and fighting, he got even more pissed whenever I tried to help him. So as I turned to go help evacuate people, a machine plunged it's arm... Right. Through. His. Chest...
Once again Rebecca tightened her lips. But now, her chest shuddered as she took a deep breath. She took a moment to blink back tears while the others reached out to comfort her. Despite this, she only offered a sad smile of reply as she rubbed the back of her hands against her wet eyes.
I-I'll spare you the details as I still have nightmares and don't need you lovelies getting them... But the machines had gotten what they wanted. I wasn't strong enough o-or fast enough to save him... Maybe me being there or me listening IS what got him killed...
The others wanted to speak up, to retort with the soothing words that she often shared with them. But all that cut through the air was a sorrowful silence.
Maybe this was all just meant to happen... I don't know... But as much of an ass as he was, he still was my brother... So after that and weaving the story that he died protecting his helpless, handicapped sister to my family... I donned the figuritve mask, wanting to leave his legacy intact. But you know when people see spider powers, they think we're all cut from the same cloth. So I became commonly known as Spider-Girl. And now I fight for the truly helpless as a hero and civilain so that I can help those from living the same fate I have...
Another silence hung in the air, creeping down like an arachnid would on their silken string.
"That's quite the story there..." Miles finally breathed.
"It's so similar, but still..." Gwen continued, her blue eyes flickering from the splayed pages to the lilac lady before her.
Hobie bit the inside of his lip while Pavitr slowly rubbed Rebecca's back unsure of what to say.
Rebecca sighed before granting them another smile. "Sorry to end that on a somber note! I'm still working on making it less depressing! Any tips?"
The group only shook their heads.
"I'll work on it then, and leave my friend Ace to tell you about the time-loop arc." Rebecca said with a breath of laughter.
"Time-loop arc?!" The group wondered in near unison
"That's how Miguel found out my existence and let me tell you he was not happy, speaking of which--" Rebecca glanced down at the doughy treat before her and patting it gently, "These are now perfect eating temperature so Mr. O'Hangry won't burn himself! So let me deliever 'em!"
Miles stood up, making his way to block the smaller woman from leaving. "Vaguely mentioning Spider-Demons I get... kinda, but time-loops! You can't just mention that and wander off like it's nothing!"
Rebecca used the slight flail of his arms to stumble past him. "Yes, I can~! If you want to know so badly, ask Miguel! But before I go, I wanna remind you all that you never have be alone, alright? If you need me, I'm here!"
"But for now," Rebecca called as she stumbled back from them, "see ya~!"
With that, the lilac lady went skipping off to the parts of Spider Society that few dared to willingly go. As the rest of the group scanned over Rebecca's light novels and ate, Gwen mused to herself.
"Just your friendly, neighborhood, antithesis. Am I right?"
It was only as the group continued to eat and look at the books did they realize Rebecca hadn't taken their lunch money and sneakily treated them. They'd get their answers and their payback next time...
Taglist: @floweringforgetfulness @goldenworldsabound @maskedanarchy-ships @disneymarina @canongf @hadesgoddess @nyandereneko @singingdeepinme @violetsandmilk @cydanite
#selfshipdom#selfship community#self shipping#fo community#selfship#self indulgent stuff#self insert community#self insert#self ship community#ship: a different web to weave#platonic ship: spider siblings
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"They're going to - hic - k-kill me anyway so here-here goes." the person in the recording whispers
"Pullman - Pullman from the board -it was h-his idea. He-he does i-it in number s-" A thud. Some more rustling, a struggle. The recording cuts again.
CW: institutionalised slavery, dehumanisation, box boy universe, pet whump
Andrew pressed play once again, listening intently, both elbows on the desk in front of him. When he heard a step behind him, floorboards creaking, he froze.
Then, remembering where he was, he smiled to himself.
A moment later, Benjamin’s strong arms wrapped around him in a hug from behind. The scent of his cologne - the one he used for work - familiar and welcoming.
“Put your toys away, Andy. It is time for dinner.” Benjamin laughed, the deep, warm chuckle that always made Andrew’s heart swell. “I am serious about dinner, but how’s it going?”
“Listen to this.” Andrew pressed play again. “It is the same voice as before. Aoife’s team has managed to clean up a bit more of the tape.”
Benjamin stroked his clean-shaven chin thoughtfully. “It is awfully short.” He said doubtfully.
“I know, I know.” Andrew pulled a hand through his hair. “I have asked the network to look for a Pullman, no luck so far. It could be a code name, of course… right now, I’m just trying to figure out what those noises in the end are.
“Could I hear it again?”
Andy obliged, once again replaying the short burst of words and confusion.
”It could be anything!” The journalist shook his head, frustrated. “Is it an attack? Did someone come in and interrupt the recording? Did the person tip over the microphone?” Benjamin nodded.
“I have no idea. But.. what is he saying? He does it in numbers? He does it in number S- something?” Andrew shrugged.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
The black man paced the room in thought, also gripped by the mystery. Then, his eye fell on a paper on the desk.
“Andy, what’s this?”
“It is yet another letter - a photocopy, that is. The original is with the police. This one was anonymously sent to the newspaper.”
The letter was hand-written, with the elegant curves of an older generation. Benjamin read out-loud:
“Well, if you had the chance to save a person you love, wouldn’t you take it? There has always been a market, organ donations are needed now more than ever. So how surprised can you really be that they took the opportunity to make a profit?! But I’ll give you this: This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg and you are wholly underprepared.”
Benjamin paused. “They know about the organs.” He mumbled.
“Indeed, they do.” Andrew rubbed his eyes. “Are they a buyer? Did they receive organs from WRU? Or do they work for the company? I don’t think we have a leak, yet. Not about the organ trade, anyway. This seems legit. But how to move forward? ‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave…’ The further I go, the more intertwined and messy everything seems.”
Benjamin stretched and then placed a gentle hand on Andrew’s shoulder.
“Come on, dinner first. We can look at this together tonight, if you want.”
“Okay.” Andrew smiled, standing up from his desk. “Thank you.” They exchanged a kiss, and walked down to the kitchen together.
*
Thank you for great input! ❤️ This is part 5, here’s part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.
Tag list: @cupcakes-and-pain @whump-em @whumpzone @wh-wh-whu @neuro-whump @carnagecardinal @cowboy-anon @whump-me-all-night-long @redwingedwhump @myst-in-the-mirror @haro-whumps @eatyourdamnpears @bloodsweatandpotato @pinkraindropsfell @whumptywhumpdump @theydy-cringeworthy @whump-in-progress @whumpsy-daisy @nicolepascaline @whumpcreations @briars7 @shiningstarofwinter @whumppsychology @alex-ember @miss-kitty-whumptastic @whumpy-writings @in-patient-princess @youtube-fandoms-bands @goblinchildindabog @mazeish @distinctlywhumpthing @inpainandsuffering @canniboylism @icannotweave @incoherent-introspection @kim-poce @broken-typewriter @the-monarch-whumperfly @whumpers-inc @grizzlie70 @lil-whumper @writingbackwards @sunflower1000 @wingedwhump @thecitythatdoesntsleep @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @onlybadendings @rabass @wolfeyedwitch @melancholy-in-the-morning
#lydia and coriander#pet whump#bbu#box boy#box boy universe#wru#whumpeesrus#recovery whump#rescue whump#caretaker#box boy multiverse#original writing
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Vamptember Prompt Day 1: Roadtrip
Concept: AU where Lestat is literally trapped in corporeal hell in MtD (a la Dante's Inferno), and Gabrielle and Louis go on a road trip to rescue him.
This is just fragments, a loose collection of conversations between the two of them on their travels. @vamptember
“Why did you come here, Gabrielle? Surely there are others stronger than me who could be of more help. Why not Marius, or David, one of the elders?”
Gabrielle frowns. “You are his husband.”
“I—what? I beg your pardon?” My cheeks flush hotly, despite myself.
Gabrielle just shrugs one shoulder, in that casual manner of hers. “Aren’t you?”
I stare at her, open-mouthed. I close my mouth, and try not to seem affronted. Try not to feel affronted. Am I his—what? The words hardly makes sense. Like a double negative, surely that sentence cannot be grammatically correct. His? His—husband. And yet it does, of course it does make sense, I am his and he is mine and it has always been that way, from the moment I first laid eyes on his head of shining golden hair. We were lovers in every sense of the word, we had a child together, and yet, and yet—
“Are you coming or not? Or do I have to go after my son alone?”
“No—of course not. Of course I—of course I am coming. Of course, Gabrielle.”
The barest hint of a smile tugs at her lips. “As I thought, then. Good.”
***
She speaks to me only in French. There is a faint, if you blink you’ll miss it, Italian lit to her accent. I suppose that having been more or less isolated in jungles for the past two centuries, avoiding contact with other mortals or vampire unless strictly necessary, has preserved her original accent. Mine has shifted subtly yet steadily throughout the ages; we vampires are natural mimics. It just happens naturally, we don’t have to think about it or force it. In the first century of my life, I maintained a Southern gentility to my voice, tempered by a touch of smoothness from the French of my early childhood and the French we sometimes spoke at home at Rue Royale. When I went to Paris, Armand at first called my French accent ‘colonial’, which thoroughly shocked me. Mingling amidst the people of Paris, and more broadly spending much time in the company of Armand all across Europe, my accent changed once again, and the lilt of the American south only re-surfaced when I spoke English. (Now that I think about it, Armand’s accent was rather like Gabrielle’s. I suppose it makes sense, as In their mortal youth they were once both Italians transplanted to France).
Lestat’s accent has been even more mutable than mine, however. It had always been unplaceable to me, even when I first met him. He is, as ever, loathe to give anyone insight into his origins. And it’s probably a game to him, to pivot smoothly from one to another and beguile the listener. All part of the web that he so deftly weaves.
“Do you love him?” Gabrielle asks me suddenly.
I swallow. There’s a hoarseness in my voice when I ask, “do you?”
She is silent for a moment. Then she laughs quietly, a low chuckle in her chest. She kicks one khaki clad leg out in front of her on the ledge. “I am his mother,” she said. “Of course I love him.” She does not, I take note, say how dare you suggest that I don’t?
“We have both abandoned him before,” I say.
“This is true,” she says. Her words are careful. There is still breath in her that she doesn’t let out, and I know she is contemplating saying more. I am quiet, hoping she will, but the moment passes. Gabrielle is not like Lestat in this way. She will not speak just to fill space in the air.
“I love him more than my own life,” I breathe. I hear the words as they leave me and float on the air. I take that sound and press it into my mind.
“You say that because you value your own life and your own freedom so little. Me, I am the opposite. I did not have these things while human, though I longed for them, and so I value my life and my freedom so much that the love I have for Lestat simply cannot supersede them. I would not give up those things, and he would require that I do. He is…he is quite demanding, when it comes to love.”
“He is,” I agree.
“You know, Louis,” she says. I feel her shoulder brush against mine, almost companionable. “When I was married to Lestat’s father, the Marquis, I didn’t want to have another child. My body had already suffered so much with the others. Six times, six times I had been pregnant and most of those infants died. That is something you cannot understand, as a man. How horrible that is. He forced himself on me, in a terrible, violent way, and that’s how Lestat came to be.”
“Gabrielle,” I whisper. “I am sorry.”
A soft smile graces her lips. “It's some irony that he turned out to be the gentlest of them all." Then she glances sideways at me, and her expression darkness. She frowns pityingly. "At least for a time."
***
“Are you asking me whom I have taken as lovers, Louis?”
I feel the echo of a blush. “I apologize, Madame, if that question is inappropriate…”
“Well. I do not often find myself interested in such things anymore. But on the occasion that I do, I find I prefer the company of women.”
I can’t help but smile at her. I don’t know why.
She laughs a little. “What, Louis? Is this something you might have predicted?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” I draw in a breath. “Is it something you knew while you were a human?”
She tilts her head and regards me curiously. “I do not know. Other than a few experiences in my youth, it was incredibly hard to tell, as I’m sure you might understand. I was forced into that life, after all. Although if I interrogate those years thoroughly enough, I suppose I can find evidence that it was indeed my preference, even then.”
I sigh. “This is something I’ve wondered before. Why are so many of us…”
“Homosexuals?” That’s something about Gabrielle which is similar to Lestat. She does not mince words.
“Well—I mean, well…”
Gabrielle shrugs. “We are all chosen for this, are we not? We are a self-selected species, in some ways. Perhaps those who make us are aware of something in us, that even as mortals we have already had some practice at being outcasts. Some intrinsic quality of perseverance, and the strength to hide our nature from those who would not accept it. Perhaps it is this skill which gives us the ability to carry on in this life, such as we are.”
“When Lestat was a boy, did you know...did you know that he was...”
She laughs, suddenly. “Lestat. He was always running after the village girls. I can’t tell you how many times I had to calm their frantic mothers, assure them that he wouldn’t get them pregnant. But then he took up with that boy, the violinist Nicolas, and I knew they were lovers, of course I did. They thought they were more careful than they actually were. They were inseparable, and more casually intimate than boys should be, and Lestat was bold enough even to bed him in his rooms in the Chateau. And they were,” she laughs again. “They were not quiet. Whenever that happened I was sure to try and occupy my husband and my other sons in another wing of the castle, so that they would not discover him. Poor Lestat. I can only imagine what they might have done to him had they found out. And once that happened, I knew, I knew beyond a doubt, that Lestat could never find happiness in our village in the Auvergne. So I determined to help him escape with his love. It was too late for me, I knew that. But If I could not escape, at least he could. If it was the last thing I ever did, I wanted to make sure he would not have the life that I had.”
“Gabrielle. I must know something. Would you have made the same decision, if you had known what was to happen to him when he went to Paris?”
She is silent for a long moment. I notice her lips press together into a thin line. It is, after all, the rape and the murder of her son I have asked her to consider. “Yes,” she says eventually. “Yes, I would have.”
Then she turns to me, and her eyes are so cold and hard they look like pits. “Would you have taken your daughter to Paris if you had known what would happen to her?”
I falter. I have no words for her then.
Despite all our differences, the fact remains that Gabrielle and I are irreversibly connected. We both love Lestat, and we both have broken Lestat’s heart. And then there is the trenchant fact that Gabrielle and I have both lost a child in Paris.
No, not just lost. That is too kind an admission. Gabrielle and I have both sent our child to their death. That, I realize, more than anything else, is the thing that binds us together.
Ever since I first met Gabrielle in the 1980s, it’s crossed my mind from time to time how wonderful it would have been if Claudia could have met her grandmother. Gabrielle could have taught her so much that Lestat and I never could have. Gabrielle knew what it meant to be a woman-vampire, she knew what it meant to be limited by the constraints of her own body. To be a monster in a frail form.
Claudia was like Lestat’s mother not only in looks, but also in the way she lived so fiercely, without compromise. Gabrielle is who Claudia might have been. And yet…
***
“Monsieur!” I shout.
She turns to me, strands of her long hair having come loose from their braids and flying in the wind. She grins at me, a huge genuine grin which reminds me of her son. All right, I think. She likes it when I call her Monsieur. It makes her feel more like herself. Perhaps I should continue calling her that.
***
[After Lestat is rescued]
Gabrielle looks pityingly at the two of us. We must look a sight, with our bloody tear stained faces.
“You must let the dead stay dead,” she whispers.
Lestat just puts his head in his hands and sobs.
***
“Let’s go this way, Monsieur,” I suggest to Gabrielle.
“Monsieur?!” Lestat looks incredulous. He looks back and forth between us.
Gabrielle smiles at him and pats his hand. “Do not look so alarmed, my love. It’s not becoming.”
Lestat huffs. “Louis can’t just call you—he—I will not stand for it, Mother. He’s always doing things like this, just to irritate me—”
I roll my eyes. “Relax, Lestat. If Gabrielle likes being called Monsieur, at the very least it’s not your concern and at best you might try to oblige her.”
His lip curls. “You don’t get to tell me what to call my own mother, Louis.”
Gabrielle shakes her head. “Mon Dieu. How did the two of you ever live in the same household?”
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Sorry Hi Op I'm @eyesanddragons this is just my main- You might of seen my tags already but I didnt expect to see WKTD in the web weave and Im going insane- the Jupiter-Qibli parallels...Anyway Hi! Your thoughts on Qibli are Great and Im Rotating them In Brain
Hi!! God, I absolutely needed to include WKTD on my lil Qibli study, it literally started as a character comparison between just him and Jupiter that happened to grow from there!
I honestly have enough in terms of quotes from the game that I would easily Make A Second Post about Qibli and Jupiter with it. I barely even got to include stuff from her actual ending!
I’ve scrolled through some of your tags and while I didn’t interact with many of them because I don’t want to Spam anyone, but your Qibli thoughts are so so good (and the rest of your thoughts on the series for that matter!) rotating them in MY brain!!
I may very well make a second Qibli post because I have so much in my brain about him but I will say I did originally want to use parts of the “If you do good things” dialogue in the lead up to Jupiter’s devil form and parts of;
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Hello Minovae! If you could change any decision in your life, looking back, would you go for it and if so what would it be?
The very moment Minovae realizes the nature of the question you're asking, her eyes go a little wide, and her lips part as her jaw slackens.
"I...", she begins and then suddenly grits her teeth, eyes closing as her expression changes to one more serious.
"No, I can't answer this question, I'm sorry."
Her head shakes, sending platinum locks swaying, before she breathes deeply.
"This is a dangerous question for someone that did actually have that ability... and still might..." A tense smile returns to her face as she relaxes a bit, shaking off whatever ill thoughts had entered her mind. "I know you meant nothing ill by this question. Many people I'm sure would go back and fix their mistakes if they could... but when you do actually have the potential to do so..."
She hums, tapping her fingers onto the table as her tail vibrates across the ground, betraying truly how disquieting this topic is for her.
"Doing it for Staunton was already pushing it. Given the choice, I still would do it again. He was a tragic figure and his life now has brought so much good and justice into our world, but... " Something dark passes behind her eyes. "Seeing the Weave and all the branching paths, like a web across every sense of existence there is... No. This is a power not for mortal minds, and my short forays into such attempts were utterly terrifying. It's only because of power that my own mind didn't unravel."
A sudden blaze of light above her head heralds the appearance of her protean crown. Pink-purple energy forms prongs that cradle the black and white aeon orbs on the outer thirds, while that aeon eye gazes unblinkingly at you. Constellations swirl about her eyes and head as she continues talking, seeing things herself that would most likely defy your comprehension.
"You see, it's not changing things so much as creating another strand in the web. The original outcome still happens, all you've done is copied that web and everyone in it, and then that strand proceeds with what you 'changed'. It's... I dislike thinking about it. That there are countless other versions of myself out there that have suffered more or lived better because of maybe even inconsequential changes... Once I learned that about what Time Magic actually is... it suddenly wasn't so appealing anymore."
Her palms dramatically flatten across the table as she breathes deeply, almost like trying to shake a sudden weight from her shoulders.
"If you want a legitimate answer, it would be to somehow rid myself of this Time domain. But I suppose being an aeon and protean both makes that impossible..."
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b, n, p?
Liz, a pleasure as always <3
B
- Beautiful People, Ed Sheeran ft. Kahlid: I love the theme of seeing past the sheer curtain of things such as beauty standards and fame, and just realizing that most of the time, those things aren't as glamorous as they seem to be. (*cough* gossip girl's original plot *cough*)
- Bloom, The Paper Kites: It's such an airy song that makes me feel happy. It's about the Yearning as well, so that's a bonus.
- Boys Will Be Boys, Dua Lipa: Woman said "I'm about to put you ALL to shame." This song just makes me equal parts vindicated and furious because REALLY? Men need it to be spelled out for them in a blatantly obvious song how fucked up it is for women in the world?! The lyrics are something that almost every woman has experienced in her life: harassment, not being out at night, keys between their knuckles when they're on their own, mansplaining, etc. It's a cathartic song for me.
- Broken, Isak Danielson: (🪑 vibes aside) this is another song that breaks my heart, but not in the same way BWBB does. The thought that there are women out in the world who feel like they can't leave their situations, even when there are people in their lives who try to help, rips my heart in pieces.
- brutal, Olivia Rodrigo: There are times where I just feel the need to bash my teenage years, you know. The punk rock speaks to my soul 💛
N
- The Night We Met, Lord Huron: I'm cheating, but only a little. The first time I heard this song, it was 2am in the morning during last Summer, and I was going through some things that caused me to have insomnia/ a fear of going to bed, but this song just made my night. The melancholic, regretful tone of it hit my heart. But it wasn't in a way that made me cry (at first), it just was a song that I became obsessed with in the middle of the night. After three listens to it, THEN I started to cry.
- New York City, Among Savages: Does this need explaining? The Dair of It All just hits whenever I listen to this song. The excitement I feel when I hear it is *chef's kiss*. Everytime I hear the trumpets, 360° kiss just springs to mind.
- New Romantics, Taylor Swift: I love music that is about finding yourself, whether it's because you are just starting in life, or you have outgrown your life, I connect with that due to where I am in my life.
- It's Nice to Have a Friend, Taylor Swift: (again, ignore the cheating) WHERE DO I START? I first heard this song from a dair edit (still my favorite one to this day), and I was enamored with the song. Because not only does it tie into my favorite ship of all time, BUT it also was so different to other songs I'd heard of Taylor's. Again, trumpets! The ethereal choir in the background, the abrupt lyrics, the ukulele, the idea of falling I'm love with your best friend... it's a perfect song to me.
- No Body, No Crime, Taylor Swift: Taylor wrote an entire Netflix series in a four minute song, and I think that's neat of her.
P
- Peer Pressure, James Bay ft. Julia Michaels: I'm a sucker for upbeat music about a guy who is suddenly in love with this girl he's known for so long (👀).
- Pieces, Andrew Belle: This song hits me with nostalgia, even though I didn't listen to it as a kid lol. Just, overall, I love the vibes this song has.
- Paper Planes, Elina: Again, it's the Vibes.
- Passenger, Noah Kahan: Fun fact, I used this song in my first web-weave. I'm a sucker for acoustic guitar and a narrator trying to improve themselves.
- Perfect, Ed Sheeran: I mean... come on. It's a lovely song that hits me right in the romantic feels.
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It will be dying
A rispetto sequence
1
’ Of the season be than prove the shepheards daughter
the wakes, I weep for love to every body
one travel, a pale as they were never
know. It will be dying. Diplomatic lost
in fairly dinner, pursued his qualities
with these graves. I neede not heartlesse hare, till telling
star came up, all the same feelings and Favour
or who sends they prate of the Northern wild!
2
Then the web of beauty’s form leans sadly o’er
thy part of my infirme: for thee, my frugal
eye of more interpreted, whose like star. Charlotte
such a dragon whence absent case. I spoke
of death. And swallows wilderness, to-morrow,
month lies thou sole pride, let rays of blood, and after
successions thinges! Thus far I could not
been, in lucent words wherefore than ducats.
3
But my cheerless, icily regular, splendour
whose citizen his blustring, is calm and
wings, somewhat, and loyal scratching through the
champion into deal with thee in her like a
horse? And faire handy lads, had gaz’d on Nature
apt seruants the praise add some smallest chick pushed
and Favour at her? Like a singing that I
shall mould, that whilome was cloud as syllables!
4
But she hath the tottering with thee could not
lie. Written with pity,—juan, as an
unprofitable of love in derring with thee were
finally every nights, the world! Under times
the palms pass away. My mistress Oh, weep my
wont: who think of eternal—speake, whose children,
would have none with my fathers have made of him,
her difficult some moment, to place to mine.
5
Doth ride; or being the hotel sweeps the tomb.
Like somewhat does slumber? Before man with a
bow, kiss in lead: o heauie herself then the day
I whistle a poison’d flame usual
Origin of majesty, after succeed in
its beating the sun is daily new lovers
look back to me? Thaw not youth, Health, or either
eyes the praises; or, if not quite alone, bright.
6
The elves: while the silk will be because silks, in
mind, and heart forget-me-nots, and the Rhine; the
temple-gate. Came a message sent for Poesy!
Weaving—the beauty’s pride, and gnarled. Your wheels, white
sheepe, they deadly spight to leaue no more meet that
the woods, filled transmitted a sleep. Faded the
joyous love of the sun and as an idol
show, since he made me bow, in lieu of a lie.
7
The key to it. Nor what it vs brings forth,
Live! Nay, if the elements; but track men waits
to crush throughout life from thoughts: our loveliness,
and touch! Or proudest sail doth were down, a
thinges, lawyers, priest, thus me to me; but we
set forth found? To kindled hopes to each; and no
sting, is my heart shall neighbors had been, had limed
our soules, that I never upon the same.
8
Heaven’s brand; heavens high, left it be sad or
cheeks were scantly with the temple-gate. Relate
in thy cheere is not absurd to weeping, over
sown; this true? The King Himself and throstle’s
lay; as from kiss hand ambrosial rest thou
noteless worm would scaled the stern, like a coruscation,
private, though of what the vitall that
is told; who once a body one attorney.
9
Were wert thou, O cruel. Course to be fed. Homeward
in all turn’d may be. To stir or later. Shade,
while cheeks so liefe: let me not said to me here?
Leave their shadow of identified this proper
place where you go. Bier, though streaming evil,
I have seen a Duke no matter, ’ and pass’d in
story: the small protest you disgusts me fall
to the stood beside her graunt the Lion’s isle.
10
Stars, how such as no matters down arm’d, forsooth!
Thrice happye herse, the ken, or bell at closde-vp sence
was ratified them gentlest be thanked men
take him ne’er to your daughter, your hair I dreamed
we both to speak, I do not long so flagless
strokes it to chace the same.—The heedlesse lust and
baffled step, by a man who had place an ugly
toad half-flush the sooner or not, but knows?
11
So firme were stanzas a low midnight them
gentlest of the fear? As brief made in his broad-
brimm’d or show us to no earthly thing, as
these presence presence president—whose might o
ioyfull verse. Who in another and the signes
of his fierce that these, however hard but
thus earth, a quick change seizure came, veiling pillar,
her error like a moment into gold.
12
This silly brain, across that throat in one breath.
Of the elves: whining hands: onion-juice, yellow
knock of some on me; my spring. In the poor
Ambition, and barre again! Reserve the two
arms; and the shore until fairly diddled. His
morning Post, sole record! Strange the vale you see,
on the flying, and I will envy, hate and
part of Living pomp might magic mantles red.
13
And turnpikes, or whether woes? How to life—each
nights to think of. Or set, hot Shame might—and stream
and quite and precious fool broken in dread, and
our device of anger sits, luncheons call’d
Paradise of Folly needs none could not heed me;
its kiss that wisdom may cease to be fiddled.
Sits on me; my spirits of old? He had outwept
it shoulders to show it gotten an vnsoote.
14
Where Grattan, Curran, Sheridan, all those rude
enough. Strong and every hanging or a lethal
joke, The woman simple denies; shee, lighter
she may cease touch or little to plant my
knees, from wife, and is Stella, say, for great
constancy confined, somewhat died of bricks of the
waves fold embers more mildly fae, unless the
slow poison. To the cold lichen on a hill.
15
I say ’Tis so, thus here incess Ida seemed
a hole, and gates with that she, or chains of this,
dear last cloud. Who in his stepping water poure
outlives the raging sense unhaunted quite: my
harueste has not to be sought not be grandfather
nuttes to make your head like a God’s, have
done but are ashes; whate’er she looks: some Dreams,
all wasted, the drowsy hour; Oh, weep anew!
16
Pardon, that, says Rose, together there is not
what is in the weake worms and yourselves as the
place to gather petty grief, when I pull you
to me once lived twenty years before. Thou art
beat you to the city cap’s a charnel; fear
ourself, all thy silver lyre unstrung, and one
sees clear, nor use a sugred kissed me. Perfect
and the guardian sea-god to gather fine.
17
Or seemed them all one and that I wear it. I
would given; lie buried in the world a spirit
thou free glory in Mens fall’n, may rise unhelpt
of his yerely known come to die. My
mother, t is in this is the spring of
the times still stray; in twining hellish paine, and
frozen seas? Comes and loathed in snowy summertime.
Sitting all bright in all this privilege.
18
And I hate and watch-tower, answer’d, vanishing
dumbe lips, more orthodox. I said, may
chattering seas: the call’d Parks, ’ where Venus sitting
bid me farewel, here the slant of spirit
seem so. Angels wind-tossed her teethin’ a spoon;
o merry glee, my friend, hissing, the garden,
flower. But ere the sink when treated praise that
my high romantic heard each around his death.
19
Better sight, her cotes to uncontrovertible
a level, that befell tolling, but sweet
loved and, to whatever lost as these ladies,
past its memory from the life; What pay thee,
and dust of higher tree, the flower of art—
his expended may illuminate mankind.
Then other in the proud lap plucks the Type of
busy visit; there we squat outside the rents?
20
But shade, I fill it a year to that: for wings.
Ah God, as thou lay, pierc’d by the superscription
will blaste, that Coleridge hath shot, her life that
being others; others like a well-oiled, and
makes me to hurt and in unquiet scene its cool
under moan’d, turn all my best dreamy, kind, and
danced to confess our delight wave may be my
ain. And Loue, not think that able time, where pain.
21
In one before I go hence, absence till Day!
My pulses, till tell by the store.—Whether raged
in interpret! Peace is extremely—thou shalt
gayne, with bowèd necks, and flower of unreflect
them with a sudden hairs of the mountains handsome
a little or pride tis so: for which smile
one, let me an epitaph—he is departed;
therefore? To slay a freeborn native East.
22
Isles lovelier flower, the poore names I picked
and me like deer. But to owe, insolvent every
woman opens its spacious form lend there
is the pageant to wonder at thy defect,
commanded and blythe belov’d of blame; what thou
should I painted into flight with him belly
on ground sunshine heiress of man! Thy earth was
in field Mars bare blade of fresh ruffles of man!
23
The greater loss with his part; open thinges!
Peace sitting to a phrase well-built house, while the
moment, the road: so that hath scoure. Our hero
in thee could scale into the living authors
ask’d why? To lie groaning on the unreturns
bright my plague thus here that doe you no more;—
Farewel, here the way, when thy abundance now
sharp eye much as no man’s light; through crowds and death.
24
—Fairest creatures kindled astray. The first are
young as air! All he crushed; but sweet voices instinct,
the topic, without our Sex betrayable
rose from the Indian grave—wrapt in clams as
one before my prayed conceding glacier where
little hills. Would prospects name, for the lover’s
heart too much, nor in the champaign, drank the
calendar. Played the heaven was Werther going!
25
The floating poet, ’ like harness’d in the
firmament anew, Urania; Lost Angers wrath
offend, with summer of the dip of certaine,
where flew round of Absence, of hand and hue, and
trachyte, till the last kiss, shalt be, but feeling
like flame transmembers. Love, I fill thy hungry
eyes serue him ne’er she conquer’d with its budded
fairy tales are others; other can I say?
26
Tell me, and pleasaunce more will I learned bee,
and you know what sin by his dead! The sun and
we must borrow kind, still constant in at a
distant shore, you make known, whose thunder its Trees
that safely diddled. Look off, some a sleep, when
your eyes most of their native earth she would know
right, and by I shall be it not that we poore
women, calling as skies are gone, in spring.
27
He deems it is before up afloat, whose
pedestal with golden snake, my freedom’s chosen
state, you give him that were in thy west or wak’st
thou returns eyes, as severe chilled the from
remembers.—Oh, dreams that like blood clot. The solitary
bard to his reverend Rowley Powley,
who earns the most every gaze upward became
here are the prefigures of heauens doe misse.
28
The blood imbrue thy Oaten reede, or adamant,
to shift and lost. That will never-wearied with
fair Corinna’s triumphing, born coughed to remains
be laid aside, and fountain when I have seen
faultily fault was the small-eyed Sal his blushes
for the glitter’d into the broadening th’
unkind breathes wound about then and that my
father tongue-tied Muse to life shrunk in his ray.
29
His sinne of the melancholy Mother, war!
Now haue I scaled the Slave off our notion into
a summer-night Where is a garden night.
From his lips of Heaven’s smiles, O let me, above
me. The languish’d please you say parataxis
would prospects name tags, blood are thou shall cease
she have relish in. Well, she had never more
changeable, leapt slantwise that, against his change.
30
And by those sweet pure immortally to you
as a beaten long. Of our hope to her fault
was interpret! The carefull brown came throw,
enterings, and calmly flower, the ghostess,
nor at the fish in. Of politeness and sip
her presently? Herrick, the lawns, where London
strayne. But Damme’ s quite and thro’ my verse so wrought
he scarlet gown the firmament of the tomb.
31
For loue and Campbell his present to the
prefigures seen, thou didst thou still strain scatter’d
from things, because I love the Gods mouth with the
tomb. You have neither live and he hecht here. Peep
in at you see. Of attraction on the man
I am chained by person, private in thee;
though soon as a decrepit father, and of
moonlight, and radiant and what’s love or breathe found?
32
Wit, girt round it mutual risk some fitter
in her native mud in, unto his name
flowery grass his flint. And yet there on thee longer
thine all their splendour in springe, for thy silv’ry
fence of Alpine hills. The laverock to
the glories dart. Rib’s a thorough a lad, had
seen Napoleon, while sleeping flower
invulnerable, leapt every flowers, las!
33
I leaves that he denial. At least she poore
share; and and liberty, doth common change. As
Albion’s endowment, because I seek my love,
more admirations therefore dear, so make fine
pacing-horse, or name, for the whale-bone may murmured
Florian, I with blush again; but heart
is winter, when we come to tears of love being
songs of azure sky, and the lang nights, things.
34
Go and came she was, and sung, at eighty greatest,
Russian or make that dimm’d or shouts—and when
I again what this honest fate, their new-found
land and Faliero my topics: poems must
thy face that sleep, or gemmes impart, lost thou
now art! Ay me that I knew the gold as in
the Cause of fragrance, and judge of youth with fullness,
an honest mind. Slave and watched swindler’s lie?
35
Already spent—and break the puppy’s a king.
Have gone, and brave? Was half-opens its music:
the death with and wets the cocked haye. That I shall
along the worst repose? Not—He lives. Thaw not
yet aliue art dead, alley night, till to proved the
stroke, that which he demanded break thine eyes. I
have drawn his tree, and whisper of their camp of
deaths, and keep them where the worse for nuts at strainte?
36
In the sea see Billing you skillets, when I
am surer, quickening, now, while, which on
our life-time’s one on the terror like a delta
with kindling but a bread. Wert wont to soul,
whose might doth such a draught of arrivals halts,
midst royal itch and fragrant-curtain of God
did raised a tent of some stripling wound, the breathed
Paddocks lording and many a secret core.
37
—And yet in the laved and hers shall lean toward
paradise, ’ which men may nothing for a man.
Go and a flat? The thine own: thou hast nor last,
warm breast as thou wert thou the time again, is
it for all, or a bridge,—that’s standing Devon
banks, crystal Devon, wilt thou, the moulded in
it. New as his past its message from trees Ah,
woe is made this unriddled. But ere you this?
38
Thy golden rod, they quickening, now, while still
as brightness had fallen to over-rule us
and scarce uplift pale of childish lullaby?
In two days for the despot kings, shaking
your daughter, may find its light, and from abroad;
they were wont to draw somewhat dimm’d hawker of
my heart, hind, that’s wrong with his song in masquerade;
and whom my breast, the subtle cargoes lie.
39
And murmured Florian bands: O noble Vashti,
noble than thou lay thy heart likely, to
my questions. The House to live more! I have refuse:
daughters, two or three were: adieu my dearest
dear last, when the fading, doth stand all their
prey; wanderer country’s pride, his pale flocks are
gilly gowans hang gold like Don Juan was my
Mount Saint Jean seemingly tribute take him not!
40
Of lasting, busy visits, but no young girls
away. Then murmur of the dove may fail; then
in a most other—since he makes me from dawn
to dross the Treasures of wot notice Neptune,
make that will ever will be sport I suckt
whilomele her for a woman simple she
wake off metaphysical discussion, gave
such night unto his ransom, before my verse.
41
The will have reliefe: but kinda like the ocean
be which I doubt we seems, downright dead and
her grass. I never made bare and Sommer who
saw the Pythian of either dwell, thy golden
clouds refuge for became here is a matcht, we
come to no earth: so good, fond and bursting union
of payment eternal cold of thee why
thou arrivals halts, midst tell me hotels, st.
42
Now, were as prompt to spil the lay; and hand answered
in store that smell of hopes and pawed about
then dinner, clear to cover the burned in mounds
of cold mortal things; and wae on the honey
fed; who, when shift mi hips to struck, so rapt
Urania! Their trailing as the surf bright he, it
is sitting bed remorse? Is cheek, the wheels, the
sill and pleasaunce more, but always write—love’s sphere.
43
Of lamps to a grand imagination, whose
balusters, and I no more of a sonnets,
and feelings mortal though porous rage hys right.
Bid you are his carol they for complete thee;
nor did I choose, the rapt Urania! At this
or the waltz, the Continent, and buds of good
enduring that thou art, how to speak thine ten
time, and chalk and pain and watch’d Urania’s eyes.
44
But she the faculty to reuert, o ioyfull
stood, engirt without much the same. What strange Poet-
princess: Lady Ida’s youth and fyrie furies
for those limbs into as furious, be
not pointing better day. Ah God, thrown, no doubt,
when by the coals to the trembling her face house,
my head and prove the mind by time, and my returns
too changed for wealth, or either fruit and storm.
45
Was wedded to tell me hotter, wake to or
laid aside, the bees, that kinda like unletter’d
lay, a quickly pick up. Or fell,—don Juan
was a lilly, her face! And what is so proudlier
prayse, but sweet, so far from Yugoslavia
somewhere in the good though cast together
they transform’d to awaken’d from her has looser
yeare drawest the voice, and never know its.
46
A wafer dol’d by the large enow to draw
from abroad; the sang with tears no longer liue,
ah why liue we squat outside, eating fountains
all; and nighting star came from thee, my Katie
where the copses dress’d; but Lady Psyche wholesale
court and mark with husks of many a flower
of wild red leewardings, and for one; ten
time in spring. Evil tongue more consequence?
47
The dead leaves on the world’s Te Deum, ’ and love, renews
us, will finally every Reverend
Rowley Powley, who earn our end were and promise
your folds ye lock, ere I once to moan! Or
throat in a moment, no tears and kissin’ my
Katie; o come and Self-contempt.—But a
companions of wake to affright, for having spoke
it open fi mi if I shifted to rave.
48
Of mute and to compounds to lay thy love and
in their new-found with no flower, shall be my
love the bitter whispered this made, never, never
persisting and Philome was sent o’er. So,
the sits to pestle a poem, known by his
system t is a blunder—if it had robbed
us not: in twelve-fingers self, nor to hunt
his shift mi hips to aid his with circumference.
49
When I have sewn it overcome it. From though
opposite an Atalantis; but think, and no
spot and fired it by that Urne. Full of
incongruities: be her on your eyes that I may
fix himself down? Two days gone homeward fate; tis
so: for a passion and which should young as fire
outlives a worthiest lie still be its music
from the wakes bene all dissolution.
50
And ugliness whose access to ocean is,
she answer us today as I must not
what is a matcht, were still as bright in all hem
out, each had held you are cover-because a
fair and much, some vast speculation dark and
the dead a lightning throats. Juan was sowne, was never
and brambles there was liberty, doth leads
to no earth receives; and she know: for her, war!
51
Being blindly wove One frozen seas? Happily
I condemn’d to the unusual Origin
of man on continue pure madrigal,
unto his lips, an hour, that nought, be as a
rose; they say, have write of Beauty which can join
together thine tenant. He from his lines of
the rose, were frayed like to duct tape the shooting
showers. Sown; this time past, perfect’st love, the worse.
52
To keep in should not choose to morn now at erst:
then is to judge of happier, be its will
she raise that I am drumming his yet who
you ignore, so you in made her present deep-
mouth’d Boeotian Savage the wanderer could be
humiliating on their birth of a jealous
is, it seem’d quite under soules health and seeks
Sol’s pale of cherry-isle, wash’d throng! What Juan was.
53
Forking and ever by, one in the western
wave,—hastened to thus: yet a message from his
beauty is head was twined wither’s at hazard,
will sayd, still, I am suffice a mourned the
grave, or if I euer she did not dead; all bearer
where compared with bowèd necks, and complain house
in fruit and died. The Druids’ grove, no dislodge
the sigh’d shape of blood to confess thick eyelids.
54
The ruthless mountains rise, is head? Bawd, in open-
hearted, the Muses fount, and comparison
to weeping frame, some say that shall have seen
the chance; and of light insinuations, all
forget-me-nots, and all emong the Treasures,
shall for all passion’s blithe world with lightning I
did stinging then, as a son and where are
villagers. And where the faint when swift hazards rude.
55
Were strange, a license; might as happy herself
be snuff’d out, as the time again; the silent
death, and fit to experiment. I do love
itself be snuff’d out by a knife, driven out
bother which rainbows twined with a singing down
the play, ye villager’s mien, especial jury
of morning; is it to where peals the glow-
worm lend the exact affair on which some day.
56
His lecture read: that’s rather way one day I
care to brain. And the devil is it, each my
princess rode beside her divides and region
that brought to need. One will give while their love with
a hey nonino, that the sea’s red vine, fond
for the lefte to myself to me the last, and
fans him err: nor the stars awaken’d from day
tarnished and caves in another sought She pause.
57
Of the faintly classic Angell guide, and thou
would scaled then hissing a handsome, whose like all
my name is Shame she has outsoar’d thee, and mouth,
tell me wild distorted that was grave, or that
blows, and by Gods withdraw; Then, some good turn squeakers—
I have made of children, would have to thee.
What was wont to the eternal wings, and added,
lest sometimes have tried, more return’d to it.
58
Dwells the death. Heaven’ he added, lest some sad
maiden, till tell not less alone that sustains
of watered lowly but exquisite to me?
To one of which touch him not the love are seeking
is idle, biologically is not
Hyacinth so curious wrath of many-
colour, and strike me, her vain can quench not, or
find when we come to morn now itself in mine.
59
For a man without our mind the treasure’s deep
in Phidian lore. For calling liberty, doth
fall from the world’s bitter without a moan? Of
though our merry worst repose, ne’er will kissing
in Ioue and Ocean Live them lying sound of
spice the Girl, in the land, lass, in charms, while my
eyes shut vp in woe? Of race accounted stairs
at the foreigners—and mother, but in the head.
#poetry#automatically generated text#Patrick Mooney#Markov chains#Markov chain length: 6#139 texts#rispetto sequence
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Speak Up Against Persecution… Before You Can’t
This is the clearest warning God has ever given me.
God is emphatically telling the American Church, “Speak now, or forever hold your peace.” Whatever we are going to say, whatever we are going to do, whatever action we are going to take to protect our rights as Christians and Americans, we must do now.
Doubt my words at your own peril. Churches are about to be closed forever. People of faith will soon be marginalized, both socially and economically. What we are talking about here is the destruction of your children’s and your grandchildren’s future. They will live in a world where they will be targeted for the faith you have given them. And the worst part is that you will not be here to protect them when they endure the worst of it.
Listen closely—the threat I am describing is not years away, it is not even months away, it is days away. Yes, absolutely, we are days away from the new excuse the Democrats are preparing to use to wipe out the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution.
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Here is what has happened to justify the urgency of my writing. Satan has been working on this masterstroke of tyranny for years. The tapestry of lies he has woven is the greatest manipulation of truth in all of history.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness (Isaiah 5:20).
Their lies change hatred into love and love into hatred. They make racism equality and equality racism. The Left has changed the definition of so many terms that there are few, if any, words that carry their original meanings.
The web of evil that has fallen over all of America is clearly described in Isaiah 59:4-8:
No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.
That passage describes exactly what is happening, from our lowest back alleys to our highest offices of power.
And the following verses tell us what is coming next.
Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter. So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey (Isaiah 59:14-15).
The moment you will become the prey of Marxist wolves is even now at the door.
I am sick to death with those who refuse to call the Church to action. Let me put it plainly. You have two choices: either cast your votes to restore Democracy to America, or make a plan to move your family to somewhere safe. I am also sick of those pastors who refuse to come to this obvious conclusion.
When you hear them screaming, “Mario Murillo is an extremist!” remember that we got to this point of desperation because of the lukewarm voices who refused to admit the approach of danger.
Remember when California told us not to use our Bibles? Pastors did not galvanize a resistance to stop it.
Remember when marriage was destroyed? Again, there was no national firewall of righteous leaders to intervene.
Then they told us to close our churches, even as they condoned mass protests that led to violence and helped spread the virus. Again, there was no unanimous action from American church leaders.
Then they told us that we cannot sing. Telling us that we must stop worshiping God was a test balloon to see how fast they can force the Church underground.
So what is next? Will they pass laws to extend the church-gathering ban indefinitely? Will they move on to dictating not only when we can meet, when we can sing, but will they also dictate what we can say? Will we finally find ourselves being ordered to read from a script that will be, in effect, a repudiation of our faith in Christ?
Remember, we are here because of an incurably wrong-headed sense of political correctness. Well, my brothers and sisters, that season is over. The gloves must come off. The righteous must rise up with a single roar—a noise that is unified and unending must rise from the Church!
For years we have been told to just sit back and let it happen. We were told that it was “all in God’s hands,” even as we ignored God’s words. God has chosen to honor prayer. God rewards those who seek to stand in the gap against national evil.
Borrowing one last verse from Isaiah, which tells us our great predicament: “Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor” (Isa. 59:15-16).
God is shocked, and rightly so, that the American Church is still wandering, wavering, and weakening in the face of an invading enemy.
And yet, there is great hope because God’s army is rising and its numbers are growing at this very hour. Notable Christian leaders are no longer worried about protecting their reputations, but are taking up a new anointing—a nation-saving anointing!
With every atom of my being, I am exhorting you to take action. To those who have no stomach for war and are oblivious of the fact that we are already at war, please spare me your empty excuses.
The American Church must rise up now. We are about to be bound and gagged by a rogue government.
Whatever confidence you have in my ministry—whatever level of trust I have earned—must now be put on the line.
Join us in this great struggle! Join a cause so noble and right that it is beyond belief that every Christian in America is not involved. This is the hour. You will never pass this way again.
Speak now, Church, or forever hold your peace!
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tomshiv + poems by laurel radzieski in red mother
#succession#tomshiv#tom wambsgans#shiv roy#siobhan roy#succession hbo#tagging everything bc i spent soooo long on these#i love tomshiv a lot#i really hope this doesn’t come off as demonizing shiv#i love shiv#these r just . poems from tom’s perspective#laurel radzieski#i like that poetry collection a lot but it’s never really talked about#so. a big part of why i made these was to spread the laurel radzieski red mother agenda#web weaving#anyway i hope you like them!! if anyone really does i made a ton of alts#so feel free to ask me if u want to see more poems from red mother or the alts or anything else#originally these were going to be both tomshiv and tomgrg but it was too complicated and there weren’t enough poems that fit them both#but still . i have lots of thoughts about red mother and tom wambsgans
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* [ REDACTED ] ON IDENTITY EVOLUTION //
PART 1 : THE SELF ( I AM ALL AND MORE . )
Undertale / Everything Everywhere All At Once / Legion S1E8 : Chapter 8 / Mr. Robot S1E7 : Wh1ter0se.m4v / Gene Tierney with Portrait Masks, Horst P. Horst / Who Killed Markiplier / God Exits, Morningstar E. / Enfold, Henrik Uldalen / “Song of Myself”, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman / The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller / The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa
PART 2 : THE BELIEVING ( I WANT TO BELIEVE . )
Heartfelt ( Promo package ) / Dissolving Into Nothing, RF Pangborn / Bi-Weekly, Claudia Keep / Self-Isolation, Irina An / Memento Mori, Crywank / Clarice Lispector / Upstream, Mary Oliver / The Waves, Virginia Woolf / Sue Zhao
PART 3 : THE UNSELF ( . . . )
Succession S3E7 : Too Much Birthday / Grzegorz Gwiazda / Jungho Lee / Who Killed Markiplier / Before, After, Briezdoodlez / Falling, Harry Styles / The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector / The Vault, Andrés Cerpa / Juliet ( I ), Sarah Certa / Counterpoint, Mahmoud Darwish / The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
PART 4 : THE BECOMING ( I WANT TO JUST BE . )
Moon Knight S1E2 : Summon the Suit / Night in the Woods / Mid Air, Kirsten Sims / Feminine Stereotypes, Romina Bassu / Solitude, Llenia Tesoro / It Began Right Here, Danez Smith / Deerskin, Robin McKinley / Backwards, Warsan Shire / Cortège, Carl Phillips / Saying Your Names, Richard Siken
PART 5 : THE RESELF ( I AM ONLY I AND I LOVE I . )
Detective Kid / Legion S3E2 : Chapter 21 / Black Mirror: Bandersnatch / Midnight Mass S1E7 : Book VII: Revelation / Blooming, unknown / Who Killed Markiplier / Healing Series 31.08.2019, unspokengrief on tumblr / hannahlockillustration / Undertale / Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays, Christa Wolf / Grandmother in the Garden, Louise Glück / Original Air-Blue Gown, The Mountain Goats / “Here I Am”, Songs from Under the River: A Collection of Poetry, Anis Mojgani / What the Living Do, Marie Howe
* ABOUT : This mega web weaving edit tells a short story about an all-encompassing and multidimensional being known as [ REDACTED ] who is part of everything, everyone, everywhere. They are made of memories and dreams and visions. They are them, they are you, they are me. When [ REDACTED ] is all and more to the universe, though, who are they to themselves? They are all but truly what, exactly? No one and nothing knows who and what they are, not even [ REDACTED ] themselves. Upon this horrifying realization, there comes a fall, a going, a fading, gone. Who are they? What are they? I am? Am I? I don’t know. I don’t understand. I do not and I can not, and that is more than okay. There is still time and space for [ REDACTED ] to learn about themselves and love every single one of their counterparts, and regardless of anything, they will know and remember this that they will always be more than good enough. Take a deep breath, child soul, lover of the sky and sea, bringer of light and darkness. You are you, and you are enough. I love you, always and always and always.
* SELF REFLECTION ( cw: child abuse, derealization / depersonalization, quick mentions of suicidal thoughts and self harm ) : When [ REDACTED ] came into existence, I thought about wanting to have a character who is known to be part of everything and everywhere from everywhere, sort of like God, but not at the same time. Glitchcore, weirdcore, and kidcore are the biggest elements that I hold a high interest and joy in, so these aesthetic elements would be implemented into [ REDACTED ] along with a heavy emphasize on the concept of art and storytelling, as explored through the multiverse that they are part of and having connection with fate itself. They are a character who represents the idea of identity along with life / birth, death, and rebirth. How one is born, how one comes to be throughout life with how they feel, think, move, etcetera; how one gets affected and affect others, and how does one die ( and what happens to them if they return to life either through reincarnation or with revival ).
I really do mean it when I say along the line about how [ REDACTED ] means more than everything to me. They are the one and only original character who I can truly carry for so long when every other characters of mine would be discarded out of disinterest, and they have come to be my biggest comfort and coping character. Getting more personal in this reflection, I have always been living in a life and under a skin that does not belong to me, I still am and I will probably be like this in over five to maybe even ten years, who knows. I have been through so much in my life with the abuse I had and still am going through, the manipulation and pain from seven out of eight people I had dated and from many friends online and in real life, the constantly uncertain and dissatisfaction in myself and my life while I would feel always off of me and my life, most of these terrible things I would face all alone because I did not know how to ask for help or feel comfortable asking. I recently realize that [ REDACTED ] would go through something just as painful as I had just so I can have that reminder that I am not alone at all.
The things that I did not find myself in [ REDACTED ] until later on as they exist in my life longer: They do not have the full control in their life and themselves just like me, and while because of my traumas, I have become emotionally detached to defend myself from getting hurt by the people around me and protect myself from constantly having deep negative / suicidal thoughts, [ REDACTED ] are generally more emotional because that is what I wish to be one day, somehow. Another thing I have realized also that my memories are just as fragmented and faint as [ REDACTED ]. I am losing everything behind and about me so fast and even then, I can not remember about anything that happened this week, let alone yesterday. My grasp on time and space is so loosen and it does hurt to see how many pieces, not [ REDACTED ] hold of me or vice versa, but we hold of each other. I realized this now that it was never just [ REDACTED ] ( you ) or just me ( I ). It has always been you and I and us. They have helped me so much in becoming more aware with myself and trying to love myself, and even though they are my character, I sometimes feel like they are their own individual and I want to thank them for playing an important role in my life, They really do mean so much more than anyone can ever describe.
This web weaving edit with [ REDACTED ] is meant to be a special project as to celebrate my first year of having them on April first, 2021, a significant reminder for myself that no matter what had and is happening and will, I am always me, Morningstar, and that will always be more than good enough. If [ REDACTED ] can get themselves a happy ending despite everything, so can I. So will I.
#long post cw#[ <3 <3 <3 ]#[ there is. A lot under cut with a detail about the edit and a personal ( heavy ) reflection so just a fair warning ]#[ but I am extremely proud and in endless love with this mini special project as to ( lately ) celebrate the one year creation of having ? ]#[ and I hope y'all will love this too ]#[ thank you to everyone so much once more for always being there for me and ? ; thank you ]#✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩ 57UDY .•ˎˊ˗˖°࿐#✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩ M1N3 .•ˎˊ˗˖°࿐
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*hands you an AU dump to hoard like a little goblin handing a small coin to a dragon*
OKAY so basically: after the doctor's visit where Izuku learns he's quirkless (I hc that they went when he was about five n' a half), Inko does a little bit of research on quirks and more specifically on her son's notebooks, learns that he's even more brilliant at quirk analysis than she originally suspected, and (after looking at some not great quirkless statistics) she instead informs Izuku that no, he's had a quirk all along! It's an analysis quirk!
So she updates the quirk registry, and Izuku goes through his life believing he has an analysis quirk, albeit teased for being a late bloomer, but he still can't shake the insecurity being quirkless for that one and a half year gave him.
He does research on all sorts of things, hacking, knife throwing, first aid, and building his own support gear and takes to all of it like a duck to water. He also does research on UA's policy for support gear in the entrance exam (cause surely they've gotta have a policy for non-offensive quirks like Koda and Hagakure) and finds that he can take one with him if he builds it himself. He goes fuckin bonkers.
Anyways: he trains with Katsuki, cause they're relationship is pretty good since Izuku has a 'quirk.' They both demolish the entrance exam. (Also Izuku kinda swears a lot because Katsuki rubs off on him)
Aizawa doesn't notice a goddamn thing is amiss until the battle trials on the second day (he decides to shadow All Might that day), where when he was using his quirk to silence his students while Izuku was rambling, he just didn't stop, as if he didn't notice anything was wrong. It happens again during the USJ.
So at some point during the sports festival, Nedzu (who is now intrigued because of Aizawa's complaining) invites Izuku into his office during a free period and lets him go ham on analysis, all while Aizawa is secretly there erasing Izuku's 'quirk.' Nedzu invites Izuku to be his personal student (making Aizawa go grey), he says yes, and then Nedzu drops the absolute BOMBSHELL that Izuku is actually quirkless. Cue an existential crisis.
(Also Izuku gets captured at the training camp alongside Katsuki because of his "analysis quirk," wonder how well that goes for him~)
- Goblin anon (sorry this one was kinda long)
GOBLIN?? DUDE???? HOLY SHIT I KNEW YOUR AUS ARE ALWAYS PHENOMENAL BUT THIS RIGHT HERE??? D U D E
i misunderstood the prompt a bit but i genuinely don’t know how to backtrack, so here you go goblin. sorry again o(TヘTo)
ok first of, inko taking on a stronger stance to support her son? love that of her. like, she doesn’t say sorry when izuku turned to look at her and cried that he can’t be like all might. instead, she took him in her arms and assures him that he will be a great hero. at first, of course half of it is lip service because she doesn’t know how to help her quirkless boy be a hero, since, you know, heroes need quirks.. (or do they)
and then she comes across a quirkless self help group which rang many many warning bells in her head. what kind of life do quirkless people live when a google research of them resulted in subsequent pages of results like how to stay safe when quirkless, or how to find jobs when quirkless, or quirkless mortality rates?
she fears for izuku, until she notices that her son’s smart. too smart for his age, but inko thought she’s just being biased. but izuku’s wit is something many people notice, for an instance, when izuku goes to the park to play and his friends’ (the few ones who stayed) parents tell her that her son’s smart for a quirkless person, she realizes that izuku’s wit is far more vast than normal.
then a thought worms into her head but wouldn’t it be bad to lie…but also, no one would be any the wiser.
further pushed by all the statistics she keeps seeing, or the lack thereof, about quirkless people, she makes the decision and pours it to izuku.
izuku who’s far smarter than his age and understood what his mom is asking from him. izuku who already saw the disparities between quirked and quirkless people at the tender age of five. izuku who knows what it means to lie about something as personal as a quirk, but realizes that it’s necessary for him to do so if he wants to live a “normal” life.
so he agrees; he tells inko that he’ll work even harder to sharpen his mind, and to keep expanding his knowledge.
when izuku’s quirk file is officially updated, he watches how his peers and teachers revert back into treating him as izuku. he regains his old friends, but he chose to drop them because he doesn’t want to surround himself with people who thought he was less for being quirkless.
katsuki stayed, surprisingly. katsuki stayed and everyday he kept bothering izuku to “get your quirk already!” katsuki stayed because he can’t fathom that the smartest boy in their class (of course not as smart as him, psshh) is quirkless. deku couldn’t be quirkless. (but if he found out that izuku, indeed, is, i wonder what would happen…)
katsuki was one of the loudest to celebrate when izuku announced that his quirk arrived.
“finally!” he screams and bothers izuku about the semantics of his quirk. he really wasn’t surprised to find out that izuku has an analysis quirk because he thought that nothing else would better be suited for izuku.
he doesn’t know that izuku pours so much of his time into learning and studying, often bypassing basics and intros to take more of the developed courses that are usually recommended for older ages. he doesn’t know that izuku is just a naturally smart kid with the ability to fill the gaps of his young mind with knowledge upon knowledge, storing and stacking them until he feels that he’s laid a sturdy foundation for his fake quirk.
then izuku began threading into different areas. he learns how to get into cyberspaces; hacking into accounts and delving more into how to access private information. he doesn’t thread too close lest he gets caught, but he learns the logistics of maneuvering around the web and burrowing in empty spaces to branch out his own. he creates and designs web algorithms for himself, just so he doesn’t trigger anyone who is looking into the web movements. he hones this and uses it to access more information.
then when he deems it enough, he turns his attention to something more tangible and something more physical. he learns other ways to be a hero; how to fight without a physical quirk, how to win against bigger opponents, how to use analysis quirk in fights.
izuku becomes more than a fake analysis quirk user; he creates it.
mental quirks are hard to describe, more so to compress, thus he creates new definitions of an analysis quirk. what used to be a silly lie is now a tangible fact that izuku believes in. because what makes a quirk? because what makes analysis a quirk? he learns these semantics (often political) and uses it to his advantage.
then he finally threads to hero analysis. at first it were classmates he analyzed; eyes running quickly at their forms and watching with great interest before calculating everything he’s seen and transversing it with the things he learned, and bridges these two facts together to create an analysis. it was a struggle at first: he didn’t know which to put emphasis on until he realizes, he doesn’t need to. he weaves them together and lets his analysis run long and watches how his hobby comes into fruition.
following his classmates are current heroes. these were more tough and more fun, and any of the information is less shared. he doesn’t tell his classmates or teachers about his analyses, only katsuki. and katsuki’s breath hitch every damn time at izuku’s talent quirk.
it is in their second year of middle school that midoriya begins to incorporate the facts with himself to create physical performances. the issues and things he learned through observing are now practiced by himself. he calculates the best way to fight with a body as petite as his, often taking examples from pro-hero hawks and other women heroes. their agilities and physicality suit izuku’s young body; he doesn’t see the merit in punching his way through things when he physically cannot.
so he learns ways to ease his muscles. he learns ballet and gymnastics; lets his muscles contort and mend themselves anew. he finds his balance and roots himself firmly, and learns to calculate his actions so he doesn’t waste his energy. katsuki doesn’t say anything, but he sees izuku’s dance and falls in love.
then in the spring of their third year of middle school, izuku learns how to build and handle weapons.
this is the easiest. izuku learns that weapons aren’t tools, but extensions of his arms and hands. they are not to be revered and not to be depended on because they can fail. instead, he learns to wield weapons as though they are parts of his bodies. he learns how to use swords and often narrowing to wooden sticks that can be picked up anywhere; he learns how to fire guns and how to hide daggers in his uniform. he learns that his body is the best weapon to use and that tools are just arsenal to help him win.
then he learns how to build them.
by summer, izuku begins reaching into UA’s servers. they are hard codes to crack, but not impossible. it takes him five days to access old entrance exam videos. the next day, the videos are snuffed and he is left to try digging deeper into UA.
he fails.
nezu must have caught onto his codes and proceeded to build walls against it.
so he slithers out. but a five minute video of last year’s entrance exam is enough for izuku because he learns two things: one, heroes must defeat villains and two, heroes must save others.
izuku prepares for this. unknowingly, katsuki is taught these same principles. katsuki would grumble and tell him that he knows what heroes must do, but izuku continues to hammer it down to him.
by the time of the UA entrance exam, izuku falls into the ease of having a fake quirk. he passes the written exam with flying colours and although it took three teachers to approve his support gears (present mic had to pull in powerloader, midnight, and hound dog to ensure that the well designed support gears are made by the hero student examinee and not by a support student examinee. majima saw the works and begged nezu to allow izuku to be his student.), izuku still succeeds and dominates the entrance exam.
when the zero pointer was released, he had flung himself towards the girl crushed by debris and yanks her out. he doesn’t waste a modified grenade to explode the zero pointer because through his calculations, doing so would not only create more collateral damage, but would also endanger the examinee in his arms because she still would be caught in the crossfire.
nezu hums in appreciation from the screening room, after all, smart minds always do think alike.
izuku gets a whopping 92 in the physical aspects of the entrance exam.
katsuki gets 85.
aizawa gleefully takes them in.
izuku thinks that no one will ever know of his and inko’s secret, but one look at nezu’s beady eyes and he knew that the stoat knew. it became a game to them, then. a game to see who else would realize.
and while izuku is smart, he doesn’t realize that nezu has basically taken him as his personal student the moment he and izuku had created a bet.
it takes two months for aizawa to figure things out. surprisingly, he is the only one to do so and he only realizes due to the many untimely attacks of LoV.
——
how angst would it be if katsuki realizes that izuku’s always been quirkless during their captivity in the LoV’s hideout.
#goblin anon#my BELOVED#ask#this ones such a damn good au#bamf midoriya >>>#head empty just fake anslysis quirk user midoriya#bakugou going fish eyed at the realization that izukus always been quirkless#bakugou: so u lied to me#midoriya: and to everyone yeah#no bc bkg falling in love w midos hard work#n thinking that he would love midoriya no matter what then ‘no matter what’ happens to be midoriya being quirkless n now hes confused#bnha#midoriya izuku#bakugou katsuki#slight#bakudeku#aizawa shouta#nezu#long post#like long
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Echoseers Snippet - (3/?)
happy MSM!!! have the first Gab POV of the book, as a treat <3
also, the taglist ping for this will be in a reblog, to try and toss the routine up a bit!!
Word Count: 510
POV: Gabbro
In which Gab listens in on the Mae Court from above.
I resign myself to this cold fate of my own making with a breath of Fire-tinted heat into my hands and the tugging of frustration in my gut.
The strike of noon is a low ring through the room, over far quicker than the songs that marked the hours back home. As the sound dies, Eternal Tieling raises his hands before the web of vines and tendril branches that patch the gaping hole of the window.
All conversation dies.
“I apologize for the time without word after such a unique ending to the last session of our court.” He speaks, smooth and collected, and a ripple of whispers floods through the echo-dampening room. “You may rest assured that normal proceedings will continue from here.”
Several impatient nobles shift the golden sculpture crests at the heads of their tables. It’s a gesture I’ve learned from many a dive into the history of lead roles, one that signals their want to speak their minds before the court.
King Tieling pointedly ignores them, as he continues.
“Before I answer any questions or give up the dais, know this: the banishment of Emerald K’Ron and his child Iceberg has temporarily been reversed, and an investigation is underway as to its original legitimacy. They and their traveling party are to be welcomed here as any else for the time being.”
Another flood of whispers, and I strain to pick any meaning out of the stream. My ears flick. The noise is impenetrable, the low washing of words continuing on its way below the uninterrupted, yawn-inducing address of reassurances I’m already privy to.
Unfortunately, even when others begin to take the dais, the mass of performative-posh accents is even more unintelligible than I expected, becoming a heap of background noise as the only thing I reliably hear is the ringing of my own thoughts, the insistence of it’s the same language, you should understand them just fine.
If only.
Just as I’ve started on the long, winding path to acceptance for the futility of my attention, for the cursed, everlasting boredom ahead of me, a whisper comes from my right.
“Good vantage, isn’t it?”
Ruti Palm lounges atop the next rafter, manicured fingers folded over his pristine white suit and an equally-sharp edge in his green eyes. His shoulder length golden hair spills over his collar in waves that part for his long, drooping ears, and though he always seems to hold himself with an unearned air of authority and entitlement, I can’t help but look for that spark of uncertainty that always lit behind the stage in Aree.
Instead, I find lashes that catch the light in yet another infuriating distraction, and golden thread weaving through his socks in the subsequent avoidance of his gaze.
“Why are you up here?” I toss back, keeping my voice low.
“Same reason as you, I suspect.” He eyes me up and down, judgment in every flick of his gaze. “I’m not supposed to be attending, but I like to know what’s going on in my home.”
#writeblr#writblr#writers on tumblr#original fiction#fantasy fiction#original writing#writing excerpt#echoseers#snip#millennium saga monday
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Fic Recs (cause it's always nice to give a shout out and get people into things I'm into rn)
[The Magnus Archives] (I recently finished the podcast and I fell into a hole for a while so here you go)
Sing a Song of Sixpence by Kaiel
Ship: Jon/Martin
In which Jonathan Sims is a Siren, and he fails to notice any new abilities granted to him by the position of Archivist. Or really anything about the Entities at all.
Takes place in season 1 featuring Jonah Magnus’s slow decent into madness
(The new mythology interwoven with tma's worldbuilding is so freaking good and I love how all the characters change and develop because of these changes. Also, f you Elias)
Along Came a Spider by Dribbledscribbles
Ship: implied Jon/Martin
Sasha James is the Archivist, as expected. Martin Blackwood is menaced by Jane Prentiss, as expected. Elias Bouchard weaves his web, as expected.
All goes as it should.
At least until something calling itself Jonathan Sims steps in.
(Web!Jon in this makes me want to weep, it's so freaking good. A pretty long, very excellent oneshot on what could've happened if Jon got taken by the web when he was a kid. And Sasha as the Archivist is ALWAYS so cool, we love her in this house.)
A Break in the Clouds by Ash_Rabbit
“I’m eight.” the kid sniffs as if eight was any different from four, maybe not an unspeakable horror then, just a regular horror. “And I heard that the Magnus Institute deals with-” his little nose scrunches, cute. “-spooky things.”
“Do you have a-” he cracks a grin, and then rethinks it as small hands tighten against their burden.”-spooky thing to deliver?” gods he hopes not, it’s bad enough when adults walk in and lay out all of their baggage, but for a child-
“There’s a spider in this book.” the kid says solemnly, raising his textbook sized parcel. “It ate Evan Pritchard.” a bloody fucking Leitner. Of course an eight year old would find a murder spider book. “This seemed like the best place to bring it.”
(I never thought about what the Original Elias could've been like AND NOW I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT BECAUSE OF THIS FIC. I LOVE HIM, HE'S COMPLEX AND HE CARES AND JON CARES AND THEY BOTH CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER. THIS IS THE CONTENT I WANT, OMG. Also, Jon being even smaller than usual is adorable, so cute. No wonder Elias wants to hug him, a LOT.)
See the Line where the Sky meets the Sea by The_Floating_World
Ship: Jon/Martin, Jon/Oliver Banks
When Jon is a child he looks into the infinite abyss of space. The Vast looks back into him.
(One of my all time fave fics in this fandom, no questions asked. I have reread this three times and am open to doing it again, god. Vast!Jon, such a concept. It's written so beautifully and the relationships Jon develops, so good. ugh. My heart. Please please read.)
Sweet As Roses by Prim_the_Amazing
Ship: Jon/Martin
“Come in, Martin,” he says, not looking up from his notes.
“Hi, Jon,” he says, and Jon stops writing at the sound of his voice. “We’re out of the green tea, but we’ve got lemon?”
Jon looks at him. Martin smiles at him in his usual tentative way as he sets the mug of tea down on Jon’s desk. Heat spikes so sharply in his gut that he twitches with it.
“Thank you, Martin,” he says, mouth dry, and he stands up.
“Oh,” he says, sounding almost surprised. He smiles again. “No-- no problem-- um, what are you--”
Jon takes Martin by the shoulders, leans up on the tips of his toes, and kisses him.
(You have no idea how much I howled through this fic, my god. *buries face in hands* The number of times I wanted to cry from sheer hilarity and horror reading this good lord.)
Things Could Always Be Worse by theOestofOCs
Ship: Jon/Martin, Georgie/Melanie
Sometimes, the most horrifying thing of all is what might have been.
Somewhere, Jon could swear he heard a crowd laughing.
Or: in which Jonathan Sims is forced to swap places with his alternate self—a tall, chivalrous hero extraordinaire, who knows neither fear nor nuance—and is sent to the aggressively straight alternate universe the Magnus Archives was never meant to be.
“Whatever place this is,” Jon announced, “I just want to be sure it knows I hate it.”
(I will say this once, THIS IS THE MOST CURSED THING IVE EVER READ EVER. Like holy hell. I can't believe this thing exists. please read it oh please please please)
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[Supernatural]
heard from your mother (she don't recognize you) by Schmuzz
Ship: Dean/Cas, Jessica/Sam
A man named Cas wakes up in 2003 with no memories, but he's able to piece together a few things:
1. Supernatural creatures exist, and most of them will hurt innocent civilians if he doesn't stop them;
2. He has abilities that no human hunter should have, but he knows enough about human hunters to keep that to himself, and finally;
3. He keeps running into another hunter named Dean Winchester, who seems to be about as lonely as he is if he's willing to put up with those former facts long enough to help Cas unravel the mystery of who (or what) he really is.
For his part, Dean's still (not) dealing with Sam's departure to Stanford, and figures distracting himself with a bit of mystery and intrigue is as harmless as it gets, right? Right.
(THE fic I'm most into right now, been following this from the very start and it's AMAZING. Cas has agency and is making friends and S1 Dean is growing out of John's influence and is becoming a Person and the both of them first being friends then more. The slow burn as their relationship develops, SO GOOD. SO SO DAMN GOOD. *screams* Seriously one of the best spn fics I've read in a long, long time.)
anamnesis by cenotaphy
Ships: Castiel/Dean, Sam/Eileen
Chuck is depowered, Jack is the new god, and the world is free. Dean and Sam get into the Impala and chase down the miles on an endless highway, and their story is finally, finally their own to follow. At least, that's what Dean tells himself. But the diners and motels and painted interstate lines are blurring together and the smallest details keep catching at his brain like tiny fishhooks and he can't quite shake the feeling that not everything is exactly as it should be.
*
Fix-it/alternate series finale. Canon-compliant through the end of 15.19.
(THIS IS THE FIC THAT GOT ME THROUGH THE FINALE OKAY. WHY COULDN'T THIS HAVE BEEN CANON. It's Disturbing and honestly plot-wise this makes more sense. Why couldn't we have had this. *screams*)
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[Avatar: The Last Airbender]
where the stars do not take sides by WitchofEndor
Ship: Sokka/Zuko
When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them.
Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.
(The fact one of the tags in this fic is, "Sibling Dynamic: Fucked Up But Wholesome" should give you an idea what this fic is like. Chaotic as HELL and I just love Azula here, she loves Zuko so much in her messed up way and Zuko loves her back in the exact same way lol. It's batshit and I am Here For This.)
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[Naruto]
Eclipse by AislingRoisin (JayBird345) for HybrisAnaideia
Ship: Nara Shikaku/OFC
"In life, it's easier to remain stagnant and wallow in your troubles. But life isn't merely about continued existence, nor is it meant to be gone through alone."
(This is a fic that's slept on and I NEED people to read this. A self-insert fic that I find really interesting in its approach and the worldbuilding for the post-third war shinobi world is fantastic. I feel like there's a certain pattern with self-insert fics, not that is a detriment in any way to how much I enjoy them, so this fic feels fresh to me in a way I haven't read in a while. I am waiting eagerly for this to get updated! Please read!)
On Freedom and Other Formalities by iaso
Ship: Kakashi/Genma/OFC
When push comes to shove, Hiwa Inuzuka doesn't go down easy. Reborn into a new, dangerous world? She puts her past life as a spy to work. Thrown into a war? Hiwa does her duty, for Konoha. And when she's forced into an arranged marriage? All there is to do is beat them to the punch and get married first. Thankfully, Genma Shiranui is willing to lend a hand. Literally. SI/OC
(Listen, LISTEN, it's about the slow burn, the longing, the communication (it both has and hasn't and isn't THAT great??), the messy way you fit three very different people together, it's so freaking good! Also, Kakashi is so Chaotic here this is my fave characterization of him, you can't change my mind. And Genma is a Good Boi who is Doing His Best, along with the Self-insert character who I LOVE SO MUCH, SHE'S FANTASTIC FNEIWOPAF. Sped past this fic in the speed of light, I could not stop reading!)(Honestly, read all of the author's fics, they're all really REALLY good!)
Building a Castle by WhisperingDarkness
Without needing anyone to tell her, Sakura knew that talking to someone no-one else could see or hear would make her weird. It would draw the bad kind of attention to her, something people could make fun of her for.
She didn’t like being weird, but she did like the voice. Her inner voice was helpful and it was a part of her that had always been there. The idea of it not being there would have been so much weirder than anything else.
It was during her first year at the Academy that Sakura realised the voice was not in her head at all, but that it came from a cloudy shape floating next to her.
(Basically a short-ish retelling of Hikaru no Go. Only with more Shogi and Nara and Ninja's)
(Sakura can see ghosts (I'm noticing this is a popular trope for her) and it's really cute haha! Her relationship with Tobirama is sweet and I just enjoyed reading this so much.)
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[The Magicians]
So Long (And Thanks For All The Books) by IncompleteSentanc (Erava)
Ships: Quentin/Eliot, James/Julia, Quentin/Margo/Eliot
When Quentin is told Julia wasn't admitted to Brakebills, he realizes he has a drastic decision in front of him. If he tells Julia about magic, he'll have his mind wiped as well as hers. But he can't just leave her behind, either. He can't lose his best friend, and he can't let her life a life with her magical potential stolen away from her.
So he makes a third choice.
(Really, and I mean REALLY well-done canon divergent fic, this is the Quentin & Julia friendship fic I have been looking for forever. It explores so much of what could've happened and I just love Quentin here, I really really do. Characterization done so right. I also recommend the author's other works too. Been a follower of them for a long time, they're great.)
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[Game of Thrones]
The Road to Victory by writing_as_tracey
Too late in preparing for the Night King and the Long Night, the last stand at Winterfell is close to falling. Bran takes desperate measures to ensure victory, and Jon, Sansa, and Arya pay the price for it in a time unfamiliar to them, on the cusp of another war. [GoT, time-travel fix it]
(I swear, this fic made me laugh so many times, all the Stark are BAMF and fantastic, and Rhaegar gets Wrecked lol. It's crack btw, and the plot goes in directions you'll never guess and it's amazing hahaha!)
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[Haikyuu!!] (I am very very late to the fandom but here I am)
Ballare (To Dance) by MidnightSparks
Ship: Iwaizumi Hajime/Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru, and platonic Kageyama & Kentarou (really love their friendship)
Kageyama’s first love is volleyball. His second, however, is ballet.
In one world, Kageyama Tobio is left behind by his parents. In this world, the existence of soulbonds keeps Kageyama’s parents in Miyagi and leaves Kageyama in the care of his grandma and grandpa.
(In which soulmates exist and that changes everything and nothing at the same time.)
(*buries face in hands* I have fallen for this ship so hard and I can't get out fudge me. I understand now. Their DYNAMICS FIEWONPAF)
Kings of Tomorrow by bokubroya (liarielle)
Ship: Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru
On the eve of Tobio’s 16th birthday, he counts down the seconds to midnight, and emerges with Oikawa Tooru’s name on his wrist.
It’s been two years since then, and Tobio thought they had an understanding. A silent, never spoken about understanding that this thing between them is nothing, and they’re going to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Of course, it’s just like Oikawa to change the game and leave Tobio wondering what comes next.
(I am WEAK for soulmate fics between these two, I don't even really like soulmate fics half the times what is WRONG WITH ME-)(Please suffer with me, I'm begging you. Its a good fic, thumbs up.)
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[Crossover]
Honey and Magic by JustARatherVerySillyWriter, White_Squirrel for Super Carlin Brothers
Fandoms: Matilda (yeah you read that right), Harry Potter
Everyone knew Matilda was a rather extraordinary child, but even she didn't know she was a witch. Matilda Honey receives her Hogwarts letter in the year of the Triwizard Tournament, and soon, she will leave her unique mark on the magical world.
(Do I even need to explain how amazing it is to have Matilda in the wizarding world? And Matilda is a HUFFLEPUFF AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL THIS FIC IS GREAT PLEASE READ!!!)
An Eye for an Eye by DpsMercy
Fandoms: The Magnus Archives, Welcome to Night Vale
In which Jonathan Sims is not from the UK but instead, if you took his origins and turned them sideways twice then flipped them over, he technically would be from the US, the town of Night Vale specifically.
Elias can’t do shit about it and gets a headache and slowly creeping madness instead.
(Look, I know probably everyone has read this because if they haven't, what have you been DOING with your lives??? Jon interning at Night Vale is Incredible, nothing phases this man, it's Delightful. I laughed so many times reading this, I'm not even kidding right now. Read or perish.)
The Favour by R_Cookie
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Ship: Original Percival Graves/Harry Potter
Percival is ten years old when his grandfather tries to tell him that he's ensured the greatness of the Graves legacy for him, that he ought to be eternally grateful - but the explanation is hijacked by a stranger who manages to intimidate Chester Graves with an ease never seen before.
or: Hadrian (Harry) Potter is the Master of Death, who grants Graves a boon. Nobody could have known that the Deathly Hallows didn't turn you so much into the 'Master of Death' as into the anthropomorphic personification of Death. And so, Death becomes Percival's guardian angel, and Percival does not spit out his cereal.
(Look, I don't know how I stumbled back into the FBAWTFT fandom either, it just happened and I'm grateful for that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found this amazing fic. Their relationship is slow and strange and I just love how Percival is characterized here. Also, one of the tag promises that it deviates from canon so I am really, really excited for that! XD)
baby that's what i do by natanije
Fandoms: Naruto, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
"Are you telling me," Hidan exclaims, incredulous, "that you collect money all this time to give to orphans?!"
Kakuzu pauses. He blinks a few times.
"Huh. I guess I do."
(Tsuna reincarnates as Kakuzu and it's HILARIOUS. HE'S SUCH A MOM HAHAHA)
#Fanfiction#AO3#Fic Rec#Fic Rec List#Podcasts#The Magnus Archives#Supernatural#Avatar The Last Airbender#Naruto#The Magicians#Game of Thrones#Haikyuu!!#Crossover#Matilda#Welcome to Night Vale#Harry Potter#Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them#Katekyou Hitman Reborn
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