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tnmeem · 2 months

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Avatar The Last Airbender Live Action: Is It Actually Good?

So I actually haven't finished my review of this show yet because I haven't finished the entire season yet. But I'm excited about it so here's a little excerpt from what I'm working on right now.

Character Changes

I’m going to try really hard not to let nostalgia ruin my enjoyment of this show. Because so far, it’s honestly not bad. Sure, I keep comparing it to the original every two seconds but if I had no knowledge of the cartoon, I think I could reasonably enjoy this show. And so in that vein, let’s talk about some of the character changes that happened. Some of it I like, some of it I don’t.

Give Me Back Sokka’s Misogyny

Listen, as much as I despise misogynistic teenage boys, there’s such a thing called character development. It’s a very important part of compelling storytelling. And Sokka’s getting the misogyny beaten out of him was a compelling storyline. Yes, it’s a character flaw. But of course a traumatised teenage boy who has never left his tiny town, who had been forced into a leadership role would have some kooky ideas. All it took for him to grow and accept reality was to come out of the narrow town he lived in.

But in the live action, he’s just sexist in a subtler way. Don’t think I don’t see the way he speaks to Katara. He may not be telling her she’s better of sewing and cooking because of her gender, but he definitely doesn’t treat her as an equal. Or what about how he acts around Suki at the start. You’re telling me this boy doesn’t have any misogynistic ideas? Then why is he working under the assumption that he could take down a seasoned warrior with absolutely no formal training?

His actions don’t make sense if you take away his original characterisation. Sokka started off as a misogynistic twat! That’s why he treated Katara the way he did. That’s why he got his arse kicked by Suki. Otherwise, his actions don’t make sense.

I’m Not Gonna Lie: Suki’s Hilarious!

I know that cartoon Suki was a smooth talker but I honestly love the idea of a version of her who’s been isolated for most of her life, finds a boy she likes and figures the best way to impress him is to beat the shit out of him. It’s honestly adorable. And I like the fact that she has an active, involved mother. She’s a teenage girl! Why was there no parental figure around?

Sure, it’s a kids cartoon. There are going to be things that don’t make sense. But Suki deserves a mum! It validates her as a child: which is what she is. She’s still learning and growing. Sure, she’s an elite warrior but she’s also a teenage girl: a line that is unfortunately missing from the live action. Suki is unapologetically a girl who is still finding her way in the world. And she’s navigating the complexities of a war. Of course she’s not going to be the most functional teen.

But I still wish she got to beat the misogyny out of Sokka.

Let Aang Be A Child

One of my favourite parts about Aang was his childishness. He cared for humanity, he was its protector, he was the bridge between the human and spirit yaddy yaddy yadda. But he was also a 12 year old boy. He was a 12 year old boy who enjoyed tricking and lying to people. He was fun!

In his place, we now have a serious child who never lets loose. And it’s honestly messing with the story. The writers are having to create extra plot to justify certain scenes: ie the gang sliding down the mail delivery system. It doesn’t make sense. Aang isn’t a serious character 90% of the time. But that means that when he is serious, when the fun is gone, we know something is about to go down. We’re at the edge of our seats. The tension is palpable.

But this version of him is all work and no play. That’s not our Aang. It also means they had to give an entirely new reason for him getting stuck in the ice. Aang’s regret over running away is a huge part of his characterisation. There are entire episodes dedicated to his guilt. In this version, where he tried to come back, it doesn’t have as much impact.

Also, the fight scenes with him are kind of boring this way. I adored watching this 12 year old boy take on grown adults plus a few whingy teenagers all while driving them mental. He’s not meant to be someone who just gives a dramatic speech before every fight. He’s someone who winds his opponent up and uses their own force against them.

Give Me Back Zuko’s Honour Talk

Seriously! I’m at like episode 4 or 5 right now and this boy hasn’t mentioned his honour once! That’s just not right. The boy should be mentioning his honour at least once an episode. Otherwise it’s just not Zuko. Come on, this is an angsty teenager. Where is his angst?

Katara Deserves To Be Angry

I’m not going to lie, I preferred cartoon Katara. Sure, she could be irritating at times. But she’s a product of her environment. She’s fiercely loyal and quick to trust but once you break her trust, she is your worst nightmare. She would sooner drown you than forgive you. That’s why Zuko’s redemption had such an impact in the end. He had to earn forgiveness and prove, again and again, that he had truly changed.

This version is so repressed. She should be bringing up the trauma of losing her mother constantly. Instead, she’s gone several episodes before we even truly understand what she went through. And the fights she has with Sokka are just lame. All she does is yell “I’m not a little girl anymore!” Cartoon Katara would never. Cartoon Katara broke an iceberg in half over anger she felt at Sokka’s sexist comments. Cartoon Katara challenged a master water bender. She just comes across as someone who is all talk and no action.

She doesn’t have the rage that she needs. Sure, Katara is one of the kindest people in the show but she’s also incredibly maternal. And to be maternal isn’t just to be loving and trusting, it is also to be a fighter. Katara was willing to fight not just for her friends, but also for herself. This is a shadow of who she was originally.

Kyoshi’s Increased Involvement Is Always A Positive

I LOVE the Kyoshi novels. So it’s great to get Kyoshi’s backstory within the main storyline. And especially when she overtakes Aang’s body and takes on Zhao and his men? Amazing! Give her more scenes please! Actually, no, get Ozai to come into one of her shrines and get her to overtake Aang’s body, guarantee the war would be over in seconds.

#avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender live action #zuko #sokka #aang #suki #kyoshi #katara #cartoon #overanalysing cartoons #review

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timemachineyeah · 2 years

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S really is the best season of Sailor Moon. I know it became obnoxiously en vogue and pretentious to say that, to the point where it then generated a backlash and it became like "S is your favourite season if you're and edgelord who hates fun" and now I think we're in a neutral place (god I've been in fandom too long) anyway.

Anyway I know all that but. Like, from just a consistent writing and good pacing and coherent characterization standpoint, it's just really good.

Like it has its low points, like the Usagi slap - but even that two-parter isn't entirely ruined by her bad characterization! There's still a lot in there I like!

I think it's fair to say other seasons are your favorite, but by the psuedo-academic standards by which one judges what makes tv "good" (which, yes, are arguably arbitrary, but at least somewhat codified), S is easily the best. It maintains the most tension, makes the best use of all the characters, tells a personal and high stakes story, and ends with a brutal catharsis. (And then, yes, ends in a weird prolonged wrap-up that does in 22 minutes what it could have done in, like, 4. But R ended with a literal clip-show of the upcoming season with voiceover. So.)

Outside of Usagi in her birthday episode and couple tiny moments, I don't feel like any characters are totally shafted by the season. Which isn't something I feel like I can say about any other season. Whether it's The Entire Dark Kingdom and Rei in Classic, Pluto and Mamoru and Chibiusa in R, Usagi and Mamoru and all the Outer Senshi in SuperS, or Basically Everyone in Stars. And that's not me saying I don't love Stars. I do. I probably put Stars, Classic, and R all on the same tier in my head for different reasons. And I think Stars might have the best writing and pacing after S if I ignore previous characterization. Like if I approach Stars as a self-contained story, I think its good. Putting it in context of the overall story? I have notes.

What I'm saying here is that S is the season where I'm most likely to just get into watching it and going "teehee, Usagi! Oh no :( Hotaru. OMG!!! Setsuna!!!" instead of like, "why are they being so mean to each other, why did they make Rei act like this, why did they decide Luna needed to be such a bully, that contradicts something that happened last episode". That's also helped by really pulling back from the victim of the week. Instead of spending a bunch of time introducing a character we are never going to see again and telling their story while the girls kind of float around the sidelines and fight a monster, the episodes either do the bare minimum to establish their victim of the week or just make one of the main characters the victim of the week, allowing for each main character to get a dedicated episode. The "green ranger"-esque dynamic between the inner and outer senshi is compelling. The villains are fun. IDK. It's a good season. It's good TV.

It's the season I most feel like my brother could walk in on me watching and just decide to hang out and watch it with me, because even without context it is engaging, episode to episode.

#timemachine wuz here #sailor moon #sailor moon s

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recurring-polynya · 3 years

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Tokusatsu Au where Rukia plays the lead actress in a superhero action show. Renji plays one of the villains and they are The most popular ship in the fandom. Bonus points if Orihime plays the main villain and loves every second of it.

This was the very first prompt I got, and I fell in love. Unfortunately, aside from a brief period of being grotesquely fascinated with Power Rangers as teen, I know almost nothing about tokusatsu. I did as much research as I could and I attempted to watch an episode of Kamen Rider, but my eyes glazed over halfway through. Anyway, please forgive my inaccuracies, I wrote this with my heart.

ao3 | ff.net

🏍 ⚡ 🎬

“Uh, looks like we’re almost out of time,” the panel moderator for “High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe!: A Sneak Peak at Season 5” declared, “but would you be willing to take just a few audience questions?”

Head Screenwriter Kurosaki Ichigo glanced at Leading Actress Kuchiki Rukia out of the corner of his eye, and she gave a tiny nod.

“Yeah, sure!” he replied.

There was already a young woman waiting at the microphone, practically vibrating with anxiety. She was wearing a t-shirt that had ZabiTo4Ever!! handwritten in marker on it. Rukia knew, deep down in her bones, what the question was going to be.

“Hi, yes, hello, big fan of your work! My question is: are Tomoe and Zabimaru going to kiss this season?”

“No,” Rukia started to say.

“As you probably know,” Ichigo said loudly on top of her, “the show holds close to the core plot points of Kuna-sensei’s manga, although, because of her minimalist style, we do expand a lot of the dialogue and filler scenes. She has said in several interviews that High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe! is not a romance manga, so the odds of Tomoe and Zabimaru ever kissing on screen are very, very low.”

The young woman stared at Ichigo grumpily. “Does this also count Zabimaru’s secret college student identity, Satonako Takeru?”

Ichigo stared back at her. “Yes. It does.”

The next question came from a person wearing a full suit of HellKnight’s plasma armor made out of overlapping plates of cardboard. Rukia was kind of impressed by it. She wondered if he could sit down.

“Hi, Kurosaki-sensei, I am a huge fan of your work,” a voice emanated from deep within the cardboard. “I was wondering if you are influenced at all by fanworks, and if Episode 73: Pride is on the Line!: The Bake Sale Must Go On! was based in any way on the classic fanfiction, ‘Tell Me All Your Best Lies’? It’s the top story by kudos in the ZabiTo tag, which I might point out is the most popular shipping category on AO3.”

Ichigo cleared his throat gently. “I am contractually not allowed to read fanfiction, although I do enjoy fanart! There are some incredibly talented artists in the fandom, although for some reason, no one ever wants to draw pictures of Lead Screenwriters.”

“I’ll draw you, sleeping on the set like you always do,” Rukia offered, and that got a pretty big laugh. Rukia’s Tumblr of behind-the-scenes doodle comics was beloved among the fandom.

The next question was from a nonbinary person wearing a big poufy skirt and a hairstyle that would make their make-up and hair guru, Yumichika, sit up and take notice. “Hi, this is a question for Kuchiki-san! If the show is going to roughly keep pace with the manga, as it has done up until now, you should be shooting the storyline where Tomoe and Queen Bloodbuzz switch bodies later this year. I was wondering if you could comment on how you feel about filming that storyline?”

Finally! A good one! “Yes!” Rukia nodded eagerly. “I don’t usually like to speak for my fellow cast members, but Orihime and I are beyond excited about playing each other. We’ve been studying each other’s mannerisms and practicing already! Does anyone want to hear my Queen Bloodbuzz cackle?” She wagged her eyebrows as the audience cheered. “Here goes-- bwaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAAHAAAHAAAAAAAA!”

“Bonechilling,” Ichigo commented dryly as the audience erupted.

“Amazing, Kuchiki-san!” the moderator exclaimed. “I think there is time for one more, but this will be the last question!”

A tall girl in a full set of High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe motorcycle leathers stepped to the microphone. She was holding a notebook. “Hello!” she warbled. “In a 2020 interview with the Psychics and Sidekicks podcast, Abarai Renji was asked about his opinion on ZabiTo as a ship, and he replied,” she consulted her notebook, “‘Tomoe is such a cool lady and talented Battle Clairvoyant, and she always follows her heart and stays true to herself. I think that Zabimaru can’t help but be impressed with her, even though they’re enemies, and I always try to roll that into our on-screen interactions.’ I know that in the past you’ve refused to comment on the ship, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on, y’know, his thoughts?”

“Well, he’s correct, of course, Tomoe is very cool and admirable,” Rukia replied, which drew a few laughs, although it seemed like the audience was leaning forward in anticipation of her answer. “Like I said, I don’t like to speak for other cast members. I’ll be doing a big cast panel with Abarai and Inoue and Matsumoto and Ukitake tomorrow afternoon, and I hope you all can make it! See you then!”

The moderator thanked them enthusiastically, and then Ichigo and Rukia slipped out the back guest entrance.

“Evasive as always, Kuchiki,” Ichigo teased.

“Whatever,” Rukia sniffed. “The higher ups say we’re not supposed to comment on stuff like that, and I was not commenting. By the way, how many secret fanfic accounts are you up to? Four?”

“It’s only three!” Ichigo paused. “I wrote that fanfic the guy brought up.”

“Of course you did,” Rukia sighed. “I do blame you personally for the popularity of the damn ship.”

“Me? Blame Kuna for making up two such sexy, emotionally constipated dumbasses!” Ichigo defended.

“Also, it’s not Ichigo’s fault that you and Abarai have insane chemistry.”

Rukia spun around, grinning. “Orihime!”

Rukia’s two co-stars, Inoue Orihime and Abarai Renji, the portrayers of Tomoe’s demonic archnemeses, stood in the hallway behind them.

“We sat in on your panel!” Orihime beamed. “You two were brilliant!”

“Don’t worry,” Renji added. “We were incognito.”

“Incognito” was relative, Rukia supposed, when you were at Tokyo’s biggest tokusatsu

convention.

Orihime was wearing a Zabimaru outfit so detailed that she probably could have won a prize down at the cosplay hall. She had the gravity-defying ponytail, the eyeliner, the insane widow's peak (complete with forehead tatts), the fangs, the motorcycle boots. The paper mache snake skull helmet was a little lopsided, but it was charming. She had her top zipped a little higher than canon, but that was forgivable, too.

Renji had taken the opposite tack of looking as much like a normal person-- or at least a normal Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe superfan-- as possible. Relaxed fit jeans and an oversized hoodie de-emphasized his ultra-fit physique. He was wearing a t-shirt with a very dramatic rendering of Orihime that said “Queen Bloodbuzz can step on me!” and a ball cap with the logo of Seireitei University, the fictional college Tomoe and Takeru attended.

“You think you’re in disguise,” Rukia pointed out, “but there are thousands of teen girls in this place with entire Tumblrs dedicated to your stupid face when you’re out of costume.”

Renji cocked an eyebrow at her. “You underestimate me, Rukia. I have bought… new sunglasses.” With a flourish, he whipped out a pair of the dorkiest wayfarers she’d ever seen, and flipped them onto his face. “I’ve disappeared! Who am I? Where am I?”

“You look really great, Orihime,” Ichigo said, his cheeks coloring a little bit. “Did you get Uryuu or Yumichika to help you with that costume?” In his continuing theme of doing things he wasn’t supposed to, Ichigo had finally started dating Orihime on the downlow around the time they finished up filming last season. It had done absolutely nothing for how shy he still got around her. They were, in Rukia’s opinion, cute as hell.

“Oh, no, that would be cheating!” Orihime replied, wagging a finger at him. “Well…maybe I did cheat, just a tiny bit. Renji helped me make the helmet and he held up references for me while I was painting on the tattoos.”

“Only the forehead ones,” Renji quickly added.

“He wouldn’t even offer feedback on my booby tattoos!” Orihime frowned. She leaned forward. “Rukia, how do they look?”

Ichigo turned even redder.

“Perfect, as in all you do!” Rukia replied loftily.

“What’s everyone got coming up next?” Renji asked. “I was thinking of slipping out and trying to pick up some real coffee.”

“I’m judging a villainess-themed cosplay competition,” Orihime chirped. “But I’m dying for a blueberry caramel iced latte. Renji, my henchman, pleeeeease!”

“Of course, my liege,” Renji replied in his Zabimaru voice.

It’s not like it had been a hard decision to accept the role of the motorcycle-riding, badass heroine of one of the most popular manga of the last decade, but it had turned out to be one of the best decisions of Rukia’s life. not just her career. Aside from a few of the money-obsessed executives, she liked nearly everyone in the cast and crew, but the fact that the fact that the ruthless, homicidal, literally Hell-spawned villains of the show were played by the two sweetest marshmallow people she had ever met just took the cake. Renji and Orihime had already known each other from some voicework they had done previously, and their excitement at working together on a live-action project had infected the entire cast from the start. Rukia wasn’t sure, but she strongly suspected that Renji was the one who had hyped Orihime up to ask Ichigo out.

“I have a writers’ workshop I’m moderating this afternoon, and I wanted to review the writing samples people sent in,” Ichigo said, scratching the back of his head. “I’d love to stop by that cosplay contest, though, at least for a few minutes.”

“You’ll be needing caffeine, too, then, eh?” Renji offered. “Hot, black, and in the largest cup they make, as usual?”

“Ugh, you’re the best,” Ichigo groaned. “You wanna power-up this season? Costume update? You know what? Maybe I’ll just have you defeat Tomoe once and for all, no one likes her anyway.”

“C’mon, you know I’m the world’s number one Tomoe simp, don’t do that!” Renji laughed.

Rukia rolled her eyes. “I’m free and I could use some fresh air. Besides, it’s going to take all your dumb muscles just to carry Kurosaki’s vat of coffee back here.”

“Cool!” Renji proclaimed. “We’ll be back soon!”

“Thanks, Renjiiiii!” Orihime waved.

“You need to stop off and put on a disguise?” Renji asked.

“No point in it, I always get recognized,” Rukia sighed, pulling her sunglasses out of her purse anyway.

“Here,” Renji said, plunking his hat on her head. “Maybe this will help.”

“Thanks,” Rukia replied, and then did a double take. “Whaaaaaat is on your head?”

“Shut up!” Renji laughed. He usually shaved his head when they were filming, because it made it easier to deal with the make-up and wigs, but since they were between seasons, he’d grown his hair out into a short, tousled mop of reddish-brown waves. He looked, for the lack of a better word, dreamy. “I shot a movie over the summer, and they wanted me to look softer.”

Rukia looked at him over the top of her sunglasses. “You didn’t tell me you were doing a movie!”

“Oh, it was just a little indy romcom thing. I wasn’t sure it was gonna pan out, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“You were in a romcom? You’re kidding me!” They ducked out of a side door of the convention center into the bright sunshine.

“Yeah, it’s about a guy who goes to the gym to try to get ripped to impress a girl, and makes friends with me, this nice, already ripped dude who gives him lifting tips and encourages him a bunch. By the end of the movie, it turns out we have crushes on each other.”

“Oh, no, that sounds really cute, actually!”

“It was written by a woman who graduated from one of Ichigo’s writing workshops. The script was really snappy and Ichigo thought having someone like me as the gym guy would give it just a bit of campy cachet. You know what a good sense he’s got for stuff like that.”

“That was cool of you to go out on a limb a little,” Rukia replied.

Renji rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d been wanting to try something like that for a while, actually.”

Rukia blinked. “You aren’t… you aren’t thinking of leaving the show, are you?”

“Huh? No. No! No, the show means the world to me, I would never. But… it’s not gonna run forever, y’know?”

“I would have guessed you’d want to be a big action star or something!” Rukia said, throwing a few air punches. “That’s my dream!”

Renji stuffed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “Yeah, that’s what I thought I wanted when I first got into acting. I’d read the Tomoe manga, and I thought playing Zabimaru would be a good jumping-off point, besides just being a cool character overall.”

“Is that… not true?” Rukia frowned.

“Oh, I mean, I guess so! I didn’t really know about the fandom, though and… to be honest, I’m kinda into the idea that there are all these fans who think I’m complex and redeemable?”

Rukia regarded him out of the corner of her eye. “They just want to fix you.”

“Maybe! Ichigo made me read this one fanfic that was eight thousand words of the reader getting sick and Zabimaru making them soup? And feeding them the soup? I still haven’t decided how I feel about it.”

“How does he have time to find these things? Does he even sleep?”

“Anyway, it doesn’t hurt to be well-rounded and it was fun. I’m still mostly an action guy, but I wouldn’t mind doin’ something with a romantic subplot. A period drama or something like that. I look pretty good in hakama, you know.”

“I bet you do,” Rukia laughed. She squinted at him, but his expression was unreadable behind the shades. Renji didn’t have the classic leading man looks, not like her ridiculously famous older brother, but she could definitely see him as the best friend, the B-plot romance, with his cute, messy hair and that big doofy grin.

“By the way, I’m sorry you had to field that question about me spilling my romantic sensibilities on that podcast.”

Rukia laughed. “You didn’t even answer the question, either! These people are relentless!”

Renji stopped at a street corner and peered down the various possible directions they could go. “Which way feels like it might have a coffee shop?”

“You didn’t have one in mind before we left? I thought you knew where we were going!”

“Nah, I just like to go out and see what there is.”

“I can look up a map,” Rukia said, reaching in her bag for her phone.

“Let’s just go this way,” Renji said, stepping out into the street in the direction that had the WALK light. Rukia sighed and had to scramble to catch up with him.

“So, what do you think about it?”

“Huh?” Rukia asked. “Think about what?”

“Our ship. ZabiTo.”

“I can’t believe you just said that word out loud. And you know we’re not supposed to give our opinion on it!”

“Aw, c’mon, we’re not supposed to give public statements on our opinions. I don’t think there’s any harm in talking between ourselves. We’re in disguise, even.”

“‘Disguise’,” Rukia sniffed.

“You don’t like it, I can tell.”

“He’s a bad guy! Everyone always talks about chemistry, and that may be true, but I just don’t think that Tomoe could ever get over his acts of violence and cruelty.”

“Queen Bloodbuzz is cruel. Zabimaru is not cruel.”

“Okay, that’s fair, but still. He’s kidnapped just about all of Tomoe’s friends and or turned them into monsters at one time or another. He’s always setting Karakura Town on fire or flooding it with magic lizard goo. He ruined the sports festival.”

“Maybe the sports festival deserved to be ruined,” Renji muttered under his breath.

“Okay, you’ve got a point on that one,” Rukia admitted.

“It’s really clear though, that he’s got some agenda beyond just simping for Queen Bloodbuzz--”

“The simping for Queen Bloodbuzz is the most relatable thing about him, to be honest.”

“Granted. But, what if he’s got a good reason for everything he does, actually? What if he’s doing all of this against his own moral code as a means of infiltrating Hell itself and getting himself into a position of trust so that he can bring down the Lords of Hell from the inside?”

Rukia slipped her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose. “Does Kuna give you Zabimaru spoilers?” The reclusive creator High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe! was only barely involved with the television show, but she did privately meet with each of the cast members about once a year. Most of Rukia’s meetings consisted of Kuna giving her constructive criticism on her battle poses.

“No, mostly we practice sneering,” Renji replied. “But I gotta play the guy, so I gotta think about this, you know, what motivates him? I mean, you’re probably right, it would never work out. But unlike Tomoe, whose principles would call for her to ignore any attraction she has to him, Zabimaru has the freedom to pine for her, perhaps because his love is futile and he doesn’t think he deserves it anyway.”

“That’s kinda dark, dude,” Rukia frowned.

“Yes, well, that is the kind of character acting that netted me the 2019 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Best Villain Award, Foreign Language Category.”

“That’s literally what’s going through your head when you’re shouting that if I can’t make some sick motorcycle jump, you’ll turn all my friends into stuffed animal versions of themselves?”

“No, of course not! At those times I’m thinking about how much I love my job. OH! and what is that I see!” Renji struck an extremely Zabimaru pose. “A MISTER DONUT!”

“My hero!” Rukia exclaimed, unable to resist an opportunity to shout dramatically. “I’m sorry I doubted you!”

“I think we should get some donuts, too. Orihime loves donuts,” Renji declared.

“Oh, for sure,” Rukia agreed. She was thoughtful for a moment. It would be easy to move on to a different subject, the subject being donuts, but she wasn’t happy with leaving the last conversation hanging. “Look, Renji, just because I don’t like the dumb ship, you know that’s not a reflection on you, right?”

“Huh?” Renji replied. “You mean you don’t mind if I like it?”

“Well… I mean, I don’t, I guess, but what I really meant was, er… we joke a lot, but Tomoe and Zabimaru are just parts, y’know? Just because I don’t think Zabimaru isn’t good boyfriend material doesn’t mean I…” Rukia trailed off, suddenly realizing what she was saying. “Um. What I mean is. You’re very nice and probably one of my favorite people I’ve ever worked with and if someone I knew wanted to ask you out, I would definitely encourage them to, A+ guy, I’d say, probably would make a great boyfriend.”

Renji pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead and regarded her for a long moment. “For the record, Kuchiki, I think that both you and Tomoe would make excellent girlfriend material.” While Rukia stood there and gaped like a fish, he turned and pushed open the door to the coffee shop. “Ichigo likes crullers and Orihime always wants the most colorful thing they’ve got. Do you know what you want?”

“I need to think about it,” Rukia squeaked. She wasn’t talking about donuts.

🏍 ⚡ 🎬

Bonus: Here are my notes from when I was making up the show. I hope this wasn’t too confusing!

High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe!

based on a manga by reclusive mangaka Kuna Mashiro

Head Screenwriter: Kurosaki Ichigo

🌟 Starring: 🌟

Kuchiki Rukia as Yukimura Tomoe, a spunky college student who can see ghosts and fights demons from Hell! She rides a motorcycle!

Inoue Orihime as Queen Bloodbuzz, a Lady of Hell, who seeks to gather energy from the Living Realm so that she can become the Supreme Ruler of Hell. Very aesthetic. Much bees.

Abarai Renji as Zabimaru, Queen Bloodbuzz’s ruthless henchman. He leads a double life as fierce-looking, but gentle-hearted college student Satonaka Takeru! What is his long game??

#renji's birthday 2k21 #my writing #this was really hard to write actually #because i had to make up SO MUCH STUFF #i hate making up stuff #astute readers will notice that i just recycled rukia and renji's fake names from between tides #i am so in love with this au tho #especially ichigo and his false pretenses ao3 accounts

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sagesilentfire · 4 years

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I'm looking for a trans sensitivity reader (for Marcie) and possibly a poc sensitivity reader (for the monsters vs mewmans plot), so if you're available, please tell me, and we'll figure something out.

Forgive my inability to draw humans, please.

I know this is a big departure from my usual content, so I'd like to make sure you know that watching SVTFOE is not necessary to enjoy this AU, as everything needed to understand the plot is explained in-story. In fact, I'd love to have someone who's never even heard of a svftoe to read it so I can make sure it makes its own logical sense.

Anyways...

(putting this under a read more for your scrolling purposes)

Hi. I'm Sage, and I would like to talk about a show I really liked. The past tense being the operative, as it used to be good, but...

I started watching SVTFOE after watching the great Steven Universe, which meant I had high expectations for it. And it met those expectations! From the beginning I was hooked. It was a good show. But as the seasons went on, it started to... rot.

Now, something to know about me is that I do not invest myself wisely. I love the things I love deeply and with passion. I get attached easily, and I love to theorize about the things I love. So I was heartbroken when SVTFOE ended the way it did, with none of my questions answered.

And when my theories were better than canon, well, that meant I had a new project: a complete rewrite of Star vs. the Forces of Evil. This AU will start similar to canon, but gradually diverge from it until it's something completely new. It will also have five separate "seasons".

So here's my AU: Star and Marcie and The Forces Of Evil (aka samatfoe). This AU will tear apart the scraps of lore that we got from SVTFOE and expand on it and make new lore, all narrated by my lovely OC, Sílthéy. And I promise I will get to as much as possible. If you're worried, check the titles of all of the chapters, which will hopefully reassure you that, yes, I will get to everything (or at least everything I've thought of ;)).

Dramatis Personae:

Star: Star will mostly stay the same in the first few seasons, but I'll try to have her actually grow and mature while staying a good person in the later seasons. She'll also be a bit more fire-aligned, because I wanted to be able to tell my Star and the canon Star apart easily. (She also doesn't get those wings until Mewberty.)

Marcie: is a trans girl. The entire second "episode" will be about her being trans. And I will, again, try to not have her act like a jerk in later seasons. She also won't be an adult trapped in a teenager's body, as that was waaay too weird for me. Instead she won't age in the Neverzone, period, and there will be an episode dedicated to her re-adjusting to Earth and discussing what the whole "spent a decade and a half in eight minutes" thing means for her. And, of course, she'll be more involved with the Mewni plot, as she will be interested in learning the lore behind Mewni from the beginning and push Star to find out more about Mewni.

Ludo: Ludo's story will not effectively end with the Battle for Mewni. He will get a redemption arc, with all the pitfalls and trip-ups that come with that. And all of his flaws and issues will be brought up, now just forgiving him for everything he did because he had bad parents. And Dennis will continue to be a cinnamon roll. Some things never change.

Buff Frog/Yvgeny: will not change. He is good lad.

Toffee: This is the big one. Where to start, and how to start it without spoiling everything I have planned? Well, let me tell you this: Toffee is getting a complete overhaul. For one thing, I now made them agender for various complicated reasons that will be revealed in-story, eventually. And for another thing, they will get an actual backstory and personality! Isn't that a novel idea! And they will not die abruptly and nonsensically in Battle for Mewni, so don't worry about that.

Jackie: Oh, Jackie. You poor dear. Jackie will not be delegated to the role of "one-time love interest who just skateboards out of the plot". First of all, Marcie will only have a squish (a platonic crush) on her, because I don't trust my aro/ace self with the weird things people in romantic love do to get together, but I do know what it's like to desperately want to be friends with someone. Secondly, while she will be out of the spotlight in later seasons, it'll be because she's on an exchange trip to France, not because we're abandoning her character and her world for no good reason.

Janna: never changes. Pretty sure she's the one constant of the multiverse.

Tom: will have his redemption arc earlier in the story so I can use him for things, but other than that will not change much.

Moon: First of all, she will not betray everything her daughter stands for by siding with Mina this time. There are plenty of other ways Mina could rise to power, so there's no need to ruin her character by making her do a stupid, illogical thing that even a five-year-old would see was stupid. I mean, she's still going to be kind of racist, but she's well-established to be level-headed and even a little clever, so she will not do something that would so obviously blow up in her face. Secondly, she will be a bad ruler, hence why Mewni is a total mess, but she will learn and become better and help Star's efforts to improve Mewni.

Glossaryck: is... changing. He won't "lose" his sanity for season three, but he will also not be in a totally heroic role. It's a complicated thing and a bit of a spoiler, so I'll leave it at that. Also, he's a dragon now Because Reasons (no, seriously, I have a reason for it. It's also a spoiler).

River: River will be goofy, like usual, but he won't be plot-destroyingly stupid. I'll try my best to not make you question why he's even king while still making him a foil to Moon. It's the tightrope I must walk.

Angie and Raphael: Will not completely disappear from the plot in later seasons, but will instead be like a second family to Star and will be a refuge when her overbearing Butterfly side gets too much.

Kelly: Will not be involved in a stupid romantic subplot with Marcie. Sorry. Other than that, Kelly will remain pretty much the same, aside from now being tiny, because that's just how she came out in my art. She's pretty cool.

Miss Heinous: Will not be Meteora this time around. I disliked how Heinous hurt so many people and was a horrible person, but as soon as her Tragic Backstory™ was revealed, all that pain and suffering she caused was ignored in favor of making her Super Duper Tragic™. So I'm separating the characters. Don't worry, though, she'll get the backstory and character arc she deserves.

Saint Olga: Saint Olga will be the main motivator for Miss Heinous's actions, as she is desperate to please the robot. Other than that, Saint Olga won't actually get much character. She's a bad guy, pure and simple.

Meteora: will not turn into a baby. She will deal with the consequences of her actions like a mature, responsible sixteen-year-old. But because she's sixteen, things won't be too harsh when she does snap. She'll still have her mother and father to help her and guide her.

Eclipsa: Regarding Eclipsa's design, I tried to make her fat, but... I don't know if it translates well in my art. I'm just not that good at art yet. But aside from that, making her cheekmarks dark gray (spades are a black card, not a red card! That bugged me so unreasonably much), and giving her as much of a connection to Toffee as the show implied, I'm not changing much about her. She was one of the good characters.

Globgor: Will have fought against mewmans in the past, but not have eaten them (what were the writers thinking?! Making your metaphorical poc eat people is... not good). And it will be more of a case of Star and Eclipsa knowing he is good and should be released from the crystal, but the general mewman populace not accepting it, until Cornonation, where he proves he's a good guy.

Shinjai: Is a new character I am thrilled to introduce to you all! She came from me thinking that for someone who supposedly wants to end mewman-monster racism, Star sure doesn't have any monster friends (Buff Frog doesn't count. He's an adult, and they don't really hang out so much). So here's Shinjai! She's a septarian, and is introduced instead of Princess Smooshy in Sleep Spells. She's a very minor minor monster noble, and her family has about as much political power as your average worm on a sidewalk after it rains, but all noble monsters must go to Saint Olga's Reform School for Wayward Royalty, so she runs away and gets help from Star and Marcie. She's mostly made to replace Pony Head: she's spunky and... uh, actually she's nothing like Pony Head. She's also unafraid of asking difficult questions and knows more about the plot than she lets on.

Rasticore: is very different from his canon counterpart: he only allies with Heinous and Saint Olga to keep an eye on them for ~someone~, and thoroughly dislikes them, despite agreeing to their mission. He also can regenerate as quickly as Toffee, he just chooses not to for ~reasons~. He also has a mysterious partner, but we all know it's – *gets clubbed over the head by Síthéy*

Mina: Making fun of mental illnesses isn't funny kids. Therefore, Mina is the only neurotypical member of the cast. She does boring neurotypical things like... I dunno, cleaning? And she's still a threat: bigotry and hatred are not exclusive to people with mental illnesses, after all.

Lilacia: Now, Lilacia Pegasus, the horse formerly known as Pony Head, will... exist. She won't be as overwhelmingly annoying, hopefully, as she is in canon. And to make sure she feels consequences for her actions, there will be a subplot in season two about her and Star growing apart as Star grows and leaves Lilacia's annoying party girl antics behind. Lilacia will have to realize that her immature actions are making Star leave her behind, and she'll have to grow as a person because of it.

Then there's a mysterious character who is very mysterious and does mysterious things and has a mysterious personality and is generally mysterious... mysterious. She'll be introduced in the second season and will be as mysterious as promised, I swear.

And finally, of course, it will be narrated by Sílthéy. She will tell this story, and her part in it, for all to hear. Or read? It's a bit of a strange medium, storytelling on paper. Or on a screen, whatever.

Now, of course, by now you must be wondering: What about the shipping? The shipping's the most important part, right? Well, here is my answer: There will be no ship wars. There will be no love dodecahedrons. There will be no cheating, no lies, no throwing other characters under the bus for stupid romantic drama. Why? BECAUSE STAR AND MARCIE ARE BOTH ARO/ACE. Suck on that, Starco! I am the last person to trust romantic drama with, so all of the romantic relationships in this bandwagon will be established, healthy relationships that have decades of chosen love and appreciation for one another behind them. And past!Tomstar and brief, schoolchild-crush-esque Star/Oskar but that doesn't count.

So, I believe that about wraps things up for this post. I'll start posting chapters soon, and will post two chapters every other week, and I'll release the descriptions of them two weeks before I post them. If you have any questions, please ask them! I want to work on my drawing skills, so I might even draw something for them!

Description for next episodes:

Star's Birthday: Star is a young, wild princess who is about to receive her family's most precious heirlooms.

Trouble in Diazland: Star is put under the care of the Diaz family, but can't quite seem to connect with their son, Marco.

And, finally, I have thank yous! These are mostly people I watched but haven't really interacted with yet, so if you get tagged know that you don't know me, I just followed you for svtfoe content. And for, you know, your personality.

Thanks to ankle-beez for being hilarious and reminding me why I made this AU when you relentlessly drag svtfoe. Thank you to @full-moon-phoenix, @dappercritter, and the lizard squad for my regular dose of Toffee. Thank you morningmark and @jess-the-vampire for keeping me invested in svtfoe as a whole. Thanks to svtfoe-critical and @twinklecupcake for good ideas. Thank you to TBlofeld on AO3 for your amazing AU, Monsters, Mewmans, Magic, that, while we took things and ran in completely opposite directions, still inspired me to complete mine. And thank you to Blue Order, whose deeply hilarious and deeply accurate video "How Star Vs the Forces of Evil Fell From Grace" inspired me to create this story in the first place. And, of course, thank you to whoever on the svtfoe wiki writes down the transcripts to every episode. You've helped me so much. I admit that I didn't follow all of your guys' advice, but you did help me get here, every one of you. So thank you.

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shimmershae · 3 years

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Doing the nostalgia thing again. Go figure, lol. Anyway. Today I’m lamenting the early departure of some shows that I watched once upon a time and there are so many. Too many that (were) ended either right as they were getting good or just weren’t given a proper chance. Oh what could have been. Here are some of them, off the top of my head. This is by no means a complete list because there have been just too many for me to remember. Feel free to add your own.

I either follow actors/actresses that I have enjoyed in previous shows or get drawn in by the drama or fantasy or utter sci-fi-ness (lol) of it all.

Bunheads

"Bunheads" tells the fish-out-of-water story of Michelle Simms, a once-promising classically trained professional dancer who was drawn to the lights of Las Vegas, where she became a showgirl. After she impulsively marries her persistent suitor, she moves to his sleepy California coastal town, where he lives with his mother, Fanny, herself a former dancer. Fanny now runs a local dance studio. Michelle ends up bonding with some of Fanny's students after meeting them. Among the students are sweet Boo, who struggles with her body type; rebellious Sasha, who has the talent to be a ballet dancer but doesn't have her heart in it because of family issues; shapely Ginny, who's not comfortable in her own skin; and fun-loving Melanie, ready for whatever life throws at her. The students benefit from Michelle's knowledge, but she also benefits from them as they help her adapt to small-town life.

Off the Map

Idealistic, young Dr. Lily Brenner lands at an understaffed medical clinic in a tiny town in the South American jungle. She is joined by other young doctors, all of whom are running away from personal demons. The clinic was founded by enigmatic Ben Keeton, who was formerly the youngest chief of surgery at UCLA. Keeton will teach the newcomers how to save lives in the most-challenging environment they have ever faced.

Defying Gravity

An international crew of eight astronauts -- four men and four women -- sets off on a mysterious, six-year mission covering billions of miles aboard a ship called the Antares. Inspired by the fictional docudrama "Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets," the show tells the story of both the astronauts as they explore Venus and the other planets in the solar system, and their supportive and dedicated ground crew. Episodes alternate between the present, on the current mission, and flashbacks to earlier years when the final eight were still in the grueling selection and training process.

Flashforward

Residents of Los Angeles go about their day unaware that a mysterious event is about to change their lives. FBI agents Mark Benford and Demetri Noh are in a car chase; Benford's physician wife is in the middle of surgery; and Benford's friend Aaron Stark works on power lines high above the ground. Suddenly, something causes everyone in the world to black out for just over two minutes. During that time, each person sees a series of events in his or her own future -- some good, some bad, some apparently nonexistent. As people begin to piece together their visions on a worldwide website, Mark and Demetri use the information to try to pinpoint the cause of the blackout, and people are still trying to determine whether destiny can be changed, and what effect those changes may have on others.

Invasion

What if natural disasters were alien smokescreens designed to mask something far more ominous? When a hurricane threatens a small town in Florida, park ranger Russell Poole's young daughter is the only one to see small lights floating towards the water, seemingly unaffected by the vicious winds. At the time, he thinks nothing of her claim, but begins to suspect something may be amiss when his missing ex-wife is found, with no memory of what happened during the storm. In the aftermath of the storm, water-based creatures infiltrate the town and take over the bodies of the town's residents through a cloning process.

V (2009)

Earth has its first encounter with an extraterrestrial race. Calling themselves the Visitors and promoting peace, they seem to be friendly, but their congeniality may be a cover for a malevolent agenda. Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell), an FBI agent, discovers a secret about the aliens that threatens the lives of Earthlings, including her teenage son, who sees them as a sign of hope. Meanwhile, Father Jack (Joel Gretsch), already questioning his faith when the Visitors arrive, seeks answers outside his church and finds other dissidents who believe the Vs are not what they claim to be. The ABC series is billed as a reimagining of a 1980s miniseries by the same name.

Hannibal

Gifted criminal profiler Will Graham has a unique way of thinking that allows him to empathize with anyone, including psychopaths. But while helping the FBI pursue a particularly complicated serial killer, he decides he could use some help and enlists the brilliant psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter. The two form a partnership and it seems that there is no villain they can't catch together, but Lecter harbors a dark secret. His own brilliant mind has gone to the dark side and he has more in common with the criminals they hunt than Will could possibly imagine.

Anne with an E

This reimagining of the classic book and film is a coming-of-age story about a young orphan who is seeking love, acceptance and her place in the world. Amybeth McNulty stars as Anne, a 13-year-old who has endured an abusive childhood in orphanages and the homes of strangers. In the late 1890s, Anne is mistakenly sent to live with aging siblings, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, who live on Prince Edward Island. Anne, who proves to be uniquely spirited, imaginative and smart, transforms the lives of Marilla, Matthew and everyone else in their small town.

Pitch

Talented baseball pitcher Ginny Baker immediately rises to fame when she is called up by the San Diego Padres and becomes the first woman in Major League Baseball. She immediately sets in on the task of proving herself to her teammates, starting with team captain and catcher Mike Lawson. The two share an immediate chemistry, putting Mike in the middle of tensions between the beautiful new player and certain teammates who don't appreciate a woman out on the mound. Not all of her fellow Padres are so averse to change, with center fielder Blip Sanders providing support through her journey.

Colony

In the not-too-distant future, Los Angeles has been invaded and occupied by outside forces, causing a rift between the city's residents; some have collaborated with the occupation, while others are rebelling and suffering the consequences that come with that choice. Former FBI agent Will Bowman and his wife, Katie, must consider their familial obligations when making their decision because they were separated from their son, Bram, during the invasion. Proxy Snyder, a cunning and powerful leader within the occupational government, offers Will the opportunity to get Bram back if he works with the invading faction. Will's decision doesn't sit well with Katie, but the couple risk their lives -- and their relationship -- to protect their family.

Life Unexpected

After 15 years of being with different families in Oregon's foster-care system, Lux decides to try her luck as an emancipated minor. As she navigates the legal system in pursuit of that goal, she encounters her birth father, bar owner Nate "Baze" Bazile, living like an aging frat boy with two slacker roommates. He is stunned to learn that he has a teenage daughter and introduces Lux to her mother, radio personality Cate Cassidy, who is sad to learn her daughter has grown up in foster care but thrilled to meet and get to know the girl. She has plenty of opportunity to get acquainted when the judge decides Lux isn't ready to be emancipated and grants temporary custody to her birth parents.

Crisis

A vengeful mastermind ambushes a schoolbus carrying the children of Washington, D.C.'s, elite, abducting the children and their chaperons, and creating a national crisis. The powerful parents -- including the president himself -- find themselves at the mercy of the abductor with nowhere to turn, creating an unthinkable situation that puts the entire nation at risk. As the authorities work to rescue the children, the parents discover how far they are willing to go to protect the people they love.

Emerald City

When a tornado transports Dorothy Gale from Lucas, Kansas, to the faraway land of Oz, her arrival sets in motion a prophecy about a disastrous event known as The Beast Forever and strikes fear into the land's almighty ruler, the Wizard. On her quest to meet the Wizard in Emerald City, Dorothy encounters witches, an amnesiac soldier, a sheltered little boy and many more mysterious beings who will ultimately shape the future of Oz and Dorothy's place in it.

#all of these were interesting enough IMHO to last a little bit longer #but alas #who am I but a mere television watcher?#anywho #gone too soon #things that make me cry #for reasons

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issa-me-addy · 4 years

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Better Than Words (OC x Bucky Barnes)

Room #234

PART TWO/?

A/N: HELLO, so funny story I fell into a very long depressive episode and forgot that I had started posting a fic but I will be posting several chapters within the next few days just.... cos here is the link to PART ONE! And a kind reminder that this takes place in an AU after Spiderman: Homecoming where the Avengers have reassembled and the following all live in the Avengers tower: Tony, Pepper, Steve, Bucky, Natasha, Wanda & Vision. Peter Parker’s identity is still in tact and he spends his free time training at the Avengers tower under a “Stark internship”.

also here is my masterlist!

Word Count: 2073

Warnings: fluff, mild angst, and slow burn

It had taken nearly a week for Maya to stop over analyzing whether she made a weird impression when she met Bucky, and it was August now. She had to clear her mind to polish up her lesson plans and start worrying more about getting her classroom ready for September.

She had always had a vision of what her classroom would look like, ever since she decided that she wanted to teach. This ideal classroom included filled bookcases, walls covered up and down with art and references to her favorite books and characters, both classic and contemporary. Every person Maya opened her mouth to in the past several months knew just how excited she was about this classroom.

Maya was practically itching to talk about it and luckily for her, Nat came in the day that she got the keys to her classroom.

She found herself waving Nat down as soon as she walked in through the door. Maya didn’t even wait for her to take a seat before opening her mouth. “So I’ve been hoarding a lot of stuff for the new classroom--”

Nat laughed. “Yeah, I helped you pick out more than half of it.”

Maya stopped in her tracks and slapped on a comical pout. “Nat… You know it’s for the children…”

“Yeah, of course. For the children,” she smiled back to Maya, only pausing to talk to MJ, letting her know she just wanted her usual coffee and pastry.

Maya grinned from ear to ear, waiting for Nat’s shoulders to square back to her’s. “Anyways! I got my keys today and I was thinking, well-- Now, I know that this is kind of, you know… our spot, BUT I was wondering if you were free for the rest of the day? I was thinking, we could, maybe, caffeinate and you could help me move everything into my new classroom, maybe?”

Maya knew asking this was a bit of a longshot, hence all the rambling. It was never verbally spoken, but she knew that Nat, Steve and everyone from Avengers’ tower knew not to make real connections outside of their small circle. And Maya wasn’t stupid by any means, she knew that it made sense. She always thought about it long and hard, understanding that getting close to anyone who wasn’t super human, anyone that wasn’t capable of truly defending themselves was, in a way, selfish of them. Maya continued to make arguments in her head about how Nat wouldn’t have let herself get close to her, and that she wouldn’t joke about her and Steve if that was really the case. This only confused her more if anything, but nonetheless, she kept her fingers crossed because she genuinely considered Nat to be her friend.

Nat paused for a moment, and Maya could see her genuinely weighing out her options as Nat’s head tilted back and forth. Then, her head dropped between her shoulders and her hand came up to rub the back of her neck. “You know what? Yeah. I just had some training scheduled with Steve but moving things is a work out, right? Actually, should I ask him if he wants to help us out?”

Maya exhaled a bit and took a moment to process her answer-- in the end she couldn’t help but smile. “Yes! Oh my God, thank you! And, yeah, I was going to ask if he could help anyways because I have some heavy furniture that I need to be brought into my classroom. The chair and desk that the school left for me just don’t make the cut you know?” She was still rambling, but more so because of her excitement than her anxiety now. “And with his help, we can knock it all out sooner! As thanks, maybe I can make you guys dinner tonight? Or another night?”

Her friend couldn’t help but laugh a bit at her ability to get so many words out in one breath. Before responding, Nat pulled out her phone. “Hold on. Let me call Steve first.”

Nat was on the phone for maybe a minute, only pausing to confirm which school.

“Midtown Sci and Tech. It’s in Queens,” Maya grinned, only getting more and more excited by the minute.

Nat nodded, “Midtown Tech… Yeah, in Queens… Yeah, I’m sure that’s fine! Also, steal Happy’s SUV-- there’s some furniture you’ll be moving… Awesome, see you in a bit.” Then a click and the phone call ended.

“Steve said Bucky’s coming along. I hope you don’t mind.”

Maya’s brain nearly short circuited. It’s not that she minded but she felt a bit blind sided, especially having only met him once prior for less than the duration of a commercial break.

Despite this she reminded herself to smile. “Oh! Oh yeah, that’s fine! I guess I need all the help that I can get.”

MJ called out Nat’s name, leaving her coffee and pastry on the counter.

Nat stood up and grabbed her order, simultaneously asking, “Do you want to get another coffee before we start loading stuff up? The guys won’t be here for 20 minutes probably. Steve has to choose between two dozen different white t-shirts.”

They both laughed.

“No thanks, we can just head up now. I have a few last minute things to pack before we start loading the cars. Thanks again, Nat. I really do appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem. Lead the way!” And with that, Maya and Nat made their way out of the coffee shop and directly into the door to the left of the cafe entrance, which opened up to a staircase that led directly to Maya’s front door.

The two girls spent the next 20 minutes packing up the last couple of boxes and were already loading a few into Maya’s car by the time Steve and Bucky pulled into the spot right behind Maya’s blue Toyota.

“Hey, short stack,” Steve greeted Maya, holding the door open for her and Nat to walk back up to the apartment.

“Sup, gramps,” Maya teased, stepping through the door, closely followed by Nat, then Steve, then Bucky.

Once they got up the stairs, it was Maya that held the door open for everyone to file in. As they did, she realized just how small it was. The mere height and broadness of Steve and Bucky made the previously vast space feel tiny very suddenly.

The studio was made up of one large rectangle and a door that led to the bathroom.

As you walked in through the door, the kitchen appeared to the left. You could only see where it ended distinctly because of the dining table, which was scattered with filing boxes overflowing with books that Maya had been hoarding nearly her entire life.

Past the dining table was the entertainment stand, which was really just a short, long bookshelf where she stored her personal books, movies and CD collection. It was also home to a dozen or so personal journals that Maya refused to leave at her parents’ house out of sheer paranoia.

Opposite to the television was an old leather couch and a small, pale wooden coffee table sat in between the two. Both the couch and coffee table were stacked with more books and a few more boxes dedicated to student freebies, desk supplies, as well as classroom decorations. And leaning against the wall were the boxes holding all the unassembled furniture Maya previously made the UPS man haul up the stairs similarly to the way she was going to make Steve and Bucky lug them back down.

Just to the right of the television was the door to the bathroom and to the right of that was a massive wooden wardrobe. Across from the wardrobe sat Maya’s full sized bed, which looked mighty comfortable with the abundance of pillows alongside a questionable amount of stuffed animals for a fully grown and independent woman.

The desk was a hybrid nightstand, as it was pressed up against the wall and sandwiched between the bed and the couch. And as for the walls, miscellaneous things were hanging up and a photo collage above the desk was in the works.

Maya had to take a moment to understand how her apartment would look from a newcomers perspective for the first time and she grew a little embarrassed. After taking a breath she internally hoped that they wouldn’t make any comments about the state of her living space.

Steve and Bucky took this time to look around for themselves.

And Steve was quite impressed. “Nice set up! Is it just you?”

“Yup! Just me! I was thinking about getting a cat or something. I had a lot of pets growing up and just having the company would be really nice.”

A smile was almost immediately slapped across Steve’s face, “Ooooohhhh! There’s a great adoption place Bucky and I have volunteered at. It’s not far from here, actually. We can bring you another time, huh Buck?”

Bucky nodded, hands shoved in his pockets, “Yeah. We could do that.”

Maya took this moment to finally greet Bucky, “Yeah, that’d be great actually! Also, thank you James, for coming to help.”

Her words were short and sweet because she barely let him get out a nod and a ‘No problem’ before giving directions.

“Okay, if you guys could take all the big furniture and bigger boxes of books on the couch to the SUV, that would be amazing! Nat and I will handle the rest of the stuff in the kitchen and the smaller boxes on the couch. Then, we’ll head to Midtown.”

After brief nods the guys got to work right away and Nat grabbed another one of the boxes cluttering the dining table before making her way downstairs again.

It only really took fifteen minutes for the four of them to finish packing up the cars. This mostly had to do with the fact that Bucky and Steve didn’t need help lugging boxes of books down the stairs. Nor did they need breaks after several times up and down the stairs, unlike Maya.

Once the boxes all trickled out, Maya smiled at the cleaner state of her apartment. After a moment she grabbed the building and classroom keys out of her desk drawer, double checked her bag and did some last minute grabs. Half a dozen locks later, she’s meeting the other three downstairs by the cars.

“You guys know how to get there right?” Maya asked Steve before thinking long and hard about whether she’d forgotten anything.

He nodded before pushing the button to close the trunk to the SUV. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. We’ll be right behind you anyways.”

“Aw, no racing?” Nat taunts him.

“Not like you stand a chance,” Bucky retorts.

“Is that so, James?” Maya asks, mostly joking. She realizes, quickly though, that her competitive side is what gives her the courage to speak to Bucky in such a tone.

“It’s not even a question, sweetheart.” Bucky laughs, before patting the top of her car’s hood. “Let’s just get a move on, yeah?”

“They just know they would have lost,” Nat sneers before climbing into the passenger seat of Maya’s car.

It’s on the drive there that Nat directly asks Maya about her potential relationship with Steve: “Are you sure? You wouldn’t even give poor Stevie a chance?”

Maya can’t help but blush in response. “It’s not Steve. I would be interested, yeah but-- I don’t know. I don’t feel anything romantic for Steve for whatever reason. I mean, he’s great! And I love being around him, but I just feel like he’s a great best friend, good brother type. You know?”

Nat huffed a bit. “I just think that you guys would be great together. You already get along so well and have a lot in common. It just feels really obvious to me.”

“Sometimes the obvious path isn’t always the right one.”

“Did you just quote a Pixar film to me?”

“Nat you realize that you didn’t even skip a beat; you knew exactly what I was quoting.”

“Oh hush, Steve’s the one that made me watch it!”

“In any case, don’t get your hopes up. OR Steve’s! I don’t want things to be weird with him just because you think we’re cute together.”

Nat can’t help but roll her eyes. “Just keep an open mind, yeah?”

Maya presses her lips together and nods. “Of course.”

TAGLIST: @asuperconfusedgirl @amisutcliff

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raguna-blade · 4 years

Text

Revolutionary Girl Utena Live(ish) Reaction Episodes 8-11

So it's a new year, and I'm gonna continue this, cause its' fun. Had a brief break cause of the holidays. And doing so, I figure i'm gonna do a thing where I make up a nice cleaned up version of these cause if nothing else I like organizing my thoughts. So Control F or whatever your find function is for the cleaned up version if that's your thing. It'll be under Overall Thoughts per ep. Or you know, you're me and you're going back through this for validation for whatever nonsense you say later.

Episode 8

Curry huh? And another recap? uh....

enmy remains trifling

hey wait egg time already?

Danger? Really?

Body swap? Also egg time is goofs

throwin hands????? anthy?

Yeah nanami it is ridiculous

JERSUS TOGA

nanami you idiot

She just fucked off to india to get some weird back alley spice

Shadow girls can you please, just please for a single episode.

ANTHY YOU LYING. Never been good at sports and you did that leap apparently pretty well? What the fuck.

Also, the switching thing here is mad suspect considering the end theme thing (and I suppose the opening.

Utena as Anthy : I don't want to be a sacrifice of the rose seal.

Anthy As Utena: I'm super down staying like this actually.

Like..This is just details that

Uh..Uh saionji what. The implications are strong here. Also, Douche canoe he is, but he's a romantic apparently? UUUUH. Exchange diary.

Is the “A” plot a distraction? Like for real.

Also she took that elephant to the dome.

I'm not sure how to take this personality switch. Like the minds thing whatever, but if it's just the personalties but not the person so to speak, hold on

WHAT THE FUCK. These elephants for fucking real?

Anyway, if they're just personalities altering the “person” it's uh...Interesting. I'm not sure how to take that til I get more info. It seems like a thing.

Also, Saionji apparently legit has feels for Anthy he's just...mad dumb about expressing it? Like he's pulling a lot of Badboy Romance Tropes here but...not...in a badboy romance. Which kills his behavior entirely.

Killed his Soul AGAIN. Damn.

Who's the divine justice for? Like it doesn't seem for nanami. Who fucked up. Presumably between anthy and utena.

Anthy what the actual fuck are you doing. Are you using gunpowder?

Homie, this isn't twilight, go home saionji.

Anthy as Utena(????) you trolling. So hard.

Saionji get's zero respect but dudes dedicated I'll give him that. Fitting for bad boy romance lead.

Uh...Wait, actually, are they all romance leads? Common ones in one way or the other. They are on the student Council so...Hm. I don't read enough romance stories of the variety I think but it seems to fit? I'm not sure what juri would be in that case.

Anyway, if this Episode Turns out to be a key for understanding things I'm gonna be pissed. Just a little.

Overall Thoughts: So this and the other “filler” episode is, especially after finishing my last ep in the session, read as anything but despite the obvious uh...antics on display. Like...

Ok, so the whole thing with the ending which frames Anthy and Utena as kinda the same (or rather exactly the same, except one's in red and the other pink) makes this whole episode feel like it's basically some kind of key for understanding everything else because it's simple times. It's goofy hilarity with Nanami that's the A Plot right hahahah....

Except the personality swap between the two of them is like...The implication here is that they swapped minds fully, and given the level of fairy tale bullshit that is at play constantly in this series so far it may well just be magic brand magic and we're supposed to roll with it. Ok. Fair.

Except...The thought that sits in my head is again, Anthy and Utena seem to equal each other. Hell I point it out slightly later that there's definitely this yin yang thing going on in the opening with the two which is so blatant as to be meaningless because Hah Yeah these are our two leads obvs and they're important to each other so hahah don't worry about or think about it check out these SWEET SWORDSMANSHIP MOMENTS FROM EVERYONE LOOK AT THE BUDGET AND COOL HORSES AND CASTLES HAHAHA.

But ok, if it's a Yin Yang thing, yes they're not the same but they have elements of each other within eachother. So if it's just a personality swap but not an actual soul swap thing, that is, Anthy is just acting like Utena's personality is in her, and Utena is just acting like Anthy's personality is in her it paints this picture of Utena and Anthy as having a lot going on under the surface. I mean obviously Anthy is fucking pissed at Saionji. That was really really evident in episode one because if she's just being submissive rosebride I do what i'm told and I do what i'm told I do what i'm told, the very very very sharp dig of “We're Just classmates” is fucking brutal unnecessity. And given that she DOES know what he feels for her, and he's still acting like that, her being vindictive(or just brusque really, he's being an ass full bore) is like...absolutely reasonable.

Her Slapping back and about to throw hands with her tormentors? Who wouldn't want to right?

But then, ok that's Anthy, but what about Utena. If it's just a mind swap, Utena...want's a very defined existence? Like, she wants to just stick to a role? Feels weird, and doesn't quite immediately jive with her cause that seems against her operations right? Except, as this episode so kindly reminds us (for at least the third time in 8 episodes which seems excessive. I might be forgetting one or two) Utena's whole thing coming to this school is I want to play the Role of the Prince, whatever that actually means. Playing the Rose Bride would be no real difference, except it's way more submissive.

So that aside, Saionji saying he's in love with Anthy (and that seems to be something he at least believes to be true. He honestly seems more into Toga. Like for real for real, all the imagery of those flashbacks reads not just as close buddies, but as I am romantically down with you Toga my guy. Him being Bi is probably the easiest answer, and he just drifted away from Toga for a while. Saionji clearly sees him as a friend and rival, although it's seemingly not reciprocated at the moment.

But the thing, the thing that's kinda weird to me, is that if he does legit have feelings for her, I was struck with this odd vibe that he's playing at being a romance lead. Specifically, a Bad Boy romance lead. And doing so SPECTACULARLY badly. Homeboy is sitting here busting out poetry (unless my brain is being a dumb and i'm somehow overlaying him with Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma which ok, weird but alright) but...

Ok, if he is playing at being a Badboy Romance lead, that actually explains his behavior for how he was treating Anthy, especially if he's legit in his feelings for her? Possessive, Radiates Danger, Engages in Creepy Behavior, is a bit of a dick, etc. It lines up with Being a Bad Boy, except that the way that those usually work out in fiction, as I understand it, they're not usually like...gonna hit you. That breaks the fantasy. But...That's him fucking up the archetype. It doesn't fit for him. He doesn't understand what he's doing in that archetype.

Like yes, abusers and the like can care and still be absuers cause fucked up behavior and motivations don't need to match in the least, but it still feels odd that a man who probably literally could have done any number of fucked up things has...an exchange diary with the girl he says he cares about? And it's not like he's unaware of how submissive/passive she is, his exchange diary actually kinda reads like Utena's Anthy is A Real Girl! Activities*. He wants her to be active part of whatever their relationship is and...Eh.

But ok, if he's that, It suggests the rest of the student council, and duelists in general, would fit into a given archetype right? Toga is clearly the super cool intelligent superman student council president, Juri is basically charisma max Jock, Miki is the cute nerd, Nanami is the Ojou villainess type, Utena is...Basically the Hero type, just morals, strains to upset the status quo, Has the Cool Original Uniform.

And they all kinda fit into those pretty thoroughly, kinda like they're trying to (to varying levels of awareness)

Anyway, I'll hit on some of the other stuff in the next Ep. It's a bit more relevant there I think.

*See Me In Episode 11

Episode 9

I just realized they're doing some kinda yinyang thing in the opening so

R V G FIGHT.

Pretty tense there. Toga went straight for the heart which i'm sure means nothing.

Old Friends? Phrasing seems uh...odd? Unsure if it's dub things or actual subtext. Or both.

Dude you really got beef with a monkey? No, utena.

Being a huge dick. As is tradition.

10 Years.

Saionji: Actually love her (said) but

This is mad gay. Like the lighting, the silhouette. Saionji you're sublimating something here.

Music, Silhouettes.

...Silhouettes show truth? uh.

They were Utena's folks funeral? Huh. Also, why on earth would Utena be kidnapped? Who she be?

….Three coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhh. Utena, Toga, Saionji? UuuuHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?

Dead utena. Uh.

Toga: Ally to all women. Ok.

...Why is there a third coffin?

Something Eternal huh? And Utena wants to die for reasons understandable.

Find another coffin. Rose Sigils on the coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Saionji: Hey, this is nuts, we should stop her.

Toga: Nah, I'm gonna Ennable the shit out of this.

Tiny Utena with the White Rose?

Saionji: Did he do something to her?

Toga: Nope

Uh....

Anthy: Something Eternal in the castle. I want to go there.

Also impressive grip strength considering. Flat.

Does Toga Remember this or...? I can't be sure. Saionji certainly didn't recognize her, but he wasn't like right on top of the trauma child.

Toga white roses? Uh? Uhhhhh. I think he definitely remembers. But questions abound.

Ufo's shadow girls? Shadow girls having flesh is deeply concerning.

TRUE FRIENDS ARE JUST FANTASIES. OK.

And UFO's broke, so that's probably not great. Who's getting the Revelations today.

That is the fakest voice toga what the fuck

Badboy Saionji: We're Gonna get the eternity.

Also, I just realized they (saionji and anthy) have color inversions going on which is making me kinda wonder if they're related in some way?

Just slap the shit out of him that's fair.

Ok, so Saionji didn't(?) do the dumb thing. Ok,

that is...a coffin. That he's 100% obssessed with. With Anthy (Utena) inside.

He's looking like he kissed his own mom right now, goin full oedipus in the holy shit revelations here.

Castle is crumbling, falling down. So...Eternity is Fake. Ok. Sure. Didn't shadow girls say that?

Castle Immediately tried to kill him. Crushed his soul 1 time too many there I suppose.

Utena, meanwhile, dove super deep into saving anthy which...diving deeper into the fantasy?

Yeah, they all just saw things.

Saionji: WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED WHATS GOING ON?

Bro, me too.

Ok, if the two are reflections, does Anthy and saionji both got some deep illusory bullshit going on? Are they both freaking out?

Toga, saving the day, and Saionji, tried to kill Utena with a sword. so. Ok.

Saionji Expelled? Toga, fool for thinking they're friends?

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?

Overall Thoughts: I touched on a bunch of the Saionji stuff I wanna talk about in the last episode review, but the thing I kinda want to look at here is well...

Ok, Now the colors probably don't mean anything, but there was this moment that Saionji and Anthy were in the same shot and I suddenly realized they're color flips of each other. Purple hair green eyes, Green Hair Purple eyes, which ok that's interesting.

So we already have Utena Reflecting on Anthy, and hey, there's Zero Reason, absolutely negative number reasons why that wouldn't necessarily be the case with any and all of the rest of the duelists to some degree or another.

And hell, the fact that we keep flipping back and forth between Utena and Anthy in Coffins, there being (for some weird ass reason) a third entirely unrelated coffin for Utena's folks funeral, why the fuck not right?

So ok, Anthy and Saionji mirror each other which...Ok. If the Personality Swap from Episode 8 thing holds, The two actually share some pretty dickish actions. They can be cruel and petty and just antagonistic to things that don't quite jive with what they want. Saionji with Anthy not being...whatever he's expecting out of her, or Utena butting in. Anthy with the girls who keep fucking with her and Saionji.

They both seem to be utterly STUCK on the Rose Bride thing, although from different angles of Possessing the Rosebride and being the Rosebride, and the kind of weird shaping of the Rosebride thing that's going on.

Saionji is treated as a joke by the student council, especially after he get's kicked out, which ultimately ends with him being someone who is generally wanted but ends up ultimately exiled from society. Which mirrors with Anthy as someone is is wanted, but doesn't seem to have ANY kind of actual tangible bonds with anyone.

And, for this last one I have ZERO evidence on the Anthy end, but the suggestions are uh..interesting. Saionji in this episode, as suggested by the shadow girls at least in part, is deeply deeply invested in a fantasy of some kind, one that ultimately leaves him crushed and rather empty, further exiled from people who could or do care for him and that he cares about. Which if we're going with the property sliding across and He's a Foil for Utena (which I think is definitely true in some ways) suggests bad things for her down the line.

Episode 10

Saionji's a joke huh? He's taking it well.

Toga WOW. WOW YOU FUCKING DOUCHE. STRAIGHT IN THE FIRE HUH.

EGG TIME.

So, thing about eggs, that includes whats inside it right? so...Revolutionize yourself right? Right? That's obvious right?

Oh new duelist. Cool cool.

Utena getting slapped. By Nanami. With Utena being hella submissive. (EPISODE 8 FLASHBACKS INTENSIFY)

maybe a girl can't be a prince. THERES THAT THESIS. E8 FLASHBACKS

Nanami got her brother a kitty.

Oh damn it is Nanami. Duel Time. I mean we sall it in the opening but you know.

Jesus Toga, please stop being

OH GOD NANAMI NO. NOOOOOO NOPE NO.

Toga: We ain't kids no more. Shit don't fly.

Nanami: Emotionally devastated.

Is that Miki's sister?

Hey, what happened to the cat?

Juri: Hey, Serious Business, what the fucks up with the duelist?

Toga is perpatrating as badly as nanami actually. He's just less immediately obvious about it I guess.

Goddamnit there's Anthy's next slap. Jesus. Legit, who hasn't at this point. Is this a theme? IS THIS A THING?

Jesus, he's just playing all of this to piss her off? What the fucks up.

...Did nanami kill the cat. Uh...Uhhhhhh.

Ring is an engagement ring. Wait, that's a flat out school rule that everyone knows? For real? Uh.

...What the fuck happened with the kitty. Uh...

ITS TIME. ABSOLUTE DESTINYYYYYYYYYYYY

I just realized the kinda weird framing with Anthy dressing up utena kinda looks like her opening her legs up with the way it get's framed and I'm not sure if that's me just kinda over reading things or if that's a thing.

Nanami's duel outfit is SICK. Also, a yellow alt color of utena.

Actually. ACTUALLY? Is...Is Nanami like an Utena Alt color? That can't be right. Actually looking at them right next to each other they're...straight up alt colors of each other. Not to mention Nanami's my prince thing mirrors Utena.

She just HOT pulled a knife. Oh she's About to fucking hot MERC utena, going for death jessus.

They're supposed to be around the same age too for that matter right?

She absolutely killed that cat and it's...

With her hair down she does look like an utena alt color even more.

Why's the duel music still going after the duel finished. Jesus. This wasn't a duel with Nanami, it was a duel with Toga, and I think Utena Hot lost it out and out.

Overall Thoughts: Well the Big thing I'm paying attention here are two. First the simpler one.

The Egg has to break the shell of the world to be born right? I'm paraphrasing badly, but the thing is the way they keep phrasing that is that the World is the Egg, but the egg isn't just the shell right? It includes what's inside of it. Which if that's the case, mixed with the way that duels work out being more a clash of ideals than of actual tangible skill, the revolutionize the world bit seems to be referring to them themselves, that is the duelists.

Alternatively, the Bird Referenced, the thing being revolutionized is Anthy. Which...Is an interesting line of thought. Given the Duels as a whole are basically choosing who her fiance will be, that'd imply that ultimately this decides the way that Anthy would come to develop? Or how she chooses to develop? Which ok if so, and the way that Ideals seem to be at play, Suggests...What? Dunno. Need more info, which will be delivered later.

But the other thing here, continuing the mirroring thing, which might be me reading too deeply, but I think not and even if it is Whatever I'm having fun.

THE ENTIRE NANAMI DUEL felt like a Mirror Match.Heck, Nanami dressed like an alt color of Utena, and especially once her hair got undone she looked even more like an alt color of Utena. They're only about a year different in age, and her brother seems to be her Prince type, and he drops the ring on her like an engagement ring, and she basically says I fight like my brother because he's my ideal.

Which is a weird thing since right now it's not going...too far. I'll have to see how it shakes out, but if the mirroring thing continues, the fact that the moment she lost she basically said nope fuck that, Knife Time, was...Concerning. It says real concerning things with Utena.

But it also says other interesting things then, because if Nanami is supposed to be some kind of Alt color Utena, similar in ambition goals and the like, if more outwardly girly to Utena's princey thing, their relationship with Anthy is uh..

Uh...

Well put simply, Utena is fucking up big and dramatic with Anthy, and she doesn't realize it at all or care because she can't see it for what it is. Nanami actively tries to undermine Anthy, and does some fucked up things to her. Which..Makes me wonder about the Divine Judgement thing from Episode 8 which, damnably, seems to be forming some kind of key here.

Like the way it's frame suggests the divine Judgement being visited upon Nanami is what's being talked about. But ok, Nanami had some bad shit happen to her sure, but...All of that was self inflicted upon her trying to fix what she percieves as a problem. Yes her reasons for doing it are so she can be with her brother, no doubt, but...They're ridiculous. Like, I cannot believe this shit is happening. But

But

If the Target of Divine Judgement/punishment is the Anthy Utena duo, one or both of them are on the receiving end of it. It's not clear how Acting like Utena would be a punishment for Anthy (I'm sticking with it just being a personality swap and not a full mind swap) but Utena who prides herself on being princely and aspires to that being the super submissive rosebride? I could see that being a kind of hell for her. And if the logic of Utena is Undermining Anthy holds out, but the criitcal difference being her ignorance and dishonesty of why compared to Nanami unabashedly saying yes I am fucking doing this fuck you I get what I want no hold barred, it...

Like, Nanami, as far as it goes, doesn't really receive a punishment if we're being honest. Yes she takes a couple of elephants to the dome, and has to be away from her brother and see her thing fail but..The way it's treated by herself and everyone else is basically a LOL THESE THINGS HAPPEN I GUESS HAHAHA. The Utena/Anthy swap meanwhile seems considerably more serious for them (especially considering the Everyone Slaps Anthy thing that seems to legit be a thing. Somehow. Except here Applied to “Utena”), and seems to cause some serious distress.

We'll see I guess.

Episode 11

As I watch this opening more and more, why is anthy like constantly framed like...Ominous as shit? Is it me?

Homegirl is just. Damn. Sure glad NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN (I do not trust this series to not have something bad happen to Wakaba. Again.)

Anthy. Are..are you...passive aggressively doing...something

Toga: I can see through the illusions yeah boi.

I do not trust this for an inch. He is abusing the shit out of his framing, like the whole time, and I don't trust.

Toga is “student council prince” archetype. Miki's nerdy student counciler.

EGG TIME

Juri is...Antagonistic But well meaning?

Saionji...I'm not sure he was actually on the stuco. But if so, bad boy.

What....is with the balloons. The color coded balloons.

Miki: Like a Pet Cat.

The Pet Cat that died, got killed.

WHAT IS WITH THESE BALLOONS.

ALSO I SEENT YOU PURPLE BALLOON.

So if the duels are ideal clashes more than actually a matter of direct skill, is this Toga (touga?) trying to fuck with Utena before the fight?

Anthy is a Bird. Ok. And Toga, arguably, being the biggest dick here. We thought it was Saionji, but the trick was he's the red part of the rose.

Anthy shut down REAL quick when being the rose bride was brought up.

Is Utena projecting mad hard onto Anthy here?

Homeboy needs to stop playing these games.

Utena, Stahp. DO NOT TRUST HIM.

Toga, You...DOUCHE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

Toga: Oh My B, Shouldn't act that way in front of the rose bride. ALSO DUELING LETS GOOOOO.

Utena: one link forces me to fight him. Meanwhile, rose symbols everywhere, a lot of them brought in by anthy.

Hmmmmmmm.

Utena is hard not understanding something here. I don't know what (rose bride related for sure) but I don't get...WHAT is off here.

Cause thinking about it, Utena's objective with Anthy is arguably the most noble, but she's still not quite treating anthy as a person.

….William Tell Interlude is SUITABLY CONCERNING considering the above thoughts so uh.

Also that was a weirdly specific number. 30K arrows or something?

I just realized that the DARKNESS OF DARKNESS OF LIGHT OF DESTINY OF (INSERT) things seems to show up right around anthy a lot. I'm not super sure if that's a whole thing or just a this episode thing, but...

Is Utena about to get HOT DUNKED? Because I think she is.

Also, I just realized, Utena slid into that pull sword out of rose bride thing right quick and she's never once questioned that.

So yes, Utena has BOOTY but cheeks swordsmanship, which yeah, obvs. Two of the people she beat were actually skilled before this fight, and yet she won somehow.

I don't know how to deal with these lyrics. But Toga is absolutely fucking with her head here.

And She Lost. Decisively. YUP. WELP THIS IS GONNA BE A THING NEXT TIME.

Toga: Hey you don't have to deal with this bullshit anymore.

Utena is doing the EXACT same shit Miki and Saionji were pulling, and Anthy's blank soulless stare is freaking me the hell out. Again.

So, ideals here. But the idea that whoever has a...better grasp of the truth is the victor. Which makes sense that Toga wins here.

Jesus, Soul crush 2.0, except it's on Utena this time. Goddamn.

WELL NEXT EPISODE PROMISES TO BE FUN.

Utena: ITS NOT TRUE. ITS NOT TRUE!

The Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena IMMEDIATELY: MISSING TRUTH ETCETC HOLD ME IN YOUR TRUE ARMS I WANT TO KEEP SMASHING LIES APART

SURE THAT MEANS NOTHING GUYS GGNORE.

Also, no joke, these seem like a Direct response to this episode and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

I want to be hated by lies? Uhhhhh.

Overall Thoughts: So Hey, Here we are in Episode 11 and I want to talk about how Utena and Saionji basically are each other right here.

Like overtly even I think, even if the actions aren't precise clean mirrors to each other which I guess is just how i'm going to be going through this series right now RiP.

But ok, here's the thing. What has been increasingly clear as time goes by is that Utena is fundamentally misunderstanding something about Anthy. I'm not sure fully what it is, but it's clearly Rosebride related, and the thing with the clashing ideals suggests that the.

Actually let me explain that clear like. Right now my read on the Duels is that they are NOT in any way shape or form a demonstration of skill. I Think that's clear through this point, but I'm making it explicit for my own sake. The Victor of the Duel isn't the better fighter. If that were the case, It'd suggest the only ones in the running at all would be Toga or Saionji (Juri should also be in here, but I'm not actually clear how skilled she is compared to those two, and the way they're treated suggests that Toga and Saionji are comparable in pure skill/ability.)

But Utena somehow beat Saionji like three times, Juri and Miki. Miki's whatever, but Juri clearly knows what she's doing, and Saionji seems to be Kendo Team captain so you know. Up there. Meanwhile, Utena explicitly is an amateur.

I'm not saying, in full, that actual skill with the blade is a null thing, but your ideals seems to be the biggest factor over everything else. Presumably, people rocking equally “powerful” ideals would fall to skill with the sword.

Anyway. The Truths that Seem to be critical are Anthy Wants to Be Free of the Rosebride. Ok, so Utena has the right read then right? But then she lost to Toga who seems to be rocking Anthy Wants to Be, or else Considers herself fundamentally to be, the Rosebride, which is something that Utena seems to be denying about Anthy, but is none the less true.

But then, How are Utena and Saionji the same? Well, remember an episode back where I was talking about the divine punishment thing and all that jazz from episode 8?

It hits both of them for mistreating the Rosebride. There is a fantasy going on between Utena and Saionji, and while Saionji's is a bit complicated and unclear I think, Utena's actually is pretty straightforward I think. Utena want's to be a prince. That's her fantasy. The general virtues she want's to possess are great. Good even. But the specific's seems to involve a kind of rides in and saves the day riding in on a white horse thing, where she's the hero and does for some poor unfortunate girl what her prince did to her.

Saionji's meanwhile, seems to be something of him having a genuine reciprocal relationship with Anthy, with him inhabiting the role of a badboy romantic lead while the two of them have feelings for each other. When, really, he doesn't seem to care for her, or at least the feelings that he has for her are considerably weaker than whatever awkward feelings he has going on for Toga (I'm seriously a little fuzzy here, cause it feels like following his most recent defeat he's rocking some kind of clarity? I don't know how it's gonna work out, but I could sorta see him Returning and upsetting whatever the then status quo is.)

But notably, the big thing between them is their staunch refusal to accept what seems to be really true about their relationship with Anthy.

That the end theme seems to immediately pop up as an answer to Utena's reaction feels...Purposeful.

#revolutionary girl utena #liveblogish #In which I just have to accept that i'm probably gonna be looking at foils everywhere for everything #Things Get Spicy #I should really consider getting images but for right now i refuse.#liveblog

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gifsbysimplysonia · 5 years

Note

Tell me about something crazy that happened to you

If you don’t want to read THE LONGEST TEXT ENTRY OF YOUR LIFE, do NOT click on the cut!

THE RAVE - MILWAUKEE - BAMBOOZLE 2010 - JUNE 11, 2010

Mmkay, so the day after my birthday, I headed up to The Rave Milwaukee to see Good Charlotte at the Bamboozle Roadshow Festival, and it was my first time seeing them since October 2006, when I’d last seen them also at the Rave in Milwaukee :P

Not even 3 minutes after arriving, I randomly ran into Tezzie my Fangirl Soulmate (one of the first friends I made on Livejournal back in the 00s; she was visiting all the way from Sweden and was a member a group of the most dedicated fans I had ever witnessed). I was trying to call the # she had given me and was leaving a voicemail as I began walking around the building, along the MASSIVE line that was already formed, full of TEENS and PRE-TEENS. And as I walked and talked…suddenly before me appeared a tiny ginger pixie :) We hugged, we smiled, and that was that. The very dedicated group was in attendance (though I believe there were more members): Krisse (Tezzie’s wifey), Tez, Ashley, Isabel & Jasmine. Tez was with her friend Ashley and they were going to Ashley’s car for something. I went with them and they were filling me in on everything. They and their friends had gotten to the venue at SEVEN IN THE MORNING and had been there the whole time (I think it was after noon by the time I arrived)!!! They were nice enough to let me in line with them.

When we first got in, we all rushed to the GC merch table. They were running this promotion where if you are 1 of the first 6 to go to the table and say “I wanna rep GC!” you get to go to the meet n greet. Being that Milwaukee was Krisse & Tezzie’s first show of the tour, they were going to try for it as the other girls had already got to go to a meet ‘n greet at a previous show. And wouldn’t ya know, they got THE LAST 2 PASSES??? How’s that for luck? The merch dude told me I could try going with them and telling them it was my bday because he’d seen them “let people in,” so why not give it a try? I thanked him for the tip and decided that’s what I’d do.

Meet n greet time rolled around at about 3 and I was SO READY to have to lay down this big sob story and BEG for them to let me into the meet ‘n greet. But when it came time, the lady from the Buzznet table told the lady in charge of the meet ‘n greet that it was my bday and I wanted to know if I could come in, and the lady just shrugged and said, “Sure, why not?” LMAO! As usual, I stressed for hours FOR NOTHING!We went up about 7 flights of stairs, no sh*t, to get to the very top of the venue. And once there, we waited a while for the band to show up. I took some video of Tez & Krisse, wanting to document their nervousness. They were very cute. Tez hadn’t seen the band in 2 years; 2 years and 2 months. Krisse hadn’t seen them in a year and 11 months. They were both SO NERVOUS. The guys finally showed up, late, but it was all of them. Being used to a7x and only getting 3 of 5 members of the band, I was really surprised! But there all 5 of them were :) The big bald security guy wanted it to be very organized so he immediately lined us all up and told us to have cameras ready, 1 thing to sign, and began pushing people through right away.Somehow, I ended up in line first, meaning before K & T. The lady who let me in took my camera from me and then I was going up to the guys, my ticket in hand for them to sign!

I was determined to be well mannered so I made sure to introduce myself to each member & shake everyone’s hand. First up was Paul. He told me I had a lovely name *blush* God bless him, he’s super cute. I was going to ask for a hug because “Paul hugs” are supposedly the best ever BUT the dude was MAD sweaty O_o I had no idea from what, so I didn’t ask. Deano was next and he gave a nice firm shake. I told the two of them it was my birthday and they replied with huge smiles and “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” like it was the best news ever. Totally adorable. Then Deano told me I’d like the new song they are playing and asked me if I’d heard it yet. I told him no and he told me it was called “Like It’s Her Birthday” so I should like it :) Then … there was Joel. Sigh. So funny to think JUST a few years before, I was totally gaga for the dude. I shook his hand, he stood there and for a second? I couldn’t figure out what he was staring at cuz it wasn’t my face, but I realized he was checking out my Vengeance University switchblade pendant :P Benji was next to him. I THINK I shook his hand and intro'ed myself but I’m NOT sure. What I remember about being in front of the Twins was explaining that I hadn’t seen them in 4 years so I was SUPER excited about seeing them live again, to which Benji replies, “I hope we’re not a let down.” O_o As I learned later that day, this kid is a total “Sour Patch Kid.” LOLI said, “Why would you say that?” He just kinda shrugged. So I told him, “You guys never let me down.” Joel liked that because he nodded and went, “Yeaaaaaah,” then held his right fist up for me to pound, so I did :P Then I quickly introduced myself to Billy and shook his hand. He said his name to me, as if I wouldn’t know it, bless him. And then I was being prompted to pose for my photo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LATER THAT EVENING~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the show, behind the venue at the back door, we ended up all standing there with Benji, and he was just talking for QUITE a while. That’s never happened to me before. The longest convo I’ve had with someone famous lasted about … 3 minutes? And all I did was argue with the poor guy. But the girls talked to him for longer than that. They continued to talk to Benji, and understand Ashley, Jasmine & Isa had already been to a BUNCH of Bamboozle shows and they plus Tez & Krisse (and more friends they were meeting up w/at different shows) were going to quite a few more! They became known as “Team Good Charlotte,” that’s how used to seeing them people on Bamboozle got! Anyways, they began talking about how excited they were for CARDIOLOGY to hit in September and Benji was talking about how excited he was for us to HEAR the new album.And I wish I could tell you HOW the transition happened, but I honestly don’t know. All I know is one minute they were all talking about the album … and the next, Benji was talking about letting us hear some. I remember saying something like, “You can go on the bus and crack open a window while you play it,” before SCOLDING HIM about saying that’s what he’d do last time I saw them with regards to “The River” but then NEVER DOING IT :P He said he was sorry.But instead of going THAT route, Benji had a talk with this guy whose name is Danny (I think). The girls told me that he kept up GoodCharlotte.com and ran the GC Twitter account; he was also at the meet n greet taking video and photos. Anyways, he showed up and he and Benji talked, and next thing we knew?

WE WERE INVITED ONTO THE BUS TO HEAR A TRACK OFF OF THE UPCOMING GOOD CHARLOTTE ALBUM!

I know. I wouldn’t believe me if I were you either, but it’s absolutely what happened. Benji & Danny made it clear NO cell phones or cameras could go with us, though, so we all crossed the street so the girls could put their stuff away. I was waiting for my ride so I couldn’t put anything away so I just put mine in my bag. We went back across the street but instead of going onto GC’s bus, we were let onto “Danny’s bus.” He actually said “I’m such a diva, I get my own bus.” And as the last on board, even AFTER Danny, I got to close the bus door behind us and IT WAS HEAVY. I had given my bag to him and he had just placed it on the front passenger seat which I sat down on because I didn’t want to have to squeeze my fat a$$ past him AND past Benji & the girls who were all already seated on two couches and the “aisle” was so small, I didn’t wanna do it. But Danny looked at me and said, “You can come in. Come on, you can sit there,” and he pointed at a bench next to one of the couches, so I said, “Oh thanks” and proceeded to squeeze my fat a$$ past everyone, probably murdering everyone’s feet as I did.Anyways, I sat down in a solo seat. Across from me on the couch were Krisse, Tezzie & Benji. Next to me on a couch were Isa, Ashley, and Jasmine. Danny was standing in the driver area with a camera pointed at us THE ENTIRE TIME so we knew that it was all on video! He asked Benji what he was doing and Benji told the camera that he was letting us hear some tracks off of the new album.Benji played us the “intro,” cause GC always has an intro on their albums and then he played us the first track which I believe is called “Let the Music Play.” As a joke, I took a box of Kleenex that was on the window behind me and let the girls all take one because they SWORE they were going to cry. But y'know what? They actually did, bless them. At one point, Tezzie buried her head in Krisse’s chest as Krisse hugged her very tightly and I realized just how sacred this moment & experience was for those girls. And honestly? I felt so out of place. I felt like I was intruding, y'know? I just happened to be with the right people at the right time and get to tag-a-long for this episode and I am TRULY GRATEFUL for it.I bowed my head to listen to the song, and as I listened to the lyrics, tears rose in my eyes. Because once again, as SO OFTEN IS THE CASE with Good Charlotte lyrics, they hit me in my heart. In June of 2010, I’d gone through a LOT of crap in my personal life, and I just have felt so inferior and so bad about myself. Well, this song that Benji was playing us? It was talking about those feelings, letting me know AGAIN that I wasn’t alone in how I felt (which is what Good Charlotte’s music has ALWAYS done for me and it continues to do to this day):

“When the world tries to beat you down, let the music play.”

And THAT lyric just … hit home for me. So I got teary eyed, but the tears never fell for me. When the song was over, though, I had one of those moments where I actually was so overwhelmed with emotion, I HAD to say what was in my heart, which only ever happened with Eddy Guerrero.“Can I tell you something?” I asked Benji as he started scrolling for another song to play us, or maybe to shut off his iPod.“What?” he asked without looking at me.“I call Good Charlotte my 'gateway band’ because you guys led me to so much, musically. But it ALWAYS comes back to you because, lyrically, no other band GETS ME like you guys do, and that song right there? Just reminded me of that.”“Amen,” Ashley said, and I laughed to myself. I don’t remember if Benji had a reaction or not because I realized that Danny still had his camera pointed at us and I wondered about what I’d just said and if it’d end up anywhere.Benji then played us some of the track that GC is playing at the Bamboozle shows called “Like It’s Her Birthday.” The girls ALL ALREADY KNEW ALL THE LYRICS and were singing along :) I had just heard the song for the first time a couple hours before so I just sat there, bobbing my head like a jacka$$.

But someone knocked on the bus door & Benji and Danny had to get going so we didn’t get through that whole track. As we all got up to disembark, I imagine everyone was as overwhelmed and feeling surreal as I was. We got outside and thanked Benji SO VERY MUCH for allowing us to be a part of that. Outside there were a couple of girls leaning against a tree, very obviously wanting to go up to Benji but for some reason, not doing so? And they were giving us the Evil Eye BIG TIME! Funny thing is, I recognized them from A7X shows.Danny took testimonials from the girls on his camera about what we all just heard. And he told us that he would upload the video THAT NIGHT if that was ok. None of us argued. I don’t think he ever did upload anything, BUT, to all of our surprise, the quickest clip ever of us on the bus that night ended up in a Good Charlotte music video for Counting the Days:

I am FOREVER GRATEFUL to have PROOF that this totally insane thing happened to me. And it only happened cuz I was hanging out with the right people, but they were nice enough to let me 6th wheel it with them and it was one of the best birthdays/memories and craziest experiences of my life.

Sometimes I think I live a really small life but then I remember stuff like this and I’m like, “How many people can say that they got to chat with a member of their favorite band, were invited onto a bus to preview brand new music NO OTHER FANS had heard at the moment, AND ended up in one of the band’s music videos??”

I mean, maybe that’s a really big pool and I don’t know it, but I’m just grateful I can be included in it. And in addition to getting to attend a meet n greet I was NOT scheduled to go to and meet the band I refer to as “my heart band,” this day FOR SURE was one of the craziest of my life :)

#personal #get to know me #Good Charlotte #anonymouse

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magaprima · 5 years

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Part 1 Episode 6 Thoughts (part 3/3)

You can’t not comment on the ‘The Exorcist’ visual reference as they arrive at the Putnam house, and you can’t not love it either.

When they enter the bedroom where the possessed Uncle is writhing in bed, Hilda and Sabrina are stood together at the foot of the bed, but Lilith slips in separately, walking behind them. She’s all in dark colours, she has dark hair, while they’re all in light colours with light hair, and it does give the visual hint of how Lilith has orchestrated this entire thing, the possession included, that she’s there, even now, working from the shadows. And although Lilith is soft focus in the background when Sabrina is loudly challenging the demon at the beginning, telling him she found out his true name, you can still see a bit of Lilith’s expression, and that she is smirking, both at the Uncle and at the whole situation. This is her whole long-con plan falling into place, piece by piece.

The way she forcefully places the exorcism in Sabrina’s hands, alongside her instruction of ‘Speak with a loud, clear voice, Sabrina’ is further proof of this all being her plan, her idea (which is confirmed later in her private moment with Jesse. Also side-note, I called my first ever hamster Jesse so I get attached to that name). She is making sure this happens, the Dark Lord is forcing her hand and so she, in turn, forces Sabrina’s. Yet, when Sabrina replies ‘always’ there is a brief moment, a shared, held look between the two of them. I don’t know what it is precisely, I can’t put my finger on it, but it feels like something bonded is brewing between them. I mean, in some versions of the tale of Lilith, it says that she spoke God’s true name with a loud, clear voice and that’s what made her a witch (it’s possible I’m mixing versions up there as there are so freaking many. Men just can’t decide how best to condemn women in their allegories and fairytales. But it is a part of the mythology that I keep in my own headcanons for Lilith and mix in with the CAOS mythos, that she didn’t have to sign the book because she made herself a witch ) so I wonder if the look over the loud, clear voice is again a parallel to how Sabrina and Lilith have very similar origin stories and narratives

When all the candles burst into intense flame, Lilith looks genuinely shocked and surprised by that development, so I genuinely believe that dramatic accompaniment was unexpected by her. Also, the man has a lot of candles, maybe that’s her surprise was about....

“I call forth the powers of Lilith”

Literally the first witch they call on is the first ever witch herself and, unbeknownst to Sabrina, she is right there beside her. I cannot express how much I love this moment and I also cannot express how much I wish the camera had shown us Lilith’s face in that moment. Also, it’s a reminder (as it later says in Edward’s manifesto) that Lilith is the Mother of Magic, you can’t do anything without it leading back to her, quite literally in this particular spell. She is the mother of witchcraft, she is incredibly powerful, and we know this, but I think Satan has made Lilith forget it, as abuse victims do often start to forget who they are, their own strengths.

Lilith is the only one grinning and totally unshaken when Jesse Putnam starts floating and writhing in the air in full The Exorcist mode, while Hilda is just like ‘holy fucking heaven’. Lilith also seems to only half join in with the exorcism; sometimes she mimes, sometimes she speaks quietly, sometimes she doesn’t open her mouth at all, and I do wonder if it’s not just because she needs Sabrina to be the specific one performing the exorcism but because Lilith, being the First Witch and Madam Satan, is so much more powerful than the other two, that her full contribution would immediately knock out the spell and make it instantly effective. Which would not only ruin her plans, but blow her cover too..

“Keep going, keep going, keep going” is said with this wide eyed urgency that she is simply not letting Sabrina give up, because she can’t. Because Lilith needs Sabrina to succeed more than anyone else, because failure is just not an option. Of course, in the middle of this encouragement, Jesse launches forward, Sabrina screams bloody murder, and Lilith just looks at her in silent shock like ‘Wow, that’s a pair of lungs. Also, calm the fuck down’. Though even Lilith looks a little grossed out when he vomits up the demon.

I would comment on Lilith’s reaction to Hilda shoving her, but thanks to Lucy, we all know the reason that happened, haha. Although, in the next shot Lilith is still glaring at Hilda...so is this Michelle dedicating herself to the moment, or did Lucy shove her again without the camera seeing?

As she hands Sabrina the stones, and goes to wrap up the demon worm, Lilith does look like she’s thinking ‘i am not paid enough for this shit’. The woman has a very hard job, it can’t be denied. And when they’re looking down the well, Lilith is the one who looks the most concerned about whether it’s truly gone or not...but that’s obviously because not only will any failing have a bigger impact on her, but we know that she is the one who gave the demon to Jesse, so potentially she doesn’t want the warm getting back up, possessing someone else, and spilling all her secrets, letting Sabrina know who she really is.

When Hilda says Jesse will likely survive, Lilith’s glance to her and then a look to herself, clearly implies she’s already planning to kill him, because she can’t allow for any loose ends to lead right back to her. It’s even possible Jesse met her properly when she got him possessed and could as much identify her as the worm could so....unfortunately, he needs to go.

When Lilith says she’s intruded on them long enough and that she’ll see Sabrina tomorrow, it’s obviously because she knows not to push it, that she’s more likely to win Sabrina’s trust by letting her be the one to invite her, rather than forcing it. So, when Sabrina calls her back, she looks entirely prepared to hear the girl warning her off again. But instead....Sabrina thanks her.

And it’s so blindingly obvious that she has never been genuinely thanked before. Lilith seems genuinely shocked by it, and a little thrown. She doesn’t know what to do with this genuine thanks, this true, unconditional gratitude, and you just know she has never experienced this before in any way. All the hard work she does, all the tasks she completes, all the duties she fulfils, all the shit she deals with and no one has ever genuinely thanked her. I mean she blinks with emotion, she’s got something in her throat; she is not just surprised by this thanks, she is emotionally overwhelmed by it. She doesn’t know what to do with it all, how to react. I genuinely believe this is the first tiny flicker of a moment that opens Lilith’s heart a little bit, as Michelle said, there’s no defence for kindness.It softens a small part of what has been turned to stone. The thanks has not reached the Mother of Demons, not Satan’s Concubine, it has reached Lilith. And think we therefore have a trickle of what eventually leads to her and Sabrina partnering up. We’ve a long way to go, but that first minute change has begun.

"You played your part in this passion play beautifully”

This is a really interesting choice of words, since we later discover Sabrina is essentially the Anti-Christ, so she is a passion play in itself, but then there’s also the passion play of Lucifer and Lilith performed at the Academy in Part 2. It’s all foreshadowing and linked references. Lilith also seems to really enjoy telling Jesse all of this, she is smiling and really getting into it, and it isn’t merely a vibe of someone enjoying an evil monologue, this is Lilith getting to be fully herself for a few minutes, no disguise, just herself and that is very freeing for her, I think.

“....to see the prophecy fulfilled. I’m sure it will be apocalyptic”

At this point, Lilith is fully on board with Satan’s plan to bring about hell on earth, but this significantly changes over the course of the seasons, which proves that her experiences and new relationships do change her and open her eyes. She goes from being all for it to not caring either way to outright stopping that shit.

She does seem to take pleasure in squeezing the doll when Jesse is suffering, but not once he dies. After that point, it’s simply ‘the job is done’. Lilith likes making mortal men suffer, obviously, but I don’t think she takes pleasure in kill for hire, having to get rid of something for duty purpose. Not because of any moral conflict, but because it’s like being ordered, instructed, she has no choice in the matter, and that is something Lilith vehemently hates.

“I mean, how am I ever going to outwit the Dark Lord?”

When Sabrina confesses this, Lilith has mild shock which is not quite hidden. She knows the girl doesn’t want to sign the book, but here she is admitting it’s more than that. And the smile on her lips as she plays dumb, asking ‘Outwit the Dark Lord? Why, Sabrina...what ever do you mean?’ tells us that Lilith knows perfectly well that she’s in the inner circle now. All her hard work has paid off; she’s succeeded in gaining Sabrina’s trust.

#headcanons #episode stuff #long post

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italicwatches · 5 years

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Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online - Episode 01

So, hey. Funny story. True story!

I’ve never actually sat down and properly watched any SAO stuff through. I missed the initial wave of enthusiasm over the first half of the first arc, and then the opinion turned on it so I just kinda never got into it.

But I’ve heard nothing but good things about this one. So let’s see how I like it. It’s Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, episode 01! Here we GO!

-We begin with lines of code, and a bit of exposition about the fate of VR games, over just barely legally distinct shots of classic gaming. We’ve got the NES light-gun classic Wild Gunman, we’ve got Space Harrier from the much beloved Sega lineup, an early 3D fighter in the wave of Virtua Fighter, an FPS that I can’t recognize the exact vintage of, and then, the VR games.

-Oh, right, the actual exposition! So uh someone made VR games safe again and now there’s a bunch of lock mechanisms to prevent SAO from happening again. There’s one popular one, a ferocious firefighting game…Gun Gale Online! Through the waste’s central city, a cloaked figure runs, as the game cheerfully announces a team battle royale tournament will be starting, the Squad Jam!

-Which, of course, has everyone intrigued…As we see a pair who’ve entered. A big, tough military man…And a tiny girl in bright pink with a rabbit hat. She wasn’t sure she gonna enter if she could get tickets to the big concert…But that didn’t happen, so fuck it, time for war! They’ll stand together, her and her gun P-chan! It’s a P90. A pink P90.

-Opening! Which gives us some solid confirmation that the cloaked figure was our little pink bun, and also that she is fast. Like, Ruby from RWBY fast.

-And we’re back! The rounds begin, and our duo immediately find themselves shunted into the battlefield, in the woods! The big man crouches down…And our little pink cutie doesn’t even bother, because she’s big-man-crouching height while fully standing. So they’re deep in the woods for this match, which is…Not ideal. He’s a long-range sharpshooter who benefits from clean sightlines, and she’s…I mean, she’s in bright pink. Which is how she gets a cloak again to cover up, and he gets out the map to take a look…

-So, here’s the good news. M can confirm that they’re at least a kilometer away from any opponents, and that they’re close enough to the North-Eastern corner of the map that they can pretty much ignore those directions entirely. Which leaves a question: Straight line, or to the center?

-Straight line. Due South. The pair get moving, and the contrast between the two is more obvious with every movement. M carries a huge pack of supplies, while our pink bun is rocking the bare minimum kit. He’s a sharpshooter, her P90 is a submachine gun meant for close-quarters. You get the idea.

-It’s not long before they start hearing gunfire, and M pegs it as 5.56 rifles. Mid-close range gear, and he catches the direction. Sounds like two other teams got stuck in a firefight. They’ll need to be careful on approach…And so he lets LLENN take the lead, feeding her specific directions as she moves deeper into the woods…

-LLENN is freaking out a bit, enough that she misses the a tree branch and trips right on her face…But her path takes her to the edge of the woods, and he finally has her lock down! She’s a full 300 meters ahead of him at this point…And that’s what he’s banking on. The system’s going to start pinging team locations soon. But those locations are tagged to the team leader, not every individual player. Pushing her out like this ensures that she can be a cat’s-paw and bait. Draw in targets into his line of fire, while peppering anyone she can on the move…

-Speaking of, she spots some targets on the far side of the city! Looks like a team of at least five. Well armed, taking up cover in a wrecked building. LLENN starts freaking out, but she’s way too far away for her P90 to do anything useful…But then M spots them on the scanner, confirming her report. He can also tell they’re at least 200 meters away from her. You’re pretty safe. Just take a breather and don’t do anything rash—

-And that’s when the bright red lines of laser sights all center onto LLENN. …SO that’s not great. She’s in their sights! LLENN barely has a chance to dive before all of the guns start firing…And though she’s freaking out, M keeps his cool. Those are machine guns. 7.62 class, generic-ass scrub machine guns, for the most part. Stay behind cover! And wait.

-The whole team, the All-Japan Machine Gun Lovers squad, pours it on…Until one of them takes a bullet to the back, and drops in a spray of red pixellation! DEAD! Then another takes two to the chest and head, and finally their apparent leader drops to a headshot! They were so focused on forward, that they got picked off from behind…

-Which leaves M to skulk his way forward. This is what M was banking on. He saw a second team in engagement range, and took the coin flip. Either they’d focus on you and get shot in the back, or they’d spot the other team…And then he’d shoot them in the back. He tosses her a spotting scope, and lines up a shooting position. And you used her as a decoy?!

-Yup.

-…Well shit.

-So, take a look. Those two are the only ones left out of the team, and are wide open…So they should shoot them? Nope. For now, observe. Focus on the team engaging now. There are four…But look at how efficiently they’re moving. They probably have spotters up in a building feeding them directions. Snipers ready to pick off anyone who engage. Those two are going down, and it’s only a question of how long it takes.

-It takes about ten seconds. So now they take out this super military team, right?!

-No. They’d disengage with only one down, and know exactly where he is. Now focus…There! See that arching building? And LLENN looks, and sees a man rappelling down the side! Two of them! But…Whoa.

-M can confirm, they’re not moving with the in-game skill. He’s done it himself, it’s not anywhere near that fast.

-These guys are just using raw physics. They know how to actually rappel, and are using the engine’s lack of risk to tear down the side at full speed. They’re not dealing with some fun weekend gamers, LLENN. These are legit operators. Police, coast guard, or maybe even JSDF soldiers. They’re people who aren’t here to do something they can’t do in the real world…They’re people here to do what they know how to, without consequence.

-LLENN calls bullshit. That should be cheating! There’s no rule against it. And for all the differences between GGO and real life, it makes a lot of sense to use a tournament environment as a test of their more core skills. So how do they proceed?

-An open fight with them is impossible. …Well shit. So, LLENN, how much do you trust your luck? She, she trusts it! Good.

-Here’s the plan. They’ll hold for the next scan ping. If it looks how he expects, they’re going to make a move. All that gunfire should draw attention. They’ll use it, and bolt down the highway for the residential area. When the scan comes in, seven teams are already down, leaving 16 in this map…And there are three teams moving for the pro group they watched!

-Lucky day. That’s going to keep all four teams well occupied. Time to move.

-It’s not long before the battle starts…And when that happens, LLENN is sent as the forward, getting the chance to RUN!

-Holy shit that’s fast.

-She can’t help but wonder if she’s being used as a decoy. Again. Despite, technically, being team leader. This is bullshit!

-Back in the firefight, where some poor bastard crawls out from under a car, desperately filling his HP with a health kit…Only for his attempted regroup call to end in a guy from one of the other teams peppering him full of holes I mean red dots. …And then that guy gets swiss cheesed for standing out in the open. There’s a dedicated team doing the sweepup style work for easy victories, one of the joys of large scale battle royal…

-Which is about when a mess of grenades gets dropped on their heads. And that whole team is dead.

-The pro team confirms the eliminations, and discuss what to do about the duo…

-While LLENN and M finally meet up in an abandoned house, in time to check the next scan. Eight teams down. Everyone squabbled over the good terrain in the central ruins, and that pro team’s been holding their own…While the scan shows nobody in their area. They’ve got eight teams left on this map. M’s predictions and planning have gotten them this far, so what’s the plan now?

-Two teams in the forest, trying to get the drop on each other. This third team will probably end up forcing a mass engagement. Over by the spaceship, this one team has some solid territory, so they’ll almost certainly stay put. And there’s no telling what these two will do…This group near the ruins are holding so close to good territory, but aren’t going in, so something’s up there.

-So the real big question is this pro team. The thing to ask is, are they here to win, or to improve? If they’re looking to hone their skills, they’ll be wanting to force matters into an engagement. They’ll come pursuing.

-Which means they need to have a plan ready. And M’s cooking something up that’ll fit LLENN’s abilities perfectly…

-While the pro team confirm that nobody else went for the residential area. Thus begins their hunt into that area, as they approach, getting there in time to await the next scan….Which shows the team being right in front of them, only 80 meters ahead! But no signs visually…They move carefully, in a full team, looking up and down at the scan point…

-With no sign, they get into a cross formation at the intersection, trying to figure things out, as the spotters try to put something together…The core team list off everything they can see, but…There’s nowhere the target could go. It’s just an empty shopping cart, some ruined road, and an old suitcase…

-A…Suitcase? The spotter looks, sees the size of it…SHOOT THE SUITCASE! But it’s too late! LLENN leaps up from underneath it! But it’s too late, as she starts pouring lead on, sprinting forward! Her tiny, tiny frame fit inside the luggage, and she’s able to take one out and get behind his body! Corpses remain as locked physics objects, indestructible within a Squad Jam.

-And she’s so tiny that she can hide behind it on the ground, taking down a second and third! When the last man in the field goes for her, she leaps right past him, gets in close, and just squeezes the trigger until he drops!

-Leaving five and six to casually decide they’re done. She’s too far outside of normal human limits to be useful. They got what they could get. Quit? Quit. They resign, and their bodies just drop.

-When it’s all over, a whole crew of girls are watching, awed by what LLENN pulled off…And we see who LLENN is on the outside, the tall, graceful Karen-san. Who’s a little embarrassed at all this attention.

-Credits!

okay this is looking really, really fun. Does anyone else suddenly kind of want to play a battle royale game? Is that normal? Anyways, we’ll have to see how Karen’s career in this game goes next time, in episode TWO of SAO Alt: Gun Gale Online! Wait for it!

#where I watch #recap #anime #sword art online #gun gale online #sao alternative

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ramblesofadreamerofthestars · 4 years

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Therapy? In The Final Season of The 100??

It’s more likely then any of us ever thought??????

Spoilers of course for the 100 7.07

Dr. Eric Jackson said “is anyone going to treat Literally Everyone for the trauma we go through” and had to wait seven seasons before giving up and doing it himself. I fucking love him and I Adore that Madi is getting therapy and that they are CONFRONTING WHAT HAPPENED TO A LITERAL CHILD. Jax read one (1) psychology book and decided he was now a licensed therapist and you know what? good for him.

Someone....let me at Madi’s wardrobe. Babe looks like she rolled up fresh out of Amity from the Divergent movies and like...killing it but What was the inspiration. I am So Happy she gets to play soccer and have therapy sessions and just be a regular kid for what is apparently, the first time in her entire life. I Miss her and Clarke and i wish Clarke was here to see Madi starting to flourish because that dynamic has been pushed So Far to the side this season and I just miss them. I Love that they finally addressed how fucked up it was putting the flame in Madi’s head i seriously love love love it. yes it was necessary but it was also extremely traumatic and not something a child should have to go through and I’m so happy they talked about it (for at least a moment anyway)

Lindsey Morgan and her team said You get to deal with trauma, and you get to deal with trauma, and you - . No but for real, I was pleasantly surprised with the things that got addressed this episode- The flame, Octavia beating up Bellamy, the beginning of Becho. Not as good as Bardo lore but we take what we can get.

(Also shout out to Ms. Morgan for an incredible directorial debut, what a talented queen)

I Loved Octavia saying outright how fucked up it was that she beat up her brother It’s been 84 years too many seasons of waiting for it, her growth this season? Incredible. That being said, literally What The Fuck was that comforting scene between her and Echo I’m. “You’re my family too” bitch Where. I understand Octavia trying to comfort someone she knows her brother cares for, and I know that Octavia saw how lost and angry Echo was, and this is just my own thoughts but probably recognized something in Echo that was reminiscent of her when she lost Lincoln, at least in her eyes, but it came out of no where?? These two have Never had a good relationship and while part of it is obviously Octavia’s growth the scene felt a little stilted.

So. Echo. First thing right off the bat (as always, this should literally be the expectation but for the people in the back) THE ACTORS ARE NOT THEIR CHARACTERS, THEY ARE REAL PEOPLE, AND PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GODS LEARN TO SEPARATE THE TWO. I have so much respect for all the actors and crew who are trying their absolute best and making this show something I look forward to watching.

I had Such high hopes for Echo. And honestly the tiny little rat part of my brain that never lets things go still wants to hope for a satisfying end to the spy’s story. I Want her to reach a point where she can look at herself with clear eyes, and come through to the other side. I Want her to have happy ending where she understands that though loyalty is admirable, there has to be more in your life, that you cannot dedicate yourself to one person entirely. The realistic part of my brain that has watched this fucking show for years knows better. Tasya Teles is doing an excellent job of Echo’s continuing downward spiral, 10/10 choices. But all the lighting and framing and crazy intense gaze do Not bode well for Echo’s sanity and her carving the Azgeda marks into her face was I think the point of “no return”. Which makes me sad, to see this end for the character, but it is a path I can see Echo going down, as much as it sucks.

“We got shaved Bellamy but at what cost” makes me cackle but honestly, I liked the Ring flashback. Setting aside how late it is to be Doing ring flashbacks, I think it was a Very interesting look at Becho. Echo on the ring is so cute sorry not sorry, like I Love seeing that girl happy. Her and Bellamy’s little banter reminded me of their earliest dynamic which I enjoyed seeing because I do think those characters have an interesting relationship. Also, Bellamy using his own experiences of the dangers of blind loyalty to try and help Echo, love to see it but her “it’s not real” right before he kissed her...the implications. They knew what they were doing and I think it was a needed perspective into their relationship because we have barely anything except for people saying things about it which is Not The Same Thing.

Moving On! HOLY SHIT Y’ALL HOPE AND DIYOZA I FUCKING LOVE THEM THE ACTRESSES WERE INCREDIBLE, THE DYNAMIC WAS AMAZING, BEST STORYLINE OF THE EPISODE BY FAR. I seriously just Loved watching their scenes, their relationship is So Good and I loved them trying to figure out the new dynamics they have to work through and the way they don’t really know how to act around each other in the beginning but at their core they’re still mother and daughter and Hope’s broken “they took my mommy” almost had me in tears seriously These Two Y’all.

Hope thinks of Dev as her father...I’m soft :’)

I’m tired of Nikki. That’s literally all I want to say about her this episode like I’m so tired of the Sanctum storylines and I just do Not care about her little revenge plot. Nelson joining her side is stupid but he was in a very emotional place at the moment so I Guess.

Emori tried So Hard to make things better on Sanctum and I want to give her all the things it’s what she deserves what a queen. (Luisa d’Oliveira an actual goddess I’m so happy she got a chance to shine this episode). Memori consistently being cute and domestic af love that for them, seriously these two fit so well together “ besides, you’ve been worshiping me for years” when I tell y’all I screamed. Also I’m not like, super convinced about the Emori is pregnant theory and don’t really know how I feel about it but “maybe it’s the palace life giving you that glow” was a...weird choice of words.

Sheihedea shut up forever challenge. Seriously why does anyone let him speak?? The bitch is so dramatic when he starts going on his “I can give you want you want” speech just walk away from him?? Like what’s the bitch going to do start yelling after you?? And let everyone know how desperate he is to get people on his side and also that he only has one real strategy of getting people on his side?? I think the fuck not. Honestly though, he has one (1) method of getting people on his side and it’s psychoanalyzing them while they play chess which goes on ForEVER btw (like this post w h o o p s) i’m so tired of him. Murphy calling him on his misogyny was certainly a highlight of the episode though, good for him.

And Finally, that ending though. Wow I’m super shocked that the shepard is Bill Cadogan. What a surprise. Never saw it coming. I thin the ‘plot twist’ still worked ish mostly because everyone fucking forgot about his existence but idk it was what I expected and I just Don’t Care? You have crystal giants outside and you want me to care about some musty ass white man who’s been in the freezer for thousands of years?

I genuinely thought (because I’m a dumbass) for half a second that the old dude in the freezer coffin was Bellamy because I though Anders was going to do some dramatic reveal of where he was stashing our king and the rage I felt in that split second when I thought they really had the audacity to do that. But no it was just Another Plot we get to explore :)))))

ALRIGHT CLOWNS YOU MADE IT TO THE END SO. HOW ABOUT THAT BELLARKE CRUMB WE GOT. Can’t believe I Still can’t retire my clown makeup, please just Give Them A Break. Ms. Morgan really did that though, the framing close up of Clarke, the Bellarke theme in the background, all the other characters looking right at Clarke as she breaks on the inside ( and holy shit kudos to Ms. Eliza Jane for that scene, the sheer heartbreak and almost feral desperation in one expression was Everything). I know I said I love parallel’s and who does parallels better then them but I feel like the “they do this every year” audio, just let them be together for more then Five minutes without some new crisis blease.

Next episode will be a prequel (?) set up (?) which will be...interesting. Going to be real honest I don’t really care about the premise but Becca scenes are always a plus. More of the Diyoza women please, Clarke and Octavia deserve to have a (better) moment grieving over Bellamy together thanks, let Miller say more lines, and p l e a s e let Bellamy and Clarke be on screen together soon I miss them.

Friendship ended with Gabriel now Levitt is my only friend

#The 100 #the 100 spoilers #the 100 s7 #bellarke #I will continue to clown even after the series ends like just fucking watch me #Me still holding out hope that the ending will just be the remaining delinquents moving back to Earth and living the life they should have #had in s1?#it's more likely then you'd think #send the people we like back to earth #cut off the portal/anomaly/whateverthefuck #and let the others tear each other into pieces idc #Loved the Lexa mention thank you Murphy I miss her

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crystalized-dreams · 6 years

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So, if you frequent Twitter and/or Facebook, you’ll probably know I’ve been pretty sick. While I’m about halfway through my medicine (and hopefully feeling 100% once more), my focus is… very shake-y, at the moment, to say the least. As someone who normally multitasks a loot, it’s so… frustrating to essentially just be stuck staring at one thing and struggling to even accomplish that.

I don’t really like leaving things unfinished and right now, my unfinished pile feels kind of unbearable and there’s not much I can do about it. To make matters worse, because of the previous mentioned problem of not being able to focus, my mind is constantly thinking up ideas (whether drawings, stories, or something else entirely) that I just… do not have the time or talent to put into fruition and it’s pretty disheartening, honestly.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to write this entry since earlier this week and wanted to get it up before Pocket Camp came out because I was going to say how likely it’d be to come out the 21st/22nd because the Fortune Event ended then and it was also when the dailies ended for the current round instead of it being the usual 10–of course, I was right with that, but I never actually managed to… get that post done. On the bright side, I did manage to get all the wallpapers in the Fortune event:

As you can see, I apparently got Bitty: I don’t really think it’s that fitting, but I don’t really like to keep retaking these quizzes. I just wish they’d stop with the “shortened” quizzes–most people would prefer to answer all the questions to get a more accurate result and so it’s frustrating when it’s essentially powered by RNG to an extent because I don’t feel it’s entirely accurate.

As for the progress in the game, it’s mostly been slow… Ignoring server issues since the huge increase of people with the game releasing, as I’ve mentioned before, there’s just not much I can do right now. I did manage to get the level 5 Merry-go-Round completed: And currently have the level 5 Pool being built so I just have the Treehouse and Concert left to level up. I also have crafted everything I currently have unlocked at least once so the only things I have left are from getting villagers to level 15. I still have 21 villagers to go and I keep debating on if I should use my Request tickets to try and rush these or save them to rush being able to host when new villagers get added instead. Marshal is likely coming in the new batch of villagers due to being one of the options in the Fortune Event and it’s possible some of my own favorites could make their way in that batch too which would be nice as currently my only favorite villager in the game is Peanut.

As for the game itself, the trees and grass also changed shortly before the game opened for everyone and it’s quite nice: I’m looking forward to us getting snow. I am surprised we didn’t end up having a Harvest Festival ingame, but maybe they felt it was too soon after opening…

My struggles are still heavily with the resource mechanics though–especially with being sick, it makes it hard to keep my stock up since it’s hard to really play much and when I do have those short bursts where I feel up to more, I once again get hit by that item limit wall. Most of the limits and things, I can understand. The timers, the rotations, the crafting things… But the item limit is just such an issue. Especially because you get SO little from selling items, it doesn’t feel worth the effort to get them just to sell them so when your inventory is full, it’s like “Well, now what do I do?”. Prices are what you’d expect for clothing and furniture and to craft, but the prices for selling things from your inventory is just too small to cover that. 10 Bells for “common” stuff is just so disheartening. And it also gives me less of a reason to play when my requests are done honestly and removes a lot of the relaxing part of AC and playing how you like.

While my inventory management continues to be a nightmare, I’m doing pretty well catalog-wise. I currently have all market furniture available, everything from Labelle, and only need one thing from Kicks. I have about 13 things left from the Able Sisters, including one of the dresses (The Plum Coat) that I actually really want But the RNG with it all makes it… frustrating.

In the meantime, when I’ve needed a bit of a break from Pocket Camp due to just running out of things to do or just not having the energy for it, I’ve been having a lot of fun with Tiny Bird Garden which came out on November 15th. If you enjoy Neko Atsume and/or really like birds, you’ll probably enjoy Tiny Bird Garden. It is of the same nature as Neko Atsume (lay out toys and food for birds to come), but a bit more… immersive in a way with NPCs you can talk to and actually getting to talk to and befriend the birds in a way. You can give them treats and hats and it’s just a… very sweet game?

I mean, seriously, look at some of these birds:

I especially relate to Cherry:

And even the NPCs have sweet things to say:

Even the Credits as well:

I’ve managed to see all the birds at least once and give them all their favorite Treats so I just need to figure out all their favorite toys now. They all seem… a lot less picky than the cats in Neko Atsume though which both makes it a bit easier to see them all but also a bit harder if you’re specifically going for one.

Regardless, if you like cute birds and/or just need some kind of casual pick-me up, I really do recommend it–even if just for some positive reminders that you matter.

Right now, Super Mario Odyssey is a bit on hold which makes me… quite sad to be honest. I really love the game, but at the same time I just feel frustrated with it. I think a lot of the Moons are pretty fun, but at the same time it feels like way too much. It just feels packed just to be packed and I just don’t find that very fun. It makes them feel less special. That said, my least favorite ones have to be the high score ones I don’t mind doing the activities a certain amount of times, but there’s… not much fun in spending hours trying over and over to hit a score in the same monotonous activity. And you have to do this in two different ones.

The time trial ones are also fairly frustrating. I’ve long stopped enjoying the races and really just wish the only one was in the Mushroom Kingdom.

I’m sure we’ll get back to the game eventually and I really do want to hit the 999 Moons + get all the costumes, but right now I just feel discouraged and frustrated.

Finally, what I’ve been doing especially these last few months is getting myself a bit lost in visual novels. I love reading, but unfortunately our… living situation isn’t the best to really be situated *to* read books for long periods of time and still be comfortable. Let alone even… keep track of books 😦

I started playing My Candy Love aka Amour Sucré in March of last year and it’s been a… rollercoaster of feelings. I talk a lot about the game over on a Tumblr I have dedicated to it and other Beemoov games, but I wanted to bring it up here too for once because there’s a lot I really want to say about it.

I’m incredibly picky with Otome games. I don’t usually have the same tastes in guys as most people so it’s hard for me to find one appealing. Plus, when many games have you dating girls instead and you’re not particularly interested in girls, you’re usually playing more for story reasons then (Which is why I won’t play any… mature rated ones).

I think Otome games can be quite interesting though if they have a good focus on story and characters and that’s generally what I look for, though, I can be picky with art style. And while the art style in MCL can vary (especially with some of the older episodes’ illustrations), something about it still drew me in and I’m not entirely sure what. My one regret is mostly finding about it so late–the game started in 2011 and so I’ve… missed a lot Both onsite event-wise and merchandise-wise.

One thing that’s been especially frustrating to me is there was a short episode available for those who got a code from their booth at Japan Expo in 2013 that was only available for France and there is only video of one of the routes and I can’t find any transcripts of the other routes and this haunts me so much and is killing me slowly because of all kinds of problems. It’s rare, but hey, if you had unlocked the Japan Expo 2013 ring and now no longer can replay the episode, please report it so maybe someone can… finally upload the other routes and dialogue ._.

Moving to the game itself and despite some of my issues above and sadness of missing out, I wish I knew what captured me about the game. I found myself interested in all the characters and definitely found a favorite of the cast. The game takes place in a high school, towards the end of the school year (though, don’t actually try and figure out the timeline–it’s a complete and utter mess).

I think in a way, especially since my school life was absolute trash, it almost feels therapeutic for me. Even though the focus is the 5 main guys, you get two best friends and have a handful of other classmates as well. And even if on episode where you get completely screwed over, people are still there for you and sometimes a lot of it is just what I needed to hear and didn’t realize.

The game currently is at 37 episodes (with 38 coming out any day now honestly– a lot o people are expecting the trailer tomorrow) and you don’t even start dating the guy you want to go for until the end of Episode 28/start of Episode 29 so there’s a long build up (though, you may find the first 10 episodes kind of slow). There’s character arcs as well, some stronger than others, but honestly, I just have fun with it even if I genuinely think they could use a better translator, the censoring is awkward, and some lines are… a bit cringe-y, but it’s just… truly fun.

They have a Black Friday sale going on so I’m debating on buying a bunch of AP and $ and maybe doing a huge story replay to fix some decisions and things I’m not super happy with and also take opportunities to explore the school more so I’ll be less likely to miss dialogue and stuff too.

I would likely stream the big replay too so if someone is interested in the game, but doesn’t want to play, well, that could be an option!

I will say the game is a bit hard to get into–besides some of the older art style in illustrations, the game unfortunately uses an Action Point system. Once you’re caught up, you’ll usually manage to earn enough to play the next episode by the time it comes out, but until then, it’s a very slow grind trying to play each day and can be super demotivating honestly

Once thing I do wish Beemoov would do (besides an alternative to the AP system) is just… better jobs with merchandising to their other servers. There’s such a big focus on France as it’s the main server and where the company is located, but it really makes other servers feel left out. The manga, as an example, has only been published in French, Spanish, and German. It’s been years with no update on if we will ever see it outside those languages. The Artbooks have only been in French and English. And most merchandise hasn’t been outside France at all. It’s pretty discouraging (and also makes it all the harder to FIND older merchandise…).

Despite all this, the game’s taking place in France actually helped rejuvenate my love for France’s culture too. France was the first country I ever wanted to go to and the first language I wanted to learn when I was just 2-3 years old. It meant a lot to me and after some issues when I finally got to go to Paris, France, a piece of my heart got… incredibly hurt due to certain things that happened and it’s… really nice to have it mended and just between this and Miraculous Ladybug feel that love for France again (Also my French has gotten a lot better with all the things I’ve been looking up for character reasons so that’s pretty awesome).

Beemoov’s other visual novel is Eldarya which is much more fantasy-styled and more mature in general. It has the same kind of thing with a lot more characters besides just the love interest and the other servers are *nearly* caught up with France’s. It’s fun despite some… problematic decisions in plot, but I’m genuinely really excited to see where the story goes.

While I play MCL more for the characters as the story is mostly just… school with some character arcs, Eldarya’s overall story has me incredibly invested with where it’s going to go.

Of course, I don’t only play Otome game-Visual novels. One of Beemoov’s other visual novels is Henri’s Secret which is just a general romance story–you don’t have a character and you follow Lyla’s PoV for the most part (though, the game takes place mostly from a third person view). Even though the secret was super obvious from the get-go (and you learn it pretty quick in the story too–though Lyla and her friends have yet to…), I find myself still interested in the characters and story and really want to see their reactions when they learn Henri’s secret.

As for a non-Beemoov game, I’m actually super into SakeVisual’s Jisei series. I love mysteries and all the characters are super well-written. The fourth part is currently in production and I genuinely can’t wait. It’s such a good series, the art and voice acting is phenomenal and I haven’t played a game from SakeVisual that I haven’t enjoyed, honestly. I still have to finish Backstage Pass, but… stats and schedule stuff in games is hard for me x__x

But yes, this is what I’ve been up to recently! I’m still doing training in Miitopia, but it’s… very slow so that may be a while. I also do hope to get back to Lady Layton as SOON as I’m feeling better. I miss it, but I’m just… in no condition to do puzzles right now.

A bit of an update on things and games I’m currently playing~ So, if you frequent Twitter and/or Facebook, you'll probably know I've been pretty sick. While I'm about halfway through my medicine (and hopefully feeling 100% once more), my focus is...

#Opinion Piece #PC #Mobile Games #Visual Novels #Blog Related #Eldarya #Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp #Henri&039;s Secret #Jisei #Beemoov #My Candy Love #Nintendo Switch #Sakevisual #Super Mario Odyssey #Tiny Bird Garden

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skam-season4 · 7 years

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I Missed You

Read on AO3

Summary: Yousef returns from Turkey. Sana lets something slip, and so does Yousef.

Notes: I’ve been very nervous to do a Yousana fic without a co-writer, but I tried! I hope you like it, it’s cute and wholesome I think. I’ve been nervous to do it because Isak and Even, which I normally write, got an entire season and an epilogue dedicated to their story, while Yousef and Sana never even got an entire episode for them, so I don’t know their characters as well and I connect with Even more than another character so it’s easier for me to write stuff about him. So, I’m branching out, and I think I’m gonna continue writing some Yousana?!

Sunday, August 20, 2017 at 7:49 pm Yousef’s point of view Age 19

***

It’s the same basketball court they went to when they played basketball and talked about their faith and bared their souls and watched the sunset. It’s the same place where Yousef realized he loved her.

Yousef recognizes the fact the being in love with someone and loving someone are two different things. You can be both at the same time, but when you’re just in love and don’t really love the person, the differences are monumental. The difference is that when you’re in love, you think that the person is the only other person in the world for you, but when you love someone, you know that they’re the only one. When you’re in love, you say you’ll love the other person despite their differences, but when you love someone, you love them because of their differences.

Over all the years of knowing her, if Yousef had to pinpoint one moment when he realized that not only was he head - over - heels, hopelessly, desperately in love with Sana, but also that he loved her, that day would be it.

Yousef loves Sana because of their differences. One would think that it would be frustrating for Yousef to talk to Sana about faith. How could she be so naive as to believe there’s still a God?

Yousef doesn’t think like that, though. He actually admires Sana for still being religious. He lost faith so quickly when something went wrong, but despite Sana being through Hell and back again, she’s come out even stronger in her faith than anyone could have imagined. And that takes courage. Yousef loves her because she’s courageous. But he also loves her because sometimes, she’s not. Sometimes she’s vulnerable and needs comforting, and she’s learning how to ask for it. Over time, lots, and lots of time, she’s learned to open up. Whether it be to him, or her mom, or her brother, or her friends, it doesn’t matter, because she’s finally letting people see her as more than a stone - cold badass. She’s letting people see her as the caring friend she is, and as the vulnerable girl she still is at sometimes when things start to go down hill.

She’s learned not to shut people out right away, and Yousef is so glad he got to witness her journey. He’s watched her progress emotionally from a girl to a woman.

He snaps out of his lovesick gaze as he sees the tiny speck of black, a break in the purple horizon. Suddenly all thoughts of Sana is strong, Sana is beautiful, Sana is my literal sunshine dissipate and are replaced with SANA SANA SANA SANA. He’s so disgustingly in love that he almost shakes his head at himself as he chuckles under his breath, but if he did that, he’d miss the black dot growing larger with every increasingly fast step he takes.

She’s still barely visible from here, but he starts running regardless, yelling at the top of his winded lungs his exact thoughts: “SANA! SAAANAAA!”

The top of the black dot swivels towards him. He doesn’t have to be able to make out her face to tell that she’s smiling, dimples popping, skin glowing, and teeth showing.

Hey, that rhymes, he thinks to himself as he picks up speed, and a car comes out of nowhere. Granted, he was running in the middle of the road and didn’t even notice it until he almost died, but there are more important things to be looking at.

Things like the girl whose hands just flew up to cover her mouth as she watches Yousef zoom across the busy street without a care for anything other than seeing her.

He runs to a stop just in front of her, bent over with his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. She’s laughing now, mouth open, head thrown back and eyes shining. This is the Sana that Yousef likes the most. The happy Sana.

“Here, I have water in my bag, hold on.” She says between giggles, and opens her bag and pulls out the half - full bottle of water. She hands it to him and he pops the lid off as he downs the entire thing in one go.

He smacks his lips as he finishes it, but then has a realization.

“Fuck. I’m going to have to pee so bad later.” Sana rolls her eyes and puts on an annoyed expression that wouldn’t fool anyone, seeing as how it’s about 100% fond instead of annoyed.

“Really? After two and a half months without seeing me the first thing I hear you say is, ‘Fuck, I’m going to have to pee later?’” She physically cannot keep up the act of being annoyed, so she seems to settle for exasperated instead. Yousef cringes at himself and puts his hands on his faces and he groans out an, “I’m sorry! I had a whole thing planned out in my head that I wanted to say to you, I was going to tell you how much I missed you and how much I love you, but it got messed up cause I guess I didn’t think it through quite well enough.”

“It’s okay,” she says through subsiding giggles. “Just come here you dork.” She reaches up towards his neck and pulls him down into a tight hug. He inhales her scent as he squeezes her middle tightly. He’d almost forgot just how much he’d missed this. Almost.

Then he realizes that holy shit, I just told her I loved her, and the panic sets in. He pulls away from the hug and spits out a shaky, “I’m so stupid, I just realized what I said and I totally didn’t mean to say it out loud right then. Well, I mean, I was going to tell you today but then it just kinda slipped out and I meant to say it in such a more meaningful way, but then I, I don’t know. But you don’t have to say it back if you don’t mean it, I’d totally understand if you didn’t feel that way right now because it hasn’t really been that long and I’ve been away and-” He gets cut off by her gently shushing him. Yousef relaxes immediately upon seeing her not run away. “Yousef, it’s okay. I…” she hesitates as he waits. “It’s just… It’s hard for me to say that, because if I open myself up to that, and I end up getting hurt-” And just like that, the roles are reversed as he cuts off her rambling this time.

“Hey. Hey, look at me. I get it, okay?” He offers her a reassuring smile as she lifts her gaze to meet his, and she begins to nod slowly, mirroring his smile.

“Okay.” The stare intensifies as they pass silent words between them. She loves him, but she’s just scared to say it. He knows she feels it though. He doesn’t mind her not wanting to say it, because there are other ways she expresses her love. The words are just words. Whenever they would get trapped in an intense staring contest like this over the years, Yousef would always get crazy butterflies in his stomach. In this particular instance, he does have them at first (they never really go away when you’re face to face with someone that stunningly beautiful), but the longer they stare, the more at ease he feels, the panic being replaced with a warm feeling that blooms in the center of his chest.

Sana breaks the stare first, and as she looks down, she seems to be having an internal debate with herself. She slowly lifts her stare back to Yousef with an expression on her face he can only describe as fuck it, and in one swift motion, she lifts up on her tiptoes, wraps her hands around Yousef’s neck, and pulls him down as she places a quick, sweet kiss to his cheek.

She lets go as he lifts a hand to touch the spot where she kissed him and strokes over his cheek fondly.

He looks back at her as she tries to hide her blush in an eyeroll (and fails).

“Come on. We have to get going or you’ll be late for your party,” she says matter - of - factly as she begins to walk away. His face lights up as she says this.

“Yes!” He exclaims with a fist in the air. “I am getting a party!” Sana stops in her tracks as she realizes what she just said. “Shit, I just spoiled it.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I’ve known Elias long enough to know when he’s lying. Besides, he’s the one that brought it up in the first place.” “What do you mean?” Yousef pulls his phone out and shows her their messages from earlier.

“That dumb fuck. He’s never been able to keep quiet about a surprise with that loud mouth of his.”

Yousef laughs at this.

“It’s funny because it’s true.” He has flashbacks to their time at Bakka, and all the incidents with Elias ruining surprises.

Sana nods her head knowingly and says, “Should we go now?” Yousef nods his head and smiles in response. She returns the smile and takes his hand as they set off for the party.

Notes: cAn YoU teLL i THinK sANa iS BEauTIfUl? So, I have a draft of the kollektivet fucking around, so I could finish that, or I could write about the party that takes place after this, though I don’t know what would happen there, or I can write something totally different. Also the Elias thing... he might spoil surprises, but he doesn’t tell secrets (coming soon). Let me know what to do next!

#skam #skam fic #skam fanfic #skam fanfiction #yousef acar #skam yousef #yousef skam #yousef #sana #sana bakkoush #skam sana #sana skam #yousana

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bloggy-hell · 7 years

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We need to talk about 13 Reasons Why.

13 Reasons Why (2017): Receiving a 9.1 on imdb and bucketloads of media attention, this new Netflix release has earned a place on everyone's ‘to-watch list’ as it seems like we all want to know what the big deal is about a show that retraces the steps of a suicidal 17 year old.

Quick, Non Spoliery Synopsis by Yours Truly:

A 17 year old girl; Hannah Baker organises the circulation of 13 self-recorded tapes before slitting her arms and killing herself in her family bathtub. These tapes make their way through 10 of her friends, ex’s and enemies, each identifying the particular person and their wrongdoing in order, before reaching her shy crush Clay’s doorstep. Her rules say that he must listen to all of the tapes detailing why she killed herself and pass them on to the person who follows him. WIth each tape revealing intimate secrets about Hannah and Clay’s classmates, we follow him in his struggle to understand who this girl really was when she was alive, how she was treated by those she trusted and most importantly; why Hannah Baker killed herself.

Having just binged the whole 13 episodes over two disgustingly wet and cold days with my sister, i think I have a pretty good idea about what goes down.

I hope you’re ready because I’m about to tell you what I think of this story as a teenager in this modern world. And since there are 13 sides to every story I want to tell mine.

I want to be honest here and start off by saying in an almost critical way, that there were a lot of things about this show that I didn’t like at all. I’m not saying that I was forced to watch all 13 episodes against my will, I just think that sometimes there are only a few things that TV shows need to keep you coming back.

Unanswered questions are one of those things, so so many questions which I personally need to have answered by a show, before it slowly drives me insane and I have to look up a spoiler synopsis..

But who wants to cheat TV shows when you may as well just watch them? Hell, if i can sit through 7 years of the Pretty Little Liars mystery, then I had faith that I could sit through 13 episodes, and I did. My main questions centred around the tapes, specifically; what on earth did Clay do to make him partly ‘responsible’ for Hannah’s death?

So many things to question and discuss but really where to begin?

Let’s put ‘7 things that really grind my gears’(1 for each of the tapes of course) into a list and see how I go before this become a sad, sad rant.

*Disclaimer* I did actually enjoy the show overall so please keep this in mind with what you see below

1: When Clay begins to irk me, the other characters and the entire human species Portrayed by Dylan Minnette, (who believe it or not, has played a character named Clay before, WTF) Clay Jensen is a socially awkward yet well liked student who can hold a place on the school’s honour board yet cannot hold a conversation with a girl. His cringey yet endearing nature promotes him as a lovable protagonist, an innocent light in the darkness of an extremely tough situation. I found myself quite often taking his side in the show and totally rooting for his character.

Despite this, Clay’s loyalty and love for Hannah often poses as quite irritating and almost unrealistic (even if he was a sensitive guy) considering the way she treats him. Throughout the whole debacle, so many accuse Hannah of being dramatic, selfish and attention seeking. Clay however. seems to believe 95% of the time that she was some perfect being who could do no wrong in the world, that the responsibility for killing herself could not have been her own. Of course I am aware of looking at someone through rose coloured glasses when youre keen on them but, to put it bluntly; you’d think that might change when they die.

2: The fact that Clay has like zero close friends yet everyone seems to like him

Everyone who has ever been to high school knows that you need a solid few close friends to bounce back on, who you can trust. There is often a reason therefore that people don’t have any, usually the fact that nobody likes them. This just causes the whole plot idea to make no sense, because everyone at the school seemed to really like Clay. With the exception of Tony who he rarely sees anyway, Clay never had anyone to hang out with before or after school or even at lunchtime, unless of course it was someone he had a ‘school project’ with.

3: The ‘jock crowd’

So most of the jock crowd, who of course run the school, are in the basketball team and are therefore given a leeway that most students aren’t. It makes complete sense for them to stick together, just as they do in every other US teen drama. Their group dynamic however has a small cult vibe to it that is simply unsettling. These guys do everything together, support each other in fights, follow each other on their dates and supposedly tell each other everything. For some reason this group also includes the dorky class president and resident sadboi with unmatching hair and eyebrows. Now I’m not disputing that this couldnt happen irl because everyone has the right to befriend whoever they want, it just seems to me that these personalities together would clash. We all know they are together at the ‘present time’ because of the tapes, but for previous times, im just not buying it. Perhaps the writers couldn’t be bothered creating separate groups for each of those targeted on the tapes and introducing more characters into the 13 episodes created.

4: Is there no other girls at Liberty High?????

The jock crowd as specified above hold the place as the most sought after students in the High School yet it seems as though the only girls that exist to them are Hannah and Jessica. What happened to the entire cheer squad or the whole student body? Are these 2 new girls so amazing that no other girl could be considered an option? It seems almost like some game of musical chairs, except the chairs are the boys and Jessica and Hannah end up on a different lap every time the music stops.

5: WHo the fuck does Courtney think she is?

If you got through all 13 episodes without dedicating a split second of anger towards Courtney Crimsen then bravo my friend because this character literally drove me up the wall. Props to actress Michele Ang I suppose because this bitch fired me up real bad. Ever heard of the phrase ‘Dead men tell no tales’ well clearly Courtney disagrees, 100% hell bent on convincing everyone that Hannah was lying in the tapes so that she could continue living in denial of her sexual preference. Continually pushing Hannah onto the dirt road to get hit by whatever was coming her way there is zero surprise that she made her way onto the tapes, the selfish bitch that she is. (Speaking of Courtney) Netflix also needs to be a bit more careful about their wardrobe choices in such a recent Riverdale episode and season release of this show perhaps?

6: Zach DID NOTHING WRONG

Poor, sweet Zach. A whole episode and tape side that started with just one heated conversation in the cafeteria- where he juST wanted to go on a date with Hannah??? Of course at this point Hannah was not in a good place, so any small prank becomes a national disaster- but how was he to know before she gave him the letter of explanation. A letter which, considering his home and friend situation, he could not go to anyone for help with, especially if he feared that it would be telling Hannah’s secret. Zach really just reacted how 90% of teenagers would; he froze, he didnt know how to act, so he did nothing.

This is what got me about like half of the characters on the tapes, most of them just acted out of fear and didnt know what else to do, yet Hannah seemed to expect so much more from them. Which brings me to my final bullet point on the list;

7: Hannah fucking Baker

Where do I even start? It’s a really touchy subject to address; her character really annoyed me-I guess she really annoyed herself as well, considering her fate. Hannah at the end of the series is completely lost, she’s got so much on her shoulders and believes that there is no other way to turn. But Hannah at the beginning, I couldnt stand her. She had so much going for her yet she let every single obstacle get her down, none of her friends were good enough, all of the boys offended her, every tiny issue became a national disaster. I can’t help but think that if she hadn’t cared so much perhaps she might have found a way to work through her struggles without turning to the last resort. But i get it, this isnt a show about getting through problems and happy endings, it’s all about worse case scenarios. This is why Hannah does and says what she does, so that the situations can be both relatable and believable- for if Hannah gets torn up about high school rumours, then sexual assault and car accidents would be unbearable without professional help. I understand this now as I look at the plot as a whole, but during, oh hell that girl needed a slap into reality. Just watch it, you’ll understand.

Don’t get me wrong though, there were also a lot of things that I liked about 13 reasons why.

-I loved the cassette tapes; a timeless way of recording and listening to anything, a much appreciated throwback in such a modern show

-I loved Tony who I think we can all agree does not look 17 but I’m not complaining, so sweet and such a good friend/person (and i loved his car of course)

-I loved how sweet and loving Clay was. As an eternally single pringle, my heart leapt for his cute crushing, even if it did become tiring

-I loved the almost vintage feel to the cinematography, the colours and shots almost dulled to the tone

-I loved how the concept of rape was not only addressed, but focused on as well as the idea of consent. Whilst these scenes may have been almost uncomfortable, they were necessary and extremely powerful.

-I loved how the show centered around outsiders, the quiet and socially awkward, the unusual characters and their interaction with the well known highschool stereotypes.

-Most of all, I loved how the show displayed how suicide destroys so many more than the person who died. Friends and family may never recover, forever question what they could have done differently, some also led to further suicides.

It’s a hard topic but I am so glad that it is being talked about, even if there are disagreements because at least it is now out in the open. I personally believe that suicide is an incredibly selfish act which I understand that many people could disagree with. I get it, I’ve never stepped into shoes like that and that’s fine, but i know for sure that if anyone in my life chose to end theirs then it would absolutely destroy me- just as the strongly portrayed characters were torn apart.

Let me know what you think.

#13 reasons why #13rw #thoughts #review #rant #spoilers maybe #suicide #lol #netlfix #hannah baker #clay jensen #rape

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mst3kproject · 7 years

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206: Ring of Terror

This was the only episode in the show's entire run where they showed the movie before the short. I assume this was because they wanted to get the damn thing over with and forget about it as quickly as possible. I sympathize.

Ring of Terror begins with a graveyard custodian, who looks rather like a corpse himself, calling to his cat Puma as if he intends to molest it. He happens across a gravestone belonging to a Lewis Moffitt, who supposedly died at twenty-two – we then flash back to meet this 'young' man, a dedicated medical student who claims not to be afraid of anything. Blood doesn't shake him, and rattlesnakes merely piss him off. His one terrible, secret fear? Zombies.

For a fraternity hazing, Moffitt is dared to steal a ring from a corpse. When he tries to do so, he is startled by Puma the cat, thinks the corpse is coming to life, and dies of a heart attack on the spot. I think we're meant to assume that the fraternity brothers were deeply sorry and promised never to haze anybody ever again, but there's no denoument. We just cut back to the graveyard custodian, and the movie ends.

A good indication of the general level of creativity on display here is that the screenwriter, Lewis Simeon, and the main character, Lewis Moffitt, have the same first name. He named the main character after himself. Bert I. Gordon at least named Glenn Manning after the actor who played him.

Let's begin by dealing with some of the most obvious badness in the movie. As Joel and the bots observe, repeatedly, almost all the actors are way older than the characters they're supposed to be playing. It's hard to tell the difference between the students and the professors. George E. Mather was forty-two when he played twenty-two-year-old Lewis Moffitt. That's gotta be some kind of a record. Esther Furst, playing Moffitt's girlfriend Betty, can't be that much younger, but I’m not gonna complain too much about that. I mean, how creepy would it be to have an actual twenty-two-year-old playing opposite Mather? Apparently this was something that figured prominently in the original reviews, too – when people think your actors are too old in a business that's used to overage movie college students, you know you screwed up.

The acting is distractingly bad, stilted and recited. Everybody looks bored – in a scene at the snappily-named Campus Cafeteria Club, the dancers look bored, the diners look bored, the band looks bored. Even the skeleton in the dissection theater (hanging out in between shoots for Teenagers from Outer Space) looks bored! The only characters in the whole movie who honestly seem to be having a good time are Tiny and Ragdoll, who are there to be the butts of a series of fat jokes. It's not funny the first time, and it gets less and less funny as the movie progresses.

Actually, Tiny and Ragdoll probably show more character – in the sense of both personality and fortitude – than the rest of the cast put together. Tiny refuses to starve himself to gain the fraternity's approval. He'd rather hang out with people who accept him for who he is. He feels ill and momentarily passes out at the autopsy, but does not leave the room. He thinks Ragdoll is the most beautiful girl at the school, inside and out, and does not qualify it with references to her weight. Ragdoll herself enters a beauty contest, apparently not a bit bothered by the possibility of ridicule. They appear to be a committed, happy pair who honestly adore one another, and they're the only couple in the movie with any chemistry or anything in common. Just let them eat their ice cream and be in love! You wish you had that kind of confidence!

The bad actors get no help at all from the terrible script. Simeon barely even attempts to give anybody a personality, and everything that happens feels contrived, as if the entire movie is serving a plot purpose rather than showing us natural events. We are more told what people are like than we are shown. Characters inform us that Betty is intelligent and devoted, but we don't really see any evidence of either. Betty says she feels like there are two sides to Moffitt, always battling for control, but he seems like one person, one bland and boring person, to us. We are told that Moffitt brags and swaggers because he's proudly not afraid of anything, and that this behaviour upsets Betty, but we never see it. Actually, since she uses the phrase 'they say', perhaps this is rumour with no truth to it, but we don't see anybody else talk about it, or any other effect it has on Moffitt or his reputation. We hear that Wayne Arnold, the boy who died in a car accident halfway through the film, was a daredevil and close to the others, but we never met him – or if we did, nobody ever called him by name.

The movie is also a study in padding. The framing story, with the custodian and the cat, exists merely to make the movie longer (and to emphasize that, despite all evidence to the contrary, Moffitt is twenty-two years old). All the 'comic relief' with Tiny and Ragdoll is padding. Moffitt wanders around the mausoleum for far longer than necessary, also padding.

Then there's Moffitt's scare, which is supposed to be the whole point of the film. In a previous scene, he let a friend in on his one fear: as a child, Moffitt had to sleep in the same house where his grandfather's corpse was waiting to be buried, and his mother told him that if he didn't stop complaining and go to bed, the body would get up and 'give him a licking'. He's had nightmares about it ever since, and sleeps with the light on. And yes, that's scary – but I'm not sure what it is about this particular situation that reminds him of the incident.

At the funeral home, with Arnold's corpse laid out in a coffin and comfortable surroundings, the lights go out and Moffitt immediately panics as he remembers his chidhood scare. That makes sense. But in the clinical environment of the autopsy room he shows no fear of the John Doe corpse whatsoever. When he finds it later in the mausoleum, it's stored away in a drawer and the environment doesn't appear to be particularly dark. It's clearly not as dark as it was in the funeral home, and Moffitt has no trouble reading the signs and lables. The setting is completely different. The music suggests that the ring is somehow important in Moffitt's mind, but we don't get an explanation for this. Was his grandfather buried with a similar one?

Why is Moffitt given such a dangerous and illegal fraternity assignment at all? The other characters' hazings are harmless. One guy gets doused with Coca-Cola, another has to dress up as Cupid and surprise couples making out, a third has to go begging for pennies, and Tiny is merely asked to lose some weight. Yet Moffitt is told to break into a place, desecrate a corpse, and steal a piece of jewelry? What sense does that make?

Not to mention the rather obvious fact that the movie makes no attempt to scare the audience. Rather than trying to put us in Moffitt's shoes, where we might experience the heart-stopping terror along with him, it presents its story in a dry, textbookish way that lacks interest or mystery. From the very beginning we are told how it ends, with the shot of Moffitt's headstone, and it continues to be dull and predictable from there. Nothing in the script is even surprising, let alone scary, which comes across as an absolute ripoff in a movie with such an evocative title.

Now, let's talk about how this movie depicts women. I honestly wonder if Lewis Simeon ever met a woman. He clearly had no idea what they do when there are no men around. Maybe he thinks women are quantum waveforms who only collapse into actual people when they are observing or being observed by men. None of the female characters in the movie appear to have lives of their own. When we see them, they're talking about their boyfriends. Or going to the Cafeteria with their boyfriends. Or visiting the beauty parlour to look nice for their boyfriends. Or entering beauty contests for the approval of their boyfriends. Are they even at school here, or are they just hanging around so that the boys can get laid? None of them appear to study or even attend classes.

Oh, silly me, they're all taking Home Economics! They don't have to study when cooking and sewing come so naturally to women!

The women are also notable for their peevish selfishness. They collectively give the boys the cold shoulder for 'abandoning' them at a dance in favour of attending an autopsy. As Moffitt points out, though, they must have known that attending the autopsy was necessary for obtaining full course credits. Perhaps if the women have no lives outside of the men, they assume the men should not have lives outside of them? Betty is an exception to this, as she's annoyed with Moffitt over the rumors of his bragging rather than because he stood her up, but as I noted above, that doesn’t make sense either. I'm kind of astonished that we never get a reference to the idea that they're all just dating medical students in the hopes of being wealthy doctors' wives someday.

At the end of this movie, Joel asks the bots if they can name something good about it. Nobody can, but I think I've got one: despite what Crow says, I'm pretty sure they did use a fake snake for the scene in which Moffitt stomps it to death. The snake in the back of the car was probably an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, but it is never seen in the same shot as any of the actors and I expect they had a professional snake handler to work with it. The snake Moffitt stamps on does not show the rattlesnake's bold markings, so if it wasn't rubber it was at least not the same snake. I hope it was rubber. Killing things just to put it in a movie is inexcusable –I'm looking at you, Ruggero Deodato.

Do I get a ram chip?

#mst3k #reviews #ring of terror #fuck this movie #60s

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