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blasphemecel · 4 months

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Michael Kaiser — Language Barrier

PAIRING: Michael Kaiser/Reader WORD COUNT: 0.9k TYPE: Humor, Bad flirting WARNING(S): tw BOTCHED GERMAN (because I was always on that damn phone in german class) NOTE(S): Translations for whatever the hell I was trying to say at the bottom

Unlike what most people might assume, football is not your favorite game.

Well, you did come to Blue Lock to play football, and yeah, you do like it, maybe at times to the point of lunacy. But this turned out to be some grand orchestration with the purpose of showing you a much more fulfilling game to play — taking out your earbuds whenever Kaiser approaches you with his superiority complex drivel. Not like it stops him from talking to you (or, more accurately, talking at you), but you take great satisfaction in not having to listen to him. Especially since he always makes that cute displeased expression before you turn to walk away from him, much like a disgruntled cat.

You kind of wonder what crap he says about you behind your back sometimes, but it’s imperative for your image to hide your curiosity. He is a loser. You’re playing the game, and you’re winning, and he’s losing because you’re getting under his skin. (Just an example of your daily affirmations.)

Today, a new opportunity for entertainment presents itself. When you approach Kaiser before practice to get some shit talk out of the way, you notice that, for some reason, he isn’t wearing his pair either. Not like he needs them since his ass doesn’t have any friends other than Ness, who speaks the same language as him, but still. Does he think he can beat you at your own game, which you made up in your head? Over your dead body.

“Shithead,” you greet with a smile.

“Ich kann dich nicht verstehen.” He points at his ear in confusion.

“I see you had time to put on your clown makeup this morning.”

“Du kannst mich auch nicht verstehen. Was ist das Ziel?”

“Anyway, so,” you say, despite not catching a single word that came out of his mouth, but you want to give off the impression of dismissing him. “What should I talk about? I didn’t think this through.”

He grins back at you, apparently undeterred by the insufficient communication going on. “Du hörst gerne zu, wenn ich für dich Deutsch spreche. Ist das richtig?”

“Why do you look so slimy when you smile? Seriously, your face is disturbing.”

“Gestehst du dir endlich deine Gefühle für mich ein?”

“And you know what else? I was the one who wiped my snot on your jersey a few days ago, not Isagi.”

“Es ist ok, wenn du schüchtern bist. Du kannst es mir später noch einmal sagen. Vergiss Yoichi. Mit mir zu spielen, würde dir viel besser stehen.”

You know you’re the one who brought him up, but Kaiser is so obsessed with Isagi, and you can’t even blame him for the fascination. He’s always talking about devouring people and ruining their dreams and how happy it makes him or whatever while on the field, but the moment you stop playing, he starts acting all friendly. If your frontal lobe wasn’t eroding more and more the longer you stay in this football prison, there’s a slight possibility you might’ve found him weird.

“Aber ich kann zusehen, wie du verärgerst werden, wenn ich deine Schüsse abblocke, also ist es mir so oder egal,” he says, looking smug. “Ich liebe alle Gesichter, die du machst.”

Irritated by the sound of Kaiser’s voice, you take this up as a challenge to say more words than he did. On principle, you can turn any occasion into a competition. “The worst thing about you is that you’re a pretentious theater kid. ‘Ooh, look at me, I’ve got this shitty tattoo ‘cause I’m beautiful like a rose! Get it? And the thorns signify my awful personality, which is repellent to the general population. Get it? It shows I contain multitudes. Do you GET it yet?’”

Kaiser takes one of your hands between his, leaving it sandwiched, and stares at you as if he is trying to spontaneously make himself sparkle. To distract yourself from the urge to punch him, since you don’t want to be put in timeout, you mentally debate if German sounds like goofy gibberish to you only because you cannot understand it. “Deine Leidenschaft lässt mein Herz rasen. Und ich rufe diese Gefühle hervor? Wie schmeichelnd.”

You don’t know why, but you’re getting the feeling he said something sarcastic and annoying just now.

“You think you’re so much better than everyone else, with your Skype-colored eyes-”

Kaiser ignores the way you wretch your palm out of his hold and interrupts you with a mocking raise of his eyebrows. “Skype? Es ist unmöglich, dass du es noch benutzt… Willst du aus Kontaktdaten tauschen?”

You bet he’s talking mad shit about you right now. Actually, he doesn’t seem bothered by you at all, so you need to step it up. It’s dead serious. As serious as cholera.

“Hey, Kaiser.” This is a phrase so bare bones, he doesn’t need any fancy Mikage-brand translator to understand you.

He blinks at you in mild surprise, self-approving demeanor making way for a tamer, perhaps more neutral facial expression, and then he asks, “Ja?” as if it’s the only German word you know and he’s being accommodating. But you’re not going to deny or confirm this assumption.

You beam at him, then avert your eyes somewhere up to the ceiling while running over it in your head again, of course dragging out the suspense. Maybe this is your wishful imagination at play, but you think he’s kind of sweating. Then finally — finally! — you announce, “Sucken deezen Nutschen, Bozo.”

“Shithead,” he calls you. With a glare at that!

It lights up your whole world.

___

Translations:

Ich kann dich nicht verstehen = I can’t understand you

Du kannst mich auch nicht verstehen. Was ist das Ziel? = You can’t understand me either. What’s the point/what’s the objective?

Du hörst gerne zu, wenn ich für dich Deutsch spreche. Ist das richtig? = You like listening to me speak German for you. Is that it?

Gestehst du dir endlich deine Gefühle für mich ein? = Are you finally confessing your feelings/affections for me?

Es ist ok, wenn du schüchtern bist. Du kannst es mir später noch einmal sagen. Vergiss Yoichi. Mit mir zu spielen, würde dir viel besser stehen = It’s ok if you’re shy, you can tell me again later. Forget about Yoichi. Playing with me would suit you much better

Aber ich kann zusehen, wie du verärgerst werden, wenn ich deine Schüsse abblocke, also ist es mir so oder egal = But I get to watch you get mad when I block your shots, so I don’t care either way

Ich liebe alle Gesichter, die du machst = I just love all the faces you make

Deine Leidenschaft lässt mein Herz rasen. Und ich rufe diese Gefühle hervor? Wie schmeichelnd = Your passion is making my heart race. And I’m causing all of this emotion? How flattering

Skype? Es ist unmöglich, dass du es noch benutzt… Willst du aus Kontaktdaten tauschen? = Skype? There’s no way you still use that… Wanna exchange contact information?

#bllk x reader #bllk x you #michael kaiser x you #michael kaiser x reader #blue lock x reader #yall I domt like what this man is doing oto my brain chemistry

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norrisleclercf1 · 1 year

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Little Family

Pairing: Max Verstappen x Wolff!Reader

Rating: PG-17

Warnings: Pregnancy, slight nsfw picture, fluff, no angst I promise

Media AU/Epilogue

Parts: Pt 1. Little Traitor Pt.2 Little Backstabber Pt.3 Little Heartbreaker Pt.4 Little Home

A/N: And with that, Little Traitor is finished, I've never done an Media AU before but here it goes!!!

Liked by: christianhorner, maxverstappen1, and 1,000,000 others

y/nofficial You’ve done it again my love, congratulations on the 3rd championship 🏆💋

maxverstappen1 I couldn’t have done it without you! mijn hele wereld, ziel en zon (my whole world, soul, and sun)

totowolff why in front of me though

user1 STFU! Did Toto just make this account to call them out 😭😂

user2 Damn emotional damage times 3x literally

landonorris Daddy, shit meant mommy, fuck no....forget it

y/nofficial do we need to talk? 🤔

320,212 comments

(11/23/23)

Liked by y/nofficial, totowolff, charles_leclerc and 10 million others

maxverstappen1 I can finally start calling you mine, always

y/nofficial I love you too Mr. Vertsappen

Mrs.verstappen damn…gonna have to change my username now

Totowolff hurt her, and I’ll let George do more damage to that side pod

user1 violated

user2 do it do it do it

susiewolff Toto, get off the phone and no you will not

DanielRicciardo photo creds man, don’t pay, and no credit

546,781 comments

(06/10/24)

Liked by charles_leclerc, landonorris, redbullracing, and 450,000 others

maxverstappen1 I’m on my honeymoon, leave me alone 🖕🏼

Charles_leclerc I really hope y/n, approved that first photo man

Y/nofficial it was not 🙂😪

User123 damn, how’d max pull her honestly

User5 mommy, no…mommy, yeah mommy

Totowolff that’s my daughter max 😐

User67 yeah, but she's calling max daddy now

maxverstappen1 🫡😛

Comments disabled

(06/15/24)

Liked by totowolff, maxverstappen1, lewishamilton, and 12 million others

y/nofficial sorry, I think this is a good excuse to not be in the paddock, little verstappen due 03/04/25 🦁

maxverstappen1 and I thought I couldn’t love you more, but I do

User45 congratulations 🎉

Totowolff I’m so proud of you my little bunny

Landonorris max is really a daddy now

maxverstappen1 you already drive a tractor want me to crash it 🤨

Mclaren please don’t 🧎🏼👏🏼

Landonorris no sir 🫡

LewisHamilton future Mercedes driver and my godchild

RedBullracing back off 🧅

Mrs. Hamilton they used a fucking onion emoji 😂😂😂

450,000 comments

(01/16/25)

Liked by y/nofficial, totowolff, susiewolff, Christianhorner, and 15 million others

Maxverstappen1 she’s the true champion, and I couldn’t be happier to have you here my little 🦁 Lucas Troger Christen Verstappen born 03/16/25

Totowolff can I please come visit now?

maxverstappen1 no old man

User89 toto was a daddy now he’s a granddaddy 🥹🥲

Y/nofficial can I please have my cheeseburger and fries? 😭

Maxverstappen1 yes my goddess 😍😍🥹

Lewishamilton simp

maxverstappen1 fuck off and don’t be sending us Mercedes onesies again

Christianhorner congratulations you two, I have loved watching you two grow into amazing adults much love 💕

200,000 comments

taglist: @welcometomyworldwithoutrules@gentlemonsterjennie1@callsignwidow@mycenterfold@clintsupremacy@notsosurehritika@whotfisvale@black-swan-blog27@severenswife@cinderellawithashoe@vita-di-moda@imchiarashelby1@hiphopdancer101universe@ironmaiden1313@1-800-imma-steal-your-bitch@xcinnamongirl@basicallyherondale@that-aesthetic-chic@omgsuperstarg@southerngirlnow@paprikabadger@mehrmonga@mqcherie@bibissparkles@callsignwidow@vixxen-lou@matildrry@mvclff1@octaviareina@christianpulisic10@alexander-hamilhoe@champomiel@daddyslittlevillain

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atlasaurelius · 8 months

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THIS SCENE IS SO CUUTEEE ABJSBHDFHGDHJ

Ziel rose from behind the couch and stuck his horns in Lindon’s face. “What are we talking about?” Yerin moved her arm away from her eyes. She and Lindon stared at Ziel from inches away. “Apologies, Ziel, but what are you doing?” “Popping out from the couch,” Ziel said, with a perfectly flat expression. “I thought it was what Eithan would do. Did it help?” Lindon couldn’t find the right words. Yerin made a thoughtful sound. “Bleed me, but it halfway did. If you’re looking for a tip, then veil yourself better next time. We could feel you coming.” “I’ll do what I can,” Ziel said gravely. “Don’t push yourself.” Ziel straightened his spine, visibly steeling himself. “No…no, I can do it. To cheer you up.” Lindon privately thought that if Ziel wanted to be more like Eithan, he would first have to learn to smile.

#cradle #cradle series #cradle will wight #wei shi lindon arelius #yerin arelius #eithan arelius #cradle ziel #ziel of the wastelands #cradle yerin #cradle lindon

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jean-dieu · 21 days

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Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous : Companion AU for my OCs!

Being the main character is neat, but what if my bois were companion? I've written an in-game introduction for them all, and I'll try to develop their potential quests a little. Keep in mind that only Raphaël and Zarathustra have/could have taken part in the crusade. Raphaël is my Knight Commander, and Zarathustra was born at the time. Lazare and Ziel are both born after the worldwound was sealed. It's just for fun teehee.

Raphaël : "Despite being a tiefling, Raphaël rose above his birth's circumstances and joined the rank of the Inquisition after a failed attempt at priesthood. A devoted Sarenite, he is a valuable asset to the crusade but his fiendish heritage as well as his authoritative and distant behaviour don't make him a popular soldier among others. But surely, there's something more behind this intimidating, cold facade?"

Ziel : "As if being a tiefling in Kenabres wasn't hard enough, Ziel also happens to be the son of an Abadarite Priest who was disgraced and cast aside after being found guilty of corruption. A thiefling and a calistrian, the young bard is actively seeking revenge in his father's name, the poor man drowning his sorrows with alcohol since he lost everything. Sarcastic and cynical, he doesn't hide his hatred for most Gods and religion… But he seems more eager to help the crusade than he lets out. He has apprentely helped Irabeth many times in the past, and she seems to trust him despite his dubious reputation and volatile behaviour."

Zarathustra: "Why would an acclaimed chelish alchemist risk his life in a far-away crusade? Especially since Zarathustra doesn't strike anyone as a benevolent man. The winged tiefling showed up one day, shroudded in smoke and mystery and most people don't seem to know anything about him, except for a few local mendevian, peasants and nobles alike, who seems to have a few things to say about his past…"

Lazare: "Lazare's smile and cheerful behaviour as well a his talent in singing and violin were sure to make the young tiefling popular among his peers regardless of his heritage. Despite his obvious naivety, he doesn't seem to back up when things get gruesome in battles, and he's ready to help anyone in need. But is his jolly, kind and exuberant behaviour only an act? He has been spotted by a fellow crusader talking in infernal to his instrument, a black violin he claims he inherited from his mother. While the object his obviously magical, its nature isn't exactly known at the moment, and Lazare doesn't seem to want to tell us more…"

#my ocs #pathfinder wrath of the righteous #pathfinder wotr #wotr #pwotr pals #wrath of the righteous #oc: lazare #oc: raphaël #oc: raphael #oc: zarathustra #oc: ziel #oc: malthus “ziel” drezdan #tiefling #tieflings #pathfinder #pathfinder character #companion au #my art #my rambles

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somerunner · 8 months

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Cradle Analysis: Scripting vs. Other Stuff

There will be spoilers up through…Wintersteel, to be safe. I'll avoid major plot spoilers; this post will be more about general character information and interactions that happen up through this book.

So as far as "command over reality" goes, madra is almost straightforward. It's a themed energy like common fantasy "elemental magic" that can be shaped to produce great effects. Scripts are a little more nebulous, because it seems like they are a rudimentary form of programming on the world. And there are a lot of ways they can be used, so I'll get into it.

Scripting is present since the first chapter, and it actually takes up a sizeable chunk of space for something that's usually not related to the story. But seeing Lindon use "rudimentary" scripts and plenty of organizations using scripts as part of their security or utilities, it helps the world feel grounded in its magic system. Now, in a different fantasy book, scripts would take the form of enchantments in most cases, and in real life is the equivalent of using the Command Prompt on a computer. It's sometimes really powerful, but can technically be done by anyone with a little know-how. Mainly the only reason I use that analogy is to say that Lindon is a guy who sometimes programs and is fluent in navigating Windows 98, and Ziel is a full-stack developer who can think in assembly. He knows his scripts.

I can't think of anything that scripting can't do, actually. It requires knowledge, time and precision to carve or write the scripts, and a material that can handle the level of madra that will be flowing through it. And it seems like it can't do any sort of sacred arts techniques -- but that seems more like a problem of inefficiency, and since bindings are plentiful people use those instead.

Soulfire is basically instant scripting, which lets those in the Lord realm use aura types that aren't on their Path. But, once again, they could use a binding for that, and soulfire requires natural treasures which can be hard to find. Soulfire also lets you juice up anything you could use madra for, so it's usually used to reinforce and supercharge ordinary techniques. But I'm listing it for completeness.

Then, we've got Sage commands. Those have the utility of soulfire, but instead of being limited by wealth or luck (to acquire natural treasures), they are limited by nebulous "willpower" which to me reads as mental stamina. Sage commands can also do way more powerful stuff than scripting, but they don't have the same overall breadth in ability.

I wish I could talk about scripting more, but I don't really know what to say. It takes up almost equal page space as anything else in Cradle's magic system than techniques (which take up the far majority), but I'm not an experienced enough theorycrafter to say much about it. It seems as self-consistent to me as English, which is to say, it's got its rules and it somewhat follows them, but I can only go off vibes to say what works and what doesn't.

#cradle series #cradle runnerpost

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kierpyr · 1 year

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hi. i know that what i'm about to talk about isn't what i usually post but this is very important to me.

my name is milo, and if you didn't know, i am a black person. the reason i bring this up is because a creator on tiktok by the name of "ziel" or "zielzebub"

(here is his tiktok page)

has been making content that surrounds itself on a stereotype that hurts both black and latina women respectively.

here is the character in question:

this stereotype is the "hot cheeto girl" stereotype.

for more background/context, this person makes content for autistic people on tiktok. this "hot cheeto girl" character is supposed to be a "supportive" and "extroverted girl" who sticks up for those who are being bullied or harassed, especially those who are minorities, and in his videos, autistic people.

however, i need to clarify; the "hot cheeto girl" is NOT a positive trope. this creator is trying to frame it that way, but no matter what, the stereotype will always be negative and always hurt black and latina women by portraying them as loud, "ghetto", and violent.

now, the creator KNOWS and is VERY AWARE that this stereotype hurts these two groups of women. in a video in which someone had called him out for his use of the stereotype, he said this in response:

here, he clarifies that he knows that the stereotype is meant to hurt women of color, but that he "took out the racist elements" of the stereotype to avoid from actually being racist. he uses his intent to excuse himself as well in his caption.

i am going to debunk every single BULLSHIT excuse that he used, starting with excuse #1;

"i avoided adding in racist elements."

this excuse is plain fucking stupid because either way, you are acting out a stereotype that hurts black and latina women and mocks their cultures. you are still acting out a character that appropriates black and latina culture. he even acknowledges that he is acting out a stereotype, but still goes on to make that shitty excuse.

he explains in his video that he meant to portray an extroverted girl who stands up for others, is caring, may have a lot of snacks, etc., but my question is that if you wanted to portray that kind of a character, why would you use a racial stereotype to do so?? removing the racist parts doesn't change the fact that you are using a stereotype that harms certain people for your content and audience's entertainment. i did tell him this in his comments and he proceeded to tell me that I was the one being racist by "pushing a stereotype onto his character" 😭 which is hilarious if we take into consideration that HE is actively using a stereotype and the name of said stereotype for his content and is actively calling the women of color who are calling him out "keyboard warriors".

excuse #2;

"racism was not my intent."

this is a stupid thing to say because people can do/say racist things whilst not being a 50 year old redneck racist conservative 😭 you can say/do racist things without meaning to cause harm. that doesn't change the fact that you've have done harm though. your actions still have impact and still hurt people, which you should apologize for. way too many people have this pattern of thinking; that if you're saying/doing something racist, that it must mean that you are in fact a racist, and this creator is using that way of thinking to justify their actions.

excuse #3:

"hot cheeto girls can be of any race."

both him and his followers specifically used this excuse when i got into an argument with him in his commenr section. they make the claim that "hot cheeto girls can be of any race" and some were telling stories of how "their" hot cheeto girl was [insert race here] therefore, it can't be a racist stereotype and his portrayal of the stereotype isn't racist, which is entirely untrue.

again, the stereotype mocks and belittles black and latina women and their cultures. when women of other races embody this stereotype, they are often doing so to imitate black and latina women. they view this stereotype as a costume that they can take off when they're no longer interested. there was a whole entire trend in 2021/2022 that proved this. multiple girls of other races called their imitation of black and latina women a "phase" and were showing before and after photos of this "phase". a lot of non-black/latina people view our cultures as costumes to wear and take off when the show is over. that's why there are "hot cheeto girls" of different races.

i also wanted to say that a lot of the girls that people are describing in defense of ziel are NOT "hot cheeto girls". they are literally just girls with some spunk, kindness, and a strong sense of morality and justice. they are girls you would meet in your everyday life. attributing a stereotype onto those girls is just weird, especially when the stereotype frames these qualities as something annoying and wrong and attributes a race to these qualities.

i brought a lot of these things up to this creator and did bring up solid points, but he chose to ignore me and other people. he told me that he doesn't care, acted like a fucking manchild, and began trolling me when i brought up one of the points i made in this post; if you wanted to make an extroverted girl who stands up for victims of bullying, ableism, racism, homophobia, etc., then why use a stereotype?? why use a trope that's racist and demeans black and latina women to make a character with qualities that can be found in literally any race?? why claim that you "took the racist parts out" when the trope itself IS the racist part? his character does use terms from aave like "bestie" and has an attitude, which is part of what the stereotype portrays. he even has acrylic nails on which is also apart of the stereotype, so they can't say that they "strayed from racist stereotypes" if he's including aspects of the stereotype that makes it hurtful and that people actively mock. so it makes no sense to make that claim or to use a racist trope in the first fucking place.

in conclusion, please report this person. tell them that what they're doing is wrong. as an autistic person myself, this kind of content an behavior upsets me, especially because i am a black autistic person. SOME white autistic people will do or say awful and racist things about my community and when they're told that what they're doing is wrong, they don't listen. it makes me feel hurt and upset that i can't feel safe in my community without seeing content like this being put on the internet. i know that this post might not reach a lot of people but if it reaches you then please spread this around. it would mean a lot. thank you.

#autism #autizzy #antiblackness #please boost #please share

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hahahahawk · 7 months

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Cradle re-read update: Bloodline edition.

Chapters 6 and 7 are SO MUCH.

I’m listening to this series as a bedtime story, but Lindon’s reunion with Orthos/his family is tough to relax to. Since this is my second time through, I cry a little bit in anticipation as well as emotional resolution.

Specifically, in the climax/resolution of chapter 7, when Lindon is talking to his parents, I drew a new connection between Lindon and Jai Long. Some of this may have to do with the narrator’s performance, but I’m drawing this line anyway.

After his father treats Lindon in a miserable way, Dross materializes and tells everyone that Lindon has something to say, the speech L gives about “why would I come back?” is so cold, it sounds like the way Jai Long would speak to his family. It’s very “I have duty to my blood, but I give zero shits about you as people (right now)”. That plus the angry/frustrated display of power, blowing the door off the cabin as he left.

That scene absolutely strengthened the parallels/rivalry between Lindon and Jai Long, and then two steps later showed why Lindon is the central character, as he goes somewhere safe and cries with Yarin. Especially since a chapter ago Jai Long abandoned Kelsa and Orthos to flee.

I’ve always noticed the similarities between Jai Long and Zuko, and therefore wanted a more robust “rivals to friends/allies” arc for him, but from a story perspective understand that Ziel is a better fit for the final team.

#cradle series

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the-grin--reaper · 8 months

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Ziel: Schrödinger’s cat is overrated. If you wanna see something that’s both dead and alive you can talk to me any time of the day.

#cradle series #ziel dawnwing of the wastelands #ziel of the wastelands #incorrect quotes #incorrect cradle quotes

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theradicalscrivener · 2 months

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Was reading about how lobsters are functionally immortal and it got me thinking of a guy that once he hits like adulthood just keeps getting bigger instead of aging.

#ziel talks #macro #macrophillia #g/t

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overx · 1 month

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Which of your muses is the quickest to fall in love?

𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 ! Multi muse asks | Accepting

[[He will never admit it but Vi gets crushes pretty easily. Although he's not one to act on them, and you'll virtually never know if he's got a thing for you. Mostly because he doesn't socialize, but also because his dating history is pretty sour.

None of this is helped by the fact he knows he gets crushes easily. His type is: People That Are Nice To Him. So you can imagine the sorts of positions that's gotten him into in the past.

Thankfully that helmet really helps keep things secretive.

Of course falling in love and having a bit of an infatuation are different things... so if we're talking about something deeper, it's probably Cale.

Cale isn't quite like Vi, in that crushes are a pretty rare thing for him. Despite his sunny disposition he keeps the average person at arm's length. Most connections are very surface level for him, even if they may be deep for other people. His intention is to be a positive force, someone you can rely on, but not someone who relies on you. I've touched on this before a bit.

This is to say though that when he actually lets someone in, he gets very close with them. If you're considered one of his best friends, then he's probably had a thing for you at some point. It just sort of happens naturally with him. Both Ray ( @eclipsedfates ) and Ziel ( @ziel-soundwave ) have definitely been in this category in the past.]]

#thegatesofinfinitespace #{vi}#{cale}#[schematics]

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randomstudyblr · 2 years

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Langblr reactivation challenge #2

Write a list of goals you have for your target languages. Make both long term and short term goals. An overall goal could be to have the ability to talk with native speakers with ease and a smaller goal would be to finally learn that difficult grammar point that's been plaguing you for ages. How will you achieve them?

Ich mag Ziele eigentlich nicht zu viel, aber ich versuche's. Ich würde sehr gerne mit meine deutsche Freund*innen gut auf Deutsch sprechen. Zurzeit spreche ich mit einige Freund*innen einmal pro Woche, und ich finde es schwierig, nach 1,5 oder 2 Stunden noch auf Deutsch zu reden. Um es zu verbessern, ich sollte mehr mein hören üben: mit Youtube Videos (hat jemand Empfehlungen? Ich kenne nur Annikazion :/) oder einfacher Hörbücher (die Kangarü-Chroniken? Die drei Fragezeichen?). Ich möchte auch lernen, wie Konjunktiv auf Deutsch funktionert lmao.

Ich kann versuchen, Hörbucher jeden Tag morgens zu hören, weil ich mit dem Bus mindestens eine Stunde lang fahren muss und es nicht genug Licht zum Lesen gibt. Außerdem kann ich an den Wochenenden neue Grammatikübungen finden, um den Konjunktiv zu lernen.

I actually don't love setting goals (because I tend to set them too high and never accomplish them), but I'll try to. I would love to be able to speak in German with my German friends, at the moment I'm meeting a couple of them once a week to speak in German, and I find it hard after 1,5 or 2 hours. In order to improve hat, I should practice my listening abilities: with YouTube videos (if anyone has suggestions, send them my way! I only know Annikazion :/) or easy audiobooks (the Kangarü-Chroniken? Die drei Fragezeichen???). I would also like to continue learning grammar, such as how the Konjunktiv works lmao because I somehow have gotten this far without encountering it.

I can try to listen to audiobooks every morning, because I have to ride the bus for about an hour and there's not enough light to read. I can also try to find new grammar exercises in the weekends, to learn the Konjunktiv.

#langblr reactivation challenge #prepolyglot #mine #german #corrections are welcome!#la galaxie langblr #brightstudyblr #fluencylevelfrench #myhoneststudyblr #benniscup #heyzainab #noctis-studies #akastudies

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fostersffff · 1 year

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The Big Gundam Watch, Part 13: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (+ The Mayfly of Space)

At the end of my previous post on Gundam F91, I talked about how I had never really heard anything meaningful about 0083: Stardust Memory. Which is weird, because it takes place in a pretty under-explored time period (within animated canon anyway), which should make it perfect for exploring the changes that happen in the Universal Century between the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta. But what actually happens in the story is never what people talk about, on the rare occasion it's even referenced: it's almost exclusively that Cima Garahau is one of The Character Designs of All Time and that it's an OVA from the golden age of that format, which means it has top notch designs (see the previous point about Cima Garahau) and animation.

Of course, that's not necessarily indicative of a bad story. Hell, a lot of the time plot is the least talked about thing when it comes to media, outside of "it's good!" or "it's bad!". Plus, considering that this was an interquel, it was a possibility that it would be difficult to even discuss plot elements outside of the context of how they relate to 0079 or Zeta. At the very least, my hope was- and I quote- "even if it’s bad, it should at the very least be interesting."

Consider the finger of the monkey's paw curled.

THE STUFF I LIKED

Despite that intro, 0083 did have a bunch of good stuff. The most compelling part of the story was everything having to do directly with the Delaz Fleet. Specifically, the way that Delaz and Gato were genuine believers in the stated cause of Zeon. Like, they're explicitly established as Gihren Zabi Loyalists, deciding to drop out of the fighting at A Boa Qu once they learn he was assassinated by Kycilia, but to these people, "Gihren Loyalist" just means "True Believers in Spacenoid Independence". And that makes sense: we as viewers know Gihren was just a power-hungry despot, but that wouldn't really be known for a fact even in the upper echelons of Zeon leadership. And up to the bitter end, both Delaz and Gato believe that the mission and its purpose is greater than their own lives.

On the flipside, and equally as good, I love that Cima Garahau is exactly what I thought she would be: An Unrepentant Scheming Bitch. Not only is that fun to watch on its own, she has such a unique panache with the fan and the trenchcoat cloak and the zebra print captain's lounge chair, she really contrasts nicely with the (for lack of a better word) "purity" of Delaz and Gato's mission.

The burst of endorphins I got from seeing Axis Zeon hemming and hawing over how much support to give the Delaz Fleet while a sulky teenage Haman Karn goes "this sucks, I hate this" cannot be overstated. I love seeing Haman Karn.

If you asked me my opinion of the Alpha Azieru from Char's Counterattack, my response would be "it's alright", but I was genuinely stunned when I saw the Neue Ziel in the second OP. Less because "oh boy it's my favorite mobile armor" and more "HUH? HUH? HUH?!" Like, what the fuck is this thing doing existing literally a decade before Char's Counterattack? It made for a very convincing final boss in that way.

Similarly, when they did the "big reveal" of Unit 03, I was extremely underwhelmed because it was A Gundam, Again. But then they cut to what it looks like fully armored up and I popped off because I fucking LOVE Gundams Inside Giant Armors, and this this was literally tucked into a fucking Metal Gear. It's also the first time the flower naming scheme feels appropriate, because it was designed to defend the La Vie en Rose (the Gundam is the "Stamen", the armor is the "Orchis", and the combined form is the "Dendrobium").

I can't include every single instance of incredible animation here, because the fact of the matter is that every single action setpiece in this OVA series is top-of-the-line. I'm just gonna highlight this one, where a Dom swooces up to a GM, grabs the barrel of his gun and fires its own bazooka into the GM's cockpit point-blank.

Besides the incredibly high quality of animation due to the fact that this was a 90's OVA, we were also blessed with a bounty of Beautiful Wamen. The random mechanics on the Albion, the random engineers at Anaheim, Lt. Burning's wife, the engineer at the La Vie en Rose- throw a fucking dart and you will hit a Beautiful Wamen.

There's also some stuff that just looks good in general, even without animation. When Gato is en route to the Naval Review and flying through the remnants of the battle of A Boa Qu, it cuts to a shot of the inside of a Zaku where a Zeon soldier's corpse has just been sitting stagnant for the last three years, not even getting the chance to rot away because there's no atmosphere for the bacteria to survive in. It'll just be there forever as space debris.

When the first episode had Keith trying to hit on Nina, only for Maura to cut in and him to react like "oh no, this beautiful woman is tall and slightly muscular...", I was ready to decry him as The Worst. But to my pleasant surprise, he gets his shit together and goes "wait, no, this beautiful woman is tall and slightly muscular!" and capitalizes. Truly, the MVP of 0083.

Sad as I was to see her go, I am glad Cima got, like, the most metal death possible. (There was a video here, but I couldn't include more than one in this post, and the other one later felt more important to include/didn't work as well as an isolated post, so check it out!)

THE STUFF I LIKED LESS

So before I get into my actual biggest problem with this story, the plot issue has to come first: why was the true objective of Operation Stardust to hit North America and not Jaburo? Up until the confrontation inside the colony, the sequence of events was that Cima conspired with Jamitov Hymen (who was subordinate to some other guy and not an admiral himself?) and Bask Ohm to co-opt Operation Stardust. But then it turns out that Delaz's original intent for Stardust was for Gato to make one final secret change to alter the colony's course to hit North America. I get that Jaburo couldn't be destroyed, because it had to be destroyed in Zeta, but they literally already had an out! Even if the Solar System succeeded in destroying the colony, the destruction of the Naval Review and a barely averted colony drop would have been plenty of pretext to form the Titans. The only explanation I could find online- with no sourcing- is that the intent was to disrupt the Federation's food supply, which... I guess? But this was a tremendously elaborate operation with a numerous points of failure for the ultimate goal of supply line disruption.

Ok, let's get into it now: you may have noticed that I didn't talk about the protagonists of this story, Kou Uraki and Nina Purpleton, at all in the first section. That's on purpose, because these two suck, and it's not just a matter of them being unlikable- although a lot of the time they are- it's that the way in which they suck is inconsistent because of bad writing. Let's start with the relationship between them, and why this is quite possibly the worst romantic plot in Gundam as a franchise.

We'll go from a specific example: in Episode 7, Kou and Nina, who at this point each know they are romantically interested in one another, have a falling out because Kou can't screw up the courage to actually ask Nina on a date. At the end of the episode, Kou is engaging a Zeon mobile armor and getting his shit wrecked. Nina, who was planning on giving up everything and returning to Earth to live with her parents after she was reassigned from Kou's ship, goes out to the surface to try to beg the Zeon pilot to stop fighting, because she has some unexplained history with him. She's caught in the crossfire, and it seems like she may have been killed. This incenses Kou to rally, and he defeats the Zeon mobile armor before going to check on Nina. It turns out she's alive, but the thought of nearly losing her gives him the courage he needs to say something that can only be read as a love confession. They embrace as the instrumental version of the sensual R&B ending song plays, and the camera zooms out, showing them standing atop Unit 01, on bent knee. Romance.

It's been tumultuous to this point, but that's it, we're locked in, Kou and Nina are together. Fast forward to the start of the next episode: Kou is returning from a successful training mission. Nina spots him in the dock, and...

A cool secret handshake? Ok... that's weird, but maybe you want to keep it professional-ish at work. So they chat about how cool and great the Gundam is and tease each other a little bit, which then leads to Kou saying this:

What the fuck?! You can't double back to "aha we're like brother and sister" after something so explicitly romantic! The rest of the episode then plays out with Kou right back to where he was in the last epiosde, where he just can't with girls, and has a hilarious scene where he drops a bunch of self-help books he took from the library to try to understand women better.

So it stays at this level for the remainder of the series, and that would be bad enough: that despite the fact that Kou and Nina are significantly older than Amuro and Lalah or Kamille and Fa (or Four, or any other girl who smiled in Kamille's direction), the most romantic thing we see between them is hugging in moments of extreme duress, and otherwise it's secret handshakes and awkward stumbling.

But wait, there's more: to try to inject some drama into this tepid subplot, they reveal that Nina used to be shacked up with Gato! And the reason she doesn't want them to fight isn't just because she loves cares about Kou, it's because she also still loves cares about Gato! Which culminates in Nina holding Kou at gunpoint in the final episode so she can try to keep Gato alive.

All of this Fucking Awful Romance is symptomatic of that fact that neither Kou nor Nina are particularly well defined. As described above, Kou fluctuates between a Fresh Faced Baby Boy and a Hot Blooded Mech Pilot, but neither really suit him. Like, the first few episodes imply that he's just a tech nerd who got in over his head- not unlike the protagonists who came before him- but he's a commissioned officer of the Federation Armed Forces. Maybe the idea is that he only joined up so he could satisfy being a tech nerd by getting to play with mobile suits, and that would be fine if he ever developed from that starting point.

Like, there's an alternate version of this story where all of the plot beats they set up actually pay off and stick. If his encounter with Gato really altered the trajectory of his life in a meaningful way, realizing he doesn't have a grand purpose the way that Gato claims to, and he spends the series trying to find one. If his butting heads with a shithead like Monsha, who is a living example of the excess of the Federation Gato was talking about, led him to realize that just being a Federation officer doesn't have any meaning in and of itself. If his encounter with Kelley, whose purpose isn't as grandiose as Gato's but still inspiring by virtue of how passionate he is about it, makes him realize that it's not about doing something big, it's about doing something he cares about. Then the end of the series delivers the same devastating blows: that the Federation brass knew all along about Operation Stardust and were going to let it happen as a false flag, and he realizes that Gato was right all along and the Federation really cares for nothing but consolidating its own power, and comes to a decision about what to do with his life from that point on. Instead, what's actually presented is that after a certain point all he cares about is fighting Gato because he's a Hot Blooded Mech Pilot, but also just a Fresh Faced Baby Boy when not fighting Gato.

Nina has largely the same problem, where she just feels kinda aimless. The shorthand version is that she's like Metal Gear Solid's Otacon, but somehow even more naive. If you're unfamiliar, Hal "Otacon" Emmerich is an otaku who got helped build the titular Metal Gear because it was just like his Japanese Animes, and was horrified to learn that it's true intent of it was to serve as a mobile nuclear weapons platform. Nina, on the other hand, not only knew Unit 02 was going to be used to launch nuclear weapons, but literally supervised the loading of the nuclear warhead, and was stunned at the idea of the nuclear warhead being used for war, and not just data gathering.

Beyond that, Nina's most consistent trait, unfortunately, is that she's selfish, in a frankly bizarre way. That's what makes her decision to tend to Gato in the finale so aggravating; it's not that she cucks Kou (because frankly that's kinda funny to me), it's that all she cares about is making sure Gato and Kou live. There's no consideration for the fact that the colony they're standing in is going to crash into the Earth when the very first scene with her in the series is Captain Sinapus/Synapse explaining that they're not flying over the ocean, they're flying over the crater made by the Operation British colony drop. That doesn't matter though, because she hooked up with Gato a few years ago, so she really wants him to survive even though he's committed two Super War Crimes in as many months.

I could go on, but this is already way longer than normal, and I think I got my point across. Just in case: Kou and Nina suck and the story is dragged down by the virtue of them being Point of View characters.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Those auto sentries in Episode 9 feel like they should've shown up way more often in everything. An autonomous weapon system that requires maintenance but can track targets as accurately as it does feels way more useful than the minefields and other traps we see in other UC stories.

I like how the Anaheim Electronics Uniform for women has the little seifuku cape, despite the fact that it's clearly a blazer: business in the front, schoolgirl in the back. Although Nina's second outfit also has the seifuku cape so I think someone on the design team was just enamored with integrating it into the clothes characters were wearing.

This has a pretty mid dub: generally speaking I think most actors are doing a good job and are well cast, but this is one of those times where the direction specifically stands out as bad. The prime example is in Episode 5, where Nina turned up the heat in the shower, and Maura starts doing the jig you do when the shower is too hot, but her English VA reads it like "Ow. Ow. Hot. Hot. Ow. Ohh, that's too hot, Nina.", instead of short little yips someone would actually make in that scenario, which is actually what her Japanese VA does. Compare and contrast for yourself:

On the subject of this scene: upon hearing Maura, I went "hey, that sounds an awful lot like Kaori Makimura from City Hunter... but they couldn't have possibly done the absolute most perfect casting for this character, could they?" and sure enough, it was Kazue Ikura, and my heart soared.

Also speaking of Japanese Voice Actresses, Cima's VA Mari Mashiba may have the funniest credits page in history:

I would be remiss not to point out that 0083 apparently plagiarized a bunch of music, but the one I actually noticed was a song from Ennio Morricone's score for The Thing, which was later used by Quentin Tarantino for The Hateful Eight.

I will never not get a kick out of Japanese media going "but how do we make sure the audience understands this character was an American?"

I understand the realities of disposing of human waste in space, but it's so fucking funny that in this scene where Maura is trying to get Kou to snap Nina out of of her Love Triangle Induced Stupor is taking place while there's a big box labeled URINE COLLECTION prominently in frame.

THE MAYFLY OF SPACE

So, there are two shorts titled "The Mayfly of Space" included with the 0083 blu-ray. Both of these are partial adaptations of an audio drama about Cima Garahau, but the first one is literally 3 minutes long and is tells you absolutely nothing about anything, except that Cima has been having nightmares about... something.

The Mayfly of Space 2, in contrast, actually provides more insight to the character, but nothing especially revelatory. Cima felt that her superiors telling her to surrender herself to the Federation at the end of the One Year War was a betrayal, which is what led to her conspiring with the soon-to-be Titans. It also shows why Gato was skeptical about Delaz working with Cima, because he had to fend her off from murdering the superior who gave that order to her and her unit.

At least, that's what I gathered from watching it. If the wiki is to be believed, there's actually a way more compelling story than what was conveyed here. In fact, it's one that would have actually tied in perfectly to the main story, as a very specific and direct contrast to what Delaz and Gato's understanding of the ideology of Zeon is. Literally the only insight we actually get to what's described on that wiki page is this single line from Episode 12:

But, I can't really complain about getting more Cima, especially when "more Cima" in this case includes "Cima sad and drunk with her titties out".

IN CONCLUSION

I have to wonder if War in the Pocket wasn't as well received at the time as it is today, because I feel like that should have opened the floodgates to "the Gundam franchise is capable of supporting stories that don't have the same framework as the original TV series", especially OVAs that would by nature be aimed at an older audience. Like, I think if the focus on Kou and Nina- and the Albion's crew in general- was significantly reduced so that Stardust Memory was more of an ensemble story, it would have been improved dramatically. And you can still have all the slick action that actually appeared in the story as it exists with that setup, it just would mean that all the stuff in between would have a better chance of being compelling instead of just... bad.

I was actually originally planning on watching the compilation version of this series, The Afterglow of Zeon, because my initial hunch was that trimming the fat would make this story a lot better. I think that's still possibly the case, but I don't really think they can fix the core issue of the Federation cast being uninteresting. I might still check that out someday, and if I do, I'll certainly post about it, but for now, I'm pretty done with 0083.

Next up: the last of the original set of stories set in the Universal Century, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. I think this was the blu-ray set I held out on picking up for the longest time, on account of not being sure if I'd ever bother with the future UC stuff and the fact that opinions on Victory tend to be even more volatile than ZZ. But over the course of this, I've become a tremendous fan of Yoshiyuki Tomino and his weird-ass brain, and I could've sworn that I read that someone on the production team for The Witch from Mercury said their favorite Gundam was Victory, which is all the recommendation anyone should need (if true).

#Gundam 0083 #Gundam #Mobile Suit Gundam #Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory #The Big Gundam Watch #anime #blu-ray #long post

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