#I just think it would be neat if we got more events of her showing different sides of herself would be neat

[lady12maiden]

Can Monster Prom let Miranda be something other than a political caricature for five minutes

[edwinisms]

op this is how you make a lich. what have you done

This may be too supernatural for an actually pretty down to earth show that is dbda (when it comes to magic, abilities and power scaling), but I'd have a blast seeing the plot point of Edwin's soul's capability to be used for obtaining magical power make a comeback

What would be even cooler is if it was Edwin himself who became interested in using that power

I can see him researching what devices can be used for it, do they have to always inflict pain on him to work and if yes, then how far is he willing to go in order to get it

He'd never use it for any malicious purposes or to just possess power for power's sake, he'd use it in extremely dire situations, when he really needs a certain spell to be amplified in order to rescue Charles from danger

Which brings me to the obvious angst potential of Edwin hiding the pain, lying about the source of the amazing power and then ofc Charles finding out and oh

(It'd introduce more magic and actual combat power for the boys - which is actually the opposite of what the show is about, I know, aside from a wild use of Crystal's vast abilities, they really make a good job at showing that the boys were just normal humans (and now ghosts) who predominantly use their wits and knowledge gathered throughout the many years of being on Earth, so I wouldn't even expect them to go this direction (if they actually mention Edwin's soul's power ever again), but it's just a very fun concept to me)

[thefirstknife]

ViDoc... 2!

A lot of cool stuff shown, my favourite being the strike, but first I want to mention this:

They said that when looking at Ace of Spades they realised they have the potential to make the rest of the deck of cards so this is why TFS weapons look like this and have character portraits; they're a deck! And specifically, these characters were chosen because of their ties to Cayde's story.

Obviously we have the generic Warlock, Hunter and Titan to symbolise the Guardians, but then there's others. Ikora and Zavala are obvious. Bottom left is most likely Shiro-4; hooded Exo with Hunter knives, I'm not sure who else it would be. The hood first made me think Elsie, but the Hunter knives don't make sense then.

Bottom right? That's Maya Sundaresh! Both as human and as Lakshmi-2, as we've learned from Veil Logs. It helpfully also has the Ishtar Collective logo. For those that don't know, Cayde worked as her guard, as an Exo, while she was still with Ishtar on Venus so that's why she's connected to him.

And top right? We have the "neoteric kiyot" cloak with the symbol of the Six Coyotes. Six Coyotes Exo member with ties to Cayde? That's Micah-10. Micah-10 category 10000 event.

Also for those that don't know, back in Beyond Light we got a really neat story about Micah-10 as a child in the lore book Your Friend, Micah Abram and some associated lore pieces that confirm Micah-10 is this kid. In one of the entries from the lore book, Micah is exploring Europa and accidentally alerts two Exos who then end up panicking, trying to shoot the intruder and then catching the kid. Then on one of the raid armour pieces, we have Cayde's flashback to this event from his POV, showing us that he was one of the Exos (as Cayde-1 then). He tried to shoot Micah, not realising it's a kid, then later grabbed them and held them up; the implication here that this is almost certainly the source of his mismatched memories that made him think he had a son. Him holding Micah is what eventually progressed in him simply remembering holding a child and constructing a story to go with it.

Micah-10 is an incredibly interesting character in general, as she is the closest thing we have to someone fulfilling the prerequisites for a speaker; even as a child, she was having strange prophetic dreams where something was speaking to her (most likely the Traveler) and showing her as an Exo. As a Guardian, she has the unique quality of being followed by Ghosts and has the title of "den mother of Ghosts."

She was also illustrated for the Volume VI grimoire collection, the one about Ghosts! Her Ghost Stories lore book is featured there accompanied by an illustration which shows her with a sniper, which the weapon with her image in TFS seems to be:

And yeah the sniper appears to have trans colours which I can't see as anything other than deliberate because Micah-10 is canonically trans! (Link to my post about it with links to a few more posts about it)

Incredibly exciting to see her featured on one of the TFS weapons, especially after she was featured in the grimoire and also in the TFS CE, in the autograph book where she left her own message, and so did the Ghosts that follow her. It's also interesting to tie her to TFS when we're going into the Traveler, given her unique relationship to the Traveler that she's harboured since she was a child. Can she become more than just a lore character now? Please?

Destiny fandom when a minor lore-only character gets one new mention be like: time to write an essay.

[crownedwithstars]

The idea that only Ulmo or Nienna care about Middle-earth and do anything to help Eruhini is a strange misconception because Tolkien pretty clearly shows that at least Manwë is watching very closely what's going on and sometimes even interferes? It's just that the Valar mostly seem to work through the elements they represent, which if you think about it is pretty neat.

Like there are various instances where the wind acts up suddenly, causing storms or rising in just the right moment (as in ROTK, clearing the air for the Rohirrim and speeding Aragorn's journey as he sails for Minas Tirith)

And even more obviously, the Eagles. Tolkien specifically says that the Eagles are Manwë's advocates in Middle-earth, providing miraculous aid when all else fails. Without the Eagles, Beren and Lúthien's quest would have failed and Huor would not have got to Gondolin (which then would have prevented Eärendil's success or even meant he was never born). They give crucial aid to Gandalf more than once. The Eagles also help Fingon to save Maedhros, because Manwë "would not wholly abandon the Noldor". Tolkien recognises that the Eagles are "deus ex machina", and in this case, the meaning is quite literal.

Then there are the Istari, envoys of the Valar: while there is proof of only Gandalf's success, even just the efforts of one of the Wizards was enough to bring down Sauron.

As for Ulmo, you could argue that he is responsible for the whole Eärendil and Elwing arc - and that it was a job between him and Manwë. It's Manwë's Eagles that bring Huor to Gondolin, and Ulmo later sends Huor's son Tuor into the hidden city. Tuor and Eärendil both get sea-longing in their hearts. During the flight of the survivors of Gondolin, Eagles are again present and bring up the body of Glorfindel, making you wonder whether they would have interfered more in the Balrog fight if Glorfindel had not stepped up to protect the refugees - and Eärendil, the fated saviour of Middle-earth. Also, Ulmo rescues Elwing when she casts herself into the sea, turning her into a bird so that she can fly to find Eärendil. Water and air and birds keep showing up in the stories of Eärendil and Elwing and if that's not proof of Manwë and Ulmo's plotting, I don't know what is. I mean, it's even said in the first pages of the Silmarillion that they are fast friends and closely allied from the beginning! Eärendil becoming a star also in a weird way even combines the elements of Ulmo, Manwë, and Varda: bearing the Silmaril, Eärendil sails an immortal ship in the sea of heaven and stars, forever as a sign of hope to the Children of Ilúvatar.

What about the other Valar? If we keep in mind that they chiefly work through the elements they represent, their abilities to interfere are limited (and this is a self-imposed limitation clearly). Yavanna's creation of the Ents proves to be a pretty great one in The Two Towers, although you can argue to what degree she is influencing the events. More obviously In Shelob's lair, Sam calls for Varda, and the light of the phial of Galadriel comes alive in his hand and smites the great spider, helping Sam to defeat the monster. Also, during Sam and Frodo's desperate march through the hellscape that is Mordor, Sam yearns for a little bit of light and water to hearten him - and lo and behold, he gets these exact things as if Varda and Ulmo personally delivered.

In other words, the Valar are a lot more active in Middle-earth than they get credit for, and they work in subtle and indirect ways because only then can they make sure they don't accidentally kill a lot of the Children.

[donaidk]

Franco Colapinto - Cracked Silk VII

Summary: Franco Colapinto, a young, charismatic Argentinian businessman living in Madrid, known for his charm, success, and spotless reputation. Cara Aros , a sharp, elusive woman who refuses to play by anyone’s rules, especially his. No one would have expected the two of them to fall into a flirty game of guesses over coffee, but what starts as playful curiosity slowly unravels into something deeper, riskier, and dangerously close to the truth about the world Franco was born into, the one Cara is determined to expose.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Pairing: mafia!Franco Colapinto x oc!female

Warnings: it is a mafia fic... so... the usual? lol

Masterlist | Taglist/Queue | Request

Franco didn’t plan to visit his parents that weekend until the day before. Even then he was close to changing his mind, but somehow telling Leonor made it feel like a promise. He wasn’t in the habit of showing up unless summoned, and even then, it was usually for something vaguely ceremonial. His father needing to be seen with his “heir,” or some event that required sharp suits and tight smiles. But on Sunday morning, just 24 hours after seeing Leonor and exactly 24 hours of thinking about her without meaning to, he got in the car and drove out to the Colapinto house in Pozuelo.

It wasn’t a palace, but it could’ve passed for one to anyone outside the family. White walls, high hedges, old trees heavy with early spring green. Isabel Colapinto kept the house immaculate, like she was always expecting a guest she’d rather not receive. Every table was just a little too clean. Every painting hung perfectly centered, even the abstract ones that were probably designed to look tilted. The silence in the place had an elegance to it, measured, practiced, almost clinical.

He found his mother in the back garden, pruning roses with gloves so white it looked like she was playing surgeon with the flowers.

“You came unannounced.” she said, without turning around. Her senses were always almost similar to a cat’s, like she had to be on high alert most of her life.

Franco smiled faintly. “Isn’t that what sons are for?”

Isabel clipped a stem cleanly, then straightened and gave him a long, quiet look. Her dark hair was pinned back in a neat twist. No jewelry today. Just a simple linen shirt and pressed beige slacks. Somehow she still looked like someone who could run a country club.

“Something’s going on.” she said.

Franco blinked. “You always do this.”

“Because I’m always right.”

He sighed, shoved his hands in his pockets, and looked out across the lawn. “It’s not that serious.”

“Is it work?”

“No.”

Her gaze didn’t move. “Is it your father?”

“No.”

“Then it’s a woman.”

He didn’t answer.

“That’s a yes.” Isabel said, peeling off her gloves and folding them carefully. “Who is she?”

Franco looked at her, then away. “No one.”

“Franco.”

He dragged a hand through his hair. “She’s... different.” And in a way it actually wasn’t a lie. He barely knew something about her after all.

Isabel didn’t speak, just waited.

“She’s smart. Sharp. She sees through people in a way that’s... scary sometimes. And she’s not afraid of anything, or at least not that she’ll admit. It’s like she walks around the world with this armor on, but somehow still makes you want to know what’s underneath, no matter how scary she is.”

Isabel gave him a look, somewhere between curiosity and worry. “And she doesn’t know about your life.”

“Of course not.”

She nodded slowly. “And you’re thinking about what it would mean if she did.” He may not have gone that far just yet in his head, but now couldn’t forget about it even if he tried.

He looked at her, more serious now. “Did you know? About Dad, I mean. Before.”

“No.” she said softly, almost instantly. “Not until we were married. Not until you were already on the way.”

He blinked. “Seriously?”

“I thought he worked in real estate. That’s what everyone else thought too. And when I started to wonder, it was already too late to do anything with the answers.”

Franco sat down on the bench near her. “Why didn’t you leave?”

She looked down at her hands. Her fingers were slim, elegant, but there was a slight tremble there he’d never noticed before. “Because I loved him. And because I was scared. Not of him. Gabriel never raised a hand to me. Not once. But scared of how far down I already was. What would happen if I tried to climb out.”

The air was quiet for a moment, filled only with the sound of leaves shifting overhead.

“I tried. Just once.” she added. “I packed a bag. Took you and the girls with me. Got as far as the station before I realized there wasn’t anywhere to go that wouldn’t come with consequences.”

Franco swallowed hard. “You never told me that.”

“I didn’t want you to think of him like that.”

“I think I need to.”

Isabel sat beside him now. Not close, but near enough that he could hear her breathe.

“Bringing someone in from the outside…” she said, quietly, “it sounds romantic. It sounds like a way out. But it’s not. Not for them. It’s a way in. And there’s no way out after that. You don’t get to be half in. You’re either in, or you’re gone. And most of the time, if you’re gone… you’re gone.”

Franco stared straight ahead. “I know.”

“She doesn’t deserve that.”

“I haven’t even told her anything.”

“But you’re thinking about it.”

He didn’t respond.

“You think you’re different from your father,” Isabel said, looking at him now. “But you’re not. You’re slowly following in his footsteps. Learning how to smile genuinely while you lie.”

He stood slowly. “You don’t think I can protect her.”

“I think it’s not about protection. It’s about honesty. And you can’t give her that. Not really.”

Franco looked at his mother for a long moment. “What would you have done if you’d known the truth before?”

She answered without hesitation. “I would’ve run.”

He nodded, jaw tight. “Thanks for the optimism.”

She stood and touched his arm lightly. “It’s not about optimism. It’s about not letting her become me.” Franco turned his head, escaping her gaze. “Franco…” Isabel said softly. “She makes you softer,” she said. “I see it already.”

He didn’t look back. “That’s not a bad thing,” she added. “It just means you’ll break faster.”

Dinner was simple, cooked by Isabel herself. Franco hadn’t had her arroz al horno in months, and the taste hit him like memory soaked in saffron and garlic. His sisters floated in and out, teasing him the way only siblings could, making a mess of the conversation while Isabel tried to keep the tablecloth clean. For a moment, it felt normal. Not perfect—but untouched, like a version of their lives that hadn’t been drowned in secrecy and carefully managed silence.

He was still laughing at something Lucía said when the sound of the front door broke through the chatter. Gabriel.

The room changed. Even before anyone saw him, his presence thudded through the air like thunder before rain.

Franco’s body stiffened. Isabel’s hand went still around her wine glass.

Footsteps, confident and too loud, closed the distance from the hallway. Then Gabriel appeared in the doorway. Tanned from the sun, blazer slung over his shoulder, a smile too sharp to mean anything good. “Didn’t expect to see you here, hijo.” he said, voice rich with faux warmth.

Franco stood slowly, smoothing his expression into something neutral. “Didn’t know you’d be back so soon.”

Gabriel eyed the table, the half-finished dishes, the wine. “Family dinner?” He looked at Isabel. “You should’ve told me.”

“I didn’t know you’d care,” she replied, her voice steady.

Gabriel chuckled like he’d heard something mildly amusing. “I always care, querida.”

Franco’s stomach turned. “I was just heading out,” he said, already reaching for his jacket draped on the back of the chair.

“So soon?” Gabriel asked, the edge in his voice sharpening. “You just got here.”

Franco forced a smile. “Didn’t want to overstay.”

Gabriel stepped into the room then, closing the gap with casual menace. “Or maybe you just don’t like staying when I’m home.”

Franco turned toward him, meeting his gaze flatly. “Maybe.”

A long beat passed between them. Nothing loud. Nothing physical. But the threat was there, threaded into the silence. Gabriel didn’t blink. Didn’t move.

Then, with a voice just loud enough for Isabel and Gabriel to hear, Franco added. “Thanks for dinner, mamá. It was perfect.” He leaned down, kissed her cheek, and didn’t wait for Gabriel to say anything else.

By the time he reached the car, his pulse was racing. Not because he was scared. Because he was tired of pretending not to be angry. But if he stayed one second longer, he knew he’d say something he couldn’t take back. That wasn’t part of the plan however.

[dilly-dahlia]

"if y’all want more on specific characters just drop an ask i will gladly answer because it forces me to think about it" Okay.

Vylad.

(please)

guys i’m being so serious but Vylad has actually been so hard for me to figure out because he has such a pivotal role in my rewrite (even if he doesn’t show up for the beginning part) and i need to get like. that good feel for him which I DONT HAVE 😭😭

anyways. as opposed to the more sure “this is Vylad” post like I did with Garroth and Laurance and Dante and whoever else, this is kind of gonna be me throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks. it’s also gonna be me going over some concepts i have for him, even if they’re ones i decided not to go with. you will see me connecting dots in real time. but i promise Vylad is so important and i want to get him to a point that feels right for me!!

okay so we keep the basic mcd lore. affair baby, shadow knight, brought Adelaide (Aphmau) into the world, all that. but i’m gonna start at the beginning

okay, affair baby. i very briefly entertained the thought of Vincent being his birth father, especially since I think the two could have some neat parallels and like obvious similarities yk. plus (and this is more minor) there’s the fact that like, all of the Ro’Meave kids have a name that starts with the same letter as their parents, so like… V and V. ykyk. i decided not to do that cause i feel like that’d be a useless plot line anyway. i’m thinking more like Zianna sort of had a fling with a maritime merchant that often visited O’Khasis

so it’s obvious that Vylad is an affair baby. not only because of his very different appearance compared to his brothers but also because Garte literally announced it and humiliated Zianna. i haven’t figured out the exacts of that but he publicly humiliated her to teach her a lesson

it’s also widely known that Garte hates Vylad. however despite this, Garte took Vylad in as a subtle manipulating “look how kind i am taking in a child that isn’t mine” kind of way yk?? and in the public, at least when Vylad is young, Garte seems to treat him like his own. but in private it’s clear that Garte does not see Vylad as equal to the rest of the Ro’Meave line and kind of shuns him. like he doesn’t give Vylad the same resources his brothers had, especially in academic fields. so Vylad is kind of pushed to the side. Zane kind of plays into that to appease his father

he spends a lot of time with his mother, and with Garroth when Garte allows. Zianna and Garroth actually taught him to read, which is something he’s thankful for because he doesn’t think he would have learned otherwise. Garroth was also the one that was always protecting Vylad from harsh punishments, and a large conflict for Garroth about going to the guard academy was leaving his brother to fend for himself

but Vylad and Zianna spent a lot of time together. their favorite place to frequent is Zianna’s palace garden, where she teaches him the meanings of all sorts of plants and stuff. and when Garte locks Zianna away for whatever “lesson” he’s teaching her, Vylad always finds a way in to keep talking with her. that’s how he got so good at sneaking around later as a shadow knight

okay so as he got older he was sort of excluded more and more from public events. his absence kind of solidified in peoples heads like “oh Garte DOES NOT like this kid…” but Vylad doesn’t mind because he wouldn’t consider himself to be made for these events like the rest of his family

okay so his death. it was something that was semi-planned?? so this kind of serves as a double purpose to also build tensions with Tu’la and all that. so what had happened is that a Tu’la spy infiltrated the O’Khasian guard. and that spy rose through the ranks and became one of Garte’s most trusted and Garte was eventually confiding in them that he wanted Vylad gone, even bringing up a premeditated assassination. the spy took it as an opportunity to kind of put O’Khasis against itself and took it upon themselves to kill Vylad. so his death wasn’t exactly planned, but it was on its way.

so Vylad died when he’s about 16. and he’s actually one of the reasons i have shadow knights age the way they do because I considered having him be like forever sixteen, but i didn’t really like that. i don’t remember why though because i think that’s a fire idea now i might change it…

anyway he’s 16 when he dies. that’s also another reason Garroth isn’t very happy about his marriage to Nicole, because she’s the same age his brother would be, but that’s another topic i’ve already yapped about

back to Vylad!! so he was turned into a shadow knight because it was known that he’s a Ro’Meave, or at least introduced as one. because of this, Gene and whoever else (i haven’t decided who’s in charge) resurrect him assuming he has the blood of Esmund the Protector. when they discover that he doesn’t, they also kind of discard him and hide him away

Vylad eventually breaks out. idk how. but he does. and the thing is he had devised this entire plan to start a new life for himself because he was getting tired of constantly being pushed to the side because he isn’t who people want him to be. so when he breaks out, he steals an orb and herbs that Gene had been working with to plant false memories in someone. Vylad steals this stuff, goes to the Overworld, realizes he doesn’t have a clue what to do, and goes into the sacred forest seeking the help of Hyria

his plan is to give himself a new slate. erase his memories and fabricate a new life for himself to live—one where he would never disappoint anyone or be tossed away. he asks Hyria to help him, and she agrees

before she does that, though, she starts talking to Vylad about the Divine Warriors, warning him about dangers that may come with the memory change. she kind of sort of manipulated him into instead reincarnating Irene, and she kind of used the fact that Vylad is a people pleaser that just wants to be Vylad to convince him to take Irene.

he agrees. with the help of Hyria he created a fake life for this reincarnation to have lived and experience and hides those memories in the orb he stole. and then he starts his journey to find where to place her

now obviously we know he chose near Phoenix Drop. he chose this place because he had been scouting it out for a while beforehand and actually had the suspicion that the head guard was Garroth (who had faked his death at this point, but Vylad didn’t know). so he places the staff or whatever nearby and is absolutely appalled when a whole person just comes out of it. he panics and then she starts waking up and Vylad doesn’t know what to do and he remembers the orb and very quickly does the spell Hyria told him to do

and when she wakes up the first thing Vylad says to her is “Good morning, Adelaide. How did you sleep?” and he comes up with this whole story that she’s a mercenary and then whatever else i decided that i can’t remember now

and. Vylad named her Adelaide, and he named her that because it was a name his mother loves. she always said that if she had a daughter her name would be Adelaide, so to put some goodness into this new being he named her what the most good hearted person he knows would have

and until we get a proper introduction to him in my rewrite, Vylad will be a recurring motif. i haven’t decided what exactly he’s going to mean, but he will often come to Adelaide in dreams or Adelaide will often talk fondly about the person she travelled with before settling in Phoenix Drop

overall Vylad is very insecure. he has this looming fear that everyone he comes across hates him and in an attempt to get people to like him, he ends up being a people pleaser or quiet altogether.

and that’s all i have for him 😢 i wish i had more for you anon because i love Vylad so much and he’s so important to me but alas. i hope you enjoyed this regardless

once again if you wanna know about a specific character just drop an ask! if be happy to answer :)

[muffin-snakes-art]

Hi. So I’m not a Layton guy and all THAT familiar with the lore, but a close friend of mine is, and as far as I understand Layton has a dead girlfriend? Can I please know who Magolor’s dead girlfriend equivalent in this AU is? I’m legitimately so curious. /pos

I have been thinking A LOT about which Kirby character would fit Claire's (dead gf) role. In the end I chose Taranza bc I feel he and Claire are the most similar in character. They're both really good at what they do (Claire: brilliant scientist - Taranza: immaculate mage), quick thinkers, humble, and have a lot of love to give.

I'll explain more under the cut (along with images of Claire and younger Layton for design ref), but Taranza could've also fit in as a couple other characters bc I made Sectonia as Descole. In this essay I will-

In Kirby there's an interesting connection between Magolor and Taranza. Primarily based on that one Magolor portrait in that haunted house in Triple Deluxe (like ok huh????) and also that one Star Allies Wave 3 illustration.

With that portrait existing, to me it implies that Magolor has met Taranza and Sectonia before the events of the game somehow. This theory is further backed up with the Old Friend mask in Merry Magoland. Magolor would HAVE to have known what Joronia looked like before her transformation, and that means he would also have met Taranza too at that time. I could be completely wrong about this HAHA but those are my thoughts on that.

When Wave 3 was announced, I didn't think much on the connection of the 3 characters other than they were from the first three core games of modern Kirby. But then they posted this art piece.

It's so cute how Magolor and Taranza combined their magic to create a shield for Kirby!! Both of their respective magic circle designs are melded together perfectly. Did they practice together on their own to perform this or was that a lucky in-the-moment occurrence? Either way, they must know and understand each other's magic abilities to a decent extent. Like how both Claire and Layton understands each other's careers and goals. Layton is a professor in archeology. Claire is a scientist researching time travel and other stuffs. Those fields go hand in hand, and the two do what they can to support and improve each other's passions.

Now onto the other characters that Taranza would've fit as and reasons why I ended up putting him as Claire.

So I put Sectonia as Descole. Descole has an extremely loyal partner/butler/henchman named Raymond. Yea Taranza would easily fit as him, but a few things made me decide not to. Descole may appear cold and not show it, but even in his madness he cares for Raymond. He does order Raymond around, but he still gives Raymond freewill to do as he pleases. Sectonia is very controlling over Taranza. If Raymond were to make mistakes, I don't see Descole punishing him for them. Sectonia would. She blasted Taranza away for mistaking Dedede as the hero of the lower world. Maybe when she was Joronia she wouldn't and wasn't as controlling but....I feel we don't have the full story on their relationship. I also focused more on Sectonia's overall in-game personality. I absolutely love seeing the two spiders enjoying each other's company and having fun, but in-game we never really got what Joronia really thought of Taranza. As Sectonia, she saw him as a disposable servant. You can say her personality was corrupted by the mirror, but I personally believe the mirror actually amplified her negative feelings and views. Negative emotions are brought up a lot in Kirby lore. I personally find that more interesting than just the mirror possessing her or something. I may be very wrong on that, but those are what I thought about.

Last reason, which is uhm, Raymond saves Descole from death FGDHSJ I don't think I need to elaborate on that. It would be so neat and ironic to have Taranza as Raymond, but I also wanna keep things in line as possible with Kirby lore canon.

Yet, who could be Raymond then? Idk fgdsj that's why I struggled so much. If Claire wasn't an option, Taranza would've been Raymond.

Now the one other character Taranza could've fit as is Descole's late wife. His wife was never mentioned by name, to my memory, and didn't have a huge role in the games. There's not enough information on who she was. I wanted to give Taranza a fitting role in personality and importance.

So in the end after all that thinking, Claire it is! I also don't know who else in the Kirby cast would fit her better and be Professor Magolor's late partner. One may think Susie would fit Claire more, but I've already decided she will be Emmy. Emmy's and Susie's personalities are very similar to me. And Emmy's lore? Fits quite well with Susie's. I'll draw that at some point.

So uh yea. Thanks for reading all that if you did! Hope you enjoyed the insanity

[gio-cosmo]

Hi here’s me rambling endlessly abt strega and how they were handled in reload for a bit ⬇️ (heavy spoilers)

Strega is a trio of antagonists that I often see overlooked completely, frequently described as “forgettable” and “non-threatening”. You’d think that an antagonistic group responsible for one of the main characters deaths would hold more weight, right? I think the main reason that this is such a common mindset is because of Strega’s critical lack of screen-time, and also the fact that their backstories / reasoning behind their actions are explained in a very rushed manner. Despite this, I think Strega is an incredibly interesting group of characters, and I think it’s a shame Atlus didn’t bother to flesh them out more.

Main issue: Lack of screen-time. Why the rush?

Atlus made a point to act as if Reload would give Strega a plethora of new content, but in reality, we barely got anything extra at all. Is it a step up from Portable/FES? Absolutely, and I’m very grateful for that. But even still, this was a golden opportunity to really show off Strega’s intricacies, and to throw away such a perfect chance was a pretty lousy move, in my opinion. There was so many opportunities to show Strega’s viewpoints and have it flow well with the story, but these chances were rarely taken — because of this, their presence in the story is weakened substantially.

Lack of group interaction - when having an antagonist group, it’s important to have them be…well, you know. A group. We barely get to see them interact together, and when we do, it’s either for very quick moments, or it’s when their talking to someone else (in which, it’s usually just Takaya talking on behalf of all of them)

This falls along with how their lack of screen-time is the biggest issues — there’s no chances to see them interact with each other if their barely given the chance to be on screen to begin with.

Lack of individual interaction - where the hell is my Jin hangout event? :(

If they can figure out how to give Takaya one-on-one conversations with the MC to let the player get to know his character more, they could’ve certainly figured out how to do so with Jin and Chidori as well. They could’ve had you talk with Jin through the assassination request site and Chidori by finding her at the bench she’s always at when she talks with Junpei. See how that took me approximately five seconds to think up? You’re telling me nobody in the development room was like “hey guys maybe we should actually give ALL of our main antagonists some one-on-one interactions so we can see how they function when away from each other. Oh, I guess we don’t really show them interacting as a group that much either so we should throw that in as well lmfaoo whoops” Like guys come on. I’m sighing so heavily right now and also shaking my head in dismay.

(You could argue that we already get to see Chidori interact solo with Junpei so it wouldn’t be necessary to see her interact solo with the MC, but I still think it would be a neat addition. All I know is that there is absolutely NO reason that Jin shouldn’t have gotten some sort of hangout event :(

Missed opportunities - “let’s all be able to shift and not tell Chidori!”

We don’t get a single trio fight in the entire game. This is so ridiculous to me that I get irritated every time I think about it. “Let’s have a antag trio and not let them fight together haha” yeah real funny man I’m having such a good laugh over here 😐 it doesn’t even make any sense either. Chidori’s solo fight genuinely should’ve just been a trio fight. “She told us to wait inside lol” damn she’s not even letting you spectate??? 😭 developers wanted them off-screen so bad they LITERALLY had them wait outside the door standing there doing nothing. Atlus. Come on now man.

Common misconceptions — “Strega doesn’t care about Chidori.”

WRONG INCORRECT BUZZER 🚨🚨🚨 They do, actually, they just have roundabout ways of showing it because of the whole “caring about people is a weakness” mindset that they so desperately latch onto. I’ve seen lots a people say that they believe Takaya truly does not care for his teammates at all, and while I guess in technicality it’s all up to personal interpretation, I do strongly disagree with this standpoint. The last thing Takaya is saying while watching Nyx approach is that he wishes Jin was with him, and gets visibly and vocally distressed when Jin falls in battle before him. In the Persona 3 manga, what stops Takaya from killing Junpei is the sight of Chidori’s spirit. If he truly didn’t care about Chidori, why would that stop him in his tracks? I think it’s clear that Takaya is stuck in a mindset that formed when he was an angry and mistreated child, and because of this he’s convinced himself he is incapable of feeling attachment towards anyone, and voices this constantly while seeing it as a weakness. Despite this, I do think he cares about his teammates deep down, but refuses to admit it. This extremely ingrained hypocrisy is something I wish was more expanded on.

Misconceptions continued - “the fact that the members of Strega aren’t ridiculously overpowered makes them bad villains.”

…No! For Strega, using their Persona’s is a very taxing endeavor — it wouldn’t make canonical sense for them to be extremely powerful. You might be thinking, “well, the fact that their battles aren’t immensely difficult is why they aren’t payed much mind as antagonists.” I disagree. The reason is the criminal lack of screen time. Now, I don’t think it’s bad to want more difficult fights, to each their own and all, I just think it’s a bit silly when people use that as their main core reason for hating them, considering it really wouldn’t make *sense* for them to be super powerful. Anyways. Moving on.

Things that would’ve strengthened Strega as characters:

- More scenes

- A more fleshed out work-together event (teaming up with Takaya was cool, but also a bit random? Should’ve been expanded upon more)

- Backstory flashbacks (this could also have been used as foreshadowing for Ikutsuki’s betrayal instead of making it seem so abrupt)

- DLC (being able to play AS them for a bit would be awesome)

Frankly, I think that The Answer should’ve been included in base-game, and Strega should’ve gotten a DLC. They would really benefit one, and they could make it really informative and interesting, explaining more about how they were experimented on as kids & how it affects them, etc.

I also think it would’ve been beneficial to make Strega have more influence outside of the Dark Hour. In the later parts of the game, they do gain popularity when the cult starts up, but it’s all incredibly abrupt and there’s barely any lead up to it. It would’ve been interesting to see a gradual lead up to it all, slowly seeing their influence spread as the game continues, and having tension rise as they ensnare more people into believing their set of ideals. Having them suddenly gain influence so rapidly seemed just..generally unrealistic, I guess.

There’s for real even more I could go on about but this is already so long that I’ll go ahead and cut myself off here. Anyways. I love Strega <3

[thekenobee]

Hello, deer friend <3

Can you believe it's been six months since I fell head first into my Hermann Gottlieb obsession. Stared baffled-ly at the internet trying to figure out why the heck it isn't called Newtlieb (it is now I've decided). Realised the guy from that meme has like a name and a career and stuff. Realised one of those names is Peckham are you kidding me. Decided I wasn't interested in him unless Burn was also there. You know the story.

ANYWAY that's not what I came here to say. What I came here to say was, post-pitfall headcanons? What happens to our boys? Where are they now (like actually now, June 2025)? Or whenever. I do think it was rather neat of me to watch the film almost exactly when the events of the film were taking place. I'm so clever. Do you have different headcanons for a PRU-compliant universe vs. a pretending-PRU-never-happened-because-we-hate-that-for-them universe?

AHHHHH MY DEER, happy 6monthsversary!

I'm so happy you fell into the same 🐇 hole (Black Velvet Rabbits Band), it's such an absolute joy to have someone so special like you to talk about someone so special like Burn <3

Re: the question

I have seen. Things (in my mind, mostly) and I have read fics and What I think we could pass on as PRU compliant universe:

Hermann figuring out a way to sever the connection between the Precursors and Newt. Maybe by Drifring with Newt and empowering THEIR connection because Newton is not lost, no. We could see him beg Hermann to help him and who's more than capable of doing that than the love of his life, who waited for him for 10 years and who shared his most intimate moments and memories? Hermann eventually disconnects the Precursors from Newt, smashing tank with A.L.I.C.E. but not before getting the vital intel from her in his attempt to drift with the vile thing. Hermann carries both Newt and Himself in his mind everywhere he goes and the man who coded Jaegers can do ANYTHING.

If we were to pretend PRU doesn't exist, cuz it doesn't, however, I would go with this scenario:

Newton and Hermann never got separated. When I watched PRU for the first time it was such an abstract thing for me to imagine that Newton, lovely, messy Newton just. Left. Hermann for a cool job with a cool salary and cool clothes. Like. I was just given that on my plate when I didn't even order. He could never. After drifting, these two cannot stop rambling about k-biology, astronomy and why Star Trek TOS is a great show. Newton would take Hermann to the pub- No Newton, Black Velvet Rabbits is NOT the most amiable name for a band I could think of and I shall not entertain the idea of - yet he listens to the little man sing and after a couple of pints (German stuff) he even agrees to karaoke.

Newton also makes Hermann lose the grandpa style but not the suspenders. He loves them.

He's the one trying to figure out a way to stop Hermann's MS from progressing and that's his main job these days, apart from giving all the interviews and attending the lectures. He's a rockstar, dude

Newt also saw that Hermann's military haircut is reminiscent of his dreams of becoming a pilot, on their second date he takes him to Duxford Air Museum.

They continue to be rockstars-turned-husbands who defeated the kaiju, by Jove!

Oh lord I could go on and on. I'm afraid I drifted with so many fanfics we shared a bond

This was so lovely to reply to ❤️

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Hey, there! How are you?

I was hoping I could request a Moondrop x reader x Sundrop short fic?

A fic about a costume competition on the main stage of the Pizzaplex with all of the animatronics and then separately a staff costume competition.

Reader would be the daycare attendant and come in either first or second place for the competition.

After the competition, reader goes back to the daycare for a Halloween-themed sleepover! With Halloween movies and themed snacks and stuff! I think it’d be cute ☺️💕

Hi! I've been good, thank you! Finally getting the spooky halloween fics rolling

..........

"So you're a STAFF Security Bot? The makeup looks great on you!"

"Really? Thanks. I guess it'd be dumb to ask who you are, huh?" Vanessa looked at your costume up and down with a raised eyebrow. "You look like you're gonna work for the damn travelling circus."

"Well...that's kinda the point." With a smile, you smoothed out the wrinkles in your striped pants, ensuring that your ruffled two-toned collar was neat. The bells on your wrists jingled noisily, but you quickly silenced them.

"Now I don't feel so embarrassed.." The blonde mumbled to herself, her gaze going back to you. "Don't you think you kinda...overdid this? I mean none of us are getting a bonus for putting more effort into our costumes-"

"There's no such thing as "overdoing" Halloween, Ness." You huffed. "I don't care about any bonuses or prizes. We're here to bring some holiday spirit to the Pizzaplex! I think it's good that the manager asked us to participate. They know how to have fun unlike the last one."

"...jeez, you're sounding more like Sun everyday." That was her only remark before she went back to staring at her phone, clearly wanting to get this over with.

Meanwhile, you were bouncing on your heels, being next in-line to show off your costume to the eager audience waiting outside.

For the first time ever, the Mega Pizzaplex finally scraped together the perfect Halloween event to really kick off the season: a costume competition!

It took place on the main stage in the atrium, which was decorated from floor to ceiling. A small fortune was spent on getting holograms to feature the Glamrocks in spooky costumes, but the employees were the main stars of the show.

Since you and the others knew about this months in advance, you had plenty of time to work on your outfit and makeup. You truly wanted to knock this out of the park by dressing up as your all-time favorite character:

The Daycare Attendant!

At first you had a difficult time deciding which one would be your muse. You'd hate to disappoint either of them, so you ended up designing something that contained aspects of both animatronics!

It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and glitter glue..but you finally finished it and now you were here, ready to show it off to the world!

There was an entirely separate competition for the animatronics themselves, who just finished an hour ago. They just brainstormed ideas and their handlers got to work creating their costumes.

The rules were all the same, nevertheless, and the winners were determined by whoever was cheered for the most.

Freddy, who was dressed up as Frankenstein's Monster, ended up winning first place (which you saw coming from a mile away)....while poor Roxy, who actually dressed up as Freddy, got second place. She was a sore loser about it and complained that the entire contest was "rigged".

Despite that, all of the animatronics seemed to have lots of fun.

Now it was the humans' turn to shine. You were 100% ready to give it your all, glad to see your coworkers were getting into the Halloween spirit, too....although Vanessa was less-than-thrilled to learn that participation was mandatory.

Regardless, you were happy with the way your costume turned out.

After telling the announcer your name and character, you waited for your queue to run on stage.

The anticipation was killing you!

"And up next we have [y/n], one of our longtime staff members, decked out as our one and only Daycare Attendant!"

With a big smile spreading from ear-to-ear, you headed out and were met with cheering kids and impressed parents. You did a little twirl so they could see all the parts of your costume, making sure the bells jingled loud enough for them to hear.

Among the crowd, you could see the animatronics hanging in the back, being allowed to spectate this contest. Sun himself was there, dressed up as a knight in shiny armor. But he was ecstatic upon seeing that you dressed like him and Moon.

"[Y/N]!!! YOU LOOK AMAZING STARSHINE!!!" He shouted, jumping up and down as he cheered the loudest.

You spotted him and waved back, your smile growing even more when you realized he loved it (even though he could only admire the details from afar for now).

It did take Freddy's and Chica's hands combined to ensure he didn't try to hop the fence and run over to you.

After your mini-performance was done, you headed off the stage before turning to observe Vanessa, who acted like a stiff and bored Security STAFF bot. She just muttered some of their preprogrammed lines before making a swift exit.

The applause for her was..lackluster, but she seemed relieved to finally be done with it.

You, on the other hand, were still relishing in all the attention.

Soon you'll get to see who won! You weren't counting on yourself winning the grand prize since your other coworkers put a good deal of effort into their costumes, too.

But in the end, getting first or second place wasn't your biggest concern.

Having fun is what mattered most.

............

"You're awful smug about that trophy. Didn't know you were the competitive type, officer."

"Well..I think for tonight, I can afford to be a little proud of myself." You smirked knowingly at Moon, holding up the golden trophy in your hands.

It wasn't made from real gold, of course. It's all just cheap useless plastic that was painted gold.

But you did, however, adore its design very much: Freddy's head shaped like a pumpkin with a #1 beside it, and your name written on the plaque just below it.

This wasn't any bonus check, gift card, or coupon...but it absolutely made you feel good about winning first place in the costume competition.

You made sure to thank Sun for his help before Moon took over the daycare's night cycle--aka his half of the "Halloween Sleepover", another smaller event the Pizzaplex allowed to keep the little ones occupied.

Fortunately, you got to supervise it to ensure everything ran smoothly. You were even allowed to stay in costume, and that got kids complimenting you left and right (albeit some of the tots mistook you for the Attendant himself, but you didn't mind it).

Of course, nobody was prouder than both Sun and Moon.

"I appreciate you considering me in this design. Very well done, indeed." The lunar animatronic flicked the bell at the end of your blue jester hat, grinning as it jingled. "You have quite the talent...unlike Officer Vanessa."

"I'd go easy on her, Moon. She's just not a big Halloween fan." You chuckled, putting the trophy on the security desk, before you leaned back in the chair and looked over the clipboard. "Anyways, we have just a few more activities scheduled...including one more Halloween movie. Then you'll be giving the kids lessons on how to trick-or-treat safely, and-"

"That's what I need help with!" Moon suddenly jumped onto the desk, perching there as he stared down at you. "I can't keep showing them SpongeBob forever."

"..what's wrong with SpongeBob?" Blinking, your gaze went to the small group of children, who were all in their own costumes, watching the "Scaredy Pants" episode through a projection on the wall.

They were all tucked into sleeping bags, candy wrappers scattered in their laps, and unfinished art crafts on the tables behind them. Moon was a tad bit fidgety over the messes they left, but you kept reassuring him everything will be cleaned up soon.

"Nothing, but...grr...listen." He grumbled, growing annoyed. "I know there's two movies in the drawer to your right, and we only have time for one. Look at them and pick for me."

Nodding, you opened the drawer and found the DVDs he was talking about.

But you were quite surprised.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas and..Corpse Bride?" You stared at the covers, before looking up at Moon. "Management...actually approved these?"

"It would seem so, if they're here."

"...I don't know. The kids might be a bit too young for either of these movies, Moon." You frowned a little. "They might give them nightmares-"

"If they can handle seeing SpongeBob's exposed brain, the creatures of Rock Bottom, and the Hash Slinging Slasher...then surely they can handle seeing Jack Skellington or Emily."

"But the animation is totally different and---" You began protesting, although you stopped as you saw how Moon was just...staring at you blankly. He was practically begging you to make a decision lest he strangled you.

"..I'll take care of the movie and let the kids decide which one they wanna watch. You can go clean the tables and work on your safety lesson plan. Okay?"

His grin returned immediately.

"Wise choice, "Daycare Attendant"." He snickered, flicking the bell on your hat once more before he slinked away to cleanup duty.

Sighing, you got up and stretched, before heading over to the children so they could cast their votes on which movie they wanted to see.

After they made their choice, you went back to helping Moon, although at some point you two ended up watching the movie as well.

The night was still young, but so far it's been fantastic and full of Halloween fun!

What better way to spend it than with your favorite animatronics and dressing up as them?

[curligurl0896]

Don't mind me just posting my ABC notes whenever I damn feel like it.

Our first Ax POV book! I liked that we got a glimpse of what Ax was up to before the events of the first book. Especially the interactions between him and Elfangor.

We also get to see that, as much as he adores and looks up to his older brother, Ax doesn't really like being overshadowed by him. To others, he's just Elfangor's little bro, but he wants to prove that he's more than that, he wants to prove himself a warrior in his own right.

Reading the bit where Elfangor says that Ax will get to fight with him one day, knowing that will never get to happen now.... OOF.

The Earth Diary bits are probably some of the best bits from this book. Ax's commentary on humans and Earth life is hilarious.

One fun thing about getting an alien's perspective on human life is the detailed descriptions of how normal everyday human actions are performed. Like sitting, for example. Never before have I given thought to how I would describe the concept of sitting down as a human to an alien.

Ax going nuts and eating food off the floor in the movie theater scene will never NOT be comedy GOLD. I was giggling the whole time at his antics.

This is just a nitpick, but there's this one bit that mentions that a certain alien species from Star Trek looks exactly like an actually existing alien species that Ax knows of. Which would be a neat detail, except, from what I know about Star Trek, all the aliens in it are essentially humans with different coloring and, in this case, weird forehead ridges. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I feel like if there's an alien species out there that looks almost exactly like humans then surely it would've been mentioned more, but as it is Ax makes it sound like humans aren't like any other creature he's met before coming to Earth. Idk it feels like a detail that was just thrown in and forgotten about.

So about the whole "Yeerks are killing the hosts of the Yeerks who starved to death" situation... like on one hand, yeah, Ax should have definitely said something. But also, it just goes to show how incredibly naive the others are at this point in the series. Like these kids really thought that the human hosts would be free and the Yeerks wouldn't do anything about it? Like Visser Three would let it slide that these humans are just walking around telling anyone who would listen that alien parasites are trying to enslave humanity? The same guy who would have his own people killed in a heartbeat if they fail to do what he wants? Idk I feel like if they were older and/or more experienced with the war at this point they would have immediately realized that the Yeerks would probably resort to killing freed hosts to prevent the truth from getting out to the wider human population.

I like how Ax's response to Tobias first breaching the question of how Ax eats without a mouth is 'Well, I have hooves, don't I?' Like it's so normal to him that it seems like it should be obvious. What, are you telling me absorbing nutrients through your hooves is a foreign concept on this planet?

There's like so many lines from this book that I want to put screenshots of solely bc they got a laugh out of me. Like this one, for example:

Also:

Cassie giving Edward Cullen energy years before the Twilight series was even a concept in Stephanie Meyer's head was not a detail I remembered being in this book

And then there's this:

AxMarco fans be like Imma pretend I didn't read that

Cassie having a picture of Jake in her locker makes it hurt just a little bit more that these to break up by the end. Like they're so friggin cute at the beginning here, I don't like to think about them not being together

Jake getting all mad at Ax for suggesting that he wouldn't have ordered the Kandrona destroyed if it meant Tom might have to die, saying Ax doesn't know shit about humans... but like, where's the lie though? Jake is far from being at the point of willing to sacrifice his brother to win the war. He totally would've hesitated at the very least.

After we get another hilarious scene: Ax taking Marco's insistence of, "Yes or no answers only" very literally. Giggled like mad throughout this scene too

The fact that Ax thinks of books as being more advanced than computers seems so weird and funny to me

Not Ax pushing human science ahead by like a century just from playing with what he thought was some sort of computer game.

The memory Ax describes of spending time with Elfangor is one I wanna write a whole fic about, partially because we really don't get to see their sibling dynamic, we get a glimpse of it in the prologue of this book but that's it. But also bc baby Ax would be the most adorable thing ever.

Can't help but wonder if Cassie ever told Jake about inviting Ax to have dinner at her house while morphed as him, or is he gonna show up to her house for dinner one day only for Cassie's dad to be like "I made my special chili just for you! I know how much you love it!" And he'll just be like, "Wait, what?"

Ax being especially concerned about Tobias seemingly just being okay with life as a hawk and not bothering to ask if he could ever be human again

That one Andalite thinking Earth was basically lost bc Ax said the Yeerks made thousands of humans into hosts already clearly has no idea just how many humans there are. It makes sense, since apparently having a population that numbers in the billions is pretty much unheard of anywhere else. But man their minds would be blown if they knew that "thousands" is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the human population.

Poor Ax made this call just wanting to talk to his family and possibly get someone to pick him up and take him back home, but then he gets told to take the blame for his brother's actions, is only reminded by his father that he has to kill the guy that killed his brother, and also, he's not gonna get to go home anytime soon.

And then we get Yeerk lover boy, who also wants Visser Three dead, and is also the only reason the Animorphs saw any Yeerks starving to death at all.

One of the great things about this book is how we can totally sympathize with Ax and understand his reasoning while also being able to clearly recognize how absolutely valid the other Animorphs are in being pissed at him for it.

One last quote, because this:

Is probably the most metal way to end a chapter

You know, even knowing what Alloran has done, it's impossible not to feel really bad for him here. Like imagine having spent so long essentially stripped of your personhood that you forget your own NAME. Imagine that you spend the only moments of freedom you have begging for DEATH because the only other option is to be forced back into living a freaking nightmare. Imagine having Visser Three inside your head 24/7.

Really liked the ending. Ax finally coming clean only to find that the others don't hold the whole Seerow's kindness against him or his kind. Him deciding that he can't let his people's laws get in the way of doing what he must to protect humanity from the Yeerks. Him taking it as a compliment when Lirem says he's just like his brother-- because after all, his brother was a hero.

That's all for book 8, folks. Onto book 9!

[ponett]

Sorry for the idw sonic related question, but have you managed to read Annual 2024? Would love to hear your thoughts on it!

The little Surge and Kit story was fun, and gives us a strong setup for what's next for them. Though the oddity there is that... the story is set after the end of the current arc in the main series? And alludes to how that story wraps up? It doesn't quite spoil anything, I guess, but it's painfully obvious that something got screwed up in the release schedule. I don't think we were supposed to read this yet

The Knuckles story was also cute. Nice to get some insight into how he views his relationships. While part of me does think it's kinda neat that Knuckles showing up always feels like a special event in IDW, I do hope this is some kind of first step towards including Knuckles in the comics more. Also Adam's art was great in this, as always. Thank you for those panels of Rouge, Adam. But, again, the story ends by telling you it'll be continued all the way in issue 80, seven issues from now. That won't be out until next summer! Something's out of whack.

But the star of the show was, of course, the Mimic/Diamond Cutters backstory, which was the length of a full issue. Whisper's my fave, so I love seeing her before The Incident, but the real draw here was learning more about Mimic. His backstory is cool. This adds some really good wrinkles to him as a character, beyond just being a cutthroat mercenary who wants to take out Whisper because she's a loose end. Really good stuff there, and I absolutely love Mauro's art in this one (though the credits page very clearly mixed up who drew which half of the story)

[laurenttheninth]

i think part of why last night’s ep felt so weird is because it, to me at least, felt like it came way too late in the season.

excluding the breakup storyline*, and the pregnancy reveal**, these just felt like earlier beats:

athena, flash rob, and the probie(s) had this happened in like, the fourth episode, it would make a lot of sense that athena was injured (as she was JUST in a plane crash), and the seeds of 'flash rob' as a villain could have been planted early, giving athena an adversary. she could have spent half the season showing up in the aftermath of these mass robberies, frustrated that she's being outpaced by some twitch streaming jackass kid! this could have been compounded by the introduction of sparky, who athena's gut says not to trust but who, on paper, is a good kid. imagine if we had weeks of time to see athena "lose" to flash rob while building some degree of trust/warring with her instincts about sparky. think of how satisfying the sting would have been if we'd been waiting for athena to finally be one step ahead of flashy robert! think of how much more impactful sparky shooting an innocent woman in front of her child would be if we'd spent weeks with that character, and had seen athena trying to trust him! this also makes athena's decision to take on more probies a lot weightier: if athena was essentially training/mentoring this kid for months, how does she feel that he nearly killed someone because he lost his temper? then after the hiatus we could explore tonal shifts with athena having a string of new probies, or whatever. but do you see what i mean about the introduction of these things coming the ep before the 8a finale being... a bit late?

brad and gerrard show of hands, does anyone still give a fuck about these two? having gerrard take the hotshots job tied things up in a neat little bow and allowed us to solidly move on from these characters. this felt like a bizarre time to bring them back. we just found out maddie and chimney are accidentally pregnant again! bucktommy just broke up! eddie just shaved his moustache! hen's son nearly died and she only recently got her daughter back! why are we talking about these unlikable old white guys?! anyway. i think they should not have been revisited at all, except maybe to come back lola and norman style, way down the line, so the audience looks back like "oh yeah, those two... i'd almost forgotten about them!" BUT we live in an unjust world. so in that case, i think the issue with brad and gerrard is that they're too tonally different from the rest of the show. gerrard made sense in the begins episodes, when he was a pigheaded bigot representative of the old boys club institution and a foil to the new 118 that we know and love, and brad made sense in the three-part opening because he was a silly one-off character meant to add levity -- except we had levity because gerrard was written and played as a cartoon evil boss instead of a realistically awful person. so now 911 has two old white dudes who are at best good for a chuckle and at worst actively evil. and now gerrard is crying bc he loves his tv land job so much and brad is using start power and money to talk the brass into sanctioning his stalking of bobby nash. and we haven't seen these characters in ages and frankly, we don't care about them. my opinion is that we either need Way Less (end it with that shot of gerrard sipping his latte with his feet up or w/e) or, tragically, Way More. having them be a consistent problem that plagues the 118 would at least allow time for these characters to settle into a tone that sits well within the rest of the show.

it'll be interesting to see how this all pans out, pacing-wise, when we can look at this season in its totality next summer, and when rewatching in one fell swoop without a week between each episode. but at this moment, i don't think i'm alone in thinking that episode was just... skippable? isolated from the events that immediately preceded it? imo 8x07 added indelibly to the current state of s8 episodes feeling siloed within themselves with quick storylines that are introduced and then wrapped up within forty-some minutes.

*this had to happen a) after bucktommy had been together for a respectable amount of time onscreen and b) immediately after the breakup to prevent buck from looking like a crazy person, so i think this was perfectly place in the timeline

**had no material impact on the story thus far, we didn’t even see buck or chim struggling to keep it a secret. we didn’t even see chimney around the firefam, is that his strategy so he doesn’t spill the beans?? to just hide in the bunk room or something??? rip chimney han you would have loved playing keep away with buck’s phone and watching tmz videos of Bobby threatening to beat up a guy

[yourpalmickeymouse]

Hi, Mickey. How are you?

Since it's almost Christmas, how do you usually spend Christmas? And... Christmas is a family holiday, so... Can you tell us about Aunt Melinda?

Hiya mafik-sun,

'Round this time of year, I'm always doin' great. I can't believe it's almost Christmas!!! 🎅🦌

Gosh, what don't I do for Christmas? I feel like I have so many holiday traditions that Christmas ends up feelin' more like a marathon than a holiday, ha ha. Though don't think that I mean that in a bad way. I just love Christmas 💝 and everythin' that comes with it. It's actually my favorite holiday ever, and I don't mean for the gifts 😉. There's just something 'bout this time of year that feels so magical and musical, the world just feels like a better place...

But back to your question. I would argue that our Christmas technically starts on Christmas Eve. Goofy and his son always invite Minnie, Pluto, and me to go carolin' in the evenin'. In fact, they're gonna be here in a couple of hours. I love carolin' so much. It's always a ton of fun and gets me right into the Christmas spirit. Sometimes if we're lucky people will even give us some holiday treats or even come out and join us. I think last year we had 'bout 15 people in our group. I would love to see that number grow this year. After that, we'd stop by my house and pick at least one present under the tree 🎄 to open, with Max and Goofy bringin' gifts from their tree.

After that, we'd leave out some freshly baked cookies for Santa and watch Christmas special after Christmas special in the livin' room until we fall asleep. The next day we would then wake up to even more gifts from Santa and spend all mornin' opening them. I admit I always enjoyed watchin' the other's faces light up when they see what I got 'em. After that Minnie and I start preparin' the Christmas lunch while Max and Goofy start workin' on some crafts. They have this neat tradition where every year they sew a new patch onto their stocking, though usually, Goofy ends up sewing his sweater instead, ha ha. 😆

Oh! And this is usually the time Aunt Melinda arrives. Gosh, what can I say 'bout Aunt Melinda? She's really kind, supportive, and probably one of the smartest people I know. It truly does feel like she knows everythin' sometimes as she always knew exactly what to say. It's probably how she kept me out of trouble when I visited her as a kid, which is real impressive if you knew how I used to be 😅. But I really think she's responsible for fosterin' my creativity and love for problem solvin'.

When I was young, every time I saw her she would always give me a small puzzle to solve by the end of the day. I remember lookin' so forward to these (I still do actually) and would spend hours tryin' to figure it out. Every time I did, she would hand me the tastiest piece of candy I ever had. I could never figure out what brand it was or where to get more, which I guess meant if I wanted more I had to solve more puzzles. She also got me into my favorite book series "The Chirikawa Chronicles" as it was one of the many books she would read to me every night. Ya know it's funny, she can be a bit overprotective and from the outside can even come across as just a homely country lady, but I always felt like there was more to her that I just couldn't see. Almost like she was hidin' it.

But back to Christmas, 'bout lunchtime is usually when everyone, includin' our friends from Duckburg, arrives. We'd open a couple more gifts and then have a massive potluck lunch together. After that, we'd have all sorts of competitions and activities. There was Christmas karaoke, ugly sweater fashion shows, ornament making, and probably the most anticipated event of 'em all, the Annual Gingerbread House Contest, also known as the AGHC. Every year was always competitive and I bet this year will be no exception. I'm the judge this year since my gingerbread hotel won last time and I'm excited to see what everyone makes. Daisy claims to have a gingerbread "condo" that will blow everyone else's out of the water, but I guess we'll have to see. 😉

But after we've had our fun, we actually finish the day doin' somethin' a bit different to help us remember what this time's really 'bout. Every year on Christmas day, everyone heads over to the Mouseton Soup Kitchen and spends the rest of our evenin' passin' out food to those who need it. This is always my favorite part as I get to help people out and listen to all their wonderful stories. I really feel like I'm fully getting to understand all of Mouseton and the people who live here through this moment. There are so many wonderful people here and it's so nice to give back durin' such a wonderful time of the year. I actually managed to make a deal with a local department store to donate some extra stock to the families in need as gifts, I can't wait to see how that turns out.

But that is usually how I spend my Christmas. Thanks so much for the question. I gotta start layerin' up for tonight, but I would love to hear how you spend this time with your friends, family, or whoever.

I hope you and everyone have a Great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! 🎊

See ya real soon,

- M.M.

[personal-blarghe]

I finally watched Trigun Stampede. Speaking as someone who really, really loved Trigun (1998) and watched it + Badlands Rumble multiple times growing up, nothing holds to that nostalgia. But I really liked it! The animation and art is so, so pretty. The framing, the combat scenes, it's all just really impressive and gorgeous. The original was also very impressive visually, especially for its time, so that feels like something that held up. It looks like how a Trigun revamp should, I think. (A little disappointed by Vash's sexy hair because he was sexy DESPITE his goofy hair damnit, but yeah like. it looks good on him. whatever. also the old coat was cooler sorry.)

Not sure who out there wants to talk about this and not just look longingly at Vashwood art (fair) but I really enjoyed that it was so fully different. Different takes on the story and a different but still fully contained story structure so that I wasn't 100% sure what was going to happen or how things would play out. I haven't read the manga yet (I really do mean to get around to that one day), so I can't speak to which show is more book-accurate, but it was neat to see some of the same stuff happening but have it be handled differently enough to keep me on my toes. I particularly loved the fuller backstory and more fleshed out angles of the main conflict, and especially the worm perspective. I did a little reading on the wikis and it seems this is the more manga-accurate lore for Zazie the Beast, and I enjoyed that part of Stampede a lot. It did sort of bring up more questions than it answered (ok so what happens to the worms if humans and plants learn to get along and they terraform the planet?), but then it also left a big open door for more story that I really hope we will get. Excellent setup and worldbuilding overall.

The art change for the Wolfwood backstory was also really neat, and again, I enjoyed getting more and fuller backstories in general. I loved the contrast of that soft fuzzy artstyle to his gritty present day, and and I loved, loved how bloody and gory the show was overall. I don't watch a lot of anime these days but the blood spouts felt very 90s to me. I did miss a lot of the old Wolfwood angst though. His whole cult was still there as a villain (I don't think they called them the Gung-Ho-Guns though, too silly?), but the twist of his character arc was so heartbreaking in the original and it's very understated in Stampede. Of course I love that he's not dead (yet?), but his role in the story felt a lot less significant.

I think my recommendation would still be to watch 1998 first. Stampede has a huge tonal shift. It almost isn't goofy at all, which is fine if you already have the silliness of OG Vash in your heart and know that side of the characters, but I did miss it. A lot of the comic relief got pushed to Merryl which I didn't love, but I did like what they did with her arc in setting her up to go from naive kid employee to the one in charge. Interesting to see kind of a prequel for her while the rest of the story is not "prequel" to Trigun so much as just a kind of all over rehash of some of the same events and some different ones.

I think with having more episodes, Trigun (1998) was able to pull off a better slow burn on these goofy characters with traumatic pasts and all the fun little whiplashes you can get out of seeing the goofy idiot turn serious, but it also suffers from bad anime tropes and being From the 90s. Stampede is pretty much just serious, which worked very well in its limited story time, but I missed the goofs.

Without having actually read it, I would say that Stampede feels like it is probably more manga accurate. And while it was self-contained in a satisfying way, I like the open ending and the many new questions I have. Like, wtf happens to all those pregnant plants now? Vash didn't undo that as far as I could tell, they were very much still pregnant with Knives' baby independents. Did they die? Knives clones for season 2? Maybe not quite clones because of Vash's involvement? Not getting into the general grossness of that, (it's pretty gross!) but it's definitely room for more questions about freewill and souls and mutual dependency. Can't wait.

Anyway, I liked Trigun Stampede and I will be very excited to get more. (Wolfwood death scene that defined me as a person when?) All in all, Trigun remains a 10/10 and I will probably finally go read the manga now, it's about time.

[imagionationstation]

random idea I had.

so y’know those role swap aus? Where like…Mikey’s the serious leader, Raph’s the tech guy, etc etc.

what would it be like if we added April and Casey?

like…swap Donnie and Casey? Or something like that? Idk bro. It’s a random idea I had lol

Role swap AU: An AU where characters swap their roles for a period of time with the subsequent story exploring how plot events alter, diverge, or stay the same because of this swap.

So…

I’ve never been one for role swap au’s tbh. I think there was only one that ever caught my attention, but the characters were so insanely on point that I could envision the show in my head. In all the body swaps that I’ve read, it’s Splinter being like “ya’ll could benefit from being in someone else’s shoes. Here’s what we gonna do”

I prefer a character being forced to manage in another’s brain/body for some time. There’s so much potential in those 🤩

What are April and Casey’s roles?

I suppose Casey is more muscle, but April seems to tilt between brains/muscle as it pleases her. She absolutely wants to be seen as a warrior, but she works with Donnie in his lab during research and making connections and whatnot.

“Added April and Casey” implies that the role swap includes everyone, so just swapping Donnie&Casey feels shortsighted. (I don’t mean that to be offensive in any way. I’m thinking outloud.) We could give Casey’s role to Donnie, but with the wide group of people, I feel like Donnie’s role should go elsewhere. If that makes sense?

Yk what April’s taking Leo’s role, I’ve decided. Not because “haha she’d probably be bad at it” but because I think she’d find a potential to be a leader when given the chance and that would be neat.

Mikey can take April’s place bc it would give him the chance to be more involved in things. “You never question April when she says she has a feeling about stuff! “You always let April help out in the lab!” “You let April check out leads solo!” He wouldn’t care that she’s a human or that she has psychic powers. She got to when it came to helping the team so that’s what he gets to do.

Raph can take Mikey’s role because he deserves to know what it’s like for his main role on the team to be bait. He can’t always fight mutants head on because he has to keep them busy so his brothers can take the baddy down. He can’t protect his brothers because he’s meant to headed in another direction. That would drive him nuts. (I’d think it’d be cute if he demanded to know how Mikey could stand it and Mikey’s all chill like “I just trust that my big bros have it covered like they always do” and then he’s utterly humbled.) He’d also be put in the position of having to be the “face man” (of sorts) and make friends with optional allies. Stop being grumbly and glaring for five minutes to hold a conversation. It’ll be his ultimate struggle.

Casey can take Raph’s role because it’s basically his role except he’s not able to play the loner game anymore. The fam always kind of lets Casey do his own vigilante thing during the series, but now that’s not allowed. And Raph makes it very clear on day one. His job is to be by their side when something big is going down. And if being the leader’s second is the way to accomplish that then he has to deal. He can complain, he can whine, he can make the leader’s life impossible- but he has to be there when they need him. PERIODT.

Donnie can take Casey’s role because he deserves to not have to be a big part of the game for five minutes. There’s no monumental role, no impossible task, the fate of everything is no longer on his shoulders- he can just, fight. And when not on the field, he can do as he pleases. He’s not expect in the lab, in the dojo, in any kind of strategy planning- he can pick one or he can hang out. He can snack, he can videogames/shows, he can read comics, he can run away the surface- he has essentially free range when he’s not actively on a mission. (The only downside is that he actually does like having people rely on him and look to him for answers. He likes keeping his hands busy with purpose. And punching baddies 24/7 gets kinda old.)

Leo can take Donnie’s place. He’d be the most capable of taking on the role of genius since there have been scenes where he pays attention to his brother because the mission depends on it. He admits to helping out in the lab on occasion, or he’s seen with Donnie discussing blueprints, and he’s probably the most likely to be able to actually listen to Donnie’s written instructions or notes and not blow up the lab because he got frustrated or decided to wing it. (Plus, Leo should see the kind of stuff Donnie has to deal with on a daily basis.)

But anyway. That’s just my thoughts on the matter.