#and then has to go ‘……i may…or may not…have recurring fantasies about making out with evil me. …….among other things.’

[stickystarspectrumtroll-ocs]

An Alliote confession scene thought that occurred to me awhile back

Ellie, blushing like crazy: I LIKE YOU, OKAY? *hides face in hands*

Allie: *gapes dumbly, blushing*

Allie: …Like. Like me like me? Like-like me?

Ellie: *groans, takes hands from face to hair and lifts head pulling hair over mouth and half-glaring off to the side still blushing hard* What do you think.

Allie: ……. I. I think I do too. *increasingly fast* Like you, I mean, not like me. Obviously, I mean I can’t like-like myself, I mean there was that evil version of me from another dimension—

Ellie: What

Allie: ANYWAY what I’m saying is — I like you too. *face also goes red*

[lover-of-literatur3]

Hi there! I'd like to pop by and tell you that your Loki headcanons are terrific.

Would it be possible to request a set of headcanons for Loki having a partner who's absolutely into fantasy literature? Perhaps her favorite character is a witty, handsome male with black hair and blue eyes that go violet when he's angry.

Thank you very much for your time!

Hi! Thank you so much for the compliment, I'm glad you like them! I can absolutely do that, I hope these live up to your request 🤍

You love Fantasy Literature (Loki HCs)

Loki himself loves to read and is into various types of literature, so finding out that you shared this hobby brought him joy.

He loves being able to sit in silence with you, curled up together as you're both wrapped up in a story, at peace.

You often allow him to ramble about whatever poems or tales he's currently reading, and he adores when you do the same.

He also is very perceptive, and so through these rambles will notice common themes within the books and stories you read. It isn't surprising that it didn't take long for him to notice your love of fantasy.

One of his favorite things is gifting you stories he thinks you'll like, especially revolving around your favorite genre. He adores the way your eyes light up when he gives you a new book.

He also, however, notices the books you come back to time and time again, and can't help but become curious as to why you do. Why your expression lights up the way it does, why you're so enamored by that specific literature.

Sometimes he catches on to little details in your rants. Plot twists, fictional elements, and one recurring dark haired character who you seemed to be fixated on.

So, naturally, he steals the book(s) and reads it.

But he doesn't tell you.

You'll find out when he uses his magic one day to transform into the perfect replica of your favorite character - down to the hair, eyes, the way they change color - just to mess with you. And then tease you (lovingly) about your reaction relentlessly.

If it flusters or embarrasses you, that's all the more fuel for his mischief.

"Why does this have you so embarrassed, darling? I thought you were rather fond of this character."

"Clearly it seems you'd prefer myself, unsurprising, if I may say so."

However once he actually has a grasp on why you love this piece of literature so much, he adores being able to listen to you ramble while actually understanding the plot of what you're talking about.

Bonding over literature is something he never tires of, and being able to learn more about what you love makes him feel more adoration than he'd like to admit.

Admit it or not though, he'll never deny it. Because your interests are what make you, you, and Loki adores you.

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Writing: The Need for Truth and Beauty

Never underestimate the value of pretty.

Seriously, on the level of instinct and survival mammal brains are primed to seek out good experiences and avoid bad ones. For primates, on average, pretty fruits are less likely to harbor icky bugs or dangerous mold, pretty rivers are not rushing in a flood that will drown you, and pretty mates tend to have healthier children.

On the emotional level above instinct, we’re social animals who groom ourselves to fit in with our group. Someone who hasn’t taken steps to have a presentable appearance means something’s wrong.

Now, that last you may want to evoke in your story. But you want to use it carefully, particularly near the beginning of your tale. A broad clue that Something Is Wrong works great in a mystery! The readers are expecting bodies to drop. In fantasy or SF? A bit more tricky.

In F/SF, you want to get in some beauty from the very start. You’re inviting the reader into a completely different world. Make it worthwhile for them to step in. It can be a stark beauty, moonlight glittering off a thousand spears of ice ringing the Overlord’s frozen fortress. Or the dark grace of an assassin calculating every move in free fall to perfectly slash her vibroblade across her alien target’s spine. But it needs to be there. Even in a desperate situation. Especially in a desperate situation.

A recurring theme in accounts of people who’ve survived impossible odds, is the beauty they saw that inspired them to keep going. I recall the report of a guy who fell off Everest, breaking many bones in the process. But the sun on the snowflakes was enough for him to rally, and decide maybe he could hop his way to that snow wall over there....

And one small step at a time, he made it back to a trail, and was found.

I know it’s become fashionable to make stories darker and edgier, grimmer and grayer. As if there’s no brightness, no beauty for a human being to find in life. As if every moment in a hero’s life must be suffering.

This is a lie.

And because it’s a lie, it will break the heart of your story. A story has to come from what you believe is true - about heroes, about morals, about life - and the beauty of characters being true to their selves. And, hopefully, heroic in the process.

Without truth and beauty, even the best-crafted story is lacking. Make sure your story has them!

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x44 - Jureimon of the Lost Woods / Trash Day

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Pinocchimon kidnapped Takeru wanting to play a twisted game, but then the grown-ups at FOX took his guns away and gave him a firm scolding. While Pinocchimon was busy, Takeru broke all of his other toys and fled the coop.

Before we begin, an interesting note on this episode's title. Today's episode is 迷いの森のジュレイモン Mayoi no Mori no Jureimon.

Mayoi no Mori is a popular recurring element of Japanese media. It translates to the Forest of Uncertainty or Forest of Indecision or some such. It's the idea of this labyrinthine and possibly even supernatural forest that, once you enter, you may never find your way out of. A place where people go missing and are never heard from again.

It shows up in a lot of places in Japanese media, though it often gets translated a bunch of different ways. Legend of Zelda calls it the Lost Woods. The Mario franchise has used names like "Forest of Illusion", "Forever Forest", or "Maze Woods". Final Fantasy has used terms like "Mazewood" or "Phantom Forest". Naruto called it "The Bewildering Forest". The subtitler for this episode called it "Forest of Doubt".

But they're all different attempts at localizing the same persistent concept: Mayoi no Mori. Throughout Japanese media, this idea persists of a thick, unnavigable forest where the souls of those who made the mistake of entering are doomed to forever wander, searching in futility for a way out that will never come.

I suspect it may be related to Aokigahara, Japan's famous Suicide Forest. But I don't know.

...

...so, let's have fun exploring that!

We join the Chosen Children searching for Yamato, who wandered off into the woods at the end of last episode.

Taichi: HEY!!! YAMATO!!! Sora: YAMATO-KUN!!! Gomamon: GABUMON, WHERE ARE YOU!?!? Hikari: Onii-chan, what do you think happened to Yamato-san? Taichi: How should I know!? What's his deal, anyway? Agumon: He might have been kidnapped by Pinocchimon! Koushiro: Judging by his abrupt disappearance, that's a likely conclusion. Jou: ...no. I don't think that's what happened.

The kids briefly bring up the cliffhanger from the dub and then Jou dismisses it. We're not going to spend too much time pursuing that as a possibility because the audience already knows Pinocchimon was moping in his playroom at the time.

The dub's had a week to stew on that as a cliffhanger, however.

Tai: MATT!!! HEY MATT!!! T.K.: MAAAAAATT!!! Sora: MATT, WHERE ARE YOU!?!? Kari: I'm worried. What do you think could have happened to him, Tai? Tai: Matt's a big boy; He can take care of himself! Agumon: Now, wait a minute; What if he was kidnapped by Puppetmon? Izzy: Yeah, he might have been. Or something worse! Jou: No, it wasn't anything like that.

Taichi responds sharply to Hikari's question in both versions, but there's a bit of a disconnect in Tai's response. Taichi is pissy and dismissive about why Yamato disappeared, but makes no indication that we shouldn't be looking for the guy. Tai sounds like he doesn't think we should be searching for Matt at all.

An odd choice given that his is one of the three voices calling for Matt a moment ago.

Jou recaps the kids on what he saw last episode. We see a silent flashback of Yamato's departure, with Jou noticing him.

Taichi: You saw Yamato leave!? Why didn't you stop him!? Jou: Because I thought he was just excusing himself for a moment. I'm sorry. Taichi: Well, forget it. At least now we know he wasn't taken by Pinocchimon. Agumon: But then where did he disappear to? Sora: Now that I think back, didn't Yamato-kun seem to be acting a little strange to you?

Sora conjures up a flashback to Yamato's Digivice and Crest refusing to function.

Piyomon: Gabumon wasn't able to evolve back then. Palmon: Yeah, but even so....

In the dub:

Tai: What, he just walked away!? And you didn't even try to stop him!? Joe: Well, no! Was I supposed to? I mean, I thought he was just going to go use the bushes! Or something. Tai: Huh. This is weird. I mean, it's one thing if he was kidnapped but why would he just disappear on us like this? Agumon: I'll say! He's been gone way too long for just a potty break. Sora: Wait a minute! Is it just me or has Matt been kinda strange lately?

They have Izzy talk over the second flashback to silence-break it.

Izzy: Come to think of it, he has been acting a little high-strung. Biyomon: Remember when Gabumon had that Digivolving problem? Palmon: (gasp) Yeah! I bet there's a connection!

This dialogue deviates a bit from the original, but not in a negative way. It flows really well. I especially like Palmon's organic response to Biyomon here.

Suddenly, Hikari hears something again. As with last episode, we don't hear whatever's caught her attention; Just a shimmering effect in the audio. Whatever it is, Hikari whips around too late. It's gone, if it was ever here to begin with.

Tailmon: What's wrong, Hikari? Hikari: I heard a voice again. Taichi: (runs up) A voice!? Was it Yamato!?

Taichi's quiet for a moment, listening for Yamato but hearing nothing.

Taichi: Were you hearing things?

This is another visual pun, like the one from inside Whamon. Taichi asks "Soramimi ka?" Soramimi is a Japanese expression that means "air in the ears" and is used to describe mishearing something. Upon asking the question, we cut briefly to Sora and Mimi exchanging awkward glances.

Koushiro: He couldn't have gone far. Taichi: You're right. Let's go!

Taichi rallies the group together and they head out to resume their search. Except Hikari, who stays behind briefly, answering the question now that the others aren't around to hear her.

Hikari: ...no, it wasn't Yamato's voice. Tailmon: (concerned) Hikari?

OMINOUS.

In the dub:

Gatomon: Kari, what is it? Kari: I thought I heard a voice out there. Tai: A voice!? Was it Matt!? (beat) Tai: I don't hear anything.... Come on, Kari! Don't you start losing it too! (Sora and Mimi exchange glances) Izzy: He couldn't be very far away, you know. Maybe we should look for him. Tai: Yeah, I suppose. Okay, guys; Let's go. (The group starts walking, except Kari) Kari: Gatomon, it wasn't Matt's voice I heard! Gatomon: Who's was it?

A small tonal difference here at the end; Hikari's basically talking to herself, with Tailmon beside her worrying. Kari addresses Gatomon to explain herself. But the important point still gets across in both versions. Hikari keeps overhearing somebody who is not yet accounted for in the story.

We leave the group here to join Yamato, storming off with Gabumon hot on his trail.

Gabumon: Yamato! What's wrong!? Yamato, listen to me! Yamato: (glower) ... Gabumon: Yamato....

While they're walking, we pan out to see Pinocchimon and Jureimon watching them from across the pond.

Pinocchimon: Hehehe! That guy is so stupid for breaking off from the rest! It's like he wants me to kill him! Jureimon: Of course, sir. Pinocchimon: Since I know he won't play with me anyway, I guess I'll give him what he wants and murder him. Jureimon: Please wait a moment, Pinocchimon-sama. I have an idea, sir. While you're dealing with the rest of the Chosen Children, your loyal servant Jureimon will handle this one! Ho ho ho ho!

Vulgar mouth on Pinocchimon. The show has used a lot of euphemisms to dance around the word korosu, which means to kill or murder or slaughter, since that word's considered vulgar in children's entertainment. Its favorite euphemism is taosu, which means to defeat or demolish.

We heard a lot of taosu last episode, such as discussing whether or not to "destroy" Kiwimon.

But Pinocchimon here drops two separate instances of its compound form koroshitai, combining korosu with shitai meaning "I want to verb". He's pulling no verbal punches; He intends to murder this child.

In the original, Yamato gives Gabumon a total cold shoulder, refusing to answer him entirely. The dub uses the last shot of Gabumon to let Matt talk to him.

Gabumon: Matt, come on! I'm all for exercise but I'm really not built for long distances! Matt! Where are we going? Matt: Just... away. I need some space! (Pan out to Puppetmon and Cherrymon) Puppetmon: Hehehe. Aww, the poor little kid needs a little space. Someplace far away from his nice little friends and closer to ME!!! Cherrymon: I agree completely. Puppetmon: I'm not waiting! I'll put him out of his misery! Those DigiDestined kids really bug me! Cherrymon: Wait a minute, Puppetmon! I have a better idea. You can take care of those other DigiDestined children if you want to but, as for this one, leave him to me! I'll have him climbing up a tree before I'm through with him! Hahaha hahaha HAHAHA!!!

I like Puppetmon's twisted retort to Matt "needing space".

But I'm sad to lose "Since I know he won't play with me...." That line was a nice callback to the previous episode, conveying that Pinocchimon is still salty about what happened with Takeru.

"I'll put him out of his misery" is a solid translation for Puppetmon's second line, since obviously Fox isn't going to let Puppetmon's language be as unapologetically violent as Pinocchimon's. The last bit is just Evil Space Filler, though.

As an aside, Jureimon's vocal performance is a deep and bellowing old man who speaks in a respectful and wizened tone. Cherrymon's going for Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather for some reason.

Yamato finds a place to finally rest and talk through why seeing Takeru be self-sufficient bothered him so much.

Yamato: I... I've always thought about Takeru. Takeru is... He can't take care of himself without me. Or, I thought so....

Yamato flashes quickly through various clips of Takeru over the course of the series, since they first noticed the snow falling at camp.

Yamato: Before I knew it, he'd grown up. And me? He doesn't need me anymore. (Flashbacks end) Yamato: It's not just Takeru, either. Taichi, Sora, Mimi, Jou, Koushiro... Everyone's changed so much since we came to the Digimon World. They've gotten stronger. Gabumon: (affirming) Mm. Yamato: But, next to them, look at me. I'm the same person I always was! I haven't changed at all! Gabumon: That's not true! You also-- Yamato: What's wrong with me!? This isn't who I want to be! Gabumon: Yamato.... Yamato: I can't stay like this! I have to change! I HAVE TO GET STRONGER!!! And for that to happen... I can't stay with the others.

This would, of course, probably be why his Crest wouldn't shine earlier. Sympathetic though Yamato's reasons are, he's not exactly expressing the virtue of Friendship here. He's wallowing in self-doubt.

The dub slips its first commercial break between scenes, which is a good place for it. Then we come back to Matt's doubts.

Matt: You ever feel like a third wheel, Gabumon? That's what I feel like. All this time, I thought I had, like, a purpose, y'know? To look after my little brother. (Flashbacks) Matt: I thought T.K. wouldn't be able to survive without me watching over him. Suddenly, it's like he's growing up. He doesn't need me anymore. Oh, and it's not just him. (Flashbacks end) Matt: It's everybody, man. I mean, when I think of Tai and Mimi and Sora and the others, this place has changed them for the better. They're stronger now. It's almost like they Digivolved or something. Gabumon: Hm? Matt: But you see, the problem is, I haven't. I'm still stuck in the same place. I haven't changed a bit. Gabumon: You may not see it, Matt, but you've changed a lot! Matt: Oh please, Gabumon. Give me a break. I'm the same jerk I always was! Gabumon: Hey, come on.... Matt: It'll never happen! Not this way. I've finally got it figured out! If I'm ever going to change, I've got to do it on my own! On my own... The others can't help me.

This is pretty much perfect. It his every last beat of the scene while being flavorful and interesting to listen to. 10/10 no notes.

Jureimon suddenly reveals himself with a hearty laugh.

Jureimon: AH HA HA!!! Yamato: WHO'S THERE!?!?

Jureimon calmly walks out to meet Yamato and properly introduces himself.

Jureimon is a Perfect-stage Virus-type Plant Digimon. He's one of the two Virus Perfects for the Wind Guardians, both of whom are pre-evolved forms for Pinocchimon himself.

His name comes from the Japanese word 樹齢 jurei, which means "the age of a tree". He's the Ancient Tree 'mon. The word jurei, sounded out loud, sounds super close to cherry - Something I don't think was lost on his creators, given that they filled his branches with cherry fruit. He's an ancient tree, but specifically a cherry tree.

Which means the dub's choice of "Cherrymon" fits well into the characters' lip flaps while still being evocative of his design.

Jureimon: My name is Jureimon. Yamato: Jureimon? Narrator: Jureimon. Called the Lord of the Deep Woods, this Perfect-stage Digimon lives deep within the forests. His special attack is Cherry Bomb.

A note about Jureimon's title. He's called 樹海の主 Jukai no Omo. The word of interest here is Jukai, which doesn't mean "forest". Rather, it more directly translates to "Sea of Trees" and refers to an especially dense part of a forest.

It. Um. It's also a term for Aokigahara. Jureimon is the Lord of places like Aokigahara.

...

And now he's talking to Yamato, in the midst of an emotional crisis.

Gabumon: You work for Pinocchimon, don't you!? Jureimon: Now, now, calm down. I didn't come here to fight. I am just looking for someone to talk to. Ah ha ha!

This is going to be bad, isn't it?

In the dub:

Cherrymon: Well, well. Look what we've got here. Greetings, nature lovers. (Cherrymon reveals himself) Cherrymon: What? You mean you've never seen a talking tree? Matt: ...not many. Gabumon: (rundown) Be careful. That's Cherrymon, Lord of the Forest and the best reason for the existence of termites. Gabumon: Stop right there or I'll turn you into toothpicks! Cherrymon: You really shouldn't be that rude. Calm down, my fighting days are over; I only want to talk with you. In fact, you might even say I've turned over a new leaf. Ehehe Haha!

"The best reason for the existence of termites" got me. XD It's the casual, matter-of-fact way he slides that into the rundown. Fantastic delivery.

Gabumon has all of his hackles up right now and he is absolutely right to. We are at war and he does not trust the enemy combatant emerging from the deep woods for a friendly chat.

Meanwhile, the other children continue their search for Yamato. Koushiro's using his Digivice to try and track Yamato's, but getting no results.

Koushiro: The Digivice isn't reacting. It doesn't seem to be functioning properly in these woods. Tailmon: I think we should take a break somewhere and wait for him. Everyone needs some time alone once in a while. Taichi: No, we have to find Yamato quickly. We can't do this unless all eight of us are together! Jou: But we're all tired. We should find a place to sit down and rest our legs. Mimi: (quietly, distressed) So the eight of us could stay together and fight... They all.... Palmon: Mimi.... Sora: Mimi-chan....

Quite a bit going on in this scene. We start with the discovery that the deep woods seem to be blocking the signals from their Digivices so they can't find each other.

Senpai and Team Leader have very different ideas of what we should do from here, with Taichi wanting to push the group to exhaustion out of a sense of urgency for fighting the war.

Taichi invokes what Gennai told them before they returned to Tokyo: They can only fix the distortions if all eight of them are together. That's why we had to get retrieve Hikari, and it's why we can't be splitting the party like this.

But Taichi is still trying to be Drill Sergeant and not considering the valid points that Tailmon and Jou are both making.

(That said, given what Yamato's talking to right now, they probably should hurry up and find him. Taichi's right but not because of the words coming out of his mouth.)

Meanwhile, Mimi remains traumatized from their various friends and Chuumon that gave their lives for the children's sake. The road they've walked to reach this point is paved in pixel dust.

In the dub:

Izzy: Mm, it's no use. I'm getting nothing. For some reason, the Digivices aren't working in this forest. Gatomon: You know, I'm not so sure we should be trying to find him. Everyone needs to be alone sometimes. I should know! Tai: I'm not gonna let him break up this team! We're gonna find him whether he wants us to or not! Joe: We're always walking around searching for someone; I've never done so much walking in my life! Mimi: Yeah, it's disgusting. My calves are starting to look like a bodybuilder's! Palmon: Like a what!? Sora: (dismissive) Oh, Mimi....

...okay, so all of this sucks. Well, Izzy and Gatomon are fine. Good job, you two.

Tai's being even more unreasonable than his Japanese counterpart. He offers no reason for why it's so urgent that we find Matt right now. Just that we're gonna drag his ass back here and that's fucking final!

Then Jou and Mimi both have their lines swapped out for whining about their poor constitutions. This is especially egregious for Mimi because the fact that she's practically catatonic right now from trauma is an important part of her character arc, but the dub has her quipping about her "gross" leg muscles like it's just another day.

Suddenly, a loud voice echoes through the forest.

Pinocchimon: YOO-HOO!!!

Perched at the very top of a nearby tree, Pinocchimon calls down to them, startling the group.

Taichi: (gasp) Pinocchimon! Pinocchimon: Hi, Takeru! It's good to see you again! Takeru: Not for me, it isn't! I'm not playing with you anymore! Patamon: That's right! Pinocchimon: Idiot! Playtime is long over! GET THEM, GARBAMON!!!

Three such creatures slide out of the woods in their trash cans.

Garbamon is a Perfect-stage Virus-type Mutant Digimon. Next to Jureimon, they're the other Virus Perfect from the Wind Guardians, and the other pre-evolution for Pinocchimon. Their name, of course, comes from the word "garbage".

They're based, specifically, on a desktop Recycle Bin for deleting files.

All Garbamon: YES, SIR!!! Narrator: Garbamon. A Digimon based on garbage. Their special attack is Unchi Bazooka, but they're still Perfect all the same.

Another rare attack name to feature a Japanese word in it. Unchi means poop. Yep, we're doing that again.

Which is what that last comment is about; Garbamon is along the same vein as the various junk 'mons we've seen like Scumon or Numemon or Nanimon. But these guys are not the pathetic little bottomfeeder Adults of the original V-Pet lineups. These guys are Perfect-stage Wind Guardians and they will fuck your shit up.

In the dub:

Puppetmon: Yoohoo! Tai: Puppetmon!? Puppetmon: Hi, everybody! Hey T.K., did you miss me? T.K.: No, not at all! And I'm not going to play with you anymore, either! Puppetmon: No!? Well, fine! You're not a lot of fun anyway! Front and center, everybody! Garbagemon 1: (slides out) Yes, sir! Garbagemon 2: (slides out) Yes, sir! Garbagemon 3: (slides out) Yes, sir! Palmon: (rundown) Uh-oh, Garbagemon! They're as tough as they are mean! And they don't smell very good, either....

Palmon's diegetic rundown here is completely different. But it still gets across the idea that despite being gross, they shouldn't be underestimated.

Puppetmon here is more outwardly upset about T.K.'s rejection. I do like that the dub has him clearly still nursing that wound, only launching the ambush after he's freshly rejected again.

Once the rundown's over, the Garbamon take aim.

Garbamon: FIRE THE UNCHI BAZOOKA!!!

The Garbamon unload their first volley of their disgusting projectiles. The kids turn and run into the woods as the Garbamon let off a second volley. But then Palmon notices one person who isn't running.

Palmon: Mimi!

Mimi snaps suddenly, furiously snatching one of the poops out of the air as it sails towards her.

Mimi: WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THIS!?!? ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

She is so done with being the target of long-range poop assaults. She throws it straight back at the Garbamon.

Mimi is not very athletic, so her toss doesn't hit anything. It lands on the ground about halfway between her and the enemy, then flops to a stop in front of the center Garbamon. Still, her outburst takes everyone by surprise. The Garbamon stare slack-jawed at her, ceasing their assault.

A brief shot of Pinocchimon going O_O shows that he, too, is stunned speechless.

Sora swings back, grabbing Mimi by the arm and snapping her out of her temporary insanity. The second Sora grabs her, Mimi's ferocity collapses and she just looks freaked out and terrified again.

Sora: Mimi-chan, hurry! Mimi: Uh-huh!

A powerful moment for Mimi but not one that accomplished much.

In the dub:

Garbagemon: Junk Chuckers ready, aim, FIRE!!! Joe: RUN!!! (The kids flee from the non-specific junk) Palmon: Mimi! Mimi: (catch) I WON'T BUDGE!!! Let's let them do the running for a change! (throw) Garbagemon: :O ... Pinocchimon: O_O ... Sora: Mimi, come on! (grab) Mimi: Yeah, good idea! I must be nuts; I touched that stuff!

Mimi's ferocity comes on the heels of being repeatedly targeted by poop-throwing Digimon. It's the culmination of her individual experiences with Scumon and various Numemon.

Dub Mimi's snapping fury is recontextualized to be general outrage over all the running from enemies they've had to do. This probably goes hand-in-hand with the dub's persistent efforts to not directly admit that the projectile in question is, and has always been, poop.

Though calling it "junk" is getting pretty close to coming clean.

I do, however, love the addition of "I must be nuts; I touched that stuff!" at the end. That's a great line for her to deliver after snapping out of it.

From here, we return to Yamato to hear his answer to Jureimon.

Yamato: Sorry, but I don't feel like chatting with you. Let's go.

Yamato and Gabumon start walking towards the tree line. Jureimon extends his hand, growing it to a large size to cut off Yamato's departure.

Yamato: Get out of the way! Jureimon: Now now, I told you to wait. You don't need to be so hostile. Oh ho ho ho! "What's wrong with me!?" "This isn't who I want to be!" Yamato: (gasp) Jureimon: It's important to step back from time to time and think about who we've become, to better understand ourselves. Yamato: You were listening in? Jureimon: Ho ho ho ho! I didn't need to listen in. Nothing happens in this forest that I don't know about. Yamato: Then tell me! What should I do now? Jureimon: You're asking me what to do? Children these days, always wanting their answers handed to them. They never try to think for themselves. That's the problem right there, if you ask me.

Okay, boomer.

In the dub:

Matt: No offense, but even if I felt like talking, it wouldn't be to a tree. See you around. (Cherrymon blocks Matt's departure) Matt: Hey, what's the idea!? Cherrymon: Young man, didn't anyone ever tell you you should listen to your elders? Or was it redwoods you should listen to? I can never quite get those two straight. But anyway, I digress. So, you're still stuck in the same place. Still the same old jerk you always were. Matt: (gasp) Cherrymon: Surprised, huh? Ah, I know all about it! Must be tough being in such a rut! Matt: You've been spying on me, huh!? Cherrymon: Hahahahaha! Listen to me, kid. I don't need to spy because there's nothing that happens in this forest that I don't know about. Matt: (skeptical) Huh. Alright then, if you're so smart, what am I supposed to do!? Tell me that! Cherrymon: Ah, simple as that, eh? Kids. You want all the answers just handed to you on a mahogany platter but you never want to do the hard work of looking deep within yourself, where all the answers truly lie!

Pretty solid, with some tree jokes thrown in for shits and giggles.

Seeing that this isn't going anywhere good, Gabumon tries to intervene.

Gabumon: Yamato! You don't have to listen to this guy! Let's go! Jureimon: Are you sure about that? If you want to get stronger, you'll have to improve yourself. Yamato: Improve myself? Jureimon: That's right. But it's easier said than done. You will need to have the determination to carry it out. Yamato: Determination? I have that. Tell me, how am I supposed to do it? Jureimon: (thinking) Ha! He's taken the bait....

Jureimon playing Yamato for an absolute sucker.

In the dub:

Gabumon: Let's go. Don't you listen to that talking firewood, Matt! Come on! Cherrymon: That's right, go on! But you'll never learn how to change. You'll always be what you are right now. Matt: (weakly) I want to change! Cherrymon: Yes, of course, but are you really ready? After all, change isn't always a pleasant thing. You might find out a few things that you wish you hadn't. Matt: I'm ready. More than ready. Enough talking, big guy! If you've got some answers, let's see 'em! Cherrymon: (thinking) Haha! He fell for it like an overripe fig.

A small change: Jureimon baits his hook by questioning Yamato's resolve while Cherrymon questions Matt's commitment to change.

Finally, Jureimon reveals exactly what Yamato must do to better himself.

Jureimon: YOU MUST DEFEAT YOUR RIVAL!!! Yamato: Rival? Jureimon: (points) Go take a look at yourself in that lake. There, you will see the rival you must defeat. Yamato: I must defeat... my rival.... Gabumon: Yamato....

Yamato approaches the lake, peering into its waters.

Gabumon: Ah! Yamato: Th... That's...!

Slowly but surely the image of Taichi emerges.

(Honestly, who else was it gonna be? Mimi? Hell no. Yamato'd best not come slinging this shit at her 'cause she's got a mean answer to that now.)

The dub's delivery of Cherrymon's pronouncement is incredibly undercooked. Jureimon screams it as a dramatic, climactic revelation. The apex of what this conversation has been building to. Cherrymon lays it out all casual.

Cherrymon: Alright, kid, I'll help you out. First off, you're gonna have to defeat your rival. Matt: My rival? Cherrymon: (points) There. In that lake, you will see the face of the one who is preventing you from becoming as strong as you could be. Gabumon: Where are you going? Matt: I know it sounds pretty bogus but... Might as well look. Gabumon: Listen, Matt. You don't really believe him, do you? (Tai's image begins to emerge) Gabumon: Ahhh! Matt: TAI!?!? COME ON!!! WHAT KIND OF TRICK IS THIS!?!?

Matt absolutely refuses to sell the idea that he's buying what Cherrymon's selling at all. He's basically rolling his eyes while being dragged around by Yamato's decision-making. The original keeps what's going through Yamato's head here ambiguous. He's considering Jureimon's words but doesn't appear to have committed one way or the other.

From here, we go to commercial and come back to the Garbamon chase.

Garbamon: Don't think you can escape! Take this!

The Garbamon form up, back-to-back, and rotate in circles firing their Unshi Bazookas into the woods. in all directions. This achieves nothing, and instead Adult evolutions of all the Partner 'mons emerge. Everyone but Angemon, Tailmon, and Garurumon, that is.

The Partner Digimon converge their attacks on the Garbamon, creating a huge explosion. This seems effective until the smoke clears and reveals no trace of their targets.

Taichi: Great work! (Smoke clears; Nothing there) Pinocchimon: Hahahahaha! Did you think those puny attacks would be enough to defeat them!?

(This is a Dragon Ball moment; Their absence proves they got away before the blasts hit. But Digimon disintegrate upon death so there'd be no trace of them either way; This doesn't really work.)

In the dub, the lead Garbagemon gets philosophical.

Garbagemon: Ha! Don't you know that wherever you go, there will always be garbage? Okay, ready guys? MAKE A MESS!!! (The Garbagemon spin and fire into the trees. The Partners emerge and blast them.) Tai: WAY TO GO!!! Joe: That trash is thrashed! Puppetmon: Hehehehehe.... (Smoke clears; Nothing there) Puppetmon: Great, you've totally ruined my garbage fun! I'm beaten! I'm going home! PSYCHE!!!

Oh my god. Remember "PSYCHE!!!"? The 90's/early 00's!

"That trash is thrashed". Nice wordplay, extra Joe line.

With the team's failure revealed, the assault begins anew.

Pinocchimon: Look behind you!

A Garbamon rushes towards the Children from... Wherever they got off to, taking aim with his poopzuka.

Mimi: No.... Garbamon: GOT YOU NOW!!! Mimi: NOOOOOOOO!!!

Mimi lets out a bloodcurdling scream, activating her Crest and Super-Evolving Togemon into Lilimon. Bursting into existence, Lilimon tackles Mimi and pushes them both out of the way of Garbamon's shot.

In the dub:

Puppetmon: Look behind you! Garbagemon: WRAHHH!!! Mimi: It's trash! Look out! Garbagemon: (takes aim) Here's mud in your eye!

The dub takes its second commercial break here instead of where the original put it. Fair; The original's commercial did come surprisingly early.

Then we return, replaying the shots from Mimi and Garbagemon's previous two lines.

Mimi: Oh no! Help! Garbagemon: JUNK CHUCKER!!! Mimi: NIGHTMAAAAAAAAAARE!!!

On the hand, screaming NOOOOOOOO is incredibly overwrought and cliche. On the other hand, screaming NIGHTMAAAAAAAAARE is just silly.

I think they were stuck on that one because of the lip flaps. The word for no is ie, pronounced "eee-yay". It's two syllables, with Mimi's lips moving between them. It's hard to get two syllables out of NOOOOOOOO.

Once Mimi's safe, Lilimon soars into the fight.

Lilimon flies straight for Garbamon, but a second Garbamon suddenly emerges from behind them.

Garbamon 2: You fell for it! Lilimon: Wait, what!?

The pair of Garbamon open fire at once. Lilimon deftly maneuvers between their shots, but then the third Garbamon pops up behind them.

Garbamon 3: NOT DONE YET!!!

Lilimon's line here made me a little sad, because she says "Uso!" which means "Lie". It's an expression of disbelief; In this case, she fell for their trick completely and is conveying her surprise and confusion.

But for a moment, I thought she said "Kuso!" which is a Japanese curse word and literally means "SHIT!!!" Which would have been very apt in this situation. Alas.

In the dub, the Garbagemon remain poetic.

Garbagemon 2: TWICE IS NICE!!! Lillymon: Ah!? (The Garbagemon shoot; Lillymon dodges) Garbagemon 3: TRASH THAT PETUNIA!!!

Well punned.

Unfortunately for the Garbamon, Lilimon finds her footing and goes back on the offensive.

Stepping on the face of the Garbamon in front of her, Lilimon bounds up into the air to meet the third.

Garbamon 1: Do I look like a stepstool!? Lilimon: FLOWER CANNON!!!

Lilimon shoots Garbamon 3 point-blank, vaporizing them into pixel dust.

In the dub:

Garbagemon 1: That chick is heavier than she looks.... Lillymon: FLOWER CANNON!!!

Something about the replacement gag is getting my hackles up but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Inspired by Lilimon's counterattack, Taichi steps up.

Taichi: Yes! Now!

In the dub:

Tai: Alright! Finish them off!

Greymon Super-Evolves into MetalGreymon and fires off his Giga Destroyer. One of the two remaining Garbamon is still stunned from getting stepped on, but the other counterattacks with Unchi Bazooka.

The poop ricochet's harmlessly off the Giga Destroyer missile, doing nothing to impede its path.

Both Garbamon go up in a massive explosion that blows Pinocchimon off his treetop perch. While Pinocchimon hangs on for dear life, the errant final poop lands squarely on his forehead, provoking a furious and agonized shriek.

From here, we return to Yamato and Jureimon.

Yamato: Taichi is... my rival...?

Suddenly, Yamato stands up and starts laughing.

Yamato: Sorry to disappoint, but I've never felt that way about him. Not even once! Jureimon: Ha ha ha! That lake reflects whatever lies in the heart of the person who looks into it. Yamato: What!?

Of course, we know Yamato's not being honest with himself here. We've seen the friction between the two boys throughout the series, especially where Takeru was concerned. He may never have contextualized Taichi as a "rival" but he and Taichi have been locking horns since File Island.

You can tell how little Yamato believes in his own claim by how quickly he abandons it. Yamato says "LOL nice trap", Jureimon says "It's not a trap", and Yamato replies "WAIT WHAT!?!?" and resumes falling for it.

Yamato looks into the lake again. Then, after a moment, he pulls his gaze away once more.

Yamato: (struggling) I refuse to fall for this.... Jureimon: Do not avert your eyes! Properly face yourself!

At Jureimon's urging, Yamato gives in and looks down into the lake again.

In the dub, Cherrymon calls in from offscreen like a game show host while Matt's confronting the ugly revelation of the lake, which sounds absolutely hilarious in his Godfather Voice.

Cherrymon: Behold! The face of your rival! Matt: (hesitantly) ...so you're saying I have to fight Tai, is that it? (Matt stands up and starts laughing) Matt: Ahahahaha! Nice try, foliage-face, you had me going there. But you'll have to do better than that. Cherrymon: Hahahaha! I had nothing to do with it! The Lake of Truth reflects only what is in a person's heart; Hence the name. Matt: (shocked) You've gotta be kidding! Cherrymon: Sorry, kid; It's never wrong. (Matt looks again, then averts his eyes) Matt: That right? Well, I've got news for you. It's off this time! Way off! Cherrymon: Well, you can argue with me all you want but you're really only arguing with yourself.

Remarkably different approaches from Jureimon and Cherrymon. You can really feel Yamato's youth in the original; The way he responds to the booming voice of an elder authoritatively telling him what to do on a complicated issue he lacks confidence in himself to know how to resolve.

Jureimon has managed to manufacture an atmosphere where he can speak to Yamato as if he were a domineering parent commanding his child. Yamato's insecurity and uncertainty has created a vulnerability for an older predator to exploit, by speaking in a confident and certain tone.

Cherrymon takes the opposite approach, appealing to Matt as more of an equal. He pushes the issue but he's gentle and even sympathetic, going so far as to apologize to Matt for what he saw in the lake.

Cherrymon weasels himself into Matt's grievances with Tai as if he were just a passing bystander and not, you know, the guy who told Matt to look in the lake to begin with. He's metaphorically kneeling down on Matt's level. Hey man, it really sucks about that thing that's definitely just a fact of life and has nothing to do with what I said or did.

Yamato bends. He returns his attention to the lake, while Jureimon keeps pressing him.

Jureimon: I understand. Though you are both Chosen Children, everything you and that boy Taichi stand for are complete opposites of each other.

As a subtle psychological cue, Jureimon says Taichi's name with a scoff, as if the word itself tastes rotten and hollow in the mouth. He's monotonous and matter-of-fact except when he spits out Taichi's name as a curse.

Flashback montage of Yamato and Taichi's clashes through the series. We start with their fistfight on File Island, when Taichi wanted to abandon the rest of the group to go see what's beyond the ocean. Then Yamato snapping at Taichi at Digitamamon's diner. Then wrap up with their bitter argument over the graves Mimi built.

(Yamato was in the right in 2/3 of those.)

Jureimon: Whenever Taichi says or does anything, you can't help but react to it. That's how strong Taichi's presence in your heart has become. Until you overcome those feelings, you will never grow beyond where you are now. You must fight Taichi. Only when you free yourself from the hesitation in your heart will you be reborn!

What makes this interesting is that Jureimon isn't necessarily saying that Taichi is holding Yamato back. But rather that Yamato's feelings for Taichi are holding him back, and that those feelings can only truly be settled when he finally lets them out and has it out with Taichi. He must face the truth within himself before he can evolve.

Yamato feels like he's trapped in his cocoon and unable to hatch. Jureimon tells him that he's unwilling to hatch because the direction he must hatch in goes through Taichi.

Jureimon is telling Yamato that he needs to destroy the shadow of Taichi's influence over his mind before he'll be able to grow as an individual.

In the dub, Cherrymon... (sigh) ...makes this about who gets to be the show's main character.

Cherrymon: It's about time you face the truth. The one you call Tai is your leader; Everything he says, you do. Everywhere he goes, you follow. And yet, in your heart, you resent him because you know you're just as qualified to be the boss as he is!

The dub cuts the File Island flashback before Tai and Matt can start throwing punches, like they did in that episode itself.

(Digitamamon flashback) Tai: STOP IT!!! Matt: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, HUH!? (Mimi's graves flashback) Matt: WHO DIED AND LEFT YOU IN CHARGE OF THE WORLD!?!? Tai: Huh? What do you mean? Matt: I'VE JUST ABOUT HAD IT!!! (Flashbacks end) Cherrymon: Do not be ashamed of your resentment. Do not hide it. Embrace it, for in your anger lies your strength! Only when you recognize that will you at last be free to grow. To change. So face your rival! And prove you are his equal! Or better! By defeating him!

Cherrymon gives Matt a full-blown Emperor Palpatine Dark Side speech. You hate Tai because you deserve to be the team leader, not him, so let your anger grow and strike him down. Thanks, I hate it.

Fortunately, Gabumon is still not buying into any of this, and is ready to be the voice of reason.

Gabumon: That's a lie! It makes no sense at all! Taichi is your nakama. Don't be fooled, Yamato! This is a trap!

As a reminder, nakama is a group of people brought together for a particular activity or goal who form tight-knit social bonds with each other through their mutual pursuit of it. Like a military squad or a sports team.

Taichi himself started using the term to refer to the Chosen Children when he was getting the band back together in the PicoDevimon sub-arc. The term nakama was a big deal for Yamato and was part of what they fought about in the Digitamamon episode; Yamato internalizing and accepting Taichi and Jou as his nakama was what made his Crest of Friendship shine.

So Gabumon's tactical use of the word here is significant. The concept of nakama means a lot to Taichi and Yamato's relationship.

Yamato snaps suddenly as if breaking out of a daze.

Yamato: T-That's right! We're nakama....

Yamato turns on Jureimon furiously.

Yamato: A NAKAMA DOESN'T FIGHT EACH OTHER!!! Jureimon: Heh! Nakama, you say? You don't even believe that a thing like that exists. You can lie to the others, but you can't lie to yourself! Yamato: (suddenly quiet) ... Jureimon: Ha ha ha ha! A perfect picture of yourself, isn't it? Gabumon: YAMATO!!! Jureimon: Nakama. Tomodachi. Yuujou. Pleasant words, but they're all illusions. Nothing but a fleeting emotion. You can't let yourself be exploited by ephemeral things like that! Am I wrong, Yamato-kun?

Jureimon's list here is basically untranslatable because he says the same word twice. Nakama is commonly translated as "friendship" even though it has a much more precise meaning, as mentioned above. Tomodachi actually does mean friendship. And then Yuujou is also friendship, but more formally.

Yuujou, incidentally, is the specific word for Yamato's Crest. Yuujou no Monshou, Crest of Friendship. Jureimon picks that one for last because it has the most meaningful punch.

So trying to translate this list literally would be "Activity group with tight-knit bonds. Friendship. Friendship in a suit and tie. Convenient words, but they're all illusions."

A pragmatic translation would probably be something like, "Colleagues. Buddies. Friends." Switching the focus from the feeling to the objects of said feelings, while still ending on friendship for that punch.

The dub, again, is going to have to make this work without being able to lean on nakama. Though in this context, it'd be easy to just use the conventional "friends" translation. A bit of meaning would be lost, but that's pretty much doomed to happen since we couldn't use nakama in the Digitamamon episode either.

Gabumon: Don't listen! He's just trying to cause trouble! He's playing games with your mind. It's all part of some kind of trap! Tai is your friend, Matt. (Matt snaps out of it) Matt: He's my friend, yeah. He may not always act like it, but.... (Matt whirls furiously on Cherrymon) Matt: He's right! Tai is my friend. You don't fight your friends. Cherrymon: Friends? Ha! Now that's a good one. You don't even believe that such a thing really exists. Matt: Huh!? Cherrymon: Not in your heart of hearts, anyway. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Hit the nail on the head, didn't I? Gabumon: What's he mean? Cherrymon: Friendship. Loyalty. Comrades. Fine-sounding words, but that's all they are. Words. Delusions. And you're wise enough to see that now. You know that, ultimately, the only person you can depend on is yourself. Isn't that right, Matt?

Cherrymon starts with the meaningful punch and then lists out the other words from there, rather than building up to it. Odd choice.

He handles the friendship redundancy by translating the other friendship and nakama as "loyalty" and "comrades".

Yamato hesitates to answer Jureimon's accusations.

Gabumon: Is that true, Yamato? Yamato: I... I don't know. Gabumon: Yamato.... Jureimon: Listen, I will say this once more. If you want to improve yourself, you must fight Taichi. Unless you have the determination to do that, you'll never be able to change. Unless you face this trial, you will never become the person you want to be!

Now that Jureimon has vanquished Yamato's objection to his words, he doubles down and reiterates his line of attack. Pressing the issue again onto the now more vulnerable Yamato.

As Jureimon makes his pronouncement, the wind kicks up, picking off leaves from his branches that blow over Yamato. Symbolizing him becoming lost in the mayoi no mori that Jureimon embodies.

Yamato: I don't know what to....

Yamato falls to his knees, helpless.

Yamato: (voice breaking) Damn it.... What am I supposed to do!?

In the dub:

Gabumon: He's wrong, isn't he? Matt: (voice breaking) I don't know.... I... I don't know.... Gabumon: You don't!? Cherrymon: Alright, then! That's enough moping around for now. Look, kid, stop staring at your shoes; The choice in front of you is simple! If you truly want to change, to reach your full potential, you must defeat Tai. It's either that or be content to live your life following in the shadow of him forever. (Leaves blow from Cherrymon over Matt) Matt: What a choice.... (Matt falls to his knees) Matt: What do I do? Oh, what do I do!?

Cherrymon comes closer to the original topic this time around. But he still ropes in the dub's idea that Matt's just pissy he doesn't get to be team leader.

Also, Matt doesn't curse when he falls to his knees in the dub because of course he doesn't.

Yamato, here at the height of despair, pulls out his Crest.

Yamato: The Crest of Friendship. Why does someone like me have the Crest of Friendship!? Gabumon: Yamato! I understand, Yamato.... You should do what you think is right.

Yamato jerks up suddenly, having caught the tone of this conversation.

Yamato: (vulnerable) Gabumon...? Gabumon: Charging boldly ahead like Taichi does can't always be the right answer. There are some things that only you can do, Yamato. Yamato: Things that only I can do? Gabumon: Let's look for those things together. And if you do need it so badly... Then I will fight for you, Yamato! Yamato: (shocked) Gabumon...? Gabumon: Even if it means making an enemy out of the others, I will always be with you, Yamato! Yamato: (crying) Gabumon....

Gabumon's proclamation is so affecting, Yamato's Crest reactivates once more.

Gabumon doesn't agree with Jureimon. He hasn't agreed with anything Jureimon's said. He's still convinced that this is the wrong answer, and tells Yamato as much.

(And he's right. Gabumon is right. Yamato was right in two out of three of those clashes with Taichi! And others, like the time Taichi got weirdly misogynistic about Sora's parental issues.

Taichi struggles to empathize with other people. This is a consistent flaw of his, and frequently the spark that sets Yamato off because that is something Yamato does far better than Taichi. Jureimon has poisoned his mind into individualist ways of thinking when Yamato's greatest strengths come from what he brings to the collective good. That's why he has the Crest of Friendship.)

But out of love for his Partner, Gabumon is willing to walk down the wrong path hand in hand with Yamato.

In the dub, the Crest continues beeping and making malfunctioning noises when Matt takes it out even though it... It has no mechanical parts. It's a lanyard with a magic rock inside of it.

Matt: Oh, that's a laugh. Wouldn't you know it that my Crest had to be the Crest of Friendship! Gabumon: Matt... There's one thing he's right about. Whatever you're going to do, do it! Matt: But do what? Gabumon: You've got to hear what your own conscience is telling you and not listen to anyone else! Not Tai or Cherrymon or me! You've got to have faith in yourself, Matt! Matt: What if I make the wrong decision? Gabumon: I know that whatever it is, it will be the right one. Because I have faith in you. And whichever path you take, I'll be there with you. Matt: You mean that? Gabumon: You do have a friend. Never forget that. I'll always be there, Matt, no matter what. Matt: (crying) Gabumon....

This. Is entirely wrong. Dub Gabumon washes his hands of the entire (much shittier) moral conundrum on Matt's hands, telling him "I'll back whatever you decide and that's that." He makes no attempt to engage with the conflict resting on Matt's heart in a scene where he's supposed to be the voice of reason.

This is a bittersweet scene where Gabumon's devotion to Yamato is contrasted by him literally saying, "Yes, I will go fight our friends for you if that's what it takes." But he still makes clear that he disagrees with this course of action, and offers Yamato guidance about a better solution to Taichi's influence over his heart.

In the dub, Gabumon ironically agrees with Cherrymon. Original Gabumon says, "Bold and decisive action isn't always the right answer," and dub Gabumon is like, "You must make a decisive choice right now!"

Original Gabumon offers guidance, and Dub Gabumon says "You must figure your shit out yourself and accept no guidance from anyone, not even me."

Americans suck at recognizing when individualism is bad.

Then the dub kicks up the opening credits Digimon theme song as he evolves, like this is a triumphant moment... Before we head off to go betray our nakama and beat the shit out of Tai.

Speaking of which, Gabumon Warp-Evolves into MetalGarurumon.

MetalGarurumon: Let's go, Yamato! Yamato: Yeah.

MetalGarurumon and heads off with Yamato. As he does, both Jureimon and MetalGarurumon reflect on what went down here.

Jureimon: Ha ha ha! That went perfectly. Jureimon: (thinking) Still, I'm surprised by the strength of their bond. Pinocchimon doesn't have a heart like theirs, so he may still be defeated if he isn't careful. MetalGarurumon: (thinking) Yamato... I know how you really feel. You truly want to believe.... In nakama. In tomodachi. In yuujou.

MetalGarurumon quotes Jureimon's list from earlier, noting that even though Yamato doesn't think he cares so much, he does.

MetalGarurumon lost the battle because he misunderstood the turmoil that was raging in Yamato's heart. But he intends to win the war, because he understands Yamato's truth better than anyone.

In the dub:

MetalGarurumon: Ready. Lead the way. Matt: Right. (The pair head off) Cherrymon: Hahahaha! Yeah, I think that went rather well. Cherrymon: (thinking) Still, I'm surprised by the strength of the bond between them. It took every trick I had to undermine it. If Puppetmon isn't careful, this game could still be lost. MetalGarurumon: I meant what I said, Matt. Cherrymon was wrong! Friendship. Loyalty. They're more than just words, they're real! And they matter. I'm going to prove it to you!

It's... honestly not clear if MetalGarurumon is thinking or saying those words out loud. His lip flaps aren't moving because the original MetalGarurumon is thinking, not speaking. But his tone is conversational, rather than introspective.

In any case, MetalGarurumon makes his intent more clear here.

Both of these carry on from where the previous scenes left them. Original MetalGarurumon is determined to work through this together with Yamato and believes Yamato already has the right ideas in his heart.

Dub MetalGarurumon thinks Yamato well and truly does not believe in friendship, but wants to show him a positive example of friendship in order to sway the decision he makes for himself.

Both of which they intend to do by fighting Taichi/Tai because that's what Yamato/Matt mistakenly thinks he needs right now.

His work complete, Jureimon reports to Pinocchimon, finding him washing his face at a nearby creek.

Pinocchimon: Shit! How dare they throw poop at me!? They'll all pay! Jureimon: Pinocchimon-sama, my plan has worked out perfectly. Pinocchimon: What was your plan? Jureimon: The two Ultimate stages, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, are going to fight each other. Pinocchimon: Eh!? That sounds fun! Jureimon: If those two fight seriously, neither of them will come out unharmed. No, at best, they might even kill each other. Once the strongest are out of the way, you'll only have to pick off the weaklings. Pinocchimon: Great! I should hurry up and check that out! I don't want to miss such a Super Battle!

"Super Battle" is said in English, for a similar effect as snarking (TM) onto the end of a phrase.

In the dub, Puppetmon seems to be threatening the Garbagemon.

Puppetmon: Yech! Splattering me with their gunk. Those bucket-brains will pay for this! Cherrymon: There you are. The plan went perfectly, just as I thought. Puppetmon: Plan? What plan? Cherrymon: You should have seen it! I played that trusting sap like a violin. He's gonna do our dirty work for us, Puppetmon. Puppetmon: Well, sounds like a plan. Cherrymon: Any second now, we'll hear the sounds of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon locked in mortal combat. Puppetmon: You're serious!? Cherrymon: Oh, yeah. With any luck they'll destroy each other. With the two strongest Digimon out of the way, the rest will fall like rotten fruit. Puppetmon: Mortal combat!? This I gotta see! Let's go! What are we waiting for!?

That threatening remark might be meant for the kids but "bucket brains" sounds like a jab at the trash cans that the Garbagemon were in.

Were they shouting out the Mortal Kombat series?

I love Cherrymon's enthusiasm here. He runs up like a happy kid shouting "Look what I did! Look what I did!" The dub handles this scene pretty much perfectly.

Pinocchimon turns to go see the fireworks, but Jureimon has a warning for him.

Jureimon: Please be careful around the Chosen Children! If you don't take this seriously, even you could be defeated by them. Pinocchimon: (stops, suddenly serious) I... might be defeated...? Jureimon: They have something that you lack, Pinocchimon-sama. Pinocchimon: (quietly) I lack something? You're saying that I lack something? Jureimon: Yes, it's-- Pinocchimon: THERE IS NOTHING THAT I LACK!!! BULLET HAMMER!!! Jureimon: WAAAAAAUGH!!!

Furious at Jureimon's insinuation, Pinocchimon erases him with his Bullet Hammer. Jureimon lets out an agonized scream and disintegrates into pixel dust - taking his critical insight to the digital grave with him.

(Which Mimi will not be making.)

Pinocchimon: Hmph. I don't care who it is; no one gets away with making fun of me.

Pinocchimon's childishness has become his undoing. He misunderstood what Jureimon was trying to say, interpreted it as mean-spirited mockery, and retaliated with ultimate force before Jureimon could even get a word out to explain. Pinocchimon killed Jureimon in the midst of a temper tantrum.

In the dub:

Cherrymon: Wait a minute! We gotta be careful! The DigiDestined are strong! Stronger than I expected, and to underestimate them could be disastrous! Puppetmon: What!? Are you saying... I might lose? Cherrymon: I'm only saying that I think you should take them seriously. There's something about them. Puppetmon: Something? Hmm... You mean like something I might be missing!? Cherrymon: (backpedaling) Well, not totally.... Puppetmon: I have everything I need to take care of you! PUPPET PUMMEL!!! Cherrymon: OH THE HORROR!!! (Cherrymon disintegrates into pixel dust) Puppetmon: Huh. Man, that kind of negative attitude really brings me down!

You know, from my perspective going over both languages, there's something hilarious about the way Puppetmon keeps trying to rerail the conversation back to the original script but Cherrymon refuses to actually say the things he's supposed to be saying here. XD

Jureimon was trying to warn Pinocchimon not to underestimate their feelings for each other. Pinocchimon doesn't have a heart and can't truly comprehend the strength of the bonds they share - bonds which may be a threat to the entire "Pit them against each other" plan. If he doesn't play this carefully, Yamato may yet turn back against him.

That context didn't make it into the dub, so Cherrymon's forced to say the kids themselves are super strong; Maybe stronger than Puppetmon.

Similarly, Puppetmon's final line doesn't quite convey the childishness of the original. This is overall a weaker scene.

Meanwhile, against all reason, one of the Garbamon actually survived that Giga Destroyer.

It's the one that Lilimon stepped on. Bootprint still on their face, they pop out of their trash can.

Garbamon: Alright, fine. I give up. JUST KIDDING!!!

Garbamon picks up their trash can; A powerful vacuum begins pulling everything into it.

Garbamon: YEAH HAHAHA!!! There's a Black Hole in here! I'll suck all of you into it!

Most of the kids cling to tree to avoid being dragged in. Hikari and Taichi hide behind MetalGreymon's leg; He's dug his claws into the earth to stabilize himself.

Taichi: Damn it. They still had a trick like this up their sleeve.... Hikari: (loses her grip) ONII-CHAN!!! Tailmon: HIKARI!!! Taichi: HIKARI!!!

Hikari and Tailmon both go flying, though Tailmon appears to have jumped and can be briefly seen swimming through the suction to reach Hikari. I don't know what she's planning but she intends to try something.

We'll never find out how Tailmon intended to rescue Hikari, because Garbamon is suddenly killed by a surprise Cocytus Breath from behind. The black hole trash can freezes and shatters right alongside them.

In the dub:

Garbagemon: Okay, okay! I know when I'm beat! You win! I surrender! ...JUST KIDDING!!! HYA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Garbagemon starts sucking everything into the trash can) Garbagemon: Trash Day; Everybody in the can! If you're lucky, you'll get recycled! Taichi: This nasty little creep's really starting to get on my nerves! Kari: (loses her grip) TAI, HELP ME!!! Gatomon: KARI!!! Tai: KARI NO!!!

Garbagemon doesn't mention the black hole inside the trash can, so it's not super clear what happens to things dragged into it. But it's still clear that getting dragged in would be bad, which is the important thing.

With the last Garbamon dead and MetalGarurumon revealed, things begin to escalate right away.

Tailmon: MetalGarurumon!

Yamato steps out from the woods; Everyone's ecstatic to see him. Taichi has the biggest smile on his face to be reunited with their lost nakama member.

Sora: Yamato! Taichi: (running over, ecstatic) YAMATO!!! Where have you been this whole time!?

MetalGreymon degrades back down to Agumon and sprints across the field, smiling as well.

Agumon: Thank you! That was really close, so thanks!

MetalGarurumon says nothing, but fires a warning shot. Blue lasers shoot from his eyes, exploding next to Agumon and startling him. The children all gasp in shock at the unprovoked attack.

In the dub:

Gatomon: It's MetalGarurumon! (Matt emerges) Joe: Matt!

The dub puts a commercial break here. We return right where we left off, with Joe's extra line basically filling in as the respective ends of the commercial. Joe popped in to shill products before we resume the scene. :P

"Matt, you're back! Have you heard about ice-cold Pepsi Zero?"

Joe: Matt! Sora: Matt, you're back! Tai: (running over, ecstatic) BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!!! Where you been, buddy!? (MetalGreymon powers down to Agumon) Agumon: Thanks for saving our necks but did you have to cut it that close?

Agumon is ungrateful and deserves to be shot with lasers.

Now that the stage has been set, MetalGarurumon faces off with Agumon.

Agumon: W-Why!? MetalGarurumon: Agumon, I challenge you! Evolve to Ultimate! Agumon: The hell!? Why do I have to fight you!?

MetalGarurumon answers his question with another warning shot, firing off two missiles that detonate to either side of Agumon.

Following the reaction shot when MetalGarurumon first shoots at Agumon, Taichi whips back around to face Yamato but says nothing. It honestly feels like he should say something here if we're going to the trouble of animating him turning back around and facing Yamato, so the dub puts one in.

Tai: What's he doing!? Agumon: Hey, what is this!? MetalGarurumon: What do you think!? It's a challenge! You might want to Digivolve, and fast! Agumon: What have you been eating out there in the forest!? You want to fight me!?

MetalGarurumon's more aggressive here than his Japanese counterpart. Original MG is laying this down as a formal challenge, using the stock shonen phrase shoubu da, which basically means "Compete with me!" Often times in shonen that competition is fighting, including this one, though it doesn't necessarily have to be. The point is simply to face one another in a contest that will decide a victor.

Dub MG is saying the same thing, but pushes it harder with more threatening language.

I love Dub Agumon's translation of Nandayo!? as a censor-friendly "ARE YOU ON DRUGS!?" Beautiful reaction line.

Sora the peacemaker tries to confront Yamato over this.

Sora: Yamato! W-What... What are you doing!? Taichi: Hey, Yamato! Hurry up and stop him! Yamato: (coldly) No. This will happen. Taichi: (shocked) This will happen...? You....

In the dub:

Sora: This is insane! Matt, what's going on!? Is this some kind of joke!? Tai: Matt! I don't know what he's doing but call him off now! Yamato: (coldly) No, Tai. I won't. Tai: What did you say!? You won't!?

Sora and Taichi are both too shocked and confused to form words properly. Sora stumbles over her "Nani" as she tries to create her sentence.

Taichi initially doesn't realize that Yamato's in on this too and thinks MetalGarurumon went crazy for no reason; When he realizes the truth, he repeats Yamato's raw line straight back to him as if he can't process that those words came out of Yamato's mouth.

As usual, the dub kids are quicker on the uptake. Sora and Tai don't understand why he's doing this but they have an easier time delivering their flabbergasted lines.

With Yamato unwilling to call off MetalGarurumon, all eyes return to Agumon.

MetalGarurumon: I won't miss the next one. Now, evolve to WarGreymon quickly! Agumon: (steeling himself) You're serious about this.

We cut to Jou, Koushiro, and Hikari watching with apprehension. Takeru calls out:

Takeru: Onii-chan!

But Yamato's gaze remains cold and he doesn't acknowledge his brother. Finally, we close on Pinocchimon watching from the treetop perch that got him shitfaced earlier.

Pinocchimon: Hehe! I made it just in time. This is sure to be loads of fun!

Will it be loads of fun? Find out next time, when things will definitely go well for Pinocchimon, who is lacking nothing.

In the dub:

MetalGarurumon: I'm warning you! Hurry up and Digivolve into WarGreymon because I won't miss next time! Agumon: (surprised) ...I think he really means it!

They use the various reaction shots to have offscreen characters continue talking.

MetalGarurumon: Well!? Time's running out, Agumon! T.K.: Tai, stop him! Tai: I wish I could, but there's only one person who can stop him!

Yeah, instead of calling out to Yamato in startled confusion, T.K. yells for Tai to make this stop. I have no idea why.

The episode then closes on Matt's silent stern face; Itself now a response to Tai instead of to Takeru. Pinocchimon's final bit is cut.

Narrator: Will Matt succeed in destroying the DigiDestined from within? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters.

This is how far off-track we've drifted. We've gone from "In order to break free from Taichi's influence over his heart, Yamato mistakenly thinks he must fight and defeat Taichi in a formal contest of arms," to "Will Matt SUCCEED IN DESTROYING THE DIGIDESTINED!?!?"

Assessment: This one's a lot of sitting and talking. The Garbamon fight breaks up the discussion a bit, but the focus of this episode is Jureimon and Yamato's conversation.

It is a long talk because, while it's true that Yamato and Taichi are diametrically opposed to one another, it takes a lot of convincing to turn Yamato temporarily into an honest-to-DigiGod shonen rival. They don't really have that kind of relationship. In fact, the scene where they unlocked these Ultimate forms for their Digimon was all about the ways their Crest attributes complement and strengthen one another.

Yamato does need to figure out the emotional blocks holding him back from the true expression of himself that slips out when he's not thinking about it. But this ain't it, champ. This is Jureimon's nonsense.

Jureimon is, honestly, a pretty cool villain. I took him for granted as a kid because he's a big tree that just talks for like ten minutes. But as the physical representation of mayoi no mori, he's fascinating. The episode namedrops those words in the title, but the inescapable forest of lost souls never really appears.

Because, of course, it's not a place. It's him. The deep unnavigable wood is the semantic web Jureimon weaves around Yamato over the course of their talk. He fucks up Yamato for basically the rest of the show. This sets Yamato on his final character arc: The path to his true self-actualization down the road.

A conversation which the dub handles decently well in places but makes critical missteps about important points, particularly pertaining to Jureimon and Gabumon's respective interpretations of Yamato's feelings.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Wanted a second opinion on a lore concept I was working on - hope you're not too sick of hearing about elves/Blackness in fantasy.

Essentially, in my setting, Blackness does exist across species to some degree - certain species' cultures have different ideas around it [e.g. aquatic species tend to be receptive to their own, and not to land-dwellers], but there is a form of interconnectedness especially in areas with large amounts of diversity in species [e.g. cities are more likely to have a homogenous racial culture across those lines than isolated individuals in the countryside]. In the case of [white] elves, I was planning on not leaning away from the way they're depicted in fantasy media [that being highly white supremacist].

For Black elves, they used to be an equal part of the elven homeland, with the lands and power divided among the various cultures and peoples at the Court of Kings, each with their own historic territories and homes. That changed when a certain group of elves, then known as moon elves, began a campaign that the other elven races and cultures were lesser and planned to secure their "deserved" majority [as well as seize their lands]. This became the origin of the term "high elf", being short for "highborn", with the rest, the non-moon elves, being deemed "lowborn" by the new government. There were various attempts at expulsions from the so-called high elves, and while the wounds are still there for diaspora and those still living in the elven territories, high elves [now fully embracing this "new name"] tend to ignore them. They will argue they've "reclaimed" the word, and that its "actual meaning" refers to their positioning towards the sky and the moon in comparison to other elves. If you ask why they had to reclaim it in the first place, they tend to handwring and hum and haw, or accuse you of disrespecting elven tradition by questioning it [you may notice their continued assertation their culture is The elven culture].

For the affected peoples, Black elves that lost homes spread elsewhere, with some developing completely new cultural features based on the land they fled to. Many hold the hope that the Court will be restored, and they will be allowed to return home, not trusting the current monarchy to protect them. Others have no interest in return, and make homes where they are. Those still in the territories follow their last king from the Court, as is tradition, and often form independant governments from the moon elf king; it's more likely for a township head to be deferred to than the current Royal Court. While these communities are typically closed off as a means of protection [which has always annoyed certain elves on the territories and those they convinced to also get mad], they have been successful in rejuvinating a lot of the cultural hubs seized or lost in the expulsions and keeping their people hopeful.

Regardless, terms like "dark elf" are almost universally deemed offensive, a propaganda tool used by moon elves to paint them as untrustworthy and shifty and to associate dark skin with an evil nature. Most elves that you'd assume to be Black do use that term, others using specifically Elven terminology [such as the historical term sun elf from the previous era], some using both at the same time. Recurring elven characters like Diana calls herself Black, since she's been raised around that cultural exchange, but uses the equivalent term when speaking Elven. Black elves pride themselves on elaborate braided hairstyles, with your speed, endurance, and precision often being the subject of festival tournaments back in the territories. Elves, regardless of race, can sit for hours without feeling a minute go by, and while these events are exhausting for anyone but fae and elves, other people still show up anyway to compete as a personal challenge or to camp out for a week and watch how long the finalists can get their work to stretch [most participants will cut off whatever they can't lug around after the fact and get the ends redone. It's a necessity to save your neck past a certain point]. Typically done before/in the lead-up to the longest day of the year.

I'll admit, I am a tad tired of elves and fantasy racism yes 😅 I mean, I will say that after a certain point my honest reaction was "why does this need to be an allegory atp", but I recognize that it's a fantasy world. I mean, you've really just sent the setting and the background for the story, which is fine but... I mean I don't really have an opinion on it. What is the meat of the story? So they live in a society resembling real world racism; okay. What's the plot? Is there a character that you want me to hone in on? Because we have real lives in the midst of a racist society all the time lol, is this story meant to break down that society or are they just living in it while going through the rest?

[ronearoundblindly]

A, K, & Z for my rare grimy man? 🥺

*While I have seen Snowpiercer a few times, I don't know the whole culture of the train thoroughly, so let's just say Curtis is A) really used to crowded spaces with no privacy, B) somewhere cold as hell, and C) still has very little, i.e. not a bunch of different clothes or idk soap and shit...

Prompts are from this dirty ask game, and they do get somewhat graphic (am I considered a hoe yet? i've written 18 of these suckers). MINORS DNI. You know I love you, you know I'll create content for you, but this isn't it! You want the Light Masterlist.

A - Alone Time

I believe Curtis's exact words would be "what fucking alone time?" but, sure, on the super rare occasion he gets to touch himself, here's how it goes.

He doesn't have access to porn. It's all imagination at this point.

His living space is so over-stuffed with people in bunks who, ya know, live their lives as best they can and so, yup, they have sex in those bunks and almost everyone can hear them. He can use those sounds in his imagination. Some are better than others.

What he imagines, though, is pure escapism.

He pictures someone soft and clean, they smell good, and they take all the time in the world just to look him in the eye when they touch him. There are no toys, just his own hands. He uses both. A recurring fantasy is (while he uses his weaker hand to jack off) teaching some innocent, sweet thing how to touch him. Gets him going, makes him a little wild to think about. Smidge of a corruption kink, this Curtis, but not in a mean way.

He wants someone all his own. Everything is shared and sparse here. He dreams of possessing someone, body and soul, because then they're his, unlike reality.

K - Kissing

Curtis may be desperate for some lovin' but he isn't a bully. This man hardly believes you're his, so he is completely adoring and slow. He wants to know what every possible way to touch you feels like. He holds your chin or cups your face to kiss you, softly, feather-light to start. You taste, smell, feel, and sound real; it's overwhelming and addictive.

He starts this slowly every single time you two kiss. Doesn't matter how nasty the fucking was the night before. Doesn't matter his mood. He really fucking likes these sweet, innocent kisses where you choose to go further, to pull him closer, to accept him into your body. Huge turn on for him.

(🥵 oh shit, I got myself, sweating now, give me a sec, yikes.)

There are some nights where those soft kisses are all he wants and needs in the world. Just the comfort and the escape of your little bubble of love is enough to soothe him to sleep, which is in and of itself a miracle. He's so tired of living on edge all the time...

Z - Zones

For warmth, as much of his (and your) body is covered at all times as much as possible. No one is naked during sex, not entirely. There aren't thick enough blankets to warrant that, and he's not going to lose a toe to frostbite simply to get his cock warmed. That's a bad trade-off. No deal.

Because of that, however, Curtis finds you touching those non-essential-to-sex-places highly erotic. There is no reason for you to have your bare hands way up by his shoulder blades. Sounds bizarre out of context, but he goes fucking berserk when you slither your grasp under his layers of shirts and dig your nails in just a bit. He loves that more than a goddamn blowjob, honestly.

Similarly, most of the back of him down to his thighs, at least half of his legs, and his feet have remained untouched by any human save himself since he was a kid. When his shitty, fourth-hand boots gave him horrible blisters, you scrounged up a bowl of warm water and washed his feet.

He fucking cried, and you thought it was because he was in pain. He's just never felt so loved and cared for in his miserable life. He still gets choked up thinking about that. He holds you that much tighter each time he remembers.

What areas does he love on you? Oh fuck, does he have to choose?

He can't possibly pick just one or two places. You're just all soft and all sensual. Nope, he can't pick favorites. He just can't. Although...one of your nipples seems more sensitive than the other, so maybe that? But he's not gonna give up any other bits! You can't make him. He will fucking fight for all of you.

Thank you for asking!

[Main Masterlist; Dirty Asks Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

Oh, hell, here comes another blorbo...

*faints*

[eclipse-song]

Can you elaborate on “Gotchard is Showa”? Bc I see the callsigns but I really havent watched much beyond 71 and like. Reimaginings of 71.

Sometimes shit will just happen, it focused on a little GROUP of characters that are all in the action but with only a couple riders, Kajiki is there, the recurring use of the classic Wind Noise.

But is there anything else that sticks out bigtime to you?

I can try! I feel like while yes they do reference the 1971 Rider sound fx and symbols sometimes, I was also saying Gotchard was showa BEFORE all of that. Kajiki being there I feel doesn't do a whole lot to make him showa since I don't see him so much as a Taki stand-in but the heroine replacement (stated to be this by the producers) since he doesn't really go in kicking and punching like Taki did. I also find that Gotchard isn't a show really where "shit just happens" since most of the time anything that has happened has been built up to slowly and mentioned previously.

What stands out in the show to ME as something that feels inspired by many aspects of Showa era Kamen Rider is the story structure that has its own arcs and such but the focus is heavily leaning towards episodic stories that are contained within an episode or 2 and then moves on to the next story. There is an episodic nature about it that ironically also reminds me of Wizard (a heisei 2 series that I could also write a lot of arguments on it being a modern fantasy retelling of the original kamen rider series in many parts-though not all of it) . The tone of the show fluctuates and can go from dead serious to ridiculous comedy within an episode or 2 which resonates well with a lot of the feelings of episodes in the showa era (this may be what you mean by shit just happens I realize now). I feel like this show could work around the time of Black RX or possibly Skyrider/Super-1. There's an experimental feel to it where it's rough around the edges but has a lot of love infused in it. Most importantly though, I think it's how the values of the characters resonate with many of the showa riders. I remember thinking very early on how Hotaro would be a Rider that Hongo would adore and take in under his wing. Hotaro is able to befriend these monsters and there is a kindness in him that is expressed towards his enemies that Hongo only wishes he could have afforded as he viewed many of his opponents as people like him who were kidnapped and transformed against their will. Kazami Shiro in V3 has a small arc in there where he meets a friend who has been converted to believing in Destron as a beacon of hope through propaganda and begins to encourage him and others to leave because he recognizes them suddenly as people who could have been his friend once upon a time. It's this element of love and kindness towards who he is meant to be fighting that I think really resonates with me and makes me think the Legendary 7 would have loved Hotaro.

SO sorry if this is a little hard to read, I just woke up from a nap

[icedteaandoldlace]

1, 3, 5 [Right at Home], 11, 12, 13, 14, 30, 37, 43 for the fic writer questions!

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

My go-to is A Little Help From Your Friends because it's a fun feel-good fic, but I think the fic that's most representative of my style as a writer might actually be Heartless. Funnily enough, it has been the introductory fic for quite a few readers, because it's a fix-it for a canon issue that just about everyone in the Glee fandom is unhappy with (regardless of who you wanted to end up with the jacket, the way that storyline ended was stupid and we all know it), so every now and then it lures someone in, and then I can tell by the trail of kudos that it made them want to read some of my other fics, too. :)

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

I write about grief a lot, and I'm not sure where that comes from, because it's been a common theme in my stories since before anyone I love had even died. Open endings are also a recurring theme, because I love giving readers room to interpret and headcanon certain things the way they want. Sometimes it's more fun to read something that stokes your imagination than something that spells everything out for you, and those kinds of stories are fun to write, too.

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about Right At Home? Answer it now!

I don't know what the question leading to the answer would be, but Evie was based on someone I know in real life. Not someone I know well, but she was a friend of my brother-in-law's when he and my sister were still dating. She would talk bad about my sister behind her back to his other friends, making it sound like she was a bad influence on him, and you can see her glaring in the background of several of their wedding photos (fun fact, she caught the bouquet, and there's a photo of her and my sister together right afterward, all smiley, and it makes us laugh because of how fake it is). The coffee thing really happened, too, only it was at work, not at a birthday party, and with a different couple. She brought coffees for everyone except her boss's fiancée, who also worked there. Obviously I had a delightful time dragging her in that fic.

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

The characters I write about are almost always my favorites. All my Gossip Girl fics are Eric-centric, and all my Glee fics are Kurt-centric. I have exactly one (1) Outsiders fic in me (which I may or may not finish, we'll see), and it's all about Johnny. I'm more flexible with The Flash, but the majority of my Flash fics are about Cisco—whether or not he's the POV character—and/or Kamilla. And obviously it follows that the pairing I write for the most is Kamisco. As for what draws me to those characters, my favorites tend to be whoever I relate to the most or find the most interesting. And in the case of Kamisco, their relationship is very similar to the relationship between two of my oldest and most beloved OCs. Giving them more development comes very naturally to me, since they have the sweet, supportive kind of relationship that I love most to write about.

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I've warmed a little to soulmate AUs since writing my own, but I still have my reservations about them. And enemies to lovers is a strong hit or miss. It's either the best thing ever or the worst thing ever, there is no in between, it's all about who's writing it (and who they're writing it about).

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Writing-wise, I don't think so. I did try to write a few fantasy novels/series before and finally gave up on the idea, not because I don't like fantasy stories, but because fantasy world building just isn't something I'm good at. Of course that's more of a genre than a trope, though.

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

I can't think of any tropes specifically, but yeah, I'm sure there are. I know I avoid fics with M ratings like the plague because I hate smut, but I've made a few exceptions because I trusted the authors. @daftydraw and @jwmelmoth in particular are really good about setting markers in their fics to warn you when things are about to get steamy, and their collab fic Glad You Stayed also deals with some very heavy subject matter, but they handled it with the seriousness and sensitivity that it deserves (and lots of trigger warnings), so they're in the trusted author category for sure.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

My post-Mirrorverse WIP is very much out of my comfort zone, and tbh I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to approach it. The idea is that the reason Cisco and Kamilla bounced back faster than Barry and Iris in canon, is because they had a long conversation about it sooner. And it's a very uncomfortable conversation for both of them, because it means addressing Cisco's time with Mirror Kamilla and calling that implied (in this fic, confirmed) sexual assault what it really was, so it's quite a challenge as a writer, trying to find the balance in writing dialogue that dances around a sensitive subject because the characters don't want to be talking about it, without me dancing around the subject myself, because addressing the issue head-on is the whole point of the fic.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

I know one of the main reasons it hasn't gotten much attention is because I only have one chapter up, but Nights That Never End is one of my all-time favorites. I ended up putting more into that first chapter than I originally planned, and I love the way it turned out. I may have dragged things out a bit in some spots, but I really loved exploring the dynamic of Cisco and Kamilla's relationship at such an early and in-between stage, and sorting through Kamilla's emotions as she's processing the fact that A) Cisco died once in another timeline, and B) her feelings for him are stronger than she realized. It also gave me a chance to write about secondhand trauma, which isn't something that gets talked about a whole lot, but is a very real thing that people experience.

43. If you take/write prompts: what’s your favorite prompt fic that you’ve written?

I occasionally take prompts, when I see a good list and I have the time and energy to do it. I think my favorite might be Alive Again, because it's so light and fun, and because I love stormy days like the one in that fic. Kurt and Adam were both done so dirty in canon, and this was a very satisfying way of fixing that. And of course, This Can't Be How It Ends was a big challenge, and I'm incredibly proud of how it turned out.

[warmhealerr]

1, 12 and 18 for Oulmat and Juofos!

Thank you Rook! :)

Joufos

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

Joufos kind of spawned out of thin air. My first BG3 run lasted until the beginning of the Underdark, Selûnite temple, because for some reason, the whole campaign got corrupted. I stilll have no idea why, as I had no mods, no corrupted in game data files, or anything of the sort. After getting over the initial disappointment, I decided I wanted to really give this game a chance, as I was finally starting to get into it. I knew I was going to play a Blue lightning draconic sorcerer, I just love indulging my dragon love. I was messing around in the character creator, did kinda whatever I pleased on a Deep Gnome. Pink? Sure, fun, whatever, I don't care the scales should be Blue, that's a cool palette. I fell so, so in love with his appearance. I sat there for a second, laughed at how lore unfriendly he looked, and embarked on my second attempt at the journey to Baldur's Gate.

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

Nailing down Joufos' face was the worst. A long, arduous journey, that taught me to have fun with facial shapes again. It took me months to nail down something that I liked. A comparison of my first art of him, October 10th 2023. The portrait where his head finally began to develop that distinctive shape I love so much, April 27th 2024. And August 14th 2024, the refs he got post Art Fight. I don't have recent art of him that allows clear reading of his Shapes, but know some of his features have changed now, like a DA2 elf style nose bridge. It was a frustrating designing process but I think it was worth it. He's very fun to draw now that I "get him".

EDIT : Another version of the answer to this question focusing on writing here.

18. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

His birthday LOL. I only very recently canonized it's May/Mirtul 9th, which is...Today, hilariously enough. The number 9 is a big recurring thing with him, and I don't just mean because I can make childish 69 jokes. The 9 lives and his lichdom parallel is an especially important thing to me. There were once 9 Hayhoof siblings, too, though I cut that down to 7 to better focus on each individual, regardless of who lived and died. I associate Joufos with the warmth of Spring, and what better month than May to illustrate that?

Oulmat

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

I had planned Oulmat for a while. It came to me early in backstory writing Joufos must have a big family. Oulmat was always meant to be the exception to the "draconic girls" rule; the runt. Her name and appearance came pretty fast though. I had already figured out the phonetics I was going to lean for, and BG3's character creator proved satisfying enough, using the SAFT heads mod for her face, "Gnosephine", and the Corrupted Alt eyes from the Ghastly Ghouls Undead Race mod. She was included in my third replay of BG3, March 5th 2024.

This was my first art of her from the following day, if you are curious :

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

I'm a sketch artist, I don't do in the details. Armors notoriously look like fucking shit until you add those details. Big problem when Oulmat wears some gaudy ass spikey fantasy armors. I find Oulmat to otherwise be very fun to draw. Her writing comes to me very naturally, too.

18. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

She has a few moles here and there now. I don't know I think it fits her perfectly and it's very charming. Feels like they've always been hiding from me in plain sight.

[nanalineni]

Dragon Age Veilguard first six hours of gameplay from someone who hasn't waited a decade for the game and who absolutely loved every part of Origins yes even the fade yes even the deep roads yes even the brecilian forest yes even the circle yes even denerim yes

Well first off be ready for the game to have a SHIT optimization. I had to restart my guy a grand total of six times until I was able to progress past the first rage demon crossing the screen three minutes after the introduction cinematics. My recommendation is get rid of the shader cache on your PC settings, delete the shader cache folder in the game files, lower the resolution settings, uncheck the hair strand animation that looks like ass anyways, and maybe restart your computer for good measure after that. Doing all this by trial and error went from the game loading 96% of the shaders in 45 minutes then crashing to starting in 3 seconds and not crashing (that is. Until the cinematic with Morrigan four-five good hours later which prompted me to go to bed. I suspect my PC of overheating and the shader cache to still be too large)

Now that your game is up and running well. Well that character creator is fucking amazing innit. It's a really good mix between all previous BioWare character creator iterations and it allows to make guys with very interesting facial features and good control over pretty much everything without being too huge and overwhelming, and still retaining some of the physiology of the different people from the previous games (contrary to what some steam comments would have you believe about the qunari –who had one (1) face model in DA2, cmon)

As for the fights, they've completely changed from the previous games, bye bye real time strategy and welcome final fantasy 7 type combat with perfect timing dodge and parry, and sometimes asking your companions to do some special actions (not ATB gauge tho, but you DO have a cool finish). And to my great pleasure, hello difficulty calibration ! This bangs. I'm gonna make the enemies even a bit more dangerous than I already did because I'm still not really challenged during the fights so far :)

Speaking of calibration I am extremely impressed by the accessibility tools, there's the now usual screenshake toggle, but also a screenshake slider, a size and opacity slider for subtitles, adapted colors for colorblind people you want it you name it !

Keyboard and gamepad binding are fully customizable, which is nice because you have quite a lot of tools during the fights and it takes a while to find a comfortable way to play. Luckily, the introduction is long enough that you don't feel unsatisfied by the fights you use as calibration I'd say.

In terms of the game itself the fights are quite fun ! I do miss the strategic aspect of DAO but I can also always replay DAO if I want that lol. There's still puzzles which I love, making you explore the environment a bit more, and the environment seems dense at first but is pretty easy to read thanks to a solid artistic direction. I love you artistic direction I am kissing you on the mouth. Yup this game looks a bit "cartoony" in its art they've chosen to go away from hyper realism and boy am I glad. In my opinion, the game looks a lot like Origins if it had better, more recent lighting tech and cleaner textures. I really like it ! It's still quite dark, at least in those first few hours it's been quite fucking dark lmao I don't know who out there thinks it's just silly goofy but may I remind you a recurring theme of Origins, the game where there's a dozen of you fighting a war against a living plague that eats the world while the royalty has sent assassin's after you, is that the country smells of wetdog ? Dragon Age has a lot of silly moments. It's true that Veilguard so far suffers a bit from the Cool Quip disease but I'm still very much at the beginning and I trust that I'll see the relationship develop between characters. Overall my biggest fear is that with only three choices carrying over from Inquisition (who you were in a couple with, did you disband, what'd you tell Solas at the very end), the game might make me face a world state I had no part of and that will frustrate me from the "everything carries over across a twenty year history" game franchise. Already felt weird getting a letter from Isabela due to the background I've chosen and not reading a word about Hawke. I wanna hear about Dagna and the Warden commander and how the royal family is doing in Denerim and whether Sebastian fucked off forever in the end and how are Leli's nugs doing >:( and I want to see Sandal again >:(

Overall fun time so far will come back to you all with more and with screenshots and shit over the week !

[msfbgraves]

The drowning imagery in Lucy's condition is so prominent that it did remind me of Dutch fears (though it seems it's from Stoker's fear of drowning after he dove to drag out of the Thames a drowning man) and her recurring nightmares of struggling to reach the surface

I think that the fear of literal drowning may have been more the author's imagination than a Dutch cultural thing. Beautifully put into the book, wow! I don't know many people in my country walking around with a literal fear of getting engulfed - it's more the idea of water being a potentialy very dangerous element that has to be actively monitored every day. Not much time spent worrying about the supernatural if the natural is right there and ready to kill you at a moment's notice when you don't actively keep it in place. It's always in front of you, the weather is always changeable, it's beautiful and we love spending time near and on it but never mind ghosts who is minding the dykes?! How much rain? What is the wind doing? The tides? Even with droughts suddenly the ground may not be getting enough moisture to keep the water defences working.

Disease is very similar, we're historically very aware of its destructive power. If we want to curse someone, we tell them that he can go get cholera (or typhus, or lung disease). Those are also very immediate environmental threats. In fact, when we want to say: and then the shit hit the fan, we say: "then we had a pleurisy outbreak, alright!" (Toen brak de pleuris uit!) Aka things got as chaotic as during an outbreak of lung disease! We really have enough to be going on with without believing in vampires. What I also love is that in modern Dutch urban fantasy, we would be very dispassionate and utterly practical about prevention: "Alright, kids! Camp supplies - everyone pack their swimsuits, toothbrush, plasters, clean underwear, travel bottles of holy water, half price at HEMA this week, tell your parents, anti zombie salt, pocket crucifix, no Jochem the one in a Swiss army knife is too small, I keep telling you, knives are dangerous. Sunscreen! Bring sunscreen! Pocket money. Miss Visser will be collecting the silver bullets and operating the gun, no small handguns allowed on pain of expulsion. Guns are dangerous. No crossbows or stakes we leave the staking to the professionals! Keep your eye out for bats but know they are a protected species! Any neck wounds are to be reported to the nurse immediately! Also ticks. When in doubt, you call emergency services and press #5, yes, #5 Sanne, share your live location and check for the nearest church for protection at all times! No attacking any vampires or werevolves by yourselves, aight? You can carry a handgun with holy water but that's it, and if someone takes anyone's eye out with it we will be very cross. Musquito nets against pests and vampire dust will be provided. Yes, Esther, Murat, Pranita, the carrying of crucifixes is allowed as a matter of public safety and is in accordance with Hindu, Jewish and Muslim custom, we've checked with the authorities. As is sheltering in churches. Do bring your own prayer mat, and inform us about any dietary requirements. OK? OK! Let's go have fun!!!"

So the imagery Lucy's death may not be a Dutch thing, but Van Helsing makes perfect sense.

[thesummerstorms]

This is sooo late, but I didn't have a proper keyboard while I was housesitting and I've just managed to sit down now and do anything that required any length typing.

Thank you to @nepobabyeurydice for the tag!

If I'm being honest, I've not perfectly been able to keep track of who I saw answer this already on my dash, but if you are a writer and we are mutuals, consider yourself optionally tagged.

When did you start writing?

I remember typing up original stuff on our hand me down Windows 95 computer in elementary school, though I could not tell you what any of it was about.

My first fic was a very, very, very cringy Naruto fic when I was 11 and emo everything was at the height of its popularity. I never finished it, and it is now nonexistent, which is very much for the best.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I read a somewhat decent amount of science fiction that isn't as "loose" in it's worldbuilding as even space opera, but you will never catch me doing world building outside of fantasy. I can make things internally consistent, but do not ask me to make them realistic to science.

Also, just in general, while I don't read action per say, or at least read for action, a lot of my favorite genres and series do have fight scenes, and I cannot write those at all.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I can trace a few things in my own writing- both good and bad!- to a handful of authors that particularly influenced me as a young teenager, but I don't think it's anything anyone else would pick up on.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I have a proper desk in my bedroom with a desktop PC and two monitors and everything, and if I'm doing any serious and researched meta, or leaving comments on particular fics, I use that.

But I don't really write fic so much these days, and what I do post tends to be... fragments? Concepts? Worldbuilding that morphs into slightly-longer than drabbles? here on tumblr. And 95% of that gets posted from my phone because inspiration struck and it was in my hand.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I don't go seeking things out, honestly. Like I said, I don't write plotted or long fic or really much fic at all. So what I do write comes out because it's sitting there poking at my brain for too long and then I can't ignore it anymore.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

... looking at my SW stuff and my PJO stuff, one thing I guess I like the idea of a lot is the boundary between human/larger than human, mortal/immortal, mutable/immutable etc.

I loved some eldritch Force stuff and I love the idea of the PJO gods as being forces as much as or more than they are people.

Like, there's an Anne Carson translation of a Sophocles quote I saw for the first time years ago on tumblr- "Nothing vast enters the lives of mortals without ruin"- and I can't help but fixate still on that idea. What if the vast is inherently part of you but in a way that is alien to your humanity? What happens when the "vast" is both sympathetic and destructive to your personhood?

Also, a slightly less pretentious and definitely less wordy answer, I just think angst is fun to write. Not pure tragedy or grimdark, but angst.

What is your reason for writing?

My brain Will Not Shut Up and it has to go <i>somewhere.</i>

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I want people to talk about ideas with me!

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Not as a fiction writer per say, but I fucking killed every literary analysis paper I ever wrote in college. Like, this may sound arrogant, but I got nominated for awards by my professors. I thrived off of getting their feedback and that looping into a discussion. So I feel like meta comes easily as a result.

Now if only you could get paid and have health insurance writing literary analysis... alas, I cannot afford a doctorate and academia doesn't pay well or have decent enough healthcare access for my many needs.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I wish I could write long fic and coherent plots, but I am proud of the ideas I come up with sometimes.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I feel like most of my writing is in conversation with what I read, whether it be the original text, other folks' fic, or meta. But even if it's in conversation, I'm never going to even have the idea much less the words unless it's something I'm interested enough in that my brain snags on it.

[spagyricqueen]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

Thanks to @kalmiaphlox for the tag! (I'm sorry I've been so quiet lately. Best excuse I've got is 'life happened'... heh)

When did you start writing?

I started my writing journey way back in 1994. I was 12 years old. There was no Fanfiction.net, and certainly no AO3 or Wattpad. We had the good ol' "world wide web" and discussion boards, where there were FTP databases with root and sub folders, and all the fics were in .txt files. Read stories written by fans of my favorite TV show at the time, and thought I'd give it a shot. It was all downhill from there.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I honestly can't say that there are. I write what I like to read.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I don't think I've actively been compared to any one writer, nor do I necessarily write like any particular author. I read fantasy novels, for the most part, and if I were to try to emulate anyone (lately, anyway) it's Elaine Cunningham and her work for Forgotten Realms.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

My computer is my space for everything, and I share a desk with my partner. We're both gamers with dual monitors. Occasionally, I'll sequester away in the bedroom with my laptop.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Daydreaming scenarios and writing back-and-forth dialogue for situations (that may or may not end up getting used at all). But that seems to get the flow going most of the time.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Recurring themes? Hmm. Well, I suppose I've written a lot about disability and how it affects the characters, in their lives and interactions with others. Not every story I've written has this theme, but it certainly counts as 'recurring' for many of my works. I can't say it surprises me at all, as I've had great interest in disabilities (respectfully) since I was very young. Not exclusively for the sake of writing angst, though there is some of that too. But mostly for exploring how people can adapt and grow in the most astounding ways, despite what society at large deems a "disadvantage".

What is your reason for writing?

To put it succinctly, I enjoy it. I like having the ability to paint worlds with words, to evoke emotions in written form, and describe action, excitement, and romance. I have stories in my head, and I want to share them. Writing them down is the most accessable way of doing this.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I adore any comments on my stories. The fact that someone takes the time to say even one word to me about my work is monumental. But of course, if I were being honest, the ones that really inspire me is when they engage with what I've written. When questions are asked, details pointed out, or even theories floated about what could possibly happen next... I live for those. They not only make me happy, but they make me want to deliver the goods, you know?

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I'm not sure I want to be dictating or hoping for anything in particular here. People will think what they will. I should hope that, if anything, anyone reading my work would appreciate my effort. I guess I just want to be thought of as a good writer, an entertaining writer. A nice person? A thoughtful person?

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I had the benefit of starting very early in learning how to write, and I am by no means perfect at it. I'm always learning new skills, tricks and methods on how to present the story I want to tell. I have consumed a lot of media over my decades, particularly cinema. I think one of my strengths would be visualizing scenes of my story like a movie, with having a good balance of action, introspection, and dialogue. I had a mentor during my early years who was an English teacher, and learned the ins and outs of traditional creative writing.

How do you feel about your own writing?

My writing style has evolved over the years. My early attempts were, naturally, very juvenile, though I tackled themes that I was told were beyond my years. Writing adult male friendships, learning about the psychological impact of diability and how it affects those friendships and the character's personal life... these were not common themes for a thirteen year old to write about. But again, they were attempts.

These days, I have read many books and experienced enough life to be able to convey deeper, more nuanced interactions and situations. Gathering information, learning about fantasy settings, and having a better understanding of emotions have all helped me to get better. I like what I write, and I write what I like. I know I've improved a lot since thirty years ago, and I'm always looking to get better.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

It's only recently that I've catered a bit more to my audience in my work, though the idea starts with something purely for my own enjoyment and interest. That's how it begins. I have an idea for a story I think is interesting, write it, post it, and hope others like it too. For the most part, I try to keep the story as I envisioned it, but having the benefit of live interactions with readers has inspired me to insert little tidbits here and there that I felt would be enjoyed---as a nod to the reader, and because I found it fun to make it work within the context of the narrative. :)

And that's all she wrote! Maybe I have a couple friends who might be interested in joining in. @cassieuncaged @busy-baker @davenswitcher

[loopy777]

So there's going to be a live-action Zelda movie.

(Let's leave aside that no one from the creative team inspires any confidence.)

In celebration (?), I'm going to dig out my old idea for the only way a LoZ movie can be anything other than a cheap rip of Peter Jackson's LotR movies. See, I don't think LoZ has much to recommend it as fantasy itself. It doesn't have very many characters, and most of them don't have any personality beyond the most generic archetypes. There's no story that isn't just about collecting some plot coupons and fighting the big bad. Visually, there are few unique recurring memorable icons, just the Gorons and Zora, and Link in the green clothes; the triforce is just a triangle and the master sword fits in a little too well with all those cheap unofficial sword props they sell at conventions. Everything else varies too much to be iconic.

They could play it safe and adapt one of the more memorable games. But there's a reason why fanfic novelizations of those very rarely get very far, and why the manga adaptations usually last one or two volumes and spend most of their pages covering the initial premise and interactions with the quirkiest side-characters. Sure, it's possible to put together a good movie out of such a thing, but in that case, would the final product be all that much different than the recent D&D movie that underperformed despite being nicely entertaining?

I've long said that the one thing the Zelda franchise really has going for it (outside of being fun video games, which is actually the most important part but of no use in this conversation) is the way it uses repetition of its own iconography. It often retells the same stories, even when the stories are sequels to each other, and there's always a Link and always a Zelda and always a bow'n'arrow and always a moblin and water dungeon and a flute, etc. When a game does something unique, that stands out even more because of the context of the formula.

I also want to combine that with a fun mechanic in some of the games where Link solves puzzles by flipping between worlds/times. In 'Link to the Past,' he can go back and forth between the Light and Dark Worlds to make progress. In OoT, he can set things up in the past to solve problems in the future. In the Oracle GBA games, the dungeons themselves have puzzles which require taking actions in certain seasons and time periods in order to solve them.

So my ideal Zelda movie has multiple simultaneous stories going. One based on OoT, one based on Twilight Princess, one based on Breath of the WIld, and a mix of the NES games. They would each have a completely different acting cast, including the Links played by different actors. Scenes from each one would have different directors, ideally, but that may be unnecessary if the art teams can really do a good job differentiating them. The storylines would intercut to show their similarities and differences, and would sometimes even replace parts of each other's stories so that the lines between them blurs. At least one fight scene should be so intercut that literally every cut changes which storyline we're in, but it combines to create a single continuous and discernible fight scene.

As I've thought about this idea over the years, I've decided the storylines should swap characters as they go. The actors should stay the same- TP!Zelda should always be played by the same actress, for example, even when she's in the OoT storyline. Otherwise it would just get too confusing.

The theme we're going here is the nature and purpose of legends. We want to show how this one basic story reflects the societies that tell it, so we want the various storylines to make a big show of the setting of Hyrule in each era. We want to hint that the various elements in the story, including the characters, say something about the people who tell and value the legends. And we want to highlight how this changes as Hyrule changes.

It all culminates in all the storylines converging in the final battle against Ganon(dorf), with all the Links and Zeldas and sidekicks teaming up for a massive fight against evil. But the critical part is that all the populations of Hyrule are observing this fight, and the soundtrack is their shared million-person chorus recounting The Legend of Zelda, an epic poem chanted in a manner that puts Duel of the Fates to shame. I'm torn on whether the poem should be in English, or some made-up language that has to be translated via subtitles, complete with translator notes about untranslatable stuff and words where we're not sure of the exact meaning.

I admit it's possible I'm missing the entire point of a Zelda movie.

[paragonrobits]

hmm tempted to make a recurring group of antagonists that are an incredibly pompous and entitled group of basically spoiled rich kids who go around trying to force things to fit their preconcieved notions and are for the most part of harmless but they annoy the fucking SHIT out of the rowdy and ferocious main character squad on a level that not even their hardened enemies get out of them

MC Squad is mostly composed of weird abstract concepts given life, animals that became sapient and manifested shapeshifting out of the sheer power of 'hey what if i did THIS' and similar things; they're generally weird. Their followers do include some more conventional concepts, but for the most part they're a weird bunch who attract weird people, and they don't have any particular beef with Normals but they do absolutely get annoyed with people that cringe and stick up their noses as people who are NOT Normal

so you have this group of antagonists (possibly a specific group, possibly a Spoiled Rich Kids Club of a number of different people who fit this general motif) that regularly show up and interrupt their plans and serve as a sort of ideological roadblock. MC Squad wants to delve dungeons to find forgotten lore to ensure its remembered, discover long-lost cultural relics and return them to their owners (or as close as you can get in the case of extinct cultures) or find magical relics and smack people with them for the giggles, but

rich kid club, generally derived from powerful and magically learned societies that weathered the various apocalypes better because they specifically shielded themselves and left everyone else to die, show up because they're amused or don't think the Garbage Realms (as they refer to the places where MC Squad generally operates) deserve to have anything cool. They're basically tourists showing up to steal or bully because they can or intend to conquer the multiverse because they feel they deserve it

they're not exactly supremacist like other antagonists, they're just pompous assholes whose behavior is largely modeled off 'talks the talk but refuses to actually do anything' you see in some online circles that discuss doing good in the world but are incredibly callous or even gleefully cruel, as well as particularly obnoxious discourse centering around shows that didn't swerve to fulfil their fantasies or shipping desires, and the general vibe of 'online entitled bully' but applied to a fantastical setting with giant robots and anyone learning to shoot Magic Lasers in the shape of tacos if you study for about a two and a half weeks

thus they provide a good recurring source of antagonists as well as a look into more complicated and well known magical skill sets within the setting, able to do all kinds of weird stuff like powerful enchantments, teleportating large military groups across vast distances, or summoning powerful minions without the restrictions other characters generally have.

The implication there is that they COULD learn it, but the knowledge has generally been lost across most organizations and groups, and these more spoiled realms are deliberately hoarding the knowledge partially to maintain their power base, even if they don't particularly care to do anything with it besides periodically exiling mass populations of their underclasses (some of which may be a source of allies or would be conquerors who want to take control of their former homelands and start building alliances to help other realms and make some good out of their resources) and raiding any realm that looks like it might be improving.

(This may also mean that some of the disasters that 'reset' the setting and keep it in a state of affairs similar to what Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom has going on, which is a vibe I really like, might be the result of these kingdoms setting off those disasters DELIBERATELY to ensure no one else stabilizes or gets power similar to theirs, with the MC Squad's power being an unprecedented disruption to this plan; as such, they may be one aspect of a larger antagonistic alliance that acts as a background antagonist looming over the protagonists whose escalating power will eventually pit them against this conspiracy in later years)

but also mostly they act as some annoying pompous annoyances that annoy the protagonists that even the fairly mellow demon tiger girl finally loses her temper (after mostly being characterized as having grotesque powers themed around overclocking herself to mutate into more powerful demon forms and weaponizing her hatred as radioactive punch lasers but being genuinely too mellow to actually use them in all their grotesque full potential) and just goes completely berserk and starts smashing one of them in the face while howling "SHUT UP!" and punching the offending target in the face for five minutes straight

(additional idea; I'm usually tempted to make these kinds of characters human as a play on Human As Default being an in universe opinion that fits well, but in this case I'm tempted to make them robots; specifically very high class polished robots modeled after aesthetics that look fancy but are quite fragile and break down easily, using the idea of the cutting edge as an indicator of pompousness. This also further makes them a reflection of the robots associated with the MC Squad, who tend towards junkyard and cobbled aesthetics, or being visually similar to the Autobots from the Transformers series or the Junkions from the same series. This is notable since one such character has a burning hatred for humans due to a long history of oppression and cruel treatment, and this is an opportunity to show him outside that light or even be frustrated that these robots are even more horrible than their historical oppressors have been)

[nozomi-critical]

living up to my url (1st 2 points are old but there has been a development)

recognition as a recurring motif in nozomikumi: upon first meeting her, "don't you recognize me, karua?" in the living idol cult leader route: "by the time [the sdu] were done with her i could not recognize her anymore", in the supreme leader cult route: takumi repeatedly expresses frustration that nozomi cannot be recognized as the fantasy of karua that only exists in his head that approves of all he does "karua would understand" & "karua would forgive me" & once nozomi is so brainwashed as to be unrecognizable either as karua or nozomi, takumi makes her address him as karua did when he commits the final act of robbing her of her free will but still calls this new mangled creature nozomi... because "she was already altered"

nozomi and eito being each other's foils is really well done since the contrasting happens on multiple axes: nozomi values free will and choice, yet is one of the staunchest advocates for war on the invaders - a war that is primarily prosecuted by brainwashing and deception. eito believes in fate and predetermination, yet is a fierce opponent of a war and one of the strategies he employs in resisting it is by bringing to light the truth of the war... which he himself calls unresolvable by any other means except fighting it to the end (cult leader route during futurum revelation. notably, the one advocating for peace between humans and invaders is nozomi - they invert!!). 

did nozomi help sirei brainwash eva?

we already know that sirei gives out secret assignments to students (takumi having a (poorly) hidden motive in helping skeptical sdu members, hiruko's dimension travel), that nozomi saw all of her mother's research which helps her 1. develop a healing salve for kyoshika (romance route) 2. develop an counterdrug to yugamu's pheromone drug in the clt route (i may be imagining this? but i think if you side with her she leaves immediately saying she is going to help yugamu develop it) 3. develop a bioweapon with yugamu (campaign 0 when saving ima). additionally her hemoanima manifesting as a healing ability makes out her downplaying her abilities out to be a lie quite clearly. in the clt route it's yugamu and eito that oversees nozomi's brainwashing (?? i forgot...), but it makes sense for sirei to choose nozomi to oversee eva's brainwashing in 2a2, as she is incredibly loyal to the cause on account of her devotion to her mother's cause (not as unstable as someone like yugamu, especially after the eito fiasco)

so if everyone in the sdu was "given their lives as nothing more than a reason to ensure they would battle" (sirei clt route), nozomi's role in the story is to be the unquestioning soldier utterly dedicated to the cause. in tl 2a1 she was ready to release the eito out of conviction that the sdu needs more manpower, which, though eito is no longer around to be allowed on the front lines again, is no doubt still a concern of hers. ergo, yes, she was absolutely brainwashing eva in there, or at the very least helping sirei care for her post-brainwashing - let's see if she comes clean about this (i absolutely doubt it, she's already proven she will keep secret information if she is worried it will impede her ability to fight for humanity)

i'm going to be really mad if the game just bugged out or students' locations are decided at random without accounting for whether a room is currently off limits.