#both obnoxiously funny and underrated shows

[laurrelise]

the topic is extremely skilled and dangerous time-traveling men with unconventional names who came back from the future to do absolutely whatever it takes to prevent the brutal apocalypses they were forced to survive through who are very commonly found covered in blood and also are really blunt but turn out to be overwhelmingly caring and soft

wolf how i love you. five how i love you.

and also come from shows of which they are a fan favorite of. and also only have three seasons. trust

[ryuichirou]

BLLK shipping thoughts

Anonymous asked:

Will you be making a list of your favorite Blue Lock ships and your top/bottom preferences?

Anonymous asked:

Opinions on Ryurin (Shidou x Rin) as a ship?

You know what, since we’re receiving asks about ships, I decided to briefly talk about all of our current Blue Lock ships! I could’ve missed some of them, and ignored some others that I don’t have much to say about, but here are my thoughts for now. Oh, and to see a list of our top/bottom preferences you can check out this post!

Please keep in mind that for now we’ve seen two seasons of the anime, read some manga chapters here and there + 14 chapters of Episode Nagi (Katsu’s read more than that, but). So I am not aware of some developments the characters have in the future, plus haven’t met any manga-only characters for now. I’m mentioning it because I kind of ended up yapping about canon a lot… again. So yeah, what I wrote is obviously a mix of what actually happened in canon + my fujo rambling on top of it, but honestly it’s surprising just how much of the gay shit has actually happened in this title lol

Starting with this map I did with very shaky hands….

Reo/Nagi – what a gorgeous ship; they were actually the two characters whom we were assigned to draw for the event (which prompted us watching the show in the first place), but we weren’t even sure if we’d like them as a duo. We did end up absolutely loving them… but of course, with Reo as a top and Nagi as a bottom; why does this always happen?? But I digress; these two are so delightful, the more we learn about them, the more miserable I get lol Their story has a lot of “wow they went there” moments on its own, but now that we’re nibbing on their backstory a little bit (aka reading Episode Nagi) + stumbling upon some manga spoilers, woah, this ship really is a sandwich of all kinds of gay and all kinds of angst. I think I’ve dropped my sketching plans to draw these two instead at least 3 times already, just to boost our morale lol But drama aside!! They are also very funny together, and we have a huge soft spot for the “an obnoxiously rich guy becomes obsessed with a lazy unmotivated whiny guy” dynamic… I also genuinely feel like they are very good for each other, and both of them are insanely lonely, so now that they have each other they cling to each other very desperately, but in very different ways that ends up confusing them sometimes.

Isagi/Nagi – I am so shocked that this ship is so underrated, come on, bro straight up stole the guy from his boyfriend lol Nagi got so intrigued by Isagi, his feeling can be read as a straight-up infatuation at times. It’s absolutely delicious when paired up with the previously mentioned ship because the drama is really juicy; to be honest, this chunk of episodes is one of our favourites. This awkward aura because the great break-up’d just happened, and then another thing happened that caused these two to get stuck together, barely knowing each other, but still being kind of drawn towards each other. And I love the fact that even after this “stage” was over, it’s not like they became strangers again; they are very comfortable together and understand each other very deeply. I don’t know, they just have this vibe of a ship that could easily hook up and then just as easily go do their own thing/pursue other people. Anyways, whenever they call each other “tensai” and “striker” I bite my hand. I also really love the theme of Isagi being kind of surprised by the gap moe of Nagi-the-genius who is very used to being pampered by Reo and now has to rely on Isagi to help him with all kinds of stuff…

Isagi/Rin – I’ll start with a little anecdote: before we got to watch the Rin episodes and just knew him based on his merch appearances, at some point I said that he is wife-shaped, whatever that means. Katsu watched the Rin episodes before me and found it very funny that I’d call someone with such an awful attitude wife-shaped…… Anyways, I really appreciate the fact that Isagi also looked at Rin once and instantly decided that he was indeed wife-shaped 😭 and by that I mean that Isagi instantly wanted to beat Rin in soccer. If Blue Lock was a harem game, Rin would be the ultimate endgame that is almost impossible to achieve. It’s so fun to watch Isagi trying to approach Rin in different ways, trying to learn more about him, to force himself into his yoga routine, to figure out how to have a good chemistry with him while playing, and ultimately realising that Rin is actually quite childish and maybe a stricter approach would work well with him sometimes… but only sometimes. I also love it when two characters have a bond so obvious that pretty much everyone is aware of it. Ego, Barou, Bachira, Nagi – all of them kind of already concluded that the only one who can tame or at least cooperate with the insufferable genius that is Rin (and all 200 of the vengeful spirits slumbering inside him) is Isagi. The only thing I can say to that is good luck, Isagi. Get that bread.

Isagi/Chigiri – a gorgeous ship that we would absolutely pay more attention to if ReoNagi didn’t appear at the very end of a Chigiri-centric episode, instantly monopolising our minds 😭 I am so sorry, Chigiri… IsaChi’s dynamic has all the beats that we love: Chigiri was pretty much dead inside when they first met, but then wild Isagi appeared and expressed his interest, and then he got pushy, and then he got frustrated with Chigiri not wanting his help, and then he got upset that he made Chigiri upset, and then he got pushy again… it was very cute that he just couldn’t stop thinking about Chigiri’s potential lol And that he ended up being that aggressive push that helped Chigiri to get motivated again. They have that vibe of a ship where some things almost happened, but never did, and the crush still lingers in Chigiri’s heart. But he is a very self-sufficient, mature and frankly proud boy, so he tries to keep himself in check, even though every time they interact the feelings come back. Anyways! I also really love it when Isagi takes care of Chigiri’s injured leg. I want to think that he helps Chigiri with that every time they end up in the same room.

Shidou/Sae – oh my god these two found each other, of course we would love them. They are so perfect for each other and they are so ready to make it everyone else’s problem. Imagine seeing an aggressive beast that literally had to be tased and put into a straightjacket AND a muzzle and thinking ah yes, this is the man, I want this one’s ego. I love how Sae is surprisingly great at both keeping Shidou in check and enabling him, so this dangerous animal stays aggressive and chaotic (Sae loves him this way), but just doesn’t do anything that would cause too much trouble (for himself and Sae in particular of course, who cares about others). Sae is very forgiving when it comes to Shidou’s antics AND his unapologetic horniness, their dialogues during U-20 match are out of this world. They’re over there having conversations about how many times Shidou needs to score a goal for Sae to give him his phone number and for them to become roommates… and Sae doesn’t really seem to mind??? Whatever these two have, it’s fucking working, and once again, it’s a huge issue for everyone around them lol They are too powerful of a couple.

Shidou/Rin – HI ANON WHO ASKED ABOUT THEM! I LOVE THEM AS WELL!!! Or at least, I’m very intrigued by them for now. If Shidou’s chemistry with Sae is perfect, his chemistry with Rin is SO ABYSMAL IT’S GLORIOUS. Poor Rin can’t catch a break, he got hit by this man twice!.. But to be fair, he is also unreasonably mean to Shidou sometimes. I guess Rin is unreasonably mean to everyone to a degree, but there sure is tension between these two. They are Ego’s crackship, and as he was watching them murder each other, he had a “idk what I was thinking with this one” thought 😔👍 Anyways, it seems like I just keep repeating “wowza they hate each other”, but to us it’s a good thing. It’s a very spicy ship… I want to lock them in a room and see how they survive that.

Isagi/Niko – how could we ignore a ship that has a scene in which character A stares at character B while he’s on his knees, defeated and almost crying, and then character A thinks “woah that feels good”. Defeating Niko felt so good that Isagi’s post-nut clarity somehow just made him even hornier and made him reconsider his entire existence as a soccer player… And to Niko this was a very important moment as well, but for different reasons lol I feel like he also has a lingering crush, but he is also very conflicted about it. Also, Niko is a shy boy but also a bit of a dark horse (=a little freak inside), so I like to think about what kind of thoughts he has about what happened between him and Isagi back then. Also, he’s the only one of Isagi’s bottoms who is shorter than he is! Also also, see what I mean when I say that Isagi has a harem? He just invites himself into these boys’ lives, bruteforces his way in their minds, changes them and dips to get the next bitch while also continuing to live in the previous boys’ heads rent-free. No one is safe……

Zantetsu/Niko – damn that one additional time. A dark horse type nerdy boy and a beefy idiot, and surprisingly, they seem to be a very good symbiosis. There is just something so delightful in this combo of Zantetsu who isn’t smart but receptive to others’ advice as long as it makes him look cool + Niko who looks harmless but actually quite cunning and careful with the ways he interacts with others. Somehow it feels like it could lead to some very nice mutual “I’m using you for sex” situation, with both of them enjoying it more than they’ve expected. It’s like they have an unexpectedly good chemistry. I desperately want more of them.

Zantetsu/Nagi – not gonna lie I’m becoming more obsessed with these two as a ship each passing day. I love the little bonding moment they shared in Episode Nagi, and that that conversation made Zantetsu really respect and like Nagi. All it took was for Nagi to actually treat him like a human being and listen to his story… and call him cool, of course!! I love that Nagi also shared his feelings with Zantetsu, and I feel like this is the first time he explained his and Reo’s situation to anyone huh. Anyways, their bond is special, Zantetsu is an absolute chad for saying that he likes Nagi and would only listen to Reo, whom he hates, if Nagi, whom he likes, asks him to do it. In terms of actually shippy shipping, I can see them hooking up surprisingly easily, just because they felt like it. Is there a crush? Maybe from Zantetsu’s side. Would they enjoy having sex? Abso-fucking-lutely. And since Nagi’s team took in Zantetsu after losing Isagi to Rin, you better believe they fucked again the moment they reunited lol

Yukimiya/Nagi – their interaction during Additional Time segments are golden, Yukimiya is such a shady bitch, gossiping with Nagi about everyone, discussing which animals do everyone resemble, and then immediately going “you know let’s stop this conversation” like bitch, you started it! Twice! Anyways, their dynamic is also very fun, with Yukimiya being a gentlemanly nice guy (to his credit, he seems to be less shady than Trey Clover lol) and Nagi… just enjoying being around someone chill for a change? They’re like two introverts enjoying their weird little convos, but still keeping their distance. I also feel like Nagi feels that there is stuff that worries Yukimiya more than Yukimiya thinks. I also absolutely adore how Nagi calls him “Yukki”, it’s adorable.

Isagi/Jinpachi – are you really surprised? Isagi is such a teacher’s pet, it’s like Blue Lock was specifically designed to grow Isagi into an absolute beast lol We love to joke that whenever Jinpachi is ranting about something, Isagi is the only one who actually listens and understands everything, plus keeps thinking and reflecting on it afterwards. Ego Jinpachi out there creating the perfect top for himself, and Isagi is getting all the good grades, surviving and persevering. I also loved that Isagi got to actually yell at Jinpachi at least once lol He respects him deeply, he understands his ideas and develops rapidly, but he would still bite his ass when he’s all worked-up and angry. It’s difficult to explain this dynamic, but it makes so much sense in our heads lol

Isagi/Bachira – this ship punched us in our faces when we were watching Blue Lock for the first time, and I sketched them a couple of times thinking that I better do something fast before more characters come in and monopolise my attention. And it was a good call lol It’s a very good ship that is clearly written like a ship, and I still enjoy their dynamic, but after seeing more characters and seeing more of these two as well, I’d say that they aren’t a ship we’re super into. It’s almost like with Renga?? Like the story is good, but it’s not clicking as much as other ships, I guess. I still wanted to mention them though!

[leprosycock]

do u have any fav book recs!???? love ur literary mind and would love to know if u have any good must reads sorry this is random

thank you!! i don't read nearly as often as i should but i have a lot of books that i love:

the furry trap by josh simmons is a wildly weird, disgusting, and obscene piece of work that i've loved for years. it's satirical and deranged and very darkly funny and his style is so unique. it's a collection of eleven short comics and some standalone illustrations. my favorites are cock bone, christmas eve, and demonwood, but none of them are bad. at least in my opinion. a lot of people think it's just edgy for edgy's sake, but even if it is, it's still really fucking good. i always find that criticism to be so funny because it's only ever flung at media with any kind of sex and violence and taboos in it.

tender is the flesh by agustina bazterrica is one that a lot of people are familiar with, but it's far from overrated. it's about a world in which cannibalism is legal and humans are bred, bought, and sold for meat. a very lonely, broken, divorced blue-collar man begins to form a bond with a specimen despite any physical contact with her being expressly forbidden. it's twisted and stomach-churning and intimate and i love it.

poison for breakfast by lemony snicket is insanely funny and tender and witty and entertaining. it's essentially an unreliable autobiography that follows strings of consciousness and memories and musings as he panics after getting a note under his door that tells him he had poison for breakfast. it's short and sweet and there are so many wonderful poignant lines throughout it that made me close the book for a second and think for a while.

the wasp factory by iain banks is awesome and it's about a sixteen year old boy named frank with a very fragile older brother who's been sent to a psych ward. frank is ruthlessly violent and unstable and he takes all his anger and frustration and bloodlust out on helpless animals, either human or non. it has a really interesting ambiance to it that traps you in both this violent teenager's headspace and this murky, unsettling little scottish village and things just get worse and worse until you realize you can't get out. highly recommend!

someone who will love you in all your damaged glory by raphael bob-waksberg is a fantastic collection of surreal/sci-fi-based stories that have one foot firmly grounded in realism and very human relationships. it's very vulnerable and tender and tragic and romantic. this is the same author who created bojack horseman, so if you're into that show's brand of drama, you'll really love this

i hope you find me: the love poems of craigslist's missed connections by alan feuer is one of my most favorite little coffee table books ever. it's what it says on the tin: dozens of posts from the missed connections section of craigslist are compiled and wrangled into individual poems and it's really fascinating and it makes my heart ache to see all these very real little individual cases of lost love. i think it's really important to study real people just as much as stories that people can craft.

i luv halloween by benjamin roman and keith giffen is a HIGHLY underrated, EXTREMELY early 00s trilogy about zombies, aliens, and a group of really shitty, violent, obnoxious children who get stuck in the midst of global panic around halloween. it's super edgy and indulgent and gory and gross and childish and it's a whole lotta fun. i go crazy for the art style and the general mindless self indulgence of it all

memories of my melancholy whores (memoria de mis putas tristes) by gabriel garcia marquez is a really lovely and flowery novelette about a ninety year old man who's on his deathbed and he believes that true love will help him feel alive again. he manages to find it in a very young prostitute and reflects on what sets her apart from the others. a lot of people call it the spanish lolita, but it's wildly different. really the only similarities are falling in love with a young girl and realizing she's different than you envisioned her to be at first. it's not for everyone, but i think marquez's prose is beautiful. pretty much everything in his bibliography is worth checking out, he's a genius

holy robots by vasilina orlova is a stunning collection of poetry and it uses the ideas of humans falling in love with and forming lives with machines that try very hard to be human but can't quite do it to illustrate real-world relationship struggles. it also delves into other themes of nature and pure romance as it goes along. it's a quick read and it's so worth checking out, i love it to death

arkham asylum: a serious house on serious earth by grant morrison and dave mckean is a standalone batman comic that's VERY worth reading even if you only have a passive knowledge of batman. it's a beautiful piece of work all on its own. the art style is absolutely fucking gorgeous and it's unlike anything i've ever seen. essentially, the inmates at arkham have overtaken the asylum and batman has to sacrifice himself in order to save the hostages. thus, he subjects himself to brutal psychological torture at the hands of the criminals he's put in the asylum himself and he wastes away little by little. it's good!! it's so good!!!!!

stray toasters by bill sienkiewicz is one of the most intense, gorgeous, twisted, and surreal experiences i've ever had while reading a graphic novel. it might take you a couple of reads for it to really sink in because it's not at all straightforward, but it's a fucking masterpiece of art and writing and it really influenced a lot of my own work and the way i tend to approach art. essentially, it's about a lonely, burnt-out detective who gets released from a psych ward to hunt down a serial killer who's mutilating housewives and young children. it's insanely difficult to find physical copies of, so i would personally just read it online.

[the-bau-quinjet]

Can you please do like a sequel of Shut Up where Bucky and the reader team up against Sam????

Oops...

Warnings: fluff!!

Word Count: 1438

a/n: Sorry this took so long! It took me a while to think of a prank that wasn't too terribly mean...

Shut Up!

Masterlist

"Y/N." Bucky whined, his hands holding tightly to one of your own. "We have to do something to Sam!"

You laughed at his childlike behavior. Ever since your first date with Bucky, which went surprisingly well considering how nervous the both of you were, Bucky has been pestering you about teaming up against Sam.

Rather than responding, you pulled out your phone, quickly playing the video of Steve in his Captain America suit rattling on about patience.

"We need a plan first." You laid back on your bed, pulling Bucky along since he still held your hand.

"One: why do you have that video so readily available? Two: I have a plan." He smiled maniacally. "Turn him into a bird."

You scrunched up your face. "One: for moments like this, duh." You answered his first question.

I am definitely 100% in love with her. Bucky's thoughts ran wild.

"Two: I already made you a cat. You need to be more creative." You laughed at his pouty face.

How is he so perfect?

"Like what?" He bounced on the bed, fully embracing the childlike temper tantrum.

"I don't know. We could make Friday only call him Bird Brain for a day. Or make it so Redwing only responds to being called 'toy plane'." You thought about random prank ideas, trying to think of something that would bother him, but still be funny. Bucky looked at you fondly as you listed ideas.

How is she so perfect.

"I've got it." Bucky grinned smugly earning a raised eyebrow from you. "Can you make it so he can only say song lyrics?"

You thought to yourself for a minute before finally nodding.

"Embarrassing song lyrics?" He added, the mischief clear in his eyes.

"Now you're talking. What are you thinking? Early Jonas Brothers? High School Musical? Hannah Montana?" Your smile grew with each new artist you listed.

"Perfect. Now we just have to think of a way for him to eat something we give him."

Bucky was pacing, clearly deep in thought.

"Actually, I didn't need to make you eat that cookie. I could've just turned you into a cat with the flick of a wrist." You grinned at his wide eyes.

"What? Why then?"

"Because. It was more fun to see how paranoid you were about eating anything I gave you."

Bucky pouted, although he had to admit it made sense.

I am definitely in love with this man. You shook your head, trying to clear the thoughts.

"C'mon. We've got to make a plan."

-

You worked your magic on Sam on a day when you knew everyone would be around the compound. He was minding his own business, trying to watch a movie when you and Bucky suddenly appeared.

"Hey, Sam. How you doing?" You asked with a fake air of innocence.

"I'm hot. You're cold. You go around, like you know-" He instantly burst into song, eyes widening. He threw his hands over his mouth, trying to prevent anything else from coming out.

You played it cool, but the twinkle in Bucky's eye easily gave away your prank.

"What's going on? This can't be happening. Don't tell me it's a song!" Sam switched songs, eyes narrowing. He continued singing, despite his clear protests.

"Oh, it's a song." You grinned, leaning into Bucky who wrapped an arm around you.

I love her so much.

Sam shook his head in response, leaving the common area. He figured it would only last a few hours, so all he had to do was avoid people talking to him.

What he didn't account for was Tony's "impromptu" team building night. In reality, you suggested to Tony that maybe the team needed more time together not fighting anyone, and he ran with the idea.

"Alright party people! What should we play first?" Tony gestured to the massive table filled with various board games.

"I've always loved clue!" You grinned, knowing what would come next.

"Clue it is! Who does everyone want to be?" Tony questioned, laying out the various pieces.

"Who will I be? It's up to me. All the never ending possibilities, that I can see." Sam immediately burst into song, surprising most everyone around the table.

"Oh, I wouldn't say never ending, Sam. I think there's only six!" You patted him on the shoulder, a wide smile on your face.

"What did you do?" Steve asked, eyes narrowing in on you and Bucky.

"Oh, don't worry Cap. It'll only last another..." You glanced at the clock, "four hours." Bucky hid his face in your neck to prevent himself from laughing too obnoxiously.

I love him so much.

"Games and a show. I like it." Nat winked at you, always a fan of your pranks since none were ever directed at her.

"What was he even singing?" Clint stared at you, again unprepared for Sam to answer in song.

"Cause we rock. Camp Rock. We rock, we rock on." Sam glared at you, the expression really not matching the joyous music filling the room.

"He can only sing songs from Disney Channel Original Movies or people who were once on Disney Channel." You smiled to yourself, happy with the limits on the spell. "I do believe the last two were from Camp Rock."

"This should be an interesting night." Bruce shook his head, never one to understand the draw of practical jokes.

"That's an understatement." Steve shook his head. He finally had you and Bucky getting along, so of course you'd do something like this.

-

"Moving on." You pointedly glared at Clint, knowing he was about to bring up Budapest again. "Let's play a team game next."

"Charades?" Bucky suggested, trying to keep it simple enough.

You all split into two teams, Sam being sure to put himself against you and Bucky.

"Sam, you're definitely going down." You goaded, trying to draw out another song.

"Hey now, We no longer wait around. My team's stronger like weights now." He started rapping, or as close to rapping as it gets on Disney.

"Oh my God. That's even better than I expected." You laughed so hard, tears sprung up in your eyes.

"Disney raps now?" Tony questioned, also laughing at Sam's embarrassed face.

"Yes. Lemonade Mouth. An underrated film, honestly." You nodded, completely serious only earning more laughs from the team.

I. Love. You. Bucky's thoughts were written across his face, but somehow went unnoticed by you.

-

"That's okay, Sam." Bucky grinned. "Nobody's perfect."

"Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has those days. Everybody knows what, what I'm talking 'bout. Everybody gets that way."

You couldn't stop the smile from forming you your face, although rather than laughing at Sam's embarrassment you were now just enjoying Bucky being happy.

I. Love. You.

-

"I hate you both." Sam cleared his throat, no longer used to the sensation of speaking.

"It was Bucky's brilliant idea." You smiled at him. I love you.

"Well, it was Y/N's brilliant execution." He pressed a kiss to your nose. I love you.

"Dear Lord. I can't take this anymore." Wanda erupted, in a similar fashion to the night you turned Bucky into a cat. "I get it. You two love each other. Now, please! Learn how to control your thoughts!"

You and Bucky were wide eyed, stares flitting between Wanda and each other.

"You love me?" Your voice was soft showing how unsure of yourself you were.

Bucky nodded before voicing a similar question. "You love me?"

"Oops..." Wanda hid behind Vision, trying not to draw anymore attention to herself. Thankfully, all eyes were on you and Bucky.

"I really, really do." You whispered, eyes solely focused on Bucky.

Bucky pulled you in for a kiss, heart bursting with joy. He never thought he'd find someone to love him, let alone someone as incredible as you.

"I love you." Bucky whispered against your lips, kissing you between the words.

"I love you too." You kissed him right back, heart fluttering.

"I liked it better when they were constantly fighting." Sam muttered under his breath, earning a punch in the arm from Steve.

"Let them be. They're in love." He sighed with a happy smile. He couldn't help but think about how much Bucky deserved to be happy.

"I don't know if this is the cutest or grossest thing I've ever seen." Nat commented, eyes still focused on you and Bucky's whispered words and soft kisses.

"Grossest. Definitely the grossest." Clint added on, needing to jump out of the way as you and Bucky took off for your room, paying no mind to the many teammates laughing at you as you passed by.

Permanent taglist:

@averyhotchner @jesuswasnotawhiteman @madewithsebstan

[jodibodie]

I Have Some Feelings

To start let me just emphasize how much I love and adore this show and always will. This was my covid show. Both of my kids loved “Lucifer” and always said I should watch so at the start of covid I binged it and when I say binged, I mean all 4 seasons in a few days and have rewatched so many times I’ve lost count. I think it is timeless, engrossing, original and all around amazing. The writing and the cast were all excellent. The writing was smart and consistently strong and that is so rare.  Funny, sad, poignant, it hit all the notes with very few plot holes or missteps. There is not one episode in the entire series that was not engaging. Even if I didn’t like an episode, it was still well done. What a rarity.

The cast is scary good. Completely underrated. Just all phenomenally talented.  I don’t remember the last time a cast was this strong.  From the core group to both reoccurring and guest stars, the cast was just fantastic.  

Tom Ellis, no words.  The man deserves to choose whatever he wants to do acting wise. He should have people breaking down his door. He can truly do it all and do it all well. He took a character that if portrayed by a lesser actor could have come off as a complete asshole and made him one of the most sympathetic and loveable characters in recent history. Ellis made a crime solving devil, a promiscuous man-child that occasionally breaks into song and the evidence room into a beloved character that has become an icon.  

Lauren German, WOW.  She is just so damn good. She can break your heart one second and have you laughing the next. She makes Chloe real, and people don’t realize how hard that is. Chloe is smart, kind, tough and gorgeous but she’s also an insecure dork.  She’s us and German just brings it.  

DB Woodside I’ve loved since “Buffy”.  He is a phenomenal actor and who knew he could bring the laughs so well? His expressions were classic. Clueless angel indeed. Amenadiel could have been very one-dimensional but because of Woodside’s talent he became fully fleshed out and full bodied.  

I have no doubt Lesley-Ann Brandt has a huge career in front of her.  She took a character that very well could have been hated, a demon and made her into one of the most human characters on the show. Kudos to her for taking a tough role and making it her own.  

Kevin Alejandro is another actor I’ve loved for a long time.  He also took a character who if we’re going to be honest here did so many unlikeable things that he should have been truly despised but because of Kevin’s portrayal he was beloved. Great actor and a terrific director.

Rachael Harris IMO is the downlow MVP.  She was literally the rock and again, with a lesser actress the role could have been a throwaway. The normal human, the sounding board but Harris imbued her with so much more.  Her spit takes, sarcasm and her obvious compassion was what made Dr. Linda an unforgettable character. Once again just perfect casting.  

Aimee Garcia was a great addition. She made Ella a fan fav and put so much heart, joy and sincerity into Ella never once did you doubt that she would prevail no matter what was thrown at her.  Garcia was just fantastic, and I want her skin care regime.  

Scarlett Estevez pulled off the one thing I thought almost impossible.  She took the role of a young child and made it so I didn’t want to cringe. She portrayed Trixie so beautifully from day one that she was a true pleasure to watch.  Even though Trixie was super precocious Estevez never made her obnoxious. I loved Trixie and I have never said that about any child character in an adult show.  She was wonderful and has an amazing career in front of her.

That said, I’ve got some feelings now that I’ve seen the finale and have had some time to digest it all.  I love that Chloe and Lucifer had eternity and I agree that they had to be separated for Chloe’s lifetime. Didn’t like it but it’s the logical path. She’s human, he’s not. The ageing thing alone necessitated them not being together long term on earth and that’s just to start the list. They had to had to be apart for the short term to get their eternity but the duality of Lucifer's ending and Amenadiel's didn't sit right. Amenadiel as God got to have it all. His calling, his family etc. while Lucifer had to give up everything.  I also don’t buy the “If he came up from hell, he could never leave them again” defense.  I call bullshit.  Amenadiel managed, plus, missing out on the day to day is a huge sacrifice and by Lucifer missing out on the day-to-day Rory could still have had the hatred she needed to drive the story.  Popping in for birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc., the big stuff does not a father make.  Not being there for skinned knees, first heartbreaks, and all the little things a daughter needs her dad for can build up tons of resentment.  Boom, absentee father, just like his dad was. That provides all the millennial angel angst you could ask for. I have a daughter; it doesn’t take much.

The Trixie issue was huge for me. Can Chloe see her in Heaven? Will she be able to travel to Heaven and visit Trixie, Penelope, Dan, her father?  Chloe hesitated leaving Heaven in 5x16 because she couldn’t bear saying good-bye to her dad again. It seems as if Chloe sacrificed everything for Rory including Trixie. I want to preface this by saying. I liked Rory and loved the actress. I didn’t however like how it was as if she were their only child.  When Lucifer spoke of family Trixie was not mentioned. Their family day, the same thing. She didn’t need to be there, I get that the explanation regarding Rory would have been way too much to get into but just a mention of her, how awesome it would have been to share this day with her would have worked. It seemed as if Lucifer went from, “I would do anything to protect that little Urchin” to “Trixie who”. Trixie was a character that we watched grow up and she meant something to us. I hate to say this, but the writers did Trixie and the viewers dirty in this regard.

This show was built around a few premises.  Free will, honesty, redemption, sacrifice and family, both blood and made. The ending completely negated almost all of these.  Chloe and their entire family were made into the one thing Lucifer abhorred the most which are liars. Their daughter was brought up surrounded by lies. What did they tell Trixie?  The poor kid just lost her dad, and she was pissed at Lucifer when he went back to hell the first time. Did she grow up hating him because as far as she knew Lucifer left her mom again without saying good-bye and this time it was even worse because Chloe was pregnant.  I get that the actress who plays Trixie had limited availability but seriously. A quick good-bye.

“Hey Urchin, you won’t understand why for a long time, but I have to leave. You know I never lie so I can’t explain why but know that I love you and your mom and one day I hope you can forgive me.”  

A 30 second scene would have worked.

As all the characters learned throughout the series, omission of the truth is just a form of lying and there are always repercussions i.e., Chloe and Father Kinley, Dan shooting Lucifer, Maze finding out about Lilith and even Ella not being told. As far as free will, both Chloe and Lucifer had their free will taken from them in the end. By Rory forcing them to abide by her wishes, their free will was forfeited. It was a huge manipulation on Rory’s part and considering how much Lucifer hated manipulations it just didn’t sit right.

Parents making huge sacrifices I get. Chloe and Lucifer sacrificed everything for their child. Unfortunately for me this sacrifice, the way it was written seemed contrived to pull out maximum and IMO unjustified angst. I love angst.  Hell, this is my favorite show.  I thrive on the angst. But as I wrote earlier, all the anger, angst and hatred towards Lucifer could have been achieved without having Lucifer completely out of the picture. I have two kids and my husband, and I have made huge life altering sacrifices for them as many parents do but being there for the day-to-day little things was what made the difference in their lives and cemented the close relationships we have with them.

“Yeah, dad you were great. Showing up for the fun stuff, always swooping in for the big finish to play the hero then ditching us when things got tough. When Grandma was dying where were you?  Nice that you showed up for the funeral but the six months leading up to it…we needed you and once again you weren’t there. When T got sick, when Jen broke my heart, blah, blah, blah…”

Even the whole Chloe dying scenario. They could have written it that rage Rory traveled minutes before Lucifer got there. Have him pop in right after Rory comes back. There were so many ways to achieve the end game they wanted other than the way they went. It seemed contrived and as if they took the easy way out to get where they needed to go. The Rory rage that was the catalyst for her traveling back in time and Lucifer finding his calling could still have been accomplished without the whole Lucifer disappearing storyline.

Now that I’ve finished my diatribe there’s a couple of additional things I would like to say.  Lucifer is and always will be one of my favorite shows of all time. There are not enough words to describe the comfort and enjoyment this show has brought me. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the producers, cast and crew. You truly created something special.

To the fandom. Please do not let a polarizing conclusion rip apart the fandom. The only other fandom I was a part of tore itself apart so badly that the FBI got involved.  Hence why I waited for 15 years to dip my toe in again. Everyone invested in this show has the right to their feelings.  Debate is fine, baiting and bullying are not. The Lucifer fandom like the show is very special. Without the fandom we wouldn’t have gotten any conclusion so don’t let opposing viewpoints tarnish what has been a magical journey.  

[number5theboy]

Please elaborate on how Five could've turned into the most insufferable character to watch

Thanks for asking me to elaborate on this text post:

@tessapercygranger​, @waywardd1​ and @margarita-umbrella​ also wanted to see a more detailed version of it, and I ended up writing an essay that’s longer than some of my actual academic essays. So buckle up.

WHY NUMBER FIVE SHOULD BE THE MOST OBNOXIOUS CHARACTER IN TV HISTORY, AND HOW HE MANAGES NOT TO BE

Number Five: The Concept That Could Go Horribly Wrong

Alright, let’s first look at Five in theory in an overarching way, without taking into account the execution of the show. The basic set-up of the character, of course, is being a 58-year-old consciousness in a teenager’s body, due to a miscalculation in time travel. Right off the bat, Five is bar none the most overpowered of the siblings; by the end of Season 2, no one has yet been able to defeat him in a fight. He is a master assassin – and not just any master assassin, but the best one there is – and a survival expert, able to do complex maths and physics without the aid of a calculator, shown to have knowledge of half a dozen languages, has very developed observational skills and, to top that all off, he can manipulate time and space to the point where he can literally erase events that happened and change the course of history. And Five knows how skilled he is; he is arrogant, self-assured and sarcastic, and his streak of goodness is buried deep inside. David Castañeda once described Five in an interview as 90% chocolate with a cherry in the middle, meaning that you have to get through a lot of darkness and bitterness before knowing there is a good core, and I think it’s an excellent metaphor. However, Five is also incredibly, fundamentally terrible at communicating with anyone, and, because he is the only one with time travel abilities, the character a lot of the actual plot - and the moving forward of it - centres around. Also he’s earnestly in love with a mannequin, who is pretty much a projection of his own consciousness that functions as a coping mechanism for all the trauma he has endured. All in all, this gives you a character who looks like a teenager, but with the smug superiority of a fifty-something, who a) is extremely skilled in many different things, b) has a superiority complex, is arrogant and vocal about it, and most of the superiority is expressed through cutting sarcasm, c) has one very hidden ounce of goodness that he is literally the worst at communicating to other human beings, d) is what moves the plot along but is also bad at talking to anyone else, meaning that the plot largely remains with him, and e) his love interest is essentially a projection of himself. Tell me that’s not a character who is destined to be just…obnoxious, annoying, egocentric, a necessary evil that one has to put up with to get through this show. There are so many elements of this characterisation that can and should easily make Five beyond insufferable, but the show manages to avoid it, and I’m putting this down to three aspects.

That Trick of Age and Appearance

Bluntly put, Five as a character would not work if he was anything else than an old man in a 13-year-old body. Imagine this character and all his skills and knowledge, but actually just…a teenager. Immediately insufferable. Same goes for him being around 30, like his siblings, all of which are stunted and traumatised by their father’s abuse. If Five, being comparatively unscathed by Reginald to the point where he explicitly does not want to be defined by his association with his father, were 30 like his siblings, it would just take the bite out of that plot point and also give him a lot less time in the apocalypse, reducing the impact it had on him as a person. And making Five his actual 58-year-old self would make him very similar to Reginald, at least on surface level, with the appearance and attitude. Five and Reginald are two fundamentally different people, but having one of the siblings being a senior citizen that’s dressed to the nines and bosses his siblings around in a relatively self-centred way does open up that parallel, and would take away from Five’s charm as a character. Because pairing the life experience of a 58-year-old with the appearance of a teenager gives you the best of both worlds. You get the other siblings (and a lot of the audience, from a glance in the tags of my gifsets) feeling protective and paternal about Five, but his age and experience also give the justifications for his many skills, his arrogance, in a way, and his ability to decimate a room full of people. It’s the very interesting and not new concept of someone dangerous with the appearance of something harmless, a child. This is also where Five’s singular outfit comes in. I know we like to clown on Five to get a new outfit, but I think what gets forgotten often is how effective this outfit is at making the viewer take him seriously. The preppy school uniform is the perfect encapsulation of the tension between old man in spirit and young teenager in appearance. The blazer, vest and especially the shirt and tie are quite formal, relatively grown up. They’re not something we, the audience, usually associate with a teenage boy wearing; it makes Five just a little bit more grown up. But there is also a reason characters in this show keep bringing up Five’s shorts and his socks, because those are not things that we associate with grown men wearing; they’re the unmistakably childish part of his school uniform. Take a moment and imagine Five wearing a hoodie or a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers; would that outfit work for him as well as the uniform does? Would he be able to command the same kind of respect or seriousness as a character? I don’t think so; the outfit is a lot more pivotal in making Five believable than a lot of people give it credit for.

Writing Nuance

The other big building block in not making Five incredibly insufferable is the writing. Objectively speaking, I think Five is the most well-written, and, more importantly, most coherently written character on the show (which does have to do with the fact that the show’s events are all sequential for him), and his arc and personality remain relatively intact over the course of the two seasons. More to the point, a giant part of what makes Five bearable as a character is that he is allowed to fail. He is written to have high highs and low lows, big victories through his skills and his intelligence, but also catastrophic failures and the freedom to be wrong. His superior intellect and skillset are not the be-all end-all of the plot or his character, just something that influences both. His inability for communication has not (yet) been used to fabricate a contrived misunderstanding that derails the plot and left all of us seething; instead, it’s a characteristic that makes him fail to reconnect with the people he loves. This is a bit simplified, as he does find common ground with Luther, for example, but in general, a lot of the rift between Five and his siblings is that they can’t relate to his traumas and he does not understand the depth of Reginald’s abuse, which is an interesting conflict worth exploring. Another thing that really works in Five’s favour is that he is definitely written to be mean and sarcastic, but it is never driven to the point of complete unlikability, and a lot of the time, the context makes it understandable why he reacts the way he does. Most of the sarcastic lines he gets are actually funny, that certainly helps, but in general, Five is a good example of a bearable character whose default personality is sharp and relatively cold, because it is balanced out with many moments of vulnerability. Delores is incredibly important for this in the first season, she is the main focus of Five’s humanising moments, and well-written as she totes the line between clearly being a coping mechanism for an extremely traumatised man and still coming across to the viewer as the human contact Five needs her to be. In the second season, the vulnerability is about his guilt for his siblings, it’s about Five connecting a little bit better to them. There’s also his relationship with the Commission and the Handler specifically – which honestly could be an essay on its own – that deserves a mention, because the Handler is why Five became the man he is, and this dynamic between creator and creation is explored in a very interesting way – their scenes are some of the most well-written in the entire show. And TUA never falls into the trap of making Five a hero, he is always morally ambiguous at best, and it just makes for an interesting, multi-faceted character, well-written character, and none of the characteristics that should make him unlikeable are allowed to take centre-stage for long enough to be defining on their own. I know a lot of people especially champion the scenes where Five goes apeshit, but without his more nuanced characterisation, if he was like that all the time, those scenes would not hit as hard.

Aidan Gallagher’s Performance is Underrated

But honestly, none of the above would matter that much if the Umbrella Academy didn’t luck out hard with the casting of Aidan Gallagher. I think what he achieves as an actor in this show is genuinely underappreciated. Like, the first season set out to cast six adults having to deal with various ramifications of childhood trauma, and a literal child that had to be able to act smart and wise beyond his years, seamlessly integrate into a family of adults while seeming like an adult, traumatised by the literal end of the world, AND had to be able to create the romantic chemistry of a thirty-year-long marriage with a lifeless department store doll. The only role I could think of to compare is Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire, where she plays a vampire child who, because she is undead, doesn’t age physically, but does mentally, so she’s 400 in a child’s body. And Kirsten Dunst had to do that for a two-hour movie. Five is a main character in a show that spans 20 episodes now. That’s insane, and it’s a risk. Five is a character that can’t be allowed to go wrong; if you don’t buy Five as a character, the entire first season loses believability. And they found someone who could do that not only convincingly, but also likeably. As I said, he is incredibly helped by the costuming department and the script, but Aidan Gallager’s Five has so much personality, he’s threatening and funny and charming and arrogant and heartbreaking. He has the range to be convincing in the quiet moments where Five’s humanity comes to show and in the moments where Five goes completely off the rails. Most child actors act with other children, but he is the only child in the main cast, and holds his own in scenes with adults not as a child, but as an adult on equal footing with the other adult characters. That’s not something to be taken for granted. But even apart from the fact that it’s a child actor who carries a lot of the plot and the drama of a series for adults, Aidan Gallagher’s portrayal of Five is also just so much fun. The comedic timing is on point, he has the dramatic chops for the serious scenes, the mannerisms and visual ticks add to the character rather than distract from him, and his line deliveries, paired with his physical acting, make Five arrogant and smug but never outright malicious and unlikeable. It’s just some terrific acting that really does justice to the character as he is written, but the writing would not be as strong if it wasn’t delivered and acted out the way Aidan Gallagher does. He is an incredible asset for this show.

Alright, onto concluding this rambling. If you made it this far, I commend you, and thank you for it. The point of all of this is that Five, as a character, could have been an unmitigated disaster of a TV character. He is overpowered, arrogant, uncommunicative and could so easily have been either unconvincing or completely unlikeable, but he turned out to be neither. It’s a combination of choices in the costume department, decisions in the writing room, and Aidan Gallagher’s acting skills that make the things that should make him obnoxious and annoying incredibly entertaining, and I hope you liked my long-winded exploration of these. Some nuance was lost along the way, but if I had not stopped myself, this would’ve become a full-blown thesis.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Punch Out Wii Boxers Ranked

Thought I’d give my opinion on this since I’ve already expressed biases towards/against certain characters. I will be including Donkey Kong and Doc Louis but not Little Mac (because he is the objective best). The list will go from 15: the worst, to 1: the best. Before I start, I’d like to say that all of these characters are good, well-crafted characters, it really just comes down to personal bias who you prefer. And with that, let’s get started:

15. King Hippo

King Hippo is barely a character. Everything he “says” (there are apparently translations) just boils down to being hungry and he has no personality outside of that. I don’t hate him, but I don’t really care about him. His fight is also pretty boring all things considered. The contender fight is pitifully easy once you know what you’re doing and his title defense fight can go on for a long time and get very monotonous. At least his music’s kinda cool.

14. Super Macho Man

As someone who lives in America, I hate Macho Man with a burning passion. It’s not because I’m “patriotic,” it’s actually kind of the opposite. I’m not offended by his stereotype because it’s mean, I’m annoyed by his stereotype because it’s accurate. I deal with people like this on the daily: in the news. His catchphrases are obnoxious (except sometimes when they’re cut off. That’s kinda funny, admittedly) and he’s egotistical even compared to some of the others. He’s the type of person I actually want to punch in the face so I thank Punch Out for giving me that opportunity but I still hate the character. His match is fine. It’s a bit too easy in both contender and title defense compared to Soda and Bull but hey, at least they tried. His music’s alright.

13. Donkey Kong

Don’t get me wrong, I love Donkey Kong’s inclusion in this game. I think it’s amazing that Nintendo made a match for one of their most famous characters and the fight against him is very unique and challenging to win by KO. That being said, I never really played Donkey Kong so I don’t really have the connection to this character that others do. So yeah, great cameo, not one of my favourite fighters.

12. Bald Bull

Sorry, Bald Bull fans, but I’m not the biggest fan of this raging lunatic. In fact, he kinda creeps me out. People make jokes about Great Tiger being a furry (which he is), but Bald Bull straight up acts like a bull to the point of literally assaulting the poor referee. It’s kind of gross. To that same point, he is also completely shameless about his horrid anger issues which is personally not fun to watch. I get that he was driven mad by the paparazzi (or whatever that cutscene was trying to convey) but it’s still pretty over the top. I’m also not a big fan of his fights. It’s not too terribly difficult in contender mode (except the stupid bull charge) but it’s downright ridiculous in title defense. I firmly believe that his title defense match is the hardest in the entire game, yes even more difficult than TD Soda and TD Sandman. I cannot express with words how much I despise the star punch gimmick. Getting the star punches is frame perfect, making it feel like luck, and getting hit once makes you lose them all. And you need those stars to even knock him down. Seems a bit extreme for the middle fight in the world circuit, doesn’t it?! I was at this fight for hours and was over the moon when I finally managed to beat him. Also, his music kinda sucks. However, I put him over Macho Man because despite everything I just said, I don’t actually hate Bald Bull. I hate his fights but I don’t hate him personally like I do with obnoxious american.

11. Soda Popinski

Oh boy, Drunk Man. I don’t really see many reasons to like him but not any to hate him either, apart from his stupidly difficult fight, that is. I actually find it pretty easy in Contender. There’s a lot of strategies to knock him down really fast and his pattern is pretty basic. As for title defense, did they really need to make it that ridiculously hard? Yeah, there are tricks to make it easier and he has a set pattern but getting into the rhythm of that pattern is incredibly difficult and one slight mistake sets you back to two stun punches. It’s beyond frustrating. And yet the game deems him and Bald Bull to be easier than Macho Man. Why? As a character, Soda is just kinda there for me. It’s fun to make jokes about his steroid soda at least. Also, his music is for some reason one of my favourites tracks in the game. It’s just so epic.

10. Bear Hugger

Alright, now we’re onto the characters I actually like. Bear Hugger is a fun character. He’s one of the more exaggerated stereotypes though I can’t really say for sure whether this one is accurate or not but I’m guessing the maple syrup and hockey stuff at the very least is. I also love the squirrel. It’s implemented into the fight kind of oddly, but it makes his title defense fight pretty enjoyable. It’s a difficult fight but not one I’ve lost recently. The contender fight is fun too, it’s definitely one where I get to spam a ton of star punches. His music is good too. Not much to say on Bear Hugger, he’s fun but I like the other characters more.

9. Disco Kid

Kinda sad that the Wii version only introduced one new character to the roster but at least it was a fun character. Disco Kid’s matches are not a challenge. Contender mode, title defense, he’s one of the easiest fights in the game. He makes up for that by being incredibly over the top flamboyant and cocky, this time in a fun way. I like that he dances throughout his whole fight, I think it’s cool when every little aspect of someone’s match ties into who the character is. Disco Kid is a flamboyant dancer and that is perfectly shown through his mannerisms in the fights. I especially love how in Title Defense, he’s not really bitter or determined to beat Mac he’s just like, “Oh a dance club? This is cool, might as well work this stuff into my boxing routine.” It’s pretty excellent. I’m not a huge fan of disco, but his theme music is pretty good.

8. Aran Ryan

If there’s one thing I’ve seen since joining this site, it’s a lot of Aran Ryan. People on here really love this guy and even many of the YouTubers I’ve seen play this game say he is one of if not their favourite character in the game. Personally, I think he’s a little overrated. However, I do still like him and see why other people like him. He’s sort of a “love to hate” kind of character with him being a complete psycho that’s probably a sadist and a masochist considering how he seems to enjoy being punched and beating the hell out of everyone. It’s fun in a twisted way. His fights are also both pretty fun. Everyone really likes the cheating aspect and yeah, it’s pretty ridiculous that he can literally bring in a weapon and get away with it. However, it also makes his fight stand out from the others. He’s so horrible that he’s just fun to beat up. It’s also the only world circuit fight in title defense that I don’t hate with every fibre of my being. So yeah, fun character, with excellent music might I add.

7. Glass Joe

Here’s another favourite here on Tumblr. To be honest, the fact that people on here liked Aran Ryan didn’t surprise me at all. In fact, it seemed perfectly in character. However, it did surprise me to see how many people liked Glass Joe. I thought he was kind of underrated before but now I see that he’s getting the love he deserves. I love how even though Glass Joe is in every way a french stereotype, he also directly defies the stereotype of the french being quick to surrender. He lost one hundred times and still didn’t give up, becoming determined to defeat Little Mac after earning the headgear. It’s unironically really admirable. Glass Joe’s fights are never a challenge. Contender, title defense, champion’s mode, motion controls, he’s always kind of a joke. However, he is meant to be a tutorial fight for new players and this game gets much more challenging as it goes on, so it’s understandable. They did do a good job at making him more challenging in title defense, but it was still pretty easy at least in my opinion.

6. Von Kaiser

Von Kaiser’s a little underrated in this fandom. Maybe I’m speaking from bias, since I have so many headcanons about him but I really do think he’s a good character. He is just as much of a coward as Glass Joe and isn’t a much better fighter (his contender and title defense fights are both incredibly simple) yet Von Kaiser has a significantly better record than the rest of the minor circuit and even Bear Hugger, with 23 wins and 13 losses. He must’ve gotten those wins from somewhere and I doubt they were all from Glass Joe. That combined with the fact that Kaiser is the oldest boxer in the game (42) makes me think he was once a great boxer but has now passed his prime and refuses to give up, sort of like Glass Joe, but a little more tragic. Regardless, it’s fun to speculate. And I feel kinda bad for Von Kaiser, I mean the dude gets beat up by kids and basically goes mad after being beaten by a seventeen year old boxing newbie. Also, his music is pretty intense despite the fact that he’s treated like a joke by the game. Like Glass Joe, they did do a good job of making Kaiser more difficult in title defense by giving him a one hit KO and plenty of fake outs, though I don’t particularly struggle with either of those.

5. Sandman

Sandman is scary as hell. None of the other boxers really intimidate me, even the one with ridiculously difficult fights, but Sandman is a different story. Everyone else in the game has some kind of silly quirk even when they are serious but this guy is deadly serious about boxing. I mean, they introduce him by showing him beat the shit out of everyone you just faced before, some of which the player may have struggled with. It’s a great introduction for a final boss. His fight in contender is certainly the hardest in that mode and while I didn’t struggle with his title defense fight as much as TD Soda and TD Bull, it was still incredibly hard to beat. And unlike TD Soda and TD Bull, he actually has final boss vibes, so he does deserve his rank (unlike some other characters). Similar to Aran Ryan, his fight also requires the player to be more on offense, at least in my experience.

#4 Doc Louis

Doc Louis is severely underrated in this fandom and just in general. I love how encouraging he is to Little Mac even when he loses repeatedly, I love his silly tips that more often than not are cheesy dad jokes or puns. He’s just a good wholesome dad that loves his chocolate. I love him. Sadly, I have not played Doc Louis’s Punch Out so I don’t really have a perspective on how the fight is apart from videos online but it does look pretty fun, and it’s freaking Doc Louis. How can you not love him?

#3 Piston Hondo

This guy is also kind of underrated, maybe because he’s a bit vanilla? I don’t know, but apart from Sandman, he is undoubtedly the most serious about boxing. It’s actually a bit scary. I mean, this dude can catch a sword in his bare hands and outrun the bullet train, he could easily become champion after Little Mac retires. In fact, for me at least, his title defense fight is the most challenging fight in the major circuit for me. Yes, harder than Bear Hugger and Great Tiger. Those fake outs and speedy Hondo Rushes kept getting me. So yeah, very dedicated to boxing. He’s also just very respectable in general, keeping a calm demeanor throughout the fight and even bowing to show respect. He also doesn’t laugh at you when you get knocked down like literally everyone else does. (Apart from Don, but he still taunts you by asking if you want more.) Yeah, he gloats, but he’s a good sport. It’s nice to see someone who plays fair amongst a crowd of cheaters.

#2 Don Flamenco

Yet another character I’m surprised doesn’t get more attention in this fandom. I dunno, maybe my opinions are just weird. That being said, Don Flamenco was always going to be one of my favourites as he is the only foreign speaker in this entire game I can understand without subtitles. Though even if you don’t know spanish, Don’s character is still very clear and very amazing. Like, I’m sorry, but his contender intro is the best sequence in the entire game. You know immediately what he’s all about and it’s just so beautifully over the top to see this try hard dance his way into the ring with a rose. Actually, “beautifully over the top” is a great description for Don Flamenco in general. He hits every note of the “Spanish man” stereotype in the first few seconds you see him: being a bullfighter, getting all the girls, dancing the flamenco, and just being handsome in general. I don’t know if that last one is an actual stereotype but it’s undeniably true. And none of that is a bad thing. He is a positive figure, if a little cocky, and all of these things that the game could make fun of him for (the NES version certainly does), are actually shown in a positive light. I’m not too fond of bullfighting being shown in that light but it is very popular in Spain so… eh. Also, I do like that Don Flamenco fights like a bullfighter in the ring, baiting you into “charging” or attacking before countering. It’s a nice detail. However, it does make the fight a little too easy. In contender mode, even without doing the infinite, I barely have any trouble with him. He’s easy to get stars off of, his attacks are not that hard to dodge or counter, and if you do the infinite combo, you can destroy him in seconds. In title defense, he is more difficult for sure, but he’s the easiest fight title defense fight in the major circuit. That being said, holy cow is he amazing in title defense as well. He was already over the top in contender but in title defense, after one loss might I add, he acts like it’s the end of the world and becomes completely emo. This could’ve been completely obnoxious or stupid but in my opinion, it makes him very entertaining. He’s just so fun to watch in general, I love his epic music, and I love this angsty telenovela character. Amo al personaje Don Flamenco. El es tan entretenido y guapo. Necesita más amor. Because I mentioned that I know spanish earlier and the first first thing people always ask me is to speak some so there you go. Onto number one.

1. Great Tiger

If you’ve seen my other stuff here on Tumblr, you probably knew this was coming. My very first post on Tumblr, as well as the second, was about Great Tiger and I have tons of pictures of him in my likes. I guess I just have a thing for charming arrogant divas. Seriously, while he’s not as over the top as someone like Disco Kid or Don Flamenco, Great Tiger is a total diva and kind of a show off. He’s always using his clones to glorify himself or taunt you, which would normally be annoying but for some reason, it’s not in his case. And it’s not because I don’t know what he’s saying, the inflection in his voice makes it clear enough that he’s trash talking (and I’ve looked up translations). It’s because Great Tiger has a sort of cold determination, like he is ready to destroy you first, glorify himself after, probably the reason he doesn’t have a taunt, unlike nearly everyone else in the game. He is completely focused on the match and very cool-headed as well. He’s very respectable, even when he’s literally telling you to go drink your mother’s milk. On a side note, I looked up those translations as a kid and I still can’t get over the fact that that is something he actually says. Like, what on earth Nintendo? Still, it’s kinda funny to me. Anyways, I love Great Tiger’s fights. His contender form is fun and I love that intermission scene where he switches places with Doc, showing what a likeable douche he is but his title defense form is my favourite in the game. I really love the magical element, what can I say? The flashing jewel is like a game of Simon put to boxing, I love that he teleports all over the place, the Magic Rush is gorgeous bullshit, and the fight keeps me on my toes but not to the point of being impossibly hard. It’s also fun to experiment with certain elements of the fight, because it can be incredibly varied depending on what you do. just really fun. Whether I do the special knockout or play through the whole fight, I have a fun time fighting Great Tiger. It also helps that his music is spectacular, my favourite in the game. I dunno, those bongos just feel so good on the ears. Great Tiger is also just really interesting in general, and I feel like there’s a lot of unanswered questions about him. How does he have magic? (I know the NES version has an explanation for this but the Wii version does not and is substantially different.) What is the extent of his abilities? Is the jewel the source of his power? It seemed to be directly linked to his corporeal clones in title defense. Is he even of this world? I don’t know, but damn it’s fun to speculate on. I’d love a story just about his backstory, how he got his magic, how he became a boxer, I care about that stuff. So yeah, Great Tiger is the most interesting character in this game, and that’s why he’s my favourite. (I also low-key crush on him, but that’s subjective :)

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my list, it was kinda long, but I have a lot of opinions on this game and this is a good place to put it.

[menshusband]

\\ this is a bit long. skip to the end if you do not want to read it all!

i love Cloudy because with him i would be free to keep a straight face, which others consider “unhappy”, and because i relate to him.

i love Joker because he thinks that what happened to him will happen to anyone who does not smile. not that he cares about others, but since i am in his life, he does anything possible to make me smile without a knife.

i love Bane because he knows what sufferance is, and has a kind heart, thus he would do anything to protect me.

i love Arthur because he is mature and serious, but has an awesome humour at the right moment, always. he would help me focus when there is need to, and laugh when i am down.

i love Benji because he is a technology genius. because he plays videogames and chews a gum during work, yet he is responsible. he is a bit nervous, but i do not blame him considering his job. he would try to keep me out of his work business, “it is too dangerous. i cannot tell you. and then itʼs top secret!11!!” ...but he would give up either to my puppy eyes or my stubbornness. he is definitely a bit underrated, too.

i love Chuck because he is fast. i am a pretty slow person, and i get called out quite a lot because of it. but he would tell me that it is alright, and he would take me on his back and show me what it is like to go that fast. if i liked it, he would help me become faster; if not, he would just let me have some rides every now and then. ... and then he is a dork.

i love Fred because he would make me laugh at any time of the day, in any way possible. he would have success 9/10 times. that one time i would not stop crying, he would just hold me and tell me comfort words, and tell George to shut up.

i love Hermes because he is really caring, friendly, chilled out, always has the right words, and he is fast. he would help me trip on my own tongue less, and would slow down his talking when he sees i am not getting much. he would give me a ride flying at an insane speed, just to be very unfunny because he knows i do not like heights. but he knew that i would like it and that would help me overcome my fear.

i love L because he is a very smart boy. he would help me stop lying completely, even for the small things. not that i usually lie - i actually hate lying - but i do not always tell the whole truth.

i love Lumière because he is romantic. i am not really much, so he would just be the nicest man on earth and offer me to dance, take me to beautiful places in Paris and to stargazing at night. and then he would also teach me french.

i love Marshall Mellow because, although he is shy, this never ever stops him from bringing to an end all of his orders, or anything he starts at all, whatever it takes. he would protect me in any way possible and take care of me.

i love Peter because he is fragile. because he needs to be taken care of, and i want to. i want to help him. because he has a trauma, and it will take him time to overcome it. and i want to be by his side all the way through it. i want to be his comfort anchor for when he wakes up from a nightmare, and he looks for something real to cling on in his bed. i want to help him understand it was not his fault, any of it, and that the spirits are finally gone. that he is safe, with me.

i love Sherlock because he is not an easy one. he has his very own way to think, to act, and i love it. i would do anything he would ask me to, and he would teach me all the things he knows - which are a lot. when he would catch a criminal and we would be home, he would feel guilty not to thank me for my help - even if small; and despite his bad skills in showing affection, he would call me and gimme a kiss on my forehead to thank me.

i love Stanley because he has been through a lot. kind of same story as Peter, but Stan is a bit stronger. i want to help him understand that he is safe now, that IT is gone, and will never come back. that none of that was his fault, and that his life still has got much for him.

i love Timon because he tries his best. he is a free spirit, yet he tries to adapt to his herd lifestyle. he tries to explain kindly why he thinks that he is not where he wants to be, and he always tries to fix his mistakes; yet everyone always sees him under a bad light. i relate to him in a way.

i love tin man because he is kind hearted and extremely caring. he is sensitive and, although he might not be the bravest, he never steps back when it comes to help someone.

i love Tulio because he is realistic. he is rational and always looks for a possible way out of things. he would help me solve my problems and teach me how to be down to earth and think quicker. he is very lucid, and despite how much he is attached to gold, he is always able to listen to his “little voice inside his head” and do the right thing. he is not insensitive.

i love Tschakko because he is brave. he is pretty smart in his own way, and protective as well. he is respectful towards women and always ready to attack someone or use dynamite, even when unnecessary. he would probably try to soften and not to yell as much as he could when i am around, knowing it startles me, but still would give me - kinder - orders to help me not to be too lazy.

i love Marvin because he is literally crazy. he is also really precise. he would definitely teach me how to use a gun and, as opposed to Benji, he would have no problem involving me in whatever his friends and he get caught into. does not mean he does not care about me– as soon as i get hurt, he will go insane and.. yeah.

i love Mickey because he!! is!! my!! childhood!!

i love Miguel because he has a big heart. he is a very human person, and a dreamer, which i really admire; not many people are able to. i love his way of thinking and how he stands for justice always, no matter what.

i love Ryuk because... because?? this is pretty hard to answer lol. he is funny, and.. a shinigami. i know he cares about me and would definitely have a crush on me at some point, but i frankly do not know how far he would go to defend me. but, i do know that he would be interested in anything i do during the day, both as human and as me myself, and would want to know what i want to do with the Death Note.

i love scarecrow because he is damn smart. that is it.

i appreciate Bobo because he is an adorable dork!! he might get annoying sometimes, but i would love to take care of him and patiently explain him everything. ... however, cannot deny that seeing him getting slapped upside the head by Tschakko or Cloudy would crack me up a LOT.

i appreciate Cooky because he cares about the others health!!! he always cooks healthy meals for them and does not want them to skip a meal. he is also a bit smarter than the others, sooo, a tiny bit less irritating..? lmao.

i appreciate Ralphy because he is so neat!!! Sunny is right, he is very nice!! his attempts to be a dwarf in the beginning were so adorable! i am glad his dreams came true and that he got to be a dwarf!!!

i appreciate Speedy because he is hilarious. despite he is a bit slow, i cannot say word to it, because i myself am! and then, he tries his best to stay behind others and help, which is nice.

i appreciate Sunny because he is solar, and always tries to light up everyoneʼs day. he always sees the bright side of everything, which i am.. almost never able to, so he would definitely help me a lot with that.

i appreciate CASE because IT IS SO ADORABLY SMART AND GREAT

i appreciate TARS because IT IS SO ADORABLY FUNNY AND BRAVE

i appreciate the Cheshire Cat because. he is a damn fluff ball, i would love to hug him all day. he is the cutest and obnoxiously clever.

i appreciate Gumball because he is just ridiculous, in a loving way!! he is the best when it comes to dumbassary and thus make me laugh. i am happy i consider him my brother :)

i appreciate Darwin because he is a bit more rational and sensitive, and without him, Gumball would probably be dead a long time ago. although sometimes they might keep me out of their “boys business”, i love seeing them sharing their unique bond.

i appreciate B. B. because he.. alright, give me a second. i ran out of words lmao. i appreciate the fact that he is vegetarian! and i love the brother bond he has with Cyborg. i am glad to think they would involve me in their nerdy projects. also, he would totally let me have a ride on whichever animal i would like hehe.

i appreciate Raven because she is so cool!!! i always wanted her to be my sister. i have always admired her rationality and intelligence. and then!! she is daughter of a demon!! she has super cool powers!! WHAT!!!

i appreciate Cyborg because he is neat!! he would let me watch him fix or create any technology piece he comes up with, and try to include me as much as he can in any project or event that is up!

i appreciate Robin because he tries his best to be a good leader for everyone. he tries to be responsible and focus on saving the city when the others do not! he is not very patient as a leader, but i cannot blame him. i myself am a bit too irascible at times.

i appreciate Starfire because, despite she might look a bit dumb, she is just a nice, pretty princess. she is sensitive and cares a lot about the others, and enjoys living on earth, which i am glad of! she has made enormous progresses since when she came here, considering she was already a teen when she arrived. and then, she has super cool powers too!!!

of course there are many more reasons why i like my f/os, but letʼs just say these are the “mains”.

i have made this long, long post not only because i wanted to give at least a reason per f/o, but also because i wanted to give you all a help. this is a good exercise for you and your f/os both, especially when you feel like you are not very close to them. try to say why you love them, or why you have fallen for them first, and try to include something they would do for/with you. this can help!

[i-want-anne-hathaway]

FREEDOooOooOoooOoM

Finally, a musical I don’t have to feel ashamed to have taken the time to listen to. The Mad Ones.

The cover art for TMO is so pretty. Like, who gave you the right.

I still haven’t watched a boot of TMO despite having access to multiple. And like... Melissa Benoist and Meghann Fahy were in it together

Krystina Alabado falls under what I like to call “The Ariana DeBose Affect,” which is basically when I’m aware that it’s Ariana DeBose singing, but it doesn’t sound like any other role she’s ever been in. Alyssa Greene and Náutica sound nothing alike, but they’re both so obviously Ariana. Same thing with Krystina. Sam and Krystina’s Gretchen sound nothing alike, but are both obviously her.

Freedom makes me nostalgic for a friendship I never had and still don’t

Sam and Kelly are so gay for each other, it’s not even funny. No heterosexual explanation.

The end of My Mom is a Statistician is so much fun to sing, but it also makes me incredibly anxious.

I played “Sam Failed Her Driver’s Test” the day that my sister failed her drivers test because I had forgotten about it.

THE NUMBER ONE WAYYYYYYYYYYYY... golf (@thebeautifulmushroom)

Simple As That is the ideal relationship.

I knew it was coming, and I still wasn’t ready for The Proposal.

Also, isn’t this song about a taco?

There Was A Party is hardly a song, but I love it.

I used “The Mad Ones” as my annotations for English class, and it WORKED

Sam’s so honest that when Kelly says “you’re drunk,” she goes “YEAH!!”

I love how tense “The Mad Ones” is. And this is how fights with close friends go. They have the most personal insults ever.

I MADE COOKIES, BITCH!

Feminism: The Song

I don’t know what’s happening at this point in the show, but these songs are all very pretty so like... yes.

I remember playing Moving On in front of my mom, and she caught onto the plot so quickly. She was like “baby, she’s still dead.”

Sam’s mom is just VIBING off of the sheer THOUGHT of the senior prom.

And when my mom heard the phone ringing at the end of it she was like “oh, honey....” and I was trying not to laugh.

GO TONIGHT IS ICONIC

SAM IS SO GAY FOR KELLY, IT’S NOT EVEN SUBTEXT AT THIS POINT.

Yellow SUV hit me so hard, and I don’t relate to a single thing in that song.

Forever is Run Away With Me and The Proposal combined.

Run Away With Me is so cute, it’s not even funny. Like, who let this man be so adorable.

Drive is such a good song without even trying.

Sam is so sick and tired of Kelly being in her head, and like... I would be to. Even though she’s just Sam’s conscious, Sam knows Kelly so well that even Sam’s version of Kelly is just as obnoxious. That’s called friendship.

I Didn’t Say Goodbye is so fucking sad, but it’s like bittersweet. Like, I’m happy and sad at the same time.

I always get The Girl Who Drove Away and Remember This confused because they’re so similar.

The entire TMO soundtrack is so beautiful, but listening Remember This and Go Tonight hit different

Final Judgement: Severely underrated musical that should be talked about more because the songs are amazing, and I genuinely like all of the characters.

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Top 6 Underrated Comedy Scenes in IPK

Version: Arnav Singh Raizada & Situational Comedy

After a certain Khushi Kumari Gupta entered ASR’s life, let’s say she’s given him many moments to laugh. But sometimes, fate wants to laugh at his expense too. Here are six underrated moments in IPK where life did not give Arnav any lemons to make lemonade. 

1. Banwari, The Dhobi (S3, E10)

The one day Arnav decides to do something right, the entire universe conspires to make everything go wrong. His day pretty much goes like this; Mission “Khushi, I am Sorry” Obstacle #1: Arnav can’t say sorry. Everyone can, but no one helps. Because Arnav never asks for help.

Solution - Just find Khushi. Obstacle #2: Ask Lavanya. Feign ignorance... feign ignorance... doesn’t Lavanya know who I’m talking about? Feign ignorance... she’s taken a vacation WHAT *fuck*.

Solution - Call Khushi

Obstacle #3: Can’t English when Khushi’s on the phone. Also, cuts the call himself, has the Rabba Ve wind, and facepalms himself.  But the moment of this hilarious day that takes the cake is when Arnav instructs JP on whoever is by the door, to send that person to his room.  Arnav (ready with the intense look): I need to speak to you

Someone with a voice that does not give him the Rabba Ve : Yes sir, tell me, anyways I’m used to the [scolding] Arnav (turns dramatically, intensity dead): WHO ARE YOU? 

Not Khushi: Banwari, aapka dhobi.  *sigh* We’re with you Arnav bitwa, we’re with you. Although you shouldn’t have yelled at Banwari ji. Banwari kinda predicted though. 

2. Oh Aman! (S3, E34)

Before Khushi, khushingly, threw the mitti (soil) all over herself which led to the gentle-hot-sexy-eye-blow-dust-shy Rabba Ve; the mitti was in her hands, in his pot, and all the way from Arnav’s room to the living room.

And here was Aman, being Aman, taking every meticulous note of what his sir was saying.

“Okay Aman, I was saying that our delegates are arriving tomorrow at Banglore. Prepare your team and give them-” Arnav notices the soil on the floor “-Mitti?” 

“Foreign delegates ko mitti dena hai, sir?” We should give the foreign delegates soil, sir? 

No Aman bitwa!

“Oh Shut up Aman!”

This moment is outright hilarious and one can literally see Aman blurting out the first thought in his head - and it’s too late - before he gets yelled at by Arnav.

Poor Aman though;

ASR: *asks for confirmation by asking Aman to repeat*

Aman: *repeats*

ASR: *says something stupid*

Aman: *repeats?*

ASR: Oh shut up *I was commenting on something you have no idea and I expect you to understand my stupidity as you are more worthy than me in several scenarios and I don’t think you are human*

3. The Newly Shadi Shuda Arnav Singh Raizada (S6, E31)

When Arnav Singh Raizada got hitched (more like forcing a woman to elope with him), one expected many hearts to be broken. After all, the kunwara krorepati - bachelor billionaire - was off the market! But the one heart that I never expected to be broken by Arnav’ marital status, was of Shukla ji’s! Alternating between an Arnav who had no idea that man before him existed, and the canteen waala who believes he is an intrinsic part of Arnav’s life - it is one of the funniest scenes in the show. Shukla: Sir, I was just gone for a day and-

ASR: Who the hell are you?

Shukla: Sir I’m Shukla, the canteen waala *cue ugly crying* I AM THE ONE who brings your daily morning tea, without sugar, and your daily evening coffee, without sugar, to you.

ASR: *invoking Kanan Biswa from MPKDH Pretentious Movie Review* Toh problem kya hai?

Shukla: Sir that’s exactly what I’m asking, if there was an issue with *sobs*

ASR: Come to the point

Shukla: Nobody wants the canteen food, they’ve all found a new lunch service *sobbing continues* This provides me the bread and butter for my home and YOU destroyed-

ASR: What the! What did I do?

Shukla: YOU. GOT. MARRIED

ASR: I got married, how is that a problem to you?

Shukla: *sobs and leaves*

ASR: Sabki problem kya hai yaar! it’s awesome seeing ASR say yaar Crazy people.

*If this scene does not make you laugh, I will be extremely judgmental of you* 

Also whoever played Shukla ji, your crying was epic. 

4. Presenting Lakshmi Nagar, by Manorama Raizada (S7, E1)

There’s one thing about going to your in-laws house, there’s another thing of somebody frightening you to no end about it.

Manorama and Arnav have the strangest friendship - they are both well aware of the other’s faults and are not hesitant to use those faults - but somehow believe the first thing that is out of their mouths.

This scene might have not been funny, if Arnav was not straight up terrified and believing everything Mami ji said (until she would say something completely obnoxious). One can see that Arnav literally hangs on every word Mami says *lol*

Arnav: *can handle a fashion empire, a sleazy brother-in-law and millions of rupees*

Mami: *describes food floating in oil at his in-laws house*

Arnav: *nearly shits his pants*

This scene truly works wonders because of the fantastic acting and chemistry between Barun Sobti and Utkarsha Naik.

5. Khushi’s Dream Man, Not Arnav Singh Raizada (S7, E3)

Arnav knew Khushi liked Salman, enough to put a poster in his room to annoy the hell out of him. But here he sees that she loves Salman. Honestly dreams about marrying him - in a cheaply cut out poster of him and her in a palanquin.

And even though he has been in her room several times before, this is the first team he notices the little things about her.

It is cute and hilarious because in one second Arnav has five immediate opinions about her.

Arnav: I have to see Salman here, too? That too six times?

Arnav: Certified crazy… wait… what’s that

Arnav: A wedding palanquin with Khushi and… what… Salman?! WHAT THE?

Arnav: SHE ACTUALLY DREAMS OF MARRYING HIM?

Arnav: She’s crazy, childish but adorable, loveable and oh my fuck this little cutie patootie asdfghjk ahh I need to stahp;

The mental ‘what the’ was loud enough to shatter the walls of Gupta house.

Also, Barun, you are a treasure.

6. Never Underestimate the Power of a Common Belan (& Bua ji) (S8 E9)

I cannot begin with what I love about this specific episode. It is AMAZING to see Arnav get roasted (sorry bitwa), especially by his in-laws for a very valid reason.

He forgot his wife’s birthday. And he realised that. While yelling at her. In her home. In front of her family *slow claps*.

The hilarious series of moments begin from Arnav stating he doesn’t want to eat, and Bua ji (oh I love her in these episodes) just comes in front of him - stares at him - and challenges him to leave the house without eating. #ToughLove #BuajiRoxx (Abha ji, you are amazing)

The day really isn’t cut out for Arnav. It isn’t.

How Not To Celebrate Your Wife’s Birthday  - Arnav Singh Raizada

On the night before her birthday, call her the biggest mistake of your life (don’t worry, if she wants to leave the house have something in handy to blackmail her with to stay back).

On the day of her birthday, yell at her, preferably in her house, where her family is present.

Oh, you still don’t know it’s her birthday.

Try to say h-hha...happ...ha

Don’t refuse lunch. Bua ji has a powerful belan.

Tell your wife hh..hh-hhaaa-- happy singh?

Notice what she’s missing, and buy the replacement (especially one that does not suit her style nor necessities)

Don’t attempt to pacify the family.

Eat 584219 puris, no questions asked.

Then look at your wife, ask for…. water.

Continue eating the puris.

DON’T ATTEMPT TO FLIRT IF YOU CAN’T GO BEYOND HA--HA--

Get served more puris. Win the family’s heart, oh fuck, not your wife’s though.

Give her the gift, selected and signed by your assistant. Oh, and don’t forget to say ha-ha---handsfree?

Act surprised when; she doesn’t believe the gift is yours, uses the bag what several middle class people use bags for, gets a heart attack on the price.

Oh don’t mention the price of the gift.

Forcibly feed cake, cut the cake, and attempt to flirt when she’s absolutely not in the mood.

Kiss her and give her the one meaningful gift, when she’s asleep.

Realise that you’ve fucked up and you’ll fuck up further. It’s a good thing you married her (oh shit and reminded her about the contract) and your cousin is her friend who can help you for the rest of your life.

With sincere What Thes, ASR.

Penned by NK. So that’s it for today - hope you all had a fun time reading this! And a big hug to all those who inspired me (you know who you are).

A big thank you to the scriptwriters and creatives for coming with these wonderful moments - comedy is one of the most difficult things to write!

[quirkless-and-embarrassed]

Todoroki Shouto

I felt like doing a character meme!

Favorite thing about him:

Is it cheating to say everything? It is? Okay… I love how he’s painfully kind while also painfully bad with people. I love how he swore not to use his fire half, and he took that oath so seriously that he felt pulling Midoriya aside to apologize and explain (in depth) was necessary. I love that his hand trembled when he went to see his mom—especially that he was so afraid of being like Endeavor, he couldn’t bear to show his face to her for years in case she mistook him again. I love how he learns from his mistakes, whether it’s combat-related like blocking his field of vision against Stain or emotional like realizing how his spiteful focus on Endeavor has blinded him to the needs of people around him. I love how he doesn’t feel the need to posture and act like he has the answers: he can openly admit he doesn’t know and that he needs to reflect more to find the right path for him. I love how rude he is. I love how he unquestionably leapt to Midoriya and Iida’s aid in Hosu. I love his fight against Midoriya.

Least favorite thing about him:

Hmm…most of my problems are with Horikoshi, not Todoroki. I like that Todoroki’s reaction to Endeavor vs the nomu was complex, that he was afraid for Endeavor, cares about him, and is ambivalent about the idea of Endeavor’s “redemption,” but I wish his love for his dad had more of a foundation—from what Horikoshi shows us, I have no idea why he cares about Endeavor other than a vague, dissatisfying “he’s my dad” feeling. Why are Todoroki’s feelings more complicated than flawless loathing? What’s the basis for his ambivalent affection towards Endeavor? I wish I knew more.

Okay, for about Todoroki specifically in-universe…I guess I wish he would talk a little more. He seems like he struggles with finding a middle ground between saying nearly nothing and oversharing.

Favorite line:

That’s a nasty scar you got there *SLUUURP* and are you All Might’s lovechild. I also loved it when Todoroki glared dramatically at Endeavor and then failed hard at introducing himself to the kids.

…And I love the line where Bakugo stridently claims no, he will not tell stupid Deku his brand-new, top-secret hero name, and Todoroki cluelessly asks, “Could you tell me, then?”

BROTP:

Midoriya, Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, Iida—I think those relationships really speak for themselves <3

This fic made me love Todoroki and Kaminari, please give me Todoroki working on his sense of humor and he asks Kaminari for help, only to repeatedly and ignorantly roast Kaminari while attempting to learn.

Also, Asui and Todoroki are really underrated; I feel like they’d have understated but interesting chemistry. They’re both exceptionally blunt, and unlike some of the others, Asui is perceptive+grounded enough to notice how awkward and uncertain Todoroki is (instead of the coolest, handsomest boy in class image). I’d LOVE to see them talk about their siblings, since Asui is the oldest and she takes care of her mini frog siblings, and Todoroki is the baby of the family who’s trying to figure out his relationships with Fuyumi and Natsuo (and eventually, Dabi). Oh, and Asui has more respect for authority than Todoroki does, so also seeing them clash over that would be interesting.

Or! Maybe Todoroki finally, accidentally catches Hagakure in one of his area ice moves and feels really bad about it, so Hagakure teaches him to watch out for her by making a game out of sneaking up on him. She also exercises some teenage flirtation in his direction and he has no idea.

Or imagine Jirou trying to figure out if Todoroki has feelings for Momo and accidentally becoming friends as she susses him out and realizes he’s an irredeemable dork instead of ice prince badass. She’s appalled he doesn’t know much about music!

OTP Rarepairs:

Todoroki/everyone basically, so it’s more interesting to talk about my todo rarepairs than run of the mill ships. 

Todoroki/Shinsou is cute…they both enter class 1-a with the attitude “I’m not here to make friends” and get hit with a match versus Midoriya in the Sports Festival—oops! They both became heroes partly from antagonistic spite, to defy Endeavor / the stereotype of brainwashing, which throw long shadows over who they fear they could become, and despite being on the quiet side they’re both pretty dramatic. Idk much about Shinsou’s backstory, but he definitely has a bit of a depressed, wary aura about him together with his fiercely idealistic, “I will never be like that” attitude, a combination that would resonate with Todoroki.

Probably at first Shinsou would be pretty cold to Todoroki, since even after being accepted into class 1-a he’d have some lingering resentment for those who are naturally blessed and admission was a slam dunk, and, in an effort to prove himself against the quietest of the strongest students, he’d make it his mission to provoke+brainwash Todoroki. Despite himself, Shinsou gets attached as he tries to figure Todoroki out, and he realizes the sorts of obstacles this “naturally blessed, slam-dunk admission” student had to overcome to get here.

In short, I’m a sucker for it ok, brotp or otp i’m down, but also in this case the romantic element of seeing themselves in each other gets to me bad.

Second rarepair, Todoroki/Hawks—hear me out ok!! These two would have the funny elements of Hawks/Endeavor but without Endeavor’s grossness. Even after he makes pro, Todoroki admires Hawks as the number two hero whose playful, casual MO is radically different from his own, more solemn style, and Hawks delights in being obnoxious and pokes fun at the straightforward, a bit dense Todoroki every opportunity he gets. Todoroki recognizes Hawks’s playful demeanor and knows he’s joking, but…being a dork…he doesn’t know what to say, so he just responds with total seriousness. Hawks is perceptive enough to know Todoroki noticed the joke, and Hawks’s awareness of that transforms Todoroki’s awkwardness into a dry, deadpan sarcasm, and the two of them can actually, like…have banter.

Working with Hawks semi-regularly, Todoroki has to rise to the challenge of meeting Hawks’s quips with enough insight and empathy to intuit the bleaker truths behind Hawks’s facade as this guy who doesn’t want to work too hard. Todoroki grew up as Endeavor’s tool, Hawks grew up as the hero commission’s tool; Todoroki responded with defiance, Hawks responded with salty compliance; Todoroki prioritizes his personal moral compass over the law/government, Hawks prioritizes the government over both his moral compass and the law; and Todoroki admires All Might, whom Hawks professes not to be so fond of, while Hawks admires Endeavor, knows Dabi, and all the obvious issues that brings up—so I think these two have tons of common ground to build a rapport and also clash with each other in ways that would be interesting for their development. For example, Todoroki can tell Hawks it’s your power and encourage him to take hold of his own destiny instead of being used, and Hawks can help Todoroki work on the shortage of social acuity he inherited from Endeavor.

I love the brotp but the otp has such comedic potential fused with such tragic potential, like by taking hold of his fate Hawks makes some choices Todoroki can’t forgive, and by helping Todoroki learn to connect to people Hawks opens him up for a world of pain when things go south, I can’t resist.

NOTP:

As long as the execution is good, I’m good. A ship that I hate in one person’s hands, I might love in another’s.

Random headcanon:

Todoroki is the #1 cockblocker in Class A. Nobody kills romantic tension like Todoroki wandering in, oblivious to what he’s just interrupted.

Also, Fuyumi gave him The Talk.

Unpopular opinion:

Hmm…not sure how unpopular this is, but while Todoroki understands that Endeavor abused Rei, but I don’t think he understands that Endeavor abused him too. Clearly Todoroki understands that it was bad, but now he’s one of the best students in one of the best high schools in the country instead of on a psych ward (Rei) or in the ground (Touya), so he doesn’t realize just how bad it was. Sort of a, “I was strong enough to take it, so it wasn’t really bad, not like how he was to my mom.”

Also, I love tododeku and I love dadzawa, but I’m frustrated by the number of fanfics that portray Todoroki as meek and crushed under Endeavor’s boot, in need of rescue.

Okay, one last one, because I’m not sure how unpopular any of these actually are. I think Todoroki is actually pretty anxious to fit in with his peers? Like he seems pretty aloof and doing his own thing, but I think it’s more due to uncertainty over what to do than because he’s that naturally withdrawn.

Song I associate with him:

Unbreakable by Miracle, Ember by Katherine McNamara, and Brave by Riley Pearce come to mind.

Favorite picture of him:

OKAY HERE ARE A FEW

VS Midoriya – Todoorki’s whole awakening, self-actualization sequence is beautifully, beautifully animated. I love the flashes to black and white and the graceful, profound arc of Todoroki raising his left hand.

Ch43 – His haunted expression when he extinguishes his fire, forfeiting to Bakugo.

Ch63 – He looks so sweetly earnest when he realizes he screwed up by disregarding Yaoyorozu’s opinion, and he immediately takes action to fix it.

Ch112 – His badass expression when he and Inasa wordlessly team up.

Ch164 – His sour, cross expression when Endeavor embarrasses him.

I had to make some painful choices on which scenes to leave out, but I think five is enough.

I’ve also done these questions for Bakugo, Uraraka, Endeavor, Amajiki, Sir Nighteye, and Shinsou!

[dansiere]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @breselin, & @citialiin; thank you for the tag! I was planning on stealing it. tagging: @rosiqe, @noirtux, @goldgliitters, @ndeavor,  @reminiscentsky, @battleshell, @ettards & whoever else wants to do this. Just steal it & tag me. -- go wild.

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [loosely affiliated mainly due to the fandom’s size. I am quite open to crossovers of any kind, really even if it takes me a while to open up.]

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. [she is one of the deuteragonists; has been around since the pilot & while she has been sidelined during the epilogue, she was usually at least around with her story arc / actions having a huge impact on the overall story as such.]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [I guess so? Then again, that’s an objective statement so I am just? Assuming? I personally find her general aesthetics to be quite amazing; she is a dance battler, graceful & elegant; a ballerina with a classical theme that runs through her design & attitude like a red threat. I have a weak spot for stuff like that.]

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [surprisingly, Pearl is considered to be the strongest non-fusion Crystal Gem according to the show (until Lapis Lazuli comes around). -- I assume prowess wise Pearl is high up next to Garnet & Rose whenever she can actually get her crap together due to having fought countless battles &, most importantly, survived the war in which she fought & shattered opponents thrice her size.]

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [partially yes, partially no. She is controversial for sure but just as popular. At some point, the show delved deeper into her issues & actually had her mess up quite severely; the fandom’s reaction was so harsh that the showrunners had to interfere by “apologizing for making her human”. Pearl has always been a target for extreme criticism; some of it justified, some just straight down ridiculous.  -- It’s easy to forget what kind of complexity a character can offer when her resolution arc happens literally ten episodes before the show ends.]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. [Pearl becomes Steven’s guardian / mentor after the death of his mother Rose Quartz & can later be considered his stand-in mother alongside Garnet. It is safe to say that her actions have influenced Steven the most, both negatively & positively.]

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO. [she earned herself the title ‘The Renegade’ during the war for being the first (& arguably only) pearl that broke out of her conditioning; she used to be a wanted criminal / traitor to her own kind for 5000 + years until her record was cleared upon the beginning of Era 3 (aka official end of the Gem War). She is still being referred to as ‘The Renegade’ now & then; while she used to be proud of the title she has grown to resent it a lot these days.]

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [it depends on who you ask; Homeworld Soldiers? Well, they despise her; she is a defective Gem & a war criminal. She stands for all that is wrong with the rebellion; I mean a pearl who refuses to serve & calls herself an individual? a warrior? THE SCANDAL!! Some soldiers are afraid of her, call her ‘Rose Quartz’ terrifying renegade’, even. However, in her ranks aka the rebellion, she is being seen as a silent heroine. A celebrated war hero, Rose Quartz’s right hand & sole confidante (some even whisper that there is more between them).]

How strictly do you follow canon?  — uh... well. Not really but... kinda? Steven Universe’s canon is messy & occasionally QUITE inconsistent. -- while it gives you vague details, some lore can best be compared to a gaping void. Thus my reason for partial divergence isn’t lack of good character writing (because Pearl is very, very complex even on screen), but rather inconvenient lore holes & SU’s habit of leaving important facts uncommented, “unshown” or just stuck between the lines. While I don’t mind deep analysis, some of those “buried facts” fly other people’s heads which leads to terrible, terrible fanon takes. -- in order to distance myself from that, I usually take canon & expand it with my own headcanons & metas based on lore / show analysis. I often alter / cut what does not fit my narrative BUT I always root my stuff in actual canon occurrences.

     Sometimes, I just straight down change certain things that canon messed up in my pov. For example, in order to make it explicitly clear that she fell in love & rebelled on her own volition (even if it has been confirmed like ten times by now), my Pearl is around 1500 years older than the original & (in)directly served White Diamond before being handed to Pink (not the only reason for that change but well I will elude on it eventually). She was a default pearl with no customization & usually spent most of her time with organizing matters in the palace until Pink accidentally broke her customized pearl; Pearl was then 'poofed’ & handed over; she possessed a more sensible personality & a strict rule protocol that was supposed to help her “raise” Pink Diamond into the ranks of a ruler. Most other changes are rather minor but very important or essential to my portrayal (for example whenever “A Single Pale Rose” is concerned: Pearl suggesting the “sealing of the secret”, her not wearing the dress from the beginning, her not calling Pink “my diamond”, her arguing with Pink long before the fake-shattering took place, etc etc.); the epilogue series is another can of worms I will get to eventually but lemme just say I didn’t really like the way Pearl behaved / the plot-bound ooc-ness she sometimes yielded to & other stuff. 

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  well, she is a lesbian space rock from a strange universe; whose body is basically a manifestation of light? She is probably the most passionate being you will ever meet. -- if you are looking for a speedrun through human history, she is your gal. If you need someone to beat up some bullies, she will gladly come & smack sense into people; if you want to learn everything about Gemkind, sit down & listen because she won’t stop talking any time soon. 

     By definition, Pearl is a good person; the extreme loyal kind, absolutely & helplessly dedicated to a cause. She wears most of her emotions on her sleeve, comes off as genuinely caring, protective & trustworthy. She is empathetic & observant, she will always be there for you in one way or another. She is smart, loves to read & indulges in the higher arts such as (romantic) poetry, singing, painting, music (violin, piano, bass) & dance (predominately classic ballet / waltz but she has grown rather fond of jazz lately). Her knowledge about Earth & all that lays beyond is vast & if you ever want to see whatever is out there, she is the type to take you on a space tour with no questions asked. She fences, has learned to wield a lance, can engineer very well, has a very peculiar but... sorta adorable kind of humour that can either be hella obnoxious or super funny. There is no in-between. Pearl loves science, baking, housekeeping, ice-& roller-skating & is more than willing to take people along whenever she visits the rink. If you ask her for advice, she will gladly give it; if you need help, she will be the first to raise her hand. Pearl is orderly, has a strong sense of justice & a fierce, dedicated kind of resolve. 

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  Pearl. Is. A. Mess. No questions asked. She is an introverted, nervous, neurotic, grief-- & trauma riddled mess who loves to pretend & rationalize things to death. Her self-esteem is abysmal, she is extremely jealous, obsessive & possessive [to the point where she straight up murdered men just because they dared to be around her girlfriend]. Her mind is a compartmentalized mess of repressed memories & heavy, untreated cptsd woven into it; Pearl lives too much inside her head & gets overwhelmed by her emotions far too easily; she feels too much all at once & lets her temper get the best of her. 

     She is self-centred, does not seem to understand that words & reckless actions hurt people, believes that only she deserves to grieve Rose & willingly destroyed relationships just to soak in her own misery; self-destruction is her forte & she will indulge in it no matter the consequences. She is often high-strung, judgemental, always has to be right, overachieves & overdoes whenever a chance is given. -- she can be petty, arrogant & desperate for validation. --  Needless to say, Pearl is the kind of person that pretends to be fine for years but once she cracks she reveals that she is anything but. -- she cannot move on, hates men, & just is a lot to deal with. Getting in touch with her means you run the risk to get dragged into her mess, whenever you want it or not. 

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  first & foremost, my love for complex, purpose-driven female characters. I am a sucker for the “introvert, plagued lady” type & once parts of Pearl’s past were revealed during Season 1 I was sold. Pearl seemed relatable to me, extremely human & raw in her behaviour. While I love most of the SU cast equally, Pearl just wouldn’t let me go. Her aesthetic is amazing, her past intriguing. -- her connection to ballet & classical music, her elegant & graceful design just spoke to me. 

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  music. music. oh, and music. Poetry, long walks (I am not kidding), analysis, meta & hc writing, discussions with writing partners or my rl partner @rosiqe.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? [ despite my emo peculiar take on the character, I do hope that people hear her voice whenever they read my replies. ]

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / SORT OF? [ I wish I could post more but I am very, very slow & a perfectionist at heart. -- I try to compensate for my lack of actual hcs by rambling in my tags. Most part of the time said ramblings include personal headcanons or analyses of specific scenes that include personal takes on pivotal situations; while I gather & write them down eventually, it can take me a long time to get stuff done. -- it is easier for me to jus blabber on & on in the tags. ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ all my ask replies are drabbles, ngl. ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / SORT OF? [... a sore topic. While I love my headcanons & have gotten quite proud of my writing over time, I constantly doubt myself regarding the “ic”-ness of my responses. I like to believe that I am doing rather well, but I am not confident, no. ]

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. [ it took me a long time to develop my style; while I always struggle to believe in my portrayal I am quite confident in my writing as such. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but in general? I am proud of it. ]

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. / SORTA.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  Well, yes. As long as it is the constructive kind. I love receiving feedback, may it be negative or positive. I will most likely try to discuss criticism with you; aka if you (i.e) tell me that Pearl shouldn’t have (C)PTSD, I will deliver canon proof & state my reasoning for my decision to implement it in my canon, etc. What I will not do is tolerate character hate or unreasonable hate towards my writing. Be assured that I will never headcanon something that has no solid footing in canon.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  ABSOLUTELY. Send me random hc / meta asks, I beg you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure. As stated above, I will probably discuss stuff with you. The chance of me dropping a headcanon however are rather low.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  Hm... it depends on what they don’t like. If it’s my writing, well, why are you following me to begin with?? If it is my take on things... well again, why are you following me? I stated in my rules what you should expect & that I will not water down specific aspects of a complex character. Disliking my portrayal is fine since I know that my kind of writing / analysis isn’t necessarily everyone’s tea but... again, why would you keep following me?

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  um. Not... well? While I will never excuse my muse’s actions, I dislike groundless bashing. In regard to Pearl... well. As stated above, I expected backlash the second I created this blog. Pearl is one of those characters the fandom either loves or hates; her canon relationship to Rose was branded toxic by a ton of people, people call her uncaring, salty, insane & straight up manic, she seemingly has no redeeming qualities, she is a bitch, too perfect (LOL) or arrogant & apparently has no character? I love it when people say stuff like that because... did we watch the same show? Is there a version of SU I don’t know? Please tell me, I wanna see it for myself! Some hot takes in this fandom are atrocious & make me want to commit a crime. 

     -- but I digress. I have spent too much time in her tag in 2014 + & I have seen quite the fights over the most ridiculous things; Pearl, in particular, got quite the flack for stuff that eventually got resolved in season 5 [which, again, was way too late but well]. In the end, clowns will be clowns, no matter what you do. I just don’t get why you would follow someone if you hate their character to begin with.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  yes, but please don’t be rude about it. I am German, English is my second language. I am currently learning Swedish / improving my Swedish so mistakes can always happen. Additionally, I am someone who posts her replies in the middle of the night & while I proofread a lot & most likely fix posts after I posted ‘em, some mistakes can still slip through. 

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  ... I like to believe I am but I know that I am overly passionate & I can come off as too strong or too fierce sometimes. I can be too much, I can be too excentric (I’m a Scorpio, Karen); I have strong opinions in regard to my characters & I will not hold them back. I criticise shows mercilessly & I will plough through canon as much as I please. Stans & I usually don’t get along. HOWEVER, I am a meme. I love lame jokes, I am awkward, & sometimes very, very insecure. In the end,  I just wanna talk about my favourite characters & develop sth wonderful. I keysmash unironically, I use old memes unironically. I mean I have been writing for ten + years & I am about to smooth sail post the 24 age border aka I will turn 25 soon which renders me old according to tumblr standards. I am just here to have fun before the staff comes to lock my account down due to my status as an rp-senior. -- yeah... that is the kind of stupid ass humor I mean. I digress but... please, I am an awkward, rambling mess, just hit me up via dms & you will see what I mean. 

[goodticklebrain]

Q&A August: Kevin Condardo and Dan Beaulieu

It’s the final installment of Q&A August! I hope you’ve had fun meeting some of my Shakespeare friends. I know I’ve had a lot of fun asking them these questions, and I’m definitely going to do this again some time, as I have SO MANY MORE cool Shakespeare friends for you to meet. But for now, let’s turn to my closers, my last and least, Kevin Condardo and Dan Beaulieu, the bros behind one of my favorite Shakespeare podcasts: No Holds Bard!

I was skeptical about No Holds Bard at first. Launched in 2015, it appeared to be two white dudes yelling about Shakespeare at each other, which did not particularly appeal to me. I didn’t even start listening to it until I met Dan and his partner in crime, Christine Penney, in person at the Shakespeare Theatre Association conference in 2016. Tousled and bewhiskered like a pirate, Dan was overwhelmingly brash, loud, unruly, obnoxious, insufferable… and somehow inexplicably charming. After meeting him, I finally started listening to No Holds Bard and found that the podcast was also brash, loud, unruly, obnoxious, insufferable… and somehow inexplicably charming.

Two things are immediately apparent upon listening to No Holds Bard: Dan and Kevin (his slightly less unruly and obnoxious co-host and the brains of the operation) both know their Shakespeare and love their Shakespeare. Their highly entertaining arguments and bro-y banter are backed up with serious knowledge of Shakespearean text and performance, and, in spite of their best efforts to contrary, you can actually learn a lot from them. Also (and this is important) they regularly make me laugh out loud.

In 2017 Kevin and Dan invited me to be their first ever guest on No Holds Bard. With some trepidation, I agreed and discovered that Kevin and Dan in real life are EXACTLY THE SAME as they are on the podcast. Recording with them was a blast, and since then I have thoroughly enjoyed keeping up with the podcast (occasionally falling months behind and then frantically trying to catch up) and interacting with them and other No Holds Bard listeners (a.k.a. Bardflies) on Twitter.

And so, it gives me great pleasure to present that charmingly insufferable duo, the joint top bananas of No Holds Bard, Kevin and Dan!

1. Who are you? Why Shakespeare?

KEVIN: I’m Kevin Condardo: host of the NO HOLDS BARD podcast (The Shakespeare Podcast Shakespeare Would Have Listened To*), performing arts administrator, Boston sports fan, and lover of all things theater. I’m the managing director of the Seven Stages Shakespeare Company based out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and I work on the business end of the Off-Broadway theater industry in New York City.

My first introduction to Shakespeare was a terrible production of Romeo and Juliet that I saw on a school field trip in eighth grade, most notable for everyone being in Elizabethan costumes and having Mercutio thrusting himself seemingly on every other word in a failing effort at convincing school kids that Shakespeare was making dirty jokes and is therefore relatable. I loathed Shx until my sophomore year of college, when I auditioned for Cymbeline in college because it was a shared audition for the play I really wanted to be in (Twelve Angry Men). I was required to prepare a Shakespearian monologue and so I memorized and performed it with a British accent (as a sophomore in college!!), and about ten seconds in my professor Deb Kinghorn stopped me and asked me what the hell I was doing, and I said Shakespeare, and she said no I wasn’t. Somehow I was cast as a boorish, fratty Cloten, and over the course of that production I fell in love with Shakespeare and never looked back.

DAN: Hey! I’m Dan Beaulieu: I’m an avid Shakespeare lover, performer, director, student of the game. I am CO-host and top banana on the aforementioned No Holds Bard podcast with my fellow CO-host Kevin. I am the co-founder and Artistic Director of Seven Stages Shakespeare Company, a former Ambassador for the Shakespeare Society in NYC, member of the internationally renowned Passion in Practice and The Shakespeare Ensemble (both helmed by the incomparable Ben Crystal), and frequent collaborator with the New York City based company Rude Grooms (led by the always lovely Montgomery Sutton).

Why Shagspeare? I deeply admire his sprawling exploration of the human condition, his probing of Magick and Witches, his Timelessness, and perhaps most importantly the fact that it IS in fact for everybody, if you let it be.

2. What moment(s) in Shakespeare always make you laugh?

KEVIN: It’s more of an incredulous cackle than a laugh, but...after the Richard / Lady Anne scene, after we think we’ve seen the bunch-back’d toad bare his soul in expressing his love for his lady, he tells us “I’ll have her, but I will not keep her long” - cueing the audience to hopefully boo and hiss - after which Shakespeare gives him “What?” to respond to the disgusted audience. What a joy for an actor! (And if you have a Richard that doesn’t elicit at least one gasp on that line and thus has no audience members to give that “What?” to, you know you’re in for a long evening of theater.)

DAN: I think Petruchio’s entrance to the wedding, when costumed properly, is pretty hilarious. I also get a good chuckle out of “That’s a shelled peascod” from King Lear. Something about the phrase “Shelled Peascod” just gets me. Hamlet’s sardonic humor in the scene leading up to The Mousetrap is also stacked up with great laugh lines.

KEVIN: Do you mean country matters?

3. What's a favorite Shakespearean performance anecdote?

DAN: As a raging egoist, I’ll share my favorite anecdote from a performance I was in. I was playing Titus and in the scene where I lose my hand I was given a messenger bag to carry around with me. They actually had me carry it for the whole first half of the play so it wouldn’t be weird when I had it in this scene. The dummy hand was stored in there so when the “theater magic” moment happened I’d dip the hand out of the bag and TADA! I’m handless! Well, one night the hand fell out of the bag several moments before it was supposed to be cut off. I jumped on the hand like a fumbled football and took my rant from the floor of the stage. (It was a three quarter thrust, 70 seat black box so there wasn’t anywhere to hide.) After the show, several members of the cast commented on how I was “really feeling that scene”, not realizing I was not feeling it at all...I was simply scattering to figure out a way to justify a random hand lying on the ground moments before the audience would see it again.

KEVIN: When I was a company manager at Shakespeare in the Park in NYC, it was my responsibility to cancel or hold the show in case of inclement weather - which meant my “job” all summer was to sit in the back of the house and watch every performance while refreshing about five different weather apps and calculate if we were going to be able to get the show in. During The Merchant of Venice, we were flirting with a rainstorm all night - the sky looked very ominous from the start but nothing had fallen, even though I and the entire audience knew it was coming. The weather held all evening, up until Portia’s “The quality of mercy is not strained / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven…” at which point, the gentlest rain you ever felt began to droppeth from heaven, allowing Portia to turn her palm up to feel the rain fall and the entire crowd to “ooh” in unison. Goosebump city.

4. What's one of the more unusual Shakespearean interpretations you've either seen or would like to see?

KEVIN: I’m no director, but I’d love to see an As You Like It set around 1910, where the music at the court is all Sousa marches and barber shop (basically The Music Man), and then when they go to the country you have the same musicians and instrumentations playing Jelly Roll Morton and the jazz and dixieland that was exploding at the same moment. (Artistic directors: I’ll be waiting by the phone for my call.)

DAN: I called you to do this several years ago, but...musicians.

I’d like to direct a production of Twelfth Night in a very large warehouse immersive experience where the central design conceit is a House of Mirrors….possibly around Halloween or in Coney Island during the winter. Full creep zone. Similarly, I think it’d be fun to do an As You Like It in a corn maze or a Jacobean influenced pageant production of Midsummer Night’s Dream as a haunted hayride that starts around 6pm and goes til midnight, getting scarier and scarier as the night goes on. Bring the little kids early for fun fairies and come back at 11pm for the weird ones.

5. What's one of your favorite Shakespearean "hidden gems"?

DAN: I’m a sucker for the fact that when Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time their exchange is a shared sonnet. It’s not necessarily “hidden” but I love when I see a production that is clearly “going there” with that moment.

KEVIN: I talk about it all the time on the podcast but I LOVE the King of France in All’s Well that Ends Well. So deferential, kind, funny, but also strong and forceful when required - along with some endlessly quotable lines. Perhaps more “underrated” than “hidden gem?”

DAN: I like that we both just couched our answers in “this isn’t exactly what you asked, but it’s the answer we’re going to give anyway”. If you enjoy this kind of response to questions, you’ll love our podcast!

6. What passages from Shakespeare have stayed with you?

KEVIN: Ironically and annoyingly, the Shakespeare quote I use the most is actually a misquote that got locked into my brain during my only professional gig - a production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Theater at Monmouth. There’s a sequence where Antony is waiting for an update from the field, and when the messenger arrives the actor playing Antony would turn violently to him and spew out “The news from Sicyon, ho!”. I loved the way he delivered the line and started incorporating it into my life every time someone entered a room with information that the rest of us were waiting on. Unfortunately, that line doesn’t exist - either the actor learned it wrong, or the director inverted it - and the actual line, “From Sicyon, ho, the news!”, doesn’t quite have the same allure.

DAN: I suppose I have to go with the two I have tattooed on my body, as they literally stay with me. They are “To Be” and “This above all, to thine own self be true”. I’m grateful that the verb in both lines is Be, which is deceptively simple. As an actor, it’s really what we’re asked to do---just be.

7. What Shakespeare plays have changed for you?

DAN: I used to make Pericles the butt of all of my “Shakespeare made mistakes too you know?!” jokes. Admittedly that was before I ever read it or worked on it. Now it is easily one of my favorite Shakespeare plays and one that I expect to see more and more of in the future. Disney is sleeping on a gold mine, though I hope Pixar beats them to it.

KEVIN: I have to ask: which play is the punchline to that joke now?

DAN: Henry VIII or Measure (come at me Measure lovers!)

KEVIN: For me, it’s the histories. A few summers ago, Seven Stages Shakespeare Company (helmed by Dan, Christine Penney, and myself) did a one-day, fourteen-hour reading of all eight of the linked history plays one after the other. After seeing the way the storylines feed so deeply one into the other (most particularly Margaret’s arc), I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see any one of them individually the same way again.

Mya interjects: The Seven Stages history day is definitely on my list of “productions I’m kicking myself for missing”. If you do it again, boys, let me know. I am available for any bit parts that don’t require replicating actual human emotions.

8. What Shakespearean character or characters do you identify the most with?

KEVIN: I feel the deepest connection to the seconds-in-command, but to choose the one that encapsulates that the most I’ll say Gloucester from King Lear. Ever since childhood I’ve always considered myself a second rather than a first - I took pride in Little League being the catcher that served as the psychologist for the pitchers, I relate much more to Tom Hagen than to Michael Corleone, and in Shakespeare I’m much more connected to the person who holds the ear of the person everyone is looking at rather than being the center of attention myself.

DAN: I feel a deep connection to Jaques- especially his description of melancholy and the cynical way he sees the world around him, as witnessed in the Seven Ages speech. I fancy myself a fool and appreciate Jaques function in the play, both as a countervoice to the romanticized experience of Arden so many have, his dismay at the murder of the deer, and his departure from the rest of the group at the end.

9. Where can we find out more about you? Are there any projects/events you would like us to check out?

KEVIN: I bare my soul weekly* on the NO HOLDS BARD podcast, which Dan frequently appears on as co-host / second banana. The show is available for download on iTunes and Stitcher, and also the full* archive is available on our website at noholdsbard.com. You should also follow us on Twitter @NoHoldsBardCast and on Facebook at Facebook.com SLAAAASSHHHH NoHoldsBardCast!

DAN: If you are the market for stuff about the top banana specifically check out my website at www.danbeauknows.com. Seven Stages has a ton of exciting projects coming up including season eight of ShakesBEERiences in NH and a full production of MacBeth this autumn near Halloween. If you want more luscious No Holds Bard Content, check out our Patreon at www.patreon.com slash noholdsbard. Also, I’ll be touring Japan with several dear friends, including Dylan Kammerer, Tim Jacobs, Andrew Codispoti, Ben Crystal and The Shakespeare Ensemble this September playing Hamlet in Hamlet, Banquo in MacBeth, and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. It’s a dream track with an incredible ensemble so if you are in Japan, come check it out!

(Back to Mya) Thanks so much to Kevin and Dan for answering my questions and helping me out this month! Confession: when I was scheduling my guests for this month, I deliberately penciled Kevin and Dan in for the last slot, not because I thought they’d be a particularly boffo ending (although, obviously, they are) but because I was sure they wouldn’t get their answers in until the very last second. To my shock, they send them in well over a week early, which, I can only assume, involved a great deal of personal sacrifice and discipline on their part. For that, and for constantly entertaining me as I drive around town, I am very grateful to them.

You can listen to me banter with Kevin and Dan on the following episodes of No Holds Bard:

#86 - Holy Sh*t It’s Mya Gosling

#138: The Fantasy Shakespeare Season Draft II

Also, do consider chucking a couple bucks their way each month on Patreon, as I do.

Thanks once again to EVERYONE who helped me out this month: Austin Tichenor, Kate Powers, Sam White, David Prosser, Kate Pitt, Christy Burgess, Kevin Condardo and Dan Beaulieu! I am so lucky in my friends and in my Shakespeare community. My life is still kind of crazy at the moment so I’m taking next week off, but I’ll be back after that (hopefully, and at last) with some new comics!

[flordidian]

Underrated Anne Scenes

With one exception (number 4), none of these delightful scenes have been in any adaptation I have seen. Here is praying that Anne with an E puts some of them in their series.

1. Crushing the Candy Heart (Anne of Green Gables)

The day after Anne hits Gilbert over the head, she is forced to sit next to him because she is late to class. While that funny scene is kept in adaptations, they cut my favorite part: while they are sitting next to each other, Gilbert gives Anne a candy heart in an attempt to make nice. She responds my taking it, dropping it on the floor, and crushing it. It is really funny.

Later in the series, Gilbert gives her a necklace resembling the candy heart in reference to it.

2. Queen’s Test and Friendship (Anne of Green Gables)

I get that the more people you cast the more expensive it is, but why must these adaptations cut so many of Anne’s friends? Before the Queen’s entrance exam, the Avonlea kids, advised by Miss Stacy to not try to cram, hang out while super stressed. It is a sweet scene where the reader gets to see Anne’s friendships with her classmates, including Jane and Moody.

3. Ruby Rejects Gilbert (Anne of Green Gables)

Okay, so in the book Ruby and Gilbert date. Ruby proceeds, however, to dump him because she thinks he is boring. She even asserts that she isn’t interested in him because he talks about boring subjects and big words like Anne. She says this, in front of Anne. It is this awesome funny moment where she both totally disses Anne and Gilbert while implying they are soul mates.

4. Anne Loses her Patience in School (Anne of Avonlea)

This scene was kind of featured in Kevin Sullivan’s Anne of Avonlea. But, considering the film was such a hodge podge or correct quotes in the wrong context said by the wrong person, I don’t think he did it justice.

L. M. Montgomery establishes that Anne believes in a make-your-students-love-you-then-they’ll-behave approach to teaching. She is successful with this approach except with one obnoxious little boy who doesn’t think women should be teachers. One day, her patience is spent and she disciplines the boy by hitting him (with a ruler I think?). She, of course, is horrified at what she’s done, but it works out because the boy is persuaded by her violence to respect her.

I like this scene because it amuses me and, I think, accurately shows how trying teaching can be.

5. Apple Tree in the Forest (Anne of the Island)

There is this cute part in the beginning of Anne with an Island where Anne is afraid of not fitting in when she goes to college. Gilbert shows her an apple tree that is thriving in the middle of the forest. He tells her that just like the apple tree, which doesn’t belong there in the forest, can grow there, she can (and will) be successful at college despite being from a rural area.

I love this analogy and the way Gilbert always supports Anne and builds her up.

6. Gilbert Visits Anne Despite the Snow (Anne of the Island)

There is this huge snow storm in Avonlea. People cannot leave their houses. Except Gilbert, of course, who somehow manages do visit Anne constantly. She, however, is horrified because she knows she will have to reject him soon.

I like this scene because Gilbert is so sweet to fight the storm to see Anne. He clearly loves her. I also like that Anne is beginning to be forced to deal with the reality that her best friend loves her.

7. Choosing Graduation Flowers (Anne of the Island)

At this point in the story, Anne has rejected Gilbert’s proposal and assumes she will be marrying Royal who she has dated for about 2 years. And yet, when faced with wearing either the flowers Gilbert gave her or the flowers Roy gave her to graduation, she chooses Gilbert.

As a Gilbert and Anne shipper, I like this scene. It is a great example of Anne saying she isn’t into Gilbert, but her heart, and her actions, betraying the reality.

8. Anne Dances with Abandon (Anne’s House of Dreams)

Newly married and living far from the rest of town, Anne takes to the beach and dances wildly. This scene is small but so cute. It is the first time in a while that Anne returns to her character Anne-ness from the first book.

In fact, by the end of Anne of Green Gables, the author notes that Anne has conformed to societal ideals in that she doesn’t talk as much and is more proper. There is something delightful, then, when she returns to her old self for a moment while dancing on the beach.

9. The Pearl Necklace (Anne of Ingleside)

Anne’s son, Jem, saves his money and gets his mom a pearl necklace after hearing her express to her husband that she wants one. It never occurs to Jem that the necklace is fake. When he finds out he is distraught. This leads to a touching scene where Anne explains to him that she knew it was fake and loved it all the same. It is also revealed to the reader that the necklace is especially special to Anne because it reminds her of one Matthew gave her as a girl.

I love scenes where Anne is a great parent. They are enduring and touching. I also love the call back to Anne of Green Gables and the reminder of how Matthew touched Anne’s life.

10. Being their own Parent (Rainbow Valley)

In Rainbow Valley we are introduced to the Meredith family who become quick friends with the Blythe children. Their father is a pastor and their mother has passed away. Unfortunately, their father has become so encompassed in his grief that he has neglected his kids. The children, however, are delightful and responsible and decide to become their own parents, disciplining themselves and one another. When their father finds out, there is this great moment of revelation.

While I generally prefer the scenes involving Anne, I appeciated this one because it was about time someone told this pastor his behavior was unacceptable. Ironically, that message is sent unintentionally by his children who have taken his job of parenting onto themselves. It is very satisfying when Mr. Meredith realizes his wrong.

[sishtastories]

1-8 no balls u wont

1. who is your favourite sister squad member and why?

probably emma, she has the same kind of humour that i have and i love people that who would get my fucking self-deprecating humour. 

2. who’s the funniest squad member?

uhhhhh, if by themselves? emma. if all together probably ethan. 

3. thoughts on grayson?

my homeboi. i could literally write a paragraph about him and i fucking will  because grayson is one of the people that deserves this kind of positive energy. actually, i’ll start off not so great-ish. when i first watched the twins, i honest to god thought that grayson was a fuckboi just because he fucking looked the part and it was a bad action on my part. the more that i watched them, the more i realised that he literally isn’t, the complete fucking opposite and i will fight anyone that says he is and portrays that out in the world. he’s so fucking kind and you see that in every single video/tweet/ whatever the fuck he does, you can see genuineness from him and i love that. he’s so funny (the funnier twin, fight me if you disagree), and smart in his own grayson way. i love that he always tries and whenever he does he puts 104% in. he genuinely loves his fans, interacts with them so much through social media and you don’t really see that with other influencers. he loves his family which makes me go s o ft, he’s so loving and caring around them that i literally want to c ry. one of the kindest and purest heart out there. i’ll fight anyone that makes him upset, or sends him hate because i wholeheartedly believe that he does not deserve any fucking hate. 

4. thoughts on ethan?

honestly think that if we ever met and became friends, he and i would have that sister/brother relationship where we literally roast each other but still care for each other. tbh, i was in ethan’s ‘lane’ (i hate myself for fucking saying that), the first time then i realised i was literally attracted to him because he fucking acts like me, when i realised that i was like fml, i’m a fucking narcissistic bitch. kidding. no, but honestly even though he’s loud and may seem obnoxious to some, you can definitely see that he is down to earth in videos. he loves his brother, family and friends above all else. my fav homeboi and would definitely always kick him if i was friends with him #friendshipgoals. 

5. thoughts on emma?

ahh, she’s so funny and honestly when i first saw her i thought i wouldn’t like her based on somethings that i have ever seen, and emma is a great example of you should honestly try something for yourself and not go one other people’s opinions. she’s a great kid, honestly. don’t really get the hate that she’s been getting like she’s changed and shit. she’s 17 (almost 18), people go through a lot of change through that time because it’s fucking complicated, get a grip. i like her, she’s funny, weird and doesn’t deserve the hate she’s been getting. probably one of the least problematic influencers that i follow. 

6. thoughts on james?

first sister squad member that i ever subscribed to and ever watched. tbh, emma and the twins weren’t even on my radar and didn’t even know that they existed until like late last year because their videos i guess wouldn’t have been the type of videos that i watched. i love james, i think he’s a great person and a great pioneer within the make up industry. he may have some sister scandals but you can definitely see how he’s grown from them and how mature he’s gotten to how he’s dealing with it. we stan this sister. 

7. favourite collaboration of sister squad?

the fucking gingerbread dream house video. you can definitely see how their friendship dynamic works. they fucking get on each other’s nerves and it’s so apparent and raw and that’s why i fucking love it. it shows that they aren’t this perfect gucci loving sister squad, they’re just a bunch of fucking normal teenagers trying to work together. 

8. thoughts on the ship within the squad? e.g. grethan, ethma, grames etc.

grethan: ship them if it’s in a brotp way, like hey the best brothers out there. if you don’t, and you ship them romantically, no. just no. 

ethma: platonic -fucking great, they seem to have a really good connection. romantic -cute af, i don’t stan them, but it think that they would be good together and it’s good that they started off as friends instead of being romantic from the get go. really like it, don’t get the hate they’ve both been getting.

grames: cute as heck, i definitely think that it’s just a shtick that they’re going with, james hitting on grayson and him acting weird about it. grayson would definitely tell james if he was uncomfortable and james would 100% respect grayson if that did happen. 

james/emma: don’t know the ship name, sorry. but severely underrated. you can definitely see that these two care so much for each other and they have the same type of humour. 

grethma: definition of brother and sister relationship. i fucking love it. 

james/ethan: again, underrated. ethan really knows james and vice versa, they literally know each other so well and you can tell from the multiple gift giving videos that they’ve done in the past. 

 [psa not to be mean but this goes out to everyone; the twins will eventually date people or settle down and we can’t fucking rant about how the other person is bad for them blah blah blah. no, we only get to see 25% of them from what the post on social media, so we have no idea how they are, or how their relationships work when the cameras are not rolling or they’re tweeting about it.]

[sombrz]

Hello please talk about king explosion murder

THE BOY!!!!!

can you believe i spent months trying to be lowkey about my bakugou ships? it took me a while to even admit he was my favourite despite the fact i knew from the start i’d end up a bakugou stan. i never had a ‘oh no this kid’s a mean terrible person’ phase - it was a ‘oh, i can’t Reveal my character tastes like this. not like this.’ phase.

this got…..long. so uh. under the cut it goes:

ANYWAY: i ship bakugou with…..uh…….a lot of characters. kiribaku is the easiest to explain - dumbass jock boyfriends who do shit like baku using kiri as a hammer to make mochi. and kiri being gung-ho about testing his unbreakable mode (which, btw, was motivated by bakugou’s words!!!) by having bakugou fucking. use howlitzer impact on him. you know how i feel about bro ships (hint: i love them). how kiri went from ‘man this bakugou guy is nuts!!! we have to stop him!!!!’ to ‘wow bakugou is so manly and cool and i wanna be by his side’ in the span of (1) one-on-one convo. HE LIKES BAKUGOU SO MUCH. IT’S CUTE. LIKE, I DON’T THINK BAKUGOU GETS HOW HAPPY HE MAKES KIRISHIMA LMAO. how bakugou so readily accepted kiri as an equal - bakugou, who only had two categories for people [extras vs rivals], never thought to seriously think of kiri as anything but an ally and a friend, people always talk how kirishima was the first classmate bakugou even bothered remembering the name of, and with reason, since it says a lot. kiri’s got quite a bit of mlm subtext going on, tbh, and bakugou’s the source of almost all of it. soooooo there’s that too. 

but i’ve also fallen Deep into bakudeku. it’s the shared development, okay. the history and complex emotions and the slowburn to becoming partners. there’s just so much, and they’re so ENTRENCHED in each other. for better or worse, for how much they might dislike the fact they can’t stop thinking about each other, they just can’t help it. they couldn’t understand each other at all but somehow still knew the other inside and out. and deku’s been so smitten since he was like a baby 3 year old and it breaks my heart. it’s honestly one of my favourite shounen rival ships bc it keeps subverting your expectations. and every episode/chapter that deals with their issues and nudges them closer to the ideal - the endgame - is guranteed to be among the best. they’re the backbone of the series, and i love watching them grow together. the fact that they’re currently HEALTHY RIVALS AND TENTATIVE FRIENDS (like deku feels so comfortable gushing over bakugou to his face again and bakugou is so invested in deku’s improvement & is only snappy w/ him out of reflex lmao)….that bakugou is deku’s secret keeper and deku is the one person bakugou allows himself to be vulnerable around……HOO BOY. i just imagined bakugou holding out his hand for deku to take - or accepting deku’s hand at all - and died.

ALSO, TODOBAKU….my darkhorse ship, which hit me in the face one day when i realized how a) hilarious they are together and b) how the series keeps shoving them together (sometimes literally - thanks slidin’ go for giving them the group hug they deserved). i love how they’re so different yet similar - bakugou is loud and obnoxious while todoroki is stern and quiet, but they’re both rude prodigies who needed to be jumpkicked into realizing that they could become better people with the help of others instead of letting anger and bitterness swallow them up. and the provisional exam course made it so they were forced to hang out with each other 95% of the time for three whole months and i LIVE FOR THAT. i love how funny they are - todoroki is snarky & doesn’t even bat an eyelash over bakugou’s tantrums but genuinely tries to be nice and make friends with him! bakugou is so petty and wants todoroki’s attention soooo bad but don’t think i haven’t noticed that most times we’ve seen him genuinely smile has been in todoroki’s presence (ok, then todoroki reacts to it and bakugou instantly goes back to a snarl but STILL). also the fact that the narrative doesn’t want us to forget that bakugou eavesdropped on todoroki telling deku about his family, and bakugou is always Alert and keeping an eye on todo whenever endeavour is involved bc he’s sympathetic and y’know??? cares????? SO GOOD. AND THEY’RE SUCH A GOOD TEAM - SURPRISINGLY IN SYNC AND THEIR QUIRKS MATCH UP AND I LOVE THEM!

GOD, HORI…..BAKUGOU/URARAKA WOULD BE SO GOOD. like, can you *imagine* the sheer potential of a ship that you only really have them interact during one goddamn tournament fight and yet it becomes arguably the most popular het ship in your series (w/ only the main character and his canon love interest as real competition????) i love them though, like,,,,i find it so interesting that uraraka has shown, despite again - minimal onscreen interaction - that she understands bakugou better than most. she knows how he’d handle their fight and uses that to her advantage. (and while she still lost, she gained his respect and a new drive to get stronger!) she’s the one who brings up how HE’D feel about the plan to go rescue him - that his pride would prevent him from easily accepting help. i’m desperately trying to figure out a way they could animate that omake where uraraka plants herself in deku’s seat and demands that bakugou bury the hatchet with him while gently but firmly calling him out for his root issue of fear and his defense mechanism of violently pushing deku away. and it managed to calm him down and honestly, i wouldn’t be surprised if he ruminated on those words for a while. IT’S SO GOOD, WHY WASN’T IT IN THE STORY ITSELF!!! and like, the mere fact he respects her a lot and ended up *psyched* to continue fighting her - and after he’s told deku had nothing to do with her plan, i don’t think he’d make that mistake again, which makes it easier for him to understand her back. he knows she’s smart and talented and that everyone else was wrong to underestimate her. also, i love that uraraka thinks bakugou is like…..funny? he’s out there threatening to murder kaminari and uraraka’s like ‘hahaha :’’)))’ bc she has such a Bro/vulgar sense of humour. like, i think they’d have a lot of fun together. LET THEM TALK MORE, PLS!!!!

THOSE ARE MY MAIN SHIPS BUT I ALSO SHIP HIM WITH THE REST OF THE BAKUSQUAD! BOTH PLATONICALLY AND ROMANTICALLY! I HAVE NO SHAME! baku/kami is so underrated and great - kaminari is just as much bakugou’s bff as kirishima is, tbh, and he has absolutely No Chill which makes their interactions - especially the further the story goes and bakugou’s edges soften - so much fun. one moment, he’ll be casually commenting that bakugou is the worst and needs to change his whole rotten personality - then the next second, he’ll be sprawled all over him, calling him kacchan and defending his honour from actual haters. and bakugou just fucbdhfhd lets this happen. bakugou likes kaminari enough to just let him. do whatever the hell he wants. ALSO, THE BAND. admittedly, sero is the only one with enough common sense and actual standards to avoid dating bakugou (’HE’LL NEVER BE BEAUTIFUL’ ghdhfhd sero) but i still adore them. sero’s so tricksy and loves playing the reverse psychology trick on bakugou, who just constantly falls for it. i bet he was the first person bakugou let just hang out in his room, and he probably appreciates that sero actually gives him his space when he needs it! i can’t believe baku/sero is the Real ‘bakugou pining’ ship. @ hori: GIVE MINA AND BAKUGOU ACTUAL INTERACTIONS, GDI. i’m forced to headcanon their whole dynamic from near-scratch. whereas kiri and kami are more the type to glue themselves to bakugou’s back, i imagine mina’s the type to actively drag bakugou along places. she probably cried when she found out that a) his parents are rich designers (’BUY ME CLOTHES, BAKUGOUUUU’) and b) his glycerin-based quirk and taking after his mom means he usually has perfect skin and has never broken out in his life. she doesn’t speak to him for a week until he takes her out to dinner and buys her a cute dress. and i’m super fond of baku/jirou. i love that their dynamic is like…..while the rest of their friends are doing dumb shit For The VineTM, they’re on the sidelines waiting for shit to hit the fan. they’re punk buds and prob do that couples clothes switch thing a lot just to see if anyone notices. jirou bosses him around and he takes all her advice seriously and like, they trust each other! they have great team synergy! she was the first person bakugou both consciously protected and asked to protect him in turn!! DID I MENTION THE BAND?? i also ship him with camie! it’s just such a funny concept to imagine - like imagine you’re in class 1A and bakugou shows up out of nowhere with a hot girlfriend who talks. like that. and she makes him laugh??? and no, seriously, does he actually understand what the hell she’s saying???? WHAT’S HAPPENING. but yeah, she very casually teases him but also seemed comfortable w/ him right off the bat and i know in my heart that bakugou relented and let her have his phone number. also, i find it funny people started shipping him with shindou after bakugou was the one to call him out for being duplicitous. bakugou’s the type of character that just needs to interact with another character once and *someone* out there will be like ‘what if………..they were dating’ and that’s so valid of them.

good bakugou ot3/ot4s: kirishima/bakugou/uraraka, todoroki/midoriya/bakugou, todoroki/inasa/camie/bakugou. i reblog a looooot of kirishima/kaminari/bakugou and bakugou/uraraka/midoriya even tho i don’t actually ship either as an ot3 that much, oops? they’re good ships tho.

is there something i’m missing? I MIGHT BE MISSING SOMETHING.