#Depth Charge is fun I GUESS

[mainenorth]

what in the sam hill is beast wars s3. what the shit is happening

[floralpools]

Guard Dog II

Part one

Warning: minors dni, fluff, smut, fingering, penetration, no protection, language

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x you

Summary: You and Daryl have started seeing each other, but not much has changed between you two. Yet, all you can think about is how much you need it to —need him to touch you, but he hasn’t made a move. Thus, you take charge.

Word count: 1.6k

…

Though it hasn't been said, flat out, you and Daryl are dating. And although nothing about your dynamic has altered, you’re still fairly certain, you're dating now.

But, the routine is just the same. You go somewhere, Daryl follows. However, nowadays you talk regularly, and he's visibly more comfortable. The others even started to notice your relationship and the changes in Daryl as well. One of which is, according to Eugene, is he seems happier, lighter, like a weight has lifted from his shoulders.

So, how is it that you feel something missing? You guessed a relationship with Daryl would be nothing less than this. But deep down, you expected him to at least touch you. And all you really wanted, was a kiss.

Sometimes, when he's close enough, you feel his warmth radiate over your very being. Sometimes, you sense his touch from when he grabbed your wrist, and held you in his arms weeks ago.

It left you craving more. Perhaps it did for him too...

Various times you swore his hand would hover over your skin, debating whether to reach out to you or not. Other times, he follows you to your house, but never steps foot inside, not since that day. He continuously stops short at your front deck, giving you a prolonged nod for a goodbye.

You’re shy in many ways, as is he, so if things were to change, you figure you have to be the one to take the reins. After all, he did admit to "wanting" you, so what did you have to lose?

…

Sighing, you open your door, squinting to welcome the blazing sun.

As of late, your mornings consist of this smouldering summer shine, and a mouthwatering, sleeveless Daryl Dixon, leaning against the pillar upholding your porch, waiting for you to wake.

"Morning!" You greet cheerfully. Daryl looks at you, and his scowl instantly softens. "I'm thinking we should do something today, together," you boast, trudging off the porch. "You know, switch up our usual routine somehow." Pausing thoughtfully, you notice how patiently Daryl observes you, waiting for your word, without any interruptions. It almost shocks you how docile he truly is, beneath that dim, tough exterior.

Your eyes explore Alexandria's landscape, catching areas with dull greenery. Your mouth opens in 'ah!'

Daryl appears disquiet and you holler, "Gardening!"

"No," he contradicts, quickly shutting down your idea. You huff, hindering a small smile. "Oh please, it would be fun!" You persuade, "This place needs more character, it's too-" desperately searching for a word, you make Daryl smirk a bit. "Colourless right now," you proclaim.

"And adding some flowers, will make this place look less like a 'dump'?" He mocks plainly.

"I don't think it's a 'dump,' it just needs some," once more, you seek the appropriate word, and Daryl expels a breathy chuckle. "Sprucing," you finish, and he nods with a tiny shake in disbelief. "Let's go!" You shout, heading to a plain field of grass.

"Yes ma'am," Daryl grumbles behind you, and you giggle.

...

The both of you spend hours outside, digging up weeds, replanting flowers, and spreading plant seeds across the lot. The whole ordeal left you both filthy, decorated in dirt. Though it's nothing new for Daryl, you feel pretty disgusting, not to mention 'hideous.'

Engrossed in your obsessive thoughts, you miss the way Daryl longingly watches you. That’s until you feel a plant stem, tuck your hair behind your ear. You spy Daryl’s calloused fingers, gently placing a pink flower there. His pinkie lightly coasts down your locks, to your shoulder.

You peer into his eyes, struck by his tenderness. His dilated pupils hold so much depth, that you get lost in them. So absentmindedly, you shift closer to Daryl.

His eyes roam your face, down to your lips, focusing on them.

A short breath escapes you, heart dropping, and he stands up. Now on his feet, Daryl brushes the grime on his hands in a clap, then lends one out to you. “You’re covered in dirt,” his throat bobs, “Let’s call it a day,” he heaves you upright, “take a shower.” You nod in agreement, kind of discombobulated.

Hand in hand, you silently walk to your house. Once you get there, he retracts his palm from yours and scratches his crown awkwardly. “You’re not coming?” You mumble shyly, and his wide eyes shoot to yours.

You fight to remain calm, staring at him. He licks his lips, once again, looking at your parted ones. “Separate showers, or...?” He asks airily.

“Whatever you want,” replying in a whisper, you slowly back up your steps, intently watching him. He refuses to break eye contact as he follows you inside.

When the door clicks shut, the only audible sound is his breathing, which is more like panting.

“You sure about…?” He trails off, delicately admiring your face. When you faintly mouth a 'yes,' his eyes train to your figure. You leisurely stride towards him.

“You’re so,” before he finishes, you peck his lips. He jerks his jaw moderately, and his gaze struggles to decide, whether to look at your eyes, or your body.

“Touch me,” you practically beg, nudging his abdomen with your knuckles. His sharp breath fans your face, and his expression distorts right before he instinctively, crashes his mouth into yours. Tongues mingling together, he grunts quietly, and you hum a whine in return.

Bodies pressing hard against each other, his hands tangle into your tresses, cupping your head. He rolls his hips rather harshly and you whine louder.

Breaking away with his name on your tongue, you clutch his hand and haul him upstairs.

Reaching the top of the staircase, he hugs you from behind and buries his face into your neck, breathing in like you're his lifeline.

“Daryl,” you sigh then gasp when he suddenly lifts you up. Your toes drag on the floorboards while he sucks on your nape. “Bathroom,” he rasps.

“To your left,” you huff in response, pushing your backside atop his crotch. Daryl just about growls, hastily carrying you into the bathroom.

Putting you down nicely, he forcibly tugs the shower curtain to the side. You spin to look at him and see him surveying you, staring down at your frame like he's in heat. You bite your lip, raising a hand to push away the black hair blocking his eyes.

“Can I?” He asks politely, gesturing to your clothes.

“Yes,” you nearly moan.

Together, you remove each other’s garments, one by one, piece by piece. Eyes equally wandering, to every newly revealed section of flesh. Daryl adorns your naked body and his lip tilts. You lean towards him to turn the shower knob.

The shower head roars, and Daryl tenses when the tips of your breasts graze his chest. “God,” he groans then takes your dome in his hands again, yanking your mouth upwards.

Your fronts fix together, and he palms your ass, reddening the skin there. His hard-on rubs your cunt, and he ambles you both under the flowing stream of water.

“Fuck,” you moan wildly when your spine hits the cool wall.

“Ya feel amazing,” he resounds into your ear, kissing it with a swipe of his tongue. You grind onto him. “Like that baby, again,” he instructs hoarsely, almost pained.

Moving in sync with each other, his cock continuously moves over your clit. You whine his name over and over, scratching your nails across his biceps. You moan out appraisals and smooch a trail from his chin to chest.

His hushed tone chants your name, trying to get your attention. But, when he gets tired of you ignoring him, his digits abruptly slip into you. You instantly cry out, then move in rhythm with his fingers, riding them. He begins to elicit an orgasm, so you pull away from his aggressive kiss. “Wait, I’m gonna cum,” you whimper.

“Good,” he groans with a smirk, trying to capture your mouth again.

“No, no, I wanna cum with you,” you plea, whispering, "on you," barely coherent. His fingers immediately slow and withdraw, at once, replaced by his girthy cock.

You scream a yelp and Daryl releases a lengthy, unreserved, animalistic groan. “So, tight,” his dark voice grates your ears. He cups your breast, playing with its nipple, and you sob while he mutters how badly he needs this.

After a moment of adjusting, Daryl starts thrusting. "Harder!" You express, and his hips lunge into you, untamed and vigorous.

Though his bottom half ruthlessly takes you, his hands and mouth are kind and attentive. His palms glide over your torso, holding you securely, and he kisses your features.

“Daryl, I love it,” you exclaim, then repeat yourself.

“Y-yeah?” He stammers, pinning his forehead to the side of your skull, and you grip his muscular biceps. “Yes, you’re so good.”

He growls your name, pumping even faster, evidently getting closer to his climax.

His hands move to squeeze and spread your ass, and ever-so-slightly, his finger sweeps across your unfilled hole, circling it. You squeal and huddle into him, and he murmurs something so quietly, that you can hardly hear it.

“What?” You gasp, craning your neck back.

“-fucking love you,” Daryl moans roughly, hoisting up your leg by its thigh. “Shit.” Pushing into you one last time, he pulls out to cum on your stomach.

Daryl's confession strikes such a cord, that you also cum when he removes himself.

Blanking, you aimlessly watch him stroke himself, and he grits his teeth at the sight of you flushed and wet.

Eventually, his meaty arms embrace your trembling form, snaking around your curves firmly. And after a short while, you hug him too, burying your face in his sternum.

“Can you, say that again?” You ask meekly, and as if he can hear your smile, he chuckles. “Later,” he pauses to kiss your scalp, “Lemme catch my breath first baby.”

[odoraful]

𝐈'𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃.ᐟ

it's a cosy saturday night. rain gently patters against the windows. you set up a small projector in your bedroom and decide to play a horror game with your boyfriend while snuggling in bed.

content: headcanons, established relationship, no in-depth details of anything scary (however, there are descriptions of the type of horror game they play!) a/n: tbh i’m not the biggest fan of horror games, but i do enjoy peoples' reactions to playing them, so i thought it’d be fun to picture how the boys would play hehe

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⟡ ZAYNE

You're playing an exploration-focused game set in a hospital. The main character is a patient who seems to be having visions of their past.

You take the controls, and he lets you sit in his lap. Only if you get too scared or rage quits does he take the controller from you to play.

“No!” you cry out. The hiding spot you snuck your character in is discovered by the monster, leaving you with a Begin from last save? screen. You bury your face into Zayne’s arm, frightened by the sudden attack.

Defeated, you hang your head and wordlessly raise the controller towards him.

He chuckles, wrapping his arms around you to take it from your hands. “I’m guessing that means you’re tapping out for now?”

Snuggling deeper into his chest, you sigh. “Yep, you’re subbing in.”

Zayne manoeuvres the character carefully around the abandoned hospital and you hold your breath. The silence of his concentration is occasionally broken by your gasp seeing the creature stalking right past the character. Miraculously, he manages to evade and escape on his first try. 

“We did it!” you cheer with relief. 

“We?" He lifts a brow. "If I’m not mistaken, I was the one holding the controller.”

“Well, I was your emotional support!”   

If he is scared, he never lets it show. Rather than screams, the most you’ll get out of him is a slight flinch or a curse under his breath. He actually seems to be more frustrated than frightened. 

He’s an ace detective when it comes to putting clues together and figuring out the mystery! Lowkey a lore gatherer. 

“I see… so these hallucinations are simply a manifestation of the main character’s guilt.” He's absorbed in the inventory screen, sifting through all the collected notes and letters.  “Zayne, I think we’ve spent more time reading than actually playing.”

⟡ XAVIER

You’re playing a survival game set in space. The main character is a lone astronaut on a space station who must defeat an extraterrestrial monster. 

You two alternate between who’s in charge of controls based on each save point. 

When he does get scared, he reacts by dodging out of the way in real life as if the alien is actually coming through the screen. 

Xavier doesn’t have the most experience with video games, so it takes him a little bit to understand the mechanics. Despite this inexperience, he still clutches it anyway. It also pushes him to try over and over again even if he fails multiple times. 

"Xavier, let me have a go at it if you can’t get past this.” 

This is his third go at defeating the monster in the final stage of the game. He shakes his head fervently. “I can do this. If you think about it, this is just like evading a wanderer’s attacks.” There’s a determined look in his eyes. “I should be good at this.”

You poke his shoulder. “Well, the problem is that the character in-game doesn’t have your evol to help them out.”

Xavier hums thoughtfully. “They have a sword though. I know how to use a sword.”

The innocence of his tone strikes you through your heart and you can't say anything to refute his logic. Maybe real-life sword skills can transfer to in-game controls.  You give in.

“Okay, you get one more go at it! I know you can do this."

Your encouragement renews his spirit. He lifts up a fist. “I’ll get it this time for sure.”

Easily gets side tracked from the main quest and wants to explore every nook and cranny. Collectables and achievements? This might be the first time Xavier stays awake because he’s getting a one-hundred percent completion rate. 

Questions the survivability of the main character and the realism of the situation.

How can drinking medicine instantaneously cure the character’s wounds? How is the character still walking after being bitten in the leg? Beings from a different planet don’t actually look like this you know…

⟡ RAFAYEL

You’re playing an indie game set in an abandoned mansion. The main character has inherited this house from their grandfather, who was a wealthy collector of occult art pieces.

He wants to be in-charge of all the controls and lets you cuddle against his side. You observe his gameplay like you're watching a movie. 

Tries his best to maintain his composure to show you just how calm, cool and collected he can be. However, he ends up jumping around every corner he turns.

He either moves really slowly because he can’t stand not knowing where the phantoms are lurking, or will charge straight in to get it over and done with. 

“This doesn’t scare me. I’m just being cautious,” he’ll say defensively, leaning into your shoulder more as he slowly moves the controls to pan the camera around the empty room.

His efforts are futile as the phantom zooms past the open door behind the character, accompanied by a piercing sound cue. Rafayel’s shriek drowns out yours, as your scream swiftly turns into a fit of laughter. 

“Your scream scared me more”—your words come out in bits and pieces between your cackles—“than the actual jumpscare!" 

He’s red in the face, offended by how amused you were at his suffering.

“My life is in mortal danger, and you’re laughing at me?!” He tries to stay indignant, but he can’t help but crack a smile at how lost in laughter you are. 

Has a genuine appreciation for the art direction of the game. He loves how atmospheric it is and compliments the stylistic choices. He actually chose this game just because the reviews raved about how good the visuals were. 

“This is a nice house, like look at all this antique decor. You think we could live in a place like this someday?” You shiver. “A haunted mansion infested with ghosts? I think I’ll pass…”

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[sophsicle]

Okay, I understand hating Snape as an adult. He's a bully. But as a kid? As a teen? The result we see of Snape, him as a shitty adult, is an imperfect victim. Someone who had a bad life, made bad decisions, and was impacted by everything that happened to him. Not everyone can be abused, bullied, grow up in extreme poverty, and then pull through to be amazing people. SOME people can, and that's so amazing, but I don't think it's healthy to look at a child/teen with literally every social determinant of health against them and say 'well, they should've been able to do better'.

Does Snape suck as an adult? Yes. Did he also make decisions which saved Harry's life and allowed them to end the war? Also yes. Does he ultimately sacrifice his life for Harry? Yes. Does young Snape have a lot of potential, especially in spaces such as fanfiction, to explore the effects of one's upbringing and subsequent choices/life path (which you have explored so beautifully, carving out a life for a character in your stories with the very same themes)? Definitely.

I'm not saying he is a perfect person, or even a good guy, but a lot of people can and do relate to him as imperfect victims of bullying and abuse. Sometimes you can't rise above life's circumstances on your own, and you aren't this 'amazing' person. And that's okay. It's okay for victims of things like abuse to struggle, and it's good for people to acknowledge that things like bullying AREN'T okay and have lifelong consequences for their victims. Snape is a good example of what happens to a lot of people who aren't able to 'rise above' the things that happen to them and make mistakes. I think blind hatred for him is a very narrow-minded view, and ignores a lot of his story and nuances.

So two things a) I think perhaps you are missing some of the silly fun spirit I was attempting to infuse into my hatred of snape who is a character not a person

b) listen, I think snape is a super interesting character to play with because he offers a counter point to the marauders especially where issues of class are concerned, even the insults the marauders use against him, about him being "dirty" have clear class connotations and I think that allows you to critique the biases of the "heroes" of the story so to speak and that’s something I really like, so I’m not trying to suggest that he should just be dismissed because I don’t think he should be necessarily

What I am suggesting, is that JKR writes a grown adult teacher who abuses his students consistently and brutally for seven books (students he knows are already traumatized because the group he was a part of tortured or murdered their parents) and at the end of the series we are meant to forgive him because he loved a woman one time kind of maybe I guess

Now, fanfiction can do whatever it wants and make characters whoever it wants

But I have a fundamental problem with the way that snape is used in canon and the way that people accept that narrative

His behaviour as an adult towards the children he is in charge of is gross and unforgivable, but is absolutely forgiven by the narrative of the original text (without, I would argue, any of the nuance you are suggesting)

So I just find it less compelling to use fanfiction to continue to forgive this character

And like maybe if JKR didn’t explicitly write him as someone I was supposed to love I would feel differently, but because she does I don’t

I think you’re giving this character a lot more depth than he has

Which you totally can do with any character you wish, but for me, personally, not universally, cause there is no universal truth about a fictional character who does not exist, he deserves to be hated, in my opinion, again, cannot stress this enough, I’m not saying there is a right way to feel about this character because I don’t think you can say that about characters , but this is my way and I hate him and these are my reasons

Like you can hate characters without being narrow minded

I fear this is a thing you can do

[illuminatedferret]

I've always thought it strange that the Fang Xin Guoshi mask didn't become a cursed artifact. Sure, Ruoye probably served double duty as a sponge for the Dianxia juice during the long years down under, but I can't believe the mask had the temerity not to pick up on the vibes of near endless suffering in a pitch black coffin Xie Lian put himself in. I know he got the silver from a yao, which sounds like a beast that cultivated to a higher form, but would it be odd if it fused with Xie Lian's blood to become a higher spirit? I've been bouncing around an idea about the mask getting turbo charged if Ruoye got left out as part of some Yong' An funeral custom and now Xie Lian has two blatantly cursed fashion accessories.

I mean, in a way it did become cursed, what with the whole... -gestures at Ghost King's Birthday Extra-. But I'm guessing from you mentioning it becoming a higher spirit that you're talking about it becoming a sort of conscious spiritual tool like Ruoye, not simply a cursed artifact. And I LOVE the attitude you're giving the mask here, like it had the audacity NOT to become a spiritual tool?! Haha.

The silver came from a yao, you're right. It's... hm. I suppose it could have been a sort of spiritual animal. It was something supernatural, for sure, although what, I couldn't say. If it helps, think of yao as youkai- as a matter of fact, Wikipedia tells me youkai is a transliteration of the full Chinese term, yaoguai. But that's why it had the spiritual capabilities it did: beyond its ability to absorb Xie Lian's blood, it was also able "to reflect magic and shield the wearer's body and life." Actually, now I'm wondering if it might have mitigated some of the harm Xie Lian experienced being nailed to a coffin and buried alive...

I have a couple thoughts about it becoming a spiritual tool. Ultimately, I mean, if you like the idea, I think you should go for it! The world is your oyster, and I think an AU where Xie Lian's got a spooky mask that can probably do some freaky stuff is really cool. But if I was looking to justify why it doesn't become one in canon, I think my reasoning would be that there just wasn't enough sacrificed to empower the mask. Ruoye was born from the sacrifices of three people: the lives of Xie Lian's parents, and Xie Lian's blood. We know from Hua Cheng creating Eming that lives aren't necessary to create a spiritual tool from a blood sacrifice, but we also see that Xie Lian's blood and agony, in the absolute depths of his despair, at his lowest point, was not enough by itself to create Ruoye. And while the coffin was definitely not a happy time for Xie Lian, I am of the opinion that Xie Lian never fell to the same level of despair and agony in the coffin that he did back in Book 4- or, perhaps it's that he never reached the same sort of despair. Different types of suffering.

Anyway, my point is that Xie Lian's time in the coffin isn't really set up to be enough to create a spiritual tool. That's my impression, at least. I could go further into my thoughts on what I suspect about MXTX's authorial intent and motivations and spiritual tools as a trope, but I don't want to turn this into a ramblefest, so I'll leave it here. I do think it would be fun to explore this sort of thing in a fic or something, though. I'd love to see how people would approach the idea of the Fangxin mask developing its own spirit.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mr. Chicken

Debut: Rhythm Heaven Megamix

The year is unknown. The world as we know it is unrecognizable. Ocean now covers nearly all of the planet's surface, and the remaining landmasses jut sharply upward, connected only by brittle stone bridges, if anything. And yet, despite all this...

This chicken bought himself an electric car, and he's ready to take it for a ride!

Mr. Chicken is the star of Charging Chicken, which is a game of chicken! You know, like, trying to get as close as possible to something without going over? I don't actually know why that's called chicken. Hold on, I have to look something up.

Ah! It is called that because the original game of chicken involved two drivers driving right toward each other, where one or both must swerve away, or risk crashing. If only one swerves, that driver is the Chicken, in the "coward" sense of the word. I would not call avoiding a car crash cowardly, but I cannot speak for people who would intentionally drive toward each other in cars! This does not help the reputation of the humble chicken.

Thankfully, Mr. Chicken is not driving into head-on traffic. Unfortunately, he is driving toward a landmass only a few feet wide, with a drop straight down into the ocean on the other side. Why is he doing this? Is he stupid? Yeah, I think so.

I don't know if Mr. Chicken is a terrible driver, his car is terribly designed, or both! The moment it finishes charging, it immediately zooms straight at full speed, so either it drives recklessly on its own until it runs out of fuel, or this chicken has the gas pedal slammed down to the floor at ALL times. I would not put it past him.

All this is bad enough, and that's without even mentioning that chickens barely have any depth perception! That's why they (and other prey birds) bob their heads while they walk- the things that they see will appear to move at different speeds depending on how far from the eyes they are! Delightfully, Mr. Chicken DOES indeed bob his head rapidly while driving, so at least he's trying, I guess. But if there is anything you take from this post, I hope it is that a chicken would not be good at driving a car.

Nevertheless, THIS chicken has his driver's license, somehow. And we get to hear his own thoughts about it!

"I've been driving for almost three years now. I get pulled over all the time, and I keep expecting a police officer to comment on my license picture--I look so good!"

I am happy he is proud of his photo. I'm sure it looks great, I always love looking at a photo of a chicken. I even included one in this post! They are so fun to look at. But getting pulled over all the time? I am disappointed in him! I don't feel comfortable with such a reckless driver on the road! If only he would change his ways, but that is surely too much to expect...

"When my safe driving record got me the gold driver's license, I asked if I could keep my same picture. It's such a cute picture of me!"

Wow! He changed his ways, despite me not having faith in him! It turns out even a digital chicken has the capacity to change. I am proud of him! This is now a chicken who all drivers should aspire to be like, in terms of both safety and self-love!

The non-Japanese versions of the game feature this, quite frankly, sick mural of Mr. Chicken and his car at the end of Machine Remix! I don't think this is his own garage, since there is a whole Car Guy character that this stage is hosted by, so maybe he's a beloved customer, and became a sort of mascot. He probably crashes enough cars to keep a repair shop in business!

There is even more to Mr. Chicken but I don't feel like writing anymore! Check out this official comic if you want to see some rooster heterosexuality.

[lilbrattyratty]

A Guide to Lewis Hamilton and Peter Bonnington

Recently I have been convincing people to become obsessed with whatever Lewis and Bono have so instead of repeating myself unnecessarily I have decided to make this handy dandy Bible guide to their journey together!

1. The Basics

Lewis and Bono have the longest running engineer and driver pairing in the history of the sport.

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Sir Lewis Hamilton: if you don’t know who he is then I’m slightly surprised you are here but I am not here to judge. Sir Lewis Hamilton is a British F1 driver who has won 7 world championship titles with the Mercedes team! He’s a legend in the sport. He made his debut with McLaren in 2007 and has been with Mercedes since 2013.

Peter “Bono” Bonnington: Bono is senior race engineer for Mercedes. He has been race engineer since 2011 where he worked with other 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher. After Schumacher left Bono was paired with Lewis and they have been together ever since! He has been widely regarded as the most successful and most well known race engineer.

Note: for some reason there was a misconception going around that Bono was 10 years older than he really was. Let’s put this to rest: his birthday is 12 February 1975. Source

It’s Hammertime: maybe one of the most famous Lewis radio messages. Bono explains that during the years where radio messages were more strict they needed a code word to let Lewis know it was time to really go all out. So they suggested “put the hammer down” before it became “it’s hammertime”. Source (timestamp 18:17)

Austrian GP 2014: the very first Hammertime. Link

2. The Partnership

Out on track the race engineer is the critical link from the team in the garage to the driver. They must analyze all the data and determine what the driver needs to know without overwhelming them.

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Platonic or romantic or brotherly no matter how you may view their relationship it has been stated many times by both of them that their relationship takes a lot of trust and open communication. They share a deep bond and connection that they feel is integral to their success.

In this interview you will find Lewis speaking about the depth of their trust and love for each other. Link

“It’s like a marriage, I guess.”

“There’s love, and real friendship, and loyalty.”

This interview is where Lewis speaks about the support that they show for each other. How he feels that they are always there for each other to bring out the best. Link

“I don’t know if I can do this for you…”

This interview where Lewis again talks about how much he loves Bono and how important their bond is to him. Link

“I think he is also one of the few people who can handle me on good and bad days.”

In this Instagram post you can read that Lewis is always thankful for Bono and recognizes that his success is thanks for many people but Bono in particular… Link

“Forever grateful for my guy Bono, blessed to have him by my side.”

Now Bono may be more media shy but he does have this interview where he talks about working with Lewis. Link

“He’s the rockstar and I’m the one in charge.”

Occasionally Bono will not be working with Lewis and you can see how awkward it is sometimes when you aren’t used to the replacement. Link

“That was a lot of information, I don’t understand what you just said.”

A moment when you can hear Lewis trying to calm Bono rather than the other way around. Link

The Egg: Bono brought an egg to the 2021 Brazil and Jeddah GP because Lewis loves the movie ‘Cool Runnings’ and it really inspired him when he was younger. In the movie they kiss their lucky egg. Source

Podiums: Bono has been on the podium a few times with Lewis and each one is super fun and special! A full list can be found here!

3. The Fandom

“I love Bono and I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else. Don’t write that I love him because I haven’t told him.” -Lewis Hamilton

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Below I have compiled fic recs as well as just shippy moments from the two of them.

Notable Moments:

British GP 2014: Lewis wins his home GP and Bono tells him to “lap it up, boy”. Link

Austin GP 2015: who can forget the iconic hug? (pictured above) The way Bono leaps into his arms and he bounced him up and down… simply iconic. Video link of the hug

US GP 2018: Lewis tells Bono he’s not gonna go steady. Link

Russian GP 2019: Bono tries to hide behind the crowd but Lewis won’t let him. Link

ALSO at that same GP! They stared at each other from the podium in beautiful iconic cinematography… link

Abu Dhabi GP 2019: Lewis (and others) dump champagne on Bono’s head and make him very very wet… link

Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi: Where Rossi asks Lewis if “this is your guy?” And Lewis replied “yeah.” Link (timestamp 2:39)

Mexico GP 2019: Lewis dedicated his win to Bono. Link

British GP 2024: Lewis tells Bono he loves him ❤️ Link

Also from that same GP, Lewis says he always feels safe with Bono Link

Notable Blogs:

@storm3326: creates wonderful Bono and Lewis fanart

@queerbenched: makes beautiful Bono and Lewis edits

@still-we-rise @teamroscoes @princemick @l8tof1 @husbono @flatspot: All post a lot of good Bono and Lewis content. I scrolled through a lot of their blogs a lot while making this post.

There are of course plenty of other wonderful blogs out there and I appreciate every single one of them.

Fic Recs:

This thing called us by Dutchiedragon Rated: Gen.

Summary: Brazil 2021 brought so many emotions, it left the Mercedes team completely burnt out. Lewis ends up alone in his hotelroom with a thousand thoughts running through his head, so he seeks out the one person who might bring him peace.

Or: Lewis needs help taking out his braids. Bono is there.

So long, longing by ohfrecklefreckle Rated: Mature.

Summary: Engineering is a dirty job but someone's got to do it. What happens when you're almost telepathic but still can't say what you need to?

The contours of things by The_Orange_one Rated: Mature.

Summary: Lewis belongs to so many people, but Bono mostly just belongs to Lewis.

Love in the major key by ambiguouspace Rated: Teen.

Summary: Bono, in particular, looks surprisingly alert tonight.

In fact, James notices, as his brain clicks out of analysis mode and into observation, he’s positively glowing. His eyes are bright, face a little flushed like he’s been working out. James looks down, catalogues the rest of his appearance. Bono’s t-shirt hangs slightly loose on him, nothing like the cut he normally favours, and the print on the front is unusual, an oversized image of something James can’t quite see but looks oddly familiar and—ah.

Lewis and Bono and the unsubtle art of workplace flirtation.

Lost in My Own Incidents by glasscushion Rated: Explicit.

Summary: “What do you need, Lewis? This bit I can do.”

“This,” he says, his eyes still closed. “Can we just stay like this?”

Lewis lifts one side of the blanket for Bono to take and he grabs a handful, laying it over his own lap, the wool heated from where it’s been resting against Lewis’ skin. The urge to reach out beneath, to soothe, to touch, is almost suffocating.

“Not a problem mate. No problem at all.”

Author’s Note: This is not a complete list and may be updated as they continue to be insane about each other!

[stormblessed95]

So I just had some thoughts about the minimoni exchange that I really needed to share - their relationship is so cute. There was one thing that I'm confused about and I wanted to know if it was just me lol, and that's the narrative Jimin was telling about how Muse came about. That Pdogg asked him what his thoughts are, and Jimin said he's been feeling a lot of apathy lately (I'm paraphrasing here cause I can't remember the words!).

Then he went straight into talking about how the album is about having a crush, but he said he can't remember the last time he had a crush. And he had to have help from a younger producer to talk about what a crush was like. He didn't really go into why he wrote an album about having a crush when he said he can't remember the last time, just that he's been feeling not much excitement lately. He even explained this albums emotions as "vague." If I could go into depth about it, my interpretation (could be completely wrong) is that it's an explanation of coming to terms with his sexuality, that the expectation that he fall in love with women but no matter how many relationships with women he's had he just can't find the one. Until JK comes along....

Sorry my thoughts are all over the place 😂😂. I just wanted to know if someone also found it confusing or it's just my ADHD brain!

Hello my love! I'm probably going to use your ask to talk about Muse as a whole I think. Hope that's okay ❤️ I'll make other posts for the songs individually if I have more I want to say in depth about specific songs.... Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and theories too! I love them!

My thoughts and feelings about Muse as a whole below the photo 💜 disclaimer that these are just my thoughts and opinions. I am in no way claiming this as fact or truth and unless I'm quoting something, these are all my own words. Everyone is entitled to agree or disagree as they see fit.

This will be a longer post.... So strap in I guess!

SO! To start, Pdogg shared with us that Jimins album/SMGB was in part inspired by the Beatles conceptual album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." He said, and I quote:

"It was inspired by a conceptual album like the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' And I tried to incorporate the excitement I felt when thinking of Muse into the songs. The flow of emotions is directly reflected in the track order, so it will be more fun if you focus on that."

Intro: Rebirth and Interlude: Showtime is what gives that connection and crossover from FACE, with its sound and chorus use, into the new concept and album I believe. Which Jimin has explicitly stated that Muse is not connected with FACE really at all. But that does give its connection and crossover from those first 2 songs. So you could EASILY listen to them back to back and find it flows smoothly from one sound into another!

Face is clearly about introspection, facing oneself, that vulnerability and overcoming that pain. It's about freeing yourself. Muse seems to be conceptually about finally feeling free enough to pursue that prospect of love and being open to those feelings. It was brought up by Minseong Kim, his performance director, in VMagazine that (I'm paraphrasing) they basically were focusing more on his masculine side and expressions for Who and in Muse. While in Face, Jimin showcased more of his vulnerabilities and his more feminine side and expressions. Specifically seeking out that contrast. Full interview here:

Now I don't know about you ... But it's giving gender. And I love that. It's not something new for Jimin, he leans into that contrast within himself alot. It's really giving gender fluidity. And I think that's on purpose. Jimin doesn't do things by accident. He thinks through everything and Jimin is in charge at the end for his projects. And considering how OFTEN this concept of *both*, of feminine and masculine, comes up in Jimins personal projects/stages, it's clearly something important to him that he wants to be highlighted.

Jimin absolutely had full control over the stories he wanted to tell in each song, even Who, where he didn't have full writing credits. He explained the thoughts, feelings and ideas he was wanting to express. We saw him in the behind scenes of things having direct input on his songs, the MV, and creating his own choreo. The Talent 😍 we were specifically told that Jimin "directly explained to them what he wanted to convey and the direction he wanted to take for this album and each song. This allowed us to put together tracks that are more musically diverse, but still feel right for him." Quote comes from an interview article from the Clash here

Similarly shared in another article, Pdogg said "We made it with Jon Bellion in New York. I remember Jimin personally explaining to him what story he wanted to tell, and he was really embarrassed/shy. I met Jimmy Fallon by chance in the studio next door. We played the song for him for the first time after we finished working on it. In fact After finishing work on the 'FACE' album, we went straight into the production of 'MUSE' and I thought, 'He's working this hard before his military enlistment?' Thanks to Jimin's hard work, you'll be able to see his musical journey, which has grown even more." From here

Okay, now that we got all those interview snippets out of the way from Jimins team.... We can get into more of Jimins words and my own thoughts/theories here too.... 😏🥰 But we like to work theories off facts, so we gotta get our base line!

Jimin finished recording his album in June of 2023.

Jimin stated in MMM that the first 5 songs in his album were basically the emotions related to having a crush and confessing your feelings. That would be:

Intro: Rebirth

Interlude: Showtime

SGMB

Slow Dance

Be Mine

And then the 6th track, Who, he takes it all back and is like no, that's not really true. Where he also lets us know that there really isn't a connection to FACE in the grand scheme of things.

To start with the title too.... Who are the Muses? The Greek Goddesses of artistic inspiration. Jimin has been drawing from Greek Mythology a lot recently, with Apollo and Artemis featuring in his photofolio too. Now while the basics premise of a Muse is and can be very romantic in nature, it isn't always. Jimins album Muse is inherently full of romantic songs, but I also think it's clear from his talk on MMM that this album is not JUST about looking for your run of the mill, romantic relationship and love.... But being in search of your passion, your heart and your desires. It's the expression of yearning. Yearning for love, for life, for his music, his work, his Identity as a person and an artist, to feel excited over something and look forward to something. He specially says to RM during MMM that he isn't sure if he will ever be satisfied with himself as an artist or find a version of himself that he is fully satisfied with (I'm paraphrasing). It's the idea that this search for his Muse (that satisfaction in himself and as an artist) is ongoing and probably will FOREVER be ongoing. Hence why in the end of the Who MV, after all that back and forth with so many people.... He is still alone. That search is still happening. Hence also why this desperate search of who his heart is waiting for is at the end of the album, not opening it up. He still hasn't found her, the Muses. His satisfaction. The yearning that is driving him forward to grow and learn and adapt and dig deeper into his art, is still there.

Jimin has a lot of control over his projects. His albums, songs, and performances. As he should. But it's important for everyone to remember that this album starts and finishes with JIMIN. And what he wants to say and express, this is his art, his emotions and his ideas, regardless of if he has help writing lyrics or not. To bring this back to my last paragraph above.... Passion as an artist is something plenty of people can relate to, but not everyone. Romance on the other hand is something *almost* everyone CAN relate to. And bringing those feelings of yearning and desire for passion and excitement and translating that into feelings of crushes, first love, romantic connect. Brings that full circle and is the outward Expression he chose to help represent the emotions and feelings he was trying to express through this album. I think it's also important to note that while Jimin expressed his desire for excitement and passion and how he is still looking for that.... He made sure to make it clear that he is happy and content with where he is at and who he is currently. These things can coexist!

Who in general could have some takes and theories about sexuality and what not, like anon said, I've definitely seen a variety of theories out there. I do think Jimin has long since come to terms with his sexuality though, but that doesn't mean that the inspiration from that couldn't still be drawn on. I can talk about that more in a post I make specifically only for Who. Soooo many things could be said for Who! Lol and if you've read this far, look forward to my post for Who and thank you for making it through my ramblings!!

[uniquepeanutcreatorfire]

Newest HB Short

This short had some cute and fun moments with Millie and Sallie Mae. I liked the outfit Sallie wore throughout most of it and I'm glad she got some depth. While I'm glad these characters got some more screentime, I can't help but still feel disappointed as the short doesn't give us much insight to Millie as a main character.

In the short, Sallie expressed how Millie doesn't visit home that often and thinks Millie may be ashamed to have come from Wrath. My thing is that this doesn't tie into information already established about Millie.

You would think her parents would've made similar remarks, like Sallie, about her not visiting home in the Harvest Moon episode.

Sallie also said she was left in charge of the family when Millie left but we never seen Millie have any meaningful interactions with her brothers to get a sense of what their dynamic is like.

We also don't learn anything about why Millie left Wrath in the first place. Millie just only apologized to Sallie and said she'll try to visit more.

Did she leave because she met Chaz and maybe he convinced her to move to Pride?

Did she leave because of her validation issues? Like she didn't feel appreciated by her family enough (and for some reason she didn't tell her sister this).

Small Nitpicks

Sallie took a bus from Wrath to Pride ring. What happened to the elevator as the means to travel to different rings?

Sallie made no mention of Looloo Land. You know, the place where Millie said she and her family used to go in the past. Honestly, Sallie gave off the vibes that she hasn't been anywhere else besides Wrath.

The sibling rivalry Viv mentioned in her Millie thread doesn't appear true at all. Sure, they play fight roughly and compete when playing games but that seems more of a result of them being born and raised in Wrath. If they were really sibling rivals, I don't think they would have a close bond as they do now.

Another thing about Viv's Millie thread; she listed off things about Millie, but she never mentioned anything about her validation issues or wanting to feel important. Viv has no problem explaining her characters outside the shows, like she did with Alastor. This convinced me that she was more likely making stuff up about Millie at the time.

Conclusion

This was a fun and enjoyable short. However, I'm not convinced the writers have a clear idea or direction for Millie's character that's coherent. It seems they add stuff along the way. I understand Morgana wrote this short alone, but it doesn't seem like she was given enough information about Mille to make sure things were consistent. I guess we'll see what happen in the future.

[slotmachines-fearofgod]

babby ahsoka + twins

Please enjoy this not proofread not edited not ready WIP! we need more baby ahsoka & clones in the world

---

For the first time in his (relatively short) life Rex was at a loss. 

They were investigating some temple on behalf of the Jedi. Anakin had been sent because of his intense attunement to the Force and the 501st had happily followed his lead. Rex hadn’t gotten much out of the man, just that the Jedi would know what to do and all he needed to worry about was following their lead. 

Rex was going to kill him. 

When they first landed and entered nothing had seemed off. It was an old, crumbling structure built by neither Jedi nor Sith millenia ago. The Jedi wanted it investigated due to the strange flow of energy around it, an energy that had steadily been increasing over the past month until the signal reached Coruscant itself. Rex had braced himself for mental games or mind tricks but there had been nothing. 

In fact, there had been so little sign of anything that Anakin decided it would be best for them to split up. Coming as a surprise to no one Ahsoka took Fives, Echo, and Rex along with her down the side passageways, leading them through a winding maze Rex wasn’t sure he’d be able to figure out on his own. 

Which was what led them here. 

Rex stared down at the three children in front of him and felt the vague urge to cry.

Fives blinked up at him, his big eyes full of curiosity as he looked at Rex’s armor. Rex, still frozen from where he’d busted through the door that had trapped his compatriots, watched as his second waddled up to him and grabbed his kama. 

“Fives?” Rex croaked, incredibly out of his depth. 

Fives laughed brightly, “See Echo! I told you it would catch on.”

Echo, now half his original size, scowled, “No fair. Why do you get the fun name?”

Ahsoka, his little commander, his almost-sister, his charge, stuck her finger in her mouth and immediately jammed it into Echo’s ear. 

Echo yelped, scurrying away from the girl who was grinning with her fangs out, “Ew!”

“What’s your name?” Ahsoka asked, seemingly innocent. 

Echo grumbled quietly so they couldn’t hear, still trying to wipe the spit out of his ear. 

Fives ran over to him, laughing all the way, “It’s Echo! It’s ‘cause he only repeats what the trainers say!”

“Shut up!” Echo’s face lit up red as he smacked his brother, “I do not!”

“Ow!” Fives whined, rearing up to hit Echo back, “Don’t be such a tubie!”

“I hate you,” Echo growled, “Stop being so mean.”

“I’m Ahsoka!”

Both clone cadets momentarily paused to look at the togruta girl. 

“I’m a Jedi!”

And with that their feud was forgotten. Rex sighed and walked over, accepting that this was his life now, as Echo launched question after question at a giggling Ahsoka. Fives was trying to bodily drag her away to see her do “cool Force shit,” leaving Rex to wade in between the pack to pick up the little padawan. 

“Hey,” Fives complained, “Give her back.”

“Hush,” Rex fixed him with a look, “Give me a sitrep cadet.”

Fives rolled his eyes, a move that would’ve gotten him another hour of training at the least on Kamino, while Echo stiffened into a less than perfect parade rest. 

“Sir!” Echo started, his voice just a little too loud in the echoing chamber, “Myself and CT-5555 were enjoying our downtime in the bunks. We were taking the allotted rest period to sleep and woke up here in this…where are we? Sir.”

Rex sighed, rubbing his eyes with his free hand, “We are on the planet Erot in the Outer Rim. As for the name of this place, I was not granted access to that information.”

All three kids' eyes widened. 

“Outer Rim?” Ahsoka asked, “That’s so cool!”

Rex shifted her onto his hip so she’d be easier to carry. If he had to guess, they were all about five or six standard years. They could speak plainly and fluently and had little coordination issues, but they were much younger then they’d been a mere five minutes ago. 

“Ahsoka,” Rex started, “Do you remember what you were doing in this room?”

Ahsoka shook her head, now looking around the space, “No. I was in the creche with Uzaa and we were going to class with Master Che. I was late.” Ahsoka looked down sheepishly, a blush of her own on her face. 

Rex smiled weakly, “It’s alright. We’ll work it out.”

“Who are you?” Fives piped up, never content with being silent too long. 

“I’m Rex,” he could answer that at least, “Captain Rex.”

“Captain?” Echo looked up at him with something like admiration, “Wow. Does that mean the war has started?”

“What war?” Ahsoka asked, now alarmedly squirming in Rex’s arms, “Why do you all look the same?”

Rex winced, “It…may be best if we regroup before we talk about everything,” he said apologetically, “But I’ll explain.”

Ahsoka frowned, wiggling so much that Rex gave up and just set her down, “Okay. Are we going back home?”

That was a good question. Right now Rex wasn’t sure what to do with his sort-of soldiers. And there was no way he was getting back through the tunnel system without a guide to help. 

Rex looked around the room, searching for clues or hints of what did this to them. There were strange carvings on the floor in the center and metal piping running along the ceiling, but other than that the place seemed empty. Devoid of anything and everything except for the group of four at the door. 

Rex pinched his nose as he pulled up his comm, already dreading this call. 

“Skywalker here, what’s your status Rex?”

“Uh,” Rex looked down at three innocent and eager faces, “I need a rendezvous at my position ASAP.”

“What?” Skywalker’s voice changed, now startled and anxious instead of cool and collected, “What happened to Ahsoka? She can’t lead you?”

Ahsoka gasped, “He knows me?”

“...What was that?”

“That is my predicament sir,” Rex sighed again, “I believe your padawan activated something. ARC troopers Fives and Echo are down along with Tano.”

“ARC trooper?!” Fives cried in excitement, now bouncing on his toes, “We make ARC troopers?”

Rex gave all three of them a scolding look and pressed a finger to his lips. They all looked down at their feet, adequately shamed. 

“Riiight,” Skywalker drawled, “Sounds like I should see this myself. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Bring Kix please,” Rex tiredly requested.

“Of course,” Skywalker sounded less upset now. It helped soothe some of Rex’s own nerves as he mentally cussed out stupid Force shit in every language he knew. “I look forward to seeing what this is about.”

Rex let out a breath of relief as the call ended. He sat heavily next to the kids, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. 

At least until Echo rounded in front of him. 

“Captain?” Echo asked in a small voice.

“Yeah?” 

“Are we in trouble?”

Rex softened a bit and shook his head, “No. It’s just been a long day.”

Echo hummed, “So is it true? Has the war started?”

Ah yes. The great war. The one they used to dream about as kids. Their strange light at the end of the tunnel. 

“Yeah,” Rex said hoarsely, staring into Echo’s eyes and suddenly being hit with the realization that this Echo’s brothers were still alive, “It’s started.”

Echo frowned, “But you’re not an A clone. Why are you deployed?”

Rex shook his head, “It’s complicated. We’ll explain later, I promise.”

Echo seemed unhappy with that answer, but he didn’t get another word in before Fives was bullying his way into Rex’s line of sight. 

“You said we’re ARC troopers,” Fives accused, “But we haven’t even graduated our base combat modules!”

Rex laughed softly, “You’ll get there someday. Trust me.”

Fives scowled, unsatisfied with Rex’s half answer but Rex wasn’t really sure how much to tell them. Telling them everything - Rishi, their batch’s destruction, their missions with Torrent - seemed unwise. They were still kids. They deserved to be kids. Just for a little bit. 

Rex startled as he felt a weight lean into his side, briefly reaching for his blaster before looking over and realizing it was Ahsoka. 

She looked up, her usually large eyes now seeming comically huge on her face, “‘M cold.”

Right. Togrutas were warm blooded. And she hadn’t gotten as lucky as Fives and Echo, whose blacks shrunk with them. She was still stuck with her skirt and stupid tube top. Rex wanted to rip that thing to shreds and replace it with armor. He’d had the instinct many times before but now…

Rex just opened his arms, allowing the girl to crawl into his lap with a happy sigh.

He glanced at Echo and Fives, unsurprised to find them bickering quietly off to the side. 

“Boys,” he called, his voice booming around the chamber, “Cut it out.”

Fives made a frustrated noise and stomped his foot, going off to sulk in the corner, while Echo stared after him with an angry look. Eventually the younger of the two made it over, subtly checking out of Ahsoka had left any room in Rex’s lap. 

Rex scooted backward against the wall so the three of them could sit more comfortably before he called out, “Fives. Come here.”

Fives turned around, stuck his tongue out, and turned back to the corner. 

“CT-5555,” Rex put a little more authority into his voice, “Now.”

Fives hesitated, fighting with himself a little bit, before groaning and stomping over. Rex gave him an appraising once over, finding nothing wrong with him other than the attitude. 

“What’s this about?” Rex tried his best to go for strict older brother but he was pretty sure the image was ruined by the two kids in his lap. 

“Don’t wanna be here,” Fives mumbled, crossing his arms and looking down, “I miss 4040.”

Ah. Cutup. Fives’ favorite of his old batch. 

Rex relaxed a bit, crooking his finger at Fives and watching the kid tentatively step toward him, “It’ll be alright. We’ll get you three fixed up in no time.”

“Fixed?” Echo craned his neck to look up at Rex. 

Rex winced, knowing where Echo probably jumped to, “Back home, I mean.”

Echo nodded, slumping against Rex as Fives tried, and mostly succeeded, to fit himself between his brother and his future commander. Rex held the three of them in his arms and tried to remember to breathe. 

He didn’t know what to do with this. They couldn’t fight and there was no way in hell Kamino would take Fives and Echo back. He didn’t have the first clue what to do with Ahsoka, hell he didn’t even know if they’d allow her back at the temple after this. Were the Jedi as strict as the Kaminoans? Certainly not except for the exceptional cases. The issue was this was most certainly an acceptable case. 

They sat in a tight anxious silence for the next few minutes. Rex was shielding as best he could, but his skills were rudimentary at best and he knew it was getting to Ahsoka. Adding on to that Fives and Echo kept poking each other and making faces when they thought Rex wasn’t looking. Eventually one of them was going to hit Ahsoka and he just knew that would start an all out war. 

Ahsoka perked up before the rest of them, her eyes going wide and her figure stilling. Rex let out a sigh of relief, well aware of what that meant by now. 

Sure enough, a few moments later they heard hurried footsteps and a few calls between troopers. Rex had them all stand, drawing his blasters and putting on his helmet as he walked to the door. 

Skywalker was the first in line, his face curious but not alarmed. Rex let the blasters fall when he saw him, nodding respectfully to his general. 

“Rex,” Anakin greeted him, “Mind showing me what this is about?”

Rex nodded, peeking over his shoulder to see Jesse, Kix, and Hardcase. That was good. The boys would love Hardcase. 

“Yeah,” Rex stepped aside and pointed at the trio of children, “Feel free to take a look.”

Anakin, it seemed, had the same reaction to children as Rex did. Which was freeze. 

Kix nudged him aside easily, sparing a curious glance at his general, before he too paused in the doorway. 

“Hi!” Ahsoka waved cheerily, one of her hands in Echo’s, “I’m Ahsoka!”

[j0eyj0rdis0n]

Ok so this has been on my mind for a MINUTE. So here’s my school AU! Please ask questions and please add your headcannons too!! If you want more in depth AU headcannons I’d love to write them!

CREEPS SCHOOL AU

JEFF THE KILLER:

Football player and all the girls swoon over him for it. He’s not even the star player?? But hey I guess being a running back is pretty cool? (fuck quarterbacks!!)

Mans barely keeping his grades up

He’s only passing so he can stay on the football team

One of the “popular” guys since he’s just so well known by all the creeps. Everyone sits with him and the football team at lunch

JANE THE KILLER:

Varsity volleyball player and she’s GOOD. Like she’d get a full ride scholarship for college

Star player unlike Jeff

She’s also in Choir! A soprano of course. It’s more of a just for fun thing so she doesn’t take it too seriously but she definitely tries her best (please come to her concerts)

Straight A student. Don’t play with her.

NINA THE KILLER:

Cheerleader!! 100% a flyer. She cheers exclusively for Jeff too. Not quite the cheer captain but close in the ranks. One of the best at tumbling and gymnastics

Social butterfly and everyone knows her. She’s on hoco court for sure.

I feel like she’s always just a little short of the top. Socially, academically, athletically. She just seems to get overshadowed

Pretty decent student, she’s more interested in a social life than academics though.

KATE THE CHASER:

Cross country/ track. She’s set the most records in the school history. She can compete in anything but prefers long distance or sprints

Super humble about her wins and records, not a fan of the spotlight that her athleticism gets her

Pretty damn smart, but she’s quiet about it. People just know she sits in the back and does her work.

High A grades

CLOCKWORK:

Varsity basketball. Definitely a starter too. Combo Guard 100%. She gives me Caitlin Clark vibes?? (look her up she’s badass)

Probably also does track but just because the coaches knew she was tall and she could jump hurdles like no one’s business

On the side she spends a lot of her time in the art rooms since it’s quiet and she gets some alone time

Also a pretty good student, more on the B sides of grades though,

“TICCI” TOBY:

I feel like this kid is in everything for some reason?? But definitely varsity soccer as his main activity. He’s a goalkeeper mainly but he can swing to whatever position you need him to be. He’s probably in bowling with Ben too

But he’s 100% in band too. He plays trombone (the best instrument) he’s in concert band, marching band, and jazz band.

He’s pretty popular too just because he’s cute and pretty much an all rounder

Average student, doesn’t have much time or attention for homework so that’s where his grades fall

TIM/MASKY:

HUNK. This man is the star wrestler of the school. Probably in the 182lbs weight class. People are SCARED to wrestle this man.

Doesn’t talk much, just does his work and gets tf out. Honestly most people avoid him

Pretty good student too, high B’s to medium level A’s

He participates in the field portion of track and field. Loves that he gets to throw shit

BRIAN/HOODIE:

Baseball boy!! Those pants look damn good on him too. Usually a pitcher but sometimes a shortstop. Loves running so this shit is perfect for him. The girls LOOOOVE him. Like imagine Brian in the uniform with that goofy smile???

Also probably in yearbook (if he has time, he gives me lazy vibes)

Decent student too, probably high C’s and B’s

Honestly might dabble in bowling with Ben and Toby

EYELESS JACK:

No sports for him! If he was going to participate in any sports it would probably be swim team? Honestly not a sports guy though

But this man is in the honor society!! Like he’s SMART

Excellent student, like all 100%’s

Everyone comes to him for homework help, but of course he charges

BEN DROWNED:

Varsity bowling!! This man is a NERD and he’s damn good at bowling. Not quite a record breaker but definitely someone scouts look at

He started the team and reps it like no one’s business. He tries to get everyone to join.

He only gets good grades because he cheats

Also the leader of the gaming club!

SALLY:

She’s on the dance team 100%. Loves the outfits and looooves solo’s

But honestly she focuses more on 4H. She focuses on livestock and loves raising sheep. (Yes I know this is more of an out of school activity)

She’s probably in the garden club too! I feel like she just likes agriculture? Everyone gets along with her she’s just a sweetie

Great student! High A’s and she studies all the time

JUDGE ANGELS:

Either in marching band or color guard I can’t really decide. She either plays flute or trumpet! But if she’s in color guard she 100% has a solo/ feature moment in the show

She’s super shy but everyone seems to get along with her because she’s a sweetie #2

I also feel like all the guys try to get with her just because she’s so beautiful

Also a really good student! Studies all the time and probably has a study group

BLOODY PAINTER:

Another non sports guy! Doesn’t have anything against it but it’s just obviously not for him.

He’s the art club leader and takes it super seriously! He tries to get everyone’s art in papers, fairs, and exhibits.

Everyone thinks he’s kinda weird but they respect his dedication to art and others

Another really good student, he doesn’t have to study though

THE PUPPETEER:

School newspaper editor/writer. He knows everything about everyone and has no problem writing a dark column about them

No one talks to him at all, they don’t want him to write about them

He’s also a theater kid, idk he just gives me the vibes

Decent student, he’s just casual about it

JASON THE TOYMAKER:

Non sports guy pt. 197583.

He’s in the sewing club and absolutely loves it. Everyone thinks he’s gay for it though (Jeff teases the shit out of him)

He’s also a theater kid, more on the props side of it though

Also a high B’s student

ZERO:

She’s in ROTC and she makes it her personality

Tries to get Clockwork to join all the time and they’re besties

I feel like she’s kinda dumb so probably high D’s to low C’s

HOMICIDAL LIU:

This man plays golf and he’s super chill about it!

Wears his scarf out on the green lmao

Not popular at ALL and he likes it that way

Also a super good student and again, super chill about it

[butterflydm]

dav second playthrough: on flirting and romance

My second run continues! My more hostile-to-Solas Rook is giving me some fun moments. She is here to sass divinity and to feel guilty about not being able to be two places at once.

[endgame spoilers below]

The side-eye I am giving 'Varric' right now, let me tell you. This game. This game! Let's not get stuck in our regrets! Biting, clawing, scratching Solas. I might have to punch him for real this time. I gave him a happy ending last time. This time, he might get sucker-punched into the Fade.

One thing that I didn't anticipate in my second-run of the game is how it would affect my (meta) feelings about the romances.

I talked in one of my earlier playthrough posts about how Rook being Varric's second-in-command affects how they approach the potential romances & the power dynamic and that's true... from a certain point of view. Specifically, it is true from Rook's point of view. Rook, who sees Varric as the real person in charge. Rook, who doesn't know (isn't able to admit to themselves) that Varric is dead.

For everyone else, Rook is the Boss, the last word (Davrin literally calls her the boss during their post-recruitment talk!). Rook isn't running an entire organization, the way the Inquisitor does in DAI, but they are running the Veilguard, even if they don't realize it. Even if they think "sure, yeah, I'm calling the shots now, but as soon as Varric gets back on his feet..."

Neve and Harding know that Varric is gone, and the rest of the team has never met him and doesn't even think about him as a potential boss figure over Rook, because he died before they even joined the team. One thing that jumped out at me in my replay is how in the very first post-Varric group roundtable (with just Rook, Neve, and Harding), Rook shuts down the conversation about Varric's death (without maybe realizing what she's doing) -- Harding brings Varric up - "Varric paid the price" and Rook immediately says, "He made the choice to go talk with Solas. He knew the risks. We all did." That's a conversational shut-down when everyone knows that Varric is dead. And Neve echoes Rook's words later when they return to the ritual site -- that Varric knew the risks. Both Neve and Harding tend to cover up their feelings and vulnerability anyway, so it's easy to see why they took this conversation as a cue that Varric is not on the table for in-depth grief and mourning. He knew the risks, and now we have to go on as a team together (without him).

Going through the recruitment missions now actually makes it super-obvious that the bargains are all through Rook, with Varric being zero percent involved, but because Rook makes Varric part of the process afterwards, it didn't feel that way on my first run.

The themes of how each of the companions relates to Rook and to the game as a whole shines even more on the second playthrough; it's genuinely a delight to see what was hiding underneath what I thought was going on. Bellara and Rook's first conversation, where Rook learns about Bellara losing her brother has so many echoes of Varric now, and the struggle that Rook is subconsciously going through underneath the illusion that Solas is showing to her. Lucanis's introduction, with him being influenced by blood magic and having a semi-hostile/semi-helpful presence in his mind! Harding talking about how difficult it is to process an experience if you've forgotten a key part of it.

Part of me wishes that I could have experienced all of the romances before knowing the truth about Varric, but I never could have kept myself from finishing the game straight-through on my first run (plus I had no idea how much knowing the ending would change my perspective!).

And I'm glad that I went with my heart the first time, because I did really love Lucanis's romance. Skimming around, I guess some people felt it was thin on content? It didn't feel that way when I was playing, though maybe I'll feel differently after checking out the rest of the romances. But the "Inner Demons" quest alone was just so intensely satisfying for me. I mean, part of it is maybe the Anders-romance hangover -- I was able to help Lucanis in a way that DA2 didn't let me help Anders. The coffee date scene after the quest where Lucanis and Spite are hanging out together and just... being okay with each other? Literally my heart was so full. I mean, kissing is nice and all, but have you tried helping someone make peace with their inner demon? (I am demisexual myself, so this may have an impact on my feelings about Lucanis and his romance, though I didn't find out until after my first playthrough was completed that Lucanis is confirmed as intended demisexual by the writer.)

One of the things I love about DAV so much is that everyone on the team matters for the mission (which is really shown to good effect during the big missions, when we actually get our whole team to come along!) but Lucanis's specific place in the team is just... idk. It just gets to me. It will probably still get to me in this playthrough, even though I have locked Lucanis's romance away from me by choosing to save Minrathous.

Witness me breaking my own heart so that I can experience all the content of the game and romance someone other than Lucanis:

Lucanis's entrance into the game just wow'd me from the start and I never stopped being wow'd. I didn't go into the game with any particular romantic intentions (well, I was leaning towards Harding, because I already knew her from DAI) but as soon as Lucanis showed up... I was a goner.

I loved learning about Spite, I love what the spirit/demon who made a deal with Lucanis being Spite said about Lucanis and his determination to survive what was being done to him. I just... I really love spirits in the Dragon Age series. They are probably my favorite bit of lore. And DAV was just so good to me as someone who loves spirits.

What was I talking about?

Right, how the power differential is looking a lot different from the companions' side than it does Rook's. Rook, who sees themselves as "leading the team during Varric's recovery" vs the Veilguard themselves, who see themselves as "Rook's team." The power dynamics are still nowhere near as sharp as in DAI, where some of your romance options literally believe that you were sent by their god/prophet to save the world, but are more along the lines of DAO than DA2. It felt like this game pulled a lot of emotional weight back from DAO into DAV -- the ending where building up the factions made a difference in the fight. I wish we'd had that in Inquisition! It would have been so fitting!

I actually feel like every complaint that I had about DAI (which is a game that I loved) was fixed in DAV -- you actually get your whole team present on the missions when it makes sense to be 'all hands on deck' (everyone should have been there during Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts! they talk like they were all there afterwards); the tension never lets up (in DAI, things are never as dire afterwards as they are during "In Your Heart Shall Burn"; you basically start winning after that point and wear Cory's forces down, while in DAV, the situation gets more dire as you continue into the game); no fetch quests and instead all the side quests provided lore and character and story info.

Just a really good game. I think it has the strongest third act of any of the Dragon Age games.

The only real complaint I have about DAV is: wtf is up with there being only three character saves available on PS5? There are six factions! You'd think there would be at least six character saves so that each faction could be explored.

Ah. Memories of DAI:

So true.

[mliter]

Mario Kart World.

I never really thought much of the next iteration of the mario kart series. Not even what it would look like, just the concept in general. We've been with 8 for 2 console generations. I guess this is what we'll be with for the next 2.

This was the very first exclusive to be revealed for the Switch 2. The brand new console from Nintendo. It promised more power and features, with Mario Kart World being the debut title to show it all off.

So, how do you make Mario Kart even crazier? Every game had some sort of new feature that became the gimmick we'd get to play with. This time? An open world. (And 24 players.)

Everything here, you can just drive through. I get the same feeling of "how the hell" i got when i was exploring BOTW's Hyrule for the first time. Visually, this world is well designed. Everything is connected. It really is a world. I wonder how much planning this took. You can just about go and do anything you want. That first moment where you fly off the course and not have lakitu snatch your ass for the first time and you realize you’re really free is something special. There’s a lot of charm and detail to be discovered by the player. There something awesome about being able to see the track looming over the horizon. Speaking of details, a personal favourite are the live weather effects. In previous titles, you were stuck with whatever weather they designed that track around. Now, almost any track can take place at any point of the day. Visually it keeps things interesting for a brain like mine.

Speaking of visuals, I thought this game looked similar to MK8D, but i was quickly proven wrong. Due to the power that the switch 2 now boasts, everything looks much better compared to their previous counterpart. Lighting, models, graphical fidelity, everything. Especially the character models. The entire cast got a visual refresh to be more in line with the cartoon-y direction they seem to be taking the mario cast in. The look from the 2010's is completely gone now. It's most noticeable with characters like Mario. Don't believe me? This game’s even got a photo mode to show it all off.

What are these guys wearing? New to the game is food items that unlock alternate costumes for the character you’re playing as. It was fun looking for all of the costumes for my favorited characters. It makes you think about these characters’s fashion sense. Daisy and Luigi’s wardrobes have proven to be my favourites. My all time favourite costume from the game is Luigi’s farmer costume. It’s the hat for me.

Also... That rainbow road...

Gone is the zero gravity mechanic, replaced with being able to straight up drive anywhere. The walls? Go ahead. Rail grinding? Before Sonic? Sure. If you're reading this around game release, you've surely seen the clips of the ridiculous shortcuts skilled players have been finding with these new tricks. A whole new layer of depth and player expression has been slapped onto Mario Kart and i love it. How will players handle this turn? One may hit the wall, one may just drift. One may just hit the grindrail.

Also, to accommodate this, all of the karts transform depending on the situation. Karts get monster truck tires when off road, and these cool water jets when on water. The tires also have a cool squash-n-stretch effect when charging up a jump. It's all very charming.

The game revolves around this open world, with both Knock-out tour and races. You’ll find yourself actually driving to the track you’ve selected in Grand Prix and online, and Knock-out tour is a brutal elimination style game mode that has you racing against multiple people. It’s a crazy mode. You’ll find yourself having heartbreaking losses, and triumphant wins that’ll have you feeling like a beast. It’s fun, but brutal. I’ve only managed to win 5 myself.

Now here’s a sleeper hit from this game. The soundtrack. Because there’ll be so much off time in the menus, and waiting for the next match to start, and free roam, the folks at Nintendo went and created a soundtrack of 200. Ranging from remixes and new music for the new tracks. The remixes are arguably one of the best parts of the game. The entire Mario library is represented here, with interesting takes on classic songs you will recognize. I realized I was in for it when I heard that EDM remix of baby park.

Yeah. this is going to be an all timer. The game looks great, feels great, and plays great. I wonder how DLC is going to look like with this new formula though...

[chopprface]

fellas i cant just ship dinobot with just one of the maximals at this point. its too fun to imagine the main maximals (aside from cheetor) just hanging out in a polycule for me to NOT ship all of them simultaneously. the protoforms have their own relationships separate from the maximals but are just like 'ok cool i guess'

the thing is about the maximal polycule is that it kind of falls apart without dinobot because hes got such strong relationships with the primary maximals. spoilers under the cut

post-code of hero their relationships get way more distant. theres still sparks of romance here and there (noticeable mainly with rhinox and rattrap) but the dynamics they have are pretty different without the glue of the group around. primal falls firmly into his role as the commander of the maximals around the time dinobot dies and is kind of too caught up with megatrons increasingly dangerous schemes to worry about his relationships. not that his relationships with the maximals break down at all, just that they shift back to how they were before dinobot joined the team, albeit with less skepticism towards optimus' ability to lead.

i could drop a whole extra paragraph about depth charge coming in and altering the dynamic of the group once more but that would mainly have to do with rattrap and primal's dynamics with him, since depth charge and rhinox don't get much screentime or interaction with eachother. its definitely a challenge to write speculative relationships about rhinox because he doesn't get a lot of deeper characterization in a lot of the episodes. jesus christ this was gonna be a shitpost about dinobot getting passed around like a blunt like how wolverine is in x men but i like these guys too much.

[getvalentined]

there is no reason for this other than that I was reading through RTGT aloud to check for errors (because that's how I do that) and thought it might be fun to record and play it back. I did a little cleanup, but not a lot, if that's not ridiculously obvious. It was a good way to test the mic on my new headset.

Transcript, snippet taken from chapter 5 of RTGT:

The inside of the house was dim, lit only where sunlight squeezed through the gaps between boards on the windows. It had been abandoned since the Crisis, so it was no surprise that there weren’t many active signs of human habitation, but Cloud was surprised to find most of the furniture he’d seen on his last visit still seemed to be in place, everything now covered in a thick layer of dust. Still, the house seemed barren with no tea towels on the wall pegs, no dishes in the sink, no pots and pans hanging on the rack overhead. All the knobs had been pulled from the stove for some reason, left lined up on the counter, strikingly white compared to anything else in the open, even through the grime. When Cloud picked one up, the void in the dust underneath seemed to indicate they’d been there since the employee charged with residence had finally left sometime after Meteorfall. “It’s a fire risk,” Vincent explained. “If the stove were still powered, something knocking into one of the dials right or left sharply enough to activate the hob could burn the place down. It’s much more difficult to accidentally turn just a stem.” “I guess so,” Cloud agreed, frowning. “It’s still kinda...weird, though.” He looked at the backside of the knob, then to the stems on the stove, then back. He’d cleaned the stove face enough times that he didn’t really need to look, but he had to double-check anyway—it wasn’t the same stove, so disparities in design were likely, but his memory proved correct. The stems were metal, the cross-section shaped into a smooth arc not unlike a hollow tube cut lengthwise, with one notch about a centimeter down—and another much closer to the end. The one further down was unfamiliar, but it was also a bit ragged, clearly not properly machined, added manually to line up with the depth of the knobs that had been removed. The stem slot on the back of those knobs was slightly worn down from use, but oddly angular, a hexagon with a plastic stopper as opposed to the smooth semicircle of the stems. “The stove is the same kind we had, but these aren’t the right knobs.” He picked up another, checking the slot on the back and finding the same sectioned plastic hexagon instead of the metal half-circle from his childhood. “They’re kinda….new? Not new, I guess, but newer. Weird.” Vincent made a curious sound, moving in to look over Cloud’s shoulder at the plastic attachment, then turning to the stove itself. He reached down to run the index finger of his right hand over a metal stem, testing the shape of it, tapping with one fingernail as if testing the material. “This is quite old,” he said at last. “It was probably fairly expensive for its time. It could be original to the structure—the knobs would have been damaged in the fire and need replacement, but it would be difficult to find genuine hardware for an appliance this old.” A cold shock rushed through Cloud, eyes widening as he looked to Vincent. “What?” “If the original knobs were bakelite or some other early to mid-century polym—” “How could this be original?” He interrupted. “The house burned down. They replaced everything.” Vincent pursed his lips just slightly in thought, eyes narrowing, the crimson glow within brightening by the slimmest measure. “Contrary to their image, Shinra never actually had unlimited finances,” he said slowly, not looking up. “I know Veld, the director before Tseng, oversaw the rebuilding of Nibelheim. He did the same with Kalm a few years prior, and…he’d done similar in Banora, just a little prior to the formal launch of the Jenova Project. His work on complex coverups was highly regarded within the company even in my day, mostly because of his rather spendthrift nature.” At last, Vincent raised his head, giving Cloud a look that seemed to suggest caution, although his words offered something else entirely. “Old Nibel construction was very stable, so I doubt this place burned to the ground. Anything in the house that survived the fire would have been salvaged for reuse.”

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

DANGANCEMBER: Honorable Mentions:

//Okay, so tomorrow is my birthday, but it's also the day that Dangancember finally begins, and I have all the posts ready to go.

//But after leaving a vote for people, the majority requested that I talk about the honorable mentions before I get to the actual list.

//Although, I suppose DISHONERABLE mentions would be more accurate for these trials.

//While Danganronpa is known for its gripping courtroom drama and mind-bending twists, not every trial hits the mark, and by god these one's certainly don't for me. Whether it’s due to weak mysteries, frustrating mechanics, or unsatisfying resolutions, these trials fell short of the series’ usual high standards.

//Now, I need to remind you all of a few things before we get into it.

This honorable mentions catagory will cover ALL the trials that didn't make it onto the list. So if you read through them, you will effectively be getting rid of half the fun of guessing which trial and what trial makes it on. Still, everyone wanted to see these first, so I can't really stop you. Just keep that in mind.

These trials will not be in order of how much I like/dislike them. They will be in chronological order, so DR1 Case 1 to SDRA2 Case 6 kind of. I don't really want to show bias towards any particular case because these didn't make the cut in the end, and I don't feel like ranking them because that defeats the objective of the Top 24. But I still feel like I owe it to the readers to give explanations on why these trials didn't make the cut.

I won't be going into depth on these as much as I will do for the actual Dangancember posts. Just brief thoughts and feelings and a quick summary of why I think these cases kind of suck.

//So, without further ado, let's see which areas had room for improvement.

#HM1: Danganronpa 1 Case 1

//Sometimes I do think I'm a little harsh on this case, because to be honest, it's a really good introduction to the mechanics and the concept of the class trial, and is a decent opener that sets up for how crazy the rest of the game can get.

//Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for it as a mystery.

//Sayaka’s death is predictable, and Leon being the culprit is too obvious thanks to the infamous 11037 clue. While the twist about Sayaka's manipulative plan and how she tried to frame Makoto out of desperation adds depth, the trial's resolution feels unengaging.

//The chapter successfully introduces the game’s tone, rules, and tension as the characters grapple with their confinement, making the murder feel realistic and emotionally charged but while the clues connect well and offer some intrigue, Leon’s very bleedingly obvious status as the killer and how the clues are kind of laid out in a really obvious way undermines the investigation's excitement.

//The trial is straightforward, with a solid yet not groundbreaking twist involving Sayaka’s role in the events. Leon’s execution is iconic, but the overall immersion is limited. In summary, while the trial is foundational and provides a good starting point for the series, it lacks the complexity and engagement seen in later cases. Which is unfortunately enough to stop it from making the list.

#HM2: Danganronpa 1 Case 5

//This one is...kind of tricky.

//My main issues with this case is that it stands out so much compared to the Case 5's in the rest of the series because while the rest of those cases are among the greatest cases in the series, this one is short, uninteresting, and poorly executed despite its potential.

//But at the same time...that kind of feels like it was done intentionally.

//The case introduces Mukuro Ikusaba as the victim; a twist that has potential but feels rushed and underdeveloped. Mukuro’s lack of screen time and the mystery surrounding her name undermines her overall impact on the narrative. And god, later games don't really fix this.

//The case centers on Kyoko and Makoto as the two main suspects, with Kyoko’s enigmatic nature and Makoto’s absence at the crime scene creating tension.

//The trial is rushed, with characters skipping critical discussions, and generally, it primarily serves as a setup for the final trial rather than standing on its own. Kind of like this is Part 1 for the finale while Chapter 6 is part two where it all goes to a head.

//Good structure, I'll give it that, but this trial then just feels like a plot device instead of an actual victory.

//Monokuma’s actions break the rules of the killing game by manipulating the trial to frame Kyoko, which feels out of character and undermines the integrity of the trial system. It also really is taken away from when Junko is established to be a tactical genius later in the series, which makes me wonder how she could come up with such a poorly cobbled together plan that didn't even work out for her, and then the final trial kind of makes it seem like "Oh yeah, I knew it wouldn't work out. I was betting on it."

//Like, fuck off. This is why I didn't really like Junko in Game 1.

//One thing that makes this trial unique is that unlike the other games in the series, it features two outcomes: either Makoto accuses Kyoko (leading to a "bad ending") or defends her, resulting in Makoto being framed and nearly executed.

//The bad ending depicts disturbing implications, including Toko’s potential death and Hina having children with the remaining male survivors. The image, coupled with the music, is just unsettling.

//Okay, I know it's the BAD ending and all, but still, it's such a wtf moment.

//This trial had potential, but feels like an unnecessary placeholder to transition to the final chapter. While the concept of Monokuma’s desperation is interesting, him breaking his own rules, feels forced and damages the narrative, and makes the overall execution fall flat.

#HM3: Danganronpa V3 Case 3

//Yeah, in case it wasn't obvious, there are no cases from Danganronpa 2 that made it into this catagory, because genuinely they are the best cases in the franchise and I will die on that hill.

//I know I said I'd try to remain relatively unbiased with these HM's, but actualy? FUCK THIS CASE man!

//I could genuinely write an entire essay for this stuff talking about ALL the problems I had with it, but I'm gonna try and bullet point it for the sake of brevity. For starters, there's the characters.

//While Angie's motivations are genuine, her brainwashing and cult-like actions make her less sympathetic, and ultimately it means her death fails to evoke emotion. Tenko, despite her flaws, almost redeems herself in this chapter, showing genuine care for others, but the moment she does, she dies. Her death, occurring DURING the investigation, is honestly pretty creative and surprising but ultimately unnecessary and kind of dumb. Himiko is a major player here as well, and her grief and subtle redemption are meaningful, but the repetition of her being a prime suspect feels unoriginal.

//But none of these pale in comparison to fucking KOREKIYO. His character is IRREPERABLY ruined by the introduction of an incestuous motive, which breaks from his established personality, something that I find distasteful and nonsensical.

//The chapter is scattered with plotlines that go nowhere. Namely, Angie’s cult arc ends abruptly with her death, the Necronomicon motive isn’t explored and is reduced to a clue, Monodam's coup against Monokuma fizzles out without impact, and the potential twist of two killers (where one walks free) is squandered by making Kiyo both murderers.

//To its credit, the investigation is a highlight, with engaging clue-gathering and creative moments like Tenko’s mid-investigation death and Kokichi’s fake death scene, but all benefit of that is squandered horribly by the Class Trial.

//Angie’s murder sidelined in favor of Tenko’s until late in the trial, the double murder horribly overcomplicates the case, resulting in a loss of focus, and then there's Kiyo's fucking seesaw trap, which, while creative, has been memed to death so horribly that I can't even take THAT seriously anymore.

//Ultimately, I think the thing that REALLY makes me despise this case is everything that happens with Kiyo. Because I genuinely liked him for most of V3, and he goes out in the most horrible, and STUPID, way imagineable, given a motive that is not only so abhorrent, but makes no sense for the kind of guy he has been established to be.

//Kiyo’s elaborate setup for the séance trap was, in every sense, unnecessary. If he had only killed Angie and not gone through with the seance, which directly puts him in the view of suspicion, he would have likely escaped with his crime. Instead, he proceeded with the seesaw trap purely because he had spent time preparing it, even though it wasn’t required.

//His motive for the murders is deeply unsettling: he believed he was sending girls to his dead sister, with whom he had an incestuous relationship.

//(Before anyone says it, I do not give a fuck that the subtitles read "No Physical Connection," they are CLEARLY FUCKING and that was obviously the intended effect, and I hate incest so much why does V3 DO THIIISSSS!?)

//This rationale is grotesque, and the story provides no meaningful exploration of the psychological or abusive dynamics that may have led to it. While disturbing, the lack of deeper analysis on his trauma and actions weakens the narrative impact, and the incestuous element feels unnecessary and only diminishes V3's overall story.

//The chapter fails due to its predictable setup, nonsensical decisions by Korekiyo, and a distasteful motive that lacks meaningful context or resolution. These flaws make the chapter frustrating, despite its initial promise.

//And I fucking hate it for that.

#HM4: Danganronpa Another Case 3

//I generally think that, for the most part, the Another series relies very heavily on shock value and gore for the impact it has on its audience. It's something that I generally disagree with, but for the Another series, LINUJ is a good enough writer to make it work, and show the real horror of the killing game.

//He always includes horrific imagery in his games, but succeeds on capitalizing off of it. But this is one of the situations where he tried to do that, and it kind of didn't work out.

//To be fair, while the third cases are almost universally poor across the DR and another series, this one is still the middle ground between what I consider the good shit, and the bad shit.

//It's kinda just...shit.

//Although, I mainly mean this from a narrative standpoint, because the actual investigation and trial is fine. It's just the logistics and circumstances behind it that totally ruin things for me.

//The culprit of this case is the Ultimate Priest, Kinji Uehara, who was forced to act as a mole and kill to protect a group of orphans under the church's care. His situation mirrors Sakura from DR1, but unlike her noble sacrifice, Kinji succumbs to pressure and commits murder, making him a more tragic but flawed character.

//Interesting enough on it's own, BUUUUUUUUUUUT despite his sympathetic backstory, Kinji’s murders of Kanata and Kakeru are shockingly brutal. Kakeru walks in on Kinji attempting to kill Kanata, tries to stop him, and is then fatally slashed across the throat. He then makes a dying wish to Kinji to spare Kanata, but...Kinji fucking ignores him.

//And not only does Kinji kill Kanata anyway, but he does it in the WORST HUMANLY POSSIBLE WAY! She's subjected to excessive cruelty, including electrocution that burns her organs. And THEN, he FURTHER compromises himself by attacking Rei and Tsurugi, escalating the situation unnecessarily and leaving more evidence of his guilt.

//Kinji is a decent guy with a decent motive behind his actions, but these methods are needlessly sadistic, making his actions feel wildly out of character, and casting doubt on what kind of morals he has for a guy who's main character trait is that he is passive and religious.

//The big problem is that not only did Kinji ignore Kakeru's dying words like a bastard, but he legitimiately had NO reason to! Kakeru was already dead, and Monokuma didn't tell Kinji he had to kill more than one person, so he had already fulfilled his quota. Meaning more than likely, the decisions he made were influenced by the tradition of how Case 3 HAS to have two people be killed, and similar to Kiyo and THAT shitshow, he was reluctant to abandon his ongoing course of action because he had already invested heavily in it, even when it's clear that abandonment would be more beneficial for EVERYBODY, including himself.

//Kinji’s actions are somewhat redeemed by his genuine remorse and apology, and the revelation that the orphans he sought to protect were already dead adds a tragic layer, making his sacrifices not just cruel but futile.

//The fact that this case sucks honestly makes me more sad than angry. Kinji’s case balances a compelling backstory with a deeply flawed execution. While his ultimate goal was noble, his extreme and unnecessary cruelty undermines his character, making the tragedy of his situation feel hollow despite its emotional weight.

#HM5: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 2

//Ugh...Fuck this case especially.

//This is easily one one of the worst Danganronpa trials I have ever fucking seen because there is no mystery solving element to it AT ALL. And it's sad because Emma is genuinely an interesting killer, and it's interesting to see how her past trauma actually affected her actions.

//She is the only part of this that deserved better. The rest of it can go to hell.

//This trial was the first sign I got that...yeah, maybe SDRA2 isn't gonna be that good.

//I've never really been against characters in the class trials, like Byakuya or others, who kind of take charge of the case, and goad you into answering the plot points that they've already figured out in advance. Because realistically, the protagonist WOULDN'T be the only one doing everything; and all the other characters would be figuring out stuff on their own.

//It's different when the protagonist basically do fucking nothing.

//In Danganronpa, class trials are most engaging when the characters actively piece together evidence, debate ideas, and collaboratively unravel mysteries. But unfortunately, Kanade FUCKING Otonokoji just LOVES to suck the fun out of this game, doesn't she?

//Kanade effectively solves this entire trial on her own, and explains almost every plot point to you instead of you discovering them. And that undercuts the interactive and deductive appeal of the trial. This approach feels like the game is spoon-feeding solutions, which can makes the mystery feel less dynamic and immersive, and diminishes not just Sora's, but everyone else's role in piecing together clues, andd reduces the thrill of watching characters grow or clash as they work through the mystery.

//Emma is outed as the killer way too early. The trial is about 20% trying to figure out who killed Kokoro, and 80% trying to prove how she did it.

//And FUUUUUUCK it DRAAAAAAAAGS.

//Also, while I like Emma as a killer and character, her motivation is so...bleh. There's elements of her past trauma triggering, which is great, but ultimately, the main reason she killed is because she's part of VOID, and VOID does that for some reason. Despite the fact that they KNOW at this point that they are not spared from the execution.

//Side note, the way that she is first implied to be the killer is SOOO DUUUMB! Okay, so...the fucking ICICLES! In the freezer! Just so happen to spell her name or some shit!

//At least writing Leon's name on the wall in blood in a place where he couldn't see it MADE SENSE! HOW the FUCK was Kokoro supposed to expect anyone to catch on to that clue, and how the fuck DID THEY!?

//Speaking of Kokoro...Kokoro just SUCKS!

//Even before she's revealed in Chapter 5 to actually be a terrible human being, she's just nothing and nobody in the part of the game where she's relevant. It WAS a good idea to kill her off here because ultimately, her powers of deduction and human analysis are FAR too busted to have in a trial, so at least the VOID learned their lesson after that.

//And then knowing what kind of person she really was just takes away from this death even more. It WAS pretty shocking though, I will be nice and give it that.

//If there is one thing that I will give this trial major props for, it's the fact that Emma used her talent so well during her murder scheme, using her talents as an actor to pretend to be Kokoro. Like, it feels like this is a missed opportunity that they COULD have done with Tsumugi, but wrote it out of her the first chance they got. And I honestly feel the trial would have been way better if we had somehow discovered that someone was pretending to be Kokoro FIRST, because then THAT is a good segway into talking about Emma being the culprit. Not some bullshit ice cube fucking crap.

//I always like it when the killers use their Ultimate Talents as part of a murder scheme, because for me, it justifies them HAVING them in the first place. It's largely the reason why I believe Danganronpa 2 has the best trials because all the killers in that game use their talents one way or another for their crimes:

Teruteru uses kitchen tools as part of his plan, and hides the weapon inside food.

Peko uses her sword and her training as an assassin to escape from the beachouse.

Mikan uses her status as a nurse to manipulate everybody and feign an autopsy.

Gundham uses his animals to disable Nekomaru.

Nagito's luck is the biggest reason why Case 5 even happened, and it brings the full scope of its power front and center.

//Anyway, you get my point. Again, Emma is such a good killer, but she doesn't get a chance to shine.

//What if you wanted to be a decent killer with a cool overall plan to your murder scheme and a potentially really fun trial to figure out, but Kanade FUCKING Otonokoji said "nuh-uh!"

//And speaking of whom...

#HM6: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 3

//Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh...

//To be honest, I used to be...okay, with this trial. I thought it was a pretty good step up from the Case 3's of the canon games, but then I kind of had an epiphany upon rewatching it.

//Mod Bubbles hates this case and everything about it with such a burning passion, that a lot of my complaints mirror his, and he can go into a much longer rant about it than I can...

//...In fact he...did...

//But yeah, I'm gonna bullet point it and show a bit more brevity while discussing the same points.

//Let me just start by saying that, if you're planning on making a Fanganronpa where two of the characters in the killing game are siblings, for the LOVE OF GOD, do NOT do that if you are planning on doing it for no reason other than to have two killers/a killer and their accomplice.

//For THE! LOVE! OF! GOD!

//I still kind of like this a TAD more than Case 3 of V3 because Kanade is kind of the same as Kiyo, but handled and written a little better.

//But...a Kiyo emulation is still a Kiyo emulation, and of ALL characters from the core series you COULD have emulated, why the fuck is it HIM?

//It really disappoints me as well, because LINUJ changed his plot so that Kanade could emulate Kiyo, but the one thing that makes Another stand out is what it does DIFFERENTLY from the core series. But here, it blatantly copies from the original V3, and not just from V3, but the WORST PART of V3!

//I don't want to talk about this for a long time, so here is everything wrong with this trial in a very quick list:

As already mentioned, this case tries to copy V3’s Chapter 3, which results in a disappointing outcome. It also uses all the tropes from the previous Third Chapter cases that make those chapters notoriously bad among the community.

The trial lasts for SIX GODDAMN HOURS! Not only does that make it the longest trial on this list, being two hours longer than the longest case in the core series (V3's final trial), much of the time spent in this trial is completely wasted on petty arguments between characters that end in nothing.

The trial relies on heavy exposition and plot conveniences, such as synchronized murders and unexplained character traits and abilities that are introduced without prior demonstration, making them feel unearned. The biggest example is the Otonokoji twins incredible syncronization, and Kanade's supposed skill in throwing that never was established before.

The chapter is written to try and get you into Kanade as a killer, presenting her as a genius, overcompetant, badass killer. But not only does it fail show real emotional depth or humanity in her character, Kanade makes critical mistakes, such as leaving behind crucial evidence (antibiotics and pins), which ultimately renders all of this pointless and contrived.

The chapter heavily relies on shock value, such as Kanade's serial killer reveal, but this diminishes its effectiveness over time.

Kanade's actions and motivations feel disconnected from the broader narrative, making the chapter feel irrelevant. And after Kanade and Hibiki's deaths, the chapter’s events are barely mentioned, and the overarching story is not significantly impacted.

This chapter single-handedly features one of the worst-written characters in Dangan and Fangan history, being Hibiki. She is brainwashed by her sister into killing somebody who she genuinely had a connection with, it faced with the realization that Kanade not only killed everybody she loved, but her parents and the rest of their family as well, and is on the verge of getting executed alongside her for something she had no control over. Yet she is given next to no sympathy from others and faces an absolutely horrifying end...to NEVER be mentioned AGAIN.

You can completely miss everything in this chapter, and the only significant thing that happens is Kanade, Hibiki, and Setsuka are no longer part of the story anymore. Absolutely NOTHING happens in this chapter that leads to any hint to the overarching plot, or any steering towards the ending.

//Again, all of these points are kind of me parodying Mod Bubbles, so read this post if you want an actual good review of this.

//There are parts of this that I like, but ultimately, this all culminates into the absolute rock bottom of Danganronpa cases, and does almost EVERTHING wrong somehow.

//Anyway, that's the wholly negative shit out of the way. Now let's get into the actual one's that made the list, and the trials that I think are actually sort of good...