#GOD. I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED REWATCHING THE SHOW YET

[vulpinesaint]

i am going to become the spike btvs poster of all time. this is me almost seven years after watching buffy + angel with limited exposure since... imagine what i will be like when i actually start watching the show again

[amiizuki]

I was rewatching Judgemental Critter's RWBY Beyond review, and while watching the part about Somewhat's episode I realized something

so this is Ambrosius' portal. that's pretty obvious, with the whole blue and yellow aesthetic that all the relics have

now, considering that it seems like Somewhat's episode takes place shortly after V9's end (since that market place, is still being repaired I think), this means that, at the moment of that episode, our "heroes" haven't gotten the relics back yet, since the Boba episode mentions that the gang have been back for weeks already – Ruby's quote: "by the way Yang, you promised we'd go shopping weeks ago" – and yet there was no mention anywhere of the relics somehow being back in their possession (because they prioritize drinking tea and doing Naruto run around the overcrowded, underresourced kingdom over saving the world. lol, lmao even). meaning that Salem's group still has both relics at this point, if not three, considering they fucking nuked Vale offscreen

so here's the thing...

HOW IN THE FUCK DOES ANYONE FROM SALEM'S GANG OF CABBAGES KNOW ABOUT EVERAFTER????

the ONLY characters who were in Everafter and came back out with the knowledge of it (in or close to current time) are RWBYJ. and, if we assume that she's somehow still alive and somehow on Salem's side (somehow), then possibly also Summer.

Neo should most likely still be in her dumbass tree, and even if she isn't and she's back on Remnant, she wouldn't be able to tell (literally) that info to Salem or her gang of failures, because she should remember jackshit about being part of them or them in general, since ascension erases all of your pre-ascension memories. and considering that Neo chose to ascend willingly, I doubt she'd just go "nah, I'm actually pretty good the way I am", then come back with no changes, like Ruby did, and run off to, like, write a lengthy letter to Salem about Everafter or something.

Salem herself can't know about Everafter, because she never had any of the relics in her possession and so never went there. what, did the Brother Gods just randomly roll up to her at some point, after she already turned into Grimm, said "yo, there's this cool Everafter place, we were both born there. here's how you can get to it", and then dipped out? or did she summon Ambrosius and he just started dumping exposition on Everafter onto her unprompted? honestly wouldn't put it past the writers, but let's assume for this that they're not that dumb.

Cinder, Mercury and Tyrian have even LESS chances of knowing about Everafter being real

RWBYJ and anyone from their side have no means of getting there, due to not having relics, like I pointed out before

the ONLY person who could at least somewhat logically come back to Everafter is Summer (again, assuming she's still alive... somehow). she knows how to get there and have already been there, since her weapon is in Blacksmith's workshop. but even if it IS Summer then:

why the hell would she wanna go back there, considering there's nothing for her to get? what, does she suddenly want to help out with the fight against Salem by enlisting a small baby mouse, a deerhare, partially cracked Red Prince and random lads from the market, who don't even know how to fight?

how in the fuck would she even get her hands on the staff if it's with Salem? I doubt she stole it while Salem was too busy monologuing and glaring into the distance or something like that

and if we go with the logical option of Summer still actually being dead, then it doesn't change anything and we're still in the same spot we were if we'd assumed she was secretly alive

so really this final portal thing just makes zero sense. and it's clear why this makes zero sense – because Kerry just wanted to shove some big, cool cliffhanger at the end of the episode to bait people into giving them more money on their show with worse than mediocre writing. "oooooooh, you wanna see who the fuck entered the Everafter at the end there? well, ya gotta give us more money first! pretty pleaaaaaaaaase🥺🥺"

[lumi-shifts-home]

introduction ♡ ♡ ♡

Heyy, my name is Lumi and I'm new to Tumblr :)

I'm a reality shifter. I have been in the community since around September 2020. Since then I have taken many breaks, some lasting for months. But I always came back. And I hope that I will keep coming back. Simply because I think the concept is amazing. I mean, just imagine being able to laugh with your favorite fictional characters, being friends with celebrities, living in a fantasy world, going on adventures, having a perfect life.

I didn't shift yet, but I believe that I am close. Personally, I have a difficult time motivating myself, that's why I tried starting to talk about my DRs online. First I've posted some videos on TikTok (see end of post) but came to the conclusion that everything is so fast-paced there. I just feel stressed thinking about how long I haven't posted anything there when I see my mutuals content. I also find it hard to organize the topics, everything is kinda muddled up. That's why I decided to try out a different format. I haven't used this platform for anything but reading fanfics yet, so I don't know much about blogs and such. But I definitely want to give it a try! Let's just see how this goes . . .

❝ What will I post about? ❞ ✧˖*°࿐

I haven't planned much for this blog. I'm probably just gonna info dump about my DRs here. Writing some lore here, posting about my DRselfs/personas there, maybe even some art (even though I'm not a god tier artist)? Who knows. Don't expect to see much. I'll use this mainly for myself.

❝ Here are some of my favorite DRs: ❞ ✧˖*°࿐

Genshin Impact [Mondstadt; Liyue; modern; cyberpunk]

Honkai Star Rail

Omori

Hogwarts Legacy

Haikyuu!!

Jujutsu Kaisen

Sword Art Online

My Hero Academia

Falling Into Your Smile

My Little Pony

Warrior Cats

better CR

. . .

The Liyue and modern GI are my main DRs. I've also been rewatching shows and anime that I loved years ago hence my Haikyuu!! and MHA DRs. They are my main focus as I'm writing this. But I tend to neglect things I'm no longer interested in. So don't wonder why I maybe post about something only once or twice and then never again.

❝ Some things I want to mention: ❞ ✧˖*°࿐

I change my race in some DRs. I don't see why I shouldn't shift to realities where I have a different race or ethnicity if that reality already exists.

I also usually change my age to be younger. Since I'm legally no longer a minor some may not like the idea. I am childish and don't feel like most people my age. Most of my friends are 14 - 17 and I still feel like a kid. I want to have normal, fun teenage years since I didn't have that in my CR.

I think that's it. If I forgot anything I'll just add it later.

I won't argue on those topics. I've mentioned them and if you don't approve feel free to leave.

If you're interested in my other content (it's not much but still), here are my TikTok and Pinterest:

https://linktr.ee/lumi.shifts.home

[kamryn1963]

2x19 PD rewatch

This is my thoughts on this episode 2x19 (The Three Gs), as it was the most recent one I watched in my re-watch. And one of my favorite episodes of all times, so naturally it's the only episode I've shared my thoughts on yet... But Michelle Sovana is being introduced soon so I might share my thoughts/notes on those episodes too. Anyhow.

• Al centered episodes are my absolute favorite and we had so little of them

• I watch this episode a lot, but I haven't seen it in chronological order in a long time and it definitely gave me a new perspective on the episode and small details in it. I'll do a separate post on how Al wasn't doing very well mentally most of this season (actually most of the show tbh) and how that just made this case so much worse

• I do love when cases from the characters pasts are revisited. It tells more not just about the character, but also adds a different stake to the cases

• The scene at the beginning!! I love Al and Erin's friendship and that scene with Lexi was so good

• I wish we could have seen more of Lexi and Erin interacting as (from my rough calculations of the timeline) Lexi would've been young when Erin started living with Hank so I assume Lexi knew Erin most of her life and they should've got more scenes. Same with Al and Justin (who didn't even get one scene which is insane)

• Kim instantly asking Al if he was okay when her and Roman arrived on the scene 😭 not focusing on the victim or shooter, just checking in with him (the writers did them dirty in season 4. Season 2 Al never would've treated Kim like that)

• You know, I usually hate Roman but he's pretty tolerable in this episode. Surprisingly he wasn't the one being the dick

• This episode was definitely about 90% about Al and definitely focused on three main friendships imo. Al's friendships with Erin, Hank and Antonio.

• Al and Erin had the scene at the beginning, their banter and than the scene in the warehouse where they found the dead girls :/

• Al and Antonio friendship was subtle in this episode and they didn't talk to each other much but it was definitely there. The scene at the beginning in the elevator stuck out to me, the way Antonio was looking at Al clearly knowing something was up. In the warehouse too when they were interrogating the suspect and Al wouldn't let go of him. It showed in the end scene as well.

• Al and Hank was the final friendship that they showed a lot of. I love their friendship so much (one of my favorites. Would've been my all time favorite but I also ship them romantically so...) but the scene in the warehouse and the one when Meredith called Hank to talk to Al were amazing. They also had the end scene in the hotel.

• Meredith pisses me off everytime she's on the screen but especially here. She called Hank at 2 in the morning because she was worried about Al and then did what she did in season 5/6. Like come on, she obviously knew how close they were, god.

• The scene with Al and the girls parents 😭

• The conversation between Adam and Antonio about Al having full pension 5 years ago was very welcomed. They should've done that more. We knew so little of Al before he joined Intelligence/his childhood

• The end scene at the hotel when they arrested Dennis Lee was fabulous. Al almost snapping, Adam getting Hank and Antonio over there since he doesn't know what to do, Antonio trying to rush towards Al before Hank stops him

• "Detective Olinsky, organized crime, I never forget a face".

• "You shouldn't of come back here, you should've never came back here. This ends for you right now".

• Hey I wouldn't of blamed Al if he did shoot the guy, but I guess it's better he didn't in broad daylight

• The scene with Antonio and Hank coming around the corner and see Al with his gun to Lee's head, and Antonio rushing forward is so good and honestly says a lot. But it was definitely better Hank was the one who talked to Al

• I love gentle Hank

• The way he put his hand around Al's shoulders and rubbed his arm until Al looked at him :(

• The scene with Al and Erin at the end also

• The "don't go crawling under a rock after this" Erin's just looking out for her (honorary) uncle 🥲

• This episode definitely should've led to more. We could've had more episodes focused on Al's trauma and it sucks that nothing more really came out of it

• Like I get why since the next episode was 2x20 where we got to (unfortunately) meet Gregory Yates and with that storyline, Nadia dying, Erin's grief and the team grieving there wasn't much opportunity

•But I'm still bitter about it

• I should focus on the other storylines in this ep tho, cause while I didn't really care about the Roman scenes, I do really like patrol Kim. I'm not that mad she didn't go into Intelligence until later, since I personally liked her much better in patrol

• Nadia!!! I'm going to pretend she got a happy ending and what happened next episode didn't actually happen, because she could've been a great cop. Holy shit the writers fumbled that so bad.

• Her and Trudy's friendship is so precious to me. Like I love Nadia and Erin of course, but they didn't really interact much Nadia's last couple episodes, that was mostly Nadia and Trudy

• So it's very very stupid and annoying that we only really saw Erin grieve and not Trudy when she was very obviously close to Nadia and hurt

• Overall Nadia deserved better and Al needed therapy or a hug... probably both

This ended up long so kudos to you if you made it to the end lol. I just really love this episode and took the opportunity to rant and share my thoughts.

I'm going to make a seperate post tho on how this case was the boiling point for Al's already declining mental state at some point.

Because it's also very important to me :)

[yekkiz]

it’s that time of year again… 🎄🎅🎉🎊 no. the highlights of your 2023 media consumption of course! just like last year, i want to know your top 5 films, books, tv shows, songs/albums, pop culture moments if that’s your thing, and as a bonus: any favourite personal moment/achievement in the last year? new to you, new in release, either works! can’t wait to see your response and wishing you a happy new year! 😁🩷

HEY!!! I'm adding media I've loved this year wether it was released this year or not if thats ok but most of these did in fact release during 2023

long paragraph..,,

top 5 films

Beau is afraid - absolute favorite 2023 movie, Ari Aster will never fail to get into the depths of my brain in such beautiful and traumatising ways...it was truly a ride - watched it twice in the span of a week because the itch inside couldn't stop itching god it was so good, it felt like a dream and a nightmare and god knows how bad i love things that feel like dreams and nightmares, the mystery of what it means to "dream"

Talk to me - YES!!!! great horror!!!!! BEST montage scene of the year (yes. that scene with Le Monde song) great great great rhythm it felt like 2000s horror. simple main plot doesn't always mean its gonna be predictable or boring, LOVE a good "not so original" idea when its greatly made and this is the perfect example! classic horror is so back

Infinity pool - insane. loved every second of this. original premise, critic message, GREAT cast, sick visuals...Mia Goth the actress that you are

M3GAN - camp! not much else to say really. watched it a couple times during the year it's just become a personal comfort movie i just love that doll shes everything to me

Pearl - yeah I watched this way too late.........for an A24 horror enjoyer.... sorry father for i have sinned. Rewired my brain chemistry, changed my life forever, did irreversible damage on my psyche etc. Beautiful splendind wonderful i CAN'T wait for maxxxine

top ¿? shows

haven't watched many remarkable shows but there we go with my little ranking...

Severance - incredible visuals, incredible storyline, amazing concept overall, can't wait for season 2

Better Call Saul - this show is all I breathe and Im genuinely worried that I won't be able to like a show as much as I like bcs - fav show i've ever watched, genuinely

La Mesías - best 2023 spanish show.............i love shows i love media i love art. when i watch things like this i feel so honored i'm able to witness such things for so little payment like. this isnt worth a suscription i feel like i owe more for letting me see such thing. i feel like im a voyeur when i encounter media that's so carefully made, with so much taste and eye for detail...like i shouldn't be allowed to watch through my laptop screen in my bedroom . just wow if you have the chance and find a sub version i can't recommend it enough

that was my top 2023, other shows ive watched...just rewatched the office, currently rewatching breaking bad, I think you should leave...

top 5 albums/songs

Desire, I want to turn into you - Caroline Polachek - so ethereal, so dreamy, feels like a movie and like when you fall in love and start noticing things you usually never paid attention to - the beauty of your hometown, your lover's hands or how their smile folds in certain ways when they see you, even how you perceive yourself differently

fav track - either I believe or butterfly net

Fanfare - Dorian Electra - from one extreme to the other..complete chaos and noise and I'm soooooo seated for it! such a complete album with 0 skips, always gonna love a fame themed record that talks about things that aren't relatable at all and gotta love the pop culture moments aswell, they're always so campy yet manage to be deep at times i love an unserious but self aware king what can i say!

fav track - wanna be a star

American Gurl - Kilo Kish - oh i love love this album i love the sound of it, the videogame vibe...every single song is so addictive I'll be minding my business and a random song from this album will pop into my head

fav track - no apology!

Preacher's Daughter - Ethel Cain - well this was certainly something it literally felt like a horror movie and of course I'm so here for it. terrifying, disgusting, sent shivers down my spine the first time I heard it on full length...and still does when I do. such a great album and def one of the best ones ive ever heard, top 5 for sure

fav track - family tree

Ultraviolence - Lana del Rey - yeah i'm 10 years late and thank god I am bc only god knows the irreversible damage this would have done to teenager me

fav track - florida kilos

2023 personal highlights

started the year doing a really nice trip that somehow helped me clear thoughts about my future

I got accepted into the masters degree I wanted which also gave me the chance to meet so many cool people and make so many good friends <3

I've been able to draw soooooooo much - my arm is doing sooo much better

got a tattoo I really wanted! got that flash design in my mind for a while and it's finally on me

this year was so hard for me and my family and it was such a challenge. I'm so proud we could manage through it all, and hopefully this year is easier on us

thanks so much for the ask Imo! sorry I wrote a lot and half of it it's just nonsense though!! I wish you a happy new year <333

[roxyzwritez]

REWATCHING SU:F

this will be a chain of self reblogs as i go through each episode of the.. unfortunate part of steven universe.

------EP 1------

the way peridot goes

steven universe futureee~

gives me serotonin.

2. the connie lofigirl reference made me go OH MY GOD ITS YHE REFRENCE and im here for it

3.s l u u u u u u h r p "i think YOU, should stop trying to fix everybody." hits hard

4. "AND IF I DIDN'T CARE, YOU'D STILL BE A MONSTER TOO." goes SO hard like you fucking GO king

5.okay every line from frustrated steven in that scene gives me adrenaline rushes like now i wanna beat someone up and just gurugjfigig YEAH

6."you are NOT my diamond" funny you say that, jasper. funny you say that, jasper. fragments you say that, jasper. funny you

7.the fight scene fucks so hard

-----EP 2-----

8. steven stop narrating or else fhfgbfbbt this isnt a documentary you god damn goofball i cant be that mad (not yet you gotta talk trash about rose for me to throw hands)

9. tv froze when biggs jasper flung the ferris wheel and that's the highlight of my day

10."comfortable can be good, too." based amy for the win

11. the start of stevens downward spiral: hey lets push everyone out of their comfort zone OH JEEPERS WHY IS EVERYTHING FALLING APART

11.5: DELIVERY. DELIVERY. D E L I V E R Y.

12.you should be sorry steven beach city is now on fire like california.

13. smoky quartz representation 💗💗💗

14. pink smoky quartz could beat every single villain and hero instantly. thanos? avengers? god himself? addicted

15. choose their own future, yk? choose their own future, yk? CHOOSE THEIR OWN FUTURE, YK? CH-

------EP 3------

16. oh god rose buds. ep hasnt even started and the trauma is flooding back AWAAAAYGH my poor boy steven-

17. "after everything that's happened..." I WILL FIGHT YOU AND WIN YOU WILL RESPECT YOUR GOD DAMN MOTHER YOU MOTHERFUC- *ahem* sorry. idc if future was rushed due to unfortunate uncontrollable circumstances but this still makes me furious how fucking dare y

18. greg why couldn't you just stand up for yourself. bruh got his lack of spine from smashing the diamond im sorry that's the only criticism of pink/rose i can make and not uncontrollably punch myself

19. i wanna hang out with the famethysts. forever. i wanna laze like delinquents!! holly blue get ur ass LAZING. get with the times.

20. "i cannot wait to see the look upon your face when you see their faces" the amount of trolling is a lot more than a little

21. "yes, this is the look i wished to see!" im sorry but you will die for the mistreatment of steven cutiepie forgot the rest of your long name universe he did not deserve this

22. quiet rose gave me false hope and i died. still die when i see that one

23. WHY DON'T YOU COME TO DINNER AND FIND OUT :)))))

24. "yo steve- (bass boosted vine boom)"

25. "i haven't had that many exes show up since- (bass boosted vine boom)"

26. pearl somehow having her composure is a mystery to me. i need lessons on how to not explode in that kind of situation

27. "...but thank yOU, RO- (crowdstrike update)"

28. pearl freaking out about this is making me freak out about this and i don't know what that says about me.

29. mmmMmmmMmMMMN SLUMBER PARTTy:)))))

30. "i am dead rose quartz!" thats a crit right there right to my feels

31. the squal of terror when they turn on the tape is so hilarious but also makes me scream in terror

32. yeah bro lion would get maaad.

33. motherfucking bitch ass fuck hiding the painting in the pink realm i hope you turn into a lizard and feel bad about it OH WAIT YOU DO. THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR DISRESPECTING THE LORD AND SAVIOR, ROSE QUARTZ UNIVERSE. sorry just another RRRRRAAAUGH THIS IS WHY IM MAKING THE AU I HATE STEVEN UNIVERSE FUTURE FUCKING GDOD DAMN CORPORATES RUSHING WRITERS LEADING TO BAD CONTENT AAAAA

34. funny number not putting anything here

35. oh that's why ppl ship volleypearl. i forgot the SORRY TO INTERRUPT BUT "looks like someone has still got it bad..." I DONT WANNA HEAR IT FROM YOU YOU STILL GRIEVE JUST LIKE THE REST OF anyway i forgot that blushy she had at pink pearl. i understand now

36. "im older than you:3" *restrained death stare*

37. welcome pink dia- (sudden explosion)

38. pearl stop talking down to volleyball why are you so mean GGRGRR RAAAAAAAAAA its so grating. be nice to eachother. outburst imminent

39. what.did.you.say.?

40. the pink outburst. the rage. the release. its so SATISFYING. until the pearls almost get rejuvenated of course. also megapearl is 🥰🥰🥰😳😳😳😳💗💗💗💗😚😚😚😚🥰🥰

41. megapearl in that pose just. im going to turn into rose quartz. right now. iaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQQ?&;&5525640$@)@)"78;73(2$;);96&$0)&(72)5@3495$?,'gj

42. oksy. fine. maybe volleypwarl is a valid ship (sniffles)

ok im not making this post any longr ill continue later

[0fps]

zenless zone zero initial impressions! tldr; i'm having a BLAST

ough where to even start. i'll try to talk on things by category, but story-wise i basically made it to the part you meet the AI named fairy

i also consumed 0 beta content so i actually went into this pretty blind.

story/characters

i'm not really far at all to say whether the plot itself is good or bad, but god DAMN are the characters pulling their weight (in a great way)

i genuinely love the much more comedic/silly aspect they're going for here (especially since most of the previous gachas i've played are much more serious in tone), the public security guy just shouting a billion profanities at the beginning was hilarious

i'm glad they've started with a relatively small and focused cast, and each one has had a chance to shine and i genuinely love all of them so far lol, they're all so fun

i also love that the mcs really feel like their own characters that you just play through as opposed to self-inserts. i actually had a hard time picking which mc i wanted to be but i ended up picking wise (who i only just noticed has bags under his eyes?)

in terms of visuals, i LOVE how its a mix of comic-book styled story-telling (which are SO fun to read through, I really also love looking at all the illustrations, that alone makes the story infinitely more engaging) and animated cutscenes, and then your more generic visual novel-styled dialogue scenes

i very much appreciate that they let you rewatch the animated cutscenes (which is mostly just so you can replay the chapters but still) - now i don't have to be stressed about recording everything for giffing and eating up my storage! i do wish you could remove the subs though (maybe there is an option for it I didn't look too closely)

i will say, they don't really bother with the worldbuilding, they kind of just throw you into a situation and you pick up context as the game moves on. i actually prefer this from a story perspective, as its showing not telling (damn didn't know hyv could do that), and the main story itself is straightforward so far so i loved it there

BUT once we got "outside" the main story and started going through the "everyday gameplay" stuff it was just a lot and i do think we needed a bit more handholding lol. i only kind of knew what I was looking at or what things were because i've played hyv's other games. like the wishing system actually felt SUPER glossed over which was kind of surprising for a gacha game? like it didn't even make me WANT to pull (and i didn't)

edit: on the above point, i guess i didn't play far enough, they start gradually introducing things the more you progress, so it's fine i think lol

combat/gameplay

the combat feels awesome as expected, but it also feels a bit too button mash to win right now

particularly with all the character swapping i feel like i have no sense of what's going on and i just press buttons when the ui tells me to. sure it feels good but there's also no particular intent with it.

i also don't have a good sense of what triggers the chain attacks yet, right now it just feels like it happens when it happens

but i think it will become more intuitive as i get used to the combat and the difficulty arises, i was definitely already getting the hang of timing the character switch parry thing which is sooo satisfying to get

i also demo'd all the standard (?) characters and surprisingly rina was by far my favorite! god she feels SO incredibly smooth to play, i'm probably going for her first (haven't pulled for anything yet, i'm not spending ANY type of currency until i better understand what everything is)

runners ups were nekomata and grace, they were also super fun! koleda was probably my least favorite

i'm also a bit surprised how much i like the ranged characters, i think i might like them more than the melee ones which is a first for me. it might be both their speed and because when you're not super up close to the enemy all the time its easier to see the indicator to parry

the cunning hares trio are also all really fun to play, billy is probably my favorite he just zooms all over the place lol

music/audio

surprisingly i wasn't paying too much attention to it, but from what i did listen to it sounded perfectly suited for the environment. i do wish the battle music switched up more during the hollow dives though

there was one track that plays in the home base area that i ABSOLUTELY adored though, and i was excited to hear the track from the stock up web event lol

for the dub i usually switch to the mandarin dub but the english dub has actually been really fucking good? so i might actually stick with the english dub for this one

it also helps me because there's a lot of segments here where its hard to play and read what they're saying at the same time

graphics/performance/ui/mechanics

i'm surprised the game defaulted to 30fps, but it really feels like it runs like butter at 60fps. i did have to adjust quite a few settings though because i think some gave me a bit of motion sickness, but its all good now

game itself runs super well, i only experienced lag when i had a bunch of combo chains going on at once, but is more or less very smooth

my one gripe is how zoomed in the camera feels, i wish we could zoom out a bit more. kinda ties into why i think i like the ranged characters more

the UI also feels kind of unintuitive tbh, there's a LOT of stuff and a lot of menus and weird buttons for a lot of things and its just overwhelming. kinda feels like they leaned a bit too hard into trying to make things look "cool" and "unique" as opposed to what's "practical"

like for example maybe i'm just stupid but it took me way too long to figure out how to select characters for a party because its that sideways arrow thing on the right lol

[veilchenjaeger]

Okay. After over a goddamn year, I have finally finished Couple of Mirrors. Consider me wrecked.

I don't even know where to start with this show? It's everything I've ever wanted, save for the censorship issue. (But I think I can read the manhua to soothe that particular ache.) It's so damn good. I watched this with month-long breaks between episodes, so I don't remember everything, but I still want to try to write up my initial thoughts bc it's fun to reread that kind of thing after a rewatch or some time of brainrot.

First, without getting into spoilers: I adore this show. The plot is incredible - dense without being overwhelming, unpredictable without nonsensical plot twists. Nearly every episode had me on the edge of my metaphorical seat. At the same time, the characters were given time to shine and develop. Especially Xu Youyi is just one of the characters of all time, I'm obsessed with her, but I definitely got attached to side characters as well. (Which is dangerous, considering the body count this show has.) I really appreciate the pacing, the little moments of downtime between the imo impeccably paced rush of revelations and developments. There are some things that could be seen as... soap opera-esque, in a way? Just because of the amount of family drama, but I think it all worked really well bc the show immediately tells you what kind of show it is and what the stakes are. None of the drama is out of place, is what I'm saying. There's a lot of murder.

There are complaints about Xu Youyi and Yan Wei not having a lot of screentime together, and while this is in some way true, I... didn't mind? They're both set up well enough as individual characters for their interactions to be meaninful, and it was more than enough for me to get invested in them. (Not to mention that there's a whole episode of domestic Yiwei in the end.) But mostly, and I think I've said this before somewhere, I came for the lesbians and stayed for the plot. Xu Youyi's story is about so many things, and it's important that each of these things was given the space it deserves. This is a murder mystery/thriller first and a romance second, and I honestly prefer it that way. The pacing felt right, and the central relationship still came across well.

Final non-spoilery verdict: PLEASE watch this show if you haven't seen it yet. It's so, so, so good. You can watch the whole thing on Youtube for free, and the subtitles are actually decent.

Spoilers under the cut.

There are approximately fifty separate things I'm obsessed with, but I'll only name a few.

First of all, the whole Thing between Zhou Heng and Xu Youyi, and especially Zhou Heng's character. Holy shit, this is well done. Zhou Heng is never portrayed as the good guy, but the sheer extent of his unhingedness is revealed so gradually that you're pretty much bound to underestimate him. He starts out as a bad husband who cheats on Xu Youyi, but for what it's worth, it seems like he does love her and wants to try to be better for the first episodes. He defends her from his family, he supports her, and while Xu Youyi is right not to let him get away with that after he broke her heart like that, he's sympathetic. He's not a cartoon villain or a cardboard cutout of an evil abusive husband. And he still isn't that when it's revealed that he fucking tried to kill her. That caught me off guard so hard! I didn't expect that at all, and then it just fucking kept going. It's in episode 10, during the dinner he has with Xu Youyi, that I realised that he's not only an utter dickhead, he's batshit insane. And it's the very fact that he was built up as a sympathetic character that makes this reveal as creepy as it is. Gods, what an asshole! Gives me chills of the worst kind! A superbly done antagonist.

(The same is true for Zhang Wan, too. She's a lot more obviously mean, but the extent of that isn't revealed all at once, and the relationship she had with Xu Youyi before is still meaningful. Zhou Heng's father, too - he acts according to his motivations, and whether he's with Xu Youyi or against her depends on the way she fits into his plans. Just, good antagonists all around.)

Second of all, I adore the characters so, so much?! Xu Youyi's development, her sunny personality, her heartbreak, and the way she gets more and more tired of being nice, are so [chef's kiss]. Detective Jiang was right, actually - she is someone who'd happily live with a murderer. She's so genuinely kind, she doesn't mean harm, but after everything she's been put through, she's ruthless deep down. I love how cold and collected she is when she demands the divorce, when she signs the papers, when she's in court, and especially when she finds out that Yan Wei is indeed the murderer of Zhang Wan and doesn't even hesitate to lie to the police to help her. Xu Youyi has had it and she will not be taking any prisoners.

It took me a little longer to get fully attached to Yan Wei, simply because she's not the main character, but the last episode really sealed the deal for me. She's grown so much because of Xu Youyi! She's started to live a life that isn't ruled by her past, she's capable of joking with Xu Youyi and she's a good mother and she's happy, which she didn't know how to be before! She even gets along with other people; she's on good terms with Mr Wang and has a bit of a teasing relationship going on with Detective Jiang. (Big fan of that, btw. I think they should be bros.) And yet, she's also presumably doing some very shady stuff to get money, and we haven't seen her find actual closure yet. I get why the last few minutes aren't the most popular ones - they're a bit of a shock, for one, and the pacing of the show fails here, although I assume that's all a set up for the next season - but they make sense. Again, Detective Jiang is right! Xu Youyi doesn't know anything about Yan Wei's past, and it's a past that's pretty important for who Yan Wei is! That's the one thing I was worried about throughout the show: that Yan Wei's past would just stay unaddressed, and that Xu Youyi wouldn't find out. So, yeah, I do like that they made that into a (future?) plot point. It's such a strong beat for Yan Wei's arc, I really hope we do get that second season and get to find out what she's been doing behind Xu Youyi's back and what those flowers mean. Yan Wei deserves some more development!

(That being said, I still think that season finale cliffhangers are bad writing and shouldn't be done, especially with the state of queer entertainment in China being what it currently is. Looking at you, Scum Villain season 2.)

And last but not least, I'll be listening to the opening song on repeat for the next lifetime, thanks.

[notasapleasure]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

I've been tidying out my likes and remembered @elwenyere's open invitation tags on this, too, so here we go!

sshysmm's works on ao3 (user name is a ref to my old tumblr)

1) How many works do you have on ao3

128 (and I think I'm missing some of the band AU stuff I never moved over from the blog @theartistknownaslymond…)

2) What's your ao3 word count?

1,038,645 words. haha. what the fuck.

3) What fandoms do you write for?

Actively, right now: Star Wars (particularly Andor; previously Rogue One and a few spin-off novels), the Lymond Chronicles, and I do very much intend to return to my fics for And Then We Danced.

I have also written for Ripper Street, The Terror, The Musketeers (don't look! don't look! it's my 'now can i remember how to write fic after over a decade out of fandom fic) and Utopia (another one it would be cool to add to after I get a chance to rewatch).

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

good god they're all Jyn/Cassian. it's the only big ship I've written for I suppose

Be alright tomorrow (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) Hope in the air (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) Singer, save our secular souls (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) To steal what she never could own (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian) Delayed gratification (Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian)

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to!! Sometimes when I'm deep in the writing hole I just stay away from ao3 so as not to ?? idk?? make myself feel guilty? get distracted? so it can take me a while to respond.

When people are reading updates as I post them I try to respond quicker! I like to respond to acknowledge how grateful I am to people who took the time to read and cheerlead and say something nice. To show I appreciate it and the time they spent on it. If it possibly leads to discussion about what's going on in the fic then so much the better!

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably just Hope in the Air, for sticking with the canon Rogue One ending and leaning into the sense that even if he got to a bacta tank, Cassian's in a pretty bad way. Also Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing (Ripper Street), again for…following canon, dealing with Deborah's decision to stop seeing Reid and Emily's descent into a place where Reid feels he has to have her sent to the asylum.

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Jerott wish-fulfilment!! The ransoun made, the prisoneris redeemit (Lymond Chronicles, Francis/Jerott).

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I don't think I've had any hate on ao3, no. Some blunt comments when I hadn't done my research on aurebesh well enough/resued a plot device, but not hate.

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes? All kinds? Idk, I'm trying to get more creative, though traditionally I think I write emotionally knotty, not-always-satisfying sex that does heavily lifting on the characterisation. And is also hot.

10) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I haven't posted it on ao3 yet, but there's the Lymond Chronicles 1980s band AU crossover with And Then We Danced, which is just like. The nichest of nichey niches. Can't believe there are like three people who might read it, so it's still not as unpopular as a medieval Icelandic saga au of a niche Andor ship written in the first person. I didn't go out of my way to drive readers away, I swear!!! Please give The Saga of the Coal-biter and the Skraeling a chance, it's my precious baby.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, lol. I think more people would need to want to read my fics first.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'm open to it if anyone wants! I have had two podfics made of my works, which has been lovely!

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, though there was a fun Lymond Pawn in Frankincense AU which started as me and @erinaceina spit-balling about Philippa getting captured by GRM and Khaireddin surviving, and @stripedroseandsketchpads wrote some nice whumpy scenes about it!

14) What's your all time favorite ship?

Oh, usually whatever I'm writing at any given time. Faramir/Éowyn was formative influences, though.

15) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I really don't like admitting that I don't think I'll finish something. I do have 17 subscribers(!!??) to a Lord Bateman (Child ballad 53) inspired Rogue One AU (What would you give?) so even though finishing that is very low down my priorities I'd hate to say outright that I wouldn't return to it.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Emotion, description, description of emotion… capturing micro-expressions and little tics that define a character. Because of this I think I'm pretty good at making people in-character even in weird settings. Writing people who aren't good or bad, just flawed and affected by their lived experiences. Creating an atmosphere. Also, when I pull it off, making you laugh one moment at something ridiculous and then sucker-punching you in the gut :')

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

That when I'm asked to think of my strengths I go blank. That I constantly, constantly overthink things when I've posted them in case I wrote something that will be horribly misunderstood or just actively bore established readers into giving up. The fear that what I enjoy writing is so inherently dull no one else will enjoy reading it, that I'm not setting out to 'write fic' but to write something pretentious and beautiful and that's not what anyone reads fic for. Also oh my god I need to learn brevity. Simple plots. Don't overthink the plot Jo. I what-if my plots to death and then find myself disgusted by all the ways they're inadequate. Actually what all this comes down to is a controlling urge in my writing: I want to control every detail of this scene, including where the information is lacking, and I worry that if I leave anything to chance I'll be misunderstood. But at the same time I love ambiguity and gaps and leaving things open to interpretation. Inside me there are two wolves and one adores unanswered questions while the other suffers from a neurodivergent urge to info-dump in order to make sure everything is clear.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I'd love to quote from Umberto Eco's author's note to The Name of the Rose, where he argued with his publisher about keeping Latin dialogue in! Ony my copy of the book is in storage. Also there's the whole…I'm a fan of the Lymond Chronicles. If there isn't untranslated dialogue in at least five different languages why are you bothering? And yeah I very much did learn a language because of a film and then spent a lot of time considering how communicating in this language as opposed to English would affect the dialogue and interactions I was writing. So yes, dialogue in another language when it's properly contextualised is good - not when it's random phrases of unnecessary Space Spanish because someone's exoticising Diego Luna.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

I'm of the generation where it was inevitably H*rry P*tter, if we're talking internet published fanfic. But as a kid I did keep diaries full of drawings and stories about Sandokan the tiger and Bucky O'Hare.

20) Favorite fic you've ever written?

I have like. Post-partum depression about the saga AU right now because seeing it interact with the world makes me doubt myself horribly, but realistically, it's my beloved child. It's just having to carry all my grad school trauma as well as all my past Star Wars fandom trauma and you know what?? It's good enough to do that. It is. It's the first of a trilogy, and I WILL finish the trilogy.

As previously said by elwenyere: Open tags for anyone who would like to play!!! This was very fun: @ me with your answers if you'd like to join. <3<3<3

[mittensmorgul]

Your posts about The Winchesters is making me consider getting involved in the community again. I'll be honest, SPN's finale hurt bad, and I haven't engaged in or even re-watched an episode of Supernatural in two years. It took a long time to appreciate the experience and not feel like i'd wasted YEARS being so invested in something that felt like a slap in the face at the end. I miss the community; I miss talking about it, being excited, etc. But I got in the SPN tags for the first time in two years today, and seeing Dean, Sam, and Cas's faces on my screen again felt like seeing old friends:'-)

Aw, heck, well... welcome back :')

I still haven't rewatched 15.20, and I don't know that I ever will. But for the first time since it aired, watching The Winchesters 1.13 actually... let me feel even a little bit okay about it.

When The Winchesters was first announced and we learned the premise of Dean telling the story to us, I was wary. If it had started off with "so I'm dead and in Heaven and learned this stuff..." I probably wouldn't have watched, just because of that. I do NOT wanna hear about Dead Dean. I still cannot reconcile the Dean in 15.20 with the Dean from the entire rest of the original series. 40 minutes of just completely erasing all character growth and then pinning him on a rusty receipt spike was NOT the culmination of 15 years of him struggling to be free, you know? I would've noped so hard on watching him tell stories from Heaven... I really didn't want to engage with more canon that insisted that travesty actually happened.

Many of us cling to our Chuck Won theories-- that Chuck's power transferring into Jack transformed Our Jack into some weird God-Chuck-The Sequel. That Chuck The Guy was just a puppet for the actual Cosmic Power and it still had its own agenda but now there was nothing for Dean to fight back against he just... gave in to its demands and played out the story Chuck had always wanted him to.

Detour time: I've spent the last few days (while being stupidly sick and not particularly coherent as a result... hooray cold medicine brain) trying to assemble all the times Chuck talked about his writing process, what he wanted from his story, and giving up quickly because it's just so much... but I recall him saying something to the effect of "that's where I went wrong, when I tried to write myself into the story." And I think that was his failsafe-- he spent all of s15 waiting for Jack to turn himself into The Perfect Receptacle for his power, to put on that little show on the beach and take on all his power so Sam and Dean would believe they'd actually won. Making everything that happened afterward just... them thinking they were making their own choices or whatever, when they'd completely dropped their guard and all Chuck had to do was throw the Random Bad Vampires at them that Becky complained about way back in 15.04. And they'd never see it coming.

So... Dean telling the story here? I still held out hope that it would take place BEFORE the events of 15.20, when he was alive, and that the goal was to tell a DIFFERENT story from the one Chuck wanted to tell.

But the way it was all set up in The Winchesters left us open to question everything we saw, everything we were being told by Dean as the story unfolded. We had to think about it week to week, and the payoff to that? That Dean has been dead and running out of Heaven specifically in search of a world where maybe his family actually had a chance to be happy? When he was supposedly in HEAVEN, also known as PARADISE, where everyone is supposed to finally find peace and happiness? Well, that right there SCREAMS "hey, so maybe paradise isn't what it's cracked up to be... maybe something is really, really wrong in Heaven, with "Jack," with the whole concept of "peace when we are done."

Dean... is still looking for something. Something is desperately missing. His whole family is supposedly in Heaven with him, and yet why is he running through the multiverse looking for something? What could be missing?

We were *told* in 15.20 that Cas was there in Heaven, but *we never saw him there.* We were *told* that Heaven was "fixed" and all was well there, but *we did not see any of that.*

What if something very much larger is very much not right, and Dean is still looking for something? He looked so dang sad in the Winchesters finale. SO dang sad. And he was very pointedly behaving very carefully toward Jack. Like he knows he's breaking rules, or possibly even testing boundaries a little bit here... and I like the wide open possibilities of what that could mean.

I really think Dean's role in The Winchesters is effectively wrapped up. I would love to see a continuation of the series just for the characters we've grown to love there. But I do firmly see it as its own thing, adjacent to Supernatural and built from it, but with the potential to be whatever it wants to be in the future, and I love the possibilities inherent in that.

But for Dean himself? He absolutely built a high dive platform for himself to dive back into his own story from here, and I would LOVE to watch that unfold, as well. And to me, that feels like Jensen's intent behind all of this.

Will it ever happen? Golly I sure hope so...

[sennaverstappendiary]

barcelonian grand prix ✩ 04.06.2023

so... i can't lie. there are a few races this season that just didn't stick around in my mind like many others, and this is the first one i unfortuntately don't have many personal memories with, except one or two. however, rewatching the race and quali highlights: this was NOT a boring race as many people say it is‼️‼️‼️ not the best race of the season by far, BUT, george russell saves the day by trying to be insane 😁😁😁💥💥 and if i dig deep enough, i will find some memories, rest assured!

this race week was the first one i watched while not being in uni 💕💕💕 i mean, i'm still enrolled, but summer break BABEY 🌞🌞🌞😁😁😁✨✨✨ which was incredibly perfect and fun!! i think i vaguely remember being quite hungover while watching this race... which LMAO of course i was. i was practically always tipsy during may-june (NOT in a toxic way in a very girl slay way actually 🍷🍷🍎🍎🌞🌞🌞👍👍👍) so that's good‼️‼️🥰🥰 i was also very very into fic-writing back then, i wrote my infamous p19 fic in this very race weekend (jeez i wonder why 😵😵😵😵💥💥💥)

qualifying was fun to rewatch, knowing max got pole LOL‼️‼️‼️‼️ what wasn't fun was that i forgot this weekend was p19 weekend. charles. 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔🙅🙅🙅🙅 THAT SHIT made me very sad, even rewatching. suffice to say at this point in the season i had been properly rbr charles coded already so i was manifesting some 2024 shit LOL (guys it can still happen shut up) 🙏🙏🙏🙏✨✨✨✨ i also forgot hulkenberg qualified p3 lmfao that was a funny surprise 😁😁😁😁😁 max slaying like usual also made me very happy to rewatch yaaay 💌💌💌 ALSO CHECO FLOPPING PLEASEEEE GOD. please look at this extra gif below my pookie emma made that shows christian and adrians reaction to this bs 😵😵😵😁😁😁😭😭😭😭

the race was also fun! mercedes had a pretty good weekend, even though both drivers seemed unhappy dfjfgdfhgd 💥💥😭😭😭 whatever... the race highlights showed max twice the whole race: at the start and him crossing the finish line LMFAO so uh pookie too good for da world 😁‼️‼️‼️ nah but it was fun... always something special to see max win barcelona of course, knowing it was his first 🥺🥺🥺🥰🥰🥰🥰 my cutiepie... and george really really put his pussy into the race lmao he was GOING for it 🔪🔪🔪 which was entertaining thank you mr russell... ALSO MAX GRAND SLAM 3!!!! AND 25 SECOND GAP!!! MY BABY!! 💕✨💘🥺💌🥰🥰🥰🌞🌞💘🥺🥺✨✨✨🥺🥺💕💕💕‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

all in all not a race i'd go back to to watch often, but with it being one of max's amazing grand slams, and with the mercs bringing some entertainment (though i am ALWAYS entertained enough by watching max's gap grow), it's definetely one i enjoyed revisiting 🌷🌷🌷 i feel like this race also represents me getting into the flow of race weekends, if that makes sense!! the novelty had worn off, the love had (and has) not 🥰🥰🥰💕💕💕 that's how i know this is REALLY special 🥺🥺🥺

✩ song of the race: duvet - boa

fuck it, i'll put THE prosenna song here, because i haven't yet. this series is obviously focused on the 2023 season, but believe me, this fucking song and prosenna in general made me love f1 as much as max did 🥺🥺‼️‼️‼️💕💕💕

[bookcrazyace]

Dazai is a Good Person After Leaving the Port Mafia

SPOILERS FOR FINAL SEASON

So I was a firm believer of the whole "Dazai isn't a good person, he just changed affiliations because Oda told him to." for a long time. I haven't rewatched the first couple of seasons of Bungou Stray Dogs in a long time so my examples might not be accurate but I have compiled a couple of scenes that had me convinced he was a bad person even after being in the ADA.

In the whole incident with the Assure Messenger he seemingly purposely lured the boy Kunikida was looking after to the place where Sasaki subsequently shoots him thus leading him to shoot her as his last act in self defense. (I am aware that the anime's coverage of this whole arc was a not true to the source material and I am unaware if the same events happen in the light novel.)

Slapping Atsushi while he's essentially having a panic attack. Seeing how he treats Akutagawa in the flashbacks this seemed like the facade was slipping a little and he reverted back to how he trained Akutagawa.

This is probably the weakest piece of evidence but, when he a Chuuya went to get Q and Dazai held the knife up to their neck. It's unclear whether it was genuine consideration or just a joke. But if the only reason he didn't kill Q was because the ADA didn't do stuff like that then it's not looking too good for Dazai.

But this post is supposed to be me defending his character development so lets start that. It's been the last arc of the anime that made me reconsider my stance on Dazai's character. I will not attempt to disprove any of the examples I made above seeing as I haven't watched that part of the anime in a long time.

So in the final arc the anime seems to draw parallels between Fyodor and Dazai in how they view the world and handle different situations. One good example of this is the god conversation they have while they are in the cells. Another good example is the whole drowning thing where they throw each other in the same trap. It seems like these are very intentional parallels meant to show how similar yet different they both are.

Sigma's entire role in this arc and his relationship with Dazai could really be either or with proving whether or not Dazai changed it all boils down to whether or not Sigma is actually dead and whether or not Dazai intentionally sent him to Fyodor with the intent of sending him to his death. I honestly think that Dazai intended to make good on his promise to get Sigma out alive. The fact that Dazai thinks that Sigma reminds him of Atsushi also adds to my point I feel the fact that Atsushi seems to be someone Dazai genuinely cares about (excluding the whole slapping thing) makes it seem like he would care about Sigma too being that he reminded him so much of Atsushi (I can't help but think that Dazai thinking of Sigma reminds him of Atsushi is similar to Aya reminding Bram of his daughter.) I can't decide whether or not Dazai knew the full extent of Fyodor's plan or not they have the same level of intelligence and are both seemingly shocked when the other does something but sometimes its later proved that they knew all along. In the end Fyodor's death isn't even really because Dazai necessarily outsmarted him it was because of Dazai's willingness to trust people.

Dazai directly stating that Fyodor's problem is that he only trusts himself is another reason that I believe that he is a good person. If Dazai only saw the people in the ADA as pawns there is no real reason for him to put trust in them or at the very least not the extent of trust he did. Also he put his trust in Chuuya, his enemy too and I just feel like that says a lot because regardless of the history between them.

The last thing I want to talk about is his relationship with other characters. If you consider the differences in how Akutagawa and Atsushi view him I think it reveals a lot. Atsushi views him as a positive influence and a mentor while Akutagawa views him as something akin to a god. Ranpo seems to trust him which I feel is all that needs to be said. He also works well with Kunikida as partners which requires some level of trust.

Overall my views of Dazai have changed. I think that instead of him suddenly flipping from being a "bad person" to a "good person" by changing from the Port Mafia to the ADA is unrealistic and likely untrue. What is more plausible in my mind is that throughout Bungou Stray Dogs we have watched Dazai gradually develop into a better person that is willing to put his trust in people in a way he wasn't willing to before.

[vividviolence]

okay watched the new sonic superstars thing and I really enjoyed it!!! very fun little romp it's a total blast

below is a long thread of all my thoughts & insights...

honestly the starting fight scene was really fun, I especially love how as it transitions into reality the characters begin to look demonic (especially amy, her evil expression really stole the show here!)

trip was really cute !!! I love her so much !!! I hope they become a good guy in the end I want to see them happy

(honestly it'd be really sad if they went the way of the hard boiled heavies, we haven't had a new reoccuring classic sonic character since like sonic the fighters :[)

also fang was silly in this but I've always found him a bit cute and silly so that's a given

this has implications..... as we can see it's demonstrating the different emerald powers you're able to use throughout the game, but why is trip (or rather, people like her) seemingly featured so prominently? is trip from some sort of group that knows a lot about harnessing the emeralds' powers??? could probably explain why eggman is forcing them to tag along I suppose

also seems like this mural also depicts the big flickys eggman's going to put into his minibosses, which could mean they have some connection to the emeralds! There's also some sort of dark force in the center of the mural, but I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet...

(side note: yeah I totally saw the snake on the mural and went "!!!! THE FUNNY!!!" before actual taking a second to inspect it closer)

THE FUNNY!!!

my opinion on this thang doesn't even really need to be stated. favorite animal n all that. but still !!! the funny !!!! god I am a sucker for snakes

anyways the foreshadowing for this fella is honestly on point, the mix of the constant hissing sfx & the snake on the mural were really fun details :>

also, the setup of the battery thing was really cool too! They call a lot of attention to it so it's a definitely harder to miss, but it still makes a rewatch fun nonetheless

never change eggman. never change.

This was cute, considering this & the mural stuff I'm pretty sure trip has waaaay deeper connections to northstar then what we know (I kind of always assumed this but like. there's more to work with now y'know)

anyhow my final theory is that I think eggman's going to do a Sonic Adventure and end trying to control a beast of incredible power only to fail miserably. the way the weird, vaguely evil thing at the center of the mural appears on eggman's glasses seems to suggect he takes some sort of interest in it....

[miss-windsong]

Please talk about the Eva rebuild stuff. That 4th movie also had me in tears

okay brace for wall of text. spoiler line for if u haven't seen this movie (go watch eva if you haven't)

okay. first off. the opening to that movie is amazing. the retaking of paris gives us a chance to see how effective misato and ritsuko are as a team, as well as showing us that humanity isn't out of the fight. eva as a series is about a lot of things, but one of the core themes is human emotion; the original show always struck me as being about human despair, while the movies seem to be about human hope. all throughout the 4th rebuild movie, we see lines from both sides about hope versus rationalism - gendoh is so certain that his choice is the right one that he never even for a second believes he could fail. misato and WILLE, on the other hand, are almost certain that their cause is doomed to fail, but they choose to go on because they have the totality of human hope and will (haha funny pun) on their shoulders.

also, the trains. trains in eva are everywhere. shinji arrives on a train at the start of the show. his father puts him on a train and sends him away when he was a kid. he tries to run away on a train, but he can't. so many of the flashbacks are set in train cars. trains in eva seem to represent change. at the start of the 4th rebuild movie, the town they live in is an old train station. everything is inside trains - the library is a train car, they use train cars to move goods around, the town square is centered on a railway turntable. but shinji goes up to live with his old friend, in an old (importantly nonfunctional) train station, surrounded by immobilized floating trains. he isn't ready to change yet.

but when we get to the end of the movie, the flashbacks inside the anti-universe (gods i feel so silly typing this stuff out, if you haven't watched any of this i promise it's actually called that), when shinji finally starts to process all of his feelings towards the people in his life, it's portrayed as them getting off the train. they've arrived at their new station. and of course the last scene being at a train station, where shinji leaves of his own choice - it fucks. it makes me sob.

then there's all the stuff about parenthood. misato thinking of herself as being unworthy of the title of "mother" because she abandoned her child who knows nothing about her, despite the fact that she served as essentially a mother figure to shinji (count the number of mother figures shinji has in eva the truth may surprise you). gendoh being a terrible father to shinji because he's just like shinji - shy, reserved, (autistic), and devastated by the loss of his wife. Toji becoming a father as a way to represent that he's matured and grown, while kensuke seems to still be living in his past. of course shinji's mom, being the thing that was always protecting him. ryoji being essentially the father figure of all of humanity by making the sacrifice at the end of the third movie, with his final true act in the story being the ark of living things released into space.

from my interpretation, shinji is humanity. he represents everything about us; our insecurities, our bravery, our cowardice, our inability to face our mistakes, our determination to fix them, and our stupidity. he is the Human Element that throws a wrench in everyone's plans. misato seems to be the mother figure of all humanity, which makes sense given her relationship with ryoji. she is the leader of WILLE, the manifestation of human willpower and determination. she gives everything and more for the sake of the continuation of her species.

there is more that i haven't thought of (i didnt even get into kaworu or shinji's gender and sexuality or asuka or rei or mari or or or) but maybe those posts will come another time. i have so many fucking thoughts about this story and everything in it rends me in half and leaves me sobbing into a pillow because i decided to rewatch the 4th movie at 4am.

[morganas-pendragons]

justifiably angry. 

I'm going to preface this by saying that I haven't been able to watch Jodie's goodbye episode yet (I can't find a place to watch it :( ) but of course I saw spoilers. I don't usually care about them, so I subjected myself to it.

Oh boy, I'm angry.

Spoilers beneath the cut for the power of the doctor. Read at your own discretion!

First of all, I have been watching this show faithfully since 2012. I have stuck around through the garbage eras of Moffat's era, and I have stuck around through the equally more terrible garbage era's of Chibnalls. I consider myself a loyal Doctor Who fan. It made me fall in love with so, so many things. It brought me my best friend.

So let me tell you the truth: I am emotionally invested into this show. I have seen myself portrayed in the last three incarnations of The Doctor rather well. Doctor Who is an extremely relatable show that millions have loved over nearly sixty years of being on the air.

That was, however, until Jodie came along with Chibnall and "ruined it.'' which is why so many fans stopped watching.

I know fans who stopped watching when Capaldi was casted. Capaldi, who to this day stands out as the best incarnation of The Doctor for me.

Did I enjoy all of Thirteen's run? No. I didn't. But despite that, I always knew that Jodie Whittaker was going to give the performance of her life because long before I saw her as The Doctor, I saw her as Beth in Broadchurch with David Tennant.

That being said, if you haven't seen it, go watch it. That show portrays the exact caliber of what Jodie could've done with The Doctor if she were given good scripts.

Chibnall wrote a handful of good episodes. I think he's a decent writer (THE MAN WROTE MOST OF BROADCHURCH FOR GOD'S SAKES) but he's appallingly bad at sci-fi. He was never set to write well for this show.

Despite that, I remember quite well when Jodie was cast. I was sitting in the sound booth of my church in June of 2017 and yelled when that teaser trailer crawled across my Tumblr feed. You all know the one.

A woman doctor. Sixty years of tradition broke the glass ceiling with the casting of a woman doctor.

A woman doctor who perfectly embodied her previous counterparts.

Her opening scene in The Woman Who Fell To Earth won me over to her. I haven't rewatched Season 13, but there were so many scenes in her most recent season where her anguish was so palpable. I think we all knew to some degree that she would be special. That she had something to give.

And oh... she did. She really did.

Now, to the point of this post. They broke the glass ceiling by casting a woman to this role in 2017.

And then they went even further and cast a black man in 2022! Fantastic! Wonderful! I was elated to see him brought to this role. I haven't seen Ncuti in anything either, but I hadn't seen any of the Doctors in previous roles before. That's why they usually cast ''no-body's'' in the role.

So imagine my surprise when I find out that RTD is coming back, and he's bringing Catherine Tate and David Tennant with him!? AND MURRAY GOLD?!!?

Accomplishing what fans who loved the duo in 2008-2009 have wanted for over a decade, some closure for 10 and Donna!

But wait, then the rumor starts about Jodie regenerating into David. I laugh it off. It absolutely has to be a joke.

AND THEN. TODAY. TODAY I COME INTO THE TAG TO FIND OUT THAT IT WAS REAL, AND IT REALLY HAPPENED.

Yeah, to be quite honest, it's stupid. At the very least, they should've kept with the tradition of the doctor regenerating in their former incarnations clothes -- not spawning new ones.

Someone in the comment section on Facebook pointed out that The Curator in 2013's fiftieth anniversary special mentioned seeing familiar faces along the way (or something along that line) which, I get. I do. But bringing back David as obvious fan service took away THE WHOLE LITERAL POINT OF CASTING NCUTI AS FOURTEEN.

Another record was broken by casting a black man to the role, and you bring back literally the most iconic doctor for... for what?? Three episodes in 2022? And then you tie it off by telling the fans that HE is actually fourteen?

are you kidding me??!!

Here's my opinion on this, and then I'm done. You're free to disagree with anything I've said in here. I love David. I love 10, but he's not my favorite Doctor. It's 12. 10's era was very clearly over with the 50th anniversary special, and it should've been left there. Just like 11's being done with his exit episode.

Would I have loved to see 11 or 12 return for the 60th? YES.

Ten, however? He has literally gone down in history as the most iconic Doctor. The one everyone loves. Why would you bring him back if he's obviously going to overshadow the newest incarnation we have yet to love??

Make it make sense?? Please??

[thebutlers]

Year In Review

It is 9:00 PM on December 29th and I am sitting in my bedroom with painted nails that are drying. I went sparkly to ring in the festivities of New Year's and our upcoming trip to Mexico. I wanted to take some time to reflect on this last year with some questions I found on Pinterest and thought this would be the perfect time to start the blog up again...

My word for 2022: Celebration

Best thing I did for someone else this year: Although it was very mutually beneficial, moving in with my dad was something that I think really helped him. Being in our family home alone probably feels very lonely and so I am very glad Makoto and I lived with my dad during my pregnancy and the first four months of Kenzo's life.

Most memorable moment of the year: Although there were many moments that are in the running, I'd say the 24 hours between having my water break and starting labor. I feel like that time period is seared into my brain. From FaceTiming people telling them my water broke, quickly packing up our bags, spending a few hours in the hospital, deciding to go back home, going back to the hospital the next morning, almost having an emergency c-section, having family visit the room, to the start of more serious labor. It was a wild 24 hours.

One great compliment you received this year: One that I get over and over is that I am my mom's legacy. I so badly wish she was here, but to know that so many people see my mom in me and know that I am making her proud really gives me peace.

Best advice you received this year: I feel like one or two moms told me to trust my gut and I feel like that has been something I keep coming back to when it comes to parenting Kenzo and even other areas of my life. Things like co-sleeping, pureé feeding, all the affection we give him. Somehow it just feels instinctual to know what to do for Kenzo.

Something you had never done before: I haven't felt like I've truly led something before but when we said yes to leading at YWAM Denver I feel like we had to step up. We are in charge of setting culture, making the final call on decisions, and having people look to us. It's been very stretching to not only learn how to lead a base, but learn to lead people as well.

Favorite place you visited this year: We didn't travel too much this year. We went to Oregon, California, Colorado, and Mexico if I'm not mistaken. Obviously Mexico was my favorite. Between the stunning sunrises, my favorite people, and being at a resort I'd never been to, it was just a great time.

Biggest lesson learned: God doesn't owe us anything and that gratitude is always a choice. After mom died I wrestled with the why's and the frustration of her not being healed, but God is still good and His nature is good and so I don't have to understand why He did something if I know those things to be true. Also, it is very easy to find the negative or to focus on what you don't have but there is always something to be grateful for and there are usually way more good things happening in your life than there are bad things.

Most newsworthy event: Accepting the position of campus leaders of YWAM Denver. It is still crazy to me that this is our life and yet at the same time it's hard to imagine us doing anything else right now. I am very thankful Mak and I get to be in full time missions again and that we get to be in Colorado while we do it.

What/whom are you most thankful for this year: I am most thankful for Kenzo but that is so obvious. He changed my life. After him I would say that I have come to feel very thankful for my church family. I am blessed to have been able to walk with them for twenty years now and have such consistency with them. I look around on Sunday and am filled with gratitude that I am a part of this church body.

Favorite show of the year: I continued to watch the rest of the series of Gilmore Girls at the start of this year and then Mak and I got into House for a few months. I'm rewatching GG since we moved onto the base and that's been fun. I love that show!

Favorite moments of the year:

+ Biking from our house in HB to Pacific City or a bench across from the ocean to think and read and journal.

+ Styling our basement apartment at dad's house.

+ Dad visiting HB and us going to the San Diego Zoo and whale watching.

+ Doing the babies course with Haylee.

+ Saying goodbye to my mom in the hospital.

+ Mom's celebration of life service.

+ Our trip to Mexico.

+ My walks around the pond with Kenzo.

+ My first date with Kenzo when we walked around the city.

+ Our stay in the hospital after Kenzo was born.

+ Doing silver sneakers with Haylee with our instructor Ken.

+ Our yard sale in HB as we started moving out of the house.

+ Our date day in Portland where we went to Twinings tea, got our favorite ramen, and the best Portland fog donuts.

+ Mak getting a tattoo of my name.

+ Moving onto the base.

I'm sure there were many more memories than just these, but these stood out in the few minutes I've sat here thinking about it.

In my next post I'm going to look forward to 2023!