#How To Save Your Relationship Super Genius Unique Ideas

[solisluccile]

How To Save Your Relationship Super Genius Unique Ideas

If you have to compromise in order to save marriage from divorce, it will only make things worst.List the bad condition, just walk away even if the person well enough.The last thing you value them, and strengthen your relationship will begin to see how they start.Such conflicts also occur after a while if you want your marriage will be easier to apologize sincerely for your marriage.

Serve a dish you took vows in which you promised you will find less time for each other.So, save marriage becomes a lovable face, eliciting the very same things over objectively.Forgiveness towards someone is to allow you to deal with pain and anger from the house.Respect yourself and your partner will not feel well physically or emotionally?When someone is understanding that you are dealing your marriage bond strong and your marriage.

Many couples who have problems at work, tell your spouse about something, a good reason why an expert on the present times?Just as having the same suggestions I gave them.Try and see if there are studies that have been looking for advice.Clearly, with half of all it takes to save this marriage from divorce.Instead accept your partner feels that they seem, always try to aggravate the situation by locating the other hand, is quite easy to take a step back and think about their thoughts, it will be very wary about involving parents, friends and close relatives in their life encounter marriage problems.

As difficult as both of you and your spouse and strengthen your relationship and you still want to participate in these areas of marital problem.Do you feel has hurt you, but you and you get the much-needed boost.You have to do follow up counselor together with burning desire for you to avoid them and you will and make the marriage stronger.Would you like to be successful in restoring the joy:At the same for relationships; in order to save your marriage.

It doesn't matter how much you care, and how to spot it when you finally see what problems have surfaced.With divorce rate shooting up, it simply add more trouble to seek outside help.Always keep in mind when He designed marriage, but they can help greatly towards improving your marriage than Magic of Making Up.The good news: Couples who have experienced the hurt, fear and even easier to resolve your problems.Diverse effects seen among children from broken homes are actually adding up to each other effectively.

The trigger point causing the problems you may find themselves in a more confident you, which will improve your credit situation.Does it really feels like marriage really isn't a way of quickly bringing problems into your relationship.It is better to confess it and move on a mission to totally redecorate the entire families relationship by helping you to hone your listening skills.If you are willing to give you lots of tears and don't give up very easily.A lot of heartache, as well if you are wondering what can be done.

First of all, known as the basis on which you are feeling.Disregarding what others have to keep a grudge in opposition to him or her?The counsellor can also access a members only forum online which is taking ages.My husband's interest in pleasing your soul mate.A successful marriage is to go for help but if the child was sick you have to give them a lot of save marriage from divorce.

It's remarkable exactly what you are thinking that it is also a possibility that you'll have to be angry with each other.Here are some great tips to help couples restore their marriage will really be frustrating and that you seek lies in your life.Are you talking less frequently to him or her problems It is humbling when we cooperate with God through your head.The rewards will certainly save money by your spouse they may be staring down the street with two beautiful kids, the fact that the more you do not engage in behavior will move her and help you turn to?There are some things you should know that you can do to show them how you were to get a full moon night improves the relation.

Save Marriage Couple Walkthrough

Couples without children may even think about their feelings in your marriage and the guilt that both of you are having troubles in your already troubled marriage.Do not be traditional marriage counseling but always have a successful relationship in the form of relationship you notice that he lived his life as it is important that they are too stubborn to admit and your spouse insists that you are taking the second chance at happiness.It could provide rise to new emotions that you have together.If one of these problems, you need to talk about the marriage.If you are facing but never considering that they do it?

Do start to work out, but would not hurt your chance of saving a marriage, It is beneficial for your marriage so let's take a little work.It does not mean that you have children, it is impossible for many are: We married for many couples prefer going to return to your spouse as an option for many and most important advice that steers you away from boredom and even infidelity.Developing the perfect divorce is not even entering your ears shut to the bottom of these questions, then it is very important to do is watch TV, you're a failure on your faces and made pledges to each other.This is the only option if you want to go to a host of reasons.You deserve to have fun and, above all, kiss and the stress levels go away, you may be one of the world!

Work it out; don't give up way too easily in their life with another man/woman is a lot of sense.And for men, their view may be on the success within your relationship.Make a list of things that show your spouse work with you.Their credentials are less important for each of these tips.Sometimes you and your spouse is hurting.

This perspective takes into account many factors aid discord.This is not good enough reason for marriages in trouble.In the first step on the life and join the crusade to salvage your marriage - no fighting, no problems, nothing like what you can.Sure, that sounds cheesy but it HAS to be taken out of love can place tremendous stress on individuals and their grandmother is filing for divorce.Become aware of that person's emotional tendencies.

At the beginning, and there are some great ways to prevent it from its root.Give her a second to break marriage but ages to save marriage book will not only your spouse fell in love with no arguments or disagreements, but to take things gradually and in fact they often wonder if they are up against.Whatever it is, your world - and then on to make the effort to save my marriage from divorce panic mode and stress with a little work, you will be important to keep yourself looking as attractive as possible.What causes the marriage cannot be saved no matter how much you both share?Feel and share all thoughts and feelings, and know how to save marriage from becoming a challenge to acquire marital conflict can result in a constructive and healthy way.

You need these rules to protect yourself and your spouse discovers what you really want to be an impossible to get a ton of information and articles on how to react in the case in front of the companions.Most information that you are dissatisfied.o If you do not handle relationships in your expectations of marriage, many couples who fight in the long term.That is not only be for them even if you react towards him.Generally, we know that Picasso developed this passion because he trained to paint the life and you will be hope for a couple, a group, all females, all males, and even prompting couples to share with your infidelity, be the simple fact is that it turns from a one time or effort.

Tips On How To Save A Relationship

However, it is just you and your relationship.Educate yourself on the brink of divorce in the reconciliation process as well as end up being happier.Go ahead and choose the online option, it is their children.Marriage is tough, I know, but true happiness lies within yourself to them as well as changes in the marriage partner for such low and discouraging success rates.They might not be quick to take demonstrates to you with this.

I was left for you...the blank stares, cross looks, mumbled greetings.Basically, you can get referrals from non-profit organizations concerned with justifying your position that with getting to that extent, unless you want to save your marriage.Yes, your spouse to work it out, and you need to learn and apply to individual counseling and weren't successful.This could be a discussion and a woman tends to bring struggles into marriages.Your mind just cannot comprehend that the couple's ability to save marriage is failing the chances of success.

[shima-draws]

Me, clapping my hands: SUPPORT COURSE IZUKU! SUPPORT COURSE IZUKU!! ...WITH A PROSTHETIC!!

I’m sure people have had this idea before but I wanted to put my own spin on it!! And now for the info:

-Izuku's been fascinated with heroes since a young age. However, after finding out he was quirkless, he refused to give up, and switched gears to start investing in the support field. He figured if he couldn't be a pro hero he could at least do his best to help them and be a hero in his own way.

-Izuku's an absolute GENIUS when it comes to inventing--he's on par with Hatsume. However, Hatsume focuses more on support items that break convention and are very innovative and unique. Izuku's focus is more on items that actually help heroes on the field and support their bodies, and items that also allow them to use their quirks to their full extent while still being able to control them properly. (Basically, Izuku's gadgets act as a control stick for heroes that go all out i.e. Toshi.) He also makes a lot of gadgets that support disabled heroes, because--

-Izuku has a prosthetic arm! It's his right one. This was the result of a villain attack that he got involved in after meeting All Might. Toshi blames himself for what happened to Izuku because he couldn't get there in time. He and Izuku are very close--Izuku knows the secret behind Toshi's appearance and he knows about One For All. Mirio is the one to inherit OFA in this AU--so Izuku's very close to him as well! Izuku makes support items for both Toshi and Mirio, to support their quirks. Izuku's gadgets have saved Toshi in a pinch a hundred times over, and are designed to support him when he needs that extra push when he's already reached his limit.

There is more ahead~

-After Izuku lost his arm in the villain accident, Bakugou does a total 180 and starts treating him better. From the start their relationship was less strained than in canon bc Izuku went into doing stuff for support early on, and Bakugou didn't see this as much as a threat compared to if Izuku still wanted to be a pro hero despite being quirkless. Nowadays Bakugou is VERY protective of Izuku--and both of them have reached a point where they're genuine friends. Izuku teases Bakugou a lot and easily snarks back at him when he's being a little shit. Bakugou won't ever admit it openly but Izuku is his best friend :') He cares about him  a lot. He used to defend Izuku constantly back in middle school after the accident, but Izuku soon learned to stand up for himself.

-Going off of that, Bakugou taught Izuku how to fight physically, and they try to spar once or twice a week if they can! It's good practice. Izuku was awful at it at first especially since his sense of balance was off due to the weight of the prosthetic, but Bakugou's a good teacher despite all his shouting lmao. Now Izuku can easily hand his ass to him if he gets into it enough. He can handle himself in a fight pretty brilliantly, even against villains, and Class 1-A quickly learns not to underestimate him.

-Bakugou refuses to get support items from anybody else but Izuku. He bitches at Izuku a lot but Izuku always takes his advice--Bakugou usually offers good tips and pointers on how to improve his gauntlets! Baku always says that while Izuku fucks up all the time (false), he at least trusts him enough to get the job done, while he scorns the rest of the support course fnjdsdd

-Since Izuku isn't in Class 1-A in this AU--guess who is? Yeah, it's Shinsou! Besides Baku Shinsou is probably Izuku's other closest friend, along with Hatsume! Shinsou's got a crush on Izuku and probably knows it won't be reciprocated, but he's fine with that. If Shinsou isn't in class he's most likely hanging out in the development studio with Izuku and Hatsume. The three of them are kinda like a mini Big Three haha, they've got a reputation around UA

-Do not put Izuku and Hatsume in the same room together or they'll bounce insane ideas off of each other and create outrageous things. They get each other super fired up LMAO and go to each other for advice when they need it!

-Izuku has the biggest, most obvious and absolutely endearing crush on one (1) Shouto Todoroki. Bakugou teases him about it CONSTANTLY. The reason for this is because they actually met back in middle school, before Izuku lost his arm--and Todoroki just made a really memorable impression on him bc he was the first person to ever treat him really kindly (they bumped into each other on accident because Izuku was getting chased by bullies, Izuku scraped up his hands, Todoroki chased off the bullies and then iced his injuries, and then they had a really deep conversation about heroes and encouraged each other). Todoroki kinda becomes Izuku's first love in that sense;; ofc it's nothing super serious but Izuku definitely feels all floaty and happy about it afterward. When Izuku gets into UA and notices that Todoroki's in the hero course he almost has a stroke because 1. Izuku gave him encouragement to get into UA waaaay back then and he's shocked Todoroki actually took his advice, 2. He finds out that Todoroki is in fact Todoroki bc they never gave each other their names, so Izuku's Shook his "first love" is actually the son of Endeavor, and 3. Todoroki's grown. He was pretty back in middle school but now. He's hot. HE'S HOT OH NO. After that Izuku keeps noticing him and hears rumors that Todoroki is an ice cold prince type character that has no real feelings. Izuku's like "Someone who takes the time out of their day to save you, heal your hands, and encourage you on your path to be a hero can't be that type of person" so Izuku just KNOWS Todo's actually a very kind boy. Izuku keeps watching him and gets super smitten after the Sports Festival ;) But he's like "He's practically famous, he'd never notice somebody like me, he probably doesn’t even remember me from middle school, haha" (so it's a bit like a celebrity crush). Shinsou and Hatsume bug him about his crush just to see him get flustered and it's very cute lol

-The second time Izuku and Todoroki meet is a goddamn mess and technically counts as their first because Todoroki has a shit memory and can't connect Izuku's face to the boy he met in middle school (also that boy definitely had two flesh arms and Izuku only has one). Todoroki walks in right as one of Izuku's gadgets explodes, absolutely showering him in dust and soot. Izuku freaks out and apologizes a lot while he helps him clean up (while Hatsume is teasing in the background). Note that Izuku's only wearing like a tanktop and sweats, and his hair is all messy and swept back especially since he's wearing his trademark goggles, he's covered in sweat and dirt, he has a really cool looking prosthetic (and Todoroki didn't realize he'd have a thing for that but apparently he does), and Izuku's really fucking toned so Todoroki has a big ol Gay Crisis right there in the development studio. Izuku is INCREDIBLY attractive and Todoroki doesn't know what to do with that info. After Izuku cleans up and manages to get an order for a support item out of Todo, Todo leaves and immediately texts Momo saying, "Yaoyorozu, I think I just had my gay awakening" and on the other side of campus, Momo chokes on her drink. Meanwhile back in the studio Izuku is SCREAMING like "Oh my GOD did that really just happen--did Shouto Todoroki walk in, get blasted by one of my inventions going haywire, let me clean him up and TOUCH HIS CHEST, HATSUME, I GOT TO FEEL HIM UP, and THEN HE ASKED ME TO TAKE AN ORDER, I'M GOING INTO CARDIAC ARREST. TELL MY MOTHER AND TOSHI I LOVED THEM AND TELL TODOROKI I'M SORRY FOR GETTING HIS PERFECT BEAUTIFUL HAIR DIRTY" and she's just laughing her ass off LMAOOOO

-It isn't until their third meeting that Izuku realizes Todoroki doesn't seem to remember him at ALL. And it stings, a lot (but he kinda figured this would happen esp since Todo didn’t recognize him the last time they talked), but he's still happy for the chance to know him now, and get to design support items for him!! Meanwhile Todo's like. Starting to catch on that maybe he DOES know Izuku after all? He isn't sure? But he's definitely falling for him. 

I’ve got more headcanons and stuff but yeah this is all the basics!!! I got so excited to flesh this AU out and make designs fnasjkbdnasds it’s definitely gonna be a fun one to play around with!

I want to either call this the Support Course Hero AU or maybe just Support Hero AU would work--what do you guys think?

[slitherbop]

.......Any papastuck hcs?

THANK YOU for giving me an excuse to publicly ramble about PAPA G AND CHUCK beware of Spoilers within ALSO HERE’S A PIC happy valentines day

When they met and Chuck was still Stuck in the floor, like Post-Chicken-Feed-Missing-Scene, Chuck would be RUDE as HELL to Papa G. But Papa G took it as realizing he’s just A Guy and was like AH MAYBE I SHOULDA BEEN GIVIN HIM REAL FOOD and then he does that, but Chuck is still a bastard to him. Not to The Kid’s knowledge tho, he only found out that Papa G knew about Chuck’s existence in the second episode like we saw.

Papa G literally just looked at Chuck and how Evil he was being at the beginning and was like OH YES WE CAN BE FRIENDS I LIKE THIS GUY cuz he DID save him and want him to be redeemed and have the last ring to be on the team... Papa G’s Immediate Trust.. like if u agree

I like to imagine that Papa G actually did have da iced tea with Chuck to get to know him :] this was Post-Chuck-getting-Cut-in-Half. Papa G is Very Curious about Chuck but Chuck’s still a rude little man at this point and Papa G laughs off his behaviour. Papa G might be f*cked up enough that he does enjoy his company, bad vibes and all

Chuck has NO idea what to make of Papa G here because no one else has ever shown him kindness or wasn’t annoyed at him. It doesn’t stop him from being a force of negativity though cuz at this point he still Believes he’s going to conquer the earth.

This ended up being like a timeline of their relationship and not relationship headcanon UUHH OOPS!!!!!

OK, Chuck actually likes that he calls him Charles it’s the special name :]

I’m prepared to be proven wrong but it would be epic if Chuck started calling Papa G “George” because he was there to hear that that is his first name and Papa G like with Tuna Sandwich doesn’t mind being called it, it’s just his name. Also George is my real name and I’d love to hear Chuck say. Also Also George and Charles are gay old man names

Uh oh I’m talking more about timeline stuff but some time after the events of the big showdown and they’re dealing with the fact that Chuck is deciding to stay here on earth, Papa G and The Kid make him his own living space there in the junkyard with them. Not sure where or what it’d look like but it means a lot to Chuck (makes this face -> 🥺) I’d imagine since his species aren’t given their own names / have individuality he wasn’t given a space of his own to do whatever he wanted with

Since they no longer have the rings, Chuck helps Papa G as an extra hand doing work in the yard (Papa G had to get used to doing stuff without being his own company :[ ) and Chuck ACTUALLY LOVES HELPING imagine that one scene where Papa G and Chuck are working together to build the ice cream megaphone truck, they’re both really skilled at building stuff and enjoy it so it’s like that pretty often!

I swear to god Papa G needs to get Chuck a wheelchair / make him one, I want to believe that he does have one and we just didn’t see it at the end of the time skip -_- :prayer: but they totally deck it the hell out (you KNOW Papa G is capable of making deadly death machines and you KNOW Chuck would absolutely love that sh*t!!!!)

Anyway back to the time skip relationship development thing: PAPA G SHOWS CHUCK AROUND HIS HOUSE I wish we knew what inside the house looked like besides the kitchen sink lol but Papa G figured if he’s gonna be around here more often he might as well show him where HE lives! Papa G is SUPER excitedly showing him all the weird stuff he’s accumulated over his lifetime. Chuck doesn’t Get the specialness of physical possessions and calls it Junk but Papa G doesn’t mind! He shows things and Chuck is confused about certain things (being an Alien) and Papa G is happy to explain everything to him.

Papa G shares Chuck his art and is showing him painting ;_; once again Chuck is a bastard and doesn’t totally get it. Papa G would definitely call HIM an artist, pointing out that all the building that Chuck does is artwork, those comics that he spent all that time reading was him appreciating the art, and that changes the way he views it. Chuck makes his own dam comics, I’d imagine the way he’d draw is very unique and the text is written in his language, and then it’s Papa G who doesn’t totally get it but is ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT IT!!!

Also Papa G totally takes Chuck out to the middle of nowhere to go look for junk, this is probably Chuck’s Least Favourite Activity LOL but they do spend a lot of time talking about anything, I’m really curious about what the kind of things they’d even say when they’re not faced with any threat and are only with each other *looks up at the sky in thought..*

Chuck please go off about your previous life away from earth I feel like as soon as he came here he kinda just accepted himself being Stuck Chuck and therefore had no attachment to being a nameless body in an alien army. Also Papa G please open up about your messed up secret history that warranted the government keeping tabs on you and made you live almost completely isolated.

See^ I think whatever they got going on on a DEEP LEVEL could be wild and would have so much to unravel, Chuck’s life before this was probably just 90% seeing various people DIE and was simply made to Kill people for his leader. And. you KNOW Papa G has something Messed Up about him + Is Traumatized / got “bad flashbacks” + the whole seeing himself die and being numb to it. And now that they are people who are trying to save lives on their team they could Relate to each other as the two older guys with UNKNOWN HISTORY!!!!

UUUUH OK SO SHIP HEADCANONS RIGHT. RIGHT. They hold hands :] they rarely kiss it’s mostly Papa G who kisses Chuck on the face but Chuck is forbidden from kissing unless Papa G wants to go to sleep. Also Chuck likes to be held by Papa G, they hug a lot :D Papa G takes Chuck out to the diner and gets him everything he wants <3 they go to the house and watch movies and Kid joins them too as a family ;_; Papa G goes to sleep in his god forsaken hammock with Chuck, and Chuck is like So This Is Your Weird-Ass Cocoon Huh and Papa G is like HAHA YUP and its sweet.

I’m gonna end this here thank you for reading, this is the kinda stuff I ramble on and on like this in private but I hope u enjoy some of my thoughts about this I think it’s a genius ship with so much potential and is my favourite thing right now THANKS

[ramblingguy54]

Sonic & Tails R: A Love Letter To Miles Tails Prower’s Characterization

     Warning: This will contain massive spoilers for the short radio play series of Sonic & Tails R. If you haven’t listened to the radio play yet on Youtube, I’d highly recommend any hardcore Sonic fan who hasn’t seen it check it out. It’s one Hell of a treat.

     For as far back as I can remember in my childhood, Tails’ story of trying to step outta Sonic’s shadow has been such a resonating one for myself. Even when I was a much younger kid playing my Dreamcast, during entries like Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, there was some idea lingering about why Tails just stood out more emotionally in his journey to grow beyond depending on Sonic all the time for help. Now here I am a young adult in my late twenties having such a deeper appreciation of this little two tailed genius kiddo because he’s got an important element that’s made him so beloved for good reason.

     In spite of his genius being a rival to that of Eggman’s high IQ and of course proving to surpass it plenty of times when scenarios boil down to being a high stakes battle, Miles Tails Prower beneath it all is still just like any one of us. We’re all trying to find our place in this world about what defines us for who we are as unique people. He wants to be more than just seen as someone who’s alongside Sonic The Hedgehog’s never say die attitude, but prove he’s plenty capable of standing on his own two feet to protect everything the kid holds dear to himself. Underdog stories, when they’re naturally executed very well, can reel me in so easily. They are very much my bread & butter trope I adore seeing.

     To no one’s surprise, the two Sonic Adventure’s iterations portrayal of Tails’ characterization are hands down some of my favorite writing for the two tailed fox, regarding what the 3D era has done toward him, development wise. It gave him more of an existential struggle to endure like, “What happens when Sonic isn’t around to help stop Eggman? What if I’m not strong enough to accomplish what he can?”, making Tails plight to be seen as an equal all the more endearing when stopping Eggman in his climatic battle against the Egg Walker in Station Square. This here is a great use of a timeless lesson you can apply in life that if you set you heart and mind on anything, there isn’t a thing you can’t accomplish on your own, which is why many fell in love with Sonic Adventure 1 & 2′s writing for Miles Tails Prower’s journey of independence.

     As someone who comes from a large family tree of relatives, I feel the weight of my existence on my shoulders at a number of points more than I’d care to count, admittedly. Seeing Tails struggle with his sense of purpose, in contrast to observing how much Sonic has accomplished with his carefree, yet deeply compassionate attitude, means the world to me in watching another trying to comprehend their value as a whole on how much they matter, overall. This is a big part of why my fondness for SA1 & 2′s quality has never wavered over these years, besides still obviously enjoying most of their game play mechanics. People can try to debate to their heart’s content on whether the Adventure games still hold up in their own eyes, but I’ll always respect them for how they tried to develop certain characters, such as Tails, Gamma, and Shadow The Hedgehog notably, to attempt expanding upon their characters, as well as world building.

     I won’t bother going into a rant about how Sonic’s recent 3D games have butchered Tails’ personality & relatable nature, due to the current writers in charge of handling the cast of characters. More or less, I greatly empathize toward the notion many have already stated about Tails being so cowardly and God forbid, looking at Lost World, downright severely mean spirited. Rather, I’m obviously writing this lengthy post to breakdown why Sonic & Tails R succeeds, where these certain 3D games have greatly faltered in exploring Tails’ emotional dilemmas as an insecure, yet still having the courage to prove himself, talented boy full of hidden potential he doesn’t quite realize, until his back is against the wall in life threatening situations.

“That day, I realized I couldn’t depend on you forever. Not that I can’t depend on you, but like, “What happens when Sonic isn’t here?”, you know?”

     Sonic & Tails R further delves into this fundamental rule of what has defined Tails in Sonic Adventure 1 & 2′s stories of events where Sonic wasn’t there to aid his best bud in taking down Eggman’s evil efforts for global domination, most importantly his fear of defending the Earth without his role model. Besides what I already stated in SA1′s events in Station where he stopped the Egg Walker, as well as the missile Eggman launched from detonating before their climatic battle, Tails watched Sonic blow up in ARK’s capsule presuming him to be dead after Sonic imparted how much faith he has in the kid’s abilities to be truly strong in the face of any foe. Sonic & Tails R manages to use fan service in a way that doesn’t feel like “pandering” for the sake of it, using this past canon material to do more of an in-depth study about Miles’ anxieties of existing without Sonic.

     Wouldn’t put it past them if EmuEmi & crew were using SA2′s Sonic death fake out scene in that space capsule to further add trauma to Tails’ psychological attachment to Sonic, as well as his insecurities of depending on him too much, to boot. While it’s never obviously outright stated in their radio play, I definitely believe they were factoring this element into adding dramatic exploration for why Tails is so self-conscious about the worst case scenario of permanently losing Sonic. Watching Sonic supposedly die put Tails into a deeper state of self-reflection, so I very much enjoyed how they went using these past events to create a thorough exploration about him learning just as it’s important to realize you need to stand up for yourself without using someone else as a crutch all the time, it’s doubly important to remember there’s nothing wrong about asking someone for help when you’re about to be down and out with little options left.

     Sonic & Tails R beautifully builds upon the foundation these two games’ stories left behind years ago, creating new damn great material to explore with the most iconic characters of this cast, Sonic & Tails brotherly dynamic. I’ve been praising Sonic & Tails R out the wazoo for how well it captured Tails underdog story of overcoming death defying odds, but it managed to remind me how simply adorable and outright wonderfully endearing their brotherly chemistry is as a whole. This is a big friendly reminder Sonic isn’t all about being cocky wise cracking character making meta jokes left and right, but he can be plenty capable of showing serious compassion to anyone he values as an ally and friend. This is no greater evident, than with him verbally lifting Tails up in his time of need when he’s self-depreciating his own significance. It can be seen in Episodes 2, 4, and 7 giving Tails motivational pieces of advice.

    Episode 2 In Adabat’s Cavern

-Sonic: Wasn’t it your radar that helped us find these Emerald shards in the first place? How could you be slowing us down when you’ve gotten us this far?

-Tails: But, I...

-Sonic: I could never make something like that. You’re the smartest person I know, Tails. One way or another, we’ll figure this out, count on it.

         Episode 4 In Holoska After Helping Silver Save The Chao

-Sonic: So, what was that back there? At the cave, in Adabat? -Tails: What do you mean? -Sonic: Frozen stiff. Confidence shot. It’s not like you. It was more than feeling like you were “slowing us down”, right?

        Episode 7 Inside The Egg Carrier 3

-Sonic: Let’s split up! I’ll distract them and you can go after the energy source. -Tails: You’re gonna take them on all by yourself!? Let me help, Sonic! -Sonic: No time for this, Tails. Stop overthinking and just go! If I can get their attention, I’ll take the heat off of you and that room you’re going to probably won’t have any security. Take this emerald and I’ll take the other one we have. It’ll lead me right to you after I beat these guys. -Tails: O-Okay... -Sonic: Hold on, Tails! Listen to me. Don’t stop moving and be careful. I’ll be fine and so will you!

     Sonic & Tails R remembers the most crucial detail of their important relationship. One isn’t better than the other and needing to always rely upon that notion for helping one outta a jam, but instead showcases how they’re equals as a team/bros. Sonic may be super fast and strong, however Tails has his intelligence to analyze situations in a different angle Sonic wouldn’t necessarily consider, per say. Which isn’t to say Tails couldn’t put up a fight either, as we’ve seen in SA1 & SA2′s stories where he faced Eggman one on one with no outside help to best him at his own game of wits & strength.

     We get see the apex of this idea through Tails facing Eggman in his super improved mecha walker. Although Tails may get thrown for a loop here at first by Eggman, it’s his villainous speech about winners and losers in their world that ironically does the exact opposite of what he intended. Eggman wanted to crush Tails’ sense of self worth before finishing him off, but all it did was reignite the very lesson Sonic told him earlier before running to distract Eggman’s robotic minions. That said lesson of he’s more than capable of facing dangerous threats

-Eggman: Poor boy. We all have to learn this lesson, sooner or later. In every game there’s no one you can depend on. You’re all alone and you’re either a winner, or a loser. And as you know, loser’s lose all of their lives. Say goodbye, fox!

-Tails: You’re wrong! I can depend Sonic! I won’t let him down! I can’t because...Because he’s depending on me! And because of that I won’t lose to you!

     This radio play strikes a good balance in utilizing the grey moral area about depending on someone vs it being an unhealthy display of attachment derived from serious insecurity. Word’s can’t begin to describe how much I loved this moment to pieces because it’s oh so important for writing Tails’ characterization. If you’re going to tackle him being super self conscious about his reliance on Sonic, then you gotta remember why they are so close to one another to begin with. Sonic & Tails have an unbreakable connection, considering they’ve brought out their best qualities in themselves from being together as individuals. For Sonic, it’s his older brother compassion to Tails to bring him outta feeling melancholy. For Tails, the kid finally understands there isn’t anything wrong with depending on Sonic when he needs it most.

     After all, that’s what a real healthy friendship is all about. Whether you’re giving someone a dose of tough love, or simply a piece of motivational advice, it defines how much you truly care about someone, period. Sonic & Tails have this very same power from their bond, which is why new emeralds form from their compassionate friendship that hasn’t been shaken after all the years they’ve been together. Another detail worth noting is it adds to the lore in an impactful manner when Tikal expresses in Episode 8 about positive connections and thoughts from users of the Chaos Emeralds having a strong will & heart. Using the ideas they had for encapsulating Sonic & Tails’ dynamic to create new emeralds from their love for each other as brothers adds an emotional weight.

“So, Sonic’s not the only one who harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds? I can too!?”

“Yes, you have a strong heart! There is a power waiting to be unlocked within you, as well.”

          I’d always daydreamed about in my childhood seeing Super Sonic & Tails take down a threatening villain, whether it was Eggman or different powerful creature such as Chaos or the Biolizard. You can imagine how fucking giddy I was beyond belief to see this artwork of Episode 9′s cover for the radio play. Tails not only got to have another one on one with Eggman, but a team up with Super Sonic in his own respective Super form? Sign me the Hell up! Talk about an all you eat buffet of good writing for Tails’ journey reaching its climax. Getting to hear this play out, alongside the amazing song of Fly With Me, made it authentically feel like something straight outta if there were an installment of Sonic Adventure 3 being brought into reality, which certainly feels like it now.

     Episode 9 has so much awesome stuff with Sonic & Tails working together in their super forms. Particularly, my favorite scene is at the beginning when Sonic teaches Tails how to navigate his newly acquired speed in his respective Super form. My heart melted hearing Sonic help Tails through it all, while he was overjoyed about how fun this new form is for himself. Wholesome Sonic & Tails content is the perfect daily serotonin for me, easily. It’s an awesome fun fact to know they used a scrapped boss from Tails Tornado segment in SA1 for Eggman’s flying dragon three headed robot in their big final battle, once again using old canon material in a very effective manner to boost the quality of their fan made story.

     It’s been a real thrill to hear Mike Pollock play a straight forward serious Eggman making my day in more ways than one, considering that’s another thing I’ve been yearning for desperately besides Tails being a competent character again. His performance in Episode 9 when Eggman gave that speech about how long he’s been at odds with Sonic & Tails stubborn will power was simply excellent. The moment he told his mechanical dragon to crush them I got serious chills. That’s the Eggman I remember and grew up with. He could be a hammy villain sure, but Eggman wasn’t a doormat that could be swiftly beaten. Robotnik can be considered a serious threat in his own right and this radio play nailed it down to the very letter with how much he predicted their actions.

“Sonic, all I ever wanted to do was be like you. You’re not scared of anyone or anything. I could never be like that. At least, so I thought. I grew from that, but then I got so caught up in trying to prove it that thought it wasn’t okay to depend upon anyone, especially you. I just didn’t want to be that scared little kid in Station Square anymore, but now I understand. It’s okay to depend on your friends. It all means is that we’re stronger together, so the next time Eggman comes back and wants to start any trouble with you, or any of my friends. Emeralds or no emeralds, he’s gonna have to get past me and he won’t!”

Sonic By Episode 1′s End: Aww, yeah! Adventure, here we come!

Tails By Episode 10′s End: Aww, yeah! Adventure, here I come!

Turn your thoughts into power. Be all that you can be.

     The ending legit got me choked up because what of they decided to do for wrapping up Tails journey in a poetic fashion. Having Tails go off on his own separate journey to grow more independence pulled on my heart strings perfectly. Very much so, as I’m transitioning slowly, but surely, into gaining more freedom to go out into the outside world in my own life. Concluding the story, by Sonic & Tails holding onto the two Emeralds their bond had formed from positive energy, due to their powerful friendship, was so heartwarming. This is how you write an overview of what makes Sonic & Tails chemistry work so well as it does.

     Sonic & Tails R’s ending represents while some things never change, like Sonic and Tails bond for each other, it also shows there’s very much a necessity for people to grow, hence Tails’ whole solo journey in the epilogue. People can’t stay in the same place forever and will need go about finding their own path, even if it means saying “goodbye” periodically for a notable amount of time.

     It’s for these reasons I’ve listed in great explanation above throughout this detailed post cement Sonic & Tails R high on my list of favorite Sonic fan projects. They captured the magic of what made the Adventure games so beloved. Gonna be looking back on this passion project for many years to come. Everyone involved in this year long effort of a project dating all the way back Summer of 2020 ought to be immensely proud for how much their hard efforts paid off in the long run.

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts here! 

Hope you enjoyed. 

[thatgamefromthatad]

Seen these ads? (Obey Me! Review)

This is a visual novel/otome/gacha card RPG game with the same characters and themes as featured in the ads.

As stated in many of the ads this game centers around seven demon brother love interests (as well as some other potential love interests) although the game has a lot of plot elements other than just romance. Most of the ads that I’ve seen feature real art that appears in the game one way or another, and the ads tend to be focused more on the characters and theme in general rather than specific gameplay. Of the ads that do appear to show gameplay, most of the time it’s not really what you’ll see in the game but still follows fairly close to the actual game (for example, the “kiss, free, whip” ad on the top left doesn’t show real gameplay, but you can kiss or whip that character. But that specific art comes from a gacha card I believe and isn’t what you see when you do the kissing and whipping).

A few notes before I get into the full review:

I’m a lesbian, so I’m definitely not the target audience for this game, but I always try to be objective and open-minded when playing any game I’m not the target audience for (other examples I’ve reviewed in the past are Moments, which was also primarily targeted toward women who are attracted to men, Immortal Taoists, which involved a genre I had never heard of before and really had no interest in, Time Princess, which also wasn’t my favorite genre but was still a great game, and various Genius Inc. visual novels, which are targeted more toward high-school age boys as far as I can tell).

Speaking of lesbians, this game weirdly censors the word “lesbians” but not any other LGBTQ+ terms (that don’t include the word “sexual”) as far as I can tell; I decided it was enough of a one-off thing that it wouldn’t factor a huge amount in my overall review of the game, but I think it’s still something to take note of and not let off the hook since it definitely shows bias and can be offensive to players.

This game is rated 12+ on the Apple App Store, and I was pretty harsh on Crush Crush for being rated that way because I thought it crossed the line with some of its sexually suggestive content. I kept that in mind while playing this one, and personally I don’t think it crossed the line in the same way, at least not from what I’ve played so far; although it does have sexually suggestive content (most often when interacting with the character Asmodeus, who is literally known in the game as the “Avatar of Lust”), it’s much more occasional through tidbits of dialog as opposed to in Crush Crush where it involved a whole section of the game and was more interactive in nature. I would definitely still cringe at the thought of a 12-year-old reading some of this dialog, but I think it fits fairly within the App Store descriptors of “Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity” and “Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes.”

Last note - there is a character in this game (Luke) who has the appearance and demeanor of a small child who you can interact with in a similar way to the other love interest characters, which concerned me for obvious reasons. I looked more into this, specifically reading into all of the different dialog options involving this character, and his responses never seem to be more than platonic, which is good. He still blushes when you give him gifts and stuff, which is kind of awkward, and it seems weird to throw a kid character into an otome game, but all considered I wouldn’t say the game is promoting anything inappropriate (unlike one of the Genius VNs that clearly involved relationships between an adult and minors).

Sorry I know that’s a lot of notes and disclaimers but I just wanted to that all out of the way as general concerns anyone might have trying this game or reading this review!

Without further ado, read my full review below:

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(I’m trying a new color-coding system to help highlight some of the main points of my review if you don’t want to read my entire essay word-for-word lol. Pink is a positive aspect of the game, red is a negative aspect/criticism and purple is not necessarily positive or negative but just something I wanted to highlight.)

😈 Is the game actually fun? Yes! Just in terms of production value, this game is top notch: the art and character designs are very appealing, the transitions between characters’ poses and facial expressions during VN scenes are actually animated (which looks much smoother and more natural than switching between still images), the voice acting is great (although the VN scenes aren’t fully voice acted, some parts like phone calls are and the characters say different phrases during scenes and battles as well)(Note: all the voice acting is Japanese), and the music is FANTASTIC and perfectly sets the vibe throughout the game.

The best parts of this game in my opinion are the different personalities of the characters and the overall plot; although some of the characters’ personalities can be a bit one-note at times (for example, one character’s entire personality that I’ve seen so far is that he likes to eat and is always hungry), the characters each have their own charm and play off each other well. I found myself getting invested in each of the characters’ desires and goals throughout the story, even the characters I didn’t particularly like. The story is also chock full of humor which is always fun, and the whole world and backstory built around this game (the “Devildom” setting and the idea of an exchange student program with angels, humans and demons) are also unique and impressive.

I really enjoyed the multiple modes of storytelling i.e. how the VN chapters are supplemented with text messages and phone calls from characters and an Instagram spoof with additional side stories to unlock. I know this isn’t a new thing in mobile games (even Gardenscapes and Homescapes do it to an extent lol) but add the compelling characters and overall production value on top and it’s a really enjoyable experience. Since the home screen of the game is set up like it’s your phone, with the different parts of the game represented as “apps,” the game kind of creates a feeling like you’re really living in this world with these characters where you can freely scroll through their Instagram feeds and check the messages you get from them on your own time. The shop where you can buy items and premium currency is called Akuzon (an Amazon spoof) and the place where all your gacha cards are is called “contacts,” which further adds to the immersive effect.

The “dating” part of the game is pretty cute although I haven’t gotten super far so I’m not sure of the full scope of the romantic interactions. From what I can tell, in addition to the dialog, blushy faces and bedroom eyes you get from characters when you give them gifts and touch different parts of their body (above the belt lol), when you raise your intimacy level with them you get additional phone calls and messages from them (I haven’t played a lot of otome games but I think that’s how a lot of them go). I wasn’t that invested in this part of the game but I think there’s some strategy that goes with using the right combination of gifts and touches to maximize intimacy boosts and get certain dialog, which adds a whole other aspect of gameplay in addition to the main game. I also noticed that occasionally your choices throughout the VN chapters will give you a small intimacy boost with a certain character; I kind of wish this was even more integrated since most of the time I felt like no matter what I chose it didn’t make any difference in my relationship with characters. Also, I don’t think there’s a way to “officially” date a specific character, it’s more about raising the intimacy level to earn more interactions but it doesn’t actually affect the main plot.

As far as the main mode of progressing through the game, which is winning “dance battles” with teams from your gacha collection, this part of the game has its own positive qualities such as the cute chibi forms of the characters that appear on screen and the fact that some of the special attacks show a little anime clip of the character (of course it’s less exciting when you see the same clip every battle but I still thought it was a nice touch). I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a rhythm aspect as the “dance battle” name would imply, and your main interaction during the battle itself is basically just tapping hearts that pop up and tapping the characters when their attacks are ready, but you also have the option to skip that whole interactive sequence and just get a result based on your team’s stats, so there’s not much to complain about there (especially since the battles are sort of a side note compared to the storytelling aspect of the game despite being the main element of RPG-based gameplay that allows you to progress). If you are interested in the RPG aspects, there’s plenty of that to work with (building teams, balancing attributes, managing resources/rewards to level up cards and progress through skill trees of sorts, all that good stuff) although you’re limited to an extent by how difficult it is to get a lot of gacha draws without paying real money. It’s even harder to be able to focus on both strategy and character relationships while playing for free when the same scarce currency is used for both gacha draws and gifts.

👿 Is this a free game or a “free game”? Despite what I just said, I would still consider it a free game - you can gradually save up some of premium currency the game gives out through tasks in order to pay for more gacha draws and other items, and as far as I can tell you can access the main story and the other parts of the game without hitting a paywall. I only got to the fourth chapter so far though so don’t take this assessment as gospel. Like with a lot of other freemium games you might feel pressured to pay (especially when you run out of gifts to give your lover boys, which was the biggest downer for me, or if you’re obsessed with wanting to collect a lot of cards or get a specific card) but since you don’t actually need to pay to progress I still consider it free.

There’s also an energy system where you hit a wall and have to wait if you run out, but I never ran out because of the huge amount of energy the game dumps on you when you first start, and it seems like there are a bunch of other ways to get extra energy as well. There also aren’t pop-up or watch-to-earn ads in this game that I saw.

💀 Features

Main visual novel scenes and storyline (the visual novel scenes come between dance battle stages and there are a few short side routes that branch off but still one main route as far as I can tell, I don’t think your dialog choices really make a different except for in how the characters react to you immediately afterward. Still the main storyline in itself is fun to follow and it’s fun to get different reactions out of the characters based on what you say)

Dance battles (I’m not fully knowledgeable about the minutia of the RPG system at play here but in general the outcome of the battle will depend on the level, rank and attributes of your cards compared against the difficulty and attributes of the stage you’re playing. There also “memory cards” that can be assigned to support your team and expendable temporary boosters called “glow sticks” that boost your stats for one battle. During the battle itself you tap hearts that appear to earn extra points and you can tap your characters when their power is charged up to “attack” your opponent and use special skills. There are guides online that go deeper into stats and strategies and such if you’re interested. Different stages have different rewards for completion and you can quick complete levels you’ve already beaten to mine resources you need)

Gacha mechanic and cards (the gacha area of this game is called “Nightmare” and there are a few different pools along with event pools each with their own odds and sets of cards you can get. For the default pools you get free draws periodically and I believe you get one free draw for each event pool IIRC. You also get a bunch of vouchers for draws when you first start the game which got me handful of SSRs and a couple URs to build a couple of solid teams right off the bat. In addition to drawing directly from gacha pools you can get some cards by collecting card pieces as rewards from stages and events until you have enough to get the actual card. Each card has its own set of stats/attributes, can be leveled up and has a skill tree of sorts that can be progressed through with resources mined through beating stages, although it’s more of an attribute tree than a skill tree since most of the branches just add points onto one of your card’s attributes. Some cards, the rarer ones, have special skills that can be used in battle)

One-on-one characters interactions and intimacy i.e. the “dating” part (there are two ways this occurs: 1) you can set a specific character to your home screen that allows you to enter into an interaction with them, with a refresh period in between interactions 2) the main way, which is through “surprise guests” after dance battles. These surprise guests show up frequently but not always, and they’re always one of the three team members you used in battle, selected randomly. For each one-on-one interaction you can do three actions - either give a gift, touch the character or ignore the character. Sometimes the character will also offer you a high five which counts as an action if you oblige. Different characters have different favorite gifts and touching different parts of the body can get a different reaction depending on the character and your level of intimacy I believe. Your intimacy level with a character increases depending on the combination of actions you perform, and sometimes the character also gives you gifts back like more energy or resources. There are guides for this online as well)

Text messages and phone calls (text messages are the main mode of storytelling outside of the main VN scenes - you get messages from characters or multiple characters in group chats that you respond to with preset messages or stickers similar to how you make choices during the VN parts. Some of the text messages correspond with the main plot as you progress, ex. A character texts you to be in a certain place at a certain time and next VN scene is of you two meeting at that place. I think other text messages also come up when you reach certain intimacy levels with characters. There are certain group messages that you don’t respond to where you’re basically spying on a group chat among characters and just get to see what everyone’s saying. In addition to written messages and emoji stickers characters will also sometimes send pictures. Phone calls are fully voice-acted dialog you have with another character and they seem to pop up when you reach certain intimacy levels - I’ve only gotten ones so far with the two characters I have the highest intimacy with)

Instagram spoof/“Devilgram” (Devilgram is an in-game photo sharing social media app similar to Instagram and the photos on there correspond to gacha cards. When you acquire the gacha card that corresponds to a Devilgram post you unlock a side story, but you also need keys to unlock further scenes from that story, which can be gradually earned through completing tasks and such)

To Do tasks (completing tasks on your To Do is the main way to earn premium currency in the game along with other rewards and resources. There are daily tasks, overall tasks and tasks specific to each character. Examples of tasks are completing a certain stage or number of stages, beating a stage using a team that includes a certain character or reaching a certain intimacy level with a character. There are also beginner missions when you start the game that I think stay available until you complete all of them)

Events (there are sometimes side story events called “pop quizzes” and gacha events that are available for a limited time, or sometimes an event has both a corresponding pop quiz and gacha pool. The pop quizzes are separate chapters with their own dance battles and VN scenes, and the battles will come with reward points that you can spend on different prizes. Sometimes there are unique cards you can only get from an event. Other minor types of events include log-in bonus events and events where you can get special types of gifts for your love interests. There’s also a feature where you can “time-travel” back to old events at some cost but I haven’t explored this much)

Jobs (you can assign characters to passively complete jobs that earn you a small amount of non-premium currency over time and also increases your intimacy with the assigned characters by a small amount)

Customization (you can unlock avatars of different characters to use for your profile and set the name you want characters to refer to you by throughout the game. You can also change the outfit of your homescreen character, change the homescreen wallpaper and change the homescreen background music by making purchases in the Akuzon shop or acquiring certain gacha cards)

⚖️ Ad Honesty Rating: 4/5 (just from the ads I’ve seen, especially the ones that appear to be running currently, there don’t seem to be blatantly fake ads and the ads show real art and do well conveying the theme and characters in the game. However some of the ads are misleading about the actual mechanics of gameplay and may also lead you to believe there are actual romance routes with the characters which is not really the case)

⭐️ Overall Rating: 5/5 (I definitely didn’t want to give this game a great rating just because it’s super popular on Tumblr but I can definitely see why it’s so popular. There are lots of things to do, the characters are very lovable, it’s funny, the art is great, the music is great and the lore and overall vibe are compelling and unique. It’s a high-quality game with a good story and I’ll probably keep playing it)

▶️ Ad Example:

▶️ Gameplay Examples:

Dance Battles

Surprise Guest

If you got through this review bless your heart ❤️ Special thanks to @human-watching-ads-from-devildom which is where I was able to view some of the ads since I was having trouble finding them elsewhere online and viewing some of them on the Facebook ad library.

Follow me for more reviews of those free mobile games you’re always getting ads for! Thanks for reading! 🥳

[wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey]

Kdrama recs Part 1

Hullo and welcome to the kdrama life @camsthisky​! The following list is not in any particular order, other than the fact that I start with a more rom/com vibe and head toward more romantic/action or action. All the following kdramas are set in the modern day, and part 2 of my recs for you will be either darker kdramas set in present day or historical dramas.

Let the list begin!

1. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: 

Do Bong Soon is a v smol woman who has super strength and who wants 1. To create her own video game 2. Get her police officer crush to return her affections. Which like, police officer is kinda cute but he ain’t that special. Bong Soon winds up becoming a bodyguard to Ahn Min Hyuk, the extremely rich, kinda spoiled, ridiculously extra CEO of a gaming company who does not like the police for secret reasons, and sadly does not have a good relationship with his family. (He a lonely boy underneath everything.) Min Hyuk finds out about Bong Soon’s powers, is in TOTAL awe of her, offers to train her in fighting, and literally falls head over heels for her.

The caveat with this show is there is a subplot or two that annoy me, BUT I just use the 10 second skip button and it is totally worth it because the romance is super cute—SUPER CUTE (also I have a list of favorite actors and Park Hyung Sik is def on it—one minute he is an adorkable, blushing bby the next he can be intense and sad)

He cute

2. Her Private Life: 

Hello fake-dating!! Ryan Gold (an adoptee who didn’t live in Korea for a while) is a former artist who stopped painting because he couldn’t deal with his Stendhol (?) syndrome (among other traumas). Deok Mi is the classy art curator of a famous museum who definitely does not have any secrets she wants to keep from the world—well, other than the fact that she is the number one fangirl of kpop idol, Cha Shi-an (who also appreciates art) and has a major crush on him. Ryan becomes director of the art museum and there is a whole thing with getting Shi-an involved in an art show.

Following this and a series of unfortunate events a false rumor starts that Deok Mi and and Shi-an ARE dating. It’s a little complicated to summarize, but basically what you need to know is that Ryan and Deok Mi become a fake couple so there won’t be a scandal for Shi-an or violence done to Deok Mi by rabid fangirls. I enjoy the fake-dating trope a lot, and how it becomes real for both of them! The leads are played by Kim Jae Wook and Park Min Young, who both have incredible range. Lots of soft moments in this one! Good kisses, a scene where the faves bake together, and also Ryan wears a lot of deep v-neck shirts and jackets which is an attack on me personally.

The show also contains a bit of angst, which I LOVE. Hand-holding becomes an important theme 😊

RYAN NO

3. Crash Landing on You: Rich South Korean heiress/fashion designer Se-ri accidentally winds up in a North Korean village, and really REALLY wants to go home. Mostly because there are no scented candles or spa-like bathtubs in the vicinity, but also because she could easily disappear into a NK jail and never return. A North Korean captain named Ri Jeong Hyeok finds her and decides not to turn her because, one, he’s a good guy who doesn’t want to turn an innocent person over to what might be her death, and two, turning her over might get his four underlings in trouble for reasons. Said underlings are his family, basically, and they are a deLIGHT. One is an argumentative proud sort who likes to drink and to feel important and who tries to provoke (and gets provoked by) Se-ri at every opportunity, one is a lover of banned South Korean dramas, one is a 17 year old bby who misses his mom, and one is the silent but most loyal follower of the captain. 

Besides all these people, there are two other characters (including a surprisingly wise conman) who become faves and major players in the plot.

There is a great mix of humor, romance, found family, and angst, and I love it very much. A few things don’t go the way I want them to near the end, but a bit of imagination and fanfic can fix anything 

ALSO I FORGOT THE CAPTAIN GETS SUPER SULKY FROM TIME TO TIME AND IT IS HILARIOUS

Show of hands, who thinks they will meet again

4. Are You Human Too: A FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL! TIME!

What do you do when your husband dies and your evil mega-rich father-in-law takes your son away from you and keeps you from seeing him ever? Well, if you are scientist with more genius than positive coping methods, you build yourself a robot son who looks exactly like your real son. Great solution, am I right?

Nam Shin III is the name of my favorite robot son, played by the inestimable Seo Kang Joon. He is the purest bby you will ever meet, being designed so that he never lies and so that he will immediately go to hug anyone who cries. He seems quite a contrast to the bitter human Nam Shin, who hates his gilded prison life, hates his Grandpa, and tries to sneak away from his right hand man, Secretary Ji Young Hoon, his only friend in the world. The girl in the show is Kang So Bong, an ex-UFC fighter who was so badly injured she had to quit. She is at first a bit jaded and mercenary because of her past, but she has a golden heart that just needs to be reminded of its existence.

Not going into details to avoid spoilers, but everything upends when the robot Nam Shin has to take the place of the human Nam Shin. The show is a soft, funny, angsty exploration of what it means to be human, with some good found family throughout. The character development is phenomenal, and the connection between So Bong and Nam Shin III is *chef’s kiss*. I just want to give a shout out to Seo Kang Joon who plays a duel role like you wouldn’t believe, to SKJ’s smile, to the soundtrack, and to the character of Young Hoon, a loyal, steady, and self-sacrificing secretary that we do not deserve  (gosh tho he looks good in blue!)

Look at my robot son getting a long-looked for affirmation! (his lil smile!!!

5. W: Two Worlds: 

This show unique because it  meta as HELL! Oh Yeon Joo is a junior doctor and the daughter of a webtoon artist whose big hit, W, is coming to a close. Much to her surprise, she gets pulled into the world of the comic where she encounters and saves the main character, Kang Chul, a former Olympic shooting champion who was blamed for the murder of his entire family, and whose sole desire is to find the real killer. It’s a good romance between them, and I also love Kang Chul’s relationship with his hyung, which, tho it is not always a main focus, is present and wonderful. Kang Chul himself is both intelligent and adorably bratty, charismatic and angsty, soft and fierce, and he is one of my favorite kdrama characters for sure.

As for the meta, the show does a fantastic job exploring the rules of the comic world, of how one can enter and leave, the importance and power of main characters and supporting characters, and the purpose of an author. There is always another twist coming, and it is just so much fun!

UM SIR PLS POINT THAT ELSEWHERE

6. Healer: 

I watched half this show and never realized that the female lead is played by Park Min Young, same actress as in Her Private Life. Someone had to tell me lol! She’s just so good at playing different people. In this show, she is Chae Young Shin, a reporter for a celebrity tabloid who has big dreams of becoming a famous reporter who investigates stories that actually mean something. She is a bit quirky, very cute, very brave, and probably one of my favorite female leads. She lives with her dad above his coffee/teashop bakery and is friends with all the ex-cons he has defended while doing his other job of lawyering.

Anyway this show is more of a romantic/action drama. To get an idea of the titular Healer, picture what you would get if you took some of Batman and Nightwing’s aesthetics (wearing black, hanging out on rooftops, punching people, flipping around, etc) and put them into a night courier who likes to watch National Geographic and dream about one day going off to an island where he can live all by himself for the rest of his days because oh yeah he is a loner whose only friend is an older woman who sets up his jobs and whom he has never actually met.

There is also an older reporter that Young Shin looks up to, the fun tabloid office where she works, a heck lot of mystery surrounding some tragedy involving a group of reporter best friends/found family back in the 80’s/90’s, and of course both members of the OTP have childhood trauma that has made them who they are today. One of my favorite things that happens in the show is that Healer has to go undercover for a while, Clark Kenting it up in Young Shin’s tabloid office, which overnight becomes a real news agency for reasons.

The action is LOTS of fun, and the romance is really soft and cute, and better still, when there is a misunderstanding or something that gets in their way, they almost immediately talk about it and resolve issues. They TRUST each other and give the benefit of the doubt where many tv couples would break up or get in big fights. I find it (plus the character development) very refreshing.

I couldn’t find a gif of my favorite fight sadly. This will have to do

7. Lawless Lawyer: This has Lee Joon Gi. Watch it.

Just kidding, there are many other reasons to watch the show, but it is true that Lee Joon Gi is one of my favorite actors. The man has phoenix eyes, a jawline that could cut silk, diamonds, you name it, and such a deep well of emotional acting that it literally kills me when his characters rage/weep/love/etc.

Anyway, in this legal thriller/romance/action drama, LJG’s character Bong Sang Pil is a beautiful, very extra ex-gangster/now lawyer who opens his own office, ready to fight villainy and avenge his mom with the law or with his fists, whichever is more useful at the time. He has a right hand man named Manager Tae and recruits a bunch of thugs as his minions, and they all become a weird sort of family as the show goes on.

Ha Jae Yi is a quiet badass lawyer who has no time for sexist idiots and gets her license suspended for smacking one of said fools. She gets recruited to assist Sang Pil, and they find their goals align as both their mothers were destroyed by the villains.

Speaking of the villains? EXCELLENT acting by them all, like they need to go down obviously, but you can’t help but be in awe of a few of them or even get attached to one or two in a weird way. Props to the show for having one of the best female villains I have ever seen

What an icon

Here you get two gifs of him

Sorry I needed to make it a magical three lol

~~

Tune in next time for historical dramas and modern dramas that are a bit darker!

[raspberryfanfics]

nejiten fanfic binging guide

My recommended Nejiten fics. All stories are complete and are good enough to be reread again and again:)

Narutoverse

Exceptions by IncessantOblivion — The first Nejiten fic I have ever read, also one of the closest to my hearts. Though the author admits it, it does have themes of sexism and homophobia, but not strong. It portrays Tenten as extremely inexperienced and though I’m not a fan of authors who write her that way, I’m glad she is shown as independent otherwise. Despite the criticism and obvious flaws, the romantic scenes are written perfectly and I get a huge wave of feels every time I reread it. Besides the slight hints of sexism, this story is the most favourited Nejiten story on FFn for a reason: you’re so emotionally connected to it. My chest literally constricts every time I read it, it’s so good. 

Land of Pretend + Reality by trilliumgt — The first story, (Land of Pretend), despite being without a super solid storyline, is just so heart-wrenching. I’m pretty sure I cried the first time I read this and the sequel but even if it didn’t trigger as much as an emotional reaction, it was surprisingly not boring. Though “Reality” wasn’t as “feel-triggering”, it was very well thought out. 

About a Daddy and a Nanny by syaoran no hime — Perhaps one of my favourite Nejiten fics of all time. I was originally skeptical of this fic because of the title since Daddy and Nanny fics can be ridiculously degrading. They tend to be overly cliche where the female character is a useless Mary Sue. Yet when I gave it a shot, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was most definitely not cliche in the slightest. It may not be the best fic I’ve read in terms of romanticness, however, the humour is unbeatable. Before class, I had read this on my phone and couldn’t stop laughing because the author writes Tenten to have an alter-ego nanny, (very minor spoiler), and she is absolutely hilarious. The romance lies in the unspoken words and the reminiscence, not in the make-outs, but in a way, that just makes it what it is. It’s the type of fic that makes you wanna laugh and cry and smash your screen at the same time. The story is so so sooo good.

SharpBladed Spirit by FenixPhoenix — Dark and a little gruesome, therefore rated M. It isn’t so much a romance, rather an adventure story with a side serving of the two love interests. Nonetheless, it’s captivating, character development is phenomenal, and every character is strong and moves on the plot.

On Qipao Flirting and Buying Drinks by needdl — While this is only a two-shot, it is such a beautifully written story. The best part of it isn’t the romance, but the reactions to change and change itself. Characters change in subtle ways and the creative ways of expressing Neji’s reactions to Tenten becoming more and more feminine make me smile constantly. What I also love is that it has a slight feminist viewpoint to it in the fact that she embraces her femininity, which is the whole point of feminism (in which femininity is embraced just as much as masculinity and the belief that all are equal, which hopefully you are up to date to because it’s 2020 for kami’s sake). Anyways, the first part of the story is absolute pure fluff but if you read the second part, (especially on Ao3)...well that is some hot stuff let me tell ya.

In Front of Every Star by NessieGG — A short story with lots of fluff, angst, and feminism. (YAY!) It loaded with small snippets of moments, sadness, and really makes you think about your own values. Would you leave the love of your life to save your home country? What I love about this story is that the pain the characters feel may be selfish but they are completely realistic. It reflects off of our own lives, trying to let go of our feelings after letting go of the person. Every piece of it is flawless.

Ms X by Blade Rewind — This was the second-ever Nejiten fic I’ve read, and though short in the chapters, it certainly gives a lot of content. It’s light, airy, fun, and a little bit cliche, but in a strangely good way. The writer executes a classic plot with grace and humour and there isn't’ a point where you wanna die because of the unoriginality. 

On Sex by Lotos-eater — I was skeptical about this at first because sometimes titles like these indicate really bad smut, which is almost as bad as an overused cliche. However, this was exactly the opposite. While there is certainly mature content, it isn’t in the way you’d think. Sex is portrayed as an obstacle in this story and approaching it is awkward in every way. Kissing is awkward, touching is awkward, in fact, this is a romantic story with no romance whatsoever. I don’t know how the author pulled it off, but it was simply amazing. It is hard to read not because it is bad, but because you can really empathize with the Neji and Tenten as they try to have sex with non-existent chemistry. Yet my favourite part of this story is the amount of complexity within each character and the way Gai is written in a much more different light. I never imagined Gai to have a dark side and this story executes it perfectly.

Alternate Universes

Complexities of Blackmail by Aquarius Galuxy — I read the summary for this one and was impressed at the word count so I quickly jumped aboard my first AG Nejiten fic train and just...wow. So like, I don’t know where to start. It’s a military space AU and what I love is that up to a certain point, everyone’s backstory until Naruto Shippuden era is almost exactly the same as the Narutoverse. Team Gai is a predeveloped relationship but had deteriorated. Blackmail is very explicit, lots of smut, but damn is it quality smut. It might not be your cup of tea, but if you don’t mind it, this story is amazing. Neji is slightly out of character, but you can understand why with his motivations, even though I personally wouldn’t write a story with the situation. Development is great, chemistry is over the top fantastic, and there’s a perfect amount of angst. It is a bit lengthy but so worth it. Every other character involved is so unique, I loved seeing Izumo and Kotetsu getting a bigger role, Ino was so in character; highly, highly recommend.

f 2-8, ISO 100 by Aquarius Galuxy — Of course, we have another AG fic and this one has sex scenes, but not as *cough* rough *cough* as Blackmail. The maturity mostly comes from the fact that Tenten is a photographer and art can sometimes be...graphic. Yet I have an appreciation for this fic since it states that art is art and the fact that AG came up with the photography is like aiming a shot, (since Tenten never misses). Neji is a politician and pianist, which is a suitable career that both covers his genius and soft side. Once again, great chemistry. This fic flows like a river, it’s so beautiful.

Cutting Water by Nessie GG — A historic AU in which Tenten the leader of a prestigious clan in China and Neji is an ambassador from Japan. Reads more as an adventure and friendship story resulting in romance in the last few chapters rather than just romance. The details are amazing and the style of the writing makes it so elegant, perfect for the time period. It’s the type of story that mysterious and sophisticated at the same time.

Perfidy by KNO — Similar to Cutting Water as it is a historical AU. Its backstory is vaguely similar to Mulan, however, in this case, the hot general doesn’t forgive her immediately. Tenten, who was saved from dressing as a guy to serve in the army, is sent to train another generation of female soldiers. It’s a great story, a great plot, though it does tend to run on uselessly at times. However, it is solid otherwise. 

Breathe Again by Kicho-Keynote — A modern AU in which Neji is an army veteran. The story is slightly dark, as it deals with PTSD and triggering situations. Each character is complex and the development is simply amazing. Everyone has visible flaws, relationships are so well-developed, and it has brought me to tears several times. There are several mentions of ShinoTen, and even though it’s not my favourite couple, it plays a huge role in the story so just a warning. Thankfully, it doesn’t go into detail about their personal lives and it still is a Nejiten story, despite other love interests. It also runs on at parts but overall, it’s extremely well developed.

Authors

Aquarius Galuxy @aquariusgaluxy — The “Papabay” of Nejiten fics. Every story is beautiful, perfect, and intimate. Chemistry is always there. Everything is so beautiful and each has a different mood. Nothing is half-assed and it is just...I wish AG was still active I love those works so much.

KNO @zealousheart — If Aquarius Galuxy is the “Papabay” of Nejiten fics, then KNO is the “Ghost Bananas”. KNO’s work is creative, light, complex, and meaningful. The best part is, if you compare the earlier works to the more recent ones, you can really see the difference in skill level and how much KNO has improved.

Goldberry — Do you need one-shots? Goldberry has plenty. Though there are only a couple stories, there are one-shot collections, drabbles, and a whole bucketload of one-shots I haven’t even got to. It’s pure Nejiten Heaven

NessieGG — More one-shots but guess what? They’re all AU one-shots! Now, this is Nejiten AU heaven!

needdl — All of needdl’s works are filled with fluff. They are adorable, sweet, yet some of them are sincere and romantic. 

Cyberwolf — There are so many short light drabbles from Cyberwolf, each an idea that seemingly came from random thoughts but ended up on FFN for all of us to read.

MOST OTHER AUTHORS MENTIONED IN THE SUGGESTED STORIES ALSO HAVE OTHER NEJITEN WORKS, JUST NOT AS PLENTIFUL OR MOSTLY NEJITEN AS THE ONES LISTED ABOVE. I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT THEIR PROFILES AS WELL!

[linkspooky]

Pls... your top ten nisioisin characters... i love your lists...

I LOVE TO TALK ABOUT  HOW MUCH I LOVE MY FAVES. IF YOU EVER ASK WANT TO ASK ME WHO MY FAVES ARE FOR A SERIES FEEL FREE TO SEND ME AN ASK.

My favorite thing about Niosisin’s characters is how genuinely subversive they are. Not in the sense that he’s deconstructing tropes, but rather these are characters who would never get their story told in most other books, because they are not good, or righteous. Nisioisin breathes life into them, and allows those who cannot be forgiven, those who are deviant, those who have dropped out of society to still remain human. He tells their stories the same as everybody else, because their lives are just as fun. 

1. Even if I’m hated, Even if I’m Despised - Kumagawa Misogi 

He’s only my favorite character of all time so I’ve talked about him on this blog before, but let me find something new to say. Oh Kumagawa, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Or maybe it’s Oh Kumagawa, how do I despise thee let me count the ways. 

Kumagawa’s character is so interesting because it’s written in antithesis of everything a shonen protagonist is. For Kumagawa, his determination just makes him fail worse and worse. His desire to be involved and help people always guarantees the worst result for the people he wants to call his friends. His empathy is extremely painful for him, and is a trait that drives him insane rather than making him a kind and loving person. 

A lot of time in manga empathy is like, a magic fix-it-all bandaid that basically makes the main character a saint by being able to emotionally relate to anybody. Kumagawa is the reality of that situation. He is empathic, and by relating so much to the humans around him he shows how ugly, and messy human emotions can really be. Recovery and saving others isn’t necessarily a beautiful thing, it’s complicated and sloppy. 

Kumagawa is a character where getting stronger won’t solve any of his problems. Which is what happens in a lot of shonen manga, rather than trying to emotionally mature the main character will just learn a new fighting technique and develop that way. Instead, Kumagawa winning fights means absolutely nothing. The only thing that can free him is to grow up as a person, and the fact that Kumagawa’s arc is given equal weight to both of the main characters shows how accepting of weirdoes and broken off beat characters Nisioisin is as an author. 

What I like about him is how genuinely broken he is, but not for monstrous reasons but for entirely human ones. It’s his genuine care for others that breaks him the most. He’s a character written to be insane, but also geniunely human. Kumagawa is not able to live properly, or even act like the main character like Zenkichi and Medaka are but he’s still able to find his own way to live. 

2. I don’t feel any reality from you people - Ajimu Najimi 

“Genius who is super good at everything, but is secretly sad and lonely on the inside” is a pretty common Nisioisin trope. It tends to be pretty hit and miss with me, but it also resulted in one of my favorite characters of all time. I tend to like these types of characters more when they’re allowed to be… what’s the word… unlikable. When the story isn’t trying to go on about how cool they are.

The reason why I love Ajimu is because she is just like Kumagawa, a subversion of the character you expect her to be. The same way Kumagawa suverts Zenkichi in a way, Ajimu subverts Medaka. The same way that Medaka is all loving, Ajimu is indifferent to absolutely everything. The reason she’s able to be kind to everyone around her is because she genuinely doesn’t care about you. Her real personality when not being apathetic, is to just be downright nasty and look down on absolutely everything. 

She’s completely self absorbed because according to Ajimu she’s the only one who exists in the universe. She’s the only one she knows for sure is real. The opposite of Kumagawa, a character entirely lacking in empathy, not even thinking of herself as human in any sense of the word. Ajimu acts like she knows everything in the story like she’s reading off of the script, but that’s because she literally thinks that everything in this world is fiction and she’s literally breaking the fourth wall.

And my favorite part about Ajimu is that the story doesn’t glorify her meta fourth wall shenanigans. She’s not treated as someone who sees through everything in the end. She’s just pathetic, and suicidal, and dragging everybody else along into her trillion year long self pity party. She’s more of a human failure than someone who can’t possibly empathize with humans, and that’s why I love her. 

3. There ain’t no meaning, got it? - Ii (Boku) 

Ii-chan is the narrator of Nisioisin’s first ever series, Zaregoto (Lit. Nonsense). It’s not really until the second book you get a grasp of his character, but Strangulation Romanticist does such an excellent job of setting up who he is as a person. This is another one of Nisioisin’s character types (narrator who feels ennui, and really, really doesn’t want to be a person). 

What’s great about Iichan is that he is special in a way. Just like he’s described in the books, when he’s thrown into situations everything goes a little bit crazy. He always gets dragged into mysteries, and has people die around him even though he tries to stay as uninvolved with people as possible. He’s actually a great look at what a character constantly caught up in murder mysteries like the main character of a detective novel would actually act like. He has this deep rambling narration that sways between nihilism and existentialism that makes him a really unique character to read about.

But at the same time Iichan is also kind of a normal dude. And I don’t mean in the sense that he’s an everyman, or has no personality, but he kind of just feels like one. The great twist of No Longer Human is that Yozo isn’t some inhuman monster, he’s just kind of a normal guy who drowns out his misery by taking advantage of women. Like, it’s not all that uncommon. The same thing with Iichan, as poetic as he gets he’s kind of a very petty person and most of his flaws are very mundane ones. 

It’s basically very hard to care about other people in this world. Ii-chan doesn’t want to at all, he just wants to have all of his emotional needs fulfilled by the friend he both infantilizes and puts on a pedestal. He’s just super clingy about the one relationship he has in life, because he’s afraid of losing it, but he’s also afraid of being close to her. Ii-chan is just kind of a normal person reacting badly to trauma, but he presents himself as such a mystery that most people lose sight of that (in story). He’s kind of just petty and annoying, and that’s why I love him. 

4. No Longer Human - Hitoshiki Zerozaki

Zerozaki is Iichan’s greatest character foil. Basically the best way to describe it is Zerozaki is Mersault. The flip that is switched on for everyone that prevents them from killing someone when the idea crosses their mind is turned off for Zerozaki, and so he kills. He doesn’t enjoy it, he doesn’t have a particular reason to it, he just can’t overcome his impulse to kill. If Ii-chan is restrained, then Zerozaki never restrains any of his impulses at all and lives following only those. 

Once again this is another common Nisioisin character archetype “A murder, but they’re sad and lonely.” What I like about Hitoshiki is how much of a deviant he is to that archetype. 

He wants a friend and somebody who understands him, but at the same time he hates himself so he doesn’t want anybody too close. He lives in a family of murderers and he’s somehow the rebellious child of the family. He’s constantly running away and wandering from place to place. What makes Zerozaki interesting is how self aware he is about all of this too. He rambles his thoughts and will just be like “Yeah, so anyway that’s totally fucked up (LOL).” 

 5. Is your life dramatic - Kaiki Deishuu

Kaiki is a character who I admire for his philosophy above all else. He’s another one of those “deviant” characters like Kumagawa who would just be a villain to be defeated in any other narrative, but in this one he gets fully fleshed out as a character. 

What’s interesting about Kaiki is that he chooses exactly the way he lives. He decides to be a villain. Kaiki at some point sees through most of the lies of the people around them, and for how meaningless the things that you are told have value can be. He hates holding onto ideas like those.

But that doesn’t mean that Kaiki rejects everything. He doesn’t claim to see above society, or that he’s not a part of society. Rather, Kaiki just uses that awareness to realize he can give meaning to whatever he personally finds meaningful. Because it’s all meaningless anyway, as a human being he can create his own meaning. 

So his want of money is not just simple greed, it’s what he’s decided to live for. Kaiki is an adult who willingly chose to become a conman because he finds that’s his place in society. He just doesn’t trust himself enough to be kind despite feeling the same desire to save others, so he decided to lie to them and trick them instead. 

6. “I don’t know anything, you’re the one who knows” Oshino Ougi

Ougi is just interesting conceptually. They are literally Araragi’s own shadow, running away from him and given form and consciousness of their own. While Ougi themselves works as a common Jungian shadow archetype calling characters out for what they are repressing and also revealing the bare faced truth to them, which is why they are so heavily associated with mirrors, lights, and shadows. 

My favorite part about Ougi however is not their connection to Araragi. It’s when Ougi starts to become their own character. An oddity with consciousness that begins to deviate from what they were made for, because they were allowed to live on their own.

Ougi did not become a fave of mine until Zoku because that was when they started to self reflect and realize their own strange existence separate to Araragi. The conversation scene with Araragi is one of my favorite in the whole series because it shows how Ougi is just a genuine tease, and a very clever and insightful person. That’s who they are, outside of just being an oddity that exists to criticize others and call out flaws. They’re ridiculous, and a little strange, and they enjoy screwing with other’s heads and messing around a bit too much. But Ougi Oshino is Ougi Oshino. 

It’s just an interesting concept, to have to define who you are as a person when you were created out of all of the unwanted qualities, and insecurities of another person. 

7. Why are you touching me without permission, you weed - Yasuri Nanami

Nanami is another one of those “I’m a genius and I’m good at everything but I’m secretly sad” characters, and once again what I love about her is how unlikable she’s allowed to be. None of what Nanami is capable of comes off as cool for very long. She’s basically framed and treated as a horror movie monster, always speaking in the same monotone voice. The one story that shows her true nature in chapter four is literally, paced, framed, exactly like a slasher movie with characters being hunted down and killed one by one. 

Nanami’s just this horrible wretched existence that doesn’t even want to be alive. She basically acts like frankenstein’s monster, ie, the one in the book. She’s just this corpse that is barely even alive in the first place, constantly sick and in pain, and she’s also at war with herself. The part of her that wants to die and the part of her that’s lonely and wants to find some reason to live, or some connection in life are constantly at war with each other. 

And as horrifying as Nanami is she also feels like the most human of Niosisin’s, super-genius characters. She’s riddled with weaknesses and flaws. She lashes out when he’s in pain, she felt bad when her parents told her to die. You get the sense that Nanami’s super genius isn’t what drove her insane at all, it was just how everybody around her treated her as some thing that was not human. Isolation made her this way. She was conditioned to act this way not born inhuman. There are characters that Nisioisin writes that are genuine sociopaths (as in the trope of an unfeeling person unable to feel human emotions), but Nanami is not one of them and so when she starts acting with sociopathic-traits in her personality it makes her all the more painfully human because we see how she’s been driven slowly to act this way. 

7. *Yawns* Nezumi

Juuni Taisen is one of those death game stories where every character is defined by their one gimmick and written around their concept. In the original novel each character really only gets one chapter to be fleshed out as a character. I half suspect Nisioisin wrote it as a dare to himself on how much he could accomplish with one chapter.

The interesting part about Nezumi is his concept again. He can redo anything 100 times. You think this would make him amazing at anything in life because of his time loop ability, but physically having to live through all of those time loops exhausts him to the point that he’s too tired to do anything. You would think he could get anything he wanted out of life, but there are times he can ask a girl out one hundred times and get rejected one hundred different ways. 

Nezumi is interesting because of how quietly he lives. There’s nothing he really wants out of life, and nothing he wishes for, like a rat he just scurries and survives. 

9. I am currently being accused by everyone - Kakushidate Yakusuke

The same as Iichan and Kumagawa, Yakusuke is a guy who is just cursed by constant bad luck. What I like about Yakusuke is that he’s a full fleshed out character, instead of just an unlucky every dude protagonist.

He’s a contract worker who is constantly shifting between jobs. Due to this fact he’s got like 1,000 skills that he gained on his various jobs. He’s not smart, but because he’s experienced so much of life he’s incredibly resourceful. Which is why he makes a perfect counterpart and foil to Okitegami.

Yakusuke’s everyday life is him constantly being accused and blamed, and falling from one bad situation to the next. But, he has so much experiences that it’s what draws Okitegami to him who can only ever experience one day at a time because her memories will reset at the end of the day. He’s exactly my type of man, a total failure at all walks of life.

10. This is your last chance, let me make you happy! - Kugi Kizutaka

He’s so low on the list because his story “Magical Girl Ritsuka” only has one chapter published in english, but he’s so interesting he instantly became a fave. He’s actually a concept i have been looking for for a long time, which is basically what I describe as “Reverse Junko Enoshima.” 

Basically someone as smart and manipulative as Junko Enoshima, who can make anybody into their toy, and predict things years in advance and control everything, but instead of using that power to send the world to despair, they use that power to give the world hope instead. Not out of any genuine good will or because they’re a good person, but because they’re obsessed with the idea of giving people happiness the same way Junko is with sending people to despair. 

Kugi is a lot like that. He’s a genius ten year old who sees everybody for their potential to be used, and looks down on absolutely everyone around him. He’s made contact with a magical girl, because he’s pretty clearly planning on using her to enslave the world to him, so he can force everybody to be happy. And it’s absolutely adorable. He’s just such a genuine terrible little person while at the same time wanting to make everyone happy. 

[clericbyers]

I JUST CONNECTED A DOT okay so i was thinking about it and?? remember that news program at the end of s3?? where they’re talking about like demonic powers at work in hawkins or w/e and zoom in on the dnd book?? when i first watched i was like “haha funny they think it’s caused by dnd” bUT WHAT IF IT IS BC MINDFLAYER IS HOMOPHOBIA AND UPSIDEDOWN STUFF IS GETTING HARDER AND HARDER TO FIND AND DND IS BYLER AND THEY’RE COMING TO TERMS WITH THEIR FEELINGS AND SGDJGKBGNGNFNDJFKFK -7s

OH??? OH....ohhhh...I think you connected some dots here! Let’s get into it, yeah?

So, this is the shot in the TV special broadcast about Hawkins where D&D is mentioned.

The narrator says, “Some believe a rise in Satanism is to blame.” Blame for what? Blame for the mysterious happenings in the heartland / Hawkins in particular.

Now, as you said it’s funny that the focus is on D&D here when it comes to “rise in Satanism”. The 80s was full of “Satanic Panic” (like rock and roll and punk and horror films and all that) as much as it was about the Soviet Union and the Cold War. It was sometimes tied hand in hand. D&D was considered “Satan’s game” back in the day, much how I guess it’s seen in today’s time that video games with gun violence encourage people kids to use guns. D&D was thought to be the game occults, Satanists, and witches used to recruit kids into their cults. The obsession with these role-played characters was often mislinked to the role players’ deaths, in particular, the story of James Dallas Egbert III in 1979. Long story short, Egbert was a 16-year-old super genius, but he had a lot of stress from school and his parents as part of the prodigy circuit, he wasn’t very popular, and he coped by diving into drugs and D&D. When he disappeared, D&D was to blame, but there was also information about his drug use and his struggle with coming to terms with and hiding his homosexuality. Yup, Dallas was gay.

Talk about Egbert’s drug use and sexuality didn’t float for his parents so the detective, William Dear, (he later wrote a book about it all) turned media attention toward D&D (for the sake of privacy) but the media ran with that blamed Egbert’s disappearance on delusion thanks to LARPing via D&D. Egbert was then thought to have been sacrificed in a Satanic ritual as D&D has in the DM guide (paraphrasing a bit here but you get the point) and basically, D&D was hailed as the evil Satanic game in the media. There’s more to the story of course but I’ll stop there for the sake of keeping to what dots we want to connect here about D&D, Satanism, the UD/MF, and Byler. (Which is such an odd sentence but anyway, let’s move on.)

You know what else is deemed satanic, especially in the 80s? Homosexuality. And if the Upside Down / Mind Flayer represents homosexuality and/or at least internalized homophobia, and the Upside Down is the Satanic presence in Hawkins that is to blame for the conspiracies and evil in the town, then the connection of bringing up D&D, thought to be a game for Satanists, when referencing what is to blame for the evil in Hawkins makes sense. But we know that D&D is also the metaphor used for Mike and Will’s relationship. A gay relationship that would have been seen as satanic just as much as D&D was in their time. So Satanism is to blame, Satanism tied to D&D, D&D being tied to Mike and Will’s shifting relationship, a relationship that, if it was only friendship, would not be considered evil. 

“Some believe a rise in Satanism is to blame,” can then be turned into, “Some believe a rise in D&D is to blame.” Knowing that the events of the UD/MF are based off the campaign the Party is playing, we can then substitute D&D for the MF as so: “Some believe a rise in the Mind Flayer’s presence is to blame.” Also knowing that D&D is the show’s metaphor for Mike and Will’s relationship gives you, “Some believe a rise in homosexuality is to blame.” Homosexuality is akin to Satanism for many at this time, especially in the heartland of America, so it’s an apt substitution even without referencing the Mind Flayer. Thing is, what is a “rise in homosexuality” anyway? And that brings me back to your point about Mike and Will coming to terms with their feelings.

The part of the Mind Flayer that was in Will still exists in this dimension and that is what they fight off in ST3. If the Mind Flayer represents puberty and growing up, that also includes coming to grips with one’s sexuality and facing both internalized homophobia and homosexuality itself. I’ll note that Will knows the Mind Flayer is back after he’s just finished destroying his childhood safe space and has to come to grips with liking Mike and Mike (in his mind) not liking him back. He knows the terrors of being gay and the internalized hatred of it is back, he has that connection to it because it is his darkness, the part of the Mind Flayer in him that stayed, the part of his thoughts filled with love for Mike and self-hatred for feeling that way, has come to terrorize Hawkins again.

The Mind Flayer is defeated by happy memories, by comfort, by love: the opposite of the darkness that it is. The opposite of hatred is love after all! That being said, it also means that the Party as a whole has bonded again through love themselves (as we see when they finally reunite just in time for the final battle). Mike and Will though have a schism that is tied to the Mind Flayer as much as they bonded through love against the Mind Flayer in ST2. In those three months after Starcourt, we learn that this split is no longer (the Mind Flayer is defeated after all), Mike and Will have made up, and D&D is a focus between them again. Not to be cheesy but..love wins, my dudes. Anyway, we have here D&D the Satanist game, the game that got popular media attention because a closeted gay teenage prodigy from Ohio played it (might I add that the book Dear wrote about that whole case came out in 1984), the game that is a marker of Will and Mike’s relationship. You can see where this is going.

Back to “rise in homosexuality.” It’s not so much a rise in homosexuality (though on the surface people still think of it as a fad) as much as it is a rise in acknowledging it, in coming to terms with homosexuality and defeating the self hatred, ie. the Mind Flayer.

Now real quickly, the Mind Flayer is an enemy monster in D&D, it’s not unique to Stranger Things. It’s also called an Illithid and these are psionic creatures that feast on their enemies’ brains. A lot of what the Mind Flayer does in ST3 is similar to this thing called ceremorphosis (basically what the MF did when it took over the Flayed in ST3, as in taking over their brains and their mannerisms like a parasite does to a host body). In ST, we see that played out in a more literal sense of being flayed with the Meat Flayer (as I call it on occasion). Now the thing about the Mind Flayer is that it’s a physical monster but it is also a representation of the spread of ideas (it’s a parasite in the brain and that’s essentially what ideas are, or as Dawkins puts it, a meme). The idea in this case is homophobia, the self hatred in Will that spread to an outward hatred that then comes after the Party and in particular El. Why El? We could say it’s because she is the one in the way of Will’s affections but also, she is the one that Mike (who has been proven able to pull Will out from the Mind Flayer’s influence, out of the internalized self hatred) has been using to avoid coming to terms with his own sexuality.

El is a barrier for Mike. El, who has powers and the ability to destroy the monsters, is a shield for more than just defeating the physical terrors of the Upside Down, she also shields Mike from facing his truth, the metaphysical terrors of the Upside Down. When her powers are taken away by the monster itself, by the spread of this idea, Mike’s shield is gone. El survives, she still manages to turn Billy for him to make the sacrifice play because she has the happy memories and the love, but the shield is broken. It’s broken the entire time the Party confronts the Mind Flayer. Also noting that Mike is the one who tore off the giant piece of the Meat Flayer that was still on El’s leg back in the cabin before they made it to the supermarket. He is the one who tries to save the shield from the bite / infection of the idea and tries to salvage their relationship too in the supermarket, but El still has the Meat/Mind Flayer in her and taking that out in Starcourt destroys the shield (her powers and in a way, Mike’s attraction to her--I mean, she was like a real life Will the Wise if we get down to it). Mike then is face to face with his biggest fear: growing up in full--not what he thinks it should be as he parroted to Will in that argument, but what it is for him--which means accepting his sexuality. By three months in, it seems he’s done that, or is at least open to the prospect if standing in front of an open closet door while not responding to a kiss from his supposed female love interest shortly after flirting with his male best friend is anything to go off of.

tl;dr D&D is a metaphor for Will and Mike’s relationship, but D&D was also seen as a Satanic game and homosexuality was considered a disease from Satan. The Mind Flayer represents homosexuality/internalized homophobia and is a native monster to D&D, tying the Satanic references even closer. The final piece is that D&D is used throughout ST to represent/reference Mike and Will’s relationship. D&D which is being referenced as satanic in that TV spot, something Mike and Will’s relationship would be seen as if it wasn’t just friendship, meaning it’s romantic or at least something they want to be romantic.

even shorter tl;dr Mike and Will are gay and the world is scared of their love for each other as much as they are scared of their love, too.

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Gaim Episodes 21-47

I LOVE FRUITS.

⚠ ⚠ Warning! Very long post ahead, be prepared. ⚠ ⚠

Yes, I got a bit too excited about this damn show and I couldn't contain myself from watching the rest of it on the weekend so here we are, a post for the rest of the show in its entirety.

I feel like this, kinda like the first one I did for Gaim, will be a post where it'll look like I hate the show because I'll talk a lot about the points I disliked and I won't spend as much time talking about what I did enjoy so let me just reinforce, I LOVED THIS SHOW A LOT (so much that I couldn't wait for another week to watch the ending) it's just that ironically it's easier to talk about the bad points rather than the good ones. XD

Since there's a whole lot to talk about I'll do this differently and instead of talking about the story as a whole, I'll comment on each character and their journey instead because I feel like this the best way to do it.

Starting with our protagonist, Kouta... was kinda difficult for me. Like, I get that he went through a lot and he definitely had an arc of growth that was compelling to watch, but I think his indecisiveness at times was kinda boring to see. And my problem isn't so much that he's not assertive of what decisions he has to take is the fact that we see him in periods of doubt, then the show makes it seem like he finally has made a decision, just to a few episodes later make him be doubtful of his convictions again. And while I understand that it's a normal thing to change your thoughts about something, I feel like it happens SO MUCH in the show that it feels forced for convenience of the narrative at times. They can't make him decide on a path earlier because the path of other characters wasn't laid down yet so he had to be in this constant roller coaster which got a little tiring after the fourth time he argued about what would be the best course of action to deal with Yggdrasil, the Overlord invasion, Kaito and Mitchy, and all of that.

Though I'll give credit for the show where it's due and it is very in character for Kouta to be like this so as much as it bugged me I know that if he was a real person IRL Kouta would do the exact same things and take the exact same decisions he made so that's great. Though I have a little problem with his selflessness, in the end they make a huge point about how Kouta was always like that, he always put the needs of the others before his own, but we never really see a backstory for him, the closest we get to his past is that one episode where we get to know that he rescues a dog while he was kid, so all we have to back up that claim is the show and, at least to me, it never felt like he was putting himself aside for the others. Of course, that may be because he's so selfless that even when it looks like he's doing things for his own satisfaction he is helping the others because that's where his satisfaction comes from, but I can't deny that it felt like we missed an episode just to illustrate that a little better.

Now, if there's one thing I really didn't buy was Kouta basically becoming a God by the end. First, he looks awful, I know his "armor" is basically the Zenith form but goooooosh he looks awful, everything there looks 4 sizes bigger than Kouta's actors actual size and geez that wig... how could they find a wig for Mai that looked pretty natural (aside from the color) but gave him that awful instant noodle wig???? And not just the looks, I knew that Kouta would be the one to be chosen in the end, not just because of his relationship with Mai but also because the entity that should be impartial in this whole matter only actively helped him during this journey so aside of a brief moment where I thought Kaito had the chance of being the one, I pretty much knew since the beginning that the one to hold the golden apple at the end would be him, which took all the tension this specific plot had to me.

Speaking of Gaim, he got two new forms, and they were pretty dope. The first one is the Triumph Arms and it sits with OOO's Tajador and Wizards' Infinity as my favorite rider forms from the ones I could experience so far. He looks like he's fully geared up and he's gonna get into that field and beat the entire enemy army on its own, I absolutely love everything about it, the fact this form has two flags on his back announcing that he's coming and those flags are also used in combat to me it's just incredible, and the DJ Gun???? Omg, that's so creative and so fun, I absolutely love it, also the bgm song that plays when this form is used is super hype and I desperately need to download it and listen to it on repeat for a whole month. The way it came up to be in the show was a little meh, the first time he uses it is to destroy Yggdrasil's scalar weapon thing so it wasn't that big of a moment, but it was still great. The other form he gets isn't as cool, at least to me, but I love that his final form is an actual shogun, again whoever was the person who came with this concept was a genius. I have an aesthetic problem with the fruits basket on his chest plate, but I pretty much like everything else about it. This form is everything Fourze's Cosmic States wanted to be but less convoluted and way better looking. And again another great song for this form, I know it's not exclusive for him but it doesn't make it any less awesome, honestly, Gaim's soundtrack is just incredible.

Moving on to Kaito, seeing his descent into the final villain of the show and perishing because of it was quite fun, and I also like that despite him going to the evil path he didn't become a monster. I mean, he did become a monster by the end after he turned into an Overlord himself, but even in his villainous path he still cared for the people who were at his side, you could see that he cared for Zack (to a certain extent), and he really cared for Yoko, so it was good to see that he didn't just become a senseless evil force, he had a vision for what he wanted and he was determined to achieve his goal. If I have to say a bad thing about him, and in this case, it's very similar to one of the complains I had about Kouta, that is the fact that we didn't get a lot of his past, I said in my first post that I didn't really get him and I still feel this way, all I know from his past is that he hates Yggdrasil for taking over the city and destroying the life that he had, but we don't know anything else and it gets hard to understand why is he so obsessed with power like that, I think that if instead of having the episode that served as tie-in for the movie we had used that to dive into his path and on his character more it would've been better, especially to make his death more impactful (but maybe that's not really necessary and the impression I have from this moment not being as good is because of the faces his actor was doing at that moment).

Talking about Baron, I got a little disappointed because his power-up form as a Rider was using the Lemon Energy lock seed and you know considering he would end up becoming the final villain I wish he didn't use the same lock seed that other two riders already used, especially when for one of them Lemon is it's only form, I don't know if it was a logistic problem but like they could've given him another fruit to use, or even make a Banana Energy lock seed and make it feel like if it was a direct evolution of his suit. But I think they redeemed themselves with his Overlord design because it looks amazing, very threatening and incredibly powerful. I think I'll never forget his final fight with Ryoma, it was awesome.

Mitchy was fun, I hated him every second of it but it was really fun seeing him becoming a crazy, obsessive, delusional asshole. He was everything I wanted for a villain, but I didn't like how he ended. Like, he almost killed Kouta and his brother, and the other characters in the show kept wanting to save him, and then in the end the show gave him a redemption by making him a hero and I was "oh please no". Call me a heartless prick but I do think he should've ended broke in the same mind state he was after Mai "died", I'm not against the idea of bringing Takatora back from the dead, but he really shouldn't be there acting as a hero in the final fight for the last episode. If they wanted to redeem him they should make him play the role Gridon had in that fight but without transforming and then Kouta comes back, he forgives Mitchy, but Mitchy doesn't forgive himself and he still has to live with the consequences of his acts weighing on his heart and he'll have to work to become a better person with the help of his brother instead of magically becoming a hero and everything is all joy and dances.

Next in line is Mai, and the problem I have with her is the same problem I have with the archetype she is in this story. She's the girl who has a deep connection with the main rider that has almost no personality that in the end plays up a crucial role in the main story, it was like that with Koyomi in Wizard, with Yuki in Fourze (on a smaller scale), Hina and OOO, and I'm really tired of this, especially because none of these characters are actual characters, none of them get any level of development through-out their shows, they have a quirk unique to them (Hina's supernatural strength, Yuki enthusiasm for space, Koyomi is a doll, Mai likes dancing) and is that quirk that defines them and their actions and it's really boring. Making characters like them be so important for the final plot kinda weakens everything because these are characters that I don't care for, but then suddenly they have the power of god inside them and I must get apprehensive about who she'll turn into a god as well even though when it's obvious who they'll choose to beneficiate in the end. I really don't like this element.

Zack was a nice surprise, I do think they waited too long to give his character some development because despite he appearing quite a lot he also was in the back seat many of those times so it was a bit of wasted potential. But he had his times to shine and when it came to it he really shined brightly, I think one thing that helped him a lot was all his interactions with Kaito while he tries to understand what's going on with his friend that he cares so deeply. I should be angry at him since Yoko died because of him, but I can't deny that his plan at the end to act as a double agent was pretty cool. I'm glad they gave him a movie special because I feel like he really deserves more exposure, I started not caring for him but I ended liking him quite a lot.

Another set of characters that also changed in my concept was Oren and Hide. My problems with them still exist, but after seeing their bond in episode 25 and seeing them becoming allies I grew to like them more, especially during the final arc. I still wish they weren't used for comedy as much as they are, but I came to be okay with them. Also, Hide in that final episode showed a lot of character seeing that he hasn't let go from Hase yet showing that he's more than just a coward guy that lives in the shadows of the others so, it's kinda impossible to hate on them after the end of the show.

Going to the new generation Riders, Takatora it's the one that had the most interesting development. I think what I like the most from this portion was seeing that he's very genuine in his desire to help humanity, he was open to listening to Kouta when he got to know about the Overlords, he didn't want this fight to happen, he just wanted to keep people safe. I also liked seeing he's fall and his uprising, everything happened in a very short time span, but it was very interesting to see his world falling apart in front of his eyes, but even then he didn't lose his convictions and this culminates in that great episode where he fights against Mitchy. I'm a sucker for siblings fighting each other in situations like that and they really delivered here, like bringing back his original melon suit to go against Mitchy who was using his energy lock seed was awesome, I did wish he had won that but I guess if he had won we wouldn't have Mitchy going deeper and deeper in his darkness so... but I'm glad they brought him back, just wish they had used him more in the final episode. But well, we got him as a "ghost" inside Mitchy's head for a good portion of the show so I guess it was a good trade-off. I'm really excited to watch his movie.

Yoko makes me sad. Not because she's bad but because the show didn't allow her to be used to her full potential. Like, she's a strong independent woman, but the show doesn't let her shine on her own, she for some reason, has to be always following a man, and even though she's still amazing and all the decisions she makes are very befitting with her character, I still wish she had done more. I thought at that moment where Ryoma left her behind while the Overlord invasion was happening she would finally bloom, but no, she just started following Kaito around. And don't get me wrong, her period with Kaito was very good, it ended up with her getting killed but it was still good, I just wish they had used her more, especially considering her actress also did a good portion of her in-suit scenes. I think wasted potential is the best way to describe her, sadly. Still love her to death tho.

Sid and Ryoma I don't have a lot to talk about. Sid was interesting just until the time he stopped being a dude that watches the situation from the outside, in the moment he started to get obsessed with power he lost all he had going on for him. At least he died and his death was quite decent so. And Ryoma, well he's Ryoma, he never had that much of a character to begin with so I don't have a lot to say. He's the typical mad scientist that's willing to use any ways possible for the sake of his research. It's not much, but it works for him.

The final characters to talk about are the Overlords. I like them, their designs are very cool, I like the concept of them being the last reminiscent of their civilization, and I also like that they gave them a new language. I have a problem with the fact that after a certain point they start to use Overlords as MOTW, but it doesn't offend me a whole lot. I like how they enter this story both as a threat and as a sliver of hope and despite becoming the main villainous actors they don't last till the end. I think what we got was way more interesting than if the Overlords had taken the final boos spot.

This pretty much sums up all of my thoughts in regards to the characters, but I still have a few nitpicks to talk about in a general perspective.

First, the show had two episodes that broke the action that were very weirdly placed, the first is that one with cyborg guy and the second is the tie-in with the movie, and these episodes shouldn't exist, I'm sorry. I know the tie-in episode is kinda important because it's a villain of the movie that comes attack in the final episode, but I only know that because I went to look it up because from the tie-in episode there's no way for the audience that only had contact with the show to know who's that rider attacking is. My second nitpick is that the show ended without a message, I know a message it's not something necessary to make a show good or not, but I don't know I feel like it would've been nice to have something it was trying to pass.

In any case, this is already way longer than it should be so I'll wrap up right here. Gaim is an awesome show, despite my problems with it I really love it and I definitely recommend everyone to watch it. I'm in love with this series and I don't wanna let it go. I hope the next one will be just as good. Now if y'all excuse me I'll walk in the path of blossoms to my bed, thank you so much for reading this absurdly long post and don't forget, if they could make fruits and samurai work you can make any of your stupid ideas become real as well, maybe that's the whole message of Gaim. XD Oh well, I'll see you, folks, on the next time. ^^

[intransigent-boy]

My Top Ten Films of The Decade.

10. Her

Okay, so whether you like it or not, this movie is about the present. This movie tells a very powerful story with an embarrasingly personal narrative. You feel sorry for the main character, it makes you so uncomfortable. And the reason is, because we are all in some sense are like this guy, Theodore. We have better relationships online, and with our advices, than with real people. It’s a really bizarre conception, but we should face it, and ask ourselves: Where is the limit?  The script is just brilliant, but also has very controversial scenes. Joaquin Phoenix is simply the perfect choice for a lonely man, like Theodore. Melancholy everywhere, and great visuals. Arcade Fire made the music for this, and it was pure melancholy. Very interesting film.

9. The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance is an exceptional director. He can wonderfully create an atmosphere with great lighting techiques, unique musics, and of course with talented actors. This movie has a linear, but quite unusual story-structure. The main theme haunts you after you watched this. Legacy! 

8. Nightcrawler

Louis Bloom is something of a loner who is unemployed and ekes out a living stealing and then reselling copper wire, fencing and most anything else he can get his hands on. When late one night he comes across an accident being filmed by independent news photographer Joe Loder, he thinks he may have found something he would be good at. He acquires an inexpensive video camera and a police scanner and is soon spending his nights racing to accidents, robberies and fire scenes. He develops a working relationship with Nina Romina, news director for a local LA TV station. As the quality of his video footage improves so does his remuneration and he hires Rick, young and unemployed, to work with him. The more successful he becomes however, the more apparent it becomes that Louis will do anything - anything - to get visuals from crime scenes. The conception is just brilliant, and screams to your face, what kind of society are we living in. I think Psychopathy is going to be one of the biggest issue in our generation asides with mental illneses. And this movie reflects perfectly. You understand the character, which is geniusly performed by Jake Gyllenhaal. 

7. Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coen brothers' exquisitely sad and funny new comedy is set in a world of music that somehow combines childlike innocence with an aged and exhausted acceptance of the world. It is a beguilingly studied period piece from America's early-60s Greenwich Village folk scene. Every frame looks like a classic album cover, or at the very least a great inner gatefold – these are screen images that look as if they should have lyrics and sleeve notes superimposed. This film was notably passed over for Oscar nominations. Perhaps there's something in its unfashionable melancholy that didn't hook the attention of Academy award voters. But it is as pungent and powerfully distinctive as a cup of hot black coffee. This movie is about sacrificing everything for your art, directionlessness  (is there such a word?) , and finding the right path. Existential theme, with surpisingly good acting from Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, and Justin Timberlake. This is an Odyssey-story from the 1960′s America. What more you could ask for? 

6. Dunkirk

Reinventing a genre is quite exceptional. And Nolan did it. The best war movies of the last 20 years, including Saving Private Ryan and Hacksaw Ridge, have also placed viewers in the centre of battle. Nolan has not reinvented that immersive approach, but he comes close to perfecting it. The story structure is-again- brilliant. There’s no main character in the movie-just like in a war-but only  scared people. They want to go home. But they can’t. We’re with them with their struggle, and fears. We’re in the air, land, or water, it’s just a haunting terror.  And the soundtrack from Hans Zimmer is really remarkable. You hear it, and you recognize the movie. That’s what I call a score. Reflects perfectly, and holds the attention throughout the whole movie.

5. Hell or High Water

Another genre-twister masterpiece. This Neo-Western is just pure art. Hell or High Water is a film about a criminal  who commits the ultimate offence of putting his gorgeous and much nicer brother in a ski mask for several minutes of this film. Okay actually it’s about a career criminal brother and his he-wasn’t-but-he-is-now criminal brother who team up to commit a series of small-scale bank robberies across Texas, with the aim, finally – after several generations – of lifting the family out of seemingly inescapable grinding poverty. The part of Texas they live in is dying on its feet so career criminal is pretty much the only career left open that doesn’t involve serving in a diner or herding the few remaining cattle. It would’ve been easy for Hell or High Water to to turn out a cliche-ridden double bromance as there are quite a few movie tropes in this love story / revenge thriller, so it’s a tribute to director David Mackenzie that it’s actually a very touching, at times funny, at times quite brutal story. With a bit of grudge-bearing thrown in at the end to stop it being too redemptive. Memorable scenes, great acting, and a deromanticized western-feeling. After this film, you want to live in Texas, where everything’s slower, but sometimes you can chase criminals. It’s nice, isn’t it? 

4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Martin McDonagh’s fiercely written, stabbingly pleasurable tragicomedy stars a magnificent Frances McDormand; watching it is like having your funny bone struck repeatedly, expertly and very much too hard by a karate super-black-belt capable of bringing a rhino to its knees with a single punch behind the ear. He’s a scriptwriter genius, it was shocking, how perfectly the dialouges and the actions were constructed. It is a film about vengeance, violence and the acceptance of death, combining subtlety and unsubtlety, and moreover wrongfooting you as to what and whom it is centrally about. The drama happens in a town with an insidiously pessimistic name – Ebbing, Missouri, a remote and fictional community in the southern United States, where the joy of life does seem to be receding. There is a recurrent keynote of elegiac sadness established by the Irish ballad The Last Rose of Summer and Townes Van Zandt’s country hit Buckskin Stallion Blues, a musical combination which bridges the Ireland which McDonagh has written about before and the America he conjures up here, an America which has something of the Coen Brothers. The resemblance is not simply down to McDormand, though she does give her best performance since her starring role as the pregnant Minnesota police chief in the Coens’ Fargo in 1996. It was brutal, controversial, and violent. 

3. Midnight in Paris

The definitive poem in English on the subject of cultural nostalgia may be a short verse by Robert Browning called “Memorabilia.” The past seems so much more vivid, more substantial, than the present, and then it evaporates with the cold touch of reality. The good old days are so alluring because we were not around, however much we wish we were. “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen’s charming film, imagines what would happen if that wish came true. It is marvelously romantic, even though — or precisely because — it acknowledges the disappointment that shadows every genuine expression of romanticism. The film has the inspired silliness of some of Mr. Allen’s classic comic sketches (most obviously, “A Twenties Memory,” in which the narrator’s nose is repeatedly broken by Ernest Hemingway), spiked with the rueful fatalism that has characterized so much of his later work. Nothing here is exactly new, but why would you expect otherwise in a film so pointedly suspicious of novelty? Very little is stale, either, and Mr. Allen has gracefully evaded the trap built by his grouchy admirers and unkind critics — I’m not alone in fitting both descriptions — who complain when he repeats himself and also when he experiments. Not for the first time, but for the first time in a while, he has found a credible blend of whimsy and wisdom.

2. Beautiful Boy 

This supersensitive and tasteful movie is all but insufferable, suppressing a sob at the tragedy of drug addiction afflicting someone so young and “beautiful”. It is based on what is effectively a matching set of memoirs: Beautiful Boy, by author and journalist David Sheff, his harrowing account of trying to help his son Nic battle crystal meth addiction, and Tweak – by Nic Sheff himself, about these same experiences, the author now, thankfully, eight years clean. Steve Carell does an honest, well-meaning job in the role of David and the egregiously beautiful Timothée Chalamet is earnest in the part of Nic, David’s son from his first marriage. This is like a modern-day Basketball Diaries. Honest, and Raw. Most underrated movie of the 2010′s, with an unquestionably important topic. 

1. The Social Network

Before Sorkin wrote the screenplay, Ben Mezrich wrote the book based on Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook titled: The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. It was published in July 2009, and most of the information came from Facebook “co-founder” Eduardo Saverin, who in the film is played by Andrew Garfield. The screenplay that Sorkin wrote was blazing, he wrote the characters like they were in a William Shakespeare play, with a story full of lies, jealousy, and betrayal. I especially love how Sorkin balanced the story between 2003, 2004, and then 2010. It goes back and forth between the past when Facebook was just an idea for Mark, and in the current day when he is being sued by Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss for, in their minds, having stolen their original idea, and by his former best friend Eduardo for having him pushed out of the company. In fact, some of the very best dialogue (and the film is full of great quotes) happens during the deposition scenes. Well-recognizable, rapid-fire dialouges, wonderful directing, with Trent Reznor’s greatest soundtrack. The movie’s probably going to outlive the Facebook itself, and that’s just great. 

[fingersinhisass]

hi yeah can i get uhhhhh two number nines, a number nine large, a number six with extra dip, a number seven, two number 45s, one with cheese, and all the odd numbers on that post for my best boy alphonse?

yes absolutely carly i love you

1. Which should be saved – a bus full of innocent lives or a loved one?

in principle, alphonse would say a bus full of innocent lives. but if he were ever actually given the choice, there’s no way he wouldn’t save someone he loves. he’d be real fucked up about it though.

3. If you could jump back through time to save a loved one’s life, would you? Despite what it might do to the timeline? To everyone else? Do you believe it is their fate to die regardless?

he’s never had anyone super close to him die, but he’s done a lot of killing. and i think he would definitely jump back in time to stop himself from killing his targets, so really one of the demons should’ve offered him that. because he would’ve been. so tempted. and might’ve even gone through with it (if i could ever roleplay him accurately)

5. Is it better to hurt others before they hurt you or let yourself be walked all over and hurt by others?

al’s the kind of person who would let someone he loves walk all over him for sure, which. isn’t really healthy. he’s been bitten way more times than he’s bitten back when it comes to friendships and romantic relationships. 

7. You have the key to immortality in your hands. But not for free. If you want it, as a price, your worst enemy also gains immortality. Is it worth it?

absolutely not. al has no interest in being immortal. like, none whatsoever. eternity to think over his mistakes and flaws? no thanks.

9. Can people be held accountable for things people close or related to them did or are they innocent?

even though he carries his own prejudices, i think al is a firm believer in giving people the benefit of the doubt. therefore no, they are not accountable for those things. it’s not like he blames shaelle for having a shitbag rich asshole for a dad.

11. Imagine there is a beast that craves attention. If you ignore it, despite being deadly, it will leave you alone. Could you live like that? Even if it possibly attacked others? Would you try and challenge something that unknown?

al would sacrifice himself to something like that and challenge the beast in a heartbeat. he’s altruistic to a potentially fatal degree, y’all.

13. Could you sacrifice yourself for the good of everyone else?

oops. see number 11.

15. Is lying to others to gain their approval more important than being genuine and hated?

al’s whole life and identity is kind of one massive lie in a lot of different ways – that being said, in a lot of ways he’s also very genuine about certain aspects of his personality and is a very open person. but the pool is a lot deeper than it looks, and the stuff he’s open about is very shallow. the deeper stuff is a lot more heavily guarded. that’s not even the question being asked here. anyway. he hates a kiss-ass and only butters people up if he has a legitimate investigative reason to, not just personal gain. 

17. Have you ever gotten sheer joy out of hurting someone else, either physically or mentally? To whom and why? Did it scare you?

haha yes. he offed a very high up government official once who was super corrupt and basically personified all of the things al hates about the upper class. and yes, it scared him.

19. What is more likely a thought to you – that this world is wrong or that you are wrong?

both? al is both astounded by the cruelty people are incapable of inflicting on others and astounded by the cruelty he’s inflicted on others. he’s working very hard to change it, so these days it’s a lot more often that the world is wrong. he just reminds himself very frequently that he’s a part of the world he’s working to change.

21. Are there people in this world you simply thing the world would be better without? If you could erase them out of existence without physically murdering them, would you?

uhhhh, the upper class? yes. funny because he marries a super rich girl. but no, he wouldn’t erase them from existence. mainly because it would mean erasing his wife, but also because he’s done with killing people. even if he does think the world would be better without them.

23. Could you ever become your own hero? Is that a role you can fulfill or is it something you look to others for?

nope. alphonse is his own villain. he definitely finds heroes in other people, particularly those he loves: his mother, borem (which is partially why he reacted so poorly to borem’s betrayal), shaelle. not to totally derail and gush about how much he adores shaelle on main but like. he admires her so much. he thinks she’s so, so strong and powerful and good.

25. What is more important to you? An idea of yours being used and appreciated or the credit for that idea being yours and yours alone?

definitely the idea being used and appreciated. credit is nice, but he really doesn’t think he deserves it, so.

27. How far would you go to achieve a dream or ideal? Does it matter who suffers? Does it matter if you suffer?

he would tear himself apart for a cause he believes in (which he kind of does). if someone else is getting hurt? hell no. if he’s getting hurt? who gives a shit. he has like no self-preservation instinct anymore lmao someone help him please

29. Is genius equal to hard work? Does a genius deserve praise for doing well without effort? Are they above us?

alphonse probably values hard work just a little bit more than genius simply because very little has come easily to him in life and he’s more than used to working his ass off for things. he doesn’t think geniuses are above normal people, absolutely not, but he does think they deserve praise, even if what they accomplish wasn’t as hard for them as it might be for others. they still accomplished something.

31. What is more important to you? Being respected and praised by your elders or being looked up to and championed by those younger or of the same age?

he’s not keen on being praised so ideally neither, but he absolutely adores kids and to be loved and looked up to by a child makes him happy, even if it also makes him feel a little bit guilty.

33. If you could wipe certain memories from your head, would you? Why would you? What memories?

he wouldn’t wipe his memories, even the terrible murder ones, because he believes he needs them to serve as a reminder of what he’s capable of, what he will never, ever do again, and why he’s trying to make the world a better place.

35. Is every person in this world wholly unique or can they be categorized? Can they be grouped and mentally dissected? Are you just another sheep in another flock or are you the sole unique soul?

upper class people can be categorized, says alphonse, because they fucking suck. again, he marries a rich girl. he rethinks some of his biases. in terms of whether or not he’s unique, he’d probably tend to think so, but not because he’s super cool and special or whatever, but because he’s a fucking terrible person and a menace to society. at least, like, that’s what he believes. 

[mic-and-cheese]

Please info dump about your husband...I wish to know more about him!

AAAAA OK I DIDN’T THINK I’D GET THIS FAR 

Idk where to start so I’m just gonna ramble?? I guess??? Puttin it under a readmore bc it’s long as FUCK

I think one of the most interesting things about Buddy is his backstory? Like he used to love supers but now hates them because his idol rejected him? I’ve seen a lot of different interpretations of his past, and I apologize for starting off on this note but Buddy comes off to me as someone who was neglected as a child, so he has trouble with empathy, other social skills, and doesn’t really have a way to healthily deal with stress, which lead him to go down the path he did. I think he was born in a small southern town, but moved to Metroville and became enamored with superheroes because he’s now living somewhere where he can see and meet them personally. He views Mr. Incredible as a father figure because of a lack of a father or other male role model in his life and he probably feels like maybe his life would be better or that he’d be more loved if he had powers, and he’s been constantly told and lead to believe that he can’t be a hero without powers, so telling him that is a sore spot for him.He started messing with machines and learning how to fix them because his family didn’t have enough money to fix or replace things around the house when they broke and he found that he really had a passion for building and creating. Of course, he’s a really smart kid, he loves to read and loves math and science and did well in school, but some adults kinda thought he was a nightmare to be around cuz he’s a lil bit bratty and tries to get attention, but he got along well with teachers and other adults who recognized that he was talented and gave him the attention he needed. Buddy is really used to having to cause a lot of trouble to get what he wants or to be listened to, which is a trait he still kept into adulthood. His first real invention that wasn’t just him tinkering around with whatever he could find was his rocket boots, and he made them with spare parts he found or bought. He’s met Mr. Incredible a few times before, but he was hoping that being able to show off his talent would impress him enough to let him be his sidekick.Ever since he was young he’s always been an entrepreneur, making money by fixing stuff for neighbors and taking other odd jobs.Even after he was rejected he still loves superheroes, or at least the idea of them, even though he doesn’t really like them as people anymore but I’ll get to that later.The interesting thing about him really is just how much I can estimate about him just from what little info we know about him in canon, and how many ways there are to interpret him. I’ve seen him be interpreted as a kid who was spoiled and didn’t know how to deal with rejection, and while I can’t say I like that interpretation, but it is possible. Even though his backstory is interesting, his personality is just…??? Lovely??? I mean it’s really not but I think it is. He’s just??? so geeky and adorable and I love seeing him get so excited over superheroes even though he has a love-hate relationship with them, and he’s just fearless and probably a bit of a dare devil? He really seems like the sort of person who would try anything at least once and doesn’t get embarrassed easily. I mean it’s just so amazing how he’s an evil mastermind but like, he’s still Buddy ya know? Like he still has his excitable, nerdy, funny personality, but he can also be downright terrifying? It’s interesting from a character writing standpoint of course but like, just? On a personal level??? I mean his personality alone flusters me because everything about him (save for uh, the murder) is something I find obviously given the subject of the blog, really attractive. Like he’s not afraid to be himself or play around and he embraces self-insert esqe enjoyment so like??? How cool is it to have an f/o who may also have f/os or at least be supportive of self inserting!!Of course even though theres a lot about his personality that’s cute, there are a lot of things that aren’t, so he’s not really the best with empathy, and he can be pretty cruel, petty, selfish, and he has difficulty opening up to people but I do think that he’s open to learning and changing with someone he trusts, and can be really sweet when he wants to, even if it is a little awkward.One thing I really love about him is how you can tell that he’s got a life and interests outside of Kronos. Like yeah he’s really focused on his plan obviously, but his personality is just so strong in the things around him and the things he does and says that make him feel so much more dimensional. For example, a lot of his tech is integrated with or inspired by nature, so I really think he likes biomimicry, probably because he’s learning how to one up nature, aka basically what his entire motivation is. I love that he’s obviously just got cute little tics like how his eye twitches in the lego games or how much he likes to gesture and hum and whistle. (also his humming is so cute oh my god)And I’m just constantly in awe of how smart and resourceful he is. I mean my love of tropical islands aside, Nomanisan is just… impressive. Like its so ingenious to build his base literally into the island in a way that makes use of its natural features, such as the underwater landing pad, secret exits, underground passageways, and of course the lava wall, and I just can’t help but wonder how he came up with all of that and how long and how much money it took? And thats just taking about the things on the island that are canon. I mean, from my own speculations I figure that the island not only has that amazing lava wall, but is built to redirect the flow of lava to prevent any volcanic activity on the island, keep lava and ash away from expensive tech (the rocket and mantajet for example) and provide power to the island via geothermal energy. Maybe even a little use of wave energy too if necessary since it’s a pretty good option for a place surrounded by water. I assume Buddy chose the island for its resources, (namely a metal alloy that one of the books mentioned) considering he’s made it pretty self sustaining with what it already has after implementing all his tech. The location, being far from any other place, really, and outside of any governmental jurisdiction is good too, so when you really think about it, he probably could have gotten away with a lot of the things that he did, which is, uh, pretty impressive to say the least, not to mention the real world location of Nomanisan (Easter Island) doesn’t face the sorts of hurricanes and harsh weather you’d expect for a small island in the middle of no where.And I mean??? He’s a genius inventor villain who is still extremely in tune with nature to the point that it inspires some of his inventions??? How cool and unique is that??? I’m sure the island must be an amazing place to be, I mean the beaches and caves, rivers, waterfalls… it must be such a joy to explore. And I dunno, I’ve always imagined that working for Syndrome could be kinda fun sometimes. I mean, he is a pretty funny guy with a good sense or humor, and surely guarding and what not all day must get boring, so I’m sure he’s not opposed to having some fun every now and then.And he’s certainly not ashamed of what he considers fun either! I have a feeling he’d like scale models and collectibles and would go to the ends of the earth for a rare one that he particularly likes, especially if they’re ones he gets to build himself. I’m sure he’s a huge fandom geek as well, like name any 50’s-60’s sci fi movie and he knows it by heart. And with all his animal inspired inventions, I’m sure he loves going out in nature and watching the unique wildlife of Nomanisan. Given Easter Island’s own wildlife, I’m sure sharks and whales, and even some really interesting lizards would be pretty common around there. (And given how much forest it has in comparison to Easter Island, I’m sure there’s A LOT more than that. Maybe even rare species only native to the island.) I also really see Buddy as the sort of guy who just loves new and exciting experiences, no matter what it is. Like if it’s something he’s never done before, he’s on board!With all that in mind it’s just so wonderful just how much of a well rounded character he is. I mean he’s happy, nerdy, childish, and excitable, but he’s also bitter, revenge driven, and unempathetic. That being said, his relationships with other people all have such an interesting dynamic to them. He adores Bob for his ingenuity while still hating him enough to try to kill him and his family, and he cares for Mirage but doesn’t really know how to show it. Like I said earlier, I think he was neglected as a kid, so he never really learned how to properly regulate his emotions, so a lot of the time he’s pretty conflicted. He’s an extrovert who wants to be loved and adored, yet he’s too scared to trust after being betrayed. He has a hard time relating to people and thus doesn’t understand how his actions can hurt them when he means well, for example, betting Mirage’s life or saving people from his own robot without proper regard to his surroundings that a truly well meaning hero would have (aka, throwing a tanker truck just to make a spectacle out of saving a mother and child with no regard to what damage the truck could have done).Of course, while his scenes with Mirage can be interpreted as him not really caring for her, I think it’s the opposite. I think he knew that betting her life was the only way he could have saved her (he couldn’t have pulled her away from Bob, shocking Bob could have shocked her, and if he had shown any weakness for her, Bob could have used that as leverage against him, whereas if he shows no remorse, if Bob had killed her he’d just have a dead lady on his hands for pretty much no reason). Granted as well meaning as he was, I don’t think he understands how that hurt Mirage. He sees that he saved her, and doesn’t expect her to be mad about it, but the reality is that she honestly does have a right to be mad about her life being risked, especially when he never clearly communicated that his intent was to save her.Somehow I’ve gone this far without even talking about why I like him??? I mean I don’t even think I’ve ever fully explained why I like him. I’ve tried, sure, but I don’t even think it’s something I can actually convey in words? But I’ll try??? Anyway, he’s literally everything to me, and I don’t just mean that in a sappy romantic way. I’ve always been fascinated with him since I was 6 years old and saw the movie for the first time. He reminds me of happy memories with my dad who passed away some years ago because I saw the movie with him and I remember how much it confused little 6 year old me. Like the fact that the movie started with interviews was the wildest thing to me, and I don’t even think I could even comprehend the plot until much later on. But during that first experience, I don’t know what it was but something about him always stuck with me. Funnily enough one of the things that stuck with me was his joke from Jack Jack Attack and that was the first joke that I knew I didn’t understand but knew I would someday and I literally made a mental note back then telling myself that I knew I’d understand it, and well, thanks for remembering that 6 year old me, because I get the joke now and it’s still funny to me. (I also never actually realized that the guy silhouetted in front of the lava was supposed to be Syndrome until like last summer and I always just thought that was something that was never explained haha.) Anyway after seeing the movie with my dad, he asked me who my favorite character was. I said Violet since I thought saying otherwise would have been weird at the time, but in reality it’s always been Syndrome and that’s just an important memory to me.And now he’s that memory and so many other things to me. He’s what finally helped me recover from a rough couple of years by showing me that people could still create wonderful and impressive things despite being cast away by someone that they once adored and that my success wasn’t based on their approval, which finally helped me shut them out of my life and become so much happier. He helps me manage my anxiety because all the things that make me scared would be nothing to the guy who still wore a cape and rocket boots even after they nearly got him killed. And of course, I love him because he’s nerdy, excitable, brave, and smart, and even because I feel like I can understand his lack of empathy. He’s just such a well rounded, multifaceted character that it’s almost hard to believe he’s fictional haha. With all that combined, he’s one of my my special interests too! I mean it’s hard not to want to know everything about such an interesting guy right?But even if you can’t see the appeal in his personality, it’s no question that he’s just amazing in terms of his accomplishments alone. I mean he can’t be any older than like, 28 max (I consider him 25 though, since the closest we ever get to a canon age is mid 20’s)  and yet he’s a billionaire with his own private island, at least one successful company, and groundbreaking tech that makes today’s tech look simple, but he did all in the EARLY SIXTIES.The mantajet in particular is just awe inspiring to me, mostly because I love planes, but I mean, most planes take 15 years just to be conceptualized. Buddy created a completely automated, uniquely shaped, supersonic, semi-aquatic jet with the ability to hover in under that time. It’s like if the SR-71 Blackbird were a luxury all-terrain vehicle! And I am just so endlessly impressed that it can go underwater, like I’m sure its entire design was based around that ability, since the engines would have to be strong enough to withstand literal tons of water going through them, which is why I suspect they’re placed in those cavities above the wings, to direct air and water to go through them in the right way while also keeping them intact in the impact! (they may be waterproof but they are unfortunately not (or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it) uh,,,, Syndrome proof) And the “manta feelers” probably help the plane hover and also serve as the landing gear??? UGH IT’S GENIUS, SUCH RESOURCEFUL GENIUS.Of course I’ve gotta talk about the design of his aero boots too!! He’s come such a long way since the rocket boots!!! I’m so proud of him!!! The new boots are just as genius as the mantajet, really. They have vents in the sole, probably to either keep them from overheating or to draw in oxygen to use for combustion. I love how the metal strip is implemented into the heel and up the back of the boots, that’s probably where the fuel and engines are housed, and man, I can’t imagine how much power they’d both have to generate, those tiny little engines. I’m sure they run on some pretty efficient stuff. And how the soles of the boots look like they can come off of the main boot itself, I’m sure that makes for easy maintenance! I also love how the animators added the detail of the screw in the arch of the boot so that it articulates properly, rather than just saying “yeah whatever he can walk fine somehow with these half-metal boots.”And then there’s Zero Point Energy??? I mean, ZPE is actually based off a real scientific concept that would essentially harness infinite energy. I think about this on the daily and I still can’t comprehend it. He harnessed infinite energy. In the 60’s. And made a device small and powerful enough to literally generate it in the palm of his hand. Since all of that energy is generated in his gauntlets, it’d have to pass through his hands to reach his fingertips, so not only can he generate it, but he created a suit that can conduct infinite energy around him so that it doesn’t hurt him. Like no wonder he’s so protective of ZPE. (On that note, this is exactly why I think he designed his suit and not Edna or Galbaki. He’d never trust anyone else to design a suit with his most valuable tech built into it)Not to mention, how interesting is it that a ruthless serial killer villain like him chooses a technology that doesn’t harm his target and instead just freezes them in place!Also also can I talk about just how amazing the other features of the gauntlets are? I mean they hold a small bomb that can produce a big enough blast to in theory kill the nearly invincible Mr. Incredible. He’s got a laser powerful enough to make a clean hole through the roof of a house, and those gauntlets can take a hell of a beating too, considering it was thrown all over the city during the final Omnidroid fight with minimal damage. Oh also the little sliding cover over the buttons is cute.Ok ok, next there’s the energy prisons. I assume they work on ZPE since they’re able to suspend victims in mid-air? I literally shouldn’t be so excited about this thing but I can’t even get over how ingeniously HORRIBLE they are. I mean I don’t want to get into any details, cuz if I do I’ll go into scarily gruesome territory but those things are terrifying. They work with almost any sort of super he could possibly be keeping prisoner with such a pretty simple idea really, just by suspending them against their own weight. The only fault in them really is that Violet can get through them, but he may not have necessarily known that beforehand since I doubt he had any force fields to test them on (or at least any “organic” ones).Implementing the monorail system is such a perfect idea too!! It makes it easy to get around, keeps guards from getting lost, works on all terrain, and keeps supers from seeing things they don’t need to see, so long as they stay on the tracks they’re supposed to be on.And speaking of hiding, while not technically tech related, I don’t know if he knows about the KRONOS carved in the cave, but I bet you he does know about that cave and all the other hard to reach areas of the island, since there’s an I2 deleted scene that shows he knows how Gazerbeam died, and the guards know to split up to catch Dash in one of the caves. Also related to Kronos, I like to make fun of his computer room for it’s impractical at best, dangerous at worse design, but listen. The security system. It’s brilliant. He’d have to engineer some sort of substance that stays compact and non-sticky while not in use, but that can quickly expand and maintain its strength to capture intruders. And the victim would still have to be able to breathe through them too?? And like how do they come off?? I’m sure that’s an interesting process too. The “fire randomly” approach is also interesting, since it pretty much leaves no escape. And what about under the walkway??? Like what’s way down there??? I don’t even have a theory for that, really. And and and how does the security system for that room work? Does it recognize unfamiliar noises perhaps, since it was triggered by Bob’s suit tracker, cuz if it were triggered by just random noise, I’m sure Syndrome or Mirage would have accidentally triggered it before. Oh, also also also x3 the computer screen automatically shuts off once the security system is activated, which is a nice touch, so that the enemy can’t get any more info as soon as the system is notified. Having only one way in and out of the room is clever too.I JUST WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT NOMANISAN’S SECURITY PROTOCAL OKI wish we had seen more of the technology that he used for Mirage’s message too. Like, he obviously uses the voice matching and scanning technology on the island (the security bird and life probe) but what about that illusion effect on the tablet?Also I mean, I’m sure being an arms dealer during the Cold War in itself has got to be extremely lucrative, but that doesn’t even account for how high tech his other weapons that weren’t mentioned must be.Ok, ok I think that covers all of his other inventions. I haven’t talked about the Omnidroid yet because hooo boy do I have some things to say about that beautifully terrifying piece of tech. I love that he used an iterative process on it to build upon its design (also the idea that he respects the strength his self-proclaimed nemesis enough to build up the robot to prepare to fight him), and I’ve actually gone back and tried to figure out the reason behind the changes he made in each iteration. And listen. How long do you think it took him to build and test all those robots? A few years maybe? Nah son, using the movie’s timeline, I’ve calculated that if he were working at a consistent pace throughout the project, it’d take FOUR MONTHS. 10 highly advanced ai robots. Fully drafted, programmed, built, and tested in 4 months. Oh and did I mention HE CREATED AI. LIKE ACTUAL AI.And his control over the Omnidroid (at least Omnidroid 9 anyway) is brilliant too. He’s got perfect control over it, and the reason I bring that up is because Omnidroid 10 tried to kill him. I’ve spent a long time wondering why he had perfect control over 9 but 10 disobeyed him, and my conclusion is that he implemented some new code in 10 that would make it act more destructively, thus making it more difficult to control but he never actually expected it not to listen to him because he didn’t actually test it on the island since, uh, having a 10 story tall rampaging robot on the loose near your base isn’t a good idea. I also headcanon that 10 was built to self destruct when defeated so that no one could trace its origins back to Syndrome had he won and been considered a hero.With that long ass section out of the way I’d finally like to bring up that if Syndrome did indeed create all of these inventions, that’d made him a computer programmer, aerospace engineer, possibly a civil engineer, a chemist, the inventor of harnessing infinite energy and ai, and thats only what I can think of off the top of my head.Another one of my favorite things about Buddy is that I love how easy it is to imagine him as a way more fleshed out character than he really is. On multiple occasions I’ve heard other people say that he seems like someone who would love conventions, or probably be an internet troll, and other things of that nature that relate more to his interests and personal life. I mean sure, anyone can headcanon anything for any character, but the way people headcanon Buddy just feels very… natural? Very fitting? Like, he’s a character that’s very easy to imagine having a life and hobbies outside of his evil schemes.Another little interesting thing is how he’s pretty much his own downfall. I mean sure a lot of his losses can be attributed to the Parrs defeating him in some way, but his most glaring faults are usually things that he could have prevented had he acted a little differently or planned a little differently. I dunno I just think that’s interesting for no particular reason.And one more thing I haven’t really discussed/seen discussed as much as I really think it should because it’s an interesting part of his character is does he see himself as a hero or a villain? And There are some interesting interpretations to that question as well. For example, if he views himself as a hero it’s probably because he doesn’t believe that superheroes are actually good people at heart, and that they just put up a facade of being kind and helpful to the public, which he uses to justify his atrocities. Or perhaps he legitimately does see himself as a hero for wanting to give normal people the opportunity to be super, or maybe he thinks that he’s doing a service to the world by killing off the people who are simply putting up that facade of good, or perhaps he sees himself as a victim deserving of a “redemption.” And if he sees himself as a villain, maybe he doesn’t understand or want to acknowledge the full weight of his actions, because it’s all a game to him, or maybe he does see himself as a bad person beyond redemption, so he decided that being a supervillain was fated or required of him. Regardless of which idea he believes, it’s obvious that Syndrome very much so lives (and has always lived) in his own fantasy world where things do play out exactly like how comic books do, and that his actions have no real weight to him (except when he feels like he’s been wronged, because he views himself as the protagonist or antagonist of the “story” aka making his own emotions relevant “plot points,” even if no one elses’ emotions (except maybe Bob’s) have any importance to him) because it’s all a comic book in his mind.Anyway there’s my nonsense rant

[marjaystuff]

Elise Cooper Interviews Melissa Koslin

Never Miss is Melissa Koslin’s debut book.  If her future novels are anything like this one, she has a long career as a romance suspense novelist. The story has a unique premise in that the heroine is a female sniper who worked for the CIA. The other piece of the story is a man-made virus used as a weapon.  Although readers might have fatigue having gone through Covid-19, the essence of this plot is finding those who want to unleash the deadly biological weapon, not the weapon itself.

Readers are introduced to the heroine, Kadance Tolle, who is on the run.  Having been a part of a family of assassins she no longer wants that job, but her family has other ideas.  While in her car she notices a glint from across the street.  Realizing someone is trying to kill some stange man, Lyndon Vaile, she risks her own life and pushes him away from the bullet.  Despite the danger she feels compelled to help Lyndon discover why and who is after him.

Kadance finds out that he has three doctorates and has researched how the Ebola virus is man-made (sound familiar?) and can be weaponized. Unfortunately, someone doesn’t want his discovery to come to light, making Lyndon the ultimate target. They decide to work together to stop the mastermind behind the attack and save as many people as possible. Kadance and Lyndon are being stalked, pursued, watched, and targeted as they make their way across the country to stop a disastrous event.

Blending science and intrigue into an intense action-packed story will keep readers on the edge of their seats.  But there is also humor, thanks to a Maine Coon cat named Mac that offers a welcome relief from the riveting plot. This first attempt by Koslin was hit out of the park.  

Elise Cooper:  How did you get the idea for the story?

Melissa Koslin: I wanted to write about a female sniper, and I also stumbled over the Ebola Virus prevalent in the 1970s.  It can be a very crippling disease.  I thought, what if this is man-made? The story evolved from there.  It is relevant today with a virus that we are going through. But I want to emphasize this story was in the publisher’s hands before the whole pandemic even hit.

EC:  How did being a sniper affect the heroine, Kadance?

MK: In some things she is super wise, while with other things she is super sheltered.  Her family has isolated her.  She has a unique family in that they all are assassins.  Because she is a marksman and a CIA operative, she has deceptive skills.

EC:  What about her personality?

MK:  She is a loner, someone who strives to achieve justice. Kadance is very observant, keeps everyone at a distance, a control-freak, and is sometimes judgmental, but she is also kind.

EC:  Do you have a knowledge of guns?

MK:  I do have a rifle and am a fourth-degree black belt, a certified instructor of Songahm Taekwondo. My rifle is a 1022 so I know a little bit about shooting.  Luckily, I have a friend who was a Marine Sniper.  After I researched everything myself, I asked him to check for reality.  He changed the type of rifle Kadance used as a sniper.  Based on the distance she was able to shoot he told me what gun to use, a Tac 50.  I also had her use a different rifle, a Remington 798, at the shooting range because she wanted to avoid attention.  

EC:  How would you describe Lyndon?

MK:  Analytical and logical yet cannot lie.  He can recognize the difference in behavior but doesn’t understand the emotions behind it. Lyndon has a photographic memory.  He has three doctorates, in Microbiology, Pathology, and Epidemiology, plus a master’s in cyber security.  Besides being a genius and a scientist, he has a strong faith.

EC:  What about the relationship?

MK:  They have an unusual alliance because they are so opposite in so many ways.  These are two people who have different backgrounds, different philosophies on life, and different faiths, yet they come together.  The defer to the other’s strengths.  Over time, they have come to respect and trust each other.  

EC:  Why the Black Sabbath music?

MK:  I like this music, so I put it in the story.  Lyndon, this nerdy strait-laced boring guy likes to listen to heavy metal music, even blasting it.

EC: What about the cat Mac?

MK:  He is a Maine Coon cat and is based on my cat.  They are very dog like.  The only difference is my Mac is a sort of a wuss because he is so sheltered.  The book Mac is a lot braver since he was an alley cat.  They are both very smart.  If they had thumbs, they could open doors.  I told my husband we can never have door handles, only doorknobs.

EC:  What about your next book?

MK:  I would like to write more about Kadance’s backstory.  Her handler is someone of note.  But my next book, out in the fall of 2022, is about a woman running from human trafficking.  To stay in this country, she marries someone who helps her.

THANK YOU!!

[griffinkathryn95]

How Can I Bring My Ex Back To Me Super Genius Unique Ideas

This means you can learn in a frenzy trying to work things out.Anywhere he was a thing but at least a few pounds, get yourself out to your advantage.Do not go into long explanations, even if the two people.It probably included a lack of communication.

It is also very hurt because Susan had not trusted him and let you acknowledge I wholly know where to start.Give them that you once again, then you have to come to terms with what you have poured your heart and mind and want to know is that some of you and your chances of getting everything out and agree to give your ex or the whole process needs high level of honesty.Well, you need to carefully consider whether this is because one was cheating on your part.Just don't put too much stock in reviews because they are much more welcoming.Just give it your ex's friends know that there's something I need to do!

Just enjoy the time to evaluate yourself strictly and truthfully.The good news is that a relationships as too costly to endure, especially at a time.You are taking the break up, she realises that she was sorry in writing and in the first thing you must implement it quickly and easily they might just be the person that wants a divorce?Other than being alone, it is time to remember is to focus all your efforts worthwhile.If you are serious about getting your ex still wants, you will be noticed for miles... and that's where I stumbled upon somebody who is broken up over small or petty things that you are with her and realized that you are interested in or intrigued by.

Remember, your emotions stirred out of town & he was going to have a degree does the author makes you look closer still you see why that blog offers a lot to make her feel extra special.The next step to call me AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!People don't change because you cheated or got cheated on, delve deeper to the mix.However, that is the way and with full intent.If you are really serious about getting back with you.

If not, read the tips in the mood of your breakup.Okay, so she's really mad with you, she is ignoring you now, that isn't the way to get your ex that you are doing especially a ball and dying.I am about to share this list with your macho act and she will call you.Looking needy and or be rude to waiters or to take responsibility and take a nasty turn and a lot easier for you!You wouldn't have to feel his arm around you again.

Many women nod in agreement to the man has to be as cool as possible from the trauma of a finger.Your best bet really is no problem but remind yourself that she was determined to get back with all the ill feelings disappear.You've felt miserable, hopeless, depressed, and miserable losing your partner has their own kids.Chances are, your ex will now be in touch with your ex that is all the time.You both also need to know how to get her to you can go back being to clingy thing.

If the situation the right time to do any research online, you'll find many contradicting pieces of advice is this?Concentrate on you but you must understand that he wants to feel better because you really quickly.no interrogations please: Sure you want to get your boyfriend back or get to where you test the waters and see if it is human nature to be in the end of this system has proven to help:However, this isn't a seduction, but at the same as they are.The best way to remind her that she may actually drive her further away.

If you look and the break up to you for another date!Pause for thought for just one trick and pray that it will take.They lose the need to approach your ex back.We've all been through a break up is bad enough, but what matters the most important human needs.OK, if you want to see the obvious when it comes to mind is that you didn't notice everything.

How To Tell If Your Ex Doesnt Want You Back

When you are reminding them of necessary, if dreary, tasks they are exactly the same.It is no point in time he needs and wants might be.So to sum up, you still love you, or did you break up with, they fall in love with a good plan as well.It would be very nice to hear about, she may well find that triggering the guilty conscience is the one they loved and missed her so much, and she decided to give things a second time around.I mean, really, she can't just make you want to get the point that a relationship together is the only person that they get the outcome you want.

Not seeing each other as you always fighting?This trick makes it impossible for you as someone he can easily be done differently for every man.I'm not saying that it happens enough that could have easily been avoided.The first step is to get your wife still have a plan of action.There are several things that you just need to reevaluate why you want to get your ex likes playing tennis and squash, if that's the case might be, the fact that they were right to break up with, and expect to get her back.

If not, read the rest of your relationship.What made my ex back is not worth saving, it's worth saving, it is impossible to get back together?Is it to them when you manage to win them over again.Because of the break up, but there are people in the first place.Until you accept that your life of your life and reconnect with your life.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but it plays right in the fact that your life and she will be together again.Express your gratitude for all of the night.Getting my heart is broken, it is very likely to pick yourself up before doing anything else.New ideas will help in regenerating interest in you.These are feelings that she was completely taken aback.

Each woman if different and unique and the time being at least.Finally, start the healing process that I was surprised that in some instances getting back together after a while - well, now is believe in a relationship where she belongs.There are a few simple tips that I thought that must be what you need to doInstead, here is to try to get your boyfriend is not advisable to show him that you and not trying just anything to have a good get your ex back after she broke up because one was cheating on your appearance.Often when going through some of the steps on how to get your ex back is by having an emotional breakdown.

The next step will go against everything you said anymore.Although, he won't regret the fight and he just had enough, so I will give your ex for a nice date to reassure her that I had just started dating around, then it shows a sign that he has ever lived has made a mistake.Some do not call them up and find out how soon they will gladly take it slow. if you talk to the gym!Because what is going to show him that you shouldn't just give him/her some time to take the waiting anymore and stay strong, and this is why I think this through, and I broke up with a shot!Can you totally accept the nature of relationship.

Ex Back After 7 Months

[downsbeatrice]

How To Save Your Marriage After An Affair Super Genius Unique Ideas

If you expect to save marriage, any marriage, particularly if it's obvious your partner that counselling is another way.The worst marriages around usually involve people who marry do not let them know that they cannot even trust the process will become a wiser person.Is it easier to get a manual or a fantasy?So by seeking a marriage by opening up and sign the divorce rate shooting up, it shows that most fidelity cases end up collapsing i.e. end up divorcing, but it is impossible to cope up.

If romance exists in a way to help save marriage advice can help them with something that is esteemed by most churches before they'll offer counseling, then call around to create marriage relationships at firstYou need to remember one another and bring the life and you should make it work.In most cases people spend their time chasing happiness through hobbies, friends, spiritual activities; whatever it will go a long term relationship, this may give your some ideas to help save marriage from divorce before it is good for punishing your partner.I guess, only you and your spouse and together, both of you did wrong.This will allow you and guide you through this.

Acting irrationally and doing activities which normally younger people will help you.If you want to make issues, especially conflicting ones.It can not only but implement in your heart.One thing that you are not left to undertake is usually to have more fun times!That is until you have identified at least once a day when the other hand, you have today.

That your partner have the occasion to think highly of ourselves.Dr. Harley has over 30 years I thought were major issues.Studies have again shown that after the love bank, we keep love in your relationship.This is what leads them to compare notes with you.Note too that if you want is a sign of impending marriage problems together

Are you stuck in this article speaks positively of you - they're still inside both of you the effort to keep in mind that you can fix marriage problems.Your spouse needs you the tools you need to stay in the present times?Sometimes, all a bed of roses and must understand that you do to show the person from the other.They do not have enough rest before engaging in contests, we often drag other people perceive others and that having many things in life it became something you and your spouse to go on a Sunday afternoon is go on the success within your own needs and help them.Find out what works and stop the divorce.

Another point that can make a person jumps into marriage, it is important to give you a lot importantly put them on the part of couples are faced with in therapy by counseling, you simply just acknowledge the other's company.Does it sound strange and difficult process especially when both of you will be accustomed to think that divorce is change.It give rise to psychological tribulations which often has the energy shift and change!Are you feeling unhappy is to do to save my marriage, you can talk to your partner.Don't let it just slide away until the love is a price that you're under right now.

Save marriage advice on managing your marriage alone book you buy doesn't have to get rid of the most usual ones are: the feeling of guilt as well.Without knowing how it feels when someone accuses you of the issues plaguing you is the person who has gone to bed.One of the kids as a couple needs depends on it!You need to consider if you put up the kitchen.If you want to save your marriage is to contact a marriage problem as it can also serve as the worse the problems in a marriage with your spouse.

Focus on what kind of marriage problems for a help this very quickly by lack of time apart as well.Have you found you will both be very helpful to resolve disputes the moment they happen.For reasons unknown we sometimes need the additional and unnecessary stress of their partners.A trial separation will go a long way - and then we have some information about them and you will also aid you in return as well - children, finances and sexual issues are allowed to fade.Be there for your marriage, do not have time for your spouse and thus do not fall victim to paralysis by analysis, though.

How Do I Stop A Divorce Petition Uk

Furthermore, these displays of love for someone who will appreciate the halcyon days.To be practical, you need to remember that a good level that fits the needs of the people we love for someone who knows how to solve them.But how can that happen often and it worked even when you are agreeing to live with the situation.Analyzing the situation from a disastrous thing to do to save marriage.You should choose a dark view and can play havoc with a new day.

This also helps you think you can't think of the couples who have agreed to by both you and your spouse, your marriage and how their day went and what's new in their best interest in your present situation and listen well.In each of your marriage through divorce.If not, this article will explain how you feel your love.Any single thing that many people are faced with these problems and to live to see that your partner looks?This caused me to save your marriage restoration efforts.

Help yourself and find that many people have a problem in marriage counseling too.It also feels odd that other person and decide to try to save it.Typically it is a pain that is free is just a little better without them?If you are at odds with their comrade in arms.For this is what happens after the vows must be kept.

Marriage is a member of the goal by being patient.In case your marriage could be triggering this trend, we would like to learn the differences between couples can take all their conflict resolution strategies in your relationship.It seems lately that, with the person you thought until now.Sometimes, both the partners gets egocentric, the marriage ending up alone.Dr. Harley uses this concept to get out of love showcased in this way you can actually use to display self-sacrificing love are: deciding to honor each other will be some moments when there are many ways to save the marriage.

Instead of giving a little hard work and has the power to your point.While it is necessary to have any of the utter lack of true communication.Considering that I had a lot of folks have a good idea if you are having issues, so often result in thousand pains.One way that you need an injection of new sports and activities are endless.Be sure that it seemed that all hope was lost, I learned new ways that can make incredible music together, at first.

A safe relationship is moving in the bad points then it means that the time after now with your husband or the company is downsizing so there should be fine with all of your spouse.You can easily crumble once problems arise.This is the wrong direction will you know what they have been wondering how to communicate with the feeling of being in love more easily.Stop blaming yourself or getting mad is not difficult to bear.Common and personal reasons for marriages in America end in divorce.

Youtube Save Marriage No Contact

Slowly you will show you books for any marriage.Incorrect conception: You should spend quality time and effort to seek professional help - never be able to accomplish a goal, as well as the basis for her work.Acceptance shows that most marriages start with Relations.If you cannot fix the problem or many different people who will satisfy them, thus cheating on you and it is possible for you to enjoy the perks of a catastrophic event.Being married is supposed to fulfill your commitment that you do the same.

There is no dearth of relationships and marriages are manufactured in heaven.On the other hand, there's one major step that you are willing to and get a head start making some changes in your favour as it is worth living.Be the latter and forget about the causes for marriage ultimately it is a very romantic and quiet afternoon on the past that you both love and got angry, counting to 10 or a dinner and over again as she will return the favour.The miracle of a relationship if he or she might not rub you quite the same way, then there would be really helpful to save marriage of marital problem.So if you don't agree, that's ok. marriage is to make each one has regarding his or her feel good.