#I could honestly talk about this episode for a solid hour

[moonsanoverthinker]

One thing that will never fail to make me sob uncontrollably is Doctor Who series 7, episode 5 /The Angels Take Manhattan

[candycandy00]

The most hilarious thing in the world to me is watching all the right wing morons freaking out over X-Men 97 being “woke” and accidentally revealing that they have in fact never read an X-Men comic book and if they watched the old cartoon at all, it was only in passing and they never paid attention to it.

I’m not even talking about the fact that the X-Men have always met their definition of “woke”, even from the very beginning. No, I’m talking about the utterly baffling number of straight up factual errors I see them spouting. It’s absolutely embarrassing. They present themselves as fans, and are the exact type of guys who would gatekeep comics and assume any random woman in a comic store is a “fake fan”, but they have no clue about some of the most iconic elements from both the comics and the old cartoon!

I watched a video by a guy who had no idea Morph was a character in the old cartoon, and had never even heard of the Age of Apocalypse (one of the most famous X-Men stories in existence). I watched another by a guy freaking out over Storm’s Mohawk, not realizing it’s part of one of her most iconic looks from the 80’s. He showed a picture of her in her first costume from the comics (on a cover of X-Men Classic of all things) that looked way sexier than she was normally drawn when wearing that costume. Then said they “toned down” her look for the original cartoon, not knowing that her cartoon look was an exact replica of her look in the comics when the cartoon was made. They didn’t tone down anything. That was just what she looked like in the comics at the time.

The new cartoon is great. And I say this as a person who was totally obsessed with the old cartoon to the point that it worried my parents. To the point that I (a super calm and well behaved child) threw a massive tantrum when I realized the VCR had failed to record a new episode while I wasn’t home and cried on the couch for hours. To the point that my entire family still, to this day, knows every character’s name (and real name!) without ever watching the show because I talked about it so much.

I’ve never had a problem with “fake fans” of anything, because I figure if you fake something like that, odds are good that you’ll end up genuinely getting into whatever you’re pretending to like. And more fans of something is always a good thing in my book. But when those fake fans are actively trashing something I love just to grift to their narrow minded audiences, using completely false information, it’s ridiculous.

Honestly I wish I could just force these guys to read any storyline from Claremont’s 80’s run. It doesn’t even matter which one. They’re all solid gold. But maybe reading something so freaking great would open their tiny minds just a little bit.

[yuriio]

What about Yuri on Ice kept you watching it? I've been looking for a new anime to watch and it looks good!

I'mma try to keep this relatively short shdhdfjdkdk

So... When Yuri on Ice premiered, I was watching episodes as they dropped in Sub on sketchy streaming sites. I was 15? I'm pretty sure. So... Young. And, as any young 15 year old girl in fandom... I started watching because of the cute guys and the shipping.

Of course, that isn't why I stayed. What made me stay, was the way this story was presented. I wasn't even into figure skating at the time, and yet, I was enthralled with the almost insider-look at the sport. What resonated with me was how we were introduced to Yūri. He was depressed, kind of in this limbo state. It resonated with me, having just transplanted into a new school for the first time and having left everyone I knew behind. Lost and depressed.

So, watching his development as a character was a HUGE factor in me sticking with the anime. Also... Watching a MLM relationship portrayed as so natural for the first time out of any other animes I had seen at that point in time. It wasn't overly sexualized, it was just... Nice. I don't know how else to describe that. I absolutely adored watching Viktor and Yūri's grow throughout.

Yurio my beloved. I love that boy. He's a brat and he's conflicted in parts and it just makes so much sense for him. Given what we know of his early childhood... God. Yeah that hits home for me and it's no wonder I clung to him like a whole lifeline. Honestly, even if you stripped everything else away that I love about the show... I would still watch religiously for him.

The music is phenomenal. Yuri on Ice (the song) easily moves me to tears still. I get SO emotional over some of the pieces.

I won't get into how it all hits as a now-skater, that's a whole different post in and of itself. And... The fandom was also a whole thing when the anime dropped. That made a huge difference for me, especially being in the cosplay scene. The fandom is still FAR from dead, don't get me wrong, but it was a lot more lively back in the day lol.

I could talk for hours about this show- it's not everyone's cup of tea, being a sports anime, but I highly encourage giving it a solid try!

[thelunadiviner]

i was tagged by @renegadeem DAYS ago (sowwy for how late this is!) so... it is time!

"9 people you want to get to know better"

3 ships:

valenwind--i mean... come on LOL this one has been with me since i was 11 or 12 (over a decade now!). extremely foundational and, even when i wasn't actively into FF7, has been on my mind ever since i played the game years ago. something something red and blue gays, something something dark hair and blonde hair, something something short and tall. they just fulfill so many good "tropes" and also god i just like these characters SO much its unbelievable. i cannot wait for (what i hope is) the sheer amount of screenshots and screen records of the third part of FF7:R when they are PLAYABLE. the party banter... oh lord...

VKaz--ok... so i am actually a massive Metal Gear Solid fan. i got into it around-ish the same time as i got into FF7 and wow did it change my brain chemistry. there are a few MGS ships that are bone deep in me, but VKaz does something else to me. its blinding. its visceral. its like... wow. it doesn't help that Kaz is probably my favorite character in the game and Venom is sooooo. yeah. cute... idk! but i could probably talk about these guys for literally hours. and it would be incomprehensible. ik this is my squeenix blog but if anyone ever wants to talk MGS with me...

tie (sorry LOL) between akusai and stakhemy--those are so so so different but whatever LOL. akusai is also ages old, one of my first ships. i actually used to be much more into xemsai but akusai has taken the reins. KH is also a decade+ interest of mine (my late childhood/early teen trifecta was KH, FF7, and MGS) so i have so much to say... also i think i am in love with Saix lowkey. now, stakhemy is a new one and much more niche (any Pathologic fans?). i made one of the best character/ship spotify playlists ever for those guys. whenever i think of Rubin i become a little ill. i just find them so fascinating (Patho is super interesting on its own anyways).

first ship: whoooo boy. probably Link/Sheik? LoZ was like. my first ever THING i got into. i used to play pretend in my yard wearing a green tunic and a green santa hat i cut the puff off of to live out my Twilight Princess Link dreams. if not Link/Sheik, then probably xemsai.

last song: Respite On The Spitalfields by Ghost (on a massive Ghost kick because of a friend, its all ive been listening to... my favorite by them is Twenties and/or I Believe)

last TV show: i just watched the 5th episode of Interview with the Vampire this morning with a bestie, but the last show i finished was True Detective season 1 (for the 2nd time... i'm obsessed.. i have a sideblog...)

currently reading: i have been trying to finish Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman for over a year atp but 1. i am a slow ass reader, 2. i started it over already, 3. something sad happened so i got discouraged, 4. im so busy and am trying to learn to get better about reading (ADHD moment)

currently eating: nothing atm but i did have a creme brulee cream puff from one of my fav bakeries (shouldn't have spent the money but my name change court hearing was a success so i celebrated <3)

currently craving: im always craving something i love food LOL honestly the first thing that came into my head was a smoothie... but i also love all Asian cuisine and there's this amazing place nearby that has a bomb Pad See-Ew

thank you sm for tagging me!! i cannot think of anyone really to tag atm so i'll probably come back and do that later when i'm less busy.

[piglii]

btw I have not finished Umineko (I’m literally on the last leg of Episode 8, shortly after an important jump happens) but I’m so gushing with things to say about that I feel like I need to type this all out now (will start with impressions that are non-spoilery and go into impressions that are big spoilers. there will be a dividing line which I earnestly recommend you do not cross if you have any interest reading it yourself.)

anyways

Non-Spoiler Section

Absolutely 10/10 for me. Can feel like a climb at times but that feeling increasingly goes away as you get used to the pacing. Any fumbles Umineko has for me personally are so small in the grander scope of what it’s doing that it doesn’t even feel worth acknowledging them. Literally a story that is going to affect my view on life. I really fell for the charm of Ryukishi’s goofy ass old sprites too after a while, it’s really compelling to me that Ryukishi was able to make such a good, earnest story while having kind of limited drawing ability. I’m dead ass serious, it’s really inspirational. The quality of the writing and voice acting especially is so good that after a short while you kind of don’t even process that the sprites look kind of silly-goofy at all. I highly recommend playing with the original sprites and voice acting if you can.

And the music! holy shit I can’t imagine getting through this story without the music! The fucking 1800′s pipe organ songs one minute, intense trance the next, distorted choir singing, a mellow beat that’s sampling that fucking ambulance siren! Probably my top faves are Infant Queen Bee, Golden Nocturne, far, Rain, Daydream’s End, Fall, Miragecoordinator, Melting Away, Dead Angle, Hope and probably like 15 more I’m forgetting. Absolute banger of a soundtrack. Virtually no misses and the ones that hit, HIT. I think I have spent nearly as much time listening to the soundtrack in between sessions as I have just playing the game itself.

I won’t go into detail about what the central messages of Umineko are because they could ostensibly be spoilers but they are pretty fucking hard to miss. If you have two eyeballs and a brain you will probably figure them out as you go because Ryukishi is NOT subtle about what he wants to say. He will smash you with a hammer making sure you get it. But it’s less of a giant metal warhammer and more of a little wooden mallet that he’s just hitting on your knee every 20 minutes to make sure you’re awake and following along.

The writing honestly can be very... it straddles the line between very straightforward descriptions and waxing very poetic about a particular topic. I won’t even say it’s particularly the best prose ever or anything - I think Ryukishi’s biggest talent is simply in how he’s able to convey the characters by always having a really solid understanding of how they react to things. Maybe his worst flaw is that sometimes he includes a scene or concept where I’m like  “oh Ryukishi just thought this would be super fucking cool” but I can’t even hate because most of the time it is super fucking cool actually. Umineko is so dripping with earnest cheesiness in a lot of its delivery and character interactions that I can’t help but like it most of the time. Granted I am biased because I do enjoy stuff that is earnestly cheesy like 90% of the time. The goofy ass anime interactions characters sometimes have are used just sparingly enough and contrasted with the serious scenes that I found pretty much all of it enjoyable for what it was. 

Be warned it is 150+ hours (faster if you are just reading but seriously those voice actors are top tier, big recommend) but it really needs... at least most of that time. I struggle to find a single exact point that I would shorten any part of Umineko because so much of it really is required to understand what the story’s going for but at the same time sometimes Ryukishi does love to sit you down and talk about the process of liquidating gold into cash money for 30 minutes. A lot of the worst of that is in the first episode to be honest so if you can get past that you’re probably golden. It’s got a hell of a hook by the end of episode 1. Go in as blind as possible and enjoy yourself.

 And now, for the spoilers.

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Spoiler Section

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Don’t Go Beyond This Point If You Haven’t Read It, Seriously Holy Fuck!!!

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Seriously, The Author Wants You To Go In Blind!

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Alright.

All the losers are gone let’s partay.

Heads up I’m a little blasted so this might be a bit scrambled and all around the place so sorry, just writing stuff as I think about it.

I really adore the way that Beatrice is in literally every layer of this story. Like the concept of the masses being in such a rush to figure out what the truth of the Rokkenjima Massacre is that they end up literally trampling over the deeply embedded and sad story of Beatrice really gets to me. Like, the people who are looking at the Massacre from the angle that she even “exists” at all literally only see Beatrice as a piece in their own constructed games, an explanation that’s just one step to figuring out what was really important. But of course, Beatrice IS the heart of the story. The whole family is arranged around her like a web and she’s right at the center. She’s in every possible layer of this story that she can be, she’s the connecting fabric of everything important.

Also I really adored Battler and Ange as characters. It’s rare that a main character feels so relatable but I ended up really enjoying his personality by around episode 2 or 3. He’s just so stupid but also earnest and flustered. Try to give him a slight pass on episode 1 because he is supposed to be kind of dumb and immature on purpose... even if it probably could’ve been toned down maybe just a bit. He gets better, I promise.

(btw literally been here. so relatable.)

anyways moving on. Ange. absolutely enjoyed the hell out of her story in episode 4 and was so glad to see that she’s basically the conclusion to the whole Ushiromiya family story in the final episode as well. also, her being the focus of this really inspirational message of what it means to move forward with your life was really well done. it’s insane to me that people are still out there trying to “figure out” the mystery when Umineko tells you as bluntly as it possibly can that it doesn’t really matter - finding out what “really” happened can’t bring closure no matter what and holding and walking this tenuous tightrope between belief and non-belief is a better way to live. her goodbye with the family and battler was about where it got me pretty good I could not fucking hold back crying at that.

and speaking of the family at large, I really like pretty much all of them! even the stinkers are fun to make fun of. also, Eva in particular is the milf of all time for me, personally. in fact thinking on it the only character I can really think that still rubs me badly (even though it is of course entirely intentional that the reader feels this way) is Rosa. good fucking lord the moments of episode 4 with Maria and Rosa’s relationship being explored (or rather, the complete lack of it except for the spouts of child abuse) really hit me. that... is probably the most I’ve ever been emotionally effected by a piece of media in a long ass time, it was a rough chapter to get through. that said ryukishi’s understanding of domestic abuse is fucking incredible, does not surprise me that he was a social worker before working on VNs. beyond even just that dynamic he clearly has an understanding of the kind of broken adults that come out of highly abusive households. the final game of episode 8 with ange getting to see this world that could theoretically have been real had kinzo chosen love in the future versus love in the past was so sincerely sweet to me. sorry I am a sucker for sappy shit, it got me.

anyways let’s talk about the illusions. loved them all too. feels obvious to say but Beatrice is one of the characters of all time. also really liked Ronove, his and battler’s occasional moments of being bros out of nowhere were really enjoyable to me. also sorry gamers Virgilia is another milf of all time. loved her tender and sweet personality. but as for beatrice and co as a whole - I do enjoy what Ryukishi has to say about fiction. Indulging too much of your life in fiction is ultimately harmful but it can be a valuable crutch to people who are dealing with life or even just people who could stand to learn and grow more. it’s also such a loving letter to mystery as a genre, you can really tell Ryukishi was going hog for mystery at the time. and it does work as a completely conventional mystery too - figuring out stuff as you go and putting the pieces slowly together is a huge blast! I loved the scenes where he’s clearly celebrating that with the readers who tried their best to understand the story.

I managed to avoid most spoilers - the ones I saw beforehand were really minor and didn’t really help me in putting the mystery together - that said, I really only figured out that Shannon and Kanon were being performed by the same person not terribly long before the game revealed it pretty directly - I think only a few hours ahead of time. that said, I really did give it my all, I’m just not super good at mysteries. I did pick up on some hints early on, like being able to figure out some of the early closed rooms but I didn’t have enough context to join them all together and realize the Truth before the game spelled it out for me. and tbh, that’s fine! I loved how the game congratulated people who simply try to figure it out for themselves, regardless of if they’re successful.

btw it also took me so fucking long to read because I was reading it side by side with a friend (who had read the manga but not the VN) and we basically set it up to auto play (with japanese voice acting + the original sprites of course.) we’d play intermittently roughly every few months in leaps and progress little by little. I can’t fucking believe I wasn’t spoiled on any of the major elements playing like that, it’s a fucking miracle. we started reading it on and off like that nearly two years ago now but honestly it was worth.

god I have so many thing I could spend rambling on about this manga but it genuinely is up there with, like, War and Peace and Crime and Punishment and I’m not even joking. there’s some of what I would call “Goofy Anime Bullshit” that happens (and it’s especially coated in that layer of stuff you only really got in the late aughts anime communities) but even that I found pretty enjoyably silly after a short period of time and just ended up rolling with it. if you know someone who can see past that layer of Goofy Anime Bullshit and enjoys reading 150+ hour long visual novels, this is the thing for them.

and speaking of the length boy fucking howdy. it’s worth it. the amount of time dedicated to fleshing out every character and making me understand what kind of person they are underneath everything else really makes me appreciate everybody in this fucked up family unit. it’s not something you could replicate in a movie or any reasonably lengthy manga. the magic of getting to know the whole family, flaws and all, really sells you on what a tragedy it is regardless of what happened. there are so many early scenes where I was like, “okay what’s the point of this” that I look back in hindsight and I’m either like "oh that was actually super fucking important and I just didn’t realize it” or “oh this was giving me time to become familiar with this character.” fuck man, I even liked Hideyoshi and he almost didn’t do shit!

btw I got the culprits in bernkastel’s game figured out in one try (with the help of my friend bouncing ideas off of eachother)

feels good, feels organic, thank you, etc

anyways... I think that about wraps it up for me... honestly just a stellar game. It feels like one of those things where I’m going to catch myself thinking about the themes and what it was trying to say, just like Disco Elysium or a lot of Wildbow’s works or EEAAO. It almost makes me wish this story was in a more conventional book form because I think you could tell the core of what’s there but at the same time I don’t think it’d be worth losing all the other aspects that make it so memorable. It’s going to have probably 1/100th the readers it could have just for being a long VN rather than a long book series but I’d honestly rather have it this way. It’s such a weirdly specific gem of that era of internet-anime culture that I think the time has already passed that anything quite like it could come out. What a special little piece of media.  If I have more to say after finishing out the ending proper I‘ll probably just edit my impressions on to this post and reblog again at a later date.

EDIT: It is now two days later and I have finished everything, including the last “????” segment. My thoughts on the ending - I liked it. It’s very sweet and depending on how you want to interpret certain facets of what you see, it can be read several different ways. Of course the way the narrative is set up, it very much wants you to pick the most optimistic interpretation but I like that there’s always room to explore just a bit. The point of whether Beatrice as a witch is real or not is entirely beside the point almost - there was a woman named Beatrice who brought happiness to her family (at least, in one world) as well as she could given her fucked up circumstances. That’s honestly all there really is to say on it. I can very much vibe with that message.

I was also earnestly expecting the last scene of Umineko to be even more bittersweet than it ended up being - I was really waiting for the very last scene to be Ange literally throwing away the key to Eva’s diary into the ocean. That is kind of what happens in a way, and the scenes in which they do explore Ange opening the diary and reading it are left deliberately obscure (as they should be) but I was really expecting it to be even more poignant than that. I was thinking Ange would literally never see the diary in any part of the story the reader saw at any point. It would’ve been very Titanic-esque in a way - Ange throwing away the only way for her to even possibly know what happened on Rokkenjima. The story does effectively do this, kind of, anyways, it’s just a lot more roundabout.

But yeah. Supremely sweet story. I will probably be thinking about it for much of my life.

[noblechaton]

now that I've more definitively finished series 5 I can comfortably say that it was probably my least favorite run of the revival to this point lmao. at the very best it's on part with series 3 - the weakest of the RTD era - while at its worst it's genuinely unwatchable

there's definitely some merit here though. it's very entertaining if you stop expecting character beats to be sprinkled in while in a general sense it performs its role of entertainment really well. it's flashy and snappy and loud from the first minute of The Eleventh Hour and rarely slows down from there. there was a clear desire to continue the more Epic nature of the show that had started bubbling up during series 4 where it was, yanno, kind of earned

but that bombastic nature is kind of the biggest positive about it. gone are the deeper meanings and narratives, character introspection is often relegated to jokes or just kind of unearned. any depth the RTD era might have carried did not get passed on here, with 11 being a huge asshole for like 9 out of 13 episodes while you could remove Amy from every episode and I doubt I'd notice

Moffat clearly leaned more towards a fairy tale interpretation of the Doctor and the world around them, but it largely falls flat because characters are rarely humanized. everyone seems to be carrying the punchline to someone else's joke and little else. there's a magic to certain things, sure, and it does start to trend upwards near the end of the series, but it's bogged down by this weirdly incessant need for quips and jokes regardless of the situation. imagine if at the end of the Library two parter, the Doctor and Donna had a fuckin laugh in the TARDIS. like c'mon

generally speaking too I found 11 to be more annoying than I remembered. he constantly talks about not having a plan and constantly makes these weird little aside jokes during his ramblings but we don't really see him ever be genuine or nice to anyone for a long while - certainly not towards Amy, either, who he at times seems to fucking hate lmao. multiple times I wondered why she kept on with him, but she never once really seems to want to go home because of how she's treated and only does after some harrowing adventure seems to wake her up - until it doesn't! like idk if she just wanted to fuck the guy that badly - the scene where she both jumps him and spreads out for him is so sincerely embarrassing I cannot believe it got filmed - or if she was just. stubborn? stupid? we don't get much from Amy, not enough to know her at least, to the point that fucking Rory, a guy in like five episodes, is a better character than her. what the fuck!

there's also more of a reliance on CGI this series than before and while I don't tend to fault TV CGI all that much it really starts to get difficult to brush off or otherwise ignore when a lot of elements are CGI'd in and that CGI just. doesn't hold up. the CGI during RTD's era wasn't great, but it was often more skillfully utilized and so it was at least more charming than it is here. similarly, I noticed the ADR was way fucking worse this time around than I'd ever noticed before. entire exchanges come through that were clearly recorded in a booth somewhere and it's really funny honestly

ultimately I think series 5 does play to Moffat's strengths to good effect at times - the opening of Eleventh Hour with 11 and Amelia is still really solid, a lot of the timey whimey fucky wucky stuff is done with consistency enough that you can sorta easily follow it - but all too often you can kinda see his stories straining now that they aren't just one offs in someone else's narrative. a lot of the other writers similarly seemed to struggle, given just how bad some stories get. the Silurian two parter was genuinely so bad I wondered why they brought them back, while the Angel two parter feels as if it was made to sabotage the angels as a concept lmao

it's not all bad, and it's certainly entertaining enough all the same. Vincent and the Doctor still holds up, the Lodger was more fun than you might expect, Amy's Choice is largely fun while I even enjoyed the finale stuff to a point, and Christmas Carol is a genuine standout among the holiday specials (mostly because it's. actually focused on Christmas this time around. lmao), and there's solid moments spread throughout even the worst of the episodes, with the best of them being obviously focused on humanity and relatable traits - a thing the RTD era unabashedly leaned into

but it's such a step down from the peak that was series 4. all the character work is just gone, everything feels so much less thoughtful and the characters themselves tend to range from annoying to boring and little else. there are always gonna be growing pains when crews behind the scenes change like they did here, but some of series 5 is worse beyond that excuse. I can see why it stayed hot, why it caught on even more so and why so many fell in love with this series - it's entertaining if you don't look too deep, the characters enjoyable if you don't expect much from them, Matt and Karen have obvious chemistry as leads despite the best efforts to stamp that out - but as I feel right now, it's super overrated and largely just sort of okay at best with a few great highlights and some drastic lowlights all the same. far from a classic, but still not the dirt worst I guess

at least series 6 is. Moffat at his Moffiest!

[cubedmango]

Just had to get this off my chest but I just rewatched episode 12 and when I tell you the tears would NOT stop flowing like I have the nastiest headache right now I can’t believe myself?? There’s just. There was so much going on there like the fact that I realised I actually like tsuge and his character like his friendship with adachi is so solid and I realised that the conversation he had with him in the cafe, was exactly what he kinda should have had with kurosawa? (Like yeah they do eventually on the rooftop) but like that reassurance that the magic wasn’t what would make their relationship stable it was them actually just communicating with each other and getting to learn abt e/o that way, mistakes included like OOF I thought it was really nice cause it had the romantic aspect with him and kurosawa, but also him realising that it applies for any relationship including his friendships with people too I just. Man I love how they placed so much importance and value on all kinds of relationships with people you come across in life :( AND THEN the rooftop scene oh jeez,,, something funny I always wondered about was how long adachi was riding that bike cause we went from broad daylight to nighttime but ANYWAY can I just say hearing kurosawa say ‘adachi?’ In that soft, unsure voice as though he couldn’t believe his eyes felt like m*rder I had to pause and collect myself . also can I just say I forgot. How tender that entire scene is like that’s when I truly broke down because Are They Insane. What do you mean they have an entire conversation with kurosawa literally cradling the back of adachi’s head and there’s a moment there where he re-adjusts his hand and closes his eyes to breathe and naina I- I’m losing my mind why,, why did they have to invent gentle intimacy like that WHY? Okay lemme stop myself because I’m realising I could talk about that scene for 10 hours straight but can we seriously focus on the fact that even though they literally broke up kurosawa was ready to essentially propose if adachi somehow still showed up for their date. Like the levels to that make my head spin and i’m not even gonna touch on the fact that adachi immediately starts crying after that cause I will lay down and never get up like it probably set in again that the love kurosawa has for him is unconditional and like he just mentioned that he couldn’t possibly fathom anyone else having his heart apart from adachi like oh…. I’m so sorry this is unbelievably long but lastly I just wanna say that I know for sure they were called in the next day after kissing in the lift for a meeting with hr

1) do not apologize ever . actually u should send me more of these i need to read all of them ur thoughts are like tasty treats for my brain

2) honestly i thought i had nothing to add but actually i remembered a detail ive seen literally no one talk about that makes me so insane . so u remember how tsuge mentions that minato heard from rokkaku about krdc being off at work and thats why tsuge came to talk to adachi and ultimately gave him the push to go see kurosawa. Like?? rokkaku being that worried about his seniors who he cares about So Much is the One Single Reason krdc even met again that day .???? and then him and fujisaki doing their own fireworks show just to maybe make "someone feel happier" ouughghfgghhh ,, ,. rokkaku ultimate protector of the gays i love he.........

3) also tiny detail during the bit where adachi says he regrets it and hes being all self-deprecating and u can See kurosawa shaking his head not wanting adachi to talk about himself like that. whhwt .. why. who thought. w. hey ?? did they think about me?????? when they wrote that????????? Huh??????????????????????

4) why would u remind me of the head cradle i feel sick i .. i have to watch the scene 10 times again excuse me

5) again. the fact that kurosawa considered an Actual Miracle that adachi would show up and probably believed it wouldnt happen but he bought the pens anyway . and he knew adachi would be too embarrassed about rings. head in hands i cannot , fucking do this this show makes me so Unwell!!!!! Its Fucked UP !!!!!!!!!

[peacerisendove]

Big Ethel Energy S2 Episode 24

ALRIGHT! I wrote these reactions the day they were released so if anything is inaccurate/doesn't make sense that's why.

These next few episodes are just going to be quick and dirty reactions.

Episode 24

Almost?! YOU DID LEAVE HIM LOCKED OUT! 7HRS IS LOCKED OUT. this wasn’t thirty minutes it was 7HRS WHERE YOU PURPOSEFULLY AVOIDED TALKING TO HIM ETHEL!!

YOU’RE MAKING HER BRUNCH?! I’D BE PISSED OFF!! God the way this comic puts Ethel on a pedestal SUCKS. I’m screaming guys. I’m screaming Tim should not be the one apologizing OR MAKING HER BRUNCH.

-SCREAMS-

OK, ETHEL ADMITS SHE WAS A JERK (WHICH IS THE BARE MINIMUM IN MY OPINION), BUT WHO THE FUCK MAKES SOMEONE BREAKFAST AFTER IGNORING THEM FOR 7HRS AND NOT HELPING THEM WHEN THEY WERE LOCKED OUT OF THE APARTMENT, AND

IF YOU WANT CONFLICT IN THIS STORY MAKE IT REAL AND BETWEEN FRIENDS. Like this would have been interesting for a fight/and argument/ a disagreement between friends to drag out. You hurt someone there are consequences!! This comic long standing lacks consequences and things always get better for Ethel and it's so unrealistic and uninteresting.

Honestly if you want a good comic to read that deals with life, young adulthood, friendships (and set in the early/mid 2000s; it's very good) I suggest you read Octopus Pie by Meredith Gran (I'm linking to the about page so you can read the author's summary).

ALSO, ETHEL, YOU SHOULD BE THANKING JUGHEAD FOR KEEPING HIM COMPANY FOR 7 HOURS. THAT IS A GOOD FRIEND/ GENERALLY JUST GOOD SAMARITAN BEHAVIOR. He did you a solid that he did not need to do.

BABE HE WAS THREATENED BY JUGHEAD OF ALL PEOPLE. HE COULD BREAK HIM LIKE A TWIG AND HE WANTED TO FIGHT HIM. Yes, in a weird vaguely defensive way (which was uncalled for because he was dismissing how Ethel felt.) So yeah I wouldn't bee my money on BEE Moose for anything.

[centaurianthropology]

Classic Who Rewatch: An Unearthly Child and a Rocky Beginning

In order to dig into Doctor Who, particularly classic Who, it’s important to actually discuss what it was originally intended to be rather than what it later became.  Premiering in 1963, the show was designed to be semi-educational, particularly about history, while still being entertaining.  Its ideas of education were … interesting, and often feel very dated.  Because the era of the First Doctor hewed most closely to this original concept, it suffers the most from feeling extremely dated.  The concepts of ‘civilized’ vs ‘uncivilized’ people gets brought up often, and this is not exactly a show that was originally progressive in its depiction of minorities or other cultures.

Because of this, the William Hartnell era can often be fairly difficult to watch.  Add in the writing which tends to be dry and heavily expository, and some grand old bad Shakespeare acting, and it’s easily the most difficult era of Doctor Who to get through for a modern viewer.  Even by the Second Doctor things feel infinitely more kind, more modern, and less painfully outdated.  

It’s clear that the show doesn’t quite know what it wants to be during these early days, but some concepts are established that remain true throughout the entirety of classic Who.  The Doctor is there, though not quite the rather inspiring, mischevous, dangerous and kind character he will be even by his second incarnation.  He also comes complete with companions, though they too will undergo something of a revolution from very unwilling sort-of-kidnapped humans to best friends.  

The structure of the show, however, does not change at all.  Classic ‘Doctor Who’ functions as serial storytelling rather than episodic, with multiple half-hour episodes coming together to tell a longer story.  I honestly like the format, as it allows for more in-depth storytelling.  The shortest adventure is about 2 episodes, and the longest (hello ‘War Games’) is 10. Most are about 4 episodes long, or about 2 hours.  For the good adventures, it gives the story time to breathe and really go in-depth.  For the less amazing adventures, that means a lot of padding and unneccessary bits to fill out the time.

‘An Unearthly Child’ exemplifies some of the less amazing parts of the Hartnell era, from a selfish and deeply unhelpful Doctor to some incredibly iffy writing after the initial, solid episode.  

The story begins fairly well, with the first episode setting up a mystery: history teacher Barbara Wright and science teacher Ian Chesterton are lamenting their oddball problem student, Susan Foreman, a fifteen-year-old genius who could teach Ian’s classes, constantly contradicts Barbara, and seems to know certain things perfectly while not knowing other things like how money works. She’s eerie, friendly but very strange. And Barbara is worried that she might be homeless or being mistreated by her mysterious grandfather.  Barbara went to her address, hoping to talk to her about her homework, but found that Susan’s claimed address was a junkyard.  Following her leads, the two of them return to the junkyard to find an old blue police box and an old man.  This old man seems superior and dismissive of them and their concerns about Susan’s wellbeing, which eventually leads to Ian and Barbara breaking into the box when Susan herself opens it to discover what’s taking her grandfather so long to rejoin her.

And so we get our first view of the TARDIS.  Even at this early in the run of the show it has an alien beauty to it, played up in its stark whiteness that really stands out in the black-and-white presentation.  Susan and her grandfather reveal that they’re alien (the term Time Lord has not yet been invented), and it’s almost impressive how insistent Barbara is that Susan is making up the space she’s standing directly in.  Ian, meanwhile, doesn’t so much deny what’s happening as have a nervous breakdown over it.

The Doctor, for the old man is the Doctor, joins them and decides that they’ve stayed too long on Earth and that it was a mistake to let Susan go and attend school.  He’s paranoid, and it’s unclear if he has good reason or not.  He does reveal that he and Susan are outcasts of their home planet, unable to return home, though it seems that at this point the Doctor very much wishes to go home.  He seems regretful that he decided to run away, and confused about how to raise a child as young as his granddaughter, who he loves but very clearly doesn’t understand.  It was she who insisted on going to school and trying to blend in.  He seems much more interested in hiding and avoiding humanity and interfering as much as possible.  

There are so many questions at this point: what are these aliens, for they are aliens, and where do they come from?  Why can’t they go back when it’s clear that they’ve hit a point they want to.  The Doctor does not seem interested in adventure or discovery, although his natural curiosity does tend to get piqued and he’ll wander off to explore, so not all of his drive to learn and understand has been destroyed at this point in his obviously long first life.  

But mostly he’s afraid.  He and Susan are running, and Ian and Barbara are risks to their safety, so he decides to kidnap these two schoolteachers rather than let them go tell ... someone ... about a blue box that’s bigger on the inside.  This early Doctor is not yet the genius he will be in later incarnations.  He honestly seems human, not any brighter than Barbara or Ian, except he has access to and an understanding of the TARDIS.  But his conclusions and decisions often seem deeply ill advised.

So Ian and Barbara become the first human companions in the TARDIS, entirely unwillingly.  The ship takes off, it’s obvious the Doctor is terrible at controlling it, and they land … somewhere.

It’s honestly a good first episode.  It sets up a lot of mystery, makes Ian and Barbara ordinary contrasts to the obvious strangeness of the Doctor and Susan.  The lead cast is solid across the board, though I think that special props in this episode go to Carole Ann Ford as Susan, who gets a real chance to show how inhuman she is, while still being recognizably a child and both desperate to please and fascinated by the world around her.  Ian and Barbara are both played very well, though they’re given less to do, and this is one of William Hartnell’s best performances in the show.  He’s particularly good when highlighting his wonder and reverence of being ‘wanderers in the Fourth Dimension’, and gives the same alien vibe that Susan does with great aplomb.

And then comes the rest of the adventure.  Oof.

After they leave, there are several episodes about cavemen.  I have watched this adventure multiple times and I still can’t tell you what the plot was for this bunch of episodes, except it has to do with fire, and its mysogynistic as shit (this will unfortunately be a recurring theme in Hartnell’s episodes especially.  It gets better in Troughton’s episodes, and even better by Pertwee’s).  

But yeah, there’s a whole thing about cavemen, and it’s bad.  The writing is stilted in the way only 1960s tv writing could be, half-bad-Shakespeare-knockoff, half-ham-handed-exposition.  Think the worst of the TOS Star Trek episodes.  It’s tough to get through between the bad caveman acting and the constant screaming of Susan and Barbara, who had a lot of their cleverness and level-headedness promptly stripped away (this is another recurring problem in early Who that most female companions promptly get screamy).  Ian acquits himself a bit better than the rest, and the Doctor doesn’t have much to do at all.

Honestly, most of the adventure is a complete mess.  Not a good start at all.  The very first episode is a solid foundation, but as soon as the party starts traveling it gets awkward fast.  The actors are trying to carry the ball of a simply bad script.  The Doctor in these early episodes is fairly insufferable, mostly wanting to be left alone and to not interfere and definitely not interested in saving people.  It’s a good character arc for him to grow into someone more compassionate and willing to risk himself to save others, but it’s one that was inevitably going to have a rocky start.  Add that to a weak first adventure and it’s almost a wonder that the show survived.

But survive it did.  And there are glimmers of why.  When Hartnell decides to play up the mystery and power of the Doctor, when he talks about traveling in time and their homeworld, he really is wonderful.  Both he and Susan do feel alien, particularly in the first episode.  Ian and Barbara, as unwilling as they are, are both given moments to be clever and resourceful, and the actors, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill, have very good chemistry and play off one another well.  William Russell especially is good at naturalistic acting, and brings out quite a lot of good in his scene partners.  But the writing was bad, the cavemen were terrible, and I am amazed that this pilot ended up becoming the media juggernaut that it did.

As I said at the beginning, ‘Doctor Who’ had a rough start.  There are good reasons to start with the Pertwee era rather than Hartnell, but there is still some gold to be mined here.  It’s just that we have to dig through a fair amount of shit to find it.

[theoncomingdoo-dah]

Episode 1.4 Aliens of London

so no one cares but I started watching breaking bad today. I have never seen it so this is my first exposure. it's really damn good so far.

ANYWAYS I remember really liking this episode! Let's go!

Nine just cheesing when Rose is walking off to see her mum.

Also the music starts off so sentimental to just distort and waver down when the 'missing' poster is in shot

And the PANIK in Nines face when he sees the poster.

Also love the face when he says "not 12 hours, it's 12 months. Sorry.' like whoopsie!

BAD WOLF MENTIONED (Like BIG TIME ITS THERE ON THE TARDIS)

Jackie is such a mom. That is a compliment. She's written so believably, like yeah, my mom would go off on me like that too. Holy shit.

And poor Nine. He's just standing there. Soooo awkward. He really just can't do domestics.

The utter offense Rose and Nine get when the officer asks if what's between them is a sexual thing. Not yet dude, they're still figuring things out.

"How old are you then? 40? 45?" Nines face like nope, not even

"STITCH THIS MATE" we stan Jackie Tyler in this house.

Rose's face during this whole thing...she's been here before. Absolutely.

Any scene with Rose and Jackie hits me hard because it reminds me of me and my mom. I'm an only child, just like Rose. I'm my moms baby. At one point, it was just me and her. And honestly I could see my mom acting just like Jackie does in this situation.

"I don't do families." Sure, Jan.

Remember when I said Nine and Rose can't stay mad at each other? Stays true in this interaction. Rose goes from saying "You're so useless..." to Nine to laughing at his jokes.

"Your face!" "It hurts!" "You're so gay!" Just, them. Being them. I love them.

Of course the spaceship hits Big Ben. This is Doctor Who after all.

FANTASTIC

"I'm so glad we got you." 🙄

Another scene that puts Nine waaaaay out of his element. Back at the Tyler's flat with all their friends. He just looks so uncomfortable.

and where's he's wrestling the remote away from the little boy pffft

HARRIET JONES THERE SHE IS

Yes the fart jokes are terrible but I'm also a child and I think they're great and the fact that they actually give a reason for why it happens is pretty great and makes it even funnier

tbh I'd take fart jokes over awkwardly written innuendo any day

"It's just a bit human in there for me." He doesn't even sound disgusted when he speaks, more unnerved? Stressed? Aww.

And the utter JOY he has over the human race actually evolving and changing is wonderful! the fact that he doesn't want to interfere because he wants it to happen naturally!

"TARDIS key." more like "We're moving in together. My home is now your home." Everytime it happens, it's wonderful.

Rose looks all giddy with the key in her hand. 🥹

ELLO E.T

"DOCTAAAAAAAH-!" *CRASH!*

"Damn, you've seen through my cunning plan." The fucking delivery of this line xD

NINE SHUSHING THE SCREWDRIVER. it's such a small scene but I freaking love it

Then walking in on the soliders and smiling at their pointed guns. sirrrrrr

BUT THEN FOLLOW HIM WHEN HE SOUNDS LIKE HE KNOWS WHAT HES TALKING ABOUT

The genuine hurt when they shoot the pig alien. God I love nine. 🥺

"I'm shaking my BOOTY." It's so cheesy and stupid I love it

Seriously, The Slitheen are great. Goofy mother fuckers but when it comes down to brass tacks they are ruthless and terrifying. Those are the best kind of DW baddies.

Honestly, Mickey is justified in how he feels. Accused over and over of killing your girlfriend.

"He's not my boyfriend, Mickey! He's better than that. He's much more important." Yeah I'm completely normal about this line.

"Ricky"

"Think you know your own name, how stupid are you?" NINE CHILL

He's honestly such a twit to Mickey but it's too funny I'm sorry

God you can just see the cracks in Mickey and Rose's relationship. And they weren't caused by the Doctor. They were always there. :(

"I had a wife, mistress and a young farmer." "God I was busy." Jesus Christ.

eeeeyyyy it's UNIT.

"Take me to your leader!"

And then the car ride banter. And him waving at the press!! Sir I just love you so much

"Lloyd George used to drink me under the table." See this is funny because the Doctor really doesn't drink. At all. Each time they've tasted alcohol it makes them gag.

AND HOW INSISTENT HE IS THAT ROSE STAYS WITH HIM GAAAAAH

Look at Rose being all capable without the Doctor around! Looking around for alien technology with Harriet! She's so amazing I love her

"Excuse me, you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?" Iconic.

Maybe I'm immune to bad CG because this isn't even that terrible?

ngl though these costumes are pretty damn sweet.

Conclusion:

Yeah this episode is still a banger. still a big fan of the Slitheen. not my favorite alien in DW (that would probably be the Ood. I miss the Ood...)

I'll be watching WW3 tomorrow probably. Night!

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Kickstarter of Death Battle is live! Thoughts?

//Oh man, where do I begin?

//First of all, I almost missed it. I wasn't expecting them to drop such big announcements randomly, but man am I into it now.

//Thankfully, they managed to reach their kickstarter goal within like, half an hour of that video being posted. So that's good.

//I'm a little confused how the episodes are gonna work now. I don't know if there's gonna be a season 11 or if they're just gonna be uploading regular videos now at their own pace. It's not like they have a deadline for these anymore, lest they set one for themselves.

//As for the matchups so far, I think both of the newly revealed one's are extremely solid.

//But before I talk about those, I'm glad to hear that the team are still going ahead with the Tom Vs Wile. E fight, like they said they would. After having a long long while to sit on it, I'm doubling down on Tom taking the win in the fight, simply because of how Wile. E suffers far more failures than Tom does, and the lack of reliability on his traps would really do him in. But of the currently revealed fights, it's the one that interests me the least.

//Honestly, while I knew that Bardock VS Omni-Man was a popular matchup that they did a DB Cast for, I never expected that we would actually get it as an episode. I kind of thought Omni-Man would be a one and done character, but I'm not complaining. I really liked Omni-Man VS Homelander as an episode, but I feel like I'll enjoy Omni-Man VS Bardock as a fight more, because Bardock is much closer to Nolan's power level than Homelander was. That being said, I still kind of expect Nolan to take the win because he has far more feats to his name than Bardock does. Not only that, but his baseline power without his transformations is likely lower than Omni-Man's, and Viltrumites have exceptional regenerative abilities and endurance that the Saiyan's don't, which means even if Bardock as a Super Saiyan can severely injure him, he could keep going. But just seeing Bardock in an episode makes me excited, because he is generally one of my favourite Dragon Ball characters.

//But Bowser VS Eggman was FOR SURE a LONG TIME COMING. Mario and Sonic have two episodes in the series of them facing against each other, and I really really wanted to see how things would turn out when their villains fought each other. Moro looks like he's killing it already just from the previews; and it's by far the one that I'm most excited for so far. As for who I think would win, it's a little tricky. In a direct confrontation, Eggman's technological superiority and strategic mind would likely give him the edge, and his robots are quite likely to overwhelm Bowser's forces. However, Bowser's resilience, magical abilities, and the sheer number of his minions would give him a chance. Assuming Bowser managed to close the distance and engage Eggman directly, his physical prowess could turn the tide; however, Eggman's propensity for creating powerful defenses and deploying overwhelming technological firepower gives him an advantage if he manages to draw the fight out. So while I'm rooting for Bowser; since he is my favourite of the two; I ultimately think Eggman takes it, assuming he can leverage his assets effectively.

//I'm just glad to see the team back, because they are all good people despite what some will tell you. And if it is true that some requested matchups will catch their eye, I might sign up purely so I can put in a request for Hajime Vs Deku. Not that I expect the matchup to arrive any time soon, but I'm happy to wait another 10 years for it if that's what it takes.

-Mod

[cozza-frenzy]

how does unfusing consciously work? I thought that was soemthing that only happens in cases of splitting, and how does doing science in the inner world make you unfuse?

Terry: Okay so, full disclaimer I guess - this sort of thing is pretty much uncharted territory in terms of solid facts. Don't expect me to cite sources, because they literally don't exist. Dissociative Identity Disorder - as a lived experience from the perspective of a system - is not well-researched or well-documented. The only thing remotely similar to what we managed to do that I've seen mentioned in actual literature, is the use of "rituals" to achieve fusion or "revive" an alter the system is convinced has died. But that said... the reason I mention rituals, is because in "meta terms", we basically needed a way to trick our brain into having a reason to separate Roy and Bitter. But for details, I'm actually going to hand this one over to Roy and Bitter - given this directly involves them and was the result of their own will, they're the ones best qualified to talk about this.

Roy: Okay so, both me and Bitter still existed as individuals - he'd been dormant, but when he woke up he was sharing a body with me in the inner world. In more "meta" terms, our brain was making both of us occupy the same space; wherever my part went, it was dragging his part around with me. And whenever one of us became fully conscious (fronted) the other would be there along for the ride (in a semi-conscious state), and this was causing problems for the system. Bitter: Nobody was happy about this. I was dysphoric, being aware of being in my in-sys body inside another in-sys body was giving me a headache while at front, and given we both shared the same "pool" of energy, neither of us could do our jobs properly. Roy: So together, we made the conscious decision to re-separate - but we needed a way to convince our subconscious that something had caused this to happen. And with some help from Hyi, I took things back to my in-system laboratory, and spent a few days without sleep (never going fully unconscious) planning and building. In meta terms, as Terry put it, I suppose you could call it writing a damn good story to tell our uncooperative brain, so it would actually let us follow through on what we decided to do. One artificial body, some bottled lightning I'd been saving for a special occasion, and a modified version of my Mind Transfer Machine later, and we separated successfully. The effort knocked the body out for a period of more than 12 hours, but since then we've been able to behave independently without our consciousnesses being "conjoined". Bitter: As evident from the fact we're both co-conscious right now, but keep tripping over each other to front. It's honestly a huge relief that we could make this work; we've done "rituals" before to achieve fusion (which varied from a Steven Universe-like "fusion dance" to writing up and signing an adoption contract) but we've never heard of anyone consciously separating a failed one. Don't know if that makes us the first, but if anyone else is struggling with an unstable subsystem, I hope it gives them a possible way out.

Roy: Trying to live this way can be hard sometimes, but my source was a world where nobody got to decide anything for themselves - our lives were literally scripted, our episodes already written, our actions pre-determined. Once I showed up here and realized not only could I choose to do things but my choices mattered, I've made it my life's goal to stick two middle fingers up at anyone who says you can't. This is my home. This is my chosen family. And I'll tear our inner reality apart at the seams if if means they get to stay safe and happy.

[threeeyesslitthroat]

i think the hardest thing about watching the new PJO show is that I'm realizing that this isn't really the adaptation that I expected.

Frankly, the show is fine. Literally. The only thing that is saving this show's ass at this point is that they casted the characters really well. I really hate the fact that I'm saying this but the show is mid. And yes the show isn't done yet but it is mid.

Honestly I realized it too late but the PJO series would have worked best as a film series, not a television series. The first movie by Fox? (Am never, ever, acknowledging the second one) Pretty much its only actual crime was trying to squeeze the lightning thief into two hours. And so far it's a better adaptation of the energy and pace that the lightning thief novel actually has. (That movie failed in characterization by a lot but I'm going for energy and pace here)

Really, the pjo tv show is really throwing off my groove rn because in universe the world's very ass is at stake here and it's cutting its pace into bite sized chunks it is killing the energy.

I've always believed that the pjo series should have been a film series and the the tv show is proving me right. Personally they should have taken notes from Michael Bay and made four hour movies like his transformers.

No seriously, they should have taken a lot of notes from Michael Bay and his transformers movies. Say what you will but that guy was like really efficient in providing information to the audience (to the point of being blunt but the principle is there to learn from) and his fight scenes and maintaining a high stakes energy through most of the series. You could really just take those factors and combine with the heart and character of PJO and you have a kick ass series that could have the emotional resonance of Lord of The Rings and the hype of Endgame/Infinity War and blow the profits of the Harry Potter Series out of the water. I'm talking major ass smer blockbusters that become pop culture icons in their own right.

Seriously, PJO always had the potential for what I just described and they really aren't realizing it whatsoever.

Seriously I do have my reasons to dislike RR but I will say that the pace of the books is very nice. Really nice. They have a slightly slower pace, since the quests take place over a minimum of two weeks or less, in contrast to the Bay transformers films that take place over four to six days max. But RR was also really good at maintaing a pretty high energy story. Sure he slowed it down enough to have emotional moments but still, high energy throughout. That's why the final chapters of The Last Olympian literally feel like a massive weight is off the readers shoulders. At long last the end goal of the world not ending has been met. We no longer have to worry about next book of death risking adventures.

Like I know its been a while since I've tead pjo but those novels are imprinted in my brain and I know that those novels were very high paced. A pcae that isn't suitable for television because to cut that pace into episodes is to neuter the shit out of the original experience.

Honestly Heroes of Olympus is what deserves a tv show. Heroes of Olympus takes place over the span of months, probably eighteen or so, a good portion of the story is literally just traveling over the United states to over the sea to Europe and Tartarus to back to the United states. Listen I know Heroes of Olympus has bigger problems but honestly each and every one of those novels would make a less than solid film. They would create cool scenes, and have good acting and design, but seriously, imagine trying to put Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus as well as the adventures of the remaining seven in the same three hour movie. It would barely work. TV show is better for Heroes of Olympus than PJO, especially if it has a fraction of Game of thrones budget. Imagine 50-82 minute length episodes, for Heroes of Olympus, specifically.

And honestly Magnus Chase (if it ever gets green lit by the time I'm 39) should definitely be a film trilogy, preferably R-rated, considering its pace and energy.

*the Kane Chronicles are harder to pin down because at the very least Moon Knight proves that Egyptian myth cam be entertaining tv but the Kane Chronicles frankly, weren't RR's strongest in the first place. Especially because Egyptian mythology operates on a different style to GrecoRoman and this it's world building is a touch more complex and not in the intriguing way.

*also Im ignoring the Trials of Apollo because I didn't read them and I don't want to.

[garebearandnan]

LITG S2 EP15 Pt1 Love in the Air

POSTED on A03 and Wattpad.

NOTE: Some believe that if you and your significant other witness two dragonflies mating, it is a sign that your relationship has developed into something truly special. It could also be an indication that a relationship like this is in your future.

SUMMARY: It’s Day 12 in the Villa. The place where Islanders who recouple stay together. Bobby and Ibrahim are scheming whilst Priya and Noah are having their own discussions.

CHAPTER TEXT: You settle into the dinghy next to Gary. “May not be a romantic gondola, but it’ll do.” Your legs brush against each other. The dinghy drifts gently across the water as you both enjoy the bright sunlight. “It's a good scene, isn't it?”

“It's unbelievable,” you replied, smiling, but the buzzing gets louder.

He strokes your cheek for just a second and then grins. “It is fucking beautiful.”

The cosy moment is abruptly interrupted. You scream, standing up, trying to get away from two flying insects. “Oh, my God, what was that?” While you are off balance, the dinghy almost tips over.

“Fuck,” he cries out, grabbing your legs and trying to keep you both from falling into the pool. You put your hands on his shoulders to steady yourself. His muscles are strong and solid. “They're just dragonflies, Grace.”

“That one was massive. It was, like, buzzing right in my ear.”

As you settle back down his arm moves behind your shoulders. “It's fine! Relax, relax!”

“I've never seen that before!”

He questioned, “Never seen that?”

“What IS that?” You asked, pointing at the dragonflies.

“You’ve never seen two dragonflies fucking before? You blushed and he smiled. Damn, how can a pretty bird be so adorable and sexy at the same time.

“Oh.” You pause to look at him and bite your lip. The two of you watch as the dragonfly pair fly about connected tail-to-head.

Gary comments: “When the male is ready to mate, he will grab the female by the neck with his pincers or his genitalia. The female makes a bending motion, bringing her genital opening into contact with the male's organ. The couple forms a heart as they fly together. It can take them many hours to mate.”

Grace (thinking): Holy fuck.

You share a flirty smile with each other, chemistry in the air. “My nan says it’s good luck to see dragonflies mating.” Gary grins at you and tucks a loose strand behind your ear. 

Trending On Twitter:

@samberg1996. Good for Priya and Noah. I think they’d make a good couple.

@jlopez76. I am shook to my core about Noah and Priya! What happened to honesty? What happened to integrity? People …integrity, look it up.

@ Jens12018. Noah and Priya talking about him picking her? It's shady AF. This is the sneakiest thing she’s done even stealing Gary from Grace. Poor Ibrahim! I thought they were a good couple. I felt so bad for him because she mentioned several times that they were a strong couple and she was happy with him. Then all of a sudden, she says their relationship isn’t going anywhere.

@diehardLI. Lottie is irritating, but honestly, since the whole basis for her crush on Gary is one kiss and Gary says multiple times he isn’t even into Lottie.

@lindseyHun21. I really like Gary and Grace as a couple. They are so sweet together. He’s a melt around her.

@WoodandWife. Big agree. Love this crane obsessed man for her.

@geostyler009. This episode of Love Island was totally al dente!

[hawkstincan]

I tend to avoid reading comments to avoid the mind stuck I am currently having. 

I finished Ted Lasso yesterday. and I was happy with the final, you know? I thought it was good. not perfect, but a solid good final. 

now? now I can't stop thinking, did I watch it wrong, did I feel it wrong, was I in the wrong? so I need to ramble here about it.

I have three main mindsets when I’m watching something: 

— excited viewer. I love everything and don’t see bad things (for too long or don’t think about them) until I get over my love-love-love phase. usually includes binge watching without sleep (yeah, i finished Ted Lasso after work and had no sleep for about 33 hours)

— annoyed viewer. I see all the bad. I hate those things. I whine about it. I talk to my laptop about it. can watch an episode per month. or two. or three…

— bored viewer. yeah. just don’t care and go through the motions. I really hate not finishing something I've started.

with Ted Lasso it was love from the first sight. I was as excited as it humanly possible. I loved all of the characters, even the types which usually annoy me. the show was just so good. I watched a season in one go. and then the second in another. and then the third. and I was genuinely happy about the final. except for the Roy&Jamie&Keeley bullshit. damn, that bar talk and the fight and their talk with Keeley… that was the fuck up. my mind went straight into denial there. oh, and with Ted not at the wedding. he was there. he must be there. we just never saw him for some reason. no way in hell Ted missed Beard’s wedding. 

but Ted’s leaving? that was okay. i thought it was logical for him. and in a way the right thing for him to do. he needed to go back to his son. yeah, he may have tried other options, but i honestly don’t think Michelle would have agreed to move to London. or to let her son move to London. and i honestly can’t imagine Ted suing her for custody of their son. it’s not a Ted thing to do. and he missed his home. it was rather plain wasn’t it? he missed his country, his son, he wasn’t over his feelings for Michelle. Ted needed closure and he could never get it without actual conversations and time with Michelle. i wish Ted stayed with the team. but i get why he moved back.

Roy&Jamie&Keeley… clusterfuck that should have never happened. especially after Roy and Jamie fucking acknowledged they were friends! WE JUST HAD THIS:

and the beginning of their talk… and damn i was never that fast with going into denial. 

i love Rebecca’s random pilot dude. it’s just… i do love them together. that’s all. they have chemistry and understanding and it’s so nice that i just love it. i can’t help myself. i was waiting for the guy to reappear and i was happy when he did. so yeah. call me stupid i love them.      

Rupert aka comics villain… fits quite nicely? look. i get why people wasn’t happy about him… but i am okay with him being just shallow asshole and comics villain. not all people evolve and change. not all people can get better. and honestly he always was a mean dick. and it’s not like he has no second chances. he was given second chances. like he could be a better husband in his second marriage. was he? nope. then he got another blow. maybe after that last fuck up he’ll finally look around and start to change.

there was something else I wanted to ramble about before I went to sleep yesterday, but I can't remember it. so i guess that’s all. I needed to let those thoughts out of my head.

[survivor-trinidad-and-tobago]

Episode 13: "Garfgoyle give me strength 🙏🏽"—Tony

In this round: After Michael begging Tony to flip for several rounds, Tony finally makes the jump; Zee absolutely dominates 24-Hour Tasks; Champ plays a Safety Without Power since she lost her vote due to Masochism anyway; Champ gives the Bank Your Vote advantage she got from eman to Zee, who banks her vote; and Jack is left as the only one in that alliance able to receive OR cast votes, which sends him to Purgatory even with his Grow As You Go idol nullifying two votes

Alex

Michael's a fucking king. Like. Pulling that Chaos Idol out of his back pocket like that? Incredible. Then the teamwork of each of us figuring out a step in making it happen? OBSESSED WITH THOSE TWO!!! Everyone on the other side is blatantly lying to either me or Kaleigh LMAO except for Tony so MAYBE we can get Tony to work with us to take out Champ tomorrow. That's gonna rely pretty heavily on Michael, I know, and it feels like he'd be in kind of a tough spot no matter who comes back from Purgatory if he did flip, but also Tony might see it as an opportunity to make a move in this game since the girls are running the show over there. If not, I'll go to rocks, I don't care lmao and I know Kaleigh feels the same way. Lemme go out on my terms, baby. Not sure about Michael, he's been feeling too rough post wisdom teeth surgery to talk game, but I do feel that he'd be more willing to go to rocks than Jack or Tony. Entering merge, I wouldn't have guessed I would've been working so opposite Eman this game, and it sucks that's how that played out, but it just seemed like we didn't see each other as actual options for moving forward together (even before the Colin vote). I really thought Eman or Tony were gonna win Masochism and save each other, though.

--

Anyways 24 hours tasks is the bane of my existence. I legit was playing it all through the night while still camping and hanging with friends and I still feel like I'm not doing enough so that's super fun. I'm afraid to take a shower in case I miss another post that I'll probably fuck up by misreading a component of the prompt. So we're having a fun time right now. I don't feel like I'm going to win this game and I have no idea how many words this is but I'm hoping that we've reached 50 because I'm not living la vida loca right now.

Kaleigh

this game is honestly driving me crazy. I can’t believe that zee is so far ahead of everyone even though Alex and I both stayed up until like 6 AM and Tony has been really playing his little heart out. This is just crazy I really don’t want Zee to win immunity LMAO I don’t even know why I don’t think we’re going for her but I guess we’ll see. poor michael is still laid up with his jaw swollen from wisdom teeth surgery so it truly is just me and alex LOL god i hope we can get tony to swing to our side. here’s hoping !! pray for us!!

Michael

Seems like the challenge is over already but why not do one. Also my mom kept me from posting in time. This round has been exciting to say the least. At the previous tribal council my alliance and I were able to pull off a successful play of the chaos idol, which only adds to my resume at this point. I fear that this makes me a large target? But I can't let fear keep me from making moves. Classic survivor bby.

Zee

They had us in the first half, I'm not gonna lie. I woke up at seven this morning after going to sleep super late last night because I thought people would sleep and I could catch up. I woke up FORTY POINTS BEHIND. Anyway nobody really went to sleep but I've mostly made that up by now with a solid 20 point lead, I'm just unsure if I can keep that up until the deadline tonight

Champ

Omg sorry I have like 15 minutes to put this in! I’m gonna play my safety without power so I’ll be in final 6! Yay :)

Kaleigh

okay that 24 hour task challenge was hell on earth. and also kinda fun. but would have been more fun if i won. i stayed up till SIX AM TO LOSE. LIKE! okay hats off to zee tho she fought for her life fr. um. so. last night’s tribal. was nuts. a little bit before it started, michael sent me and alex info about this CHAOS IDOL advantage he had purchased (FROM WHERE ? STILL DONT KNOW) and he had to solve a riddle and then unscramble a sentence and say the sentence at tribal to activate it. fucken a. we did it. we did it ALL!! anyway the chaos idol protects whoever has had a vote cast against them, so we voted for each other and evvvvveryone else voted for alex. so we 3 were protected and they had to revote one of them out lmfaooo a couple mins into voting, eman was like put the votes on me, i’ll come back! and they ended up going home, with just two votes on jack. it was an insane move. michael is rly pissing these ppl off LMFAOOO i am obsessed. zee messaged me before tribal yday and was like girl i j wanna let u know they are gunning for u LMFAOOO BABY YOU REALLY THINK I AM A FOOL!!! LIKE WHAT!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO! after tribal she messages me and is like “i convinced them to vote for alex!” HAHAHAHA MY GODDD!!! now she’s trying to convince me that michael is a huge threat blah blah we should vote him out no one would see it coming if i swapped to them lmaoo. god. i was like babes champ doesn’t have a vote why would i swap now. lets go to rocks babes. idc. she also kept trying to convince me that michael is talking to everyone over there and apologizing for flipping and wants to work with them LMFAOOO NOT THE MICHAEL I KNOW!!!!!!!! so she is being wild, jack and champ are both messaging me without talking game, like y’all please give me a break. please. please! god i’m so glad we dont have tribal tonight. i am dog sitting this chihuahua who literally will whine until i TUCK HIM IN. WITH A BLANKET. it’s absolutely insane and adorable. michael thinks we can get tony to flip to us, which like… tony should. absolutely. but will he? i don’t FUCKING know. would it be a bigger move to flip to us to get one of them out, or to trick us into trusting him and get one of us out? either way he’s on the bottom of either alliance and is boned :( like, oopsies. um. idk if we’re gonna toss all our votes on 1 person and hope for no idol or put 2 each on champ and jack and hope they dont have an extra vote or whatever, then revote after the tie and get champ out. still dyin to know who PREVAILED in purgatory today. will i play my steal a vote? my idol? i dont knoooooow. it depends on what they do and who’s back from purgatory. ok. i’m tired.

Michael

Soooo, I think my time is near. I very well may be going home tonight. Zee and Champ are trying to Flip Kaleigh, and I honestly wouldn't blame her for flipping now but Zee and Champ are a dangerous duo. Hopefully Kaleigh stays with us, I absolutely adore playing with Kaleigh. But my spidersense is tingling hardcore. I've had fun!

Tony

That last challenge was hella fun! But goddamn I cannot stay up to save my life. Eman and I had something solid going with our alliance, but with them gone it’s time for me to flip over to the 28+ club. I’m making the flip at tomorrows tribal. Garfgoyle give me strength 🙏🏽. We’re gonna have to be smart about this, but from here on out, it’s gotta be Michael and I to the end 🤙🏽

Alex

It's funny that, like, one of my earliest confessionals in the game was me talking about like 'oooh am I gonna play a villian game???' after the lie about the extra vote being just a Shot in the Dark and now I'm ride or die with Michael and Kaleigh to the point that I am willing to go home tonight in rocks or have Kaleigh play her idol on Michael instead of me. And if that's the case, then the girls are playing are playing better than I thought because they are actually banking on us having an idol and believing they're gonna target Michael this time even though they've targeted me twice. Oh well. We'll see what happens.

Jack

I’ve been super busy but even with my two negated votes with the amulet I still think I will go home lol hopefully me champ and zee r all safe but we’ll see

Tribal Council

Lost Votes: Champ, Zee

Jack: Michael (sry baby ur too iconic at tribal)

Alex: Jack (This wasn’t the plan, but I wasn’t expecting Champ to do that. Sorry, buddy.)

Kayleigh: Jack (SORRY BABES <3 GL)

Michael: Jack (Damn, didn’t want to do this right now but kind of have to. Hope your vacation is fun!)

Tony: Jack (it’s been fun playing with you! You’re always great at breaking up tense moments with humor and it’s much appreciated!)