#I could possibly want to watch it actually for those designs and animation

[unave]

I aint a fan of Miraculous Ladybug really, but that 2D anime style done by Toei is so much better than the CGI designs that have same face syndrome. No hate to the 3D animators btw, that’s a HARD job, they had to work with what was given to them.

[headspace-hotel]

How people in the USA loved nature and knew the ways of the plants in the past vs. nowadays

I have been in the stacks at the library, reading a lot of magazine and journal articles, selecting those that are from over fifty years ago.

I do this because I want to see how people thought and the tools they had to come up with their ideas, and see if I can get perspective on the thoughts and ideas of nowadays

I've been looking at the journals and magazines about nature, gardening, plants, and wildlife, focusing on those from 1950-1970 or thereabouts. These are some unstructured observations.

The discourse about spraying poisons on everything in your garden/lawn has been virtually unchanged for the past 70 years; the main thing that's changed is the specific chemicals used, which in the past were chemicals now known to be horribly dangerous and toxic. In many cases, just as today, the people who opposed the poisons were considered as whackos overreacting to something mostly safe with a few risks that could be easily minimized. In short, history is not on the pesticides' side.

Compared with 50-70 years ago, today the "wilderness" areas of the USA are doing much better nowadays, but it actually appears that the areas with lots of human habitation are doing much worse nowadays.

I am especially stricken by references to wildflowers. There has definitely been a MASSIVE disappearance of flowers in the Eastern United States. I can tell this because of what flowers the old magazines reference as common or familiar wildflowers. Many of them are flowers that seem rare to me, which I have only seen in designated preserves.

There are a lot more lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) presumed to be familiar to the reader. And birds.

Yes, land ownership in the USA originated with colonization, but it appears that the preoccupation with who owns every little piece of land on a very nitpicking level has emerged more recently? In the magazines there is a sense of natural places as an unacknowledged commons. It is assumed that a person has access to "The creek," "The woods," "The field," "The pond" for simple rambling or enjoyment without personally owning property or directly asking permission to go onto another person's property.

There is very little talk of hiking and backpacking. I don't think I saw anything in the magazines about hiking or going on hikes, which is strange because nowadays hiking is the main outdoor activity people think of. Nature lovers 50-70 years ago described many more activities that were not very physically active, simply watching the birds or tending to one's garden or going on a nice walk. I feel this HAS to do with the immediately above point.

Gardening seems like it was more common, like in general. The discussion is about gardening without poisons or unsustainable practices, instead of trying to convince people to garden at all.

Overall, the range of animals and plants culturally considered to be common or familiar "backyard" creatures has narrowed significantly, even as the overall conservation status of animals and plants has improved.

This, to me, suggests two things that each may be possible: first, that the soils and environments of our suburbs and houses have sustained such a high level of cumulative damage that the life forms they once supported are no longer able to live, or second, that our way of managing our yards and inhabited areas has become steadily more destructive. Perhaps it may be the case that the minimum "acceptable" standard of lawn management has become more fastidious.

In conclusion, I feel that our relationship with nature has become more distant, even as the number of people who abstractly support the preservation of "wilderness" has increased. In the past, these wilderness preservation initiatives were a harder sell, but somehow, more people were in more direct contact with the more mundane parts of nature like flowers and birds, and had a personal relationship with those things.

And somehow, even with all the DDT and arsenic, the everyday outdoor spaces surrounding people's homes were not as broadly hostile to life even though the people might have FELT more hostile towards life. In 1960, a person hates woodpeckers, snakes and moths and his yard is constantly plagued by them: in 2024, a person enjoys the concept of woodpeckers, snakes and moths but rarely sees them, and is more likely to think of parks and preserves as the place they live and need to be protected. Large animals are mostly doing better in 2024, but the littlest ones, the wildflowers and bugs and birds, have declined steeply. It's not because "wilderness" is less; it seems more because non-wilderness has declined in quality.

[foodfightnovelization]

ROTTEN: Behind The Foodfight

Holy chips! It's an exciting time to be a Foodfight! fan, because ROTTEN: Behind The Foodfight is finally out! This really is THE definitive documentary on the insanity behind the movie, and it finally answers the question of just what was going on behind the scenes during production. Since I helped out with research (and I even get a short line of dialogue at 45:19) I've already seen everything that was shown off, but had to keep quiet until all the interviews were conducted and the documentary was finished. But now it's out and everything has been made public, the cat's out of the bag (the Fat Cat Burglar?) and I can talk about all the production material that's been shared.

Before I get into any of that though, I'd highly recommend you watch the documentary for yourself. It's insanely well researched and put together, and having worked together with Ziggy Cashmere (the documentary's creator) I know how hard he dedicated himself towards making this all possible. If it weren't for him, the most interesting Foodfight! discovery would've been finding the novelization, and we would have never gotten any real insight into how this movie came to be. It's also a documentary that really speaks for itself- I don't want to say too much about what it reveals since it's all expressed far better through its narrative and the interviews with people who actually worked on the project. My favorite is the interview with texture artist Mona Weiss- she tells such horrifying stories about how she was treated by Larry and other crewmembers, yet does it all with a sense of humor that makes it clear she's enjoying getting to talk about her crazy experiences. It's clear Foodfight! was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, and there's nobody to blame for that but Larry Kasanoff himself. The movie was rotten from the top down and despite the countless talented animators and artists working on it, nothing could fix the fact that it was fundamentally mismanaged in the worst way possible. I think the quote from producer George Johnsen summarizes it best: "Foodfight! was a good idea that unfortunately lost its way during production. The technology, the art, and the direction were not in sync. Many very talented people gave their all to make the picture, but more understanding of process from the top was needed for it to succeed."

But if you saw the documentary, you already know all that, right? So instead, let's talk about the behind-the-scenes material that's finally been shared! You can find everything I'll talking about HERE on archive.org-

It's worth following the link and checking it out for yourself- there's so much it'd impossible to discuss everything. Artwork, storyboards, bloopers, models, a nude render of Lady X, an interview with Larry Kasanoff, the list goes on and it's still being updated! Despite the documentary already being out, people who worked on the movie are continuing to share new material! It's pretty incredible- for the past year I've ran this blog all I've really had to discuss are two tie-in books, and now there's so much Foodfight! material I can't even keep up with it.

I mean LOOK at all this, isn't it fantastic? The character art by Jim George showing off just how much better these designs originally were, the countless environments showing off just how stunning Marketropolis could've looked as well as the strength of the core idea "what if a supermarket came to life at night", and insanely detailed storyboards for a 7-minute pitch reel that was used to sell the movie to investors. Normally, I'd be ALL OVER this because it's all just incredible, but there's something far, FAR more fascinating than any of it.

There are even multiple drafts of the script (one from 2005 and one from 2007 respectively) and normally I'd be insanely fascinated by those too, making extremely detailed posts explaining the differences between the drafts and how they compare to the novelization, but there's something else that was found that blows ALL of this out of the water and is easily one of the most monumental lost media discoveries of ALL TIME.

That's right, a rough cut of the ENTIRE movie from 2005 has been found, containing nearly ALL the completed animation from earlier on in production. I mean, that's mindblowing right? We first got sent this around a month ago, a little while before the documentary came out, and I literally stopped everything I was doing at work to just sit and watch this. This is the closest we're ever going to get to the "original" version of Foodfight! after all- only 7 minutes of footage was ever actually made before they switched to mocap, made solely for the aforementioned pitch reel, and this workprint contains practically all of it! On top of that there are some great storyboards in here, as well as some truly hilarious ones cobbled together from 3D renders, and the plot is far better than what we ended up with, a lot of the more inappropriate jokes being absent. This rough cut is actually pretty similar to the novelization in that regard, and it also contains scenes that we'd previously only read about in there.

For example, in the novelization there's a snowmobile chase through the mountains, with Brand X soldiers on snowmobiles and a heavy avalanche close behind. This scene was completely left out of the movie itself, but in this workprint it's here! ALL the previously novelization-exclusive scenes are included, and this rough cut is seemingly based on an even earlier draft of the script than that- here Brand X are still defeated by a flood, whereas by the time of the novelization it'd been changed to a lightning storm. There are SO many exciting differences in this workprint, the snippets of original animation we get to see are SO good, and it's SO much better than the movie itself that I think it by far deserves the crown as the DEFINITIVE version of Foodfight! There's so much in it I want to discuss, that there's no way I can fit it all into this one post...so stay tuned, because in the next few days I'll be doing a FULL analysis of the 2005 workprint, pointing out all the extra brand mascots not in the finished film, and generally just gushing about how amazing it is.

I mean, this is it. Just take it all in for a second- the original footage was considered lost media for over a decade, and now it's practically been found in its entirety, embedded in an early cut of the whole movie...isn't that just phenomenal? All the mysteries have been unraveled, all the questions have been answered, and now we can relax, take a deep breath, and watch Foodfight!...the REAL Foodfight! Make sure to enjoy it, and join me next time for my analysis!

[merakiui]

Oh my god I never thought Id see an alpha!scaramouche. Mera, hes been on my brain a lot recently because of the leaks I saw of him (nervous about what his new design is gonna be and what his animations are gonna be). Some more brainrot for omegaverse though ! Maybe a way you would find out about him being an alpha is that your suppresants don't get renewed on time so when you go to seek comfort from the wanderer you notice he seems a bit different around you. Theres just a little hint of brainrot, you'd do a better job at expanding on it than I possibly could <3

Omg he's been on my mind so much lately!! orz I miss brain rotting about him, so expect lots of mouchey thoughts. <3

(cw: yandere, omegaverse/abo, pregnancy, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, obsession)

As for the omegaverse brain rot, what if it's that one trope where Scara gets you pregnant by accident because you went into heat and he got overwhelmed by his instincts and the two of you end up fucking without protection? And he's so close to biting your neck and claiming you as his for all of eternity, but he miraculously holds back and just,,,, sinks his teeth into his arm instead!!! And now the both of you are sort of stuck together after the pregnancy test comes back positive some time later. You're so ashamed that you've burdened Scara with this and you apologize profusely while he just stares at the test, half-expecting a joke or a mistake or something. You tell him you'll deal with this yourself and you suggest getting rid of the baby since you can't afford the resources or the time needed to care for a child. You're in your final year of university. You have to focus on your degree, not a child, and you don't want to bother Scara with any of your problems.

Scara has this moment of internal panic when he hears you say that because he actually doesn't want you to do any of that. He can't explain why, but the idea of you getting rid of the baby makes him feel oddly uncomfortable. So, since he's a very well-off alpha with a stable and respectable job, he moves you into his penthouse. He says it's only to keep you safe. Omegas are already vulnerable enough, but one that's pregnant and emits the sweetest pheromones?! That's just asking for conflict. Scara promises he'll schedule an appointment with an ob-gyn (hmm maybe it's alpha albedo ooohhhh), but he waits a while. He'd prefer to keep this between you and him (the last thing he needs is Miko breathing down his neck if she finds out; and she'll no doubt tell Ei and then he'll really be in hot water). He'll have the family doctor come in to see you. You won't even have to leave his home, save for when you travel to uni.

Scara's almost never home. And for the first few months, it feels like he just doesn't care about you, which isn't too terrible because it allows you to do all the things you'd normally do regardless of this new arrangement. But Scara is so cold and distant, almost always in a foul mood when he's home, and you begin to wonder if this was a good idea. But while you stew over your doubt, Scara's been watching you through the cameras in his home while he's at work. You're so precious when you're oblivious, and he's given an immense serotonin boost when he watches you crawl into his bed and wrap yourself up in the blankets, most likely to surround yourself with his scent.

There are just a few concerning issues. One: You're still attending university and he can't always follow you to and from your school. Two: Your friends are always messaging your phone. He'd know because he's had a colleague he's acquainted with tap into your phone so that he can read every message as soon as you receive it. You haven't told them anything yet, which is a relief because he wants to make you disappear from the world so that it'll be you, him, and the adorable baby growing inside you. You don't need those fools anyway. And three: You don't actually like him. There's no love. You're just here because he told you he'd take responsibility.

But when your friends insist on meeting up with you, claiming that you never go out anymore, it really gnaws on Scara's patience. And when you get into heated arguments with him when he refuses to let you go outside for fresh air, of all things, and he has to calm himself down because he doesn't want his temper or the intense amount of pheromones he's releasing to stress you and the baby out, it just adds more fuel to the growing fire. You only need him. Why can't you realize that? That's what you told him while he was fucking you all those months ago. So why does it feel like you can function perfectly fine without him (save for those little moments when you get weepy and melancholic, yearning for an alpha's presence)? He'll make sure you'll depend on him soon enough.

After all, he'll be the only one in your life. There won't be anyone else to turn to. You'll have no choice but to accept him and this life, even if you think you can leave after you've given birth to Scara's child. There's no way he's letting you go now, not when he's fallen so deep into this obsession.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

[alsoanyways]

@transgender-scout @1ight wait fuck now i have to compile them okay okay okay i have a feeling this is gonna get long so I'm gonna put it under a cut haha but for real thank you for asking!!

First things first! This is how I imagine the flock is able to disguise themselves. There's no going undercover at an actual school for them, but I don't think anyone's looking twice at a bulky coat, especially if it's set in the future. Not too far in the future though, still in the 21st century. I have no ideas for a plot restructuring or anything, I never read past Nevermore and I barely remember anything past the fourth book, so most of my headcanons are character dynamics and such. I do have some that aren't focused on the flock but not many. Anyways.

(also idk if most of this can even be considered headcanon bc its basically fanfic at this point)

A couple things I should've added to the design post are Toto's Total’s nonexistence (I'm sorry if you like him but I do not lmao) and the fact that their hair is feathers. Like those very fine and very long feathers that roosters get. The flock also doesn't develop superpowers.

In my version of things, there's a small town close-ish to the E shaped house. Far enough that no one in town is gonna drop by for a visit, but close enough to fly down to for some groceries, which they'd do after Jeb left and until the money was gone. I think he would've taught them how to forage for things and that's how they get by since then.

Max (21) isn't The Leader TM either, I think leadership is shared more with Fang/Friday and Iggy. She likes volleyball and usually the one to go foraging. She's never thought about it but if she did, she'd probably consider herself agender.

Fang/Friday (22) gets his name from a Friday the 13th DVD cover, Jeb thinks he wants to be called Jason when he first points to it. He used to help Nudge/Dora and Angel with their hair when they were little and still does occasionally. He likes to draw and he's the go-to when someone needs to be comforted. There's no way in hell I would let him be anything less than bisexual.

Iggy (20) is the one that probably hears Friday's voice the most. He was also taught braille and Jeb got them a labeling machine. He's still the best cook and he's very protective over the vinyls/tapes/cds in the house. He mourns the loss of them when they have to flee the house, but he is excited to finally have access to new music. He's also gay. Because I said so.

Nudge/Dora (17) still wishes she could live a normal life, but has accepted that it's just not a possibility. She clings to "Dorothy" when she learns it. Being talkative and into fashion are still part of her character, but now she also loves bugs. She tags along when Max goes foraging so she can try and get pictures of any new bugs she hasn't seen before. Friday often gets to hear which bugs and what they were doing when they're sketching together.

Gazzy/Gizmo (14) gets his name when he watches the Gremlins movie for two months straight and starts mimicking the mogwai noises. He almost kills everyone when he mixes a couple cleaners from under the kitchen sink. He's quickly enamored with the chemistry books he's given afterwards. Like any other teenage boy, he likes video games and has too much energy for his own good. Max offers to race him when he's particularly amped.

Angel (11) is the only one out of the group that wasn't experimented on and she doesn't get the protectiveness or why they never go anywhere. She likes sitcoms and never refuses an offer to forage with Max. She also took a liking to helping Iggy cook things. She was very quick to tell people she wasn't a boy once she had the vocabulary.

Ari (15) has chronic pain. Being turned to goo and rebuilt into something different will do that to you. It doesn't get better the second time. Nor the third. He used to live in the E shaped house, before Jeb brought Gizmo, back when he was a regular kid. He's always liked animals, caring for them. He wanted to be a farmer or something when he grew up. After he joins the flock, he and Gizmo are fast friends. (Watching him and Gizmo dick around is what makes Friday realize that he really is just a kid.)

Maya/Em (21, kinda) my identity issues queen!! Cloning keeps the original memories intact and then they were further messed with to ensure her allegiance. She has a hard time coming to terms with that, with not being Max, not being who she thought she was. Her friends aren't her friends, she didn't watch Gizmo and Angel grow up, she didn't go to Friday after another nightmare, or call Dora to come catch a spider. That wasn't her. Having time away from them before she joins the flock helps. She renames herself Em during that time, distinct enough from Max but not removed from it completely. She learns that she likes cooking and she discovers cheerleading. She thinks she'd like that if she got the chance to participate. She's also aroace. She wants nothing to do with any of that.

Dylan (21) sticks closest to Em, but he eventually grows close to Iggy as well. They share a soaring/gliding wing shape and Iggy is grateful to have someone who can fly as long as he can (recreational flying is always cut short in his opinion, because the others have to work harder to stay airborne and get tired). Dylan likes to tinker around with motors and mechanisms, trying to get them to work again or building them from the ground up. Not that he has an abundance of opportunities to do that, but being able to fix a busted car comes in handy. He's one of them gays that can drive.

Lastly, I do have ideas on Erasers and different classes of them and their usages but jesus christ this did in fact get very long and I need to go eat something lmao so that'll have to be a separate post for another time.

[mrmarxy]

SOME OF MY FAVORITE THUMBNAIL SCOTTS

You ever look at a Scott the Woz thumbnail - specifically the little image of Scott in the corner? I know I do. And here are a few of those that I like the most.

Did anyone ask for this? No. But it's too late to turn back now.

THE GUY GAME

This particular image of Scott (from the actual episode) is one of my preferred reaction images. It's just so versatile!

What's there not to love, y'know? An absolutely perfect choice for the thumbnail.

NIGHT TRAP

He looks like,, almost uncomfortable. But not quite. It looks like he doesn't know how he should be reacting exactly. I don't know why, but my mind always goes drifting back to Night Trap thumbnail Scott. What a guy. Interestingly enough, the image in this thumbnail and the image used in the It's Awesome Baby! thumbnail are very similar! (I say as if they are not of the exact same man.) They've both got that same expression going on.

It's basically like a slightly worse version of Night Trap's Scott image. I guess that's just my opinion, though. For all I know, the entire STW fanbase prefers It's Awesome Baby! thumbnail Scott over Night Trap thumbnail Scott. But that's okay. I will fight for my beliefs no matter what.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2

I don't know he just looks really funny to me in this one and I'm not sure I can explain why.

WII CHANNELS

He looks extremely concerned. Possibly terrified. Like he has seen something that is very heavily weighing on his mind. (The Check Mii Out Channel will do that to you). I have to imagine I look somewhat similar when I'm trying to play my backwards compatible launch model PlayStation 3 knowing it could fucking explode at any moment.

STORE EXCLUSIVES

Have you ever seen a man look so genuinely hopeless.

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

So before I address the image of Scott itself, I think it's so great and clever that there are so many subscription services in the thumbnail that there's not even any room for the title of the video.

(Listen. I know this is far from the only video that doesn't have the title in the thumbnail but I choose to believe this was an intentional design choice let me have this.)

As for the image of Scott, does he not perfectly embody how we all feel about subscription services? Seriously. Now whenever I want to watch a movie and it's only on one lame, obscure subscription service, this image of Scott is what pops into my mind immediately.

TOUCH! GENERATIONS

I saved the (arguable) best for last. I'm not sure if it's my favorite, but if it's not my favorite, it's definitely top three. Touch! Generations thumbnail Scott you are everything. Look at him. He looks like you just put him in time out for watching a YouTube video with swears in it. He looks like you told him that you're not gonna take him out of school early because it's national little guy day. He looks like someone completely ignored his "no miss no dodge" attack in his Animal Jam roleplay. He looks like all he got in his lunch was a sandwich (no cosmic brownie... :( ) meanwhile all his friends got lunchables. I could keep going forever. And I could keep looking at Touch! Generations thumbnail Scott forever. Enough said.

so making this made me come to the realization that being autistic and then trying to describe a person's expression and how you feel about it is actually hard af who would have guessed.

im sorry I made this lmao

[artsywriter25]

Let’s talk about the Kung Fu Panda 4 Trailer 

Okay, we finally got the trailer after waiting for so many months! 

First things first, my reaction to the trailer. I thought it was decent, I didn’t react too much but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stop smiling seeing Po again, I was expecting to see more but this is just a tease. There probably is more that they can’t show us just yet. I watched this trailer multiple times. I’m gonna go on and talk about the things I like and things that I didn’t like. 

=

The Pros: 

- The animation looks great as always. I was hoping they add in the hybrid animation but the one they’re using is still amazing. 

- Po is now using his jade staff to make combo moves which is awesome and I can't wait to see the creative battles. 

- I like Zhen so far and Aquafina’s voice fits her. I know people are saying her design looks weird but I think it looks fine, and I have liked Aquafina since seeing The Farewell. 

- The Chameleon looks beautiful! If you pause during her transformations she actually looks scary. DreamWorks made a frecking chameleon scary, how do they do that?!

- I like how they kept the animals at their accurate heights like it took me the fifth watch to realize how small Chameleon was compared to Tai Lung yet she took him down easily. 

-Speaking of Tai Lung, he is so back! The fact that he is on the poster could be hinting at a possible redemption arc so for those die-hard Tai Lung fans out there, I’m happy for you. 

-I’m also happy they even got Ke Huy Quan to join the cast. I grew up watching The Goonies and after seeing him in Everything Everywhere all at once, I said that he should be in a KFP film and I’m glad he is.

The Cons:

- The jokes are okay, the only one that made me laugh was Po choking on the flower petals. I hate fart jokes, I know that’s what made DreamWorks famous like Sherk but it doesn’t fit well with KFP. Hopefully that’s the only one and there are not too many gross jokes. 

- I like we’re getting new characters but I’m afraid they won’t be complex characters with arcs of their own but just there as comic relief. 

- I’m already annoyed by those crazy rabbits. 

- Tai Lung cannot catch a break. First, his chi was taken from Kai and now the Chameleon took his chi, I hope he doesn’t end up as a punching bag for the rest of the film. 

-I noticed there is a lack of a color theme, I had always theorized it would be purple but I keep seeing gold, green, and white. That’s not a good sign.

- Okay this is just my nick-pick but I was shocked to find out they got Viola Davis voicing the villain. I like her in some movies but she gives me this impression of those actresses with big egos. Honestly, her voice is nice but I need a full clip of her to get a full impression. 

- Lastly, there is no Furious Five. I saw how the fandom is freaking out about this, but I think they are in the movie, just not for long. While I’m sad we don’t see them, the reality is there really is no other purpose for them but to help Po. I still think they may show up at the end for the final battle. I don’t know what the actors are doing right now, but Seth Rogan came out with his movie this year, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, so he’s probably busy writing the sequel. As for Tigress, I won’t be surprised if she doesn’t have speaking lines because Angelia Jolie is too busy dealing with her personal issues and her divorce right now. 

=

Okay I got the pros and cons out of the way, now I want to talk about what I think may happen in KFP4. There are some things I’ve noticed in the trailer and I have too many theories and so many questions running in my head and I need to write it out. 

So Po’s Jade staff is definitely going play an important role in the story, it seem to have a connection to both the living world and the spiritual world. My guess is the Chameleon wants the staff for a higher purpose of her plan or she needs it to travel to the spirit world herself. We can see her summoning spirits over to the living world, capturing them, and literally eating their chi away. Chi is what helps the spirits stay in living world but Tai Lung’s chi was taken and we don’t know how this will affect him. He may be stuck there until he can get his chi back. 

I noticed in one shot of the trailer there are these strange boxes in the room where Tai Lung was fighting and I realized those are cages. The Chameleon is probably planning on keeping the villains as prisoners to take more chi from them. Knowing Po, he’s going to see this as wrong and wants to save the villains. I know it’s a stretch but I think it could happen. It would be so cool seeing Po, Tai Lung, Shen and Kai working together to take down the Chameleon.

But the question is what is her motive in all this? Why does she say to Po ‘we are not so different you and I’? If she is a powerful sorcerer then why does she need his staff? They better not say that she was never taken seriously enough, there’s gotta be more to it.

And there is Zhen, who I want to know the most. I’m sure they would show some flashbacks to her story and show why she became a criminal. For some reason, I keep thinking she maybe leading Po to a trap, which I hope that’s not the case, but she seems to know more than she lets on. Po didn’t know who the Chameleon was until Zhen explained to him and she knows where she lives. I hope she doesn’t end up being a backstabber because this character is supposed to be the next Dragon Warrior, it would be hard to forgive her if they went that route. 

But these are just my theories and questions that I have. There’s really nothing else to say other than despite my cons, I’m still hyped to see this film and praying to god this will be still good. They may put up another trailer later on, if it’s good enough I’ll write my reaction to it too.

But tell me what you guys think? 

[lemmetreatya]

Single Father!Jotaro x fem Reader 💚

“daddy, look! it’s a kitty!”

waddling up to the rather small calico cat, jolyne crouched down to observe the self-minding feline. she made grabby hands towards it — nappy drooping, nose running and all.

swiftly walking past her, jotaro only took a brief look at jolyne’s predicament before grovelling in her direction.

“don’t touch it, jojo. it might have fleas.”

“awe…”

the girl pouted in retaliation to her father’s command however obeyed him nonetheless. she continued to watch her new furry infatuation, eyes gleaming as she observed it lick itself clean.

a darker yet friendly shadow towered over the two small creatures.

“it’s just a baby.” jotaro stated more to himself, voice a bit softer now that he contemplated his misdirected harshness on the innocent animal.

jolyne jumped up from her crouched position, stomping her small butterfly designed shoes as she pointed at the cat whilst turning back to her dad.

“oh, oh! if its a baby…then that means i’m older. i’m big girl!”

jotaro looked between his daughter and the now stretching cat. in all honesty, they might have well have been the same size. but then again a lot of the average beings jotaro came in contact with were smaller than him. he had a hard time telling the differences with sizes and heights if the individual wouldn’t usually meet him via eye level.

“as much big as a three year old can be, yes.” he chided before wordlessly walking back in the direction he was headed.

jotaro’s departure however wasn’t an instant prompt for jolyne to follow, her juvenile curiosity far more impending than the absence of her father. once realising she wasn’t immediately behind him, the man was forced to call out for his kin.

“come on, jojo let’s go.”

reluctantly waving her tiny hand, jolyne bid her farewell to the cat.

“bye, kitty cat!”

the cat meowed as it yawned — in no relation to jolyne’s words — but the girl’s eyes lit up at the prospects that the cat was responding to her. with a giddy air, jolyne ran to her father’s side, automatically slotting her hand into his.

“daddy, i want kitty. i want to play it.”

jotaro shook his head as he looked across the street before focusing his head forwards.

“no, jojo. animals are an actual responsibility and not just something you get because you have a fleeting feeling for one. it demands selflessness and sacrifice. it’s also takes more than just one person to look after properly.”

jotaro recited the same speech his grandfather gave him when his late girlfriend was pregnant with jolyne. he literally only had to replace one word now that he was regurgitating the same words back to his daughter but nonetheless; he didn’t think he’d be having this conversation so soon.

flinging her head back, the girl whined.

“but i want one! i want kitty.”

“who’ll look after the cat when you’re at school?”

the question was definitely something that hadn’t crossed the younger girl’s mind when she had made her declaration of a lifetime. jotaro could tell she was raking her tiny head of all the possible kittysitting options she had. it was almost cruel how a three year old didn’t have those many contacts when it came to calling in favours.

“oh, you can!”

jotaro scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. sometimes the younger girl’s words were intangible but he was able to decipher most of it.

his truthful answer would have been that he had no intention to look after a cat or potentially have one running around the labs all day. yet, this was jolyne he was answering to, and so his reply had to be in direct relation to her proposition.

he wasn’t ready to handle the downward spiral of The Why? train right now.

“i’ll be really focused on my work and will occasionally have to travel a lot so i won’t be able to give it the right care.”

the girl gave a small hum, brain being raked through once again before giving another option.

“miss y/n!”

jotaro’s heart momentarily stilled. he’s even sure his blood pressure was starting to rise.

“why miss y/n?” he steadily asked.

despite his visible awkwardness, jolyne had no perception whatsoever to why or if her father was feeling a certain way simply because she mentioned your name. all she cared about was whether you liked cats and whether one could reside within your place of continuous residents — which in this case was a cafe.

(jolyne’s perception of what adults did at work all day was very limited.)

“she said, she said she like kitties so so…so the kitty can hang ou’ and play — oh! a cawapillar!”

she didn’t even get to finish her train of thought. jolyne stalked off towards the entry way of someone’s front garden, fluttering her hand through the well groomed peonies before poking her finger close to the green insect’s body.

jotaro however was left with that betraying warm feeling he got whenever you were mentioned, in his presence or near enough thought about you.

not like he’d ever do anything about it, he tells himself, because like you’d settle for a grouchy, complicated and single dad like him.

although jotaro knows you’re kind enough to not judge him by those aspects but he cant help but use them as justification for himself and to why he hasn’t pursued you yet.

he doesn’t know why but jolyne too had created a well earned penchant to you. jotaro didn’t even think he had visited the coffee shop often enough for that to happen, but upon jolyne’s multiple requests that she get to visit the bistro specifically for you, he found himself complying and therefore spending most of their ‘outside’ time within the small shop.

not that he minded; if he too didnt benefit from the visits, he wouldn’t have been so compliant to go.

but surprisingly, speaking of the angel herself,

“what have you got here, jolyne?”

out of nowhere, you crouched down next to the younger girl, your expression focused on whatever jolyne seemed to be looking at.

however, as soon as she realised it was you who was lowered next to her, the girl forgot what occupied her and squealed with childish delight as she threw her tiny body into your arms.

“ahh! miss y/n!”

you instantly wrapped your arms around her, engulfing her in a warm hug.

“what are…do you doing here?”

her voice was muffled as she had her face within the wool of your jumper. you could only secretly coo at her cuteness and stringing of words before pulling back to answer her question.

“i was on my way to work when i saw you two in front of me so i thought i’d come to say hi. are you on your way to the cafe too?”

jolyne nodded her head.

“mhm!” swaying to the side, jolyne’s eyes seemed occupied elsewhere as she somehow became shy. “daddy—daddy said that when i get a kitty, i let it stay at yours because i will be…at schooool.”

the interesting piece of information jolyne gave forced you and jotaro to look at each other in surprise. you had wore a face of intrigue but the tall marine biologist wore one more on the side of shock.

he vividly shook his head, directing his statement towards you even though he was answering his daughter.

“jolyne, i did not agree to that.”

“you didn’t?” the young girl made a puzzled face, a moment of thinking before shrugging her shoulders and going back to inspecting the caterpillar.

jolyne’s hypothetical statement of making you look after her hypothetical pet hardly meant anything to her but to jotaro it meant everything and some.

with a sigh, the man turned away from you, scratching the back of his neck as it heated up in colours of rouge and periwinkle.

“sorry about that. she’s suddenly so fixated on getting a cat but i’m just trying to explain why she can’t.”

standing up from your crouching position, you lightly shook your head.

“it’s honestly no worries. she’s an inquisitive young girl and an only child, she’s bound to ask for those type of things.”

jotaro really wasn’t thinking about it that far. in fact he hadn’t even taken into account why she may have wanted a pet in the first place. the fact that she wanted a pet was already too much and not something he was prepared to think about further.

with his face screwed inwards, jotaro hid his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“dont all kids ask for that kinda stuff?” he muttered, eyes fixated on his daughter out of caution but also as a second hand excuse so he didn’t have to look at you.

it’s silly, but jotaro sometimes thought that if you were to look into his eyes for too long, you’d be able to tell how whipped he really was for you.

“they do, but i feel like with an only child it may come from a different place.” you pondered.

jotaro blinked thrice, his attention still fixated on his child. in his own mind, he was still trying to get over how close you seemed to be standing next to him.

“right…”

the short answer from the male slightly made you panic.

you knew jotaro didn’t really take to everything as simply as others did but fearing you had somehow offended him made you wonder if you said something wrong.

laying a light hand on his arm, you turned inwards towards him, voice low as you gave your apology.

“sorry if i’ve overstepped. i just want you to know that you’re an absolutely great father who’s doing a great job and i wouldn’t dare or want you to think that im tryna tell you what’s best for your daughter.”

jotaro’s breath hiked.

god, he knew you were pretty — he practically memorised every inch of your face before he laid his head to rest at night — but now that you were so up close with your face only centimetres away from his and dutifully praising him for his personally quite sloppy efforts?

oh, he could practically feel his heart sink. he was falling so hard.

“no, you’re fine.” he croaked.

jotaro’s eyes blinked but not in sync as they delayed one after the other. he even thinks he can feel his left one twitching.

unsatisfied with his answer (and unaware of his internal dilemma), you almost pouted, eyes wide as you looked up at the man with a face of concern.

“okay. but you’d tell me if i did overstep, right?”

“yes, of course.”

you gave jotaro one last hard look before turning your attention to jolyne, that enthusiastic smile of yours back on your face.

slightly walking in the direction of the cafe, you posed your question to the little girl.

“jojo! if you could get a kitty, what kinda kitty would you get?”

hearing that she was now being spoken to, the smaller girl dragged her attention away from the caterpillar before automatically catching up to you and reaching her hand out for you to hold.

jotaro keens at how you didn’t have to call or command for jolyne to follow you, she just did, out of her own volition.

“uhm. a really fluffy white one.”

holding the girl’s hand in yours, you nodded at her selection. ah, yes! every young girl’s classic choice.

“ah, i know which one you’re talking about. so one that looks a bit like the one from that disney film?”

“yeah!”

“interesting, interesting.”

you took one glance back at jotaro, an almost mischievous glint in your eye. the man, tugging behind both of you, could only frown in perplexity.

what on earth were you thinking?

looking back down at the small girl, you slightly swinged the both of your hands before you reached out the other to push the door of the cafe open.

“so say if i were to get a kitty for myself that looks exactly like the one from that movie, would you help me look after it?”

having asked jolyne a question she never thought she’d ever hear within the 8 minutes of her new Kitty Kraze, she screamed loudly before instantly zooming into the cafe shop and run around in circles.

the regular customers who were already present all looked up with surprise and shock. however, once they realised who it was, they all went back to their own devices with warm smiles.

“i’m getting a kitty! im getting a kitty!” she screamed, her tiny body weaving between tables and chairs.

having heard the conversation you had with jolyne, jotaro could only sigh at your preposition. even though he was her guardian and had the final say, he always felt obliged to please his daughter — even if it cost his own comfort.

walking inside after you, jotaro stood by your side as he gave you a look of concern.

“you didn’t have to do that.” he said, voice mild.

you could only shrug as you happily watched the younger girl invade people’s privacy in order to tell them of the Good News.

“i know, but i wanted to.” you mused back.

the both of you glowed in warmth as you watched over the young girl. however, as the two of you stood there, you were certain you could feel a sense of hostility coming from the taller man.

what if he had his reasons to why he didn’t want a cat? maybe he was allergic, or maybe he had negative memories of one. either way, you realise that you had once again could have overstepped the boundaries this man tried to create for his daughter.

once again you turned your body inwards towards the man, but this time, you took one of his hands in your own.

“you told me you’d tell me if anything i was doing was too much right? i really do respect what you try and do for jolyne so if you told me no right now, i’d obediently listen.”

as you stood in front of him once again, your hand in his, jotaro felt the biggest urge to bow his head onto your shoulder and tell you how he felt.

i could never tell you no, is what he really wanted to say, propose how he’d let you make every executive decision when it came to his own daughter because he felt like you’d do a better job and that she listened to you easier.

but jotaro knew better than to bite off more than he could chew.

lightly squeezing your hand back (so small compared to his!), jotaro had to calm down mentally, emotionally and physically before he could answer you back.

he felt like he was going to faint.

“it’s okay. if its alright with you then it’s okay.” he shared. blinking down at you, jotaro thought he saw your eyes gleam but he thinks hes just being hopeful.

with a nod, you smiled up at the man.

“okay. looks like we’re getting a cat then!”

jotaro couldn’t help but let his face crack; a small smile broke through, a reflection of your own.

he’s not sure why, but for a moment, he was certain he could picture what it’d be like to have you as family — as his own.

but okay ive been really slack with my disso recently because i’ve just been churning out these lil imagines hehehe this gonna be my last one until after ive done all my prepared reading.

IN THE MEAN TIME, send me some requests you’d like me to work on for when i come back!! :p

[not-quite-normal]

You said you worked on tmmt 2012 for a bit, do you have any stories from there? What it was like working on it, workplace stories, etc? It’s one of my favorite shows, (and literally my entire childhood) so i would love to hear anything you have to say about it :D

hey! i'm happy to hear that, tmnt was a huge part of my career. it taught me a lot about workflow because of the sheer amount of action shots we had to animate in such a short amount of time. i wasn't about to work for free in order to finish my shots on time (bardel, the studio i worked at on tmnt, didn't and still does not pay overtime) and i wanted to go home every day at 6, so i made sure i had the cleanest and most efficient workflow possible to make that happen lol

i was on tmnt for about 5 years (seasons 1-4) and honestly one of the best things about it was the crew. i've crossed paths with a bunch of old tmnt coworkers throughout the years after it finished and we still consider each other old tmnt bros, no matter what we've gone on to work on afterwards haha, we were a tight crew

the number one best thing about tmnt though, is it's where i met my partner, who i've been with for about seven and a half years now. he's also an anim lead on across the spider-verse :)

tmnt was a really fun show to work on! i always looked forward to watching new animatics when they came in, there was always a great mix of acting and action stuff to work on, i loved the designs of the turtles and splinter (they made really appealing shapes when posing them), their weapons were really nicely rigged and had lots of controls to make them do cool graphic smear shapes, and the storyboards were always super clear and easy to work from

my favourite thing i animated was actually after i had finished on the show; i left when season 5 started but came back for a special tmnt music video that i worked on with one other animator for a few months. when we were done, i had some free time so i did a bit of an alternate ending that the showrunner ended up posting publicly on his instagram. you can see my username cgratzlaff in the bottom left of that video lol

sometimes i wish i could open up one of the turtle rigs again just to play around with it haha i miss those turts

[halfagone]

Got it, thank you! What’s been on my mind lately is the whole Danny x Kara thing (honestly surprised it got as many votes as it did tbh). I’d love to see someone expand on this idea in the future with its own story or something along those lines, as I got the inspiration for the idea from seeing you doing Danny x Cass in your Lex Luthor story. So I suppose my full prompt would be a story where Kara actually meets Ellie first, as I think those two could have a lot in common with being in the shadow of another hero from their family. Maybe Kara can even act like an older sister to Ellie. Then, it eventually leads to Kara meeting Danny though Ellie, whether it be due to Ellie destabilizing and calling Danny for help or even having Ellie play matchmaker and purposely introduce the two, the romance starting from there. I think it would be fun to see!

Ooh, yes~! What fun! I've been watching different animated versions/renditions of Kara in preparation for an upcoming scene... That shall be the most I share on that subject. Hehehe~

(Now, this isn't super refined or edited, or put into my regular prose, but I hope you like it anyways.)

I can imagine many possibilities for how Ellie and Kara could meet up or run into each other. I've always imagined that Kara takes care of more intergalactic threats, but Earth is still her new home, and she doesn't want to be away from it for long if she can help it. Not to mention she does have a civilian life she has to keep up.

So much like her cousin, Kara takes care to settle and assist in domestic issues, like wrangling forest fires or assisting natural disaster relief efforts, maybe even taking care of the occasional megalomaniac, as any good Super does. She's fairly popular, and the public might always be happy to see a fresh face, but it's hard to push out the occasional remark from the crowd that she can't help but overhear about how they prefer Clark or one of the Superboys. If there's anything Kara has to say about Earth it's that she's not fond of the misogyny. But she doesn't let that deter her, although sometimes she finds she just needs to stretch her legs and take a flight around the planet before she ends up punching some creep who's gawking at her legs a little too much to be brushed off as a mistake.

And it's here that she starts running into a younger girl with bright white hair and illuminating green eyes. Kara is of course startled when she first spots her, it's always a surprise to see someone outside of the hero community flying around, for business or pleasure. Kara tries to approach, cautious as always, but the girl seems to startle at that too. So Kara tries to back off a little, and just waves at her in a friendly manner. The girl waves back, shy and unsure, and she quickly zips away again. Kara doesn't chase after her, but she does mentally log the instance. The girl didn't act hostile in any way, and while Kara doesn't know who she is, she also doesn't know every hero or meta in the world. She resolves to keep the instance in mind for the future, but she mostly brushes it off in the meantime.

But their run-ins keep happening, either as Kara is rushing to another rescue or even taking a lovely little flight as the sun sets. They never actually introduce themselves, but she finds that their waves of greeting become warmer and warmer over time, with the white-haired girl often eagerly waving at her first. Kara is always happy to wave back, a smile on her face. She finds her run-ins with the strange girl to be some of her favorite parts of any flight, and she occasionally gets disappointed when they don't bump into each other.

One day Kara is sitting on a seastack out in some archipelago she unfortunately doesn't remember the name of, and the other girl hesitantly approaches her, face burrow slightly in the collar of the hoodie thrown over a hazmat suit design. The girl introduces herself as Ellie, and Kara returns the greeting with her own name. (She knows better than to give her civilian name, even though that name has far less meaning to her than her birth name.)

They talk. A lot. Often times about absolutely nothing and sometimes about quintessential 'girl' stuff as some of the girls in her class would call it. Kara doesn't really get it entirely, but she has to admit there are just some experiences that she would never share with clark even if she'd blabber all about it to the wonderful Ma Kent. Whenever they bump into each other now, they always make sure to stop and chat. Unless Kara is rushing off to an emergency, of course.

At some point, Ellie tells Kara about her brother. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they have a complicated relationship. But the most that Kara can carefully needle out of Ellie is that there's a few years age gap between them that usually wouldn't be a problem for most families, but Ellie's family definitely isn't like most families. She speaks highly of her brother, even if it's in that begruding, whiny way that she'll hear Tim or Damian complain about their siblings to Kal's kids.

They're close, but their living situations mean they don't get to see each other face to face very often, and they find themselves communicating primarily over the phone. Kara figures it's not ideal, but there are plenty children from divorced parents that often have the same struggles. Kara only ever hears about a father figure, a pretty damn bad one too, and she doesn't really feel like she has the right to ask about the mother.

She learns that Ellie has many powers, although she gets to see very few of them in action. (The question of why Ellie has no heartbeat is always on Kara's tongue, but she refrains from asking every time.) Ellie isn't really interested in being a hero, and Kara always tells her that she's not wrong for not wanting that. Being a hero is a lot of work and responsibility, no one should have to carry that weight on their shoulders if they don't want to.

Ellie always looks at Kara with stars in her eyes, and Kara tries not to preen with pride. Ellie's compliments have always felt different, more personal, than any accolades she receives from the adoring public.

Eventually, Kara has to inform Ellie that she has an upcoming mission in space, so they won't be able to meet up for a while. When Ellie learns of this, she instantly blabbers about her brother's love for space and astronomy and "You two should totally meet! He'd love to hear you talk anything about space!"

Somehow Kara gets roped into doing just that. She doesn't know what compels her to agree to a meeting with Ellie's brother, Danny. But there's no going back now, and she wonders if she should feel more self-conscious about what this means for her relationship with Ellie. But then Ellie shows up at their meeting spot, brother in tow, and everything settles.

Kara wouldn't call it an instant click, not like the romcoms and romantic Earth fairytales would describe it, but it- settles. That's perhaps the only way Kara can describe the way she slowly eases into conversation. There are some awkward bumps, and the occasional uncertain silence, but Danny is eager and curious and snarky, and well. He's pretty cute too.

So if she tucks some hair behind her ear and laughs at some joke Danny says then that's nobody's business but her own.

Ellie had been so excited for two of her favorite people in the world to meet. But then she started to notice the blushes on their faces and she realizes with dawning horror that she might have just created a monster.

[jjlovesgoodies]

So I was just on a plane with nothing better to do, so I came up with some headcannons + doodles for how some of the YTTD cast would behave at the airport/on a plane-

At the airport:

•Alice is the guy who’s constantly double/triple/quadruple checking whether or not everyone has their passports and stuff.

•^This makes Reko’s favourite pastime pretending to lose her passport at the gate (giving Alice a heart attack lmao)

(More under the cut)

•Kai has everything one could possibly need at the airport. He has a book, snacks, sweets to suck on as the plane takes off/lands, anything you can think of, he has it.

•If they’re having food at the airport Shin’s the guy who’d go to refill his drink (and let the others know before doing so), only to return to the table to find the group left without him in the 30 seconds it took to refill it (this has happened to me multiple times :,) )

•I giggle at the imagery of Reko and Joe sighing once they make it to security before beginning the tedious task of taking off all their jewellery. And putting it back on after. (Before someone mentions it, yes I know that (where I’m from atleast) you don’t actually have to take most jewellery off for the security scanners, I just think it’d be funny)

•Gin has one of those suitcases that are designed so that you can sit on them while someone else drags it along and are usually designed to look like animals.

On the plane:

•Nao would probably either read or doodle the whole flight.

•Gin and Joe would definitely want to sit on a window seat when possible, and will always be staring out the window for take off and landing.

•Q-Taro usually tries to get the seat by the emergency exit for extra leg-room.

•Shin is probably unlucky enough to be stuck with a middle seat most of the time.

•Sara prefers to have an aisle seat, and spends most of the flight listening to music or sleeping.

•Joe would’ve downloaded movies and stuff to watch on the flight. I like to imagine he’d watch old Disney movies, and can be seen trying not to sob while watching Mufasa’s death lmao.

•Kanna doesn’t mind what seat she’s in as long as she’s next to someone she knows.

•Keiji would try starting a conversation with the stranger sitting next to him (except 9 times out of 10 the person would want to be left alone and the whole interaction is overall very awkward)

Bonus: They’d arrive at their destination and find that Joe’s bag had gone missing in transit. Lol.

[mxttellion]

Giggles cutely!!! It' RA time

So FINALLY. here they are!! I dunno why i waited for soo long to show my hcs and like. Even the pic itself is kinda old LMAO (it's from may, i think?)

update: I tweaked the designs a little because of a few details that I didn’t really like, jsyk /gen

click the read more to see all the headcanons, lmao

So here's the Red Army!! Or Red Legion, or Red ....whatever name they come up with for the day. Don't let the name fool you, they're anything but a serious army. They're just a bunch of idiots trying to take over the world. And failing miserably.

Red Leader is well. The Leader lol

multiple people have mistaken Tord for the leader, because of the horns on the helmet, but it couldn't be further from the truth:

that's his brother, Dominik!

Tord's older brother, almost 40, founder of the army along side Yanov (his and Tord's adopted brother in my hcs lol) and Paul. He seems like a cold blooded leader at first glance, but he really is just as much of a goofball as his brother: he got the idea of creating the army from anime he used to watch as a kid, go figure. He wanted to create a strong group of vigilantes that would bring order to the world!..and he. Kinda failed but it's okay! Yeah, he's a fucking weeb just like Tord. and also a brony, you know. Tord designed his uniform, he specifically wanted it to look as intimidating as possible so enemies could be scared of him. Going as far as adding a voice changer. Also, dont ask him where most of the army funds went. No he wont tell you. no. shut up it's not anime figurines. and he may or may not asked Tord to build robots of their waifus. lord-

Tord is a general! nepotism moment; however, he really couldn't care less about his status, as he just acts like he's the army mechanic/scientist/robot expert, you name it: he hides in his own laboratory, creating robots, weapons, and little robot companions- and waifubots and clonebots. Dont ask him what the clone bots are, but he sure loves scaring Yuu with those: robots that will immediately take their place if something happens to them.

Paul is basically just a grade lower Tord, and he acts like he's the actual general, as Tord is too busy in his own world to even care, and also lets him do whatever he wants. Paul is basically an honorary general and used to be Yanov's co pilot. That's before he broke his arm was deemed unavailable, and then changed his role. Now he's Pat's co pilot. He cried for an entire night after getting the news that he had to be with a newbie. But said newbie quickly warmed up to him, anyway! He's. always. constantly busy. even when he doesn't have a flight programmed, he always has to find a duty to do in the army. Chill a bit, dude.

Yanov USED to be a pilot. One of the most trusted pilots, calm, chill and collected. But also LOVES to witness chaos. He broke his arm in the stupidest way possible (probably falling down the stairs). Just after that, he decided to then step down as a pilot and become a medic. And considering his gentle mannerism and carefulness, maybe that's the best. Aaaand the army needed more medics. He loves his new occupation!

That's where Patryck comes in! He's a novice pilot, freshly recruited from the army. He didn't even actually have a plane driving training, nobody knows how he got in there. (Actually. it was desperation. They NEEDED another pilot and he seemed so eager to accept his role. He asked it himself to become one.) Well, Paul was assigned as his supervisor AND co pilot to his dismay. Like previously said, Paul cried to Yanov and to himself the entire day after the news. Please anyone BUT THE NEWBIE. Nobody knows Yanov made this choice. Despite his...rocky, beginnings. He's a ..somewhat great pilot! You know, despite the montly 4 crashed planes. That's also where most of the funds go. He's forbidden from going anywhere near the weapons depot, especially after he gets energy drinks. It happened once and half of the base exploded. Rocket launchers disappeared. Patryck what dID YOU DO.

Yuu is the uhh.. weapons guy? He's in charge of well. Keep the weapons depot in check. But it's a mystery how he manages to keep this role, as he always ends up letting someone (PAT) blow it up with the bombs in there anyways. He's also a great marksman! incredibly useful unit in battle. It's kinda like Patryck, no one exactly knows how he got there, he's such a scaredy cat, always alerted by anything that happens.

That's all i have for now JSGSJHDJ

[spotsupstuff]

"with the nature of her and Euros' relationship this often times results with the Inspectors yoinking her to play or cuddle with"

Imagining some inspectors hauling Sparrows into a zero-g section of his structure for cuddles and/or watching her spin futilely for their own amusement lol.

Speaking of - is there any particular mechanic equipment designed to help traverse the zero-g sections of an Iterator, or are the mechanics expected to stay Well Away from those areas for safety reasons and only enter when the gravity is enabled?

i imagine that like... 80% of the whole structure is constantly in 0g with the rest of 20% havin the low kind of gravity that we see In Pebs' labs for the sake of easier travel of the mobile components, so turning off the gravity disruptors wouldn't be beneficial for shite especially for long periods of time

the Mechanics get a LOT of training in 0g to figure out the best movement for themselves. the Ancients in general r better wired in the brains for the movement than slugcats thanks to being originally water animals (Rivulet in my heart can better traverse Pebbles than other slugcats too, after they figure out the differences between floating in water and floating in 0g)

But! indeed there are some mechanical stuff that help them out. both Sparrows regular boots and the boots for the special suit have magnets in the soles (?)

i don't REALLY have it figured out visually all that well, but one can turn those on n off

the Mechanic's watch is able to send out... not really a "distress" signal in this case, but like "hey help out here will ya" signal that mobile/capable components can n will answer. like an Inspector comin in to watch out for her just in case while working on the transform arrays (endlessly affectionate bout Inspectors savin the player's ass from hazards even though i haven't experienced it myself yet), or one of those red floaty noodle things twisting themselves that way and the other so she can grab on and right herself or propel herself forwards

i've also thought about possibly using the breathing mask equipment for movement in the sense that the tube that connects the face mask with the gill mask could be unscrewed and propel her forward with air but like........ there isn't exactly much of a strong airflow in there to cause such movement so 😔 guess nu

it's mostly about knowing the movement n being clever about it (+routing so you pop out from the tunnels closest to the goal) and the magnetic shoes

oh, but a fun thing for travel around the structure in general! i'll mention it here since it's at least a lil connected

to be able to get around the whole giant structure without needing to like. camp out in multiple spots and actually get shit done, there are specialized tunnels for fast transport of defensive components like for example the Inspectors again. they are comparable to lymphatic system in human body and inspired by the sea currents of the Ancients' original home. Mechanics and Admins, posing as something of a supreme white cells from the outside (antibiotics could work as a comparison too???) in the structure to human body comparison, can use these tunnels freely as much as they want to

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ep.10 thoughts

[SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!]

(Contents: adaptational choices)

FINALLY!!! LIGHT!!! WE CAN SEE!!!

Is what I wanted to say, but even with the sky beautifully illuminated, somehow the part with our cast that we're trying to watch still says pretty god damn dark. It's better than it has been, but it could still stand to be a bit brighter

That said, all of the important bits of this episode were sick. Rip's intro was way heavier than it was in the manga, even with its transplanted context (though I worry that will confuse some folks), Galaxy's design leaves a great impression, seeing the Acks with the stars and the smoldering crater that was Uluru as a backdrop was stunning, and naturally Juiz activating Unjustice was an absolute highlight

I also really appreciated all of the little touches - penalty 99 being added to the tablet, Andy and Fuuko having a brief romantic moment before Move warped everyone, Nico and his assistants synchronizing their information. All of it was so cool, those kinds of embellishments are the kinds of things I'm always looking for in adaptations like this

I do think it was kind of silly to recycle the animation of the Union members while Apocalypse listed off the quest results, but I do appreciate that they found ways to rearrange the clips so they weren't literally the same animation over and over

Overall this was a great episode, even if the first half was a little bogged down by exposition, however necessary it was. Next week, though, the Unrepair arc begins, and provided they let us, y'know, actually see anything in the starlight, I'm confident that this is going to be the best arc so far, possibly of the entire season. Don't wanna overhype it, though, so I'll go into it assuming that everything's going to be pitch black at the cool bits

Until next time, let's enjoy life

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Some good news and some bad news regarding Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The good news is that now that the strikes are over, production of Season 3 is set to begin next month! This is good because there have been rumours swirling around possible cancellation in the wake of Star Trek Discovery being ended after its 5th season. But SNW continues (Lower Decks has also been renewed for Season 5). The only caveat to that is Paramount Plus still cancelled Star Trek Prodigy even with its Season 2 complete, so nothing is a guarantee anymore. (And even then, it's been reported that Prodigy S2 will at least get some sort of Netflix release).

(Further good news is Season 2, with its amazing musical and Lower Decks crossover episodes, is set for Blu-ray release before Christmas.)

The bad news - though this is likely educated speculation on Screen Rant's part - is the possibility that the 10-episode 3rd season my be split, with only 5 episodes airing in 2024 and having to wait till 2025 to see the rest. Aside from that wrecking viewer momentum, those 5 weeks will come and go very quickly. If this news is correct, though, they could be telegraphing some sort of 5-episode story arc, which should be good but I actually prefer SNW's episodic format as it better supports the type of experimentation we got with not only this past year's musical and part-animated episodes, but the episodic format is what made TOS what it was. No official word on any cast changes, though I will be surprised if S3 doesn't reintroduce Dr. McCoy in some fashion.

I haven't written much about SNW but it's my favourite of the live action modern Treks. I stopped watching Discovery and Picard but SNW has kept me. I've had songs from the musical earworming for the last week or so after I rewatched it. And I greatly appreciated the time-travel episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" for finally canonizing an explanation as to why the prequel series haven't always lined up with what we know as canon from TOS, TNG, etc. which as far as I'm concerned frees the writers to deviate and retroactively serves to rectify canon issues dating all the way back to some episodes of DS9, never mind Enterprise, Discovery and SNW itself. I will explain for those who don't know but I will put a spoiler break here for those who might be waiting for the Blu-ray or haven't had a chance to stream season 2 yet. If the break doesn't appear below, stop reading now if you don't want the spoiler.

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The episode reveals that due to the many time travel events over the years (including ones we haven't seen on screen by enemies of the Federation; the episode relates one involving Mary Queen of Scots (in-joke for the actress) what we have been seeing in SNW etc. is an alternate timeline. Maybe not as extreme as the Kelvin timeline of the films, but events such as the Eugenics Wars - indeed, the birth of Khan himself - were delayed by decades. This major change to the timeline - and then you fill in the blanks by factoring in even minor changes such as the guy who accidentally killed himself with McCoy's phaser in City on the Edge of Forever, Sisko replacing Gabriel Bell in the Bell Riots, the Voyager crew going back to 1996, Archer and T'Pol heading off agents of the temporal cold war in the early 2000s, etc. - and you can see how it's possible that things progressed differently resulting in SNW and Discovery being more technologically advanced than TOS-era ships should be as established in TNG, DS9 and Enterprise that used the original tech and designs. Also character differences, like Pike's crew being aware of T'Pring and Khan when Kirk's crew in TOS did now despite Spock having worked with La'an Noonien-Singh and Kirk being aware of La'an's feelings for him. Or the lack of reference to Kirk's brother, who dies in a famous TOS episode, having been former Enterprise crew. And it literally stems from two lines of dialogue. It's exhibit A of how quickly and simply a show like Doctor Who can fix things.