#I feel like tumblr always just completely fucks up the quality of my graphics no matter what I do. rip.

[cityandking]

the sunlight that does not warm so much as burn

daichi amelkiir ⟶ sky domain cleric of pelor + shield oath paladin of tempus [psd]

[carriagelamp]

Art of Aardman

I found myself a cheap copy of the Shaun the Sheep movie, so I was rewatching a bunch of Aardman films earlier this month and decided to hunt down some books too. For anyone that doesn’t know, Aardman is a British stop-motion studio that does fantastic work like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, Early Man… tons of cool stuff. They’re always quirky and funny and warm-hearted. This was just a very nice art book for anyone that’s a fan of Aardman stop motion and wants to see a bit extra; it shows some cool concept art and blows up the neat details in Aardman work, especially in their intricate stuff like The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Asterix and the Picts (Asterix and the Chariot Race, and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion)

I decided to try a couple of the new Asterix comics that were done by the new team, just to see if they stand up to the old ones (that and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion cause I’d never read that one before). They were pretty decent! Asterix and the Picts was my favourite of the two though I wouldn’t say either are going to contest for my favourite Asterix comic... but still! The art looks good and the stories felt like what I would expect, they made for a pleasant couple evenings of reading especially since it’s been so long since I’ve read a new Asterix comic. If you’ve never read Asterix it’s one of the biggest name French comic series in North America, as far as I know and very worth the read. It’s about a single Gaulish village that’s holding out against the invading Romans through sheer force of will, slapstick hijinks, and a magical super-strength potion brewed by their druid. Lots of fantastic visuals and cute wordplay, even in the English translations.

Bear

I found out about this bastion of Canadian literature via tumblr post that was losing its collective mind over the fact that some bizarre bear-based erotica novella somehow won the most prestigious literary prize available in Canada. Since I too found this hilarious and unspeakably bizarre I had to give it a read, obviously. And yes, the flat surface level summary is... a librarian moves out into rural Ontario and falls in love with a literal for-real not-supernatural-not-a-joke bear. And I have to say… it is actually worthy of an award, which I was not expecting given that I was there for a laugh. It has beautiful writing, and the subtextual story is pretty interesting… it kind of makes me think of The Haunting of Hill House actually in terms of themes. (Womanhood, personhood, independence, autonomy partially achieved through escaping the male gaze by claiming non-human lovers... listen if I were still in university I would right a paper comparing the two novels).

I dunno man, it’s fucking weird. Actually a well-written book, but sure is about a woman falling in love with a literal bear. Give it a read if you want something bonkers but like… high-brow bonkers.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

Best book I have read in like… a while. A long while. I am not a fast reader, and I consumed 90% of this book over a weekend. It’s not at all like Terry Pratchett, but at the same time it scratched an itch for me that I haven’t had satisfied since Pratchett’s death. A very clever, hilariously funny poly romance between a disabled werewolf, an anxious vampire lord, and an incredibly powerful woman, with heaps of social satire, political commentary, and sinister undertones. The whole thing reads a bit like fanfiction and I say that in the most flattering way possible -- it is so easy to jump right in and be immediately taken over by the characters and the world and the plot, you never feel like you’re fighting to engage even though the world-building is fascinating and expansive. It welcomes you in right away, it was the book equivalent of a quilt and a hug which is something I sorely needed with all this pandemic bullshit. If you read any of the books on this list, go read that one while I sit here in pain waiting for the sequel.

Kid Paddle

I watched the cartoon of Kid Paddle as a kid and was thinking about it recently, so I decided to hunt down some of the original comics online. They’re fun and weird, with a cute art style and fantastic monsters designs. (My favourites are always about Kid either daydreaming or playing games that involve Midam’s weird warty troll creatures. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot with the fun sort of quirks that I love in Belgian comics. Unfortunately, unlike Asterix, I’ve only come across these ones in French, but if you can read French it’s totally worth popping over to The Internet Archive and reading the ones they have available.

The Last Firehawk: The Golden Temple

The lastest Firehawk book. Despite being written for quite young readers, I did enjoy the early books in this series quite a bit. They’re about a young owl and squirrel who found an egg for a magical species that was believed to be extinct. With the newly hatched firehawk, the three of them head off on a mission to find an ancient firehawk magic that could save the entire forest. Very basic adventure story but a good intro to the tropes for children. Unfortunately the quality really feels like it drops with each subsequent book; this will probably be the last one I bother reading.

Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up

I honestly think I enjoy these Lumberjanes novels even more than the comics just because it really gives time to delve into each story and examine how the camper are really thinking and feeling about everything. (Also I’m always weak for novelizations of anything.) The Moon Is Up is a book that focuses more on Jo, and takes place during the camp’s much anticipated Galaxy Wars, a competition between cabins that goes over several days. While the campers prepare for these challenges though, they also run into a strange little creature with a penchant for cheese and theft. Roanoke cabin needs to keep ahead in Galaxy Wars and somehow deal with the fearsome Moon Pirates that a closing in...

Lumberjanes v4 (Out Of Time)

One of the Lumberjanes comics, a cool, girl-focused, queer comic series. Honestly, this is just a fun series that I never got as into as I should have. My advice is honestly to skip book one because it gets better as it continues, and I’ve really been enjoying the later books now that I’ve given it another go. It follows five campers at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types (Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley) as they handle all sorts of challenges, from friendship to crushes, camp activities to supernatural horrors, getting badges to not being brutally killed. Great if you liked the vibe of Gravity Falls but want it to be queer-er.

Mooncakes

Another queer graphic novel, but unfortunately not a very good one. It really looked appealing and I had high hopes, but the book itself really didn’t hold up… I actually couldn’t even finish it, the plot was just too… non-existent. The art is fairly mediocre once you actually look at it, especially backgrounds, and it feels very… placid. Not much conflict or excitement or even a very compelling reason to keep reading. If you just want a soft queer supernatural you may get more mileage out of it than me, but it didn’t really do it for me. There’s better queer graphic novels out there.

New Boy In Town

One of the worst books I have ever read. My girlfriend had ordered a very different book online but through a frankly stupendous error was sent this 1980s pulp romance instead. Absolutely nauseating on levels I couldn’t even begin to enumerate here. Naturally we read the whole thing out loud. Probably took us 10 times longer to finish than it warranted because I had to stop every two sentences to lose my mind. If you like bad decisions, baffling hetero courting rituals, built-in cultural Christianity without actually calling it that, and gold panning then boy howdy is this the book for you.

(seriously, you better have patience for gold-panning if you attempt this one, because I sure learn that I don’t)

Piggies

This was a picture book I enjoyed as a kid and had a reason to reread recently. Honestly it’s just very cute and simple, and the art is completely mesmerizing. Wonderful if you know a young child that would enjoy a simple goofy boardbook.

Shaun the Sheep: Tales From Mossy Bottom

Related to my Aardman fascination earlier this month. I tried reading a varieties of Shaun the Sheep books — most of which are mediocre at best — but the Tales From Mossy Bottom Farm series is genuinely good. Just chapter books, of course, but the illustrations match the series’ concept art and each story feels like it could have jumped directly out of an episode. They’re just cute and feel-good! Kinda like Footrot Flats but more for kids, and from the sheep’s perspective moreso than the dog’s.

[girl4music]

So in my search for characters from TV shows that I believe provide the most significant characterization, representation, development and evolution, I've found the character Willow Rosenberg, and of course there's always been Gabrielle from Xena. But I need more characters that undergo incredibly strong and substantial character development throughout the entire life-span of the TV show and I'm asking for recommendations because you guys know your television shit on Tumblr and I don't watch much TV.

Here are the requirements:

1. (most important) This character has to go through a huge transformation mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually to the capacity where I will disagree with them or feel dissonant towards them and I would feel the need to insert myself in the TV show to call them out or slap them across the face at some points. I want them to SHAKE me. If I don't feel that towards them, they're not worth my time or attention. And believe me, I have a high threshold for this because I like to LEARN.

2. I would prefer cisgender female since that's what I am and I want to be able to relate to and resonate as much as possible but it's not that big of a deal so can be of any gender identity or sexuality or fluctuating.

3. The TV show must be a DRAMA or a dramedy (drama-comedy). Reason for this being I often find pure comedies to have shite writing and the characters can come across annoying or even insulting because of this. So TV shows like 'Glee' is no go for me. Not that that has shite writing. It's just I've already seen it and I wasn't particularly interested in any of the characters from it. Can be any other genre along with DRAMA too. (action, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, thriller, romance, ect.) Suprise me so long as it's not a pure comedy.

4. In order to have significant character characterization, representation, development and evolution for ALL the side and recurring characters and not just the main (I. E. the protagonist/hero of the TV show), the TV show must last longer than 2 seasons. And I don't want no cancelled and left on a cliffhanger bullshit. Full shows with a conclusion.

5. Give me somebody to root for. Meaning can be an antagonist/villain who has a redemption arc of some kind and joins up with the protagonist/hero at some points to help them out or even is the flawed protagonist/hero of the TV show themselves that needs to do some growing. Think of characters like Xena, Spike, Zuko, Ares, Callisto, Korra.

Or an underdog for whatever reason that doesn't recieve the attention or credit they deserve and gains leading ground with more and more screen-time given to them to flesh out their arc with this. Think of characters like Gabrielle, Willow, Katara, Toph.

6. Can be any TV show from any point in time. 80's, 90's, 2000's or recent. Whatever. But preferably something that isn't dated before the 80's so the picture quality is somewhat watchable on a 55 inch screen TV.

7. Can be either live action or animation or a mix of both (I. E Lizzie McGuire) but not a show that's for toddlers. So that leaves teenagers/adolescents/coming-of-age or just all out adult. I have no issue with sex/violence/gore/addiction themes. In fact I'd prefer it for the sake of the character dealing with heavy shit that causes them to go on a roller-coaster ride of emotions often. Remember the point is for me to relate to or resonate with it. I am 28 years old. So unless it's family-oriented like Lizzie McGuire, I don't want Disney/Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network TV shows. And I've seen most of them anyway.

8. If it includes Black/POC or LGBTQ+ representation (which I would prefer it to do so), I must absolutely attest that there be NO QUEERBAITING, NO RACISM, NO HOMO/BI/TRANS/QUEER/XENOPHOBIA within the writing. While I realize that the latter is a good confliction and compelling storyline, understand that I am absolutely fed up of tropes like Bury Your Gays, Man-Inserted, It-Was-All-A Dream/Mental Illness or anything where it makes you percieve any of the characters as complete fucking dicks surrounding this. They can still be complete fucking dicks in other ways.

9. Depending on how dated it is, I want decent graphics, special FX and clever use of environment/props. Anything of a CGI or anime style cannot be lazy because it takes the human realism away from it. I like characters to look HUMANOID. No animal-hybrid shite.

10. Does NOT have to be English or of an American/Western production. Can be of any language or culture whatsoever. I am trying to get more into watching something beyond my own backgarden as far as languages/communications go. Obviously, it needs to have English subtitles or text of some kind though because there'd be no point to me watching it if I can't even understand it. I only speak/read English.

That's my lot for requirements and the dos and donts. You have free reign with everything else. Somebody please answer this post. 🙏

[spellcasterlight]

Any WIP fanfiction requests that will be going live soon? 😚😚

Hi there Masterful Manta Ray Anon! 😊

I have so many Tumblr request WIPs sitting half-finished I'm so ashamed 😭

I've literally set aside August to do a bunch.

And when I say half-finished I do mean half-finished I have ideas, dialogue, or even whole parts of the story written down for most of them.

But the three that are the closest to being completely done I'll put snippits of under the cut!

Thanks for the ask! ✨

Warnings: Mentions of attempted suicide. Swearing. Sexual scene. Graphic Sexual Language.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. - [Shino x Reader]

You looked up at the Aburame compound gates and you felt your lungs restrict.

No. Calm. Breathe.

The pad of your thumb tapped against the tip of your forefinger, then the tip of your middle finger, your ring finger and then your baby finger, before working your way in reverse sequence before starting all over again. The movements grounded you, comforted you, helped you clear your mind.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Shino took a light but firm hold of your wrist, not your hand, he would never interrupt your stimming.

"We do not; need; to go in," the Aburame heir said

"Yes, we do," you replied honestly, always honestly. You thought it was one of your best qualities, no playing around you just said what you thought, unfortunately, others didn't share that opinion. "We said we would."

"We only need to stay for a few hours," your boyfriend's thumb ran over your pulse in a relaxing manner. "Then; we may leave."

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Okay."

Who's Truly Lost? - [Shino x Tenten]

"Tenten," Shino held up her captured hand and his worry only grew when she looked downright ashamed. "What; is this mark?"

"It's nothing!" Her tone and the fact she tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp to hide the scar told him it was in fact not nothing. "Let go Shino."

"You; are lying," his grip tightened like the vice-like grip on his ribs she was hiding something. Tell me.

"What does it matter?! It's just an old scar! Let go!"

She pulled harder with frantic desperation behind it.

"You; never; keep secrets from me Tenten please just," she stopped pulling at his prayed words and his free hand came up to cover her captured wrist too. "Just tell me."

With another single yank, she removed her wrist from his hold and held it to her chest like she was cradling an injury before letting her arm uncurl and she ran her other hand's thumb over the healed skin.

When she looked back up at him he knew he wasn't going to be okay with whatever she revealed.

"After those first chunnin preliminaries I was in a bad place okay?" She started her voice already starting to crack. "Temari destroyed me without even trying, Lee was at death's door, Gai was inconsolable, Neji wouldn't talk to me felt really low and I-"

Her free hand clamped down on the scar as if trying to stem blood flow and when his mind connected the dots it was like someone had set him alight, his hands shook and his hive were suddenly screaming at him wondering if they were in danger from the freezing fear pulsing through him.

No. No. No no no no no-

She nodded with a pained expression as if she could hear his thoughts.

"-I did something dumb."

Knock Knock On The Door - [Shino x Tenten]

Wait; Shino and Tenten were dating?! Since when?! He was Shino's best friend he should have known! He should have told him!

Kiba gripped the bathroom door handle and immediately froze.

That was dddddefinitely Tenten letting out a-

"Shino."

Yeap, that was a moan of his best friends name, were they-right now?!

"Shino come on we ca-" she whimpered that time and it shot a solid bolt right through the Inuzuka, had her voice always been that pretty?

"I have had to watch every man in this town run their eyes over you; and it has; unhinged; something in me."

Kiba pressed his ear to the door at Tenten's light laugh sound.

"Oh, Shino what do I care about anyone else when I have you? I love you."

"I love you; as well."

Kiba, despite the situation, found himself smiling, they did sound so in love and happily devoted to each other he was happy for them it's what they both deserved.

Tenten suddenly gasped again taking the tone of the conversation full circle right back to sexual.

"Do you; feel; how much I love you? Any time anyone's gaze drifted up your legs; or over your chest; I just; imagined; bringing you against the nearest wall and having you moan my name. Let them see that you chose; me; that; I; am the one for you. "

The dog owners jaw dropped and his eyebrows shot up to his eye-line. Holy Kami above he never knew Shino could talk like that!

"Oh, yea?" It was Shino's turn to moan. "You wanna do that? Right now? I bet you would even cum before Kiba finished his shower. With-" Shino's deep groan was hard to ignore. "With how much you love me right now that is."

Oh, fuck who would have guessed they were both so good at dirty talk?

"I could just push my trousers over my hips, free your dick the same way and you could just fuck me against the wall, is that what you want? Is that what my Shino wants?"

"Yes," the Aburame's hiss of a reply was hard to deny. "Yes it is; I want to feel you."

"Then do it," Kiba heard Tenten instruct in the most sultry dominate voice he had ever heard the weapons mistress speak with, "Can't you feel how wet I am already?"

The Inuzuka's fists balled and his forehead rested on the door because fuck fuck fuck what the hell was he supposed to do now?

[roguish-gallery]

Did you ever make that joker tier list, I always like seeing what people think of all the different ones. Though if they put Romero last I can no longer respect them.

LMAO I DID! I think I’ve made it kind of obvious in this blog but I... don’t... particularly... care... for... the joker.... unless he’s, y’know, fun to watch. Cause he’s a clown, and clowns are supposed to be entertaining. But since you politely brought it up, and and because I have a deep respect for mutual Romero-lovers, I guess this would be a good time to explain my rankings and just discuss my general thoughts on each clown:

General Thoughts:

For the most part, I don’t really care for the Joker. This is hardly an uncommon opinion here on tumblr, but I definitely fall on the side of the fandom that feels that he gets too much attention from DC. I get WHY they use him so often for films and comics, and I don’t have anything against *most* folks who consider them their favorite Batman villain, but at this point he’s used more for shock value and as a crutch instead of anything interesting. Like, instead of giving attention to the other Rogues, writers (at least for the comics) will try and make up some bullshit story that they can shoehorn the Joker into, ‘cause it sells. It’s tiring, and I feel like the character has lost his meaning; I can only read so many stories about the Joker, I don’t fucking know, wearing a suit made from dead babies and Jason Todd’s flayed corpse before I get sick of it.

I’m at the point where I’ll like any Joker who’s just fun to watch. I genuinely respect those who prefer darker interpretations of the character, but that isn’t me; I vastly prefer the lighthearted takes on him, because... at this point... writers who use the “cleaner” version of him tend to be more creative, since they actually have to write a Joker story that doesn’t rely on gore/torture porn.

TIER ONE:

Joker Baby: Self explanatory. Joker Baby is thematic, thoughtful, and intense. Everytime I watch this video, I shiver with fear and pleasure; something primal in me awakens whenever Joker Baby runs his fingers through his spray-on dyed hair, and ends up smearing green paint on his forehead- it represents the inner turmoil, the chaos, that resides within the disturbed body that is Joker Baby. Nothing can ever hope to top the artistic and cultural impact Joker Baby has had on society.

TIER TWO:

Batman Ninja: I genuinely believe that Batman Ninja is one of the most fun, organic, and creative things to come out from the Batman side of DC comics in like... hmmm... a decade, maybe (I could talk for hours about how much I love this movie but that’s something for a future post). This Joker is easily, and unironically my favorite interpretation of the character, period. I love his energy, his design, everything. This is the most fun I’ve ever had watching a Joker on-screen, and for that I’ve gotta give the film credit where it is due.

Batman ‘66: I looooove Caesar Romero. Batman ‘66 in general is one of my favorite pieces of Batman media, and I absolutely adore this Joker. The show is pure, genuine fun, and it’s nice to turn my brain off and watch a show where the entire cast was allowed to goof around. This Joker is just a cute, goofy little clown-man who likes to commit crimes, go surfing, turn Gotham’s water reserve into gelatin, and have wild orgies with Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler. I massively appreciate the hustle. I love his little mustache and his facial expressions. I’d give him a chaste little kiss on the cheek if I could.

The Batman: EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL TAKE BUT. I think TB!Joker is better than what people will give him credit for. I can only imagine how stressful it must have been to be the first Batman cartoon to follow BTAS and the writers for this show knew they were gonna be fucked no matter what they did with the Joker, so they just decided to try something completely different with him. Personally, I appreciate the new direction- he has a fun, unhinged energy. I’ve placed him higher than BTAS/BTNA!Joker simply because The Batman was the show that got me into the Rogues in the first place, and I’m just a bit closer to this Joker because of it. Also his vampire form was cool as FUCK in Batman Vs. Dracula and the scene where he gets drenched in blood at a blood bank is fucking awesome.

Batman the Animated Series/The New Adventures: Everyone loves BTAS’s Joker, and I’m no exception. Mark Hamill is fucking great, and the writers clearly knew the character well enough to create a version of him that can be fun and threatening. As an aside, I unironically like his redesign in BTNA- I remember Hamill mentioning somewhere that he thought it was neat that this Joker looked more like a shark (I’ll see if I can find a source on that... I think he said it in an interview with Kevin Smith?) and I kinda agree with him. the redesigns in the final season are hit or miss, but I didn’t get why so many people bitched about the Joker’s new look.

Batman Unlimited: Hear me out... Hear me out... Clown... funny... and cute... He wears a little crown and gives Solomon Grundy a little smooch on the cheek and it is as delightful as it sounds. Yes the Batman Unlimited films literally only exist to sell toys but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them on some ironic level.

TIER THREE:

Lego Batman: He’s a gay icon. He has the range. Enough said.

White Knight: This is just a genuinely good, original take on the character, and the art in White Knight is absolutely gorgeous. 

Arkham: My friends and I joke that this Joker is basically a more unhinged version of BTAS! Joker and... yeah. I’m glad Hamill and Paul Dini got to fuck around with the character more, but I never really dwelled on the Joker parts of the games like I might have for other characters. I definitely liked him the most in Arkham Asylum, as he was more fun to watch. Arkham City was fiiiiine, but I think I replayed the game so much that I kinda got fatigued with everything about it. Genuinely hated his part in Origins, and I was pissed that he stole the attention from Black Mask and Bane (who’s the best fucking part of Origins IMO). I’ll admit that I... Haven’t... played... Knight yet (I have it on PC but my laptop is too wimpy to run it) but like... He’s dead at that point, so I’d assume he isn’t the main point of that game anyway. I love Mark Hamill and the fact I can personally beat the shit out of this Joker, so he’s ranked up pretty high for those reasons.

TIER FOUR:

Batman ‘89: TBH this Joker should be a rank higher, but I’m too lazy to hop onto PicsArt to change it. NIcholson was an excellent choice, and I apprecaite how this Joker makes use of the playful and unhinged aspects of the character. Also, his outfits are cute, and I love the museum scene.

Brave and the Bold: Technically this Joker SHOULD be ranked higher since he’s literally based on the more lighthearted comics in the 60′s but... ehhh... I haven’t really watched BATB so I don’t have any strong opinions on the show and how it handles the character. he’s ranked this high through beause I appreciate what they were going for.

Golden Age: The quality of comics are always subjective, based on the creative team behind them. Some I’ll like more, others less so, It’s kind of hard to rank the pre-52 comic version of the Joker because of this.

TIER FIVE:

Killing Joke: Read it, didn’t care for it. I acknowledge how massive the impact this comic had on... everything, but just because I recognize how important this graphic novel is, doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The Dark Knight: Ledger did an excellent job with the role, but uhh... I’m kind of sick of the alt-right chuds who are out there sucking this Joker’s dick. The fanbase definitely ruined the character for me.

TIER SIX:

99′: Eh

Endgame: No

Suicide Squad: NO

Death of the Family: Hate him. Despise him. Lame stupid dumb little edgy bitch.

Gotham (Jeremiah): I don’t particulary care for Gotham in general, but the only reason I ranked this Joker over Jerome is beause I thought it was kinda funny to see that they made him a little rat-man, and I liked watching all the fujoshi on here cry and complain that they can’t ship this version of the joker with the pre-pubescent Bruce Wayne in the show bc he’s too ugly.

Gotham (Jerome): stop shippping this freak (who is fucking eighteen years old) with a literal twelve year old child. what the FUCK is wrong with yall.

UNRANKED:

The Joker (2019): I don’t plan on watching this film, nor will I ever. I know this is ironic, coming from someone who runs a Rogue blog, but stuff that focuses primarily on a character’s deteriorating mental health makes me reaaaaallllllyyyyy anxious (it’s kind of a phobia) and considering that I don’t particularly the Joker, I have no reason to watch something I know will only give my dumb ADHD-ass intrusive throughts.

[lovemesomesurveys]

1. List 5 things you want to do before the year ends. I’d love to just be able to go to the beach and relax, but that won’t happen. That was the only place I could feel relaxed. Beaches have reopened, but the hours are limited and you can’t just sit/lay there like you used to be able to. You can only walk around. And anyway, the fact we’re still very much in the thick of this whole thing I don’t feel safe or comfortable going places yet or being around people. I wouldn’t feel relaxed at all. 

2. What color are your pants? I’m wearing black leggings.

3. Favorite motivational quote. Meh.

4. When was the last time you drank coffee? I’m drinking a Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink, which as the can says is a “energy coffee beverage.”

5. What was the last thing you ate?   Ramen.

6. Favorite animal. Giraffes! <<< Aww, saaaame. And doggos. (:

7. Favorite song. I couldn’t just choose one favorite.

8. Last movie you watched? I’m completely blanking at the moment in regards to the last movie, but I’ve binged a lot of a couple shows on Netflix recently. 

9. Any turn ons? Nice smelling cologne. 

10. Any turn offs? Cockiness and arrogance.

11. List 4 big words off of the top of your head. Claustrophobia, arachnophobia, agoraphobia, tryphophobia.  

12. What are some meaningful movies?   Hmm.

13. 2 most important people in your life right now? God and my family. Yep, I’m grouping my family cause I couldn’t just choose 2.

14. What are 3 things you want to do before the month ends? Let’s be real- I won’t be doing anything.

15. When was the last time you read a good book? I’m almost done with one called, “Never Walk Alone” by Willow Rose.

16. How long do you study for usually, if you study? I spend about 20 minutes to an hour when doing my Bible studies. 

17. Do you have any nicknames? Just Steph and Sis.

18. Favorite kind of perfume? (fruity, alluring, etc.) I like certain fruity and sweet ones, ones with patchouli, and beachy and autumnal scents from B&BW.

19. Do you have any international friends / friends who live out of state? Those of us in this survey community live all over. 

20. What is something unique that you do every single day? Probably that I have a bowl of ramen of every night.

21. If there was a movie based on your life, what would it be called? A series of unfortunate events <– Pretty damn accurate. Lmao. <<< Lol, I’ve made that joke before, too. I also find it quite fitting for my life.

22. When was the last time you bought a gift for someone? Last month.

23. Are you a shopaholic? I was. My online shopping got out of hand the last few years, too. However, I’ve actually been pretty good this year so far. 

24. What are some songs that always make you feel better? Upbeat and catchy songs help in the moment. Sad, emo, relatable songs can help as well, though. Sometimes just shouting along to “I’m Not Okay” saying, “I’M NOT OKAY, I’M NOT O-FUCKING-KAY!” or something can feel good. ha. Need some good angst.

25. List 3 activities that you can only enjoy by yourself. Surveys, reading, and listening to ASMR.

26. If you could live in any biome (and survive) which biome would you live in? I don’t think I’d last long in any biome.

27. How do you like being roused in the morning? Uh, I don’t.

28. How was your day? What did you do? It’s only about 330 in the morning, but so far it’s been fine. I’ve had my bowl of ramen, scrolled some through Tumblr, watched YouTube videos, and now I’m doing surveys and listening to ASMR.

29. What did your last text message say? I sent my brother a TikTok video that reminded me of our doggo.

30. Do you respond to texts quickly? It depends.

31. Who was the last person you called? My mom.

32. List 5 things that are on your wish list. I don’t knowwww.

33. If you were famous, what do you think you would be famous for? I wouldn’t be famous. I’m not that special or talented. <<< Same. I don’t want to be famous anyway.

34. Winter or summer? Winter, HANDS DOWN.

35. What is a quality that all people should have? Empathy would be great.

36. If you could have a large collection of one item, what would that item be? I already have a large collection of giraffe stuffed animals, books, key chains, and graphic tees. I don’t have room for more.

37. What have you been thinking about lately? My mind is always a jumbled mess with a lot of stuff that is always on my mind from my health, family, and just life in general. But this year has and continues to give me a lot to think about as well.

38. What is the secret to a happy life? Ha, you’re asking the wrong person.

39. What are some phrases you say often? I know I have my many “Stephanieisms”, but I always seem to blank when asked this question.

40. Favorite food? Ramen, scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, spinach, and green onion, Wingstop garlic parm and lemon pepper boneless wings, spaghetti and meatballs, pasta salads, pesto pasta, deli sandwiches, and baked potatoes.

41. List 3 wishes. I feel like you’ve asked me this in different ways a few times now.

42. What are some of your greatest fears? Losing my loved ones, death, never getting better/getting worse, never doing anything with my life and just wasting away...stuff like that.

43. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? Some stuff for the last Bible study I did.

44. Most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen (in real life)? Beautiful beaches and mountainous areas. I went on a gondola last year that took us up over 9,000ft and the views were breathtaking. 

45. Spicy food:Like or dislike? I used to be obSESSED with spicy food, but I haven’t been able to eat it for a few years now due to some health reasons. It sucks. :/

46. Scary movies:Like or dislike? I love ‘em. I used to be a big baby, but I did a complete switch a few years ago.

47. Do you like to travel? Yes.

48. Any regrets? I have a lot of those.

49. Do you like rain? I love the rain.

50. What do you spend most of your money on? It used to be food or clothes, but this year I haven’t been doing a lot of shopping. 

51. Would you rather visit the past or the future? Past.

52. Favorite clothing store? Hot Topic and BoxLunch.

53. What is the best advice you can give to those who are feeling down? I’m always feeling down, so I’m not the one to ask about that either.

54. How often do you think about your future? Does it scare you? The future terrifies me. My mind is more wrapped up in current and past stuff.

55. What angers you the most? Injustice and corruption.  

56. When was the last time you got majorly angry? In my personal life, it’s been awhile since I’ve been angry. I get irritated and frustrated very easily, though.

57. When was the last time you got really sad? Sadness is one of my personality traits.

58. Are you good at lying? I used to be when it came to lying and downplaying about myself like with how I’m doing and really feeling, but my emotions took control. I still downplay and leave things out, but it’s obvious I’m not doing well. 

59. What foreign language would you like to learn? I’d like to be fluent in Spanish. I’ve been wanting to brush up and start practicing again. 

60. How many languages can you speak and what are they? I’m only fluent in English, but I can speak some Spanish.

61. How often do you go to parties? If you don’t, what do you do instead? I stay at home.

62. What books do you plan to read this year? I’ve read several this year and I plan to read several more. 

63. Do you have breakfast every morning? Nope. Very rarely these days since I sleep until like 3PM everyday. Sometimes I’ll have breakfast foods for a late lunch or dinner, though.

64. Tell us a secret. Nah.

65. How many concerts have you been to? Seven.

66. Last hug? My doggo. I haven’t hugged a person in months.

67. Who knows you better than anyone else? You guys, probably. ha.

68. Baths or showers? Showers.

69. Do you think you’re ambitious? I haven’t been for a long time... 

70. What song is stuck in your head? None at the moment.

71. Countries you’ve visited? Mexico. Besides my own, of course.

72. What do you most value in your friends? Understanding and low maintenance. 73. What helps you to sleep better? Listening to/watching ASMR can help. 

74. What is the most money you have ever held in your hand? 1k.

75. What makes you nervous? A lot of things. 76. What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? Hmm.

77. Is it easier to forgive or forget? I always forgive but never forget. <<<

78. First mobile phone? A gray Motorola flip phone.

79. Strangest dream? I have a lot of those.

80. Best dream? Hmm. 

81. Who is the smartest person you know? My younger brother.

82. Who is the prettiest person on tumblr? All of you.

83. Do you miss anyone right now? Loved ones who have passed away.

84. Who do you love? Why? I love my family. They’re my everything.

85. Do you like sharing? Sharing what?

86. What was the last picture you took with your phone? Probably of my doggo.

87. Is there a reason behind everything that happens? I believe so.

88. Favorite genre of music? I like variety. 89. If you had one word to describe yourself, what would it be? Mess.

90. Describe your life in 5 words. Nahhh.

91. Describe the world in 4 words. Nahhh.

92. Craziest thing you’ve ever done? I’m boring.

93. First three songs in your favorite playlist? I’m not checking right now.

94. Are you more creative or logical? Logical. I wish I was creative.

95. Would you rather lie or hurt someone with the truth? I mean, it kind of depends. If it’s something serious and they need to know, then I’d have to tell them even though it would be hard and could hurt them. 

96. What are you most proud of? I don’t feel proud of myself for anything.

97. What personality trait do you admire in other people? Those who are driven.

98. When you imagine yourself as really, really relaxed and happy, what are you doing? I’m at the beach, just staring out into the ocean while listening to the waves crash in and out and feeling the cool ocean air on my face, breathing it in.

99. How do you usually start a conversation? I usually don’t, ha. But I suppose with a “hey” or something of the sort.

100. What is the best news you could hear right now? That it was all just a horrible dream. <<< Oh man. If only.

[aro-aizawa]

alright so i finished up playing all of pokemon shield including the post-game mini plot, so here’s a quick fire list of all the things i liked about it and disliked about it before i go on to explain it in more depth (also spoiler warning). here we go.

what i liked:

the graphics, a little weaker in handheld form but largely unnoticeable unless you were looking for it. GREAT graphics when playing on tv mode.

the new pokemon. they were all really cute, and i especially loved the alternate forms and new evolutions of older gen pokemon.

opal, she’s hands down one of my favourite gym leaders so far only shortly followed by bede.

bede is a nonbinary icon as proven by the fact that they didn’t use any pronouns to refer to them until after the fourth gym, and the fact that when they’re in their gym uniform its trans flag colour. it may not be canon, but its canon in my heart.

gym battles are treated as they should be -- huge spectacles that gets people amped the hell up.

dynamaxing. its so goddamn satisfying to finish off a gym battle with your best pokemon as a fucking giant behind you, no matter their actual size. tiny pyukumuku behind you? badass. huge ass wailord? bad. ass. an actual baby pokemon? bad. ASS.

the wild area. introducing camping was a good system, it definitely helped a lot when you couldn’t exactly jump back to a pokemon center so you cook your pokemon some curry to revive and heal them. i imagine they took some inspiration from breath of the wild, tho i haven’t played it to really confirm.

what i didn’t like:

they cut so many corners in the game, you can definitely tell it was made in a hurry.

a minor note here, but for me i have this annoying bug that makes it so some pokemon have the exact same cry. its a sort of whooshing noise that you’d expect for a flying type pokemon, but it frequently appeared instead of well known and familiar cries. i can’t pin down exactly what the cause of this is, or if i’m hearing things wrong, but it was infuriating.

the towns are empty and barely even give you flavor text anymore. you might as well not speak to any npcs except shop keepers and named characters.

there is exactly three cute outfits and three cute hairstyles and that’s about it. i know a lot of this point is mostly about personal taste but please nintendo, we had such a good range in the previous game. 

don’t explore. there is literally no point in looking in all the nooks and crannies of this game, because i guarantee that if the game doesn’t tell you to go there, then there’s nothing there.

it’s too easy. it’s....actually crazy that i’m even putting this as a point, because i’m a strict believer in making games playable for everyone. but it’s just....too much.

the cut down pokedex will forever inject salt right into my veins. especially when they had the audacity to include one of the first starter pokemon, but not the other two. charizard is an okay pokemon but its overrated, nintendo please accept that.

the plot didn’t exist until suddenly it did and then it made no sense. 

i hate the fact that the team in this game were just delegated to fans. i understand the whole “fake out” thing they might have been going for by getting the player to think that they’d turn out to be bad, but no. it just sucks. 

fucking. swordward and shieldbert. i???? literally. have no. words. (i do but they’re super long so hmmm down below)

a game worth about £20 ($25) less than i paid for it. its a decent quality game, but not nearly nintendo quality. 

wow this post is longer than i expected it to be already. but anyways, the rest is super long and under the cut further going into depth about the points i raised. 

to start with, i’ll talk about the good points because honestly?? i really wanted to love this game. i really really did. maybe it was just the fact that at first i didn’t like sun and moon because they changed the formula so much, but it turned out to become my favourite game in the series. or maybe it was just that i don’t like being hypercritical of things i spent fifty fucking pounds on. either way, i wanted to like the game, and overall i sort of did but i sort of didn’t. lots of mixed feelings. anyways. onto explaining the good stuff. (or you can skip to “now on w the bad junk” for the bad stuff)

1. the graphics, a little weaker in handheld form but largely unnoticeable unless you were looking for it. GREAT graphics when playing on tv mode.

one of my favourite things about the pokemon series in recent times is seeing the process from 2d undetailed sprites to 3d incredibly detailed models. the most ambitious thing about gen 5 was the way the camera moved with your movements as you crossed the bridge, and now i just sometimes sit back and thing “wow 13 year old me would FLIP if she could see how good they got”. bc i kept just....admiring all the graphics and the quality of them. 

2. the new pokemon. they were all really cute, and i especially loved the alternate forms and new evolutions of older gen pokemon.

definitely one of my favourite things about the game was seeing the new forms of pokemon we already knew and the alternate forms they’d take when dynamaxed. i love seeing pokemon with new types that completely flip the script, like darumaka becoming an ice type instead of a fire type. or the fact that they gave mr mime a galaran form and it actually doesn’t look bad. 

i really loved that some of the galaran forms had unique evolutions, such as linoone evolving into obstagoon. or meowth into perrserker. it makes sense and i’m always super happy to see new evolutions for old pokemon, it keeps things interesting when pokemon other than eevee get new evolutions.

(tho that being said, still disappointed there’s still not another eeveelution. still holding out hope for that ghost type.)

3. opal, she’s hands down one of my favourite gym leaders so far only shortly followed by bede.

i’m not super well versed in the pokemon universe besides from gen 1 and gen 5 onwards (if you couldn’t tell), but its really refreshing to have an old gym leader that’s visibly elderly rather that just grey haired maybe retiree man. her personality was also really fun, it sort of felt like she literally had the most personality of all the gym leaders, which kind of sucked but it made me really love her character. 

and bede i didn’t wholly expect to really like as much as i did? i mayhaps might have spoiled myself a little on their gym leader status by dipping into the swsh tag here on tumblr before i fully completed the game. but still, they seemed just generally really annoyingly stuck up? but something endeared me to the darl and i just think it mostly had to do w the fact that opal took one look at them and declared they was her grandchild now. 

4. bede is a nonbinary icon as proven by the fact that they didn’t use any pronouns to refer to them until after the fourth gym, and the fact that when they’re in their gym uniform its trans flag colour. it may not be canon, but its canon in my heart.

argue with me on this point all you like, but you can’t deny the fact that in CANON they literally did not use any pronouns to refer to bede until after the fourth gym. the only mention of pronouns before that was their trainer card, which i did not check because good character development should be shown not told through an impersonal medium such as character cards. 

5. gym battles are treated as they should be -- huge spectacles that gets people amped the hell up.

i’ve always loved the way the league is set up, because it makes sense. the pokemon formula works and its interesting, but in previous games most people only vaguely acknowledge it as something every kid tries but doesn’t really complete. it’s already set up people love pokemon battles, there just wasn’t a spectator sport about it unless in the anime or movies. they’re just a thing that happens that none of the npcs care about. 

finally its treated like the spectator sport that it should be. like,,, hell yeah,,, 

(also do you think that in the pokemon universe there’s various stories/tv shows about made up kids completing the league and becoming champions? because i definitely do.)

6. dynamaxing. its so goddamn satisfying to finish off a gym battle with your best pokemon as a fucking giant behind you, no matter their actual size. tiny pyukumuku behind you? badass. huge ass wailord? bad. ass. an actual baby pokemon? bad. ASS.

i p much summed up most of my thoughts in this point well. but i love when pokemon are so visibly powerful. like these creatures have powers that we’d equate to actual gods like summoning whole storms, creating giant waves, create earthquakes and so much more. pokemon are so powerful and to see them become giant and have so much weight and power? its so satisfying controlling that and bringing down other giant pokemon. 

7. the wild area. introducing camping was a good system, it definitely helped a lot when you couldn’t exactly jump back to a pokemon center so you cook your pokemon some curry to revive and heal them. i imagine they took some inspiration from breath of the wild, tho i haven’t played it to really confirm.

i really appreciated the change that started in pokemon let’s go with some pokemon being visible and easy to encounter wandering through the grass. it makes it so much easier to search for the one pokemon that you don’t have in your pokedex yet, or if you’re looking for a specific pokemon to join your team.

i love how large and expansive the wild area is, and with the camping system you can just explore and fill out your pokedex without ever leaving if you’re fully stocked up on supplies. it makes you really believe the whole “yep this kid isn’t just blasting through the whole thing in one day”. kids sleep in tents on their journey with their pokemon and cook curry for them all. adds a nice level of immersion and convenience. 

.

jesus fuck this is so long and i haven’t even gotten to my criticisms yet, is anybody actually reading this chunk of text??? well rip to you my friend and thank you. but now on w the bad junk.

1. they cut so many corners in the game, you can definitely tell it was made in a hurry.

they did a decent job considering it was in development for only two years w one only for the concept and the second actually making it. but they cut so many corners it doesn’t quite feel like a true installment into the pokemon universe. it feels like it was made by another dev studio rather than gamefreak. like how fallout new vegas and fallout 3 barely feel like the two installments in the same franchise. 

this point sort of leads into many different points that i raised, so i’ll explain those a little bit more in depth there. but to sum it up, the easiest way to see it is just how...flat things are. if you only pay attention to the things the game directs you to, then you will not miss a single thing. flavor text is less about adding depth to the world and more just...pointless. it adds. nothing.

and in the post game when sonia gets a new assistant, even though she plays a fairly important part in the post-game plot, she doesn’t get a name nor a unique character model. she get’s a generic doctor model yet it’s treated like we should feel betrayed that nameless npc 234 went behind sonia’s back and stole from her. 

OH! and i almost forgot!!!! but that one part where rose is trying to talk leon into something “mysterious”??? they straight up just used images!!!! like,,,, what???? you didn’t have time to program the minimal animations for that?? who’s fault is that for pushing the release!!! give your employees time to work at a decent pace and not crunch them to reach an impossible goal. game freak, you don’t have to release a game every november.

2. a minor note here, but for me i have this annoying bug that makes it so some pokemon have the exact same cry. its a sort of whooshing noise that you’d expect for a flying type pokemon, but it frequently appeared instead of well known and familiar cries. i can’t pin down exactly what the cause of this is, or if i’m hearing things wrong, but it was infuriating.

also p much just explain this in the point. BUT it happened all. the. time. the only pokemon i know for sure was effected by the bug was gyarados, because instead of the roaring cry i heard the whooshing sound that was probably meant to be another pokemon’s cry. it sounds wack when im saying it rn bc im not 100% convinced i wasn’t making this up, but it was the sole reason i turned the pokemon cries to get drowned out by the music and sound effects.

3. the towns are empty and barely even give you flavor text anymore. you might as well not speak to any npcs except shop keepers and named characters.

i touched on this previously in 1 but basically walking around a town and talking to npcs will not get you any interesting dialog. going into the houses/rooms, and you’ll only get one npc who’s all like “i’m brushing my hair!” and that’s about it. there aren’t any items tucked away in houses or corners of buildings for you to explore or battle people. when you acknowledge that there’s no flavor text from npcs all the towns feel practically empty whereas in the previous games it actually alive.

not to mention how little the diaglog changes? like it may just be my faulty memory at play but im pretty sure that the npcs in the previous games had more dynamic dialog in which they’d change what they said depending on your action in the town or for the plot. after a major event just happened, if you walked around and talked to everyone in that area they’d talk about it. but that happened like....once.

4. there is exactly three cute outfits and three cute hairstyles and that’s about it. i know a lot of this point is mostly about personal taste but please nintendo, we had such a good range in the previous game. 

one thing i loved about the series was the increasing freedom in customisation of trainers. fashion kept getting wider and with more variety, clothes that were still cute and i’d frequently have about 2k because i just kept buying them. by the end of my playthrough of swsh i had almost a million saved up because i didn’t like most of the clothing options. i found one outfit and hairstyle i liked a quarter of the way through the game and stuck with it until the end. they drastically cut down on the options, and that sucked. 

5. don’t explore. there is literally no point in looking in all the nooks and crannies of this game, because i guarantee that if the game doesn’t tell you to go there, then there’s nothing there.

again, already touched on this point but one example i know is this. when you go to the energy plant to battle rose, or go to the roof to battle eternus, i expected to go back to it when the event was over to see if something was left behind or because i’d been locked in a cutscene and unable to explore before, that meant there would be something now. but nope. don’t bother. even when you think you might be able to do something fun, don’t try until the game points you in that direction itself. if something interesting is going to happen in the game, i assure you they will point it out for you. 

6.  it’s too easy. it’s....actually crazy that i’m even putting this as a point, because i’m a strict believer in making games playable for everyone. but it’s just....too much.

hard games disinterest me. if a game is renowned for it’s difficulty, then i will avoid it. i don’t care if defeating dark souls is a badge of honor for your stubbornness or skill. i simply don’t enjoy playing a game that makes me want to quit in frustration because i am not good at video games. i appreciated how easy the games have been in recent years because it makes it a lot easier for me to actually complete them and enjoy them, it’s why i have trouble getting into the earlier gens of pokemon. 

but when it got to the point where after only about an hour or two of dynamax farming, by the time that i got round to the championships i was literally one shotting every single pokemon. even when i didn’t have super effective moves. i was almost 20 levels ahead of the competition, and blasted through the whole thing in a total of 10 minutes battle time and 30 minutes dialog and cutscene time, with a 20 minute pause for a phone call. 

i defeated leon with only very minimal struggle. i couldn’t one shot all his pokemon, i will admit. i two shotted them. i went into the championship fully stocked up on potions and revival items and left with all of them. none of my pokemon fainted or even sustained major damage. 

while satisfying feeling that you’re op enough to utterly annihilate your opponents, there comes a point where it’s just “why bother i know i’ll win” which kind of sucks. 

7. the cut down pokedex will forever inject salt right into my veins. especially when they had the audacity to include one of the first starter pokemon, but not the other two. charizard is an okay pokemon but its overrated, nintendo please accept that.

sorry to charizard fans, but please acknowledge that it’s overrated. its design is basic, and already has multiple different forms. the fact that they passed over the opportunity for the creativity that dynamax venusaur or blastoise could give, for another basic dragon design is so annoying. 

not to even mention the fact that they didn’t even bother to keep the rest of the starter pokemon either. i vaguely remember one time some nintendo employee or big shot saying that the best thing about it is that every pokemon is at least one person’s favourite. the underused or underloved pokemon will always be ONE person’s favourite, and that’s why you can get the whole pokedex. but y’know fuck that philosophy in the name of getting the game out on time. when they could have very easily pushed the release date back. i’m lucky that most of my faves got included but i know that a fair amount did not. and i’m pissed. 

8. the plot didn’t exist until suddenly it did and then it made no sense. 

9. i hate the fact that the team in this game were just delegated to fans. i understand the whole “fake out” thing they might have been going for by getting the player to think that they’d turn out to be bad, but no. it just sucks. 

these two go so hand in hand, that i’m taking the time to address them together considering in every single previous game so far the team has had some HEAVY influence on the plot in one way or another. they’re always linked to the legendary pokemon of the game and they’re always included in the overarching plot, either by driving the player to act or subtly there. 

i kept seeing team yell show up and trying to work out how they were going to join the plot. were they a cult doing Science Shit in the background trying to revive the legendaries? was marnie the leader of this cult and going through the league to distract people from her totally devious going-ons? or would it turn out that marnie though the team harmless but really it was a front for her relative’s secret cult? 

nope!!! they were annoying roadblocks who added literally nothing to the plot. 

and when i realised that, it was the seventh gym battle and so far the only plot i’d glimpsed at was the mysterious explosions in hammerlocke city and the overarching tale of the sword and shield that had been obvious since literally the first time sonia started to talk about it. there had been no plot. there was literally no plot other than the gym battles which sonia and leon specifically called out to “leave this to the grownups, you two just focus on the gym challenge”. 

and when i got my eighth badge and was completing the equivalent of the elite four, i was still confused as FUCK because where the hell was the plot???? and then the whole weird ass “we have to save leon” from a meeting with.....a chairman? how about you wait just an hour jfc it’s not that bad? he’s not being held against his will? the chairman wasn’t doing anything obviously evil or even hinted at? 

the whole thing was vague and rose’s motivation was just ??????? i don’t know???? i still don’t exactly know what the whole deal was. it came out of nowhere and made. no. sense. it had completely lost me. along with the fact that they were suddenly introducing dynamax raids like we hadn’t already been doing that so many times in the wild area????

which leads me to my next point.....sigh. 

10. fucking. swordward and shieldbert. i???? literally. have no. words. (i do but they’re super long so hmmm down below)

first things first, is that i hate everything about these characters. from their names, to their designs, to their motivations, to how they’re handled in canon. it was shitty and while i had fun playing with the whole “this is what a champion does after they beat the previous one” thing, it was just in general really bad. 

like, i cannot get over how shitty their designs were. their hair was literally a sword and a shield. i kept thinking “wow swordward has a penis head that wiggles when he moves” and couldn’t take a single thing he said seriously. i literally wanted to weep at the horrible character design. 

not to mention the suddenness of their whole schtick. “yeah we’re royalty and we’re “”””CELEBRITIES”””” even if none of you have heard of us”. like what????? the fuck????

it just sort of pisses me off to an astronomical degree that this low quality shit was jammed into a pokemon game when they were getting so good at storytelling. it felt like game freak were hammering me with a club while singing “YOU PAID 50 WHOLE POUNDS FOR THIS IN PARTICULAR!!!” like,,,, thanks. thank you. thank you for waiting until after i’d finished the game to really hammer home that point. 

which somewhat leads me to my last point that really just sums up the majority of my thoughts on the whole game:

11. a game worth about £20 ($25) less than i paid for it. its a decent quality game, but not nearly nintendo quality. 

if i knew what i knew about the game know, i wouldn’t pay fifty fucking pounds for it. it physically pains me to spend more than £30 in one sitting, that i actually winced while i was buying it even though i was being 100% optimistic that i was going to love it. at most i’d pay £30 for it, but only then. it’s a good game to really distract you and power through but other than that, i don’t see it as a game i’m going to come back to so i can complete the pokedex and i certainly am not going to buy the other game so i can play it again unlike how i’ve done in the past with my favourite installments. 

maybe i’m just picky, or i don’t buy games often enough, but i really would not classify this as a quality installment in the pokemon franchise. if you get a free copy, or just the opportunity to play it for a few hours then fine it’s a great game. but not quite something you should want to spend your money on. but don’t pirate it. that’s a fast way to get bugs.

to sum this whole mess of a post up: immediately after finishing the game i said to myself “now time to go play a REAL pokemon game” before booting up pokemon moon.

[sasorikigai]

——————–QUESTIONS FOR MUN || @heamatic​ || accepting 

12. Have you roleplayed anywhere other than tumblr?

No, I have not, Tumblr, however broken and traumatic it became for me with its abundance of toxicity and drama and all - through my love and hate relationship with it, I obviously stuck through almost four years of roleplaying on here, because it’s aesthetically pleasing (for I am such an extra (tm) when it comes to aesthetics, graphic qualities and formatting in general) and it’s such a good platform for multi-para and novella length threads, which I will always prefer over and give priority to than single-liners or just spur-of-the-moment threads. 

20. If you could tell your muse something, what would it be?

To Hanzo Hasashi: “I have immense respect for you, because you have experienced so much heartbreaks, gone through numerous trials and tribulations that shook you to the core, yet you still hold onto the memories of the loss and death and suffering and you never give the fuck up. You will never completely walk away from them because you are the most badass motherfucker I know - pardon my language - that’s passionate, intense, resilient and stubborn and you are unrelenting in what you pursue through your redemption and rebranding of your damaged self. I only have unsolicited respect and love for you.” 

To Kuai Liang: “Looking at you is an instant mirror, and it’s almost painful to write as you, because I truly feel like I see myself through you for having such uncanny ability to mask the truth of your emotions in such extraordinarily determined measure with an ultimate poker face. Yet, I know of your pain, the midnight rendezvous of your darkness that resides in your heart. You are where my reality eludes me, and it pains you to see such raw viscerality of your pain and suffering resonating from your eyes and subdued physical language of your gesticulations. I hope you can truly escape the sad truth of loneliness with those who treasure you in all of your multifaceted enigmatism.” 

[heamatic-a]

@kathexismania​

2019 is almost over!

(a well-deserved positivity for you!!) 

I know I already have told you numerous times over our Discord chat, but I could not resist, as I wrap the year 2019, I could not forget how coming across your blogs (heamatic, desxderium, akanenxmai) have literally changed my life. Before I nabbed Hanzo (and shortly after Kuai) around February and March of this year, I was going to quit roleplaying, writing and being on Tumblr in its entirety. That’s when all the MK11 hype was going around (I was one of them, despite not being a gamer myself) in March and when we began writing together. The moment I came across your blog, Jester, I thought I had hit the jackpot, and I realized that our writing meshes so well together, as well as our muses’ chemistry and dynamics. You have been nothing, but compassionate, kind, understanding and sympathetic and just overall an awesome person, friend and writing partner. I love everything we write together, no matter what muses and verses. 

I treasure Hanzo and Cassie so much, and they certainly have been one of the most unexpected ships that I will ship for eternity, and tbh, they have become one of my otps, because they have grown so much together (compared to their MKX characteristics and regarding the story mode), Hanzo and Becky (for all their emotional baggage and having to withstand themselves from bigger forces trying to hunt and kill them) and Becky being one of the most fleshed-out OCs I’ve ever seen, and you have such a clear and concise idea of her in so many interesting verses and I dig all of them quite honestly, and most recently, Hanzo and Akane, through their conveyed emotions, I absolutely love that they do not have to talk that much to understand each other, and they come across as soulmates, protecting each other’s assets and watching out for their physical and mental sanity. Also Kuai Liang and Cassie, although that is the most unusual ship I’ve ever written to this date, I treasure them because they’re inherently so good and respectful towards each other when they do become a couple. Through our various ships, you have been nothing, but receptive, open, and adaptive, but most importantly, you have listened to all of my ideas and gave me so much confidence, because I was (and still is) so insecure not only of my writing, but weary of how my ideas would come across, as well as my headcanons. 

And talking with you literally daily on Discord certainly helped with my mindset; I’ve grown more confident, and my writing has taken leaps of development. I began to write more headcanon posts and you have always encouraged me to write more, and supported the cause of me going off tangent in developing so many different verses and AUs. I will never forget your kindness with offering me graphics and literally having been serving as a catalyst in my blow’s rebranding and remaking. Without you, it wouldn’t have been possible to get my blog where I am, with such amazing chemistry, dynamics and connection not only OOC, but IC as well. 

I am going to ramble if you don’t stop me, so I will try to keep it short, but you are such a remarkable and exquisite writer. Your writing flow so effortlessly, and not only am I fucking blown away by your internalization/introspection, but your muses’ dialogues, no matter who you happen to grasp with such perfection. Your graphics and art are goals as you’re one of the most talented people I’ve ever seen on this hellsite. If the year 2019 has granted me one thing that’s invaluable and most treasurable, it’s certainly you. You will always be my dear friend and my incorrigible writing partner, and my fucking ride or die.

KATHYYY!

First I wanna apologize because you sent this a few days ago and it took me a while to respond but I wanted my response to be worthwhile.

Now listen – LISTEN – I’m just so glad you followed me when you did. When you followed me and I saw your incredible writing and portrayal, I remember thinking ‘what is this quality blog doing following a potato like me??!’ because you know, I’ve told you many times, just how in awe I am of your poetic writing and how well it flows, how beautiful it is. I’m always completely floored by every reply I receive from you: it’s like Christmas and my birthday all at once every time lol I adore everything we write together, especially since we have a variety of subjects we write: funny, angst, smut, sweet, violent, etc… you name it. There’s never a dull moment and it’s always so much fun! And you already know how I was on the verge of quitting as well, how you’ve managed to make writing so much fun for me again. ;u;

And look: our ships? I love them so freakin’ much! Needless to say I think that save for Akane and Hanzo (even if it’s very recent), none of them were expected yet they mesh so freakin well together? They all give me so many feels, between happiness and angst, it’s just amazing to me how they all fit so well and are all so wholesome in their own way? Despite the hardships they all go through, they’re all very respectful to one another and constantly support each other. And I love how they developed as we wrote them, how natural they feel despite their unusual dispositions. And believe me Kathy, you have no reason to feel insecure about your ideas: they’re always so well thought out and fun. And you know me, I’m chill as can be: I’m always willing to try new things!

And omg… thank you so so so much for your compliment about Becky. It means the world to me, because she’s so important to me and there are times when I lack some confidence in that department, but your enthusiasm toward her has certainly helped me better myself and by proxy, has helped her. I’ve been writing her for five years and I can confidently say that I’ve been having so much fun writing her with you no matter the verse. Like I told you before, I hadn’t lost muse entirely, and I would never, not after five years of writing her, but you’ve most definitely helped bring that spark back. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I’m so glad you’ve grown more confident, especially with your incredible and excellent writing. Your headcanons are always top notch! I don’t know how you do it because I feel like I can never come up with proper headcanons no matter how much I try lol But you’re always impressing me whenever you post something new. They’re just SO GOOD. I’ve really enjoyed talking with you everyday, and tbh, you’ve helped me through the rougher times, especially the last couple of months. You’ve proven to me that there are still good people out there on this hellsite despite what I went through earlier this year. And for that I thank you. The chemistry we share both IC and OOC is a connection I cherish greatly.

Thank you for such compliments. It means a lot coming from you considering how beautiful your dialogues always are – as are all your inner descriptions of your character’s psyche. I’m constantly blown away by how you make everything come across so well, how it flows so effortlessly. How do you even come up with all these incredible descriptions and inner reflections? I’m so glad you like my graphics and art, because it’s all so much fun to work on, and it’s well deserved to you for being such a good friend to me. Thank you for being so amazing to me, for listening to me, for being such a good friend. I’m sure I’m rambling too, but while 2019 was a difficult year, it brought me some good things, and one of those good things is most certainly your presence in my life.

I’m looking forward to this ever lasting friendship. You’re my ride and die and I cherish the heckie out of you! Thank you again! AND REMEMBER THAT ILY!

[0poole]

Alright Let’s Go is imminent

All the previous rants I had about this where left when my last Tumblr account was terminated, so I’ll just fill it back in.

Also I’m feeling the emotions so like

Basically, my general opinion about Pokemon as a whole is very positive. If someone were to ask me what my favorite video game was, I’d just say “Pokemon” because the games are similar enough to each other that I could just group them together, and because I’ve never not liked a Pokemon game I’ve played. I’m a simple man who likes fun and cute girls, and basically every game has done that for me (except for the original gen 2 games and earlier since I’ve never played them and also doubt I’d like them. I do look for good graphics in enjoyment tbh)

Obviously, all of this becomes a problem sometimes, since so many Pokemon “fans” have such stupid reasons for hating some the games... So much of it is just generic “It’s badly designed” or other stuff that’s literally just them saying “I don’t know why I hate it but I might as well try to sound smart” since you can’t just “not like” something nowadays. Not liking something is okay, since people have different wants and opinions, but saying that it’s bad because you don’t like it is such a self-absorbed idea. You’re saying that you’re so well immersed in the specifics of design that you simply going through and feeling negative emotions means that, deep down, it’s a bad game. It’s not.

There’s a serious gap between the consumer and the creator. You can’t just “consume” a bunch of games and then know what makes them good. You can’t just watch a bunch of Youtube videos about game design and know from them either, although that’s a step in the right direction. I don’t know what good game design is either, and I sure as hell won’t pretend that I do.

The biggest, most insulting thing I hear tossed around a lot is that Gamefreak “doesn’t care about their fans,” “is super lazy,” or “isn’t even trying.” This is one of the few times where I’m legitimately insulted on someone else’s behalf, because, even though I’ve never made a game and don’t plan on it, if I did and THAT was the response I got, I would feel like absolute shit. Sure, some Gamefreak executives probably just look at the numbers and do whatever gets them more money, but how the hell can you say that every single person involved in the creation process just doesn’t care, or is just lazy? They’re working on fucking POKEMON for Pete’s sake. How could you not only not enjoy that, but just casually toss something into the wind? That’s also not to mention how fucking ungrateful a lot of fans are. Some people just will not be pleased, and even though you’re trying to find what does, they’ll still hate it no matter what. It’d be aggravating. I’m sure after a while you’d just get used to it, but that obviously doesn’t mean it’s okay. 

Speaking of being ungrateful, with regard to Let’s Go, just be glad you’re getting ANY Pokemon this year. I don’t remember it personally, but apparently there wasn’t even close to a major Pokemon game each year. There were spinoffs of course, but you couldn’t get that mainline itch scratched as much as they are now. People are mad that they’re getting a game that they don’t like, and they’d also be mad if they didn’t get any game at all. It’s like a bunch of whiny babies who will flail their arms if they don’t get exactly what they want.

Again, not all fans are like this, but obviously the vocal ones are.

Going into Let’s Go more specifically, I feel like a lot of people’s complaints are just things that MIGHT be able to be interpreted as negatives, so they then go on and say they’re bad. The big one that definitely leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths, is that the whole “gamer” community seems to have such a gigantic vendetta against mobile games. They’re for the casual gamers, not the HARDCORE #GAMERS like us. They’re simple, and I want complexity. They’re popular, and I want to be unique. It’s fucking insufferable. And then, once they hear that their non-mobile franchise is connecting with a mobile aspect, they go buck fucking wild. How DARE they. How DARE they appeal to more people, and do things that are strictly better for business. That sort of ties in with that one new Diablo game, but that hate is a bit more vindicated since (as far as I understand it) it’s REPLACING the console/PC game, instead of being a sort of tie-in like Let’s Go. Phones definitely aren’t made for major games like that, so I can sort of understand it. Hell, I hate using my phone for normal phone things...

Anyways, a lot of the more specific criticisms are either specifically designed to fit the target audience, or are completely subjective. 

Talking about Let’s Go’s “Target Audience” is a pretty hefty topic, but it’s still a legitimate one. The game is not made for kids, nor for adults. It’s for people who either don’t know Pokemon and want to learn, or people who just want to play a casual, simple, and fun Pokemon game. GO players can fall into either of those categories.

For the former, things like forcing the player to catch certain types Pokemon to get into a gym, removing items and abilities, and especially only having the first 151 (Plus Meltan, Melmetal, and Alolan forms) help in that. There are over 800 Pokemon now, and many more abilities, moves, items, strategies... That’s so much to learn and adjust to for someone who knows nothing about the games. It’s intimidating, so these games help them adjust slowly to those things so they can delve deeper once they’re ready. Hell, personally, I think they shouldn’t have removed abilities and items for that purpose. They’re usually things that lie in the background, and can usually only be strictly good for you in a specific situation. You don’t usually have to work around them too much, meaning you might as well just keep them in so people can get used to them. Does it make the game bad? Not even close. Just because something could be better doesn’t mean they’re bad.

Then for the latter, things like the game being super easy comes to mind. I’ve NEVER enjoyed grinding. NEVER. I have no idea how some people could enjoy grinding. I will turn the EXP Share off from time to time if I feel like I’m at an okay level, but in general it’s super useful for me to not have to go through the painstaking process of fighting little wild Pokemon over and over again. I played through B2W2 recently, and for some reason I ended up super underleveled in that playthrough, and whenever I felt like I couldn’t beat someone, I had to go searching for Audino, running back and forth and back and forth until I saw shaking grass, and even then it wasn’t guaranteed to be there. Rinse and repeat many more times. That’s not fun, and people who think that is fun are one in a million, and honestly I’m jealous. 

Also when it comes to ease, the “Handholding” aspect. That’s the biggest term that’s thrown around nowadays, like it’s the be-all end-all of quality. A lot of the times, it’s not even where people say it is. In Let’s Go, obviously there is handholding, because people want their hands held to adjust to the vast world of Pokemon, as mentioned. But, going back to Gen 7, all of the cutscenes and map markers that point you where to go are NOT handholding. They’re just story. Believe it or not, people IRL will tell you where to go if you need to do something somewhere. That goes into my idea that any kind of story can either be Realistic or Good For Storytelling if they want to be good in quality, and either can be acceptable. But, that’s a rant for another day. Also, I explicitly remember just leaving behind Firered/Leafgreen as a kid because I didn’t know I needed to go to Cinnabar Island, or where to get the tea to give to that one guard. Telling you where you NEED to go is fine because you don’t always HAVE to go straight in that direction. Plus, it’s pretty damn commonplace in other games, so why is it suddenly bad here?

That’s another thought I had about how some people seriously hate some Pokemon games: They’re comparing them to other Pokemon games, not other games as a whole. As far as it seems to me, all Pokemon games are “good games.” Everyone goes to war about which generation is the best, completely forgetting that they all could be so much worse. Like mentioned, a ton of stuff they say is “bad” is very likely just something they don’t like, but either way they’re still so good. My least favorite generation is EASILY Gen 2, but Heartgold and Soulsilver are widely seen as the BEST games, and I can’t blame them. That’s TWO regions! I really only don’t like the Generation because I don’t really like any of the Pokemon, but basically everything else is clearly top-notch, for both a Pokemon game and any old game.

Some other ones:

The “Friendly Rival.” It’s completely subjective whether or not the rival should be an asshole. Saying it’s “bad” and blaming this petty thing for your dislike of the current games is extremely dumb. A lot of the people who say this are just looking for a reason to say something it’s bad, instead of just saying they “don’t like it”

The One-to-one scale replica of the original games. H.. how... How is this a negative? It’s a REMAKE! Sure, it would be nice if they freshened it up a bit, but it’s not necessary! All that “B-but it’s a different console with different needs!” is, again, just you trying to deny that you only don’t like the game. It does have different needs, and they met those needs. The scale of the world isn’t one of those needs.

The two new Pokemon designs (or just any design in general). I’m repeating myself here: You can’t just consume designs and know good designs. Even then, you’re still just trying to sound smart and not emotional. I’ll probably go more in detail about this later, since I’m actually trying to study character design (as much as possible at least) and this is actually where I know some things.

But, I guess the tie-in for all my ideas is that people are angry/worried that Let’s Go will be the future of the franchise. I actually have no idea how fucking stupid those people can be.

It’s not. Not even close.

They EXPLICITLY said that these games are not for hardcore fans, and THEIR game is going to be in 2019. They’re deviating from you people FOR A REASON. THEY KNOW THEY’RE DOING IT, AND THEY ARE NOT GOING TO KEEP IT THIS WAY. Seriously, they make one game that deviates from the norm, and all of a sudden people think that it’s “THE FUTURE OF THE FRANCHISE!!!” Sure, they might end up making Let’s Go versions of Johto or whatever in the future, but if they do then they’ll basically be spinoff-main games for casual people. The main-main games will stay as they are, and likely will become better if this is the case, since all the casual fans will go to Let’s Go, and the non-Let’s Go games can focus even more on the hardcore fans.

All in all, the existence of Let’s Go is an objective positive for the franchise. Stop whining, you’ll get your chance.

I’m gettin Let’s Go Eevee btw. I’m excited, since I’ve never actually played through Kanto in its entirety. I have Firered, but I never really got into it. I obviously know every point of it, but it’s obviously because it’s so famous. I never really liked the Kanto mons, but I can probably forge a team from them nowadays since I haven’t used them as much. I usually try to make teams of Pokemon I haven’t used before, mixed with Pokemon I just genuinely like. So far, I think I’m going to go somewhere along the ways of having Blastoise/Poliwrath, Primape, Nidoking, Dodrio, Rapidash, and obviously Eevee. I don’t know too much about where to find Ponyta, Squirtle, and Poliwag, but I’d say that’s my favorite team possible from the Kanto mons.

[jheece]

10 things about me- Munday meme!

    i was tagged by @galaxydominated and i don’t reeeaaally feel like tagging anyone else so you’ll just have to make do and tag yourself if you wanna do this LOL

I moved out recently!! So now I’m doing aaalllll the adult stuff. Like paying rent. And doing my taxes. And getting tattoos. All at the tender age of 19, so if you imagine some teenager screaming as they try to figure out how to fill out their insurance form, that’s a pretty accurate description of me currently.

I’ve owned countless blogs since I started RPing on Tumblr in 2014 ( and I’m not even gonna come close to thinking back about the ones I had on quotev as a young lad ), I think my estimate would come close to... 50? Who even knows. They have spanned across several fandoms, including: Homestuck, ( + Problem Sleuth ), Rick and Morty. Invader Zim, Danganronpa, Space Dandy, Outlast, Yu Yu Hakusho, DBZ, and a few niche, technically fandomless characters.

Up until recently, I had spent my entire teenagehood cutting and dying my own hair, usually in the bathroom, and usually with an electric razor and no gloves at 3 am. I was shockingly rather good at it. The last time I had seen a stylist was in 2013.

I have three siblings, one of them being 15 in a few days and owning a rp blog on here ( If you’re in the Homestuck fandom and see a blog by a kid named Echo with rather stellar graphics for her writing quality, I made those. ) My other siblings are 4 and 2.

I hated skirts my entire life, up until I moved to Nevada. Now I wear one like every other day. Nobody told me that maxi skirts were so cute and comfy....

Jeice has been my most favorite muse to play like, ever. I love the Ginyu Force and really hope to see the day where we have a complete force again. Really though, his personality is weirdly charming for me and he’s such an amusing character. Something about characters that are shamelessly obnoxious really gets to me.

My favorite pokemon is Deoxys! My favorite antivillain is N. 

My dad got me into punk and metal music from a young age. Some of my favorite bands are Sex Pistols, KMFDM, Rammstein, OOMPH!, and Social Distortion.

I have 7 tattoos and 9 piercings! I used to have 10 but I had to let one of them close up. Three in my left ear ( used to be four ), three in my right, one eyebrow, my tongue, and my navel. Aside from the fucking ridiculous healing process, my tongue was the least painful.

I keep telling myself, ‘I’ll just sleep another hour!’ and it almost always ends up being an additional five hours.

[eternlmisery]

So... Charmed is getting a reboot (by the CW)

For those of you who don’t know what “Charmed” is, it is a fantasy/supernatural tv series that run on WB from 1998 to 2006. It focused on three sisters who after the death of their grandmother find out that they are witches. Throughout the show we see them get their powers, learn to use them, fight demons, warlocks, face real-life problems, grow, fall in love, get married, experience loss. And all of that as they struggle with their magic and protect humanity on a daily basis. I think that the core of the show is the sisters, Piper, Phoebe, Prue and Paige and their love for each other and the innocent people that they protect. 

“Charmed”, along with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” were two of the first female-lead tv series back in the day and everyone loved them so much. I know that people in my country loved watching "Charmed” and still do. It has so much magic and at the same time it is so refreshing and realistic because we have these characters that could be anyone and at the same time are so unique because of their magical abilities.

And now, 12 years after the last episode they decided to take that iconic series and reboot it. 

-FROM NOW ON IS MY OPINION AND LARGE ANALYSIS-

First of all, *sigh* there won’t be a reboot with the real cast. So there goes my heart. Second of all, it’s on the CW from what i have headrd... And if you don’t know why this is a problem... just search “anti-CW” on tumblr and you’ll see. (In an article i saw paramount pictures so idk what is up there).Third, the description. THE DESCRIPTION. 

"This fierce, funny, feminist reboot of the original series centers on three sisters in a college town who discover they are witches. Between vanquishing supernatural demons, tearing down the patriarchy, and maintaining familial bonds, a witch's work is never done."

First off, "feminist” and “tearing down the patriarchy”. What is this supposed to mean? I’m not saying it in the way that feminism or tearing down the patriarchy doesn’t matter or i don’t understand it but... is there a point of these being in the description of the show? Why is everyone trying to re-make incredible old tv series or movies into 2018 GARBAGE. And it’s pretty much 100% certain that they will fuck up in portraying feminism and tearing down the patriarchy in 2018 , as well as the original “Charmed” did in 1998. The thing is that I am scared that the whole plot will be centered around that. “Oh men are trash, women are here to save the day, fuck patriarchy and fuck guys we are the best”. That will not be feminism, but misandry. Aka hating men. Cause y’all know they are going to put men as scumbags and as the villains just to highlight how much better the women are. Because of course there are a LOT of scumbags but not all of them and the show has the responsibility to show the reality of a situation.

Enough with my overthinking and panicking.

Let’s take an example of a shitty 2018 reboot with Heathers. There is representation (plus size students, Asian students, gender fluid students, Jewish students, black students) but... it’s not the right kind. They play the bad guys and they are super cliche in the wrong and most twisted way from what i have seen. And it’s... so bad. The villains are a plus size girl, a black lesbian and a gender fluid guy and the good guys are a white blonde girl..? What is this supposed to pass onto the audiences? Where is the good and healthy representation?

Also the Ghostbusters reboot portrayed Chris Hemsworth’s character as a man who was dumber than a pile of bricks, another way to put the spotlight on the women. 

“Charmed” never needed to do that. It didn’t need to force anything on the viewers and it didn’t need to make the male characters assholes just to show how amazing the sisters were. Piper had Leo who was super supportive and an amazing character and helped them through all the seasons. Prue had Andy, Phoebe had Cole... well... he was half good? And Paige had Henry who despite being a mortal was always there for her and accepted her just the way she is. Of course there were shitty guys just as there were shitty women in the show. 

But the point is that “Charmed” was a show that: 

1. was feminist without being misandristic 

(Also Penny Halliwell, Grams, believed they didn’t need men but sees how her granddaughters have surrounded themselves with good ones so don’t take this quote the wrong day)

2. Gave the sisters love interests which almost all the time accepted them and didn’t hold them back from being independent and themselves. That also goes for the men in their life in general (Victor, Darryl)

The biggest example of this is actually Leo, who was the sisters’ whitelighter who fell in love with Piper. Throughout the show he is there not only for his wife but for the sisters too and he helps them every way that he can, as they are now his own family. He has faith in them and their abilities and he believes in them more than themselves sometimes. Also of course he is sometimes the one that is saved by the sisters just as he saves them.

Also Victor, who seemed like the absent asshole dad in season 1, came back and redeemed himself, explaining the situation and building a relationship with his daughters as much as he could. 

Case point #3: Darryl Morris. The Police officer who risked everything for the sisters and despite being super suspicious of Andy, he himself protected the sisters and helped them any way he could so they could save innocent people. Of course he was a human and he had weaknesses and he pointed out a lot of times how wrong it was for him to go against the law practically, but he knew what the sisters were doing was more important.

3. showed the struggles of magic vs family, friends, career, relationships

We see Prue struggling with her job before realizing what her passion truly was and she realized that her true calling was photography after she got her powersand Phoebe finding a purpose with her column and Paige quitting her job to be a full-time witch and Piper and P3 and later her restaurant (in the comics).

Piper trying to get pregnant and finding out that she actually couldn’t get pregnant easily because of all the fighting they do, Phoebe searching for true love, Prue losing Andy. We see Piper’s journey from her first meeting with Leo, to finding out that he is a whitelighter to getting together to the elders forbidding them from being together to their marriage and... just their whole life story until they are gray and old.

Phoebe has her love story with Cole who is a whole different thing, but it came to show how Phoebe grew from the experience and felt independent and free and just ready to focus on herself. 

Paige didn’t have that many serious boyfriends and the addition of Henry was very sweet even though he is very underrated by many!

4. showed people who experienced so much loss, but who kept going forward, thus giving out a positive message

Like after Patty’s death and Penny’s death, Andy’s death and Prue’s death and Leo leaving and vanquishing Cole and Kyle’s death and etc. They were beaten down so many times but they were strong enough to keep going, giving the viewers a positive outlook of even the worse situations and that with the magic that is inside of them they can heal their broken hearts. They show that even magical people have hearts and they die and they cry and they lose and sometimes not even magic can fix everything. They can’t cheat death when it is time for it and not even magic can help them.

5. had BAD-ASS and ASS-KICKING ladies that were also soft whenever they felt like it but it didn’t made them any less bad-ass and amazing 

Because we all love both bad-ass and soft leads who are ready to defend innocent people and vanquish demons and kill warlocks but also squeal and be funny and make jokes

6. was all about FAMILY!

From the logo to the storylines and down to the last detail “Charmed” was about family. First it was the love the girls had for grams, then sisterhood and from then on the sisterhood remained as they fell in love and created their own families and began to bring more people in their family until it became complete (well almost complete with Prue not being there). The thing is that from beginning to end this show was about love. And mainly the power of three. The power of three is the power the Charmed ones have all together; aka the three Halliwell sisters. The Triquetra also is three points. 

And the Charmed ones’ powers are immediately tied to the emotions. Which brings me back to my initial thought, the love between the three of them is the main thing, both for the magic and for their lives.

There is also Grams & Patty, Grams & the girls, Patty & the girls:

Leo & Wyatt & Chris:

THIS SCENE:

Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige:

Mom Piper & Dad Leo:

Prue & Phoebe & Piper & Paige:

I feel like the 2018 show won’t focus on that. It won’t focus on all of the points that I listed, which in my opinion are the most important qualities of “Charmed” and are the reason that it truly remains a timeless show even 12 years later. Sure it was not perfect but I feel like a show that will focus on all the wrong things will be MUCH MUCH worse. Personally, I am very satisfied with the ending of “Charmed” and i feel like it was a great epilogue to 8 great seasons. Let’s not forget that the story of the sisters lives on with the comics/graphic novels! So in my opinion the only “Charmed” reboot that would be worth it, would be one with the original cast and producers/writers! 

[meridianrose]

This is a multiday post, under the cut are my entries for Day 1 - 8

Day 1 Why you're participating in Snowflake

Day 2 Favourite memory about fandom (Legend of the Seeker, People's Palace, landcomms)

Day 3 Rec fanworks you did not create (5 x au fics in 5 fandoms)

Day 4 Create a fannish wishlist (more comments for everyone, be nicer, create more, I can haz art pls)

Day 5 Rec a fannish or creative resource (scripts, screencaps and promo pics, image hosting)

Day 6 Leave feedback (I'm always doing the thing)

Day 7 Create a love meme (please leave comments/gifs)

Day 8 Share a piece of canon (Starz shows and how I fell truly in love during S2 moments, Da vinci's Demons, Black Sails)

  Day 1 In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? I'm assisting with mod duties this year and this is what I wrote for my introduction there: I've been in fandom a long time. I've seen some good changes and some not so good. Lately in some places there's been a lot of negativity in fandom and overall it seems there's been a steady decline in interaction. For me fandom is about the joy of connecting with other fans, discussing, creating, consuming - and also commenting on fanworks of all kinds. I'm hoping Snowflake Challenge will give us all a positive boost and encourage us to focus on the good and to rediscover the community side of fandom. And because I'm assisting with mod duties I'm seeing a lot more of the content being produced and its amazing and heartwarming to see people sharing their personal stories and how fandom has helped them, talking about their passions, sharing their favourite fandoms and resources and fanworks. It's wonderful to see so many journal entries and activity! Day 2 In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Legend of the Seeker. This is one of my longer and more active fandoms. The peoplespalace was where I felt very welcomed and encouraged and I wrote a lot of fanworks and participated in a lot of the activities there. I miss the Darken/Cara/Rahl family side of the fandom a lot. There was also legendland a landcomm which ran for many years – we even had a reunion battle last year which was nice! I wrote so much fic, made icons and other graphics, even fanvids. I tried to do every challenge where possible. I was on Team Cara for the longest time. Cara, Darken, Zedd were always my favourites ;) Before legendland there was whedonland and again I felt part of something there. It pretty much saved my life a couple of times. These days there's gameofcards and it's fun and I encourage everyone to check it out, but the more specific fandom landcomms seemed to make for more tight-knit teams and I miss them. Day 3 In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. There are so many things I could rec! But I'll pick 5 AU fics from 5 different fandoms to spread the love a little Side by Side – Cormoran Strike http://archiveofourown.org/works/12036537 Fantasy au that ends in Strike/Robin, highly recommended. Murder – Dark Matter http://archiveofourown.org/works/12000579 College au based around an actual tradition of a game called "murder". As Glory Turns to Dust – Hamilton http://archiveofourown.org/works/11359656 Modern au with magic. Hamilton is cursed to be forgotten, leaving him alone in the world except, briefly, for Jefferson. Warning this is a fantastic fic but a sad ending. There is however a linked sequel by another author to put things right :) Skin Full of Lies – Black Sails http://archiveofourown.org/works/7570540 Soulmate au Silverflint "Every lie your soulmate tells you appears on your skin. Between outward lies, manipulations and stories told the crew John Silver's ink quite quickly takes over most of James' body." a gift fic for me, The Princess' Bodyguard – The Shannara Chronicles http://archiveofourown.org/works/13113129 pre-canon au in which Eretria is Amberle's bodyguard. One-shot but with potential for more, strong hints of Eretria/Amberle Day 4 In your own space, create a fannish wishlist. No limits on size or type of fanwork; just tell us what you’d like to see. Can we please do as most people asked on their fannish wishlist for day 4 and leave more comments? Can we journal more and create more? Can we rediscover the joy of fandom and stop with the "anti" behaviour? Please. More specifically for me, art for fics is always welcome. (I have a transformative work statement at LJ/DW and AO3 and have had translations of my work and podfic which are lovely!) In particular for my sfbb fic Bad Case of Loving You. I've got beautiful artwork for most of my sfbb fics, the DvD fics in particular. For sfbb I provide pinterest boards to help with resources and generally try to help artists out, as I did here. This is a Black Sails modern au medical drama with Silver/Flint/Miranda and Silver&Max and it was a labour of love and I'm still amazed I managed to write the thing. However it seemed to be cursed. My first beta dropped out. My first artist dropped out. My second artist swore they were ready to go then didn't post, then after the fest posted a basic stock photo+text "cover". *sigh* I made my own art in the end, banner and mini picspam for the tumblr promo post but I'm an amateur artist. Day 5 Recommend a fannish or creative resource. Springfield!Springfield! has movie and tv episode scripts. kiss them goodbye has a huge amount of screencap galleries. farfarawaysite has a smaller amount of pictures but tends to have high quality promotional pictures. Cloudinary is the site I'm using for image hosting since the photobucket debacle. Day 6 Leave feedback for a fanwork. Or multiple fanworks. It can be as simple as I liked this to a detailed list of all the things you loved about the fanwork. The key is to leave some sort of feedback. If you've already left feedback in the course of a previous challenge, it totally counts. But you're free to leave more feedback. My new year's resolution last year was to leave a comment on every fanfic, hosted on AO3, over 100 words, that I finished reading. (I needed some parameters; this doesn't mean I didn't leave comments at LJ/DW or on drabbles because I did, on occasion). I did the thing. I read a little less than usual. I noped out of more fics. But the fics I read and finished got a comment. I'm going to try and keep doing that. I've already left comments on some fics this year. My additional resolution for this year is to write down more of my ideas. Having plot ideas or dialogues while showering or in bed is one thing, but if I don't write/type at least the basics up, I forget them partially or entirely when I try to write the thing weeks or months later. Day 7: In your own space, create a love meme for yourself. Let people tell you how amazing and awesome and loveable you really are Come and tell me how amazing I am ;) Seriously though, I'm working on being more positive and telling myself I'm worthwhile, I deserve more, I am achieving more. But it always helps when other people are backing that up. Drop me a gif in the comments if that's easier, gifs are like greeting cards for saying the things we don't know how to otherwise express. Day 8 In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favourite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. My love of Starz shows seems to kick off in second seasons. For Da Vinci's Demons in S2e04 – starts around here: https://youtu.be/cQi4xjrBmgI?t=11m27s This is the moment I fell in love with younger!hotter!Riario, aka Blake Ritson in a wig, because hair kink. But also the moment I finally liked Lucrezia too, seeing her devotion to her sister. If you want me to like a character, have them adore and protect their little sister, if you want me to hate them, have them throw little sis under the bus. Riario tries to spare both girls, succeeds in saving only one, and his grief is evident as he speaks with a heartbroken Lucrezia. This scene changed how I felt about both Riario and Lucrezia and thus about the show and my fannish involvement. Similarly this humorous moment changed my feelings about Silver and SilverFlint in the opening episode of S2 Black Sails : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIt9u7CkBf0 when Silver completely misunderstands the plan and volunteers for a risky mission. This tumblr post shows what happens next: http://alightabovethearbys.tumblr.com/post/168194826519 It's even better later when they get on board, leading to Flint's exasperated "Well what the fuck did you think was going to happen?" You can see some gifs from all those Silverflint moments in S2 here: http://jolinarofmalkshur.tumblr.com/post/168381696381/john-silver-appreciation-week-day-6-favorite

[threelxttledxcklngs]

((Gooood morning tungle, I live, and so I’ll be giving my thoughts on Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance in the cut below. Got a lot of thoughts on DDD so it could get lengthy uwu

I...probably don’t have to say this, but below the cut are spoilers for both games, mostly for DDD.

Starting off with Re:Coded, from my understanding, it’s the most hated game in the fandom, and I don’t really understand why? I guess I can understand the platforming being an issue, but I really liked everything else about it. The gameplay was ever-changing, making the worlds unique, even though you visited them all before in literally every other Kingdom Hearts game, the story was a little plot-break, but not to the point where it was completely useless to us, and, uh, hello??? My son(s) have a bigger role than shops??? Always a fan of that. I love my blue baby duck son uvu. 

But seriously, I love how the story of this game isn’t completely required to the overarching plot of the series. What I mean is: in any LoZ game, you can just pick it up and play it, and you won’t be lost as to what’s going on. Kingdom Hearts might actually cause your brain to explode if you tried to do that. Except maybe Re:Coded. You can either pick up Re:Coded and play it without even touching the other games, or you can just not play it at all, and you won’t be missing much. The most important development in the story is what leads into BBS (I assume at least), and when Maleficent talks about the Book of Prophecies. Not to say that Kingdom Hearts’ method of overarching storytelling is wrong or bad, but as someone who wanted to play the game when it first came out, it can be frustrating to have to catch up now, nearly 15 years later. Ultimately, I really just like the plot of this game in general as well, but that may be just because it reminds me of this show that used to be my hyper fixation as a kid: Code Lyoko.

Basically, I think Re:Coded is shat on more than it deserves to be, and it’s a good game that anyone can play, be they a hardcore KH player, or a casual gamer. 

Now for KH:3D DDD

Okay, I’m going to get the negatives out of the way first, as per usual, because there are some things that seriously bother me, but don’t worry. Once I’m done shitting on the game, I’ll clean it up, I think I have more positives than negatives. 

Truthfully, most of the negatives are from me personally. You see, the 3DS is my favorite system I think. Probably because much like Scrooge’s No. 1 Dime, the 3DS was the first major purchase I ever made on my own, earning money from my own job. I got my 3DS in 2013 with a little game called Kid Icarus: Uprising.

This is an image that is produced by this game. I know damn well what this baby is capable of. Kid Icarus Uprising was released on March 22nd (23rd outside of Japan) 2012. Kingdom Hearts 3D was released March 29th, 2012. So very similar release dates. You’d expect that the same company that made this possible on the DS 

Would produce the same kind of quality that KI:U would have on the *3DS.* Right? Right? In the opening cutscene, we get some amazing looking clips like this

So the gameplay must look awesome, right?

Look how awful it looks!!! It looks so terrible!! Terrible in comparison to how it should look!! Like I said, I know what my baby can do, and it can produce some amazing quality!! Look at the difference between the basic gameplay of KI:U

And then a serious cutscene on KH:DDD

It looks like DDD was planned and programmed for the DS, but then moved to the 3DS at the last second!! Seriously?? Pokemon X/Y looked better than this!!

It’s disappointing to say the least. Fortunately, there is an HD Remake that looks worlds better, but I still can’t help but feel disappointed in the low graphics quality. 

Sora is also way dumber than he should be, and I find it an odd choice that Riku became the Keyblade master over him, but not necessarily a bad one. 

And there’s one thing that demands an explanation. Well, two, technically, but I’ll settle for one of them. 

In the end, while Riku is still asleep, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are all having a tea party. Why. And why is Sora wearing this?

LITERALLY, WHY??? FUCKING WHY??? YOU CANT JUST NOT EXPLAIN THIS!!

Now that I’ve gotten all the negatives out of the way: THE SOUNDTRACK THE SOUNDTRACK THE SOUNDTRACK THE SOUNDTRACK!!!!! Oh my GOD, this soundtrack is amazing!! This is by far my favorite version of Traverse Town, and Traverse Town might just be my favorite hub area in Kingdom Hearts thus far. Traverse Town and The Grey Area. Traverse Town and Prankster’s Paradise both look super fun as well!! I also like the addition of Neku and the gang, and once I’m done with the KH series, I’ll be checking out The World Ends with You.

The addition of Flow Motion also makes the game look super fun, and all the worlds are different!! Something sorely lacking in most of the other KH games. I was really getting tired of hearing the same songs and going to the same worlds over and over and over again, especially in the case of the Colluseum, where you literally just...keep doing the same thing over and over and over again? Maybe that’s fun to play, but I’m at the disadvantage of watching. All the worlds I guess maybe with the exception of The Grid and Riku’s version of Prankster’s Paradise but shoosh are unique, new, and fresh! It’s so refreshing!! And the Country of the Musketeers???? And Fantasia’s world? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MADRE DE DIJOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was quite the surprise lol. Oh! And the travel method, where you drop between the worlds, looks super fun!!

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SO HAPPY FOR AXEL/LEA IM SO GLAD HES ALIVE AND WHOLE AGAIN!!!!!!!!! 

AND HE HAS A KEYBLADE??????????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

SON SON SONS ONS!!!

Ultimately, there are only a few Kingdom Hearts titles that I can actually play. 358/2 Days, Re:Coded, and Dream Drop Distance. 

358/2 Days doesn’t look very fun, Re:Coded, although I do enjoy it, isn’t something I’d want to go out of my way to play, but I’d gladly take it if someone offered it to me as a gift, or even for a cheap price. Dream Drop Distance? I want it. 

I legitimately want to get Dream Drop Distance to play on my 3DS, it looks fun super fun, and ultimately, that’s an element in any video game that’s more important than story. 

Oh, and if you’re curious about my thoughts on the story of KH3D, I’m told that it’s super confusing, but like...I understand it? It’s something I’ll have to go back and rewatch to be able to explain it, and I really just don’t feel like doing that, but I understand it. I think. At the very least, I don’t see why everyone is saying it’s so confusing. I mean, the overall goal of the Organization beyond “let’s make 13 Ansems/Xehanorts” is a little blurred. Obviously, there’s some connection between that and the X-Blade, otherwise the naming scheme would be different. Lea became Axel, Sora became Roxas, Ansem became Xemnas, all the member’s names are anagrams of their previous names, with an X added. Makes me wonder what mine would be, considering there’s only one vowel in the name I usually go by. Going by my full name, it’d probably be Zaxibeth or something, and that sounds badass. 

I’m getting sidetracked. So far, DDD is probably one of my favorites in the series, but I have a feeling, based off the one screenshot I keep seeing floating around on Tumblr with Goofy, Sora, and Jack Sparrow, that III will change that.

~ Double Z))

[smokebabyjane]

Lil’ Q&A

• 1. have you ever been in love?

I have loved, but I’ve never been in love.

• 2. who is your favorite artist?

Tough question, but to name a few...Norah Jones, Jhene Aiko, Cardi B, and Green Day. Sometimes I feel like punching someone’s face in, so I’ll listen to System of a Down or SlipKnot.

• 3. what is your favorite music genre?

Everything except for opera. I’ll probably watch an opera show, but wouldn’t care to listen to it. I’d rather be at a club show with Hip-Hop/Rap or a fucking rock concert mosh pit. But when I’m cleaning or chillin I actually listen to more jazz, folk, r&b, pop.

• 4. have you ever had a penpal?

Yes, when I was like in elementary school & we’re still in touch.

• 5. are you single or in a relationship?

Always single. Hate to mingle lol.

• 6. what color are your eyes?

Boring Brown.

• 7. what is your favorite word?

Fuck.

• 8. do you play any instruments?

I used to play the harmonica, flute, piano, ukulele, but idk now.

• 9. what is your favorite color?  

Black. Red. White. Grey. Pink, duh

• 10. do you have any nicknames?

Rēne, Re, Rere.

• 11. what is your favorite flower?

Tulips and white roses. Forever (:

• 12. what qualities do you find attractive in a person?

Compassion, empathy, generosity, humor, maturity, and a good work ethic.

• 13. do you have any pets?

I lost my pet turtle and cactus, smh.

• 14. have you ever traveled outside of your home country?

Yes. USA.

• 15. what language(s) do you speak?

Tagalog, Illocano, a bit of French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean. English ftw.

• 16. who was your first crush?

This guy in middle school, popular bad boy. Every girl liked him probably. He liked me and was sweet. He actually asked me out then I broke it off. LMAO. Gawd.

• 17. do you wear glasses?

I should. Need new ones.

• 18. what is your favorite pastry?

Apple Strudel, apple pie, pumpkin pie. I’m literally picturing myself eat them right now. Smh.

• 19. do you prefer swimming in a pool or in the ocean?

Pool. I love the ocean, but it’s so damn salty. My eyeballs burn every fucking time.

• 20. bright, dark, or pastel colors?

Pastel <3

• 21. what is your favorite social media app?

I’m on Instagram more, but I actually prefer Tumblr.

• 22. what is your sexuality?

Straight, but I like to pretty girls for fun.

• 23. do you have any siblings?

Yes. Many actually.

• 24. what is your favorite scent?

I tend to lean towards musky, sweets scents.

• 25. where do you want to travel to?

Italy.

• 26. what is your favorite film?

American Gangster, Revolver, Grudge, Mean Girls, Jawbreakers, and more.

• 27. who do people say you look like? (celebrity/family member)

I’ve gotten Jhene Aiko a couple times which I think is complete bullshit, but she is pretty (: I just don’t think I look anything like her.

• 28. who is your best friend?

Zane <3

• 29. what is your dream job?

Scientist or acting.

• 30. do you know how to drive?

Yes.

• 31. who is/was your favorite teacher?

Idk, but I had a cute French teacher.

• 32. are you a feminist?

Fuck YES

• 33. what is your zodiac sign?

Aquarius

• 34. do you enjoy reading?

Love

• 35. do you have any hidden talents?

Most people don’t know I write poems, songs, and stories. I’m also a great graphic designer.

• 36. have you ever dyed your hair?

Yes. Pink, red, blonde, grey.

• 37. what is your favorite thing in your bedroom?

My laptop.

• 38. what is your biggest fear?

*****************************

• 39. can you whistle?

*whistles

• 40. do you make your bed every day?

Most days.

• 41. do you have any tattoos and/or piercings?

Both.

• 42. have you ever been on a roller coaster?

Yes. Worst sailor’s mouth on them.

• 43. surfing or skateboarding?

Surfing.

• 44. are you a dog or a cat person?

Cat. Dogs when they’re small, maybe a frenchie.

• 45. what is your favorite animal?

Always wanted a white tiger, but I’ve been having a thing for alpacas.

• 46. do you have a skincare routine?

YES

• 47. what time do you typically go to bed at and what time do you wake up at?

Whenever

• 48. what is your favorite memory?

When my son would sleep on my chest every night.

• 49. how tall are you?

5′ 0″

• 50. what is the best gift you’ve ever received?

Zane gave me a coffee cup that he painted on.

• 51. do you have a garden?

No

• 52. do you like bugs?

WTF? No.

• 53. what is your natural hair color?

Brownish black

• 54. what is your favorite food and drink?

Sushi, soup noodles, kimchi, and tea.

• 55. do you want kids?

I want to adopt my next one.

• 56. what is/was your favorite class?

Art and Psychology.

• 57. what color shirt are you wearing?

Pink.

• 58. if you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?

When I first met my family in the US.

• 59. what is your skin color?

Medium Olive Tan bb

• 60. hugs or kisses?

Hugs

• 61. have you ever drank alcohol?

Yes.

• 62. have you ever done drugs?

Done.

• 63. netflix or youtube?

Netflix.

• 64. ice cream or frozen yogurt?

Frozen yogurt.

• 65. succulents or flowers?

Succulents are adorbs.