#I speedran the whole series like

[pavooko]

The Coyote's a survivor

Reckon he's got to be

[azumasoroshi]

THIS DUDE OH MY GOD. KAYDEN YOU ARE NOT BEATING THE ALLEGATIONS

i started rereading all of eleceed (im in my dark room at 3 am if you couldnt tell) and like. even kartein and kayden’s first interactions reek of exes/divorced energy and we know im all about that shit

like. kayden calling kartein on a private number. meeting on a rooftop overlooking the city. kayden actually taking kartein to his home and being vulnerable and cute with cats near him. you could say he’s doing all this for jiwoo’s sake but i firmly believe there’s no way he would do all that without having some level of trust and a little bit of amicability towards kartein like hello this is kayden break we’re talking about

both of them freaking out over jiwoo refusing treatment and kartein instantly going mom mode LMAOOO

its 3 am im not cropping those fuckin photos but dude you cant tell me there isnt a little bit of fondness in kartein’s eyes. im an artist those are the fond eyebrows i KNOW that shit i draw those on geto suguru every other day

lmao how do you know kartein’s limits that well huh gay boy. has he treated you in the past huh. have you stood guard for him before. spill your fucking secrets you’re not SLICK PRETTY BOY

kayden when jiyoung/inhyuk/suman/jiwoo’s friends/literally anyone else saves jiwoo: good job, thanks, i owe you one

kayden when kartein helps jiwoo: I WILL LEAD YOU TO MY DOMESTIC HOME AND MY FOUR BABY CATS AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE. DO YOU WANT TO SHARE MY CAT BED

good lord ive been looking for the source of that last panel after seeing tumblr screenshots but how could i ever forget the MOST ROMANTIC FUCKING LINE IN ALL OF ELECEED THAT CAME WITH IT. IS THAT NOT LIKE A 500 PAGE ROMANCE NOVEL LINE. FROM KAYDEN FUCKING BREAK

kayden and kartein’s relationship is so funny bc you can tell in the earlier chapters everyone was like ok they’re too alike, they have to be siblings or cousins or something but starting this chapter people started being like hey something’s up with these two. i dont think they’re siblings anymore

and ofc webtoon comments are always obnoxious about this shit and any comment hinting to gay romance in an action webtoon gets like 300 downvotes but they slowly start getting fewer and fewer downvotes and im pretty sure no one downvotes comments about how they’re totally married by the time the lord astra arc rolls around at all which is HILARIOUS to me

the way kartein and kayden openly reveal their weaknesses to each other or assume the other already knows also gets me like. ok mr kayden i dont work with anyone and im all alone break and dr we’re not close enough for me to do a favor for you kartein what the FUCK ARE YOU HIDING FROM ME

[dennistakesamentalhealthday]

anyways hi hello i rly missed talking about sunny because it's been ages i'm gonna rewatch all the seasons and be annoying about it on here

[pancakesandpessimism]

Luz is the character of all time, I swear to Titan

She starts the series off canonically weak, at least from a physical standpoint, but by the time the season one finale hits she pretty much solos storming a prison. And not only does she make it out of this incredibly dangerous situation alive, but despite probably having to fight through a lot of guards to reach Eda, there are only two people in that entire building who she isn’t able to immediately mop the floor with. 

What's more, look at the state they’re in after she’s done with them! 

Casual reminder that she did this back when she only had four spells at her disposal, only three of which were combative!  

And despite this clear badassery, she isn’t OP or the strongest character in the series, barring temporary titanification. Heck, she isn’t even the strongest member of her immediate friend group! Pretty much all of her big fights (Ex. Grom, Belos rounds 1 & 2, the Abomiton in EE, heck any of her fights aside from the Stonesleeper in EaE) she either lost or needed someone’s help to finish/simply survive. 

And yet she managed to trick a man who mastered manipulation centuries before she was even born, twice, and became the champion of a god. 

But also she once got a magic cold that made her think she had snake arms.

Her adoptive mom is a proud criminal who introduced the son she’d been raising for 8 years as her roommate, and is in love with a nonbinary rebel leader/band geek. Her birth mother is a trekkie who once beat up a flat earther with a flip-flop while she and her snake-sister watched. Said sister spent months stealing her identity, and once mispelled her name in a letter to her mother. 

She met god, and he was wearing sweatpants. Her little brother is the son of god, and accidentally predicted her death in a one-off joke before almost getting them both crushed to death by a snappily dressed lizard later that day. 

She meets her first real friend, who is one of the most powerful witches in the entire series, and less than an hour later they’re sneaking her into school so said friend can cheat on a project. 

Her second real friend, who is also one of the most powerful witches in the series and a massive human nerd, took out a Coven Head by accident while having a breakdown, and she had to hear about the whole thing second hand. 

She shot her future found brother/trauma buddy off of an airship, then saved his life less than an hour later. They speedran the ‘enemies to friends to siblings’ pipeline but with 10x the trauma, and were both murdered by the same centuries-old puritan witch hunter. 

She challenged her future girlfriend to a duel before she knew how to use a combative spell, and both of their teachers made them unintentionally cheat. Said future girlfriend also kissed her on the cheek, and she still spent a whole day freaking out about how to ask her crush on a date before said crush beat her to it seconds before she got the question out. 

She has some of the coolest moments in the entire series. One of her most heartbreaking scenes takes place under the tree she and her girlfriend made when they defeated a nightmare monster with the Power of Love™. She considered going to prom in an otter onesie.

For 99% of the series, she’s at her most powerful when armed with nothing but a (most likely pickpocketed) notepad and a pack of crayons.  

What a character. 

[cloudninetonine]

Linktober: Nostalgia

You remembered being introduced to the Legend of Zelda franchise at a young age, your mother was a very active gamer in her youth after all and you remembered all the stories she would share with you- she even remembered when the first game had been released! Hours spent on her console as a teen, she grew up on the game and eventually passed them on to you once you showed interest, sharing hours of fun to experience it with her.

So, it wasn’t a surprise when you had been going through old collections in closest, looking for something to do when you had stumbled across a familiar-looking DVD, looking over the case with confusion until your mama had come to answer your questions.

“Well, I was a little too old when it came out to really enjoy it.” She explained, turning over the Legend of Zelda animated series case “Your nanny got it for me, but I didn’t really bother to watch it so I just decided to keep it for when I had you- do you remember watching it? You don’t? But you used to love it when you were five!”

You tried to argue that children loved any sort of cartoon at such an age but she was adamant, urging you to rewatch it to prove it.

And well, while a lot of inaccuracies and overall cringe of the whole thing made you- well, cringe you couldn’t deny the wave of nostalgia that washed over you, chucking along to some of the scenes and overall enjoying it- it was a connection with your mother and you cherished things like that with your body and soul.

“Saved you again, Sunshine! Kiss me!”

Even now, with Courage ever so persistent and brash, the feeling still stayed true, blooming a warm fuzzy layer of happiness in your stomach. Meeting him was like meeting the physical manifestation of sentimentality, such a great feeling that left you high on life. You thought of better times, you thought about your mother, your friends- everyone in the past.

Completely ignoring the hero in front of you. “Hey, pay attention, I’m talking here!”

“Hm? Oh, sorry, Link, was thinking about stuff.”

His scowl was way more handsome in person compared to his animated self. “Well excuseeee me-”

There he went again, invoking the feeling that made you feel fuzzy, your smile a little sad as you wandered back to the people you most cared about, only being pulled back by his whine and face against your shoulder. 

“Come on, one kiss?”

Courage only relaxed when your hand came to gently run through his hair, massaging his head and making him sigh in relaxation. “Damn, you sure whine a lot, Link.”

“Hey!” He cried, head shooting right back up to glare. “I don’t whine-”

You held his face gently when you kissed him, not stronger than a peck but most certainly longer than one, the arms he had wrapped around your waist tightening as he indulged in the moment with excitement, pressing back a little harder when he realised what was happening and chasing after you when you pulled away, placing your hand over his mouth to stop him from reconnecting your lips.

“Later.” The reassurance made him perk up, his eyes shining in the light of the dungeon and you could feel how hard his heart beat in his chest, probably similar to your own. “We need to get out first.”

You had speedran dungeons but it would never compare to the haste Courage had made to escape and receive his prize.

[cancelmecowards]

JUST FINISHED SHADOW AND BONE spoilers maybe

firstly i feel like the experience of watching the show wouldn't be as good to people who haven't read the books? or i might be completely off. because it was. SUPER rushed, obviously. but now that I'm thinking of it maybe having it be an entirely different plotline might have sorta helped i suppose. idk people who haven't read the books yet please tell me your thoughts.

secondly. i wasn't really a fan of a lot of the things and how they really crammed everything up until the end???? like damn???? im intrigued now???? it really is a whole new plotline and I'm living for it let's fucking GO. also. loved the malina conclusion. i REALLY hope Nikolai and Alina don't become a thing.

THE CROWS. MY DARLING BABY CROWS. again, was not a fan with how they incorporated elements from fucking CROOKED KINGDOM!!! but at the same time i get WHY they did it. and for that I'm grateful (like if the show doesn't get renewed hey we atleast for wesper!!! and the 'i will have you without armour' and KAZ ABSOLUTELY DESTROYING PEKKA??? FREDDY CARTER I LOVE YOU FOR THAT) am i happy they speedran NO but am i happy i got to see it YES???? LIKE WESPER OMG "wait we haven't really put labels on it" we all got it wrong the series is actually about wylan and jesper trying to be Functional Boyfriends™ everything else is secondary plot.

(Inej!!! wielding neshyenyer!!!! did not know i needed that!!!! also inej just being a badass in general i just uGH)

i have a LOT of questions though??? if the show DOES get renewed hooowwww the fuck do they plan to move forward???? like uh??? six of crows? why was the cut dark when alina used it is it some merzost thing??? and alina still has?? her powers??? inej isn't with the crows rn??? are they going to integrate king of scars??? what the fuck is??? Alina doing????

absolutely unhinged i am living for this.

[mobius-m-mobius]

hey again oops but i’m on a series rewatch and thought of something that would’ve been fun to see in s2e5: loki still struggling to control the timeslipping again and stumbling upon his friends on their branches, but they’re initially not the right variants he needs. like how there was classic, kid, and alligator loki. and he lands on a bunch of branches, seeing so many versions of them before finding the right ones and bringing them together with o.b’s tempad

You have no idea how bad I've been wanting another series rewatch lol, maybe someday a piece of media will become as satisfying as the Loki series and I'll be free but to this point everything else is falling way short 😅

Seriously though this is like the EXACT scenario I was hoping for at first too just because of how cool it was to see the various Loki variants and how they felt so much like elements of our Loki's life thus far divided up for singular focus, so seeing that reflected in the TVA crew would've been fascinating since not only we the audience but they themselves had no real idea what their og personalities were like?? And it's already incredible the show managed to accomplish a bit of that in the limited time we did meet everyone (especially with Don clearly having elements of what became Mobius' strengths as an analyst) but considering the entire group was needed to attempt a loop back to the loom I realized there was no real way to get a similar effect unless they speedran Loki meeting tons of different variants which unfortunately also raises the possibility many of them would've been used for joke fodder or something which I wouldn't have wanted so will just keep crossing my fingers we eventually get a better opportunity to delve into everyone at the TVA in length. They're all so fascinating and so is the twisted irony of the place as a whole which imo can only be properly expanded upon with the pacing of a series and even the two seasons we were lucky enough to get have been rushed quite a lot so there's an endless amount more to explore!!

(One allowance I will make for potential movie inclusion though is the absolute NEED to hear multiple characters acknowledge the God of Mischief fell so hard for an paper pushing analyst with a heart of gold that the entire multiverse was saved because of it, Marvel call me because when is that happening 😭😭)

[lanshappycorner]

EVERYONE last night I finished Le Salut's Salvation end .... thoughts under the cut (spoilers, of course)

From the very beginning I was wondering how Adolphe and Ankou could be connected and why their routes were together but never in a million years did I think they'd be the same damn person lmaoo😭😭 I mean I kinda figured it out along the way but it wasn't what I was expecting going into it

When it comes to who I wanted to date I know they're like the same person but urm. I actually liked Ankou more than Adolphe😭😭😭 TO BE FAIR I've never had much interest in Adolphe as a love interest like I have never in my life ever been interested in the big brother archetype although I see the appeal

So you can guess that I was probably really disappointed throughout the route and especially at the end😭 like...Ceres kept on getting moments with Adolphe and I was thinking to myself the entire time "We'll get romantic moments with Ankou too right?" WE GOT IT WHEN HE WAS DYING😭😭😭😭😭😭

I reached the ending and he died and then Adolphe and Ceres got together and everyone was happy and I was like "What....? What????" I went back and replayed the ending twice because I was so flabbergasted I was like "where is the part where I get to marry ankou I've been trucking through all these routes just to get to him and you're telling me I don't get to marry ankou???????😭😭😭😭😭"

So that was kind of a disappointment but aside from the romance, AS A ROUTE I liked Le Salut the most (I haven't played any of the other salvation ends yet tho) I felt like it tied everything in and speedran through everyone's issues somehow but I liked the whole group's banter lol

Also Jean and Mathis being kinda like an actual family at the end is crazy like I still can't forgive Jean but also admittedly I do think it's nice that he and Mathis are able to get to know each other for the people that they are😔 it was cute even if I still do have beef with Jean

Also YVES I thought it was so funny how Ankou and Adolphe were all so highkey shipping Yves and Ceres and Yves was just like "You guys are being weird😭😭" free my boy Yves.... but aside from that I really do think it's interesting how Adolphe and Ankou's route are just them basically fighting fate and thematically it does make sense that Yves is Ceres's fate.

Like Ceres and Yves met when they were little when he saved her life and they had a lot of chemistry just in the common route. Yves is the poster boy for this series so all the signs are pointing at him as the Main boy. And tbh it's interesting because Yves is there to help in every route despite whoever Ceres chooses and we never rly know what he's thinking until his own route because it's like. We'll she's "destined" to be with you in all ways but she didn't choose you

It's also why in that small segment in Le Salut's salvation end, I was shocked that there was any mention of Yves's feelings for Ceres and how he felt attracted to her but he would never tell Adolphe like😭😭 Yves rly is her "fate" ..... and in general I guess if I had to pick a ship I would also pick Yves over Adolphe I'm sorry 😭😭 not that I don't like Adolphe I just happen to like Yves (and Ankou...despite the technicalities) more

If I had to rate the romance I still think that Scien is my favorite though solely because I like his dynamic with Ceres. After that would be Yves and then Le Salut (Le Salut would be higher if they LET ME DATE ANKOU but they didn't so .) After that would be Lucas and then Mathis (*I don't dislike any of the routes Mathis just happened to be last...just because)

In terms of plot though Le Salut would be first, followed by Yves and then Scien and everything else is the same. I don't have much else to say regarding that but despite the issues, I did enjoy Le Salut the most

But also omg Dahut that was crazy....I rly liked dahut so I was hoping that he wasn't like the big bad but😭😭😭 you know what they did a good job. I had a feeling dahut was going to be the bad guy and I desperately hoped otherwise but it still happened it really tapped into the despair aspect lol but despite everything I still really liked dahut I think he's written rly well (sometimes when he was talking I had to be like.....well he's making some points but 😭😭....)

I know I said that was the last thing but since we're talking abt Hugo I though he was a rly good character like he's not my favorite. At all. But as a character he's written so well he truly does care for Yves 🥺🥺 he's not "fated" to be with Yves in the sense that he can't be the main character, and be doesn't have the main character's inability to just. Not give a fuck abt anything like he gets scared of Yves's scar and hes not "perfect", it's hard for him to accept certain aspects of Yves but he's aware of them and at the end of the day he still chooses to continue caring for Yves. I truly do think he loves Yves and honestly in every other route besides Yves's route I wish him luck you have this lesbian on your side gayboy go get em👍

Last I would like to talk abt Ceres because that girl is an angel fr like I kinda wished she was meaner because if I was her I'd have snapped ages ago💀 but I get why she is the way she is and because she's so nice everyone likes her😔 she's like...my baby if anyone hurts her I will destroy them like I get why Adolphe is Ceres Defender No 1.

My attachment to Ceres also made me kind of have beef with Hugo for a while because who does this jealous girlfriend bitch think he is but whatever they made up and Ceres stood up for herself so I liked their dynamic in the end (DID NOT like how Hugo keeled over and died like immediately afterwards though :///)

[upsidedowngrass]

actually on that topic:

i think if liam were to follow in anyones footsteps, i dont think theyd be airys. i think theyd be juliens

i could do an entire essay on the narrative purpose of julien Existing in ONE so i will keep that part of this condensed! but a large part of julien’s presence in ONE very much mirrors liam. already, the fact that they both see the waiting room as it is (or at the very least, it seems like thats what is being implied in juliens case, esp since the only characters who ever use the radio on their own are ones who see it as it is) ties them together pretty heavily, as that seems to be VERY uncommon. tying them together even further, julien ends up going back to earth by going to san francisco, to the very spot that liam disappeared at. yeah, bryce goes to this spot too, but the episode puts some pretty strong narrative weight onto julien going home during that scene, whereas with bryce it serves more to bring two different people together

but even outside of those things, they both seem to have responded to their situations similarly, with extremely similar actions, julien was just operating with a different amount of information about what was even going on

both were brought to the plane out of nowhere ofc, and both died. both ended up somewhere where they have smth that MIGHT get them home, but doing so isnt an inevitability but a possibility. liam just had extra steps in getting here. for julien, the place is the waiting room and the tool is the radio. for liam, the place is airys world and the tool is the computer

as it stands, liams actions after ONE 18 are certainly up in the air, esp wrt whose actions they might be a parallel of, but liams current method of dealing with things is pretty consistent with juliens, moreso than airys

airy tends to go with the hands he is dealt pretty easily. even if they suck, he just... goes along with it. the way he talks about using the radio even sounds like he just sort of. used it until he got to a world that WOULDNT immediately kill him. but he was content to leave it at that

assuming he was aware of how to use the radio (which im inclined to believe, because its hard to imagine 10 whole years passing without this guy ever thinking to move the antenna of the radio), julien was not content to do this. he wanted to go home, so thats what he was going to do. he didnt WANT to just give up

this is incredibly similar to how liam tends to deal with things. throughout the series, no matter what his goal is, his plan of attack tends to be trying and trying and trying until it works, no matter how much it seems hopeless. one of the only times he deviates from this after 5 months of being stuck on the plane, and even then, its made clear that in this situation, there WERE no options for things TO try, hence his blatantly pointless hitting and kicking of the plug. every other time, though, he tries as much as he can, no matter how long it takes. during the first 4.5 days, liam does all he can, which is deliberately losing competitions. when he gets back home, he follows the notes as much as he can, when bryce refuses to drive him to the smokestack, he finds his own way there, when hes trying to get to stone, he uses the radio until he gets there successfully, all the while, he is trying and trying and TRYING all he can to get back home. and from the looks of the scene w him at the computer, he continues to do this

there is also just about one other scene i can think of where he is about to give in, which is the one where, upon first trying to get to airys world, he says “i dont know if i can do this.” this is IMMEDIATELY interrupted by him helping julien get back to earth (which in itself, seems to mirror the idea of liam getting to go home after all of this)

julien, really, is a representation of liam if everything was sped up. if he was brought to the plane, died, and promptly did all he could to achieve some uncertain goal, but like if he speedran it

(im also saying goal since i think liam and julien technically have different goals- liam being to help the others get home and julien to go home himself, but i dont think what the goal entails actually really matters in this context, so much as the way the character goes about achieving it, and WHY they developed that goal in the first place)

but the thing is, with julien being a representation of liams own experiences and actions, i really feel like the fact that they both respond to having their goal being the only thing they have going for them by trying to reach it, even to extreme lengths, points towards juliens “sifting through the radio to get home” mirroring liams “figuring out the computer to get the contestants home,” and i think that would be the footsteps that liam follows. no matter how long it takes, i think hed try to get them home, even if it took years. though, ideally it wouldnt be that long🥺

(though, i think he WOULD eventually get them home. and himself. this ties into the essay thing i mentioned earlier, but the fact that liam is able to get julien home feels like it not only indicates the uncertain goal being met, which in liams case would be getting himself home, but if julien represents liam at his lowest, liam helping him feels like it indicates liam managing to get himself home, too. especially since, after all, liam helped julien get to earth through san francisco, which was where he lived himself)

[antihibikase-archive]

hi reese i hope u feel better soon :( what kind of video games do u think the blur/blight cast would play? any specific games that come to mind or genres a whole?

Thank you Ashe! :']

Hm hm! I remember making a post like this before, but it's probably outdated now,, so here's some games I think they'd like!

Hilbert - tends to enjoy mostly anything, but finds himself leaning more on story-driven games. He likes JRPGs with set characters, as he likes to see their stories unfold. Like the Tales series.

Cheren - casual enjoyer. He would spend hours collecting bugs and fish on Animal Crossing, however. And Nintendogs + Cooking Mama. Only platformer he's tried are the Kirby spinoffs, and he likes Mass Attack and Epic Yarn best.

Bianca - likes a bunch more games than Cheren does, mostly puzzle games! Tetris mainly, but she also likes the funkiness of Warioware, and likes Rhythm Heaven.

Hilda - fighting games + games with real time combat as opposed to turn-based games. She does lean more on fighting games with a little bit of story sprinkled in, like Blazblue. But also, she enjoys Resident Evil and other action game.

Nate - like Hilbert, he likes JRPGs; but he prefers it if he could put himself in the main character's shoes, so he prefers if they were nameless and silent main characters. Character customization is a bonus too! Biggest favorites are Dragon Quest IX and Fantasy Life.

Hugh - he has no set favorite, as he tries different genres that his friends and sisters tell him to; this is how he gets favorites under the strategy rpg genre (Fire Emblem or even card games), simulations (cooking simulations + business simulations like Style Savvy), and rpgs. However, he seems to lean more on open worlds with lots to explore, like BoTW.

Rosa - straight-up any traditionally "girly" game, but she has a soft spot for the girly games you would find at Gamesbox or something- she loves the charm of flash games. Speedran Princess Debut for the DS. Also a big platformer fan- definitely into Mario, Kirby, and Sonic.

[little-cereal-draws]

Major Shadow and Bone season two spoilers

so before i started watching season two, i saw some posts on here abt how the writing was bad so maybe i went in w a confirmation bias but wow. that was not as good as the first season.

I was able to guess mal was an amplifier THREE EPISODES before it happened. I guessed he was going to become Sturmhond by the end of the season an episode and a half before it happened too. With the crows, I was able to predict how every single scene would end as soon as it started. Abt a minute before every dramatic surprise entrance, I was able to say "ok ____ is about to show up" and it drove my sister insane. Admittedly there were somethings I didn't guess, like Mal being the firebird specifically, but for the most part it was pretty predictable. A lot of the interest of these books (or the Soc duology at least) come from super dramatic twists and reveals and this was... lacking that.

And the way they speedran the entirety of Crooked Kingdom in half the season??? That book enthralled me. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. The show seemed rushed and not as thought out. And I understand the writers have a tricky job of combining to different book series together while also making smth new but I wish they had either given it more time or not done it at all.

I still enjoyed the show but I think if I didn't have an existing connection to the characters, I would not have been able to finish it.

[grutadodaibo]

Hazbin Hotel Season 1 Review (Any %)

I think the best way of defining my experience with Hazbin Hotel, and VivziePop as a whole, is progressively getting uninterested with something you previously liked the more baggage with you end up getting, I'm not saying this in a 2010's angry critic type of feel of just making bad faith arguments about every frame of the midia you are talking about and exaggerating every phrase to feel as if the world would end because a piece of ficcion exists and somehow that makes the world worse, you can pick examples like Nostalgia Critic, CinemaSins, Lily Orchard, you name it, I know you have your own personal examples, I say that as someone who previously enjoyed VivziePop's works, praised every new thing that came out and for a time was excited for Hazbin Hotel, but lost interest after the first 3 episodes of Helluva Boss Season 2 because I was getting tired of the series decline of quality on the writing department and because episode 3 was so bad that I ended up dropping the series and distancing myself from anything related to it... Until Hazbin's first 4 episodes released on Amazon Prime and just reminded me that "OH YEAH, the series isn't an indie Youtube production anymore, is part of A24 now" and so I watched the series and I honestly feel like I didn't lose anything significant from dropping on VivziePop's content.

Out of the way, the biggest problem the series has is pacing, there's this one phrase I used after the release of episode 5 and is that "A normal episode of Hazbin Hotel feels like it's on 2x speed, late for a job interview filled with anxiety" it's a phrase I would say as a joke to people close to me who weren't watching the series but were curious to know what is about, having watched the whole series I think this is more of an honest description of the show than just a joke comment about one of ther aspects because the series has no patience whatsoever to introduce the audience (or at least part of the audice that aren't VivziePop's superfans who know everything about the lore and the universe the series is set in because of previous interviews, lives and posts on social midia she did explaining things to the public) to the universe, characters, etc, the series is rushing throught everything they possibly can so they get to Point A to Point B on the plot as soon as humanly possible, a speedrun of a show basically.

I remember back on 2019 when the pilot dropped there was this fandom spread and well accepted speculation that the series wasn't going to be plot focused but character focused, like the episodes would be all about trying to put Charlie's plan of redeeming sinners in practice, getting new residents and throught the series know about more and more about the main cast, what are their motivations and how they would overcome their struggles, which makes total sense when you consider that the characters in Hazbin are one, if not the biggest, selling point of the show due to how immediately appealing they are, just look at the amount of fan-content was made from before the pilot in 2019 up until now, it's only natural to think they would follow this line instead of the final product, because let me tell you something, it really didn't worked, I'm not saying disappointed fan who got their expectations too high by engaging too much on fancontent, what I'm saying is that by rushing everything to get to the battle against Heaven on the season finale ends up debilitating the characters and their own plots A TON because they didn't fleshed them out enough and whenever something important happens to them on the series it doesn't feel earned because they speedran a good chunk of what would be necessary for it to work, in the end is just a lot of dramatic scenes that are really pretty and well excecuted when they are isolated from each other but putting all together just feels like a lot of artificial weight made to play with the public's emotions without making an effort to make these emotions come out organically.

In short, the next seasons of Hazbin Hotel HAVE to be different from the first in order for the public not to pick it up on the writing problems the series has the same way that happenned to Helluva Boss.

[lunarfortune]

okay im just gonna type some shit for the moment or whatever but elise mf origin post because it's super funny to me

long rambly post with a bunch of card game images

anyway way back in like 2020 and early 2021 Legends of Runeterra had its Lab of Legends mode. Similar to Path of Champions but like, way more basic since it was the earlier version. You pick a champ and fight through a series of 9? stages or so, theyre all the same each time, with the bosses being Thresh, Sejuani (FUCK Scargrounds stage) and Viktor (and FUCK Guard Bots stage too). Each first clear with a champ would grant you a unique player icon for them, but I wasn't super concerned with collecting them all, I really just wanted Miss Fortune. The problem was that her starting deck is kind of Not Great and it's especially easy to get reamed by bad rng and her ability is straight up a hindrance against Scargrounds. I was having so much trouble with MF runs it was unreal. My friend cleared it relatively quickly, but I could not for the life of me get a good run going. I struggled with it on and off for WEEKS. I was just resigned to never clearing it.

So one fateful day in February of 2021 I am going through yet another MF lab run and get offered a choice between Zoe, Elise and Jinx as my deck's support champs. Fuck it, I'm thinking, just take Elise for laughs, who gives a shit anymore.

While I'm playing I'm shitposting on discord with a friend and making jokes about the whole thing, and we all know what happens when you make jokes. Didn't win that run but within a day it did get the gears in ye olde brain turning.

(i've now had this sitting in drafts for a month btw LOL i forgor)

The next month I'm starting up yet another run, and at this point I'm so demoralized by my bad luck with this I'm just like, yeah okay whatever Elise again, I'm just gonna lose at Scargrounds again like always

So I'm just going through the motions with this run and being more excited about the loot I'm getting of the Empires of the Ascended event. Somehow got quite lucky through Scars and Sejuani because the ai wasn't pulling followers to play.

Like I really cannot stress how lackluster the rng through this run was, I was genuinely surprised I got through Sejuani lmao

I guess purely to spite me, this run makes it past Foundry and Guard Bots and gets to Viktor. It's.... dicey. Elise's spiders give me more fodder to keep the nexus safe but between Elise's support cards and Sarah's starting deck, I don't really have any big hitters if Viktor starts to beef up, and I was never able to pick up anything from round rewards.

The Ruination I picked up comes in an early draw and comes in handy, clearing the board. I'm in the damn trenches clutching my spiders and fighting for my life. Another Viktor comes out, I draw a second Ruination and pop it. Viktor plays a Nyandroid.

He doesn't seem to have anything else to play. With both Sarah and Elise leading the charge, I attack.

Finally, finally, after so many attempts, I was FREE. Love fucking wins. Sarah's Love Tap took out the 5/1 bot that would have killed Elise during the Guard Bots stage. These champs speedran enemies to lovers through a month of me suffering through to get my first clear. I was utterly bewildered.

So anyway thats the story of how Elise/Miss Fortune was kind of a joke and then not a joke and I have given very serious consideration as to how they could encounter one another and how that would go.

Elise Does make trips to Bilgewater btw, thanks Ruined King!

[ladala99]

Some rambling below: about the stuff going on Reddit, my current video game habits (including some things about Pokemon), The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion (including major spoilers so watch out), and Trails fandom opinion the Gagharv trilogy. All over the place!

Whelp. None of you probably know this but Reddit was my main fandom space for Pokemon/Spyro/other video games that aren't petsites, and well, there's this thing going on over there.

I've been trying to get off of it for a while anyway. Too easy to waste a ton of otherwise-productive time, I keep running into spoilers for games I'm still playing, and also I tend to doomscroll the political subs.

So maybe this will finally get me off of it. Certainly the fact that the admins are giving an ultimatum to the mods of various subs (including r/pokemon, my most frequented one) leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth and makes me not want to engage with the site. The whole attitude the site owner(?) has about it is just disgusting, and if it's true he idolizes Musk, that's all the more reason to have nothing to do with it further.

So what to do with this extra time that I don't want to be productive and just want to type essays at strangers about my interests? I guess here's as good a place as any! It's my blog and I can put whatever I feel like on it. Some of you are probably following for that type of content anyway.

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So, to start, I guess I'll explain my current video gaming schedule. Starting the month before Pokemon Scarlet and Violet released, I decided to change up my video gaming habits. I had previously had a schedule where I played different games according to the day of the week. This resulted in me not making a ton of progress on some games and kinda feeling discouraged with how long it was taking.

The month before Scarlet/Violet came out, I went into my customary no-main-series-Pokemon-for-a-month period, and decided that I would instead play Animal Crossing: Wild World and only Animal Crossing: Wild World during that time-frame. And you know what? It was great! It was both relaxing and fairly motivating since I knew I had only a certain amount of time with it before I put it away again.

Scarlet/Violet released, and I extended that idea. I even wrote some blog posts here while I was... avoiding spoilers on Reddit... I had a schedule to get through the game (Gyms only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, one plot event max per day) and once I hit the postgame, I had one month to do whatever I wanted before putting the game down for the moment. That postgame month, again, was amazing. Just some guilt-free gameplay of doing whatever I felt like at the moment. Motivation to get the Pokedex done (I did so) and then try some other things. I didn't get everything I tried to do done, but I did a good variety of things and had a good time.

After that, I went on an alternating two-week, one-month schedule for different games. Two weeks on something chill, like Animal Crossing, followed by one month of an actual game, like Breath of the Wild. Alternating between a set of Pokemon games and non-Pokemon games.

And that's a great schedule for games I'm good with playing a bit, taking a break from, and getting back to. But what about heavily story-based games or ones I haven't beaten before? I'm not playing multiple hours a day, so even a month isn't always enough to finish!

Well, enter my new schedule: play for two weeks, check to see if I'm still having fun or if I accomplished what I intended to accomplish, if I'm not done and I'm still having fun continue, otherwise move on.

When Pokemon HOME became compatible with Scarlet/Violet, I felt strongly about transferring everything I could in, so I took a two-week timeframe to do so. My initial goal was to get everything breedable into Scarlet, I accomplished that, and then I moved on to trying to get extra Legendaries. I speedran Shield to get what I could out of a new playthrough and then ran out of time. That's okay - I'll finish later. Because I accomplished my initial mission and I have other games to play. This excursion was interrupting a different game I was (and am) trying to get through. One that I'll start a new section for below.

Also just to put it somewhere: I'm tracking my games on HowLongToBeat now. Here's my profile. (I don't have the time on Zelda because I'm going to use the Switch menu's time at the end)

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My current game is The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion. Yes, you read that right. I'm not being silly with the name of the Zelda game (I already posted about that earlier anyway). I'm playing Tears of the Kingdom as well, but it's not my main game at the moment.

And I just have so many feelings about TLOH: AToV. (If you don't want spoilers for it, stop now because I am not holding back.)

I first played it as a young teen. I got to the end but never actually beat the final boss. But it stuck with me. I don't remember much of the plot other than two very powerful, very spoilery scenes.

It's so weird going through it how much and how little I remember. Like the entire plot is about not-Catholics vs. not-Satanists (and the not-Catholics aren't always good) and I didn't remember that at all. But I did remember bits and pieces, particularly out-of-context bits about certain characters. (spoilers start now) Like there's this black-haired girl I saw and immediately went "missing sister! :O" But she's not actually Avin's missing sister, but another character's. A character I hadn't met at that moment. There's another guy I just met and immediately went "oh, I like him! :)" and I still don't remember why he sticks out so much since he doesn't seem that much more important than other characters I forgot about completely.

And the two things I did come in remembering (really, really spoilers now) involve Mile dying halfway through and turning up again at the end of the game as a dark mage, so everything he does is just. . . I'm paying so much more attention to him and he's like, the perfect healer. He's functionally the healer in that he's the party member who's always with you that has healing spells, but he's also such a healer in the story, too. He cheers up Avin when they were kids, being a friend to a traumatized boy who just got separated from his beloved sister. He gives up his wish to help Avin out. He goes with Avin on the dangerous journey when he has no personal stake other than to see his friend succeed. He acts as a foil for Avin, who has a quick temper, calming down every tense situation, and even lying when it helps diffuse a situation. And then he dies.

I'm not there yet. I just remember the pool of blood and the shock I felt. I think I'm getting there soon, though. Because Avin just reunited with his sister and I don't remember that lasting long. (I didn't even recognize her portrait, unlike the Baron that I feel positively about for unknown reasons.)

It's just so good! And yet...

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Before I started the game back up, I was looking at the modern The Legend of Heroes games for Switch. I wondered if it was worth getting one of the more recent games. So I decided to check out the fandom and see if there were any tips for fans of the Gagharv Trilogy (which A Tear of Vermilion is in) getting into the newer games.

Uh. . . no. There aren't. Fans of the current series mostly have not played the Gagharv Trilogy and actually think they're kinda bad. Particularly the PSP versions (which is the only version that got translated to English and the version I have).

And it's funny, since when I see people say why you should play the Trails series (what the new games are considered), they say a lot of the same things that are accurate to the Gagharv games. One of the main gushes I've seen about the series is that random NPCs have lives that develop as the story develops - you'll meet the same characters again and again as you happen to travel the same places they do. And that happens in A Tear of Vermilion. There's this writer guy that you meet and tell your adventures to, and his agent will keep giving you books. There's a greedy merchant you keep running into and Avin keeps getting mad at him. And there's so much variety in character conversation - gain a new party member and talk to everyone in the village and they'll talk to/comment on the new party member. Every time a major event happens, you can go back around town to hear everyone's opinion on it. There's some secret books that characters will give you if you talk to them after certain plot events.

I'm guessing this is a Pokemon Sword/Shield situation where while the Gagharv Trilogy is good, the Trails series is so much better that the Gagharv Trilogy is bad in comparison. That's the only way I can make sense of it.

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Anyway, that was a lot and did not stick to one topic. But I just have a lot of thoughts right now. Here's Mile's official character portrait for making it through the whole thing:

[todayisafridaynight]

Honestly I would buy that Jo speedran going gray... I mean, RGGJo did, and he's the youngest dude in the series to other than Takechi, but Takechi's aging and de-aging may as well have been supernatural. Compared to Y7Jo, RGGJo doesn't really even have anything to stress about (that we're aware of) other than Why Isn't Arakawa Chairman Yet lol

BUT YEAH FOR REAL Arakawa was SO ready with the jokes regardless of who crosses that line first, I love him 😭 it really is so special to get to grow old with someone isn't it... I can't think of another yakuza duo who did the same and were in each other's lives the whole time. I just wish Arakawa was able to live out his retirement in peace but Oh Well.....................

Completely unrelated and I know I just caught him mid-sentence here but I simply enjoy this image... I go 😬whenever Aoki is saying some bullshit too king... I feel like Jo's beard shadow is very rarely as apparent as it is in lighting like this too (same for Aoki), so I am noting it down. Uhhh I don't remember where I was going with this have some scruffy Tsutsumis

with only one of the two arakawas to worry about in rggo, it all adds up that only half his hair would become pearl white </3

i have the memory of an avocado but im 90% sure arakawa and jo were the only yakuza to actually live the duration of their lives together.... and that coulda continued if. yk. 👁️👁️ <- pain

HONESTLY for a while i thought tsutsumi wasn't really capable of growing facial hair with how clean his face was in a lot of things (though VERY MUCH evidently that isnt the case: he's just. really good at shaving i guess. or im blind LMAO). in that regard, it's funny/neat that on aoki's model, the stubble along his jaw and chin is a lot more apparent compared to the faint shadow on jo's upper lip

[its-your-mind]

“oh clearly jon feels no emotions and is in complete control of himself at all times. this man is a logic machine.”

did we??? listen to the same podcast?????? this man feels first, thinks later. there is a strong emotion? get ready for jonathan jarchivist sims to act on it with little-to-no second thoughts. rational thinking who. we throw ourselves full force at the first thought that comes into our head. like, we are talking about the man who:

busted into the office of a guy he hadn’t talked to more than twice since he woke up from a six month coma, sincerely offering to gouge out his eyes and run away with him, and was Absolutely Gobsmacked when he was refused

was prefectly ready to let a face-stealing monster live… right up until it reminded him that it had killed his friend without him realizing (that “…what did you say” is one of the lines that gives me GOOSEBUMPS every time)

dove headfirst into a pile of evil sentient worms to grab a tape recorder bc he was so determined to not die as aNOTHER GODDAMN MYSTERY

let his survivor’s guilt from when he was eight drive the major decisions he made for the rest of his life

threw himself into a fear dimension of evil loneliness to save the man he loved (who had refused to speak to him for months) at the probable expense of himself who knows

had so much MALICE in his voice when he killed peter lukas like damn girl you do not get that emotional when you’re just killing someone bc they’re evil or whatever. there was Hatred there. go off queen.

literally was willing to sacrifice an entire WORLD so that no one would ever f e e l what he had to feel when jonah voicesnatched him

LITERALLY speedran a love story in like six weeks in scotland. this man was SO READY to be in love it’s ridiculous. so was martin. I love them sm

heard his predecessor was dead

came to the conclusion that he was next

what should we do with this?

oh I know

stalk every one of my coworkers bc clearly one of them is out to get me

committed himself to living in the archives forever bc he didn’t want to put georgie or “god forbid the admiral” in danger (has his priorities STRAIGHT he does)

oh annabelle caine has martin? and an artifact that completely knocks me on my ass and takes away all my powers? off to hilltop road we go come on basira we have spider ass to kick

threw himself into a coffin to save a woman who LITERALLY was ABOUT TO KILL HIM bc he just wanted to HELP and everyone around him was HURTING SO MUCH

was insulted when a statement giver called the institute stupid and immediately discarded all professionalism and clapped back by calling her wildly successful youtube series dumb

also immediately discarded all professionalism when disgusted by a teeth apple “we do NOT want it.” like damn bro this traumatized doctor brought this bone apple teeth proof in for you and you are too grossed out to grin and bear it

was slightly annoyed by the fact that martin was not the Ideal Assistant. Offhandedly mentioned on an official recording that he wanted an evil flesh witch to slowly kill his literal employee by a series of freak accidents that resulted in the loss of one body part at a time. this man has no chill whatsoever.

took so much satisfaction in killing jonah magnus. like jonah told him not to be dramatic and jon PROMPTLY started monologuing while stabbing douchard directly in the chest.

“I don’t want to die”

“Neither did they.” FUCK YES QUEEN GO OFF GET HIS SMARMY VICTORIAN ASS

sounded so SMUG when he told the eye he was gonna go apologize to his boyfriend. like yeah stupid all-powerful fear god I have a BOYfriend and I LOVE him suck on THAT

remember when he decided to doom his whole world bc he wanted to stop anyone else from feeling like he did? yeah that plan went out the window fuckin imMEDIATely as soon as his beloved martin walked into the room. oh, he’s in the world I’m going to be dooming? well fuck didn’t consider that part. welp guess he’s just gonna have to stab me. and then we will hold each other and declare our love and kiss and hope to still be alive and together somehow as the world collapses around us. our love didn’t save us but it was here and that mattered. okay list cancelled I’m gonna go curl up in a ball for a little bit. ty for your time.