#I started listening 2 the megas again and was like

[dilutedbeanibeans]

YOUR SPEED MEANS NOTHING IF ITS DEATH THAT YOURE RUNNING FROM

redrew my first piece I posted onto tumblr! He holds a very special place in my heart<3333333333

[agirlwithglam]

I recently realized I have to stop sulking over my life but I struggle with embodying my dream self sm ughh

Do you have any tips?

Ok, what would ur highest self do RIGHT NOW? Like if she was going through sulking and not feeling her best, how would she tackle it? What would she do?

Take it slow, give yourself some rest, write down goals, make a to do list.

If you’re still stuck, here’s mini action plans for you🍰

🍓 1. Goals.

What’s your mega goal- what do you want from life? To be a doctor, have a business, what is it? (Try not to make it too vague)

Next, find out the things you need to get done to achieve this goal. So if you want to build a big business, you probably need money, a good product to sell, business & salesman knowledge, etc.

Once you got that, now figure out how you’ll achieve those things- for example; you need business or salesmen knowledge? Read books, listen to podcasts, watch videos, ask people around you for tips, etc. so that’s what you can start with, everyday listening to a podcast or reading a chapter will definitely bring you closer to that goal.

Then it’s just basically practice and consistency. Keep going, don’t give up! Make a to do list for each day, but don’t forget to add rewards as well.

🍓 2. Take it slow, prioritise your mental health.

Are you feeling okay? Is your health good? Have you been exercising, eating well, getting a good amount of sleep? Sometimes it’s just not taking care of yourself properly which can make you struggle and feel stuck!

So go, put on a face mask, do some yoga or exercise, whatever floats your boat, read, shower, and take a nap. Then when you feel better, do the Goals part.

🍓 3. Find the small happinesses in life.

You’re sulking? Maybe then take a day off and just become a child again. Go out for a walk (if you can & it’s safe), go for a swim with your friends, just laugh and have fun without another care in the world.

Be your inner child! Have fun!

Anyways I hoped that helped, I have a bunch of other stuff on self improvement & becoming your best self so u can read that too and also: watch thewizardliz or Tam Kaur or anything good yt, it helps.

Xoxoxoxoxo

[ponett]

Bobby's 2023 Media Wrap-Up

So! Like I said before, this past year I kept a running list of everything I watched, every game I finished, every new album I listened to, etc., and wrote one-paragraph blurbs with my thoughts on every single one. Please enjoy this journey through everything I liked, or didn't like, in 2023, with my favorites of the year listed at the bottom.

(Yes! This is long!!)

Some notes:

I mainly only included things I finished. Exceptions are marked with an asterisk.

I included some YouTube stuff as "TV shows" - mostly particularly long, high effort video essays and documentaries.

I was a bit less adventurous than I'd like to have been this year. Part of this was just that I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with Big Releases I felt obligated to check out, and part of this was just executive dysfunction from burnout. Wait until you see how long it took me to beat Mario Wonder lmao

Yes, I need to read more books. I don't read a lot of books these days. I need to get back to Discworld.

COLOR KEY

Video Games • TV / Web Video  •  Movies  •  Comics  •  Music

January

1/15: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (MSQ) - Very slow at times, the Primal shit is generally extremely lame to me outside of the boss fights themselves, but god if the quality of life improvements over WoW, the JRPG energy, and the fact that it Actually Has A Story carry it pretty hard.

1/18: Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island miniseries - One of the most creative and compelling uses of the Sonic IP… ever? Fantastic little self-contained arc about the struggles of Eggman’s abandoned creations that gracefully weaves between heartfelt optimism and moody horror with some of the best art ever seen in a Sonic comic.

1/18: Mega Man X4 - Glad I finally actually beat this after never even beating any of the Mavericks as a kid! I can see why it’s a lot of peoples’ favorites. The gameplay has very little of that X series bloat and is just fun, especially after getting X’s armor upgrades. (But the story really is a long series of missed opportunities.)

February

2/2: Donks - Felix Colgrave continues to be an exceptional artist. The sound design on this is fantastic and really sells this short as something unique. Had to go back and watch his older stuff again after this.

2/4: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0 - 3.3 MSQ) - I get it now. I get why people say this is just a proper mainline Final Fantasy game built into the framework of an MMO. That shit ruled. Not even walking back the drama in Ul’Dah from the end of ARR can sour me on it because the main storyline was so strong.

2/8: Disneyland's Forgotten Sci-Fi Rock Band - Live From the Space Stage - A nice and honest tribute to a group of artists who could have easily been forgotten. In hindsight this feels like a precursor to Kevin’s Disney Channel jingle video, a tribute to the unsung artists pouring their hearts into “lesser” art for a megacorporation, art that was designed to be transient but sticks with people nonetheless.

2/9: Metroid Prime Remastered* - Not gonna finish because I just played through the Wii version in 2021, but still. Very, very pretty remaster.

2/16: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - It’s more Theatrhythm. What more could I want

2/17: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (anime) - Probably the best part of the anime so far (assuming they continue on to SBR). A near perfect mix of the more structured plot of part 5 with the goofiness of parts 3 and 4 that crescendos into a fantastic, bombastic, emotional, bittersweet ending. The use of footage from the original opening and the new ending set to Roundabout in the finale were perfect, and made me intensely nostalgic for the early days of my JoJo fandom between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.

2/22: Aggretsuko Season 5 - I don’t really know what to make of this one. Once you get past the agonizing initial arc all about Haida where Retsuko has to be his overbearing mommy GF who flips out and starts spying on him when she’s left on read and chides him when he misbehaves, it feels like an improvement over the previous seasons. But I don’t know how much of that is due to the extremely low bar set by season 4. And then the ending is extremely rushed and anticlimactic. They got legally married and the only acknowledgement was a shot of them signing the paperwork in a montage partway through the final episode?????????

2/24: Double Fine PsychOdyssey - God, what a journey the making of this game was. I already loved 2 Player’s past efforts at documenting Double Fine’s process, but this takes it to a whole new level. This feels culturally significant. The depth and honesty with which they depict not just the nitty gritty of making a game, but also the inherent struggles of working on a collaborative creative work for years at a time, is astounding. Not to mention that they were there to capture the shift from office life to remote work as COVID hit. So much of this would have been nightmarishly stressful to watch if I didn’t already know how successful the game was, but that’s just because they really didn’t sugarcoat it. And yet even after all that, it leaves me feeling optimistic about video games as an art form in a way that the constant headlines about cynical live service games don’t. There are still people out there pouring their hearts into making real art, and this is their story. Everyone who plays video games should watch this.

2/25: Cracker Island (Gorillaz) - New Gorillaz albums feel like less of an event these days, but after Humanz it feels like they’re just more chill with the project and their ambitions with it. Every couple years we get some more laid back jams from Damon along with some fun new collabs. Hard to complain. Favorite track: New Gold

2/25: Pool Kids (Pool Kids) - I discovered this band because Derek knows them and was excited when they got a song added to Fortnite through the Bandcamp collab. Always down to find more cool indie rock bands I can vibe with. The mix of dreamy vocals and energetic riffs on some of the tracks here almost fill the Crying-shaped hole in my heart. Almost… Favorite track: Conscious Uncoupling

2/25: Insane in the Rain (insaneintherainmusic) - I thought it was really funny timing when Carlos announced that his first original project would be a jazz fusion album inspired by acts like T-Square and Casiopea right as I was getting into those two specific bands. The final product does not disappoint. Favorite track: Insane in the Rain

2/26: Get Up Sequences Part Two (The Go! Team) - I’ve never been one to believe that a band’s sound has to remain exactly the same forever, but it really does hit you hard that the first two tracks here sound like classic The Go! Team. Their more recent cleaner sound is still here too, though, for a nice mix of old and new. Favorite track: Divebomb

2/28: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Season 1) - Oh my god. Oh my god. I got distracted around the time I was finishing SLARPG, but finally catching up now, wow. My assumption that the seemingly lighter tone of the series compared to the prologue was there to lull us into a false sense of security before twisting the knife when war finally breaks out was spot on. This is peak Gundam.

March

3/4: Pizza Tower - One of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. It transcends its blatant Wario Land inspirations with the sheer speed at which Peppino can move and the way things like the level design, his wall running, and even the hidden ability to do a second lap around the level reward getting into a flow state where you’re just constantly moving. This is the type of game that wants to turn you into a speedrunner. My only real complaint is a few iffy enemy designs that I wish would get patched.

3/6: Bloons TD 6 * - I bought this before bed one night on a nostalgic whim and then the next morning woke up and saw the Steam receipt email on my phone in one of the most “what did I do last night” moments of my life. I like when the monkeys pop the balloons.

3/7: The Book of Boba Fett - I put off finishing this show for a very long time but finally caved upon the release of The Mandalorian season 3. This show spends four episodes failing to make me give a shit about Boba Fett trying to be “the daimyo” and drive the drug trade off of Tatooine, then just gives up and becomes season 2.5 of Mando, which in turn feels like it undercuts the main series. It fails as both its own story and as a spinoff. I know that finishing this after Andor did it no favors, but WHOOF.

3/12: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Some interesting ideas in the first half hinting at a more introspective show, but it’s mostly swept aside in the back half so it can become a generic Star Wars adventure remixing things from A New Hope and Rebels (and apparently Jedi: Fallen Order). Action scenes have zero stakes because you know nothing can happen to any of the returning characters and none of the new ones are particularly interesting. Why there’s a second climax hinging on a Luke Skywalker death fakeout eludes me. Obi-Wan throwing the rocks at Vader is one of the funniest things in Star Wars history. But it was still better than Book of Boba Fett, I guess.

3/19: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar - Wow, cool robot indeed… GaoGaiGar isn’t going to blow anyone away with its writing, but sometimes you just need a really fun monster of the week mecha show with great action and lovably goofy characters. This is a show where like 20% of every episode consists of recycled transformation, combination, and signature attack sequences and I ate it up every time because they look fucking cool as hell. I don’t care. I’d watch Final Fusion another 49 times.

3/21: The Last of Us (HBO) * - Watched the first two episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue because I don’t give a shit about The Last of Us. It’s definitely a well done adaptation, though, even if I know it’s inevitably going to devolve into miserable torture porn with questionable politics if they adapt Part II faithfully. The ending of episode 2 also lines up perfectly with where I stopped in the game in 2013 lmao

3/27: The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse (Folding Ideas) - Another banger from Dan Olson. This time the premise inherently gives him more time to just show off a bunch of stupid ugly bullshit made by crypto guys, which is fun. My main complaint was that I wished he would’ve brought up Second Life more as a point of comparison (a thing I basically always want out of discussion of “the metaverse”), but he at least did touch on it in the last section.

3/31: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - I can’t believe after years of begging for the supporting cast to get more and better material in a Sonic game I got my wish in the form of a freeware murder mystery VN released for April Fools. This kicked ass.

April

4/7: Berserk - Completed Miura’s run and caught up on the chapters that have been released posthumously. It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said about Berserk, universally agreed upon as one of the greats of manga and fantasy fiction as a whole. What begins in its first few volumes as a nihilistic and edgy action comic built to facilitate as much sex and gore as possible quickly evolves into something deeply human and vulnerable and beautiful, both figuratively and in terms of its lavish art. The world sucks and is immeasurably cruel, and you will see that cruelty illustrated in graphic, sickening detail repeatedly throughout the series. (Perhaps a little too often throughout the Golden Age, where it feels like Miura never misses an opportunity to threaten Casca with sexual assault mid-battle.) But the point isn’t to wallow in that misery. It’s the story of a victim of horrific abuse learning to slowly open up to others, having those people he cares about torn away from him in the worst night of his life, hardening himself into a cold killing machine, and then slowly learning to open back up again, even if it means leaving himself vulnerable to more hurt. Anyone who says that the series peaked with the eclipse and went downhill in the “Guts’ JRPG Party” era is missing the point. Guts needed to find new people in his life to care about, to begin to find happiness again. Because no matter what unspeakable things Guts has gone through, it’s still possible for him to heal and to be loved. It takes time, but eventually you stop and realize that life has moved on.

4/8: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe - Skipped it upon release because I didn’t particularly care for the minigame in Triple Deluxe, and I didn’t miss much. It’s fine as a little distraction, but not as a standalone rhythm game with only seven songs. If you don’t bother with the hard modes or chase after high scores this game is 15 minutes long. Oh how I yearn for Kirby to get the Theatrhythm treatment.

4/10: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar FINAL - Eh… It was okay. Lots of cool robot fights, but said fights are stitched together with a mediocre plot that tries too hard to be more “mature” than its unabashedly schlocky kids’ show predecessor. Not crazy about the ending, either, which tries to be a bittersweet farewell closing off the series once and for all while also teasing that maybe there’ll be ANOTHER sequel after the OVA series they literally called “FINAL.” Ah well.

4/11: The Owl House - Sad to see this one go, but it’s hard to imagine them doing a better finale than this, even if they had gotten the six seasons they deserved. I’m not as obsessed with The Owl House as I probably would’ve been had it come out when I was, like, 20, but it’s a really fantastic show for all the reasons people always say. Great characters, great world, great story. I love that this starry-eyed fantasy story about a teenager finding love and a place where she belongs is also set on the rotting corpse of a titan with Hieronymous Bosch-inspired scenery and freaky monsters everywhere. What a great mix. If anything, I just wish I would’ve watched the first season as it aired so I could’ve had more time with it.

4/29: Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version - FINALLY beat this via the new collection, 20 years after playing it as my first Mega Man game. (Technically my first was White, not Blue, but whatever.) There are more annoyances than I remember - lots of really really bad forced backtracking sections where you have to revisit every previous part of the internet, low chip drop rates, some really aggravating bosses like BubbleMan and KingMan, etc. But it’s still a great time overall. It’s Battle Network. In the back half the story gets surprisingly emotional, too. I was always under the assumption that the Hub stuff never came back up much in the story after 1, so I was pleasantly surprised with how relevant it was to the emotional arc of 3.

4/30: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun * - Yeah I’m not playing through the whole thing lmao. I just wanted to play the first couple hours for nostalgia’s sake, and as a baseline for how much better the rest are. Even before getting deep in the game and having to deal with all the shit gated between doing two new game+ playthroughs, it’s immediately obvious how much of a downgrade this one is. Tons of glaring errors and typos all over the script, blander music, a way more boring aesthetic for the internet, and a premise that mostly just recycles the tournament idea from 3.

May

5/14: The Venture Bros. - Glad I finally sat down and watched all of this with Anthony after having seen one (1) episode as a teenager and a bunch of random clips in the years since. Great show. Some jokes in the early seasons haven’t aged gracefully, but what the show grows into over time... man. Hank and Dean go from being the butt of the joke to being characters you actually sympathize with - while still also being funny little goofballs. And the journey Henchman 21 goes on throughout the show. Man. Amazing that a comedy like this could run for 20 years and maintain its level of quality. Can’t wait for the movie.

5/18: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) - Okay yeah I’m now just discovering bands through Fortnite lmao. I can’t complain really, they pick some really great indie artists for the in-game radio stations. Anyway: It’s very easy to win me over with a combination of energetic power pop, catchy guitar riffs, and earnest lyrics like this. One of those albums where three or four tracks in I know I have to buy it. Favorite track: Not Running

5/18: Jump Rope Gazers (The Beths) - Ditto. Favorite track: Dying to Believe

5/18: Expert In A Dying Field (The Beths) - Another good album. (I’m listening to these in release order.) I’ve been a bit slower to warm up to this one, initially thinking it was a little too mellow overall, but it might be my favorite after a few listens. Some real high highs. Interestingly, the lead singer’s New Zealand accent is also coming out more in her singing? Favorite track: Your Side (or maybe Head in the Clouds)

5/19: The Super Mario Bros. Movie - As a Mario fan, I think I enjoyed it? As a movie, less so? It was decent, in spite of feeling like they came up with a list of fun action setpieces first and then wrote the absolute bare minimum possible for the story scenes tying it all together. Full thoughts here. (This is the first movie I’ve seen this year, huh? I really don’t watch a lot of movies.)

5/23: Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out (Gladie) - I feel like I don’t like Gladie as much as I should. Their style of noisy indie rock is very much in my wheelhouse, and I do enjoy listening to them, but I dunno. Maybe it’s that the particular style of vocals makes it more monotonous to me. A good album nonetheless, if not 100% my thing. Favorite track: Nothing

5/24: City Slicker (Ginger Root) - Yes I am still making my way through Bandcamp artists I heard on Fortnite don’t @ me. Any excuse to get me to listen to some cool city pop-inspired funk like this is a good excuse. Favorite track: Loretta

5/24: Rikki (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: Why Try

5/25: Spotlight People (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: The Classic

5/29: Succession - A good dramedy series that increasingly focuses more on the drama than the comedy as it progresses, but it’s hard to complain about that since the drama is so compellingly produced. I enjoyed it. That being said, I kind of rankle at the claims that it’s The Greatest TV Show Of All Time. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. Amazing performances all around. But the show LOVES to spin its wheels, to repeat itself, and to let most of its interesting dramatic developments fizzle out before anything really comes of them, almost as if the show is constantly getting bored with its own ideas. To some extent this is intentional - Logan Roy is the untouchable billionaire, his kids fail at everything (but will nonetheless remain billionaires), and in the long run none of them really give a shit about anything other than their own status. But it’s not like things tend to visibly impact anyone else, either, be they supporting characters or the world at large. Even the Big Scary Election, where the Roy siblings are directly responsible for plunging the nation into chaos, ultimately has zero impact on the finale a mere two episodes later. Certain Other Things do have an impact in the last season, though, allowing things to meaningfully change for the cast and for the show to sit with the ensuing drama, which has stopped me from souring on Succession more. There was finally a payoff for something. But it does still kind of feel like a show that goes in circles until it’s ready to call it quits, even if those circles did contain a lot of great acting and music along the way.

5/29: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - I’d watched the first 12 episodes when they originally released, but I guess the Netflix binge release and the fact that all three “seasons” came out in one year led to me waiting until it finished… and then I just never got around to finishing it. Glad I fixed that! Really fun and stylish cartoon with an art style reminiscent of Teen Titans, a hip hop-filled soundtrack, dynamic fight scenes, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant (mostly anthropomorphic) animals. I’ll admit that at times I do kinda roll my eyes at Kipo’s unshakeable belief that everyone can be friends in a way that I don’t necessarily with similar shows like Steven Universe, and not every joke lands, but I dunno. It’s a kids’ show. That’s to be expected. It doesn’t detract from the overall package for me.

June

6/1: Craig of the Creek (Season 4) - It’s been years and I’m still processing the fact that kids can turn on Cartoon Network and hear Jeff Rosenstock. Anyway! Craig continues to be one of the best cartoons on TV, consistently funny and creative and way more engaging than a show about a bunch of kids LARPing in the woods has any right to be. This season turned into One Piece with the gang effectively hunting down the Poneglyphs in search of a legendary treasure. The kids think it’ll be magic. It isn't. An increasing number of cartoon logic gags aside, this show is firmly set in the real world. Does that make it any less interesting? Hell no. Season 3 turned a game of capture the flag into an all-out five episode war between the heroes and villains, filled with dramatic turnabouts and a climactic guest appearance from Del the Funky Homosapien. I’m sure however they wrap things up in the (sadly shortened) final season, it’ll be great. (Also? I would watch a whole show based on that “what if” episode that jumped forward to everyone’s 20s.)

6/6: Barry - Holy shit, what a show. I ended up binging it in less than a week in a cycle of “okay, just one more episode.” The way this show is able to swing between tones and genres while still feeling like a cohesive whole is truly masterful. It’s a layered character drama, a tragic crime thriller, a farcical comedy, an understated action series, a surrealist morality play, and a scathing satire of Hollywood, all in one. Even within the criminal underworld subplots the show ranges in tone from Breaking Bad to Paddington 2. And it works! While the show naturally gets bleaker over time as it confronts the repercussions of Barry’s murders, it never completely loses sight of its comedic roots. My favorite episode was easily season 2’s “ronny/lily,” a mostly self-contained episode that somehow manages to keep throwing the perfect curveballs to escalate its dark comedy.

6/12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) - Y’all heard of this movie? Pretty good, it turns out. (I’d seen the theatrical cut before, but this was my first time watching the extended edition. I’ve also only seen parts of the other two movies, so it’s time I finally watch all the extended cuts. The Gollum game pushed me to this.)

6/13: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) - give it to us RAW and WRIGGLING

6/17: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) - I’m not crying YOU’RE crying

6/22: Clone High (Season 2) - While the first episode being about “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, a teenager from 2003 being transported to 2023 and putting his foot in his mouth a lot) put a lot of people off, I ended up enjoying the new season of Clone High. The new clones grew on me as the season went on and their roles in the web of teen romance melodrama crystalized, and it made me laugh a lot, and Cleo/Frida is galaxy brained. Also they played one of my favorite Antarctigo Vespucci songs like a minute into the first episode. I don’t think I could really ask for much more.

6/28: The Mandalorian (Season 3) - I'd been watching this weekly but put off the last episode for no real reason. Responses to this season have been all over the place, but my blistering hot take is… it was fine. Is it as good as the first season? Probably not. But Mando no longer needs to carry the whole franchise on its shoulders and set the bar for how good the live action Disney Star Wars shows can be, because Andor exists, and it’s never gonna top Andor. The Mandalorian is free to just be a pulpy space adventure show where Giancarlo Esposito plays a scenery-chewing cartoon villain and a little puppet does wire stunts. These are things Andor cannot and should not do, but that’s Star Wars, baby. It’s delightful. I could watch Grogu get underhand tossed like a sack of flour all day.

July

7/2: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Season 2) - LOVE WINS. (More nuanced take from way later: It definitely feels like a lot of the more messy political conflicts in this show got swept aside by the big final battle where some more easily resolved family conflicts take center stage. I’m not sure the ending is the most satisfying. But also this show only got half the episode count that damn near every other Gundam show ever made got, so that might be a factor here. Idk. Still one of my favorite Gundams.)

7/4: Final Fantasy XVI (watched Anthony play) - I had to write my longest Medium article ever about this one because I was so frustrated

7/10: Home Movies - “Things I like that I’ve never seen in full” has certainly been a recurring theme this year. Home Movies remains an all-time classic of animated comedy that went out on a high note before things got stale or the characters became parodies of themselves. While it’s mostly known for its funny improvised banter, throughout the last season you can really see the arc where Brendon no longer enjoys making movies, yet he feels obligated to keep using them to escape from the real world. In that light, the ending where the nature of their dysfunctional makeshift family is cemented, Brendon’s camera suddenly breaks, and life moves on really does feel like the perfect note to end on. Truly one of the best to ever do it.

7/15: The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - Wow. Just… wow. I had serious doubts about TotK in the months leading up to release due to how close Nintendo was playing their cards to their chest. I didn’t want this to be a Saints Row IV, where the game is fun enough but the recycled map makes it feel like a rehash. Instead, I found a game that made me look at BotW’s map in a whole new light, brimming with so many more things to do and people to meet. Add on a better, more versatile set of tools, more varied dungeons and bosses, and a story that I felt was told somewhat better and we’ve got a real contender for my new favorite Zelda game. It was hard to tear myself away, but as this list shows, it’s been basically the only game I’ve played since it came out.

7/16: Sonic Prime (Season 2) - I liked the parts with Shadow and Chaos Sonic, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that most of this show is just mediocre. More thoughts here.

7/18: We ♥ Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie - “I’m a dog, but I love Katamari Damacy.” Truer words have never been spoken.

7/19: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Pretty good! It didn’t blow me away, but after how bad the Bay movies got I’m just thankful to have a decently cohesive Transformers movie where the human story is okay and I like the bots (although half of them needed more screen time), even if it is just another Hollywood blockbuster about two sides fighting over a macguffin that devolves into a big CGI battle against an army of nameless monsters in the third act. This is basically a mid-tier MCU movie but with Transformers, which won’t do much for most people, but again: the bar was underground.

7/22: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - God DAMN. A phenomenal ending for the series. While I would have loved to see a full final season to get some more one-off episodes in there, this doesn’t feel creatively compromised in any way–either due to the time constraints, or due to a desire to make it more marketable as a movie. It really does feel like they just took their outlines for the canceled final season and gently massaged them into the shape of an 84-minute movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s completely on par with the previous seasons. A hilarious and fitting sendoff for one of the greats of adult animation.

7/23: Beautiful Katamari - This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and am better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that it just doesn't have the same soul without Keita Takahashi's input.

August

8/4: Doom Singer (Chris Farren) - I’ve been waiting so long for Chris and Jeff to do another Antarctigo Vespucci album, but god damn. This is the best of Chris’s solo work, and a contender for his best record, period. Every track’s a banger, with more energy than some of his previous solo work but also a good deal of variety. Favorite tracks: First Place, Cosmic Leash

8/4: Transformers Earthspark (Season 1) - This show had a bit of an uneven start, unsure if it wanted to have the emotional maturity of a more serious action cartoon or a preschool cartoon where the characters have little kid mood swings and outbursts and learn basic lessons. It also felt like it was speedrunning its Wholesome Found Family Dynamic with characters who just met, which didn’t feel earned. While these problems never completely go away (see: the cheap and corny way the otherwise very dark season finale suddenly resolves), the show improves quickly, and the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s so great to have a Transformers cartoon that feels fresh, giving us a post-war setting with a bunch of new characters and new dynamics between the Cybertronians and the humans. The returning characters are also uniformly great as the old veterans overseeing the new generation. (Reformed Megatron! Danny Pudi as Bumblebee! Steve Blum returning as Starscream! Keith David as Grimlock!!!) And those super dynamic action scenes! I can nitpick, but Earthspark’s a ton of fun, and easily the best new Transformers cartoon since Prime and Animated.

8/5: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (remaster) - Everyone who told me this game was a masterpiece was right. I had played the first chapter when it dropped as the demo for the iOS version years ago, but never went further than that until now. What a game. Absolutely incredible through and through. Great story, great twists, great characters, great puzzles, great art direction. Everything comes together so perfectly to form a totally unique, unforgettable package, a top tier video game murder mystery. Everyone should play this, preferably going in as blind as possible.

8/15: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16) - Wow! Recent seasons of Sunny have been kind of up and down, with some interesting experiments (Mac Finds His Pride, the Ireland arc, etc.) paired with some comedic duds. Most of this latest season is standard fare for the series with fewer big creative swings, but it’s just hit after hit in terms of comedy. Not a single dud, whether we’re seeing Mac and Dennis try to start a rental business for inflatable furniture or watching the gang meet Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, believing the entire time that the latter is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle. Even the attempts at topical comedy landed better. Easily the funniest season in years.

8/16: One Piece Film Gold - It’s easy to see why this one has kind of been forgotten in the wake of Stampede and Film Red, which revolve around established fan favorite characters, but this was still pretty fun. Perhaps a little too long, but it’s fun to see the Straw Hats fool around in a giant casino and do a heist. They definitely cranked the fanservice up even more than usual in this one, though, as I probably should have expected for a movie made alongside the anime’s adaptation of Dressrosa.

8/17: One Piece: Stampede - This one goes for a different kind of fanservice. While most One Piece movies are isolated from the ongoing plot and its expanded cast of characters, Stampede instead asks “What if we just put damn near every active character on the same island and had them fight?” The answer: a fun time! It would get old if all of the movies were like this, but after a bunch of movies that are just like “the Straw Hats are gonna land on another new island and fight some more weird guys” it’s fun to see characters like Law and Buggy and Smoker get in on the fun. It’s also nice to get a movie with the Wano era art style, and Usopp surprisingly gets some really good character moments in here.

8/18: One Piece Film Red - This really is the best of the One Piece movies, huh? (Baron Omatsuri is a close second.) It really feels like a change of pace after the last four with the most interesting and emotionally engaging story out of any of them. And even if the events of these movies are never canon, it still feels significant in my understanding of Shanks as a character as we move into the final phase of the manga.

8/21: Pikmin 4 - The opening hour of the game made me really question if they’d changed too much, with all the focus on your new dog unit over your Pikmin and the extremely dull, drawn out dialogue scenes with your new companions back at the base. But once I got into the swing of things I had a blast. This is probably my new favorite Pikmin game. There’s a great mix of activities here to keep things fresh. I also really ended up liking Oatchi’s role as basically your second captain who can also serve as your tank or a rideable mount. The Dandori stuff and nighttime missions in particular show off how useful Oatchi is for your multitasking without necessarily overshadowing the Pikmin.

8/22: Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story - I literally backed this on Kickstarter eight years ago (my name is in the credits!) and then never got around to watching it for no reason. It’s on YouTube now, and Jeff’s got a new album out next week, so now feels like the perfect time to watch it. And man… what a great documentary. Obviously I’m just a fan of the band, but this also really spoke to me as an artist. Jeff wanting to stick to his principles and give out his music for free and play cheap all ages shows, his discomfort over the idea of selling merch, and the struggles that come with not playing the game like that… It's hard. They readily admit that Jeff is an idealist, that people fight him on this stuff, that he’s missed out on some big opportunities because of these stances, and that he’s had to compromise a bit on some of these things over time. But that incredible climax with their final show, including a full opening performance of the slowly building “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” and the closing performance of “Future 86” where the whole audience is singing along as the members of the band are hugging and crying… it’s beautiful. This may have been a band where the members had to go back to their shitty day jobs after every tour because they weren’t selling out arenas, but their art meant something to people, and that makes it all worth it.

8/25: Nimona - I haven’t read the original comic (yet), so I can’t compare them too much, but it’s nonetheless pretty apparent that some things were softened and easy kids’ movie jokes were added by the studio to squeeze this graphic novel for teens into a PG animated movie. Regardless, the emotional throughline hits REALLY hard, particularly the very blatant trans allegory and the climax. (It’s no wonder Disney was afraid of this movie seeing the light of day lmao.) The animation is also very squishy and fun to watch throughout. Great movie.

8/26: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Spider-Verse really has done so much for animation, huh? This one was as good as everyone said. Beautiful use of stylized color and lighting throughout, and every time this movie very conspicuously shifted to different framerates for a flashy fight scene it owned. Very cute and heartwarming story, too, which thankfully gave its second act plenty of time to explore the cast and let them go on their journey, unlike a certain plumber movie that came out a few months later. Also I would let Death [redacted]

8/28: Holocure: Save the Fans! - This isn't really something I can beat, but I've been addicted to Holocure lately. I don't even watch VTubers aside from maybe seeing a funny Korone animation every now and then, this is just a really, really good freeware Vampire Survivors clone with a huge roster of varied characters to pick from.

8/31: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock) - A new album from Jeff is always a major event for me. If there were any worries that he was starting to go soft at 40 (because one of the three singles off this album was a gentle acoustic piece), the frantic opening of this album put those worries to rest. The first two tracks are Jeff screaming out for help as he’s pulled in a million directions by the chaotic state of the world, a theme that becomes the thesis of the album. I’d say it lags slightly in the middle, but overall this is another extremely well-rounded record full of bangers that’s unapologetically Jeff, with possibly my favorite closing track he’s ever done. Favorite tracks: I WANNA BE WRONG, 3 SUMMERS

September

9/3: One Piece (live action, Season 1) - They did it. I can’t believe it, but they did it. While I have my nitpicks (Usopp and Sanji don’t get enough big moments to shine), this is an extremely solid and faithful adaptation of the first few arcs of One Piece with a great cast. For the most part the changes feel smart and logical, and the big emotional beats of the story are all there and executed very well. I doubted it a little in episodes 2-4, where the Orange Town and Syrup Village arcs saw some major changes to shift the action indoors, and the increased focus on the drama in favor of repeating every gag and battle from the manga 1:1 took a bit of getting used to, but by the end I was having a blast. It’s a different take on One Piece, but it still feels like One Piece. Genuinely very excited for season 2.

9/4: Pseudoregalia - A great little N64-style 3D Metroidvania focused on platforming and very satisfying movement. I always love entries in the genre that are less prescriptive in what order you have to tackle areas in, a la Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight, and this one’s great in that regard. While there are a number of new moves to find, most of the map is open to you very early in the game, and smart use of your moveset can allow you to “sequence break” without even realizing it. (You would not believe how long I went without getting the wall run.) I do wish it had a map, but that’s already being patched in.

9/6: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk * - Not a bad game at all, but I quickly remembered how bad I am at skating games, so like… eh? Not sure I have much desire to play past chapter 2. Also the soundtrack is sadly kinda hit or miss for me outside of the obvious Naganuma tunes.

9/9: The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Dorktown) - Jon Bois never misses. Even as someone who doesn’t actively follow sports, Jon Bois is a master storyteller, using graphs and statistics and funny anecdotes to explore these deeply human stories. He can convey why people care so much about these teams, these people, and sports in general, and how our popular sports reflect on American culture. He could tell the story of just about any team or player in any sport and I just know I’ll come out the other side a misty-eyed fan. And what a fascinating cast of characters we have this time, with origin stories for everything from the Hail Mary pass to a Minnesota state supreme court judge to the Griddy. Nine hours well spent.

9/10: Timespinner - A fun and highly polished Metroidvania that maybe doesn’t quite have enough of its own identity in its quest to replicate Symphony of the Night…but also, like, this was pitched as a Symphony throwback on KickStarter in a pre-Bloodstained, pre-Hollow Knight world, so I can’t really blame ‘em! Stopping time to avoid boss attacks is fun, the pixel art is gorgeous, and I liked the dark science fantasy story about warring empires and meddling with time a lot more than I thought I would - lore journal text dumps and all.

9/14: The Decay of Sam & Cat (Quinton Reviews) - All the stuff at the end with Matt Bennett (the actor who played Robbie on Victorious and Sam & Cat) in this was really good and sweet. It’s that kind of thing that makes these videos feel like they’re still worthwhile on some level. But the padding and the things Quinton chooses to spend the colossal runtime on does drive me more and more insane with each passing Nick sitcom video. I don’t know how much longer he can keep this schtick up. I hope he’s able to move on to other things before too terribly long instead of continuing to extend this “miniseries.”

9/19: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - AKA Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 1.5. It’s fun for the same reasons Peter’s first game was fun. I had a good time swinging around New York again in preparation for the sequel, and there’s a lot of cute stuff with Miles becoming Harlem’s neighborhood hero, but WOW did the Underground v. Roxxon conflict fall flat for me.

9/20: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson - I understand so many posts now.

9/25: Spider-Man (2002) (rewatch) - It’s you who’s out, Gobby! OUT OF YOUR MIND!

9/25: Futurama (Season 8) - I was ready to be a hater, recalling the fact that Futurama has already had three “perfect endings” with the show getting a little weaker with every revival. Then I watched the first new episode on a whim and thought it wasn’t bad, so I was like, eh, sure, I’ll watch the rest. Overall Hulurama is hit or miss. There are chuckles to be had, and it sure as hell beats modern Simpsons, but almost every episode is either a belated take on an overplayed Topical Issue (the pandemic, Amazon, cancel culture, etc.) or a direct sequel to an old episode people liked. Or both! It’s also really noticeable that certain voice actors sound way older - Billy West is struggling with the Fry voice in particular, and it hurts his comedic timing. But just when all hope seemed lost after the nigh-incomprehensible toy-themed anthology episode, possibly the worst episode of the entire series… the last episode, where the Planet Express crew explores whether or not the universe could be a simulation, was really, really solid. Great note to end on to make me not regret my time with this season as a whole.

9/26: Spider-Man 2 (2004) (rewatch) - Once the GOAT, always the GOAT.

9/27: Spider-Man 3 (rewatch) - Revisiting this movie for the first time since I saw it in theaters… it’s not bad. It’s fine! It continues to have the heart and sincerity that make the first two movies work. It’s just not as concise with three villains vying for the spotlight, but I also wouldn’t cut any of them, necessarily. I guess Eddie/Venom would be the easiest, but Peter getting the black suit and giving in to his resentment feels too central to cut. (Yes, even with Emo Peter becoming a meme.)

9/28: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, especially since I was never really a fan of the genderbend episodes in the original show. (At the time they mostly just felt like an excuse to crank up the teen romance stuff to 11.) But MAN. This was a fantastic coda to the original series. It made me care about Fionna and Cake and their friends as their own characters separate from their original counterparts, it gave the Simon/Betty arc a much more satisfying (if no less bittersweet) resolution than the original finale had time to do, and it even managed to be a multiverse story that didn’t make me roll my eyes in 2023. A+ all around. Makes me wanna rewatch the original show again. [spoiler: I did]

9/29: Meanwhile (aivi & surasshu) - It’s been a whole decade–they were busy with, you know, all the music in Steven Universe, among other things–but we finally have a new aivi & surasshu album! Their chiptune/piano fusion style is familiar, but they’ve definitely grown as composers in subtle ways. Favorite track: Time Travel

October

10/1: This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) - A lot of the nitty gritty finance law stuff turned into white noise for me, but still, great video. I had no idea that the GameStop stock craze devolved into this bizarre cult that thinks they’re going to crash the global economy and rise from the ashes as the new kings with the value of their GME stocks. Glad this video exists to try and balance out the narrative.

10/5: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon DLC - Good ideas, absurdly frustrating and tedious execution. Full thoughts here.

10/10: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (rewatch) - I didn’t plan this, but very fitting that I would end up rewatching this on 10/10.

10/12: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - ha he! (Seriously though, that finale was a fucking masterpiece. The RTVS crew has an incredible knack for using the framing device of video game livestreams to blur the lines between comedy and horror, or ironic anti-humor and complete sincerity. I’ve never seen anything else like this.)

10/15: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said. The most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen, grounded by some really excellent storytelling about Miles (and now Gwen) that’s probably better than his actual comics. But it also does feel like it’s about to end and then the movie just keeps going like ten times over lmao. Can’t wait to watch this a second time on a better TV.

10/20: Sonic Superstars - A mostly really solid and fun 2D Sonic game that’s unfortunately dragged down by an extremely hodgepodge soundtrack and some overly drawn out boss fights. I spent HOURS trying to beat the final boss of the bonus scenario (which is required for the true ending in this one) before giving up. Really a shame that that’s the note I’m leaving the game on, because I otherwise enjoyed it, but ah well. More thoughts here.

10/27: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Another good Spider-Man game from Insomniac. Liked the story more than the one in Miles Morales, but maybe not as much as the first game. Extensive thoughts here.

10/28: Venom - Was in the mood for more Venom after the game. As expected this was not a very good movie, but the dynamic between Eddie and Venom made it a fun watch. Tom Hardy is constantly about to shit his pants in this movie. It’s great.

10/28: Venom: Let There Be Carnage - I had a way better time with this one. Is this a good movie? No. But it cranks the insanity of the first movie up to 11. Goofy as fuck in an extremely watchable way.

November

11/5: Pluto - An absolutely masterful series that anyone interested in sci-fi needs to watch. The anime adaptation was great, and I immediately understand why people who’ve read the manga speak so highly of it. Really makes me want to get into Astro Boy more, and also read some of Urasawa’s other works.

11/18: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - Wow, just wow. When news of a Scott Pilgrim anime broke I was cautiously curious to see if we’d get a more direct adaptation of the comics, and instead it veered off in the exact opposite direction in the best way possible. This is almost entirely a different story, one that’s in conversation with the previous versions (sometimes in very meta ways), and I think it’s really valuable to see O’Malley revisiting these characters with new things to say about them. The major story divergence gives us a chance to examine the characters from a new angle - particularly Ramona, who’s the real protagonist of this version, and the evil exes, who completely steal the show. This was a great reminder of why I fell in love with this series as a teenager. I now genuinely hope we get more Scott Pilgrim.

11/22: Void Rivals (Issues #1 - #6) - The first arc of the new Robert Kirkman series that kicked off Skybound’s new “Energon Universe” is now complete, and I’m left thinking Void Rivals is… okay? I thought the first issue was a decent (if not particularly original) sci-fi comic with an appealing art style, which just so happens to also briefly have a Transformer in it so there can be a Big Surprise. And the series still hasn’t quite shaken that feeling to me. It’s an okay sci-fi series that arbitrarily dedicates a couple of pages of every issue to something from Transformers, but I’m not really sure what the shared universe stuff adds to Void Rivals, or what Void Rivals adds to Transformers and GI Joe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

11/22: Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland) - Yeah, gotta be honest, I only got halfway through this one. It seems like Kevin just 1) really wanted to push himself creatively and 2) make a love letter to Epcot, and while I respect that, I think it suffers as a historical documentary. It’s Fantasia but for the creation of Epcot. That might be very impressive on a technical level, but it feels more like a piece of Disney propaganda than prior Defunctland videos due to a lack of context and nuance. 

11/24: Aperture Desk Job - A short, sweet, and funny little tech demo for my new Steam Deck set in the Portal universe. More effort was definitely put into this than was strictly necessary.

11/26: ESCHATOS - I am not good at bullet hell games, but I enjoy them from time to time and I really love this one’s FM synth soundtrack, so I picked it up on a whim in the Steam sale. I only beat it on Easy, but still, I had a lot of fun with it! It’s straightforward but very flashy, with the camera dynamically zooming around from set piece to set piece at ridiculous speeds and each level segueing directly into the next. The lack of a powerup system on the main mode in favor of just needing to know when to use your different shot types makes it feel very approachable.

11/27: Lunistice - A great little 3D platformer with a good soundtrack that I had fun hunting down all the secrets in. This is an easy recommendation for fans of games like Kirby or Klonoa - whimsical games set in colorful dream worlds where the underlying story can get a bit more somber. (Although the story in this one is mostly told through mildly cryptic lore dumps, so your mileage there may vary.)

11/28: Spark the Electric Jester 2 - The leap from 2D to 3D here is impressive, but this is very clearly a rough draft for Spark 3. Very, very fun Sonic-style 3D platforming, but the combat is lacking and the storytelling is just kinda bad. More extensive thoughts on this and the above two games here.

December

12/2: Fortnite (Chapter 4) - This was my first full chapter of Fortnite, after having been roped into the game by the siren songs of Zero Build mode and Goku during Chapter 3. This means it’s harder for me to compare this chapter to previous ones, but still, Fortnite remains a genuinely very well made Battle Royale shooter that’s a blast with friends. If I have any complaint about this Chapter, it’s that they would regularly introduce zany ideas and then slowly reel them back in, whether it was the Augment system or the increasingly mundane movement items. It also felt like it was a little too easy to get the perfect loadout in every match, meaning the final showdown would almost always be against players with Slurp Juice and gold shotguns. And I missed the smaller mid-season map updates of Chapter 3. But overall I still had a really good time, and look forward to playing more for the foreseeable future.

12/4: Plagiarism and You(Tube) (HBomberguy) - This will get written off by many as “YouTuber drama,” but this really is an excellent video essay that feels like the kick in the pants that YouTube needs. If video essayists are gonna be a major source of information for so many, then they gotta have standards. I also think it does a good job of highlighting the people that have been plagiarized and trying to drive more attention their way in an attempt to right those wrongs.

12/6: Transformers (Skybound comic) - We only got the first three issues of this in 2023, but I just HAVE to say something about how incredible this series is here. Daniel Warren Johnson is knocking it out of the park. This is the new bar for Transformers. The hand-inked art is extremely dynamic and full of character, and the story is using the familiar beats of G1 Transformers but doing very new things with them. You can tell this from the very first page, but the emotional scene of Optimus accidentally crushing a deer in the forest and realizing how fragile life is on Earth sealed the deal for me. And yet in the very same comics Optimus can do suplexes and clotheslines and lord knows how many other wrestling moves on Decepticons, and it doesn’t feel like tonal whiplash? These comics just fucking rule, and anyone with even the slightest interest in Transformers should be reading them.

12/8: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5) - [spoilers] WWDITS has very much settled into being a status quo show. Every season has its own little arc where one or two things change to keep things interesting, but then everything returns to normal by the end. Guillermo finally becoming a vampire, only to become a human again in the end, might just be the most egregious example of this yet. But also… the show’s still really funny? And I continue to be happy that Kristen Schaal has stuck around as a series regular as the Guide. So it’s hard to complain. I could see the show running out of steam over the next few seasons, but it’s still hitting for me right now.

12/12: Pony Island - Finally got around to this since the trailer for the sequel dropped. I feel like playing this years later in a post-Inscryption world where Pony Island is a known quantity kind of lessens its impact, but still, it’s a fun and funny puzzle game where you try to hack your way out of a possessed arcade machine. I’m not sure I found it particularly scary, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be? The way the game messes with you during the Asmodeus “boss fight” was probably the highlight for me. I also like being able to say things like “The part where you have to not kill Jesus was so hard. I kept getting terrible butterfly patterns.”

12/16: Breaking Bad VR but the AI is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - As always, Wayne and co.’s commitment to the bit is unrivaled. This kind of got interpreted as just a way to troll HLVRAI fans, but so many moments in this genuinely made me laugh out loud.

12/18: Soul of Sovereignty Prelude - As someone who would list Cucumber Quest as a big creative influence, I was naturally very excited for this first chapter of GGDG’s new visual novel. Their mentality of both scaling things back in terms of labor while also going more shamelessly self-indulgent in terms of storytelling after burning out on making webcomics has really spoken to me, and WOW, the end result of that new process of theirs is shaping up to be something really special. The art and music are sparse but extremely evocative, giving you the rough sketch of the world and letting your mind fill in the rest. The story blends literary high fantasy vibes with the style of fantasy seen in ‘90s JRPGs (you can definitely tell this came from an idea for an RPG), but rather than constantly winking at the audience and making self-aware video game references it plays these storytelling ideas extremely sincerely, giving them real dramatic weight while still indulging in fun tropes to their fullest extent. While it’s a far cry from their most famous work with much more mature content, GGDG always excels at creating characters and worlds that immediately grab me. I can’t wait for the rest.

12/18: Barbie - I’m only… what, five months late for the whole Barbenheimer thing? Perfect timing. Anyway! On the one hand, I get the critiques saying that this movie is just a major corporation funding a self-aware feminist critique of their own product as a marketing ploy. And I kinda agree with that. And the movie is a little too long, and I don’t really know what to think of the way the Barbie/Ken conflict plays out. Anthony asked me to summarize what the story ended up being about, and I had no idea what to even say. But also… I did still like the movie? We don’t get a lot of cartoonish, absurdist, fourth wall breaking comedies like this anymore, and this is a good one of those. Also the whole cast is great, the set design is kind of stunning, and the cinematography is consistently appealing. I wouldn’t say it’s a revolutionary work of feminist filmmaking by any stretch, but it’s a good comedy movie.

12/21: Dr. Stone: New World - Man, Dr. Stone is great. I’ve said this many times, but I just love that this series uses all the trappings of shounen that would normally be used to hype up the protagonist learning a new move to instead hype up things like the protagonist building a loom or a hot air balloon. It’s shounen Bill Nye. I didn’t completely love everything about the Treasure Island arc this season, but it all built towards a really fun climax with a lot of satisfying turnabouts where the heroes use their ingenuity to just barely win.

12/23: The History of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out World Records (Summoning Salt) - Truly one of my favorite Summoning Salt videos ever, even with how repetitive Punch-Out can get to watch. It’s just so hard to beat “and that runner… was me.”

12/24: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - What more can be said that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best and most creative 2D Mario game since the ‘90s. The only real flaws are that it’s a little easy, the Search Party stages are annoying in singleplayer, and I wish that every boss prior to the final boss wasn’t just some form of Bowser Jr. fight. But those aren’t nearly enough to drag the whole experience down. It was a blast.

12/24: Do a Powerbomb! - Got this from Anthony as a birthday present. This is the previous series by the creative team currently doing the new Transformers comics I was gushing about a few entries ago. Even with the high bar set by those comics, Do a Powerbomb! exceeded my expectations. Holy shit. An absolutely entrancing fantasy wrestling miniseries full of dynamic, energetic action and tons of heart. These comics where a guy wrestles a giant talking orangutan almost made me cry. Twice. An instant favorite.

12/25: Adventure Time (rewatch) - We ended up finishing our rewatch of Adventure Time (the main series, anyway) on my 30th birthday, which feels appropriate. I already kinda knew this, but this rewatch has truly confirmed that Adventure Time is my favorite TV series of all time. The entire show is even better on a full series rewatch. In hindsight, even parts that annoyed me when they aired end up being important parts of the beautiful tapestry that is this series. The many low points of Finn’s adolescent love life are important stepping stones in his growth as a person, which leaves him in an extremely satisfying place by the end. Jake having kids didn’t get to be a huge status quo change because they grew up instantly, but then they did a bunch of fun episodes about Jake’s relationships with his adult children that deepened him as a character. And most of the big lore questions they kept teasing over the years (“Where’d the humans go?” “Who are Finn’s parents?” “When’s Finn gonna get a robot arm?” etc.) ended up getting satisfying and creative answers, because the show left itself the room to figure those things out later. This is a truly special, one-of-a-kind series, one that lasted nearly 300 episodes and yet still seems like it was over too soon. And yes, I did in fact cry during the final montage, like I knew I would. I will always cherish this show with all of my heart.

12/25: Olive the Other Reindeer (rewatch) - Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid! It was a favorite of mine back then, and while it might not be quite as funny as I remember it’s still very cute, with a 2D/3D hybrid art style that remains very unique and appealing. As an adult I can also appreciate the cast they got for this, with like half the cast of Futurama bolstered by guests like Michael Stipe from REM and The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano.

12/26: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio - Anthony and I capped off our Christmas with the most jolly and festive stop motion movie of all! Jokes aside, man, what a beautiful movie. The animation is immaculate, and we really just don’t get children’s animated films like this anymore. Ones that overtly feature real world politics and religion and so many other dark themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids or sugarcoat things. This one hits hard. We need more movies like this.

12/31: Oppenheimer - This was an interesting one. Despite being three hours, the way that first hour jumps around in time makes it feel like Oppenheimer is constantly being propelled forward through life at a breakneck pace, swept up by the rising tide of nationalism in spite of his personal left wing politics, never really reflecting on what he’s doing until it’s too late. Then when he’s no longer useful to the empire, he’s chewed up and spat out, only to eventually be honored as a national hero as a symbolic gesture. It’s a compelling story. However, I’m a little torn on how certain aspects of history were framed. Does the abstraction of the bombings detract from the true weight of those events, in favor of sympathizing with the man who built the bomb? Or is it clever a way to show how the realities of the war were compartmentalized away by people who were complicit in its most heinous acts of violence? One minute a bunch of physicists are talking theory, thousands of miles away from the theaters of war, and the next they’ve killed 200,000 people. So which is it? Eh, probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. But I liked it overall.

12/31: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe - I’ve been really surprised by how good this rerelease is. It kind of flew under the radar for me. I liked the original game, but at the time it also almost felt like the New Super Mario Bros. of Kirby. It was a straightforward throwback game where you went through a grass world, then a desert world, then a water world, etc., and also they added four player co-op. But returning to this one after the kinda mid Star Allies has made me appreciate just how solid RtDL is as a Kirby game. I really like the updated graphics, too - yes, even the new cel shaded outlines around the characters - even though I didn’t think it looked that great in screenshots. Also the two new copy abilities (Sand and Mecha) are fun, the minigame collection is shockingly fleshed out to the point that they could’ve sold it as a standalone eShop game, the collectible character masks are fun, and the new epilogue mode where you play as Magolor is one of the coolest bonus modes they’ve ever done. This is a top tier Kirby remake any fan of the series should check out.

Ongoing things I followed in 2023 that don't have a blurb:

Halo Infinite multiplayer

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog (main series + specials)

One Piece

Chainsaw Man

My Hero Academia (not caught up)

The JOJOlands (not caught up)

Things I started in 2023 that I still need to finish:

Freedom Planet 2

Hi-Fi Rush

Live A Live

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Picross 3D Round 2

Rhythm Heaven MegaMix

Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Spark the Electric Jester 3

Sonic Dream Team

One Piece (Wano arc, anime)

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 (I’ve already read the Shibuya arc already in the manga, though)

Astro Boy (2003 anime)

Futurama (original run rewatch)

One Piece (manga reread)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee/Ditko era)

Scott Pilgrim series (reread)

And finally... my favorites of 2023!!!

Overall favorite game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Favorite indie game: Pseudoregalia

Games remastered in 2023 that are now among my all-time faves: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, We Love Katamari

Most pleasant surprise in gaming: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Favorite film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Favorite live action show: Barry

Favorite anime: Pluto

Favorite anime written by a Canadian guy and an American guy based on the Canadian guy's old graphic novel series: Scott PIlgrim Takes Off

Favorite live action adaptation of an anime that I still can't believe they didn't fuck up: One Piece

Favorite Western cartoon: Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake

Favorite older cartoon I only got around to watching in its entirety this year: The Venture Bros.

Favorite documentary: Double Fine PsychOdyssey

Favorite semi-improvised semi-scripted absurdist comedy/horror/tragedy Twitch livestream performance art thing: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware finale (wayneradiotv)

Favorite manga: Chainsaw Man

Favorite older manga that I only read this year: Berserk

Favorite Western comic book: Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers

Favorite album: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock)

And that's a wrap!!!!! Happy new year, everyone! Here's to me maybe actually reading a goddamn book this year

[corporatefrog]

꒦‧₊ ꒷ HEADCANNONS: Going on a Road Trip with Kyle, Kenny, Stan, and Butters (Separately) ✧.*

✧.* tags: college au, road trips, ✧.* Charactions: kyle broflovski, stan marsh, kenny mccormick, butters scotch a/n: I drove home to visit family this weekend and the 5 hours drive always drags. so i made up driving buddies to pass the time lol masterlist

Kyle

He definitely drives. Not because he prefers driving but because he refuses the thought of someone else being in control of the car that isn’t his mom (sheila is def a crazy driver but he’s desensitized)

He’s a good driver though. ALWAYS uses a turn signal, even if there isn’t a car behind you

“Kyle we haven’t seen anyone for 20 minutes, why are you using your blinker to change lanes”

“Well i thought i saw headlights in my rearview”

“That’s the stoplight we just passed-”

I feel like he’d love a good road trip. Airports are too stressful and driving means you can chit chat and get actual food and not hear a baby screaming for 3 hours

PODCAST LISTENER

He’s got at least 5 episodes downloaded depending on the genre you want

Like listening to commentary or informative podcasts so you guys can talk about them together

“So I downloaded a podcast about the history of Jeoprady and a few episodes of a JK Rowling audio- documentary- thing.”

“Have I told you that you are the best person ever” 

“Yeah, but you could tell me again”

Kenny

LOVES ROAD TRIPS!

Blasting music! Head out the window! Going 85 on a 55 back road! Let him in the car!

Prefers to be a passenger so he can be silly without risking the car crashing

He always has to stop for snacks at the beginning so you can munch on the way (and because gas station snacks are the absolute best) 

“Corn nuts?”

“Check”

“Bugles?”

“Check”

“Muddie Buddies?”

“Double check”

He’s got a mega playlist full of both of your favorite car jams that he updates regularly 

Definitely a ton of Black Eyed Peas

And some tyler the creator too probably

If you’re going on a longer trip, he is OUT after 4 hours

Absolutely drooling, head turned to a weird angle that’ll give him a huge crick in the neck once he’s up, but god DAMN is a restful

He’s up in 45 minutes and ready to party some more

If you’re driving through the night, he likes to stop and pull to the side of the road so you can look at the stars

And so he can piss

Stan

Give him aux or he will cry

Whereas kenny knows the difference between car vibe music and home vibe music, stan does not

Bro definitely put every fall out boy song EVER on there

Which like, you’re not complaining. 

He probably likes to switch drivers every few hours so you both can take a break and enjoy the drive.

He prefers being the passenger though, he likes staring out the window and unfocusing his eyes so everything blurs together

Probably enjoys flights a bit more honestly

“I mean, it’s like 2 hours and you’re there!”

“2 hours + 1 for getting to the airport + 2 for getting through security + 1 for waiting to board + 1 for landing” 

“Yeah and??? You don’t have to drive??”

Randy probably had a shit ton of frequent flier miles for some reasons so the marshs were a flying family for sure. 

Butters

Passenger princess.

Give him a blanket PLEASE

Whenever you stop for gas, he finds the BEST trinkets

“Look at this air freshener I found! It smells like honeysuckle! Can we put it in the car for the rest of the drive?” 

Likes to having music playing low so it’s just in the background while you guys talk

Definitely brings mad libs

“Okay can i have an adjective”

“Uh,,, Smelly >:)”

Bro starts GIGGLING 

He’d like to go on the drive just to play road trip games with you

Doesn’t know how pumping gas works

“YN!! You have to stop the gas!”

“What do you mean butters, the tank isn’t full”

“But it’ll overflow if you just let it keep going!”

“What-”

The sweetest driving buddy ever

[itskattkm]

New York New Rules Pt. 7

Warnings: Violence, Trauma, Fluff, maybe Smut, mental health, blood

Summary: Y/N meets the survivors of the last events in Woodsborrow and gets on Ghostface's list. But there is also a darkness in Y/N wich path is she going to choose

Female Y/N x Tara Carpenter

Sorry for bad writing. I'm using a translator and hope you guys can enjoy it. Also, this is going to be a slow burn

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 Part 8

After the Woodsborrow gang left, I had the feeling that they also had taken all these emotions that I felt before with them. I was in a free fall mode and didn't know how to organize my condition. When I heard the door handle sink, I looked at it and was confronted with Kirby again. I gave her a serious gaze, she closed the blinds to my room and moved almost creeping to the end of my bed.

Worry. I recognized pain and pity in the blue of her eyes when she asked "how do you feel Y/N?"

In the meantime, I sat upright and had my head leaned back. With my eyes lowered, I looked at her "I don't know..." I started playing the course of the last 24 hours in my head and tried to filter out the way I felt. But one emotion stood out in particular "I'm mad... really mad"

Kirby's jaw tightened and she reached harder to the end of my bed.

"So... what about this 'personal' attack?" She now hacked after we were alone. I already had a rough plan in my head, and had deliberately not told Sam and Tara everything. Well... or rather, i left a small detail out. "I had the feeling that Ghostface knows exactly who I am... and for this reason he wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible" she listened attentively to me as I continued "when I asked Ghostface if he was Ethan... and for real at that moment no one else came to my mind Kirby. Ethan doesn't have my number. It's not much but at that moment it was the only thing I could hold on to" she nodded to me. Confirmed my thoughts.

"Of course, when I confronted him as Ethan, I could not perceive any emotions in his face. But his body had clearly spoken for itself. The way he had strained himself... put his head crooked and then ran towards me at a speed... he was mega pissed" Kirby sighed "so you think it's Ethan?" I shook my head and thought. My feeling told me that I had to be careful with Ethan, but I was sure it wasn't Ethan in the pizzeria.

"You trust me, don't you?" I asked her and looked at her with a look for help. Her eyes became softer and she nodded "I need your help..."

Taras POV (one hour ago)

"Of course I wasn't there and didn't know you, but I wish I had, because then I would have liked to ram a baseball bat in the face of this stupid bitch," I looked confused at Y/N but had to smile.

Somehow my heart started beating a little faster and I wasn't sure if I liked this feeling. "Sorry, I don't even have the right to call her a stupid bitch" she apologized and interrupted herself, I think I had never talked to her so much before and damn, she could really talk a lot and suddenly seemed so much more present.

Y/N was a friend of Mindy so we ran into each other here and there but we never really had an intense conversation. I actually wanted to change that at the Frat Party. After Anika asked for Y/N and Mindy said that parties were not her thing, she is generally a quiet person, I found that we had to invite her all the more. Something told me that Y/N also lived behind a protective wall and sometimes it needs some help to get out of it. Maybe I didn't want to process what happened to us in Woodsborrow like Sam, but I somehow tried to get among people to have the feeling of being present and being able to feel everything that was possible. "I think I'm high," she said and started laughing. Perplexed, I looked at her and just couldn't stop grinning as she laughed more and more, something about her laugh brought this tickling into my stomach. I just had to laugh with her, it was so contagious. She tried to hide her face in her hands, but twisted it when she was taking the pain of her hand and decided against it. Why did she want to hide her face? She didn't needed that at all, I asked myself and looked into her grinning face. She had put her head slightly to the side and slowly closed her eyes as she quietly whispered "these painkillers... are incredible."

My cheeks already started to sting unpleasantly from the wide grin I had put on the whole time. I shook my head and tried to relax my mouth and suddenly it was so quiet in this room. My gaze wandered over Y/N face. Confused, I looked at her, did she just fall asleep?

Carefully leaned completely against the railing of her bed and watched her silently "who are you?" I whispered unconsciously when I was thinking out loud. The last 24 hours I had gotten to know so many facets of Y/N that I couldn't assess them at all. Could we trust her? I wasn't sure. But Y/N radiated something that told me that we were on the same wavelength, the same vibes. Apart from how well she and Sam got along, it was almost scary. Okay, they weren't best friends now, but I knew Sam, and she's dealt with Y/N like no other so far.

Of course, this whole therapist thing was something that connects them both, but how far did this connection really go?

After Bailey threw her in front of the car, I was actually surprised to imagine Y/N as an aggressive person. But hey, who was I to judge about it? I didn't know her well enough and the picture I had taken of her during this time did not fit into the current one in any way. But that was good. Somehow I was happy to meet her Lin that state and I liked it.

Now the quick words of Y/N were repeated in my head. What would it have been like if we had already met in Woodsborrow? This thought made me really curious, but I knew far too little about her to be able to imagine anything... but the thought that she would have been on my side and helped us with Amber and Richie, I liked this idea.

A knock got me out of my thoughts. Sam moved her head to the side, which means "we're going" I nodded in agreement to her and looked at Y/N.

"Y/N" I whispered carefully and snapped. No reaction. I came a little closer to her and said at normal volume "Y/N" this time I snapped twice. Her head moved slightly, this time I shouted loudly "Y/N!" I snapped again, this time right in front of her face"

She opened her eyes confused and looked directly into mine. She whispered "sweet dimples" I straightened up slightly confused and couldn't resist my smile. How could you be so cute, and that even in high condition. Something in my stomach told me that Y/N was pretty much in flirt mode or did I imagine that? Just how she drove me crazy for the last few minutes here was almost too much for my limits but on the other hand I couldn't do anything about it.

"You fell asleep for a short moment but I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye first" crooked I looked at her and then she asked me "what was the last thing that happened before I was gone?"

This time I put my hand with the scar on her bandaged arm "You asked me if you were high..."

"Fuck..." she said almost disappointed and let her head fall back. Why did I like the way she constantly uttered this word?

"You like to curse... don't you?" And again this grin. I just couldn't let it go

"In a world like this? Yes, I do" We both laughed "We're all going back to the apartment... if something should happen, we'll keep you up to date, okay? And I'm pretty sure you're safe here with Kirby. I hope so at least," I said and whispered the last part. I had given her a trust bonus and after the attack I was almost 100% sure that she was not Ghostface but after Amber... I had to be more careful. I briefly looked outside to Sam and then back to Y/N.

"By the way... you have to tell me on occasion how you and Kirby know each other" I didn't want to go. I wanted and had to learn more about Y/N. I just didn't know how to assess her yet and I was curious. In addition, she apparently got along very well with Kirby and we just had to know why.

"I'd love to... I like to talk to you," she whispered exhausted and I pressed her arm slightly again. For an inexplicable reason, I had the feeling that I could talk to her about everything... so yes. I also liked to talk to her "see you soon"

Tara POV now

When I threw the last spices into the pan, I looked too chad over stirring the pot "you should leave the city" confused but with a gentle look he looked at me. My heart was beating faster than usual and I was slowly getting warmer "you know you don't have to stay here because of us" he shook his head and said calmly "I'm not going anywhere"

Suddenly there was a choking.

Chad and I turned around at the same time and our eyes met Mindy, who pretended to have to throw up as soon as she straightened the last cutlery.

"Please stop before I have to throw up. And nothing against you, my dearest brother-"

"I'm your only brother..." interrupted Chad Mindy and she continued smiling "I'd rather see Tara with someone else than you, that would be too much for me"

Chad and I didn't react to it at all and just shook our heads laughing. But when I looked too chad, I asked myself the question. Me and Chad? Could that be something? Of course we have been friends for years and after Woodsborrow we were all there for each other. Chad sometimes has comforted me, but did I want more? Of course we flirted here and there... but that was just fun, wasn't it?

Anika had laughed "definitely not my favorite ship but yes... Tara and Chad" now I went towards her with a dirty grin and leaned over the couch "oh yes? Are there already several ships here?" Anika pressed her lips together and made a gesture that told me as much as "my lips are sealed".

Chad ran past us briefly when he put the pot on the table and said "chill people, me and Tara are just joking around"

Suddenly a burden fell from my chest. Yes! Yes, we did. Thank you chad for this statement, which now made my feelings a little clearer. Mindy sighed and had sat next to Anika "we won't start this discussion again, will we?" I watched the glances they threw at each other and when she didn't say any more. I sat down on the armchair next to them "well, tell us!" Chad ran towards the kitchen and shouted "you can't tease us like that, spill the tea"

Mindy raised her hands defensively in the air "I won't say anything about it... first my brother then..." she hissed and shook her head "no... I think I already have enough problems with her"

It didn't even take me a second to understand who this was about "wait, is this about Y/N?" I couldn't resist an astonished smile. Anika laughed "maybe but it's not so obvious, but I think tat Y/N has a little, really little" Anika made a gesture with her hand "crush on Tara" my eyes widened and my mouth fell in shock. Really? Why was I suddenly so nervous?

"No, no, no... if anyone knows her, then I. And you can agree with me when I say that it is very difficult to read Y/N. And why Tara? They have hardly ever seen each other before"

In the meantime, I had caught myself again and tried to hide my smile behind my hands. However, I could justify my smile with the following reason if I were confronted now. Surprised. I'm just surprised because I can't imagine in the slightest way that Y/N would be into me... or someone at all to be honest.

"The eyes never lie..." said Anika seductively and gave Mindy a light kiss. "Wa-" Mindy and Me began at the same time, however, she nodded to me and asked me to continue "what do you mean by that?" Now Anika looked at me crookedly "in the hospital when we had waited in front of the room... by the way, what have you been talking about for so long" my face relaxed and I shrugged my shoulder. Of the corner of my eye I could see Sam who took a wine bottle from the kitchen and listened attentively "we didn't really talk so much” Chad laughed and nudged Sam "they were probably busy with the eye thing" to my surprise Sam laughed about it.

I briefly escaped an unbelievable laugh when I began to defend myself "no... we were definitely not"

The longer I thought about it, I think at least I was totally busy with the eye thing.

"A few minutes later, the painkillers showed their effect and she seemed to be a little high of it... and fell asleep briefly" I recognized a slight astonishment in the eyes of the others.

"In any case... we told her everything and I hope that nothing happens to her in the hospital. Actually, I wanted us all to stay together," said Sam and there was silence for a short time. She sighed and the short joy in her eyes disappeared when Anika drew our attention to herself "guys"

She made the TV louder, we or rather Sam was on the news and was officially named a murder suspect. She grabbed the remote control and muted the TV. She sat down at the dining table and sighed. I watched her and recognized the stress, the pain and the feelings of guilt in her whole presence. I sat down with her.

"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday... I didn't mean it that way" with gentle eyes she looked at me "it's all my fault... I should protect you and-" I took her hand in mine "it's time for me to protect you..." I said calmly.

Chad and Mindy had sat down with us

"I feel like everyone hates me," she said exhausted and was close to tears. The twins said no and chad corrected "in this room... no one hates you Sam... you protected us and without you we wouldn't be here" a smile crossed her lips. I pressed her hand more firmly "it's time that we protect you..." Mindy leaned slightly over the table "we are the core fucking four" chad literally sprayed with joy and gave Mindy a thanking high five. I couldn’t hold back my laughter "that's what I'm talking about, the Core-four" said Chad after Mindy "say it!" She shouted

I shook my hand and joked "no no im not gonna say it! I mean yes"

And then the conversation took a turn "I have something with cute boy from next door" said Sam coolly. Shortly there was a silence until we all started to cheer. I clapped my hands as I moved in the chair and shouted "I knew it!"

And it was as if all worries had disappeared. We laughed together again and lived in the moment. Danny had called, I tore the cell phone out of Sam's hand and shouted "ey, what are your intentions with my sister!?" I laughed and Sam took the cell phone out of my hand am mumbled "I'll call you back" and declined the call.

Quinn seemed to be in full swing with her Toy Boy and made us laugh all the more. The moans had been louder than usual.

Suddenly, all our cell phones vibrated at the same time. The laughter fell silent. From now on, my heartbeat began to get stronger and I could recognize the pounding firmly against my chest. Carefully I picked up my phone and saw Quinn being attacked by Ghostface.

"Ahhh!" And there was already her cry. I wanted to run to Quinn but Chad's arm passed my waist when he held me to the side and protectively. As a group, we pressed together anxiously. Our eyes are firmly on the door. It was quiet... too quiet. We were getting ready for what would await us, but could you ever be prepare for something like that? Thousands of thoughts flew through my head and I hoped Quinn had a chance.

Unfortunately, the opposite was the case. Her door was opened and Ghostface came out with Quinn. She was flooded with blood. There was so much blood. Anika's scream brought us back, but Ghostface threw Quinn's corpse at Anika and quickly made his way towards us. I wanted to run on him but chad had grabbed my hand tightly and dragged us out of the apartment. We were running. My head was empty. One staircase after another and then I realized on the third floor "Sam! She's still in there" I tore myself away from Chad and ran the few missing steps back to our apartment. Before I reached the last step and was only a few meters away from the door, another ghostface seemed to have just run down from above. He paused. I went back two steps and pressed myself against the wall. Chad was a few steps behind me and tried to reach for my hand.

Silence... like a deer standing in front of the headlights of the car, I stared at the black eyes of the Ghostface mask. Ghostface attitude was so different... but I couldn't think about it any further when suddenly Ghostface opens the door to our apartment and went in "no!" I screamed before I understood what I was doing. He had slammed the door and closed it. What the fuck?! I turned the door knob and tried to get in. "No! Sam!" I called and felt the first tears running down my cheeks. "Tara we have to go!" Chad called and reached for my hand.

Sam POV

"Anika, you can do it!" We called her again and again as she tried to cross the ladder and get to Danny's apartment. My eyes fell back into the room and suddenly all the body heat escaped me. "Anika don't look back, you can do it, hurry up!" Mindys crying cries crashed into my ear.

Ghostface had rammed his knife into the window sill and now grabbed the ladder. Anika looked back. Fear was written on her face more than anything. She froze, she was crying. She was in pain. Her blood dripped from the ladder and colored everything into a dark red. "Anika, come on! You have to hurry" cried Mindy despairly. I leaned further out of the window and stretched out my entire body to reach for Anika's hand. For a short moment, the ladder below us jerks and Anika freezes to death at one point. My eyes fell back on Ghostface. Confused, my gaze did not meet the one I had expected. Behind him stood another one. Crooked he looked at me and I felt a tension that was indescribable. As if he was talking to me. Was that one of my hallucinations again? No. It wasn't. Suddenly the second Ghostface hit the other one with a chair over the head and reached for the knife. He didn't pay any attention to us anymore when he got to fight with the second Ghostface. "I- I can't"

She brought me back "Anika, focus on me! Only on me! You can do it" once again I stretched my whole body and felt Danny's grips around my legs getting tighter. I touched Anika's fingertips "another little piece baby!" Mindy called. The next moment I held Anika's warm hand in mine and pulled her into the apartment with all my strength. Exhausted, we fell to the ground.

Mindy and Danny immediately looked after Anika's wounds. But my attention was focused on someone else. I looked back at the window on the other side. Why did he help us? I wondered, but there was no traces of both ghostfaces anymore.

Hope you guys like it so far :) I wish I hadn’t to translate. It makes the writing definitely difficult

[pyjamaart]

I never needed such help / This is my SOS

(Content warning: self harm) (If you don't have a problem with that, huge Drillman essay under the read more lol)

When I said that I wanted to draw Drillman some more, this really wasn't what I had in mind.

This week, I've been shopping for music on various second hand sites, which made me realize I don't physically own one of my all time favorite albums: "Squaring The Circle" by Sneaker Pimps. I had to change that immediately. (As well as buying like 15 other CDs and vinyls, lol.) As I was listening to it once again, I realized just how much the song "SOS" reminded me of Drillman and his struggles.

If you don't want to look it up, here are some of the lyrics:

"I look much smaller seen from inside out/Far too small to see myself/Down on reflection, cast in hate and in doubt/Flawed and flaws I add myself"

"Oh mirror mirror hanging on the wall/Please just show me someone else/My hopes were low and I got so much so less/Nothing left to save myself"

Listen, this dude got some major problems with his self esteem. He feels like an embarrassment because he was forced into a life he never wanted by his father. Now he seeks revenge on the company that bought his families business, along with him and apparently his bodily autonomy. Think about that for a minute. How fucked would it be if your parents wanted you to be a doctor, but a requirement for that would be to have your hand surgically removed and replaced with a scalpel. That's the exact situation Drillman found himself in.

Now a lot of people probably think "Well why doesn't he just ask Dr. Light to give him a new pair of hands then, if he's this miserable?" This is where we get to one of Drillmans biggest problems: the refusal to ask for help in any way. And even after the finale of the season, why would he go to the Lights for help in the first place? Wasn't it Aki who thought the best way to help him through his problems was hypnotism? And in the process embarrassing him in front of the whole city, ruining the last bit of reputation he may have had? (For real though, that episode is so hard for me to watch. I just feel so so bad for him, since I really struggle with social anxiety myself.)

As the guys from the Youtube channel "The D-Pad" (who reviewed all of the MMFC episodes) fittingly commented: "This would be like fucking Vietnam for him." And they were right. Obviously, Drillman is horrified that Aki would humiliate him like this and lashes out, solidifying his opinion that asking for help is a bad idea.

In that episode, there's this one moment that really stuck with me. At around the 8 minute mark, while Drillman is having a breakdown over the terrible "music" Aki made him perform, there's this one shot where he takes a moment to look at the drills that replaced his hands in frustration. The camera perspective makes it seem as if we are experiencing this brief scene through his eyes. It's actually quite upsetting. (A link to the moment I'm talking about: youtu.be/OC_jdhoeTrE?si=ZPzAXu…)

This is also a perfect moment for me to gush over the voice acting for this scene. Andrew McNee did such a fantastic job of conveying Drillmans distress and anger through his voice. That reminds me, giving him a British accent was honestly such a good decision.

The reason he doesn't talk at all throughout most of his first appearance is probably because the writers wanted to surprise their audience a little. As in, you see this big, imposing construction robot and think "Oh man, what a brute. He probably has a pretty deep voice." And then he actually starts to speak and it's this sophisticated, well-articulated British voice instead. Quite the whiplash.

To get back to the original topic, I'm honestly still upset that they didn't give Drillman a redemption arc at the end of the show. This probably would have happened in season 2, as Mega Man even says at some point "I know deep down your inner bits are good", proving to me that the writers definitely had something in mind regarding Drillmans character arc.

And now that all of that is out of the way, we can finally get into headcanon territory.

You might have seen this image while browsing the tags and asked yourself, "Why is this Mega Man Fully Charged artwork littered with content warnings?" And well, now that you're here and reading this, you probably know why. I can't say I've ever made myself sick with a drawing before. That's a first for me.

My headcanon is, that after the finale of the show, Drillman is just utterly lost. Lord Obsidian, who sought him out specifically because he knew of Drillmans problems and offered him a place to stay and a way to get revenge on the people he thought responsible for his predicament, turned out to be a horribly racist human who was just using him to achieve his own devious goals. After getting his ass kicked by the Lights, the same people who had not only humiliated him in front of the whole city, but who had also left him stuck to his abusive father for an entire day (I bet that ride to the police station was horrible for all the people involved, most of all the police bots who had to hear the Drillmen yell at each other the whole time), Sgt. Night is detained by the police. We don't actually see what happens after that, because that's where the show ends.

I'd like to think that the Lights actually try to talk to the robot masters once everything is over, telling them all the horrible things their so-called "leader" has said and done. And most importantly, what he thinks of robots: That they're nothing but tools to him. That once they had gotten him his Mega key, he would have wiped their minds and turned them into mindless machines.  

I'm guessing none of the robot masters would take these news well, but most of all Drillman. I think that after he ran away from Skyraisers Inc. and fought Mega Man for the first time, he was really relieved to have some place to stay and a new goal, maybe even a robot to look up to. That being Lord Obsidian of course. Who knows what lies he told Drillman and the others? Kinda sad that we never really got to see what the robot masters who stayed with Lord Obsidian did the entire day. When they weren't causing havoc in the city, that is.

None of them seemed really friendly with each other in the finale, now that I think about it. I guess "Obsidians robot sanctuary" wasn't really a great place to stay at after all. But still better than being homeless, like that one maniac living in the forest all by himself. Speaking of Woodman, in my AU, he and Drillman already knew each other at this point. This also reminds me of something I forgot to mention in my last post. While I'd love to see them interact in any way, because they're both my favorite characters, I don't ship them in any way whatsoever. I'd also like to think that Woodman and Drillmans father were schoolmates back in the day, maybe even friends? (I'm still holding onto those 30 years).

Anyway, after all the former robot comrades part ways, now without a leader, what was Drillman supposed to do? Once again betrayed by a trusted figure, feeling useless and without purpose, still with these stupid drills mounted to his body... Still too ashamed to ask for help. After all that has happened in the past few hours he begins spiraling, which ultimately leads him to make a very unfortunate decision. Trying to get at least some of the freedom in his life back, he attempts to get rid of the drills making up his body on his own, using the same tools that have haunted him all this time to finally rid himself of this burden.

He regrets this just seconds after, when he's left with an unresponsive limb, metal and wires exposed and oil splattered all over his orange plating. All he can do is stare at the stained drill in front of him in horror.

"I never needed such help/This is my SOS"

Jesus Christ that got dark. Sorry. I mentioned in my last post that Drillman possibly has really bad body dysmorphia, which I'm also trying to convey here. Don't worry, he really gets his hands back after this. Maybe the Lights find him after that and the good Doctor offers to fix him up. By which I mean not only his arm. Because apparently, Dr. Light also doubles as robot psychologist. I just really need Drillman to get his happy ending. He really really deserves it after everything he had to go trough over the course of the show. 

I also need him to have a DJing redemption, besides the normal redemption. I've seen people headcanon that he exclusively likes classical music, but I personally don't believe that. He'd be the kind of music nerd who would say stuff like "I listen to everything" and then you look at his playlists and he actually listens to everything. Maybe not experimental noise rock, though. I can just imagine Aki and Suna helping him put on an actual show, this time without any hypnotizing bullshit, as a way for Aki to apologize for the dread he's caused Drillman during that incident. Drillman would be highly suspicious at first, but actually goes along with it in the end. Maybe they'd also take Fireman along, who Dr. Light also blessed with a brand new pair of hands. The punchline at the end would be that Drillman would have so much anxiety about embarrassing himself again, that he forgets to make an actual set list for the gig. In the end, he exclusively plays Lady Gaga songs, which no one complains about.

Alright then, enough yapping from me. I've really been writing this essay since 8pm. And now it's 2am. My god. I just have a lot of feelings about Drillman.

But now I really gotta go to bed. Stay safe peeps. I hope you actually read the content warnings. Jenny out.

[marvinsbitch]

Stupid Quotes (mostly from me) as Newsies characters pt 2

"why does Spot look like all the boys i dated who were mid" - Race

"you get to play a man now" - Albert

"YAY" - Race

"but you have to be Jack" - Albert

"NO" - Race

“Um babe… Ik you have adhd all but…” - Spot to Race

"listens to blackpink, dresses like a whore" - Race

"Davey did you know that no matter whos president jesus is still king" - Les

“its your bf” - Kathrine

“which bf?? *gasp* DAVEYY JACOBBB” - Jack

“one thing i love about being in jersey is i can go to the beach and live out my weezer surf fantasy” - Race

“You know ur my bestie lesbian lover” - Jack to Davey

"im done drawing furries" - Jack

"ahhaha (sarcastically) cum" - Crutchie

“Are you listening to that liberal shit again??” - Mayer to Davey when he started dating Jack

"guys im in the presents of a mega loser" - Spot to Race

[unpredictable-probabilities]

Granting Favors || Chapter 15: Synergy

Summary:

After being unable to avoid each other in Flight class, Azul and Jamil address what happened at Ramshackle.

Notes (more at the end):

For Day 2 of AshenViper Week 2024!

Prompt: P.E.

Word Count: 2,535

———

The sun was bright in the sky and sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead, but Riddle still stood at attention and listened carefully to Coach Vargas as he gave the instructions for their Flight class today.

They would have to do the drills that the Spelldrive team did for practice, but modified so they would be a little easier. Coach was currently pairing up students for the exercise.

“Rosehearts and Silver!”

Silver walked over to stand next to Riddle and nodded politely. Riddle nodded back. It was fortunate that he got paired up with someone as competent as Silver. If his performance in these drills would be as good as in the Equestrian Club, they were certain to get a good grade.

“Diamond and Shroud!”

“Hey, partner!” Cater sauntered over to Idia who looked defeated.

“Why am I always paired up with the mega-extrovert?” Idia lamented.

“Because you’ve improved a lot with Diamond’s help,” Coach Vargas pointed out. “Why change what already works, right?” He clapped Idia on the back encouragingly before looking down at his list again.

Idia stumbled forward from the force, but Cater caught him by the arm before he lost his balance.

“Ashengrotto and Viper!” Coach Vargas continued.

Azul was standing next to Silver, and Riddle saw his shoulders tense up.

“Hey, Jammy,” Cater was beside Jamil and he poked the sophomore’s arm. “Aren't you going to him?”

Jamil pursed his lips and walked to stand next to Azul. Both of them stood stiffly without even acknowledging the other’s presence.

Riddle raised an eyebrow. Last week, those two had been scolded by Professor Trein in Defensive Magic class for casting spells on each other, and now this. It wasn't like either of them to be so unfocused in class.

Behind Riddle, he heard Ruggie snort.

“Man, what's wrong with you two?” Ruggie asked as Coach Vargas continued to pair up students. “Jamil, don't tell me you're nervous about the drills.”

“I'm not nervous,” Jamil snapped, frowning at Ruggie.

Before anything else could be said, Coach Vargas blew the whistle which signaled the start of the exercise.

Three pairs would simultaneously hover in the air 10 feet apart and pass the disc back and forth with their partner using magic, all the while remaining on their brooms for five minutes.

Riddle had never seen three Spelldrive discs on the field all at once before, and it was quite exciting to watch when all the pairings happened to be Spelldrive club members or just particularly skilled at the exercise. The discs flew smoothly back and forth with such speed that Riddle sometimes lost track of them. He didn't watch a lot of Spelldrive matches as he was often preoccupied with other matters, but this class might just pique his interest enough for him to watch the upcoming matches.

Azul and Jamil were called on the next set, and Riddle was impressed with how much Azul had improved on his flight skills. However, as the first minute ticked by, he increasingly grew unsteady on his broom. He failed to catch the disc when Jamil passed it to him, and instead it hit him in the glasses and he threw his head back with a pained grunt. Jamil looked alarmed and for a moment it seemed like he was going to fly closer to Azul, but he held himself back and caught the disc once Azul passed it back to him.

After that incident, Jamil's performance worsened as well. He had less control of his broom, and he nearly missed catching the disc twice.

Riddle sighed and shook his head. “Personal issues really should not be brought into class.”

“Personal issues?” Silver furrowed his eyebrows.

“Whatever fight they were having back in Defensive Magic must still be unresolved. Regardless, they should not let such things interfere with their class performance.”

“Ah, I do remember them being scolded in Defensive Magic,” Silver nodded. “It's strange. I have seen Jamil be in worse tempers before, but he still always managed to perform well. I wonder why today is different.”

Riddle frowned thoughtfully, watching as the three pairs ended their turn, and Azul and Jamil were told by Coach Vargas to join the group of other pairs across the field.

Riddle and Silver got called in the next set, and the exercise proved to be just challenging enough to be entertaining. It required use of Riddle’s reflexes and precision in spellcasting, and he could understand why Coach Vargas thought it would be a useful exercise to hone their skills.

Riddle had been right about Silver’s competence; he certainly moved like a knight who had undergone years of training. They passed the disc seamlessly between them, and the five minutes went by smoothly.

After everyone had gone through the exercise, Coach Vargas announced that the pairs who got the lowest grades in each set—the group where Azul and Jamil had joined—would compete with others to get additional points. There were a few grumbles from students who didn't want to go through the exercise again, but most seemed determined, especially since there would be the element of competition this time.

“Diamond and Shroud, you will compete against Ashengrotto and Viper,” Coach Vargas motioned for them to go to the center of the field where two hoops stood as goalposts.

Cater put an arm around Idia’s shoulders. “We can totes win this one!”

Jamil leaned closer towards Azul and whispered something, to which Azul nodded.

“Protect your goals, and score as many as you can in the span of five minutes. Ready…” Coach Vargas lifted the whistle to his mouth.

The four students mounted their brooms.

Coach Vargas tossed the disc upwards where it hovered in the center between the goalposts. He blew the whistle, and the four students shot into the air.

Jamil immediately cast a spell on the disc and took hold of it, then he threw it past Cater and towards Azul who had been waiting at the side.

Azul caught it and quickly threw it over Idia's shoulder and into the goalpost.

The hoop glowed as the disc passed through it and Coach Vargas blew his whistle.

“First point goes to Ashengrotto and Viper!”

Excited murmurs rippled among the crowd; no one had been expecting for a goal to be scored so quickly, especially not from Azul.

Idia was staring wide-eyed at Azul with his mouth open, and Azul smirked at him smugly.

“Okay, for real this time, Dia!” Cater pointed at Idia.

“Back to your starting positions,” Coach Vargas said.

When the whistle sounded, Cater took the disc and flew in a wide curve before shooting it through the hoop.

This time there were actual cheers and claps from the other students.

After that, both pairs became a lot more serious.

Jamil's usual prowess returned, his athleticism and precision showing as he effortlessly weaved through Cater and Idia's defenses while carrying the disc.

Riddle had never seen Azul more skilled on a broom; he was feinting turns and diving towards the goalposts seemingly without fear. He and Jamil communicated entirely wordlessly, they would share a look and immediately know who would take the disc from the opponent and who would toss it through the hoop.

Equally surprising was Idia Shroud being far more verbal. He and Cater shouted phrases at each other that Riddle could only guess were a combination of contemporary slang and language often used on the internet. Riddle wasn't sure he understood most of it, but Cater and Idia perfectly did so.

Cater was agile on his broom, and Idia intercepted the disc multiple times with his powerful spellcasting.

Whatever awkwardness had been between Azul and Jamil in the first exercise was now gone. Riddle was familiar with how well they worked together in Alchemy, and it seemed like they now brought that same competence here in PE. They shared smug glances and even a laugh at one point, and Jamil seemed livelier compared to his usual stoic facade.

Cater took hold of the disc and sped across the field, but Jamil cut through his path and intercepted it. He threw it to Azul on the far end of the field, and Azul caught it before turning and aiming for the goal.

The disc flew from the grip of Azul's spell, freely spinning through the air.

Time seemed to slow down and Riddle felt himself holding his breath in anticipation.

Idia moved to position to block the goal, raising his pen to catch the disc.

Then the disc got caught in a beam of magic and was suddenly yanked sideways away from Idia.

Azul had taken hold of it again and threw it under Idia's raised arm, pushing it clean through the hoop.

The whistle could barely be heard from the loud cheering and clapping of their classmates. Riddle himself was clapping enthusiastically and laughing, carried along by the lively atmosphere.

“Five minutes are up!” Coach Vargas shouted above the noise. “Ashengrotto and Viper win by one point!”

“Oof! Just one point! We’ll get ‘em next time, Dia!” Cater said as the four of them flew back down on the grass.

“I'm not sure I want a next time,” Idia said, but he was grinning at Cater.

“Scared we’ll beat you again?” Azul told Idia as they hopped off their brooms.

“Oh that's rich coming from a guy who only recently learned not to fall off a broom!” Idia shot back.

“You flew really well too, Idia,” Jamil smiled. “Are you and Cater still doing those practices?”

“Yeah,” Idia looked down and his pale cheeks seemed to color a hint of blue. “I mean I still can't fly as well as he does but…”

“Are you kidding? You were amazing!” Cater rushed to Idia and pulled out his phone from his pocket. “We only lost by one point! If we had more time I bet we could have totally won. This deserves to be commemorated!”

He put his arm around Idia, careful not to hit him with the broom he was still holding, and leaned close enough so that the sides of their heads almost touched.

“Smile, bestie!” Cater raised his phone and winked as he took a photo, while Idia gave a shy smile.

Azul and Jamil were walking away but Cater caught up to them, pulling Idia by the arm.

“Wait, wait! Group pic!” Cater stood next to them and raised his phone again. “Hashtag rematch next time!”

All of them smiled at the camera, and after the photo was taken Cater was rattling off compliments about how good they all looked despite being sweaty from the match.

“It seems like they have resolved their issue,” Silver told Riddle as they watched the small group join the others who were waiting for the remaining matches to be done.

Riddle smiled. “Indeed. Competition can really spark camaraderie among NRC students, and I am glad to see that those two are still capable of working well together.”

Silver nodded. “They seem to have been growing closer, from what I've seen in our joint classes. I heard from Sebek and Ace that Azul even slept at Ramshackle the other night after working on their project. They seem to think that those two are in a romantic relationship.”

Riddle’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Really? Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Ace is gossiping about such things. Though I do wonder how he could have arrived at such a conclusion.”

“Ace said that Azul and Jamil look at each other much like how you and Trey do.”

“What?” Riddle felt his face heat up. “What does that even mean? What does my friendship with Trey have to do with any of this?” he hissed, not wanting anyone else to hear.

Silver looked genuinely surprised at his reaction. “Aren't you two dating?”

“No!” Riddle's face must be positively red by now. What sort of rumors have been going around without his knowledge? What if Trey got upset upon hearing them?

Silver frowned and looked confused.

“Let's just get back to watching the match,” Riddle quickly said and turned back to watching the other students compete in the air, though he could still feel the tips of his ears burning.

—

Azul lagged behind while Idia and Cater headed towards the locker room with the others after class.

“Jamil.” Azul stopped walking when they were nearing the door.

“Yeah?” Jamil turned to him.

Azul waited for their remaining classmates to disappear inside before continuing. “I would like to…” he scratched his nails on his broomstick restlessly. “Apologize. For my behavior yesterday, before I left Ramshackle.”

Jamil was silent for a moment before he replied in a measured voice. “Do you regret it, then?”

Azul looked at him in surprise and confusion. Jamil's face was carefully guarded, but there was an emotion in his eyes that Azul couldn't decipher. Jamil was hoping for a particular answer, but Azul didn’t know which one.

“I didn't want to upset you,” Azul said. “And if I crossed a line…” Sevens, the words really were hard to say. “I'm sorry.”

A soft smile slowly appeared on Jamil’s face. “An apology from Azul Ashengrotto? What brought this on?”

Azul huffed out a chuckle, relieved that Jamil didn't seem upset with him, at least. “This Flight class reminded me how well we work together, and I wouldn't want to lose that just because I upset you with an impulsive decision.”

“You didn't… I wasn't…” Jamil looked down at his shoes and back up to the corridor.

Azul patiently waited for Jamil to finish his thought, unsure where he was going with this.

“I'm not upset about the hug, Azul,” Jamil quieted his voice down, looking around to make sure they were still alone. “I'm just not good at… this,” he gestured to himself and Azul. “Sentiment. Affection. That kind of crap,” he mumbled. “I guess that’s why I’d been acting weird all day.”

“I'm not good at those things either,” Azul shifted on his feet. They’d been avoiding each other and the first time they’d spoken was when Jamil whispered a plan to him for defeating Idia and Cater. It would appear that they had both been clueless on how to proceed after their last interaction. “But now that that’s out of the way, I suppose we can both stop being weird to each other,” he said lightly.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Jamil smiled.

They both stood there for a few moments, and it felt like there were other things that needed to be said, but neither of them knew what those could be.

“I don’t regret it,” Azul finally said, remembering Rielle’s advice about being honest with Jamil. “The hug.”

Jamil’s face reddened and he looked down, fidgeting with the strings of his hoodie. “Good.” He turned to the door and opened it, going into the locker room and leaving Azul alone in the corridor.

Azul stared as the door closed behind Jamil. He could be mistaken but he thought he saw the hint of a smile on Jamil’s face just before he turned his back.

Azul opened the door and followed inside, feeling a smile curving his own lips.

———

Notes:

Finally managed to update this after more than a year!

Thank you to everyone who's still reading this now! I appreciate you a lot <3

And for any first-time readers here, hello! I'm glad you've read this far ^_^

A special thank you to @patchyegg87 for helping motivate me to write this and for coming up with the chapter title 💜🧡

I've missed writing this fic, and I'm really happy to have written a new chapter for it~ Thank you again to everyone who read this! Feel free to comment your thoughts!

———

<- Chapter 14

(AshenViper Week 2024 Masterpost)

(Masterlist)

[reluctanttrabbit]

HERE :)

vanessa goes and also smuggles Freddy to one of Gregory's soccer games

vanessa or gregory has a nightmare and the other is there for them

vanessa had a bad day yesterday and Gregory with the help of freddys head attempts to make her breakfast in bed the next morning

vanessa and Freddy help Gregory out when he gets freaked out about his amnesia again

tony ellis and Gregory hang at the fazcade but it drags back old memories

HOPE I HELPED YOU OUT A BIT VANNY✌

YAY THESE R SO CUTE AUGHHHH thank you... for saving me! i was so thirsty!!! /ref

will definitely do more of these prompts buttttt i want to go to bed lmao so this is all u get for now :3 idk idk let me know if you want me to tag you when i update this!!

2.

Fluttering in and out of consciousness, a very comfortable Vanessa hears commotion from somewhere inside the apartment.

Her eyes were heavier than Freddy's head, and her mountain of blankets weighed her down. Why was she awake, again?

I think.... I heard something. Maybe it was Gregory.

That works like a charm. She can slowly feel herself gain more energy to shift out of bed and sit up. Nail polish and clutter fall off of her side table as she reaches for her phone. Vanessa groans.

Fine, I can just walk without a light. I should know where all my furniture is from memory.

Her feet immediately catch on a pile of laundry she'd been neglecting. "Shit," she whispers as she hops until she regains balance. Vanessa steps more carefully this time, successfully feeling for the door frame and switching the light on.

There's a faint.. sniffing kind of noise. Then it goes quiet.

"..Ness?"

Her heart beats faster as she jogs to Gregory's room, feeling for the walls. It's right at the end of the hall.

Gregory's 'room' (a room she once used for art and sewing crafting, now containing just a makeshift bed and spare furniture) was pitch black; save for Freddy charging on the desk beside his bed. The beam of his eyes allowed her to see just half of Gregory's face.

"Are you okay? Did anything happen?" she runs a hand through her untamed bedhead.

"Oh. Um, I just heard.. you walking around, so I wanted to make sure, uh, it was you. I'm a light sleeper, sorry." Vanessa noticed how Gregory sniffed in between some of his words. Her limited view of him appeared as if he was on edge. Scared.

"..You sure?"

He fidgets with his sweater sleeves.

"Yeah."

It had only been a week since Vanessa took in this stubborn, brave, creative kid. After five days of going through hell together in that mega mall. A hell that she took part in, god, maybe even orchestrated--

That wasn't me. It was never me. I got him out. We're safe.

She couldn't blame him for being so guarded. Especially towards her.

Ness leans on his doorframe. "Look, I um.." she pauses, unsure of where shes going with this.

"I would never want to discount how brave you are. You have ten times the courage I did at your age. But that doesn't mean... you're never scared."

Isn't that kind of contradictory?? She thinks. Gregory's eyebrows furrow; he's just as lost as Vanessa.

"Okay, I'm really sleep deprived. Crap." she mumbles. "What I mean to say is that I don't want you to be scared of being scared. You can.. talk to me about nightmares and stuff. You don't have to push down your fears anymore."

He doesn't respond, looking at the wall for a bit. Vanessa fidgets with her hair.

"It was about the animatronics," Gregory breathes out. "but y- Vanny wasn't there. I don't remember.. seeing her." He motions for Vanessa to come closer. She doesn't hesitate, sitting at the edge of the mattress.

"They chased me out of the pizzaplex doors, and then we were on that hill. But Roxy dragged me back and then I was in some kind of.. mirror maze? It was on fire, and I had to get low to the ground."

Vanessa listens intently. "But Monty started crawling after me, and he got my leg. Then they all started... Um. And then I saw that other rabbit in the mirror right before I woke up."

They both freeze.

"I don't know, the locations didn't make that much sense. But I could see every single detail of the characters. I could feel everything." His voice shakes, right before tears start to form.

Vanessa felt a pang in her heart. She had no idea whether to comfort him or let him come to that decision himself.

"...Could you stay in here for the night? Like, bring an extra mattress maybe.." he trailed off, wiping his eyes.

"Uh- of course. Yeah, I have a sleeping bag somewhere." she takes off to the hallway closet, leaving Gregory to sit and wait.

He stares into the corner of the room. Into the shadows. Something looks like it's there, but his brain knows it's nothing.

With nothing to do with his hands, he hugs one of his pillows. I wish Freddy didn't weigh a million pounds. He glances at the Glamrock Freddy plush sitting on the floor.

Gregory sighs, leaning over to grab it and fitting it into his arms.

----------

"Is this good now?" Vanessa asks, sitting up in her sleeping bag and attempting to read Gregory's face in the darkness. He nods, seemingly content and burrowing back into his blanket.

Vanessa smiles and makes herself comfortable.

"Tomorrow I could go out shopping for your room, if you want." She stares up at the ceiling, envisioning where she would go. "Maybe some glow in the dark stars? My ceiling was full of 'em when I was younger."

Gregory made a sound that seemed like "mhm." He sounded ready to fall asleep right there and then. Vanessa wondered if her being here made him feel more safe.

"Night, Nessa." he mumbled

"Night, Greg."

[mafuluzx]

Beautiful Liar (part 1/2)

If you have no idea what this is, it's the first part of my scrapped Wattpad story. I made a post with also the prologue in it, please go check it out from right here.

But this will in total have three posts: the prologue, part 1 and part 2. Part one and two are basically just the chapters I wrote before giving up split in two.

So, let's go.

Part 1

"Ah, this to the Walker's again?" You gave the envelope to the mailman and nodded. The mailman stuffed the envelope into his bag and left. You looked around before walking back to your house, your home. You always sent the Walkers money for Jay's allowance. You saw Jay on tv a lot these days. He was your precious little brother whom only you knew about. And to him you were a... nobody. You doubted if he'd seen you anywhere other than tv either.

You walked inside, the collection of Fritz Donnegan posters giving you a cold and wordless welcome, as always. In the past, you asked how Jay was doing from his 'parents', the Walkers. Edna was a sweet lady and Ed was a funny and kind old man, whom you met for the first time when you were two. You don't remember why Your father chose to leave Jay with them of all people, but you didn't mind. But You couldn't ask them anymore, for when Jay became a ninja, he visited his parents less and less. Instead you relied on the newspapers and tv to know how Jay's been doing.

You and your group were active as always, and your dad was at work all day long, as always. You didn't like him leaving you to take care house all year round, but you didn't want him to come back home either. He had love only for three in this world. Your mother, himself, and his job. His two children lived their own lives separated from him. You didn't even know if he cared for you and Jay, if he cared for one but not the other, or neither one.

But that was a long time ago. For a long time you had no one to call mother, but after that long time had lasted for ten years, it finally took it's toll. You didn't need to see your father anymore, you didn't need for him to take care of you anymore. But you didn't wish him to leave you. You only wished he would invite Jay back... back home.

You were two years older than Jay, and now he was sixteen, now you were eighteen. The letter which you sent to Ed and Edna contained one message, but you've though of it for so long that you could remember it from memory...

Mr. and Mrs. Walker, I have now turned eighteen, and have the right to take custody of Jay. If there's ever trouble, you may contact me, and I'll take full responsibility. But please, take care of Jay as long as you can, I don't want him to have to part with his parents anytime soon.

Signed, (y/n) Gordon.

You sighed and walked into the kitchen. You swiped a remote controller from the kitchen table and turned a small tv in the corner of the room on and took a glass of water for yourself. You sat down and pulled out a notebook before starting scribble down x marks on your to-do list. You weren't paying much attention to the tv, you kept it on as just some background noise, but something in the broadcast seemed different.

"Where are the ninja? This reporter has the answer." Nope, just the usual. You thought to yourself as you took a sip of water.

"They're calling it the Crime Wave of the Century." Oh, a bigger crime this time. Well, more fame for the ninja.

"Earlier today, Green Ninja Lloyd Garmadon was caught on tape robbing the city bank." Like lightning, you shot up from your seat, knocking over your glass of water in the process as your gaze shot up to the tv screen. Even if you could hardly believe your eyes, the screen definetely showed Lloyd right in the act.

"And that's not all. At Mega Monster amusement park, Zane was on a rampage of vandalism and mayhem." After a pause to listen to the absurd accusations of the tv, your rushed to grab a towek and quickly wiped the water off the table and floor to which the water had fallen, before sprinting away to fins your phone

"I am ashamed I ever wore their underwear. Oh, uh, I mean, T-shirts." You could hear the broadcast all the way to the living room, where you noticed your phone on the sofa, before quickly grabbing it and running back to the kitchen. Scrolling through your contacts at a rapid pace, you stopped at the name of your father and quickly pressed 'call'.

The phone rang a few times, before the line opened and the hassle of what could have been a movie set, or a party for famous people, or anything else in fact, sounded in the background.

"Cliff Gordon." A voice said from the other line.

"Dad! Look at the tv, quick!"

"Dad? Last time I remember, I was just Cliff Gordon to you. And there are no televisions here, so I can't."

"Ugh, yeah yeah let's talk about that later, but Jay's a fugitive!"

"Okay, slow down. What?"

"The ninja apparently started suddenly committing crimes all around Ninjago, and are now wanted criminals!"

"...Let's talk about this when I get home, okay?"

"Come on! Jay is falsely being accused-"

"We'll talk. At. Home." Beep, beep, beep... The line got cut. Your blood boiled, and you just stuffed your phone into your pocket before sitting back on the kitchen table, and intently listening to the rest of the broadcast.

The next day, the day was full of warning the city that the ninja were on the loose.  Even as the night had passed, your father got no word from the Walkers about Jay, they hadn't even seen the broadcast, appareantly..

"I'll go get him a lawyer." Cliff Gordon sighed before pulling on a jacket. You were basically biting your fingers off as you anxiously watched the news. Cliff Gordon slipped out the door, but not before calling to you.

"It's not worth stressing over, go train or something. Just try to clear your mind of it." Then he left. You knew he was right, and in the end, you walked up to your practicing room and put on some music to practice to, but kept it quiet enough to hear the radio you had turned on. An hour, two hours, you didn't really care how much time had passed, when suddenly:

"The ninja have successfully been caught! They have been sent to Kryptarium prison, the best prison in Ninjago, and are there to stay." You almost let out a sigh as you turned the music off along with the radio, and dragged yourself out to your room, and plopped yourself onto your bed. And next morning was hell, again. Your father was nowhere to be seen, so you sent him a text,

Got Jay a lawyer yet?

Nope. I'll come back home once I do.

It's good you finally decided to take responsibility.

...

Do you hate me that much?

No. I just really like my brother.

Unlike someone I know.

I'll be back by Sunday.

You didn't send him an answer, and instead went on about your day as normal. Now that the ninja had been caught, the tv went back to normal, and all word of the ninja disappeared into thin air like nothing had ever happened.

Until they broke out. Suddenly all the channels on tv were exploding with people looking for the Ninja again. And not even much to your surprise, your father gave up on getting a lawyer, and hurried back to work. There was nothing worth discussing about with him anymore. The two of you were never on the best terms, but now even the one moment you finally agreed on something together was gone.

 "I wish I wasn't born in a junkyard. I wish I wasn't poor anymore and could give Nya everything she wants."

"Your wish is yours to keep."

Suddenly your phone rang. You were expecting it to be your manager, for you had been slacking off group practice for personal reasons you knew damn well of. He could have been angry, for Starstruck's schedule could have gotten messed up, or perhaps you had just missed a deadline on something small, and he would only scold you a little. 

"(y/n) Gordon." You said, when a voice you weren't quite sure you recognised spoke from the other end of the call.

"This is Max from the police, we're sorry to inform you, but..." His tone was careful, as if he was afraid to tell whatever he had to tell.

"Your father was involved in an accident, he passed away in the ambulance." Your phone fell onto the floor. There was no way. You dropped down onto the floor, and buried your face in your hands.

[dinkbear]

my honest review/analysis kinda of the new camp camp special (MEGA SPOILERS!)

okay i’ll start this out by saying i really liked it! when i watched it at first, i wasn’t crazy about it, then i rewatched (almost) the entire series and it gave me a new perspective. i didn’t realize how much of the series i had forgotten about considering i haven’t watched it in 2+ years. so i got to see the characters develop all over again.

i thought the story was very much something kids would go through and i thought their reactions and behavior was very believable. but, throughout the entire thing, i felt like some of the dialogue was very forced and some of it kinda fan-servicey?? like the “somebody fucking has to” throwback felt forced to me, but that brings me to another point. i think the new voice actors are pretty good, max sounds practically the exactly the same (which is good because i thought his old voice was perfect for his character) but his new VA definitely needs to find his spunk, which is completely fair, i’m an actor i know how long it can take to completely get into character. but i think that made some of the dialogue from him feel forced. and not just him, some of the characters who’s VAs didn’t change still had some dialogue that felt forced. and i get why they did it but it was like a drastic change from regular goofy david in the first half to soft and sentimental david in the second where he had his serious, soft voice on the entire time. 

i really liked how they had the two stories/fakeout ending thing! the only thing is i wish we would’ve had more time to expand on max’s emotions to the camp closing. i really liked seeing his facial expressions and how he reverted back to his yelling and snapping because he was upset. granted i understand why they couldn’t- they only had 30 minutes not 1 hour+. but i did something i don’t normally do and i watched the credits and listened to the song at the end:

“I hope this letter finds you well. Thought this shit was over, but I didn’t hear no bell. Put my life in every sentence written like it’s jail. The summer’s done, but I got hella stories I could tell. The doctor telling me my flow is sick at every check-up. Rap is my profession cause I went viral on Meta. Whipped the GTR like I’m piloting a Mecca. They talk behind my back, but it’s okay I keep my head up. I don’t give it weight unless they tell it to my face. I’m flashy like I’m in the mob, but I don’t stay in place. I cannot be phased ‘Campe Diem’ everyday. The memories we making they stay with us to the grave. I’m just being honest, every moment has to cease. Oh, this opportunity, the money, rest in peace. I write all these songs because he believe in me, so when the Winter comes I’m gonna still release the heat. (Richie, I said a lot of goodbyes, I said a lot of ‘so longs’).” and then it cuts to someone turning on a lamp on their desk to reveal this

and then it fades out with nothing else

given the lyrics to the song and this ending bit, i don’t know who’s speaking or who’s desk we’re at- max’s or gwen’s. now for the song i think it could be both, i think it could be two different letters written to david- lines like “Put my life in every sentence written like it’s jail,” “Rap is my profession cause I went viral on Meta,” and “Oh, this opportunity, the money, rest in peace” screams that its gwen to me, but then there’s lines like “The summer’s done, but I got hella stories I could tell,” “They talk behind my back, but it’s okay I keep my head up. I don’t give it weight unless they tell it to my face,” “I’m flashy like I’m in the mob, but I don’t stay in place,” and “I write all these songs because he believe in me.” which lead me to believe it’s max speaking. (KEEP IN MIND I HAVE NEVER LISTENED TO THE CREDITS SONGS BEFORE SO FOR ALL I KNOW THEY COULD MEAN NOTHING) so, i think it’s david reading two letters, one from max and one from gwen. to me thats the most logical explanation. now for the desk, i think its max’s. its not david because the walls are blue while in the counselor’s cabin they’re wood. and, max is the one who took the picture. granted, maybe he gave the picture to gwen, but seeing as max wears a blue hoodie, that might be his favorite color so his walls are blue too. i think this is max reminiscing over camp. and i think that’s how the new season is gonna start, with max reminiscing at home.

honestly, i have no clue what the next season will be, this special was set up like it was a finale with all the kids going home. but im very excited! 

all in all, i really liked the special and i’m excited for new episodes in 2024! but the special didn’t have jasper in it so 0/10

[arriansarchive]

Millard Nullings/Symbiote!Venom!Male!Reader Headcanons

More symbiote reader/mphfpc yes yes

LISTEN I KNOW I NEED TO BE GETTING REQUESTS DONE BUT IT CAN WAIT A LITTLE LONGER OKAY????

My first Millard thing because I forget about him a lot and wanted to get something out about him before I forget

Also I'll say it again sorry if Venom isn't very Venom or his lines are a little awkward because I'm just now rewatching the movie and I still don't have his personality down yet

I'm pretty proud of this so

Headcanon prompt(s): You can see Millard for some reason, and some randoms too

The first time you walked into the home and saw Millard you just thought he was a nudist

You were still confused about how the Peculiar thing worked so you just let it pass off as normal for a while because you thought it was just his peculiarity

I mean who would think having a symbiote would be more normal than being naked???

Certainly not you

One day you just let it fly at the table after he talks about being invisible that you can see him

"Wait, you're invisible?"

"Of course I am, M/N. You cannot see me."

"Oh, well I just thought you were a nudist for a while."

"Why did you never mention this? I've been walking around naked for birds sake!"

After this encounter he immediately started to put clothes on all the time

Before this though Venom has for sure laughed at him in your head

"That boy is naked, M/N. Is this house full of nudists?"

"No, I think it's just him. Maybe he gets hot around the house since nobody else seems to mind."

"I find it quite amusing."

After you and him get over the fact that you saw him naked around the house casually, you actually become pretty close

Once he sees Venom though (let's just say Venom hid out for a while and everyone was confused about ur peculiarity) he was mega intrigued

Venom took a liking to him over time but at the start of their unlikely friendship Venom thought Millard was annoying

Millard was excited to see a real life symbiote as he had read about them in one of the many peculiar history books he has

Millard basically asked every single question in the book

"So what is the parasite-symbiote's name?"

"Can't you just ask me yourself, nudist? You better apologize as well; I am no parasite!"

"Well, you grew into M/N's body as an alien entity, so by peculiar standards you are considered a parasite and a symbiote."

If you like maps then you (not Venom he doesn't give a shit about maps) work on them with him and look at all the maps he's collected

If you don't then you and Venom just watch with Venoms head sticking over your shoulder

Ending notes: Okay i quite like these headcanons so I might make a part 2

[ofmermaidstories]

1. Not really....? It's hard to figure out my actual thoughts on it but I guess, Self-inserting for me feels like it's designed for one person in mind (whoever is being inserted) when x reader can be anyone? And from what I've seen, the content is a bit different.

2. Probably? Definitely. But will I be the person criticizing it? No... I'm not really the type to be vocal about my grievances outside of the occasional personal aside. I usually just don't trust what I have to say is constructive. But I do love hearing what other people have to say.

3. Everything

Jkjk, um.... I'd say my motivation and writing style? (That doesn't fall under everything, right?) I just don't write very effectively. Like- I have a story in my head, but actually putting it down in writing, I kinda just wing it? Like write as I go. Which is fun for developing character lore, or short stories. It leads to a lot of stop and go with longer works, and the problem with that is that it looks clunky! If I'm an a completely different state of my mind than I was when I started a piece the words I put down don't really flow well with what came before. So I have to read and reread what's already been written and play mediator by finding a way to transition from one feeling to the next.

I mostly write for friends or for fun, though, so it's forgivable.

the content being different for self-inserting vs x reader is such an important distinction!! like. also in how you engage with it, too? like—i’m always interested in self-shippy stuff from a, best friend at brunch kinda way, you know? like “YESSSS tell me more, omg, you guys are sooo cute together 🥹” whereas if someone is like, bits&pieceing about an idea for a x reader setup, i’m engaging with it as a reader, like, oh, i am interested in whatever this this piece or fic is trying to lure us in with.

i keep running into i guess… fan-only spaces, for varying Big Fics? and they’re always so interesting to scroll through, because it’s just either people gushing about Said Fic, or like, recommending similar ones, OR it’s someone starting a conversation (a tiktok is the example i’m thinking of) being like, “deku wouldn’t wear fishnets” and then like, everyone who’s had similar grievances just like, jumping in LOL. none of it—the universal loving and the dismissal—is like.. in any way truly critical? it’s just people who’ve found each other agreeing over varying things. true constructive criticism (at least in fanfics) is hard… because you do have to seperate yourself from, “is this just not for me” vs. “i see and understand where this story is trying to land, but i don’t think it makes it” and even then you kinda have to… justify it, you know? like, is it not landing because it’s missed the mark, or do you just wish it did something different? and what i like about fanfic is that we (ideally) afford each other the—generosity of forgiving things, LOL. and i guesssss my original question is more… does becoming a mega, fandom-defining fic mean the fic then loses the privilege of that generosity? i think it must create a distance between it and the fandom it’s from, in a way… it sort of takes on the same… almost for-granted quality we might have with a published book? are we removing ourselves from it, by holding it up? HMMM. questions questions ig LOL.

with no. 3—flow is hard!!! 🥺 do you have any like, rituals or anything to get yourself back into the mindset you had, before picking up the piece again? if i leave off in the middle of a scene or whatever that needs to stick to a specific mood i listen to my playlist for the fic, or whatever. 🥹 it kinda helps to limber everything back up again. but—i mean!!! as long as you have fun with it, in the end. 🥺 the process of writing takes up so much time… we need to enjoy it, in some small way. especially if the end result is for friends and fun. 🥹

[the-words-we-sung]

The songs of Young Royals - S2 E1

Here we go for season 2!! More songs so hopefully even more interesting stuff to analyze ^^

Brainfreeze, XVOTO

When I die ... All the voices in my head Tell them how it went and tell them not to miss me much ... Live forever ... Is it God that you see?

The song starts when Wilhelm is in Erik's room, while he burns the picture of his brother and August. It's fitting that the lyrics are partly about death, about telling people not to miss the dead person. Wilhelm misses Erik so much though. This is a good choice for a season that is going to be a lot about grieving. And the "Is it God that you see?" when we get to August sending messages to Wilhelm asking him to forgive him: yeah, will there be a redemption for you?

Aldrig igen, Omar Rudberg (Cherrie & Stormzy)

Being alone, I'm the strongest It's never happening again ... Because I don't wanna feel like this I don't wanna feel like this I don't wanna feel like this Who would wanna feel like this ... It won't happen again

So I discovered during this analysis that it is not a little snippet of a song that Simon created but the cover of an actual Swedish song ^^ He sings it while Marcus is listening in his back. The song reflects completely what Simon is feeling: the break up happened just before the Christmas break, so not that long ago, and he's still feeling so heartbroken. But he doesn't want to keep feeling that way, he doesn't want this painful situation to happen again (seems fateful that it is when Marcus enters the picture: Simon says it there, he will not fall in love and get his heart broken again, so too bad for you Marcus, but you will not get a love story here! Simon will say it himself later on in the season "why can't I fall in love with him?"). The entire song is actually super interesting lyrics-wise because it's about getting over a break up, feeling betrayed by someone who lied, and deciding that you actually deserve better. "Please stop stressing me, I need to breathe... First you wanna leave, now you wanna stay?": it's really about an ex who doesn't know what he wants and keeps changing his mind, changing the rules. Which is what Wilhelm is kinda doing (saying it's not him in the video to the world but then coming to Simon to ask to keep things going, and the the whole beginning of this season where he's gonna try to get Simon's back even though his situation hasn't changed). So yeah these 2 first songs of the season are really fitting to both characters and a very good idea of what the season is gonna be about : angry and grieving Wilhelm vs heartbroken, betrayed (but trying to find his boundaries) Simon

Bang, Cat Clark & Mega

We ain't never stepping down ... I'ma run laps round all you rats

Pretty fitting for Sara finally entering the privileged life of Hillerska. With all these students from rich family who will never "step down", who will keep the status quo, keep looking down on people who are not from their world.

Ripe, Flavia

No need to go to work unless I'm working on your body Hold you up, lay you down, staying up 'til the morning Working hard in the sheets, we could stay here for a week No need to go to work 'less I'm working on your body

A song with very suggestive lyrics, which less very little to the imagination about what the students are gonna get up to at this party ^^' "Ripe for the picking even when I'm not in season": can we also talk about Sara getting her initiation and being thrown into this classist privileged Hillerska life while still being an outsider? There lyrics feel like some kind of metaphor for her wanting so badly to be integrated, to feel ready for that. Or to think she's ready for that, while the reality might not be the same.

Love isn't love, Carola

Stranger, you came into my life Touched me with sweet sensation ... And stranger, you cut me like a knife ... It isn't right It isn't real at all It's just illusion A dream that will tumble and fall

The infamous karaoke "date". I like that the first sentences are sung by Marcus, because yes he got immediately interested in Simon after meeting him. But then he passes the mic to Simon who has to sing "cut me like a knife" and, he doesn't know it yet, but Marcus is quite toxic in the end. He is not gonna treat him well at all, not gonna respect him and his boundaries. Their "relationship" is not gonna help him or heal him at all, it's just gonna hurt him. And we cannot ignore the very (NOT) subtle lyrics when Wilhelm watches the Insta story of them singing: "it's not real". Because it's not. It's not a date. It's not love. It's nothing. And yeah, he's gonna be under the "illusion" of them being together and happy, but it's nothing more than that, an illusion. (And special mention to Wilhelm going feral and threatening the whole monarchy because his ex-boyfriend is on a date: Wilhelm baby, I love you so much!)

Seize the power, Yonaka

Woke up this morning I feel so fucking important I look in the mirror I'm different I finally made a decision ... They hurt you and make you feel helpless They're not brave like you They're too scared to do Anything that's different Anything that's new I don't need lessons I do what I want it's refreshing ... Hey there how you've been? I'm the voice in your head And I know you've been aching When you find me let me in I got power in my hands and it's yours for the taking

So this song is for the end credits of the episode but it's an amazing one and so important! We just saw Wilhelm yell at his mother and threaten the Courts because he doesn't want to be Crown Prince, doesn't want the responsibilities, doesn't want to be a puppet to them, doesn't want to sacrifice Simon and their relationship. And the first lyrics feel fitting: he's mad (and the lights in this bedroom are red and twisty: what better image to represent the rage coiling inside of him at this moment?), he "woke up" after being faced with the reality of the consequences of his lying about the sex tape. With the reality that Simon is on a date with someone else. And gosh yeah, these people, your own mother, they hurt you so badly and made you feel helpless. Making you follow their orders with not agency of your own. But you're gonna be so brave, and different, and strong! I love the chorus "I'm the voice in your head" because he's angry and screaming and threatening but nothing is very effective in the end (we'll see that next episode). He doesn't seem to have power yet. But if he listens to the little voice inside, if he takes the time to do that (and he will! Thanks to Boris for helping him doing some introspection and realizing things), he will realize that the power is here, deep inside him. That the strenght to do what's right for him, for Simon, well he has it. He just needs to close his eyes, reach inside and "take it"

The songs of Young Royals - part 1 The songs of Young Royals - part 2 The songs of Young Royals - part 3 The songs of Young Royals - part 4

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls 2/16, There’s The Rub, The Part Where Paris and Rory Are SuperMegaGay And All Is Right With The World Again, Part 6

Paris just saved Rory's hide from the wrath of Dean (okay, she still got plenty of wrath from Dean, unfortunately, but it could have been a lot worse) and this is why Paris is my favorite Boyfriend, not Jess.

You can read parts 1-5 and all previous episodes here.

Omg, my cynical, cold, black heart can't take this tenderness. I love them so much. Long live PariMore! (finally thought of a ship name! woot!)

One of the most serious crimes commited by one miss AmyShermanPalladino in writing a Year in the Life is not taking advantage of the freedom of Netflix and the much more progressive year of 2016 by having Paris get a divorce at the same time that Rory is lost and adrift in her life and finally put these two idiots together. But no. They still didn't find each other and live happily ever after and Rory is still shacking up with Logan even when it's clear that neither Paris or Rory actually like men.

By golly. This is 2002, they said. It can't be done, they said. And yet, PariMore proved us wrong. They went super duper ultra mega gay. Netflix and Chill gay. Slumber party gay. Super Gay Fanfiction!

"Sort of."

Staaaaaaaaahpppppp!! 😭 We interrupt Super Duper Gay Lesbian Slumber Party and cut to Lorelai and Emily having a night on the town after their spa day. They meet a handsome older gentleman at the bar who offers a dance to Emily. In a shocking turn of events that further proves this episode comes from some alternate dimension where all is right with the world with the exception of Dean Forrester, Lorleai happily becomes her mother's wingwoman after some small initial resistance. Are you ok, Lorelai? Do you feel feverish? You haven't nagged, cockblocked, offered unsolicited advice, or butted into anyone's business in like, a whole 30 minutes. This episode has such great Lorelai and Emily banter, like Emily telling Lorelai "You let me get 60/40'd" and "Hookers eat at bars." "Only if they can't get a table." Terrific! But the handsome gentleman gets a little too close, Emily feels guilty about dancing with him and that puts the kibosh on that and Emily blames Lorelai for making her feel like a cheap floozy. Geez Lorelai, I guess you can't win. You're insufferable when you're being a cockblocking menace to society, but then when you actually do relax a little bit and alllow people do as they please, you get the business. Emily wonders why she can't have what Rory and Lorelai have and I don't know if a deeply fucked up mother daughter relationship forged from a teen pregnancy where the 34 year old mother is still about 15 maturity wise is something you want to aspire to. Rory reading the check in forms at her therapist's office 5 years from now: Form: "Reason for appointment?" Rory: "Hmmm..." Lorelai to Emily at the hotel: Rory and I are best friends, Mom. Best friends first, and mother and daughter second! (Rory in her therapist's office: "Ah. There it is.")

There are so many times Lorelai is this - close to having a breakthrough, where she exhibits a fleeting moment of self awareness then poof, it is gone. She didn't pause to think about the implications behind admitting "I'm my daughter's friend before her mother." She will never learn or grow or change. Oh well, that's our Lorelai!

Listen, stop the feuding, you both get a trophy for Sucking At Parenting. Is there any hope for Rory's spawn to break this generational curse? It would be interesting if Rory's future child turned out to be a boy, because like, I have to wonder what creative and different ways she could manage to fuck up a son? (as with everything I'm sure this exists as a work of fanfiction somewhere). Lorelai thinks spending a whole weekend with her mother was too intense and they should have started with something smaller to patch their relationship and grow closer. What is her idea? No, not therapy. Petty theft. They steal the robes from their hotel room. Yay, mother and daughter bonding and not healing any trauma whatsoever!

No, never. Only if it's a box of cornstarch, a boat, or another woman's husband. Emily enjoys the robe stealing caper, some sarcastic quips are exchanged, and the desperate, aching, deep seated emotional trauma being suffered by both parties is once again shoved down deep deep inside to fester like an infected wound.

She's totally fine you guys. We cut to Rory and Lorelai at the diner the next day where Rory is giving Lorelai the run down of the previous events, presumably minus the super duper mega gay sexual tension between herself and Paris. Lorelai remarks that Paris looked nauseous and tired when she woke up in the morning, which Rory attributes to a sugar overload, but we know better. We know how dehydrating all-night Blockbuster & Chill lesbian makeout slumber parties can be.

Oh right, Rory committed the felony of spending one evening with someone other than Dean so now she "owes" him her time. She is talking about it with a level of excitement in her voice akin to someone who was just asked to scrub a toilet. Of course, there could not be a mention of Dean without a deeply troubling response from Lorelai. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. Surely it will be something like, “Aw honey, he just yelled at you because he loves you” or something.

Eh, close enough.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! It gets worse! There's only a minute left in the episode! How does she do it, folks? She is truly breathtaking. Before we get there, let's enjoy some Literati bliss. Rory is catching on that the whole Food Delivery thing may have been a ruse from Jess to get all up in her bizzzness and almost pries the truth out of Luke, but Jess diverts Luke away from the scene. Jess and Rory then enjoy an incredibly rare, blissful moment together, free of interruptions, alone at the counter. Or so they think.

Sorry I almost called you a naive woodland fairy when I thought you still didn't get that Luke never actually told Jess to bring to food your house and USA here cooked up the whole scheme on his own. It's clearly Jess who's the naive one if he thinks you're actually going to pay for your food! Ha ha!

WAAAAATTT???!!! #AlternateDimensionEpisode #EpisodeFromOuterSpace #TheOneWhereTheGilmoresPayForTheirFood #IsAmyShermanPalladinoOK?

SOMEONE (two someones) are not happy about this budding, adorable relationship, one so stinking cute that you'd have to be sick to try to destroy it. Like someone who would try to stop a bunny and a puppy from cuddling. Gee, wonder who I'm talking about?

Just normal Butthead Business, staring into windows while people are trying to eat. We already know from prior Window-Peeping episodes this doesn't bother Lorelai in the least. Lorelai smiles sweetly at her ShnookyUkkums Dean as if 30 seconds ago she wasn't hearing a story from her daughter about his anger issues for the 400th time. He's also talking in his usual miserable serial killer monotone about "Spending the day with Rory" like he'd rather be sticking his arm into heavy machinery than spend time with her, and again I have to wonder why he is even bothering with her, other than the fact that she's an easy victim and that no other humanoid woman besides Lorelai would ever give this soggy cornflake the time of the day. L: Rory told me everything that happened last night. She feels terrible about it. You shouldn't feel bad. It was a "Freaky unfortunate thing that happens." She continues in her soft, flirty, gentle Talking to Dean voice, "It had nothing to do with Jess coming over, trust me, she did not want him there!" Um. Again, a very weird thing to say about Some Kid to the guy your daughter is dating? Thanks to one of my followers who pointed out that Rory never said this on camera which means Lorelai has now resorted to flat out lying to Dean in order to sabotage her daughter's friendship (and it's still only a friendship) with Jess.

Look alive Butthead. She's salivating. I think she's about to start humping your leg right there in front of Luke's Diner. Don't make me turn the garden hose on you Lorelai. Dean isn't listening or aware he's about to be humped. He's distracted. There's something he's incredibly concerned about. Rory and Jess....they're talking. To each other. In public. Now, Gilmore Girls knows how to do creepy. We've got plenty of stories of people stalking, eavesdropping, hiding in bushes, leaving excessive amounts of messages, Dean existing, yada yada. But this is easily one of the creepiest things to ever happen on this show. It seriously gives me the chilly willies. The eeby jeebies. The eepy creepies. They look like two villains who have joined evil forces to devestate....Lorelai's own freaking daughter.

Picture ID: Lorelai and Dean watching Rory and Jess have an innocent conversation creepily through a window, cementing their status as the villains in this wholesome drama known as Gilmore Girls. *deep shudder*

[iantimony]

this tuesdaypost was drafted on monday, please clap

we are cookin with Gas this week

listening: listened to antimai a few times through, favorite track i think is 'ring 5: middle class'. dorian electra - man to man: really fun video too charasho (benny friedman): was linked in jew chat. very charming and funky. 5 Old French Dances: No. 5. Le Basque (arr. for 2 recorders and harpsichord): i heard this a billion year ago on the radio (my wakeup radio station on my alarm clock is classical) and i finally got around to saving a link for it. very bouncy very cute. makes me think of rabbits running in circles a la beatrix potter.

EDIT TO ADD: i also finally listened to beyonce 'cowboy carter'!! i know im late! it's good i like it! not a revolutionary opinion! obsessed with her jolene cover! that's all!

reading: big one this week! i FINISHED 'the left hand of darkness'! i really liked it! still marinating on the themes etc. i started 'the dispossessed', also by le guin, and am devouring that as well. there's some stuff in there that oof ough. existential. but i'm liking it so far, i'm around chapter 5 right now. physicists!

fanfic: imposter syndrome (mikkeneko): i might have already linked it but i can't be assed to go back through a few weeks of tuesdaypost to see if i already have. so if i did, here it is again. really charming premise, gut-punch of an ending, cool twist on the doppelganger setup from dungeon meshi with svsss.

the articles, some of which were actually read a while ago but i forgot to link and am now cleaning out my phone tabs: how will the golden age of 'making it worse' end? (david roth) new canada policy lets indigenous people reclaim their names (emma bowman) what happens to the stay-at-home girlfriend after a breakup? (erika w smith) unschooling is the parenting trend that's pissing everyone off (ej dickson) in defense of 'coffee badging' (monica torres): if i had a job that was all zoom calls i would literally go insane over being made to go into an office to take zoom calls. fuck that what my mother's wardrobe taught me about style and grief after she died: thinking a lot about all my dad's shit will semen destroy your shower drain? granny davis' geocaching page: found when i was looking at some reviews for caches near my apartment. im kind of obsessed with her. she also has a facebook page called 'granny's geo page' if you don't have a geocaching account. literally she is everything to me. she has found So Many fucking geocaches good god. wedding trivia questions: used as reference to create some wedding trivia for a bridal shower! similarly, the wikipedia page for morganatic marriages my fight with a sidewalk robot (emily ackerman): my school has these. hate them. my boyfriend just linked this to me and im obsessed, laser etched paperweights, i am not a huge paperweight girlie but wowwww prettyyyyy. the electron orbitals!!!! i had a search open for "anti mega #1 cray street". i have no idea what this is.

special edition: the link dump from my trip to the uk last month! some very related to the trip itself, a few random extras! top of the poops, an architectural firm bc i saw a sign with their logo and thought it was cool but now i can't find their logo, waring ader space invaders because i saw someone's shirt with the little space invader guys and was like ooh the tate museum joel meyerowitz (and another page about him) wikipedia on gratin dauphinois, wikipedia page on doncaster for some reason i did not go there list of artworks at the national portrait gallery of scotland wikipedia page on the jacobite uprising of 1745 washi tape that would match the edinburgh one i bought there, tintin in the land of the soviets postcard that i didnt end up getting wikipedia for a quaich which is a traditional scottish bowl, a wiki page on the geology of arthur's seat, a book in the scottish national galleries that i thought about purchasing but didn't want to try and fit in my luggage (she is definitely one of my new favorite artists though) wikipedia page on lauryn hill for some reason not sure how i got there, wikipedia page on salome halpir this post was on tumblr and i tried to find the item in the victoria and albert museum but it was sadly not on display, one of the audio guides i listened to a bit of in the v & a, a scarf i almost bought in the v & a a google search for the fabric library at harrods because my mom mentioned that it existed but i could not find it search for blinq (apparently spelled that way) blossoms because of a cocktail my brother's friend ordered that had one as a garnish wikipedia page on the mechanical explanations of gravitation

watching: from wool to cloth using a historical weaving technique (jillian eve): oughhh colors

emma in the moment/made in the moment: a deep dive into the chunky boy crochet lore the crochet stardew valley pillow drama untangling the shocking tale of mystical creations yarn i tried red heart's new all in one granny square yarn

some crochet tips videos from play hooky with me

tiffanyferg: 'personal style' discourse hgtv is a gentrification masterclass cleantok villains and the morality of messiness

playing: a teeny bit of wizard101

making: fallow. well i guess i drew on some cards for my friend's bridal shower. but generally fallow.

eating: made deb smittenkitchen's delicious carrot cake recipe. mine was a little ugly but really really delicious. i bought a bag of preshredded carrots and just sort of roughly chopped em up a little smaller because i couldn't be assed to grate them. i also couldn't be assed to trim the cakes, i did two smaller round pans and stacked them up but because i didn't trim them they were a little wibbly. oh well.

i'm going to bake another cake for my brother's birthday next weekend and i'm between her chocolate olive oil cake (looks really easy) and bittersweet chocolate and pear cake (a little more involved but highly recommended by bee)

misc: my mom wanted to take a sailing class but didn't want to do it alone so she offered to pay for me to come. sure, said i! i have never sailed! i like learning new skills! reader, it is So Fucking Hot Outside. the wind died and we had to get towed back to shore. the sun was so strong. there are so many ropes with all different names and they all Do Something. sunday's class got cancelled/rescheduled because the weather was That Bad (hot as fuck and no wind) so we're doing it probably friday instead (and saturday. and sunday. it's two weekends in a row of both days at 9am yayyyyy) but i just hope the weather is. better.