#IBOS VIBES

[jaybuilds]

I'd like to know your opinion about what exactly one needs to add to a model to give it a Trans am system? Like if I wanted to put it into something from the WFM line and combine it with the Gund Format, how much do you think I would need to modify the model itself?

Considered I’ve dabbled in this sort of integration at times, I’ll just give my general thoughts on it and hopefully you can understand a little better. So let’s begin, shall we?

My earlier projects straight-up just attached GN Drives to the back, and left it as-is. While this certainly has more of a Build-universe vibe to it, and it’s not too out of line from what you can see in 00 with Graham’s Flag that just hastily taped one to his machine as well. It doesn’t look elegant because it lacks what really makes the 00 aesthetic.

For latter works of mine, I felt the need to make these look more authentic; these feature round sphere-like bits on joints/the chest/etc, in a manner similar to that of the Exia itself. The purpose of these is that it alludes to how a proper GN machine would have regulators throughout its body to have a more faithful implementation of such a thing, and actually look more in-line with the 00 universe itself.

But then there’s my Exia Repair….

This frankenstein monstrosity was meant to be as unapologetically defiant to this design as I could think of, while still keeping a mental note that it would have to look functional. It’s got the Drive, it’s got the regulators, but the difference here is that I decided to play around with the aesthetics of IBO as well, which is why all the exposed bits on it look like they have the same sort of energy running through them, that’s also coming from the GN tech.

With all of that said, and if you want a better answer, I have to respond with a follow up question myself: Do you intend to combine Trans-AM with Permit Scores? Or is this merely just including it as its own/secondary power source? Because the system itself has its own sort of interactions to keep you scratching your head over.

[faintingheroine]

Okay we all know that Nigar/Ibrahim isn’t exactly a Disney romance (meanwhile Hatice/Ibrahim is 100 percent Jasmine/Aladdin) but if I ABSOLUTELY FORCED you to choose, which Disney princess romance are they most alike?

Thanks to @desmoonl for giving me inspiration for Cursed content. (This content is almost as cursed as Nigar).

[jsprnt]

Healing Hearts PT.4 | Virgil van Dijk

Would a fresh start bring you more than just a new job?

T/W: mention of blood, harassment.

WC: 3.368

Summary: Y/N L/N is a very skilled and praised physiotherapist. A certain event pushing her for a fresh start, as a physiotherapist for Liverpool FC. One question always being in the back of her mind: Will she be able to let go of her past and allow herself to experience new things?

I get out of my car, taking my heavy bag with me as I park in the Anfield Stadium garage. I turn around and see the players and staff get out of the team bus. I take a deep breath, exhaling slowly. It was practically my first game day at Liverpool. Making me slightly nervous at the thought.

I walk inside, as all the players have gone in. The speakers were loudly blasting music. I look around curiously before I get called by Dr. Davis. I glance at him, seeing him standing next to the locker room.

"You arrived smoothly I hope?" He questions.

"Oh yeah it was easy!" I laugh. 

"Alright, let me show you around quickly."

He guides me through the place, showing me the most important room: the medical room. 

We enter the room, it consists of two treatment beds, a sink with multiple built in cabinets, and not to forget a huge flat screen TV to watch the match on. I check the cabinets, reaching for the ones above my head. I nod my head satisfied. "Nice place, I'll definitely will be able to help out to my upmost ability." I beam. "Oh we know you will. I've heard a lot about you y/n. You're definitely going to help us out this season and in the future." He compliments. My heart warms at his compliment. We chat some more about the stadium before he checks his watch.

"Oh the guys will start warming up now. Follow me." I follow him out of the room, walking along the famous tunnel onto the pitch.

"Wow, this never gets old." I mumble, admiring the stadium. We walk up to the players, greeting them. They start warming up thoroughly. We watch the players carefully, looking for any signs of injuries. 

As I'm studying the players' movements my eyes catches Virgil's focused eyes. My heart practically leaps into my throat at the look he's giving me. I avert my gaze immediately, looking at a different player, trying act like nothing had happened. I glance back swiftly to see he's not looking anymore. I breathe out a sigh of relief before, Dr. Woods starts talking to me about something I half listened to.

We all walk back some minutes later so the other team can warm up. We walk through the tunnel as I hear Klopp greeting Bournemouths manager Iraola. I raise my head to watch. The guys walking slower to witness the interaction. They're so damn nosy, can't blame them though.

I'm minding my business talking to Ibo about his warm up before I hear my name being shouted in a thick Spanish accent. I look up, my eyes widening like a dear in headlights. Iraola is walking towards me with a smile on his face. I glance around me, seeing both staff and the players staring at me, confused.

The manager walks up to me, pulling me into an embrace. Why is this man hugging me like I'm his long lost daughter? My face contours into a confused one, accidentally making eye contact with Virgil again. He doesn't look very happy.

Iraola pulls away, a smile plastered on his lips.

"How have you been? How is Theo doing?" Then it clicked.

I had met him at a dinner when I was Theo's plus one. He had talked my ear off all night, drunkenly explaining multiple strategies on how he'd make sure Barcelona would win the league title again, after learning I worked there. Thankfully, that night had ended with me and Theo arguing, so I went home earlier.

I force a smile on my face replying to him. "I've been doing great. About Theo, we broke up some time ago. I'm sure he's doing fine." I fiddle with my sleeves, the vibe turning awkward.

"Oh- thats shocking you were together for so long. I taught you'd get married." My heart practically breaks at his words, feeling that aching sensation in my chest. My face flushing slightly.

"Well that's life I guess." I reply, trying to hide my pained expression. He places a hand on my shoulder. "You'll be fine. I heard his mother was getting ready to step down and make him chairman. Do you know if that's true?"

I fight the torturing urge to roll my eyes, opting to force a smile. "Oh I'm not sure, good for him though." I reply. I actually would rather see him get eaten alive by a hippo to be fully honest. He pats my shoulder before saying goodbye.

I breathe out a sigh of relief, thanking the heavens he left. I glance around seeing the players have left. Did they hear everything?

I walk into the medical room, sitting on my chair. I check the time. Only half an hour left for kick off.

I think back to the conversation again. I can't help but let tears well up in my eyes. Trying to hold them back from falling, but failing to as I let some tears roll down my cheek. He thought we'd get married? Well fuck he wasn't the only one. I let out quiet sobs, trying to muffle my sadness.

Suddenly, the door flies open. My eyes widen and my breath hitches in my throat. Of course, it had to be Virg. His expression softens, looking at me with wandering eyes. He locks the door, walking up to me as I try to quickly wipe my tears. 

"y/n? What's wrong." I avert my gaze embarrassed, this really had to happen right now? "I'm fine-" he removes my hands from my face. Caressing my hand softly with his thumb, and for the second time today my heart leaps into my throat again.

"Was it Iraola? How do you know him? Did he make you uncomfortable?" He shoots out questions, his expression is irked at the last one. His eyes gaze into my teary, red ones, I can't help but stare back. He breaks the eye contact, grabbing a tissue from the dispenser and handing it to me.

I wipe my tears, trying to assure him I'm fine. "I'm okay, I met him through an ex boyfriend. I promise it's just something personal." He looks at me for a second, before deciding to not probe any further. "Alright then, I'll be here if you need to share something."

Why is he acting like we're close? I mean, I'm just one of the physiotherapists, and we've known each other for- a week? "You should get back to the locker room. Or did you have something you wanted to ask since you came here?"

He shakes his head immediately, his gaze lingering on my face. "You looked sad when you walked away from Iraola, so I thought he did something." He states. 

"Oh- you should get back then." He nods, leaving the room again. I notice my heart pounding like it was going to escape my chest. Trying to distract myself, I start to rummage through the cabinets, looking for anything that could be important.

Half-time break just started, I walk out of the room as I see the guys walk in. They look tired but still manage to give me small smiles. Us physiotherapists continue to ask the players about their condition before they have to get back on the pitch.

The second half has a rocky start as Alexis is given a red card by the referee. My eye widen as I can hear the stadium erupt in protests throughout the walls. The team now having to continue the game with ten men.

Luis also having a slight muscle injury a couple minutes before the end of the game, despite playing amazing the entire game. 

Though, winning doesn't seem very difficult with the saves Ali had been making, the match ending with a 3-1 for Liverpool.

I walk out of the medical room again, walking onto the pitch seeing the guys talk to some other players, thanking them for playing. I walk up to someone familiar, it's Neto. Keeper of Bournemouth, he used to play at Barcelona. He smiles at me, giving me a quick hug as we chat for a bit.

We bid each other goodbye as we retreat back into the locker room. The guys talking about the game. "Dr. y/n? Why do you know everyone?" I flicker my eyes to Andy. A smile on my lips, pretending to think. "Because I worked with them and I'm like able?" I joke, he rolls his eyes before speaking again. "Of course, yeah-"

I change the topic. I look around cheekily, before whispering. "In no way was that a red right?"

He glances at me nodding, but placing finger on his lips as if to not talk right now. I laugh at his mannerisms. The guys walk into the locker rooms, changing and freshening up.

I grab my bag, walking out to the parking garage. Seeing the teams buses still there, as I see the wives and girlfriends of the guys wait in front of their cars. I give them a warm smile, which they return before I start walking towards my car parked all the way in the back. 

I open my trunk placing my heavy bag there before walking back to my drivers door. I'm about to step in until I'm stopped by someone poking at my back. I turn around, my face clad with confusion. It's a older guy dressed in a Bournemouth shirt, how the hell did he get in here?

He glances at my shirt noticing the Liverpool F.C. logo. "Oh so you work for them?" He says in a menacing tone. I don't answer his question. "Sir, you shouldn't be in here. I'm going to ask you to leave before I get security involved." I say sternly, trying to choose my words carefully to not piss him off. He places a hand on my shoulder creepily caressing my throat with is fingertips. "Come on pretty lady, let me get some compensation for losing." My brows raise at his words, glancing for anyone else in the garage. Fuck, why did I park all the way here?

His hands travel to my face as he holds onto my jaw. I freeze in fear, what the hell do I do?

"Come on, let's just have some fun hm." My breath hitches as his hands start to travel down. I'm practically shaking in fear at this point. I do the only thing I can think of: bite. I lunge at his arm, biting it as hard as I can.

The man loudly yells a string of cuss words before raising his hand and planting a harsh slap on my face. His ring cutting my flesh. I flinch as he raises his hand again closing my eyes. I'm waiting for the impact but it never comes, instead hearing some shuffling and multiple cuss words.

I peer out of my closed eyes, being greeted by an insane sight. It's Virgil, holding onto the man while he's practically sitting on him. I can't help but freeze and stare at them. Hearing Virgil cuss at him. "You piece of shit. How dare you get in here let alone harass someone?" He yells for security quickly as the man is hoisted up by them. Virgil explains the situation quickly before he looks towards me.

My body is trembling slightly from shock, hissing as the cut on my cheeks stings. He walks up to me, engulfing me in a tight hug. I can't help but let a few tears fall, sobbing into his chest. This had to be one of my worst days ever.

"You're okay, you're okay." He repeats, the garage is silent apart from the small noises of my sobs. He runs his hands along my back trying to soothe me. Muttering reassuring words.

I pull away after some time. Noticing a bloodstain on his shirt. "Your shirt-" "It's fine, let's get you back home hm?" I nod before he stops me from opening the driver's door.

"You shouldn't be driving in this state. Let me take you home?" I look up at him, his chocolate eyes sweet and laced with concern. I nod once more, handing him my keys before walking towards the passengers seat. He follows me around opening my door for me and putting my seat belt on for me. My face flushes a little at the proximity, though I doubt he could see it as my face was already red from crying.

He motions for me to fill my address into the navigation system. Telling me to duck a little as we pass the crowd around the stadium.

It's almost six, the streets a little calmer as we continue driving to my home. "What did you think of the match? Did you like it? It was better than watching a Barcelona game, right?" He jokes with a smirk on his lips, probably trying to distract me from what just happened. "It was good yeah, though, I'll have to see some more games before I give my opinion on that." I chuckle.

We arrive at my home after thirty minutes of driving, the faint sounds of the radio calming me down. We get out of my car as he offers to take me upstairs, I accept solely, so I can get up safe.

We get to my front door as I rummage through my bag fishing my keys out of it. Opening the door inviting him in for some tea, it's the least I could do after he got me out of that situation. He accepts, I guide him into my living room, telling him to be comfortable.

I go into the kitchen after discarding my bag in my room. Turning on the the kettle. I walk back into my living room, joining him on the couch.

"Your house is nice, I love the view." He says gazing out of my windows. I chuckle, his house is probably ten times the size of mine. "Thank you. I was stressing about the interior but I think it ended up looking great." I beam, lifting my hand to lean my head on it, though I flinch at a painful feeling on my face. Shit, I forgot about the cut on my cheek. I pull my hand away from my face, my hand now covered with dried blood bits.

"Oh you should get that treated before- hold on let me-" He leans forward, placing a hand on my jaw, tilting his head to get a better look at the cut. His hands are a little cold, making the hairs on my body stand up.

"You have a first aid kit right?" I nod, his hand still on my jaw. "It's in the bathroom-" I stand up to walk into the bathroom, realizing he's following me there. We get to the bathroom, I tiptoe to reach the cabinet above my head, snatching it after jumping up slightly. I can hear him chuckle right behind me.

I turn around, his tall frame towering over me. I clear my throat before waving the first aid kit in front of his face. "Got it!"

I place it down on the counter rummaging through it for gauze and antiseptic cream. He stops me, grabbing the gauze out of my hand, his finger tips grazing my palm. "I'll do it- let me-" He gently hoists me up by my waist, placing me on the bathroom counter carefully. I fight the way my jaw almost slacks open due to shock. Looking away immediately. If he was someone else I would've yelled, but I didn't mind whatever this was.

He cleans my cut, carefully applying the gauze and bandage on my face while holding onto my jaw gently. I glance at him, his face close to mine. My eyes travel down his side profile, his eyes are focused on my cheek. His eyelashes flutter against his cheekbones and his soft breaths on my face putting me in a daze. My eyes fluttering shut from relaxation and exhaustion of the day.

"It's done." He says a while later, my tired eye's snapping open again. "Thank you." I mumble my voice tired. He reaches up to remove a strand of hair stuck to the bandage on my cheek, chuckling as he studies my face. "You must be tired. You should go to bed after I leave." I nod, my sight a little blurry as I try to blink away the sleep.

I get off of the counter, leading him into the kitchen. He protests saying I should just go to bed instead of offering him tea. I refuse, he had to at least drink a cup, just, so I could show him my appreciation.

I slide the freshly steeped cup of tea towards him.  Walking around to sit with him at the kitchen counter.

"You're okay right? I'm sure you're still shaken up." He asks softly after taking a sip of his tea. I glance up at him from my cup, a tranquil expression on my face. "I'm fine, it wasn't totally horrible thanks to you." I say. "Still you must've been scared. I'm so sorry on behalf of the club, I mean it was your first game day you should've had an amazing time. I would also advise you to press charges, I mean we have cameras to prove it." He suggests in a soft tone.

"Virg, it's fine, I'm fine. The guy was probably drunk. Let's just forget about it, thats probably for the better." His nickname slips past my lips easily, like I had been using it the entire time. He studies my face for a moment. "Okay I'll drop it if that's what you want." 

A comfortable silence settles between us, as we sip away at our tea. "I should go, it's getting late and I need to rest for tomorrow." He says. I raise a brow, "You're taking a taxi back home?" He nods. I stand up following him out. He gives me a hug, turning around to step out as I wave at him.

I close my door, leaning against it. Sighing as I take in the days events.

I yawn, taking a sip of my coffee, greeting Clara at the front desk with a long hug. "What's up with you? You look like you haven't slept." I pull away from her giving her a look. "Thank you for the compliment." I smile sarcastically, giving her a sickly sweet smile. "Come on, you know what I mean." She insists.

"I just haven't been sleeping properly since that incident happened. I don't know I just feel weird being home alone." I confess. I had told her everything that had happened that day, she literally became my work best friend in two weeks.

I had been totally focused on working the last few days, trying to get my mind off of everything that happened last Saturday. I had a few interactions with Virgil. I couldn't help but feel a little awkward around him after he left my house, something in my heart wanting to keep a distance. I don't feel fully comfortable with getting close to a man right now, not after a horrible break up.

Clara pulls me closer to her for another hug, running her hands up and down my arm comfortingly. "You'll be fine I promise." We share some more words before we're interrupted by the players walking in, giving us weird looks at the way we are hugging.

"You girls dating or something?" We hear someone yell in a Scouser accent. We pull away from our hug, turning to see Curtis and Harvey.

I roll my eyes at his comment deciding to play along. "No, just got married actually." I give him a  sarcastic smile. Curtis and me just had to bicker with each other at least once a day.

I check the time turning back to the guys. "You guys should go, before your bank account is harmed." I tease, referring to the late fines.

They check the time, their eyes widening before they bolt towards the locker room. Clara and me sharing a laugh at their surprise.

[kydoesthings1]

what is the state of religion (specifically christianity) in IBO. the mobile armors and gundams are named after christian angels and the ars goetia (collection of deities from many religions but still mostly christian) so christianity is canon to the PD timeline, and had a strong enough cultural presence in the calamity war era at least for it to be the naming method. but what is its state in PD323? in the side story that takes place in 319, mcgillis says he thanks capital-G God for meeting almiria (not a common expression in japanese as far as i know, and most likely has a religious undertone) and in the rage of dust opening there is a shot of him kissing almiria’s hand in front of stained glass. also ein’s entire sin thing has this whole vibe to it? these two aren’t exactly very christian family values though? i think i had a point to make somewhere in all this but i forgot

[wordsandrobots]

Well. This was very expensive to put together given import costs on seven-year-old add-on kits that have already tripled in price.

And having used the two pieces I actually needed, I must say I have zero regrets. Especially as this was a hell of a lot cheaper than trying to actually get hold of Orga's Shiden (the Riden-Go was a bargain because of a damaged box). Plus I get various mobile workers to be menaced, and I think the black mask fits the vibe better.

That vibe being, of course, so what did happen after the Iron-Blooded Orphans finale?

My eventual hope is, once I am done with fanfic hyperfocus, I will be able to do some Blender modelling with the collection of IBO kits I've built up. The background here is the box for the Kutan @thedancingwalrus-blog got me as an early Christmas present, so I will be able to replicate the state the above mobile suit is in for most of Wishing on Space Hardware.

Anyway, roll +10 emotional harm to anyone who recognises the components to this kitbash and I'm away back to writing.

[toskarin]

Speaking of IBO Season 2, were you the one who said something about Season 2 of mecha anime typically having a heavy fall-off, or is that just conventional wisdom that you may or may not subscribe to?

the latter. I think some people may have interpreted it that way when I made the joke about "IBO is back baby!" at the end of gwitch cour 1, but that was a joke about suletta's vibe there reminding me of mika more than anything

it does hold true pretty often, though. I think it's kind of an issue on two fronts

on one hand s2 often isn't guaranteed for an anime and s1 needs to be written with that in mind, but on the other, the last half of the story is always when writers realise whether they're going too fast or too slow and try to correct their pacing

so it's always bound to be a little messy (regardless of how long an anime ends up) once you hit the halfway marker. and that marker is often s2e1

[soulmusicsongs]

Caribbean Soul Music in 16 tracks

Caribbean Soul is a melting pot of styles. You can hear Calypso, Funk, Reggae, Afro, Soca, Latin, Gospel and Soul. Strutting basslines, funky steel pans and a tropical vibe are the main ingredients for Caribbean Soul.

Arrêté Mal Palé - Fair Nick Stars (Fair-Nick Stars, 1978) - Guadeloupe

Basa Bongo - The Yoruba Singers (Basa Bongo / Black Pepper, 1975) - Guyana

Black People - Rolph Marcial (Black People / Now You've Got It, 1976) - Trinidad & Tobago

Black Man's Cry - Lever Brothers Gay Flamingoes (Secrets Of The Pan, 1973) - Barbados

Blow'Way - Lancelot (Afro'Dadian / Blow'Way, 1971) - Trinidad & Tobago

BRC's Groove - Blue Rhythm Combo (Magumba , 1972) - Barbados

Exuma, The Obeah Man - Exuma (Exuma, 1970) - Barbados

Gimme Some More - The Troubadours Of Barbados (No Balls At All / Gimme Some More, 1973) - Barbados

I'm In A Dancing Mood - King Sporty ‎(Don't Kill The Goose / I'm In A Dancing Mood, 1971) - Jamaica

Instant Groove - The Belles Combo Of Dominica (Instant Groove / Un May Que, 1973) - Dominica

Jerk Vidé - David Martial (Lucie, 1966)

The New Bag - The Exciters (Conozco A Los Dos, 1971) - Panama

Ou Qué De Moin - Monsieur X (Ou Qué Di Moin / Je Demande Qui Je Suis, 1970) - Guadeloupe

Red Light Lady - Ophélia (Ophélia, 1979) - Dominica

Spouge explosion - Aubrey Mann & The Lunar 7 (Here I Am Come And Take Me / Spouge Explosion, 1976) - Barbados

Ti Gaçon - Ibo Combo (Café, 1972) - Haiti

More Soul Soungs

Soul from Panama in 12 tracks

Caribbean Soul: 20 awesome tracks

Jamaicans Got Soul

[bronanlynch]

ship ask meme: IBO ship or five of your choice

hi sorry I know you literally asked this long enough ago that we've started and finished another whole entire gundam show since then but

mika/orga

What made you ship it? I mean I was always compelled by their dynamic from the beginning bc mika is shooting people without hesitation for orga right away but. the moment when I realized how much I shipped it was when mika snaps orga out of his grief from biscuit's death by. picking him up by the collar with one hand and saying that orga needs to pull himself together and tell mika who else to kill. that's romance, to me,

What are your favorite things about the ship? the extremely intense level of mutual trust and devotion and also shared ideology is incredibly compelling to me, is the thing. a gay communist ship for gay communists. constantly thinking abt the bit where mcgillis tries to manipulate mika by implying that he's just going along with what orga is doing instead of doing what he actually wants and mika just completely shuts him down because they Are actually on the same page and they Do want the same things even if mika doesn't usually put his ideology into words the same way. also extremely tasty that for most of the show they're doing an extended gift of the magi thing where mika is turning himself into a weapon for the sake of the new world that orga is trying to build, and orga is trying to build a new world so that mika doesn't have to keep turning himself into a weapon

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? ok. listen. I know that the show did not handle mika's disability particularly well but listen. as a fandom we can and should do better. disabled people can and do have sex, I promise you mika can fuck without being connected to the robot

kudelia/atra

What made you ship it? well you see. sometimes I see a girl blushing and complimenting another girl and I simply think they should kiss (also I went in knowing that they were endgame so. I was primed to read into their interactions)

What are your favorite things about the ship? I like how often they're both like "so we're both in love with mika and also each other" and how they make it clear that they are all in love with each other and want to support and help each other. also I love the stuff (especially in season 1) that was like. kudelia being able to put words to things that she didn't necessarily have firsthand experience with but atra does like. theory gf x praxis gf. kudelia understands the relationship between imperialism and capitalism and atra understands that the first step to getting anything done is to feed people when they are hungry. also their ending is that one poem abt like. the long distance relationship between a city lesbian and a country lesbian (want by joan larkin) and I love that for them. I wish season 2/the fanfiction on ao3 had more abt them leading a revolution together bc I do think both of their perspectives are so important and I want to see them talking abt rhetorical strategies and supply lines while also kissing and making each other soup

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I mean it's femslash I'm sure there's plenty of bad takes out there for me to disagree with. like I have beef with whoever edited the wiki so that atra is listed as kudelia's wife in the family section but not as a love interest. every time either of them express their love for mika they also reaffirm that they love each other in explicitly the same way, it's really not ambiguous

gaelio/mcgillis

What made you ship it? well the vibes were there from the start, even when I was just like "who are these evil bureaucrats" so I always thought they were hooking up. and then we got to the bit where gaelio gets choked out by mika and mcgillis like. strokes his back comfortingly?? and I was like. ah. I see. they are Dating.

What are your favorite things about the ship? I love betrayal <3 I love it when a guy's grand plan involves killing the one person he cares abt and both of them are super normal abt it <3 also I love that gaelio isn't dead and wants revenge and also that ein is involved bc I love mess <3 (edit: I wrote before we finished the show and looking back on this. oof. rip to past me for trying to maintain some sense of detachment and just having fun at the tragic mess. current me is genuinely sad like. I do love the betrayal and that's def in the top 5 things I like abt this ship but the top spot might have to go to that final confrontation they have and specifically the bit where gaelio won't let mcgillis say that he loves him because otherwise gaelio will forgive him because he is still So in love with him and would have done anything for him if mcgillis wasn't um. specifically designed to be a foil for characters whose whole thing is solidarity and reaching out to others, so the point of his character is that he was marginalized and abused in ways that specifically isolated him so that he can't bring himself to trust anyone else and that's his downfall. communism could have saved him and also his relationship with gaelio (somehow. despite gaelio being fundamentally a spoiled rich kid. it's fine they would've worked it out. anyway)

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? who could say what the unpopular opinions are. maybe that gaelio is also definitely dating ein but then again this is a show with canon polyamory so maybe the fandom is also more chill abt that

and for uh. equality I guess. one I don't ship. merribit/orga

Why don’t you ship it? not compelled by the dynamic where most of a woman's screentime is her trying to tell a man that he's doing everything wrong and needs to be more careful. they both deserve better than that and I'm glad the show stopped hinting at the possibility of them getting together

What would have made you like it? see above. what if orga could ever give a speech to try to raise morale so that everyone didn't die without merribit interrupting to tell him how fucked up it is that these kids are fighting. I assure you he knows that it's fucked up, it's his life, he's also a child soldier, does he literally ever look like he's happy abt going into battle. what if actually their relationship were abt her teaching him the value of spreadsheets. that would be romantic to me

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? if I were still a straight girl I would have been obsessed with them in a very projecting way. I would be conceptually So into guy character I love x admin woman

extra bonus now that we're so extremely tieriapilled: lockon/tieria

What made you ship it? the bit where lockon puts his hand on tieria's shoulder and tieria Immediately calms down and smiles at him softly and everyone else on the bridge is like. what the fuck happened while you two were down on earth together. and then every single other time they interact after that

What are your favorite things about the ship? lockon constantly reaffirming tieria's personhood. the "you let that man too deep into your heart" line. the incredible potential of the mirrored character arcs they could've had if lockon hadn't fucking died, because god forbid a gundam show from the 2000s allow a disabled main character to actually live their life as a disabled person, where tieria is learning how to be a person and exploring what she wants her gender to be and coming to terms with no longer being able to do the thing that made her special/effective/valuable and also feeling guilty bc she thinks she cost lockon his eye and that saving her wasn't worth it, and lockon is figuring out how to live his life now that he's gotten his revenge and also coming to terms with no longer being able to do the thing that made him special/effective/valuable, and both of them learning that their worth isn't just in being a good gundam pilot in the specific way that they had previous been good gundam pilots

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? you already know my ten thousand word essay on the various ways tieria is (mis)treated and (mis)characterized but. y'know. fandom stop being shitty abt transfem-coded characters challenge

[gremoria411]

I’m currently at Episode 22 of Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans: Urdr Hunt, I’ve got about two episodes left and since it seems to be a two-episode finale kind of deal, I figured I’d take a break and note down some thoughts up till now, then maybe do another post after the finale. Though I haven’t really arranged these, so I’m probably just gonna ramble.

*The following contains spoilers for episodes 1-22 of Gundam Urdr Hunt*

I’m liking a lot of the Mobile Suit Designs, Gundam and Grunt. Plus, it’s nice to see old favourites again, like the Grimgerde and Hyakuren. However, I do feel like some could be better utilised - The Asmodeus is a cool design, and it works as a lancer to the Hajiroboshi, I just feel like it could have been used more.

Similarly, is is odd how a lot of the major threats are lead-from-the-front characters, since obviously they have to function as bosses. I dunno, it’s just strange compared to all the non-action opponents from the original series.

I really enjoyed Range and Katya’s inclusion as characters, since they’re just sitting there providing a good general basis of what the average citizen of Post Disaster knows - Katya knows a lot of insider knowledge of Gjallarhorn for example, which the others remark on regularly. While Range is sceptical of the existence of mobile armours and views the Asmoday as just a particularly strong mobile suit. So they provide different ends of the same spectrum, I suppose.

I like how each of the maids/guides has their own personality, and I like seeing how they interact with each of their charges. But I do wish we saw more of them. Part of its because they feel like they have that potential to shine very well, and it’s also quite a large cast, so not everyone gets an equal share. I also found it interesting that they were all stated to have been “bought”, so they’re all former Human Debris. Unfortunately, Parstai (blue, with Foundling) is the only one it really comes up with, but presumably the others had full and interesting lives beforehand. You get hints of it with Batch and Tagging (the two that go with Cyclase), with Tagging being an excellent mobile suit pilot, and Batch having experience in ship command and a cautious bearing, but we know very little of the others prior lives.

I didn’t expect to vibe with the Zan Brothers as much as I did, that was weird.

Kouzou Mendou’s pretty rad. A genuine Archeologist, hoping to reveal the causes behind the Calamity War, and just generally seems to be a decent fellow. He does admittedly score points because he very clearly understands how dangerous Mobile Armours were/are, and is the first character to really articulate that. I kinda wish he’d told us, the audience, some new information about the Calamity War, but that’s not really a criticism at all.

Cameos from other Ibo Characters - mostly I can take or leave them, but I’d be lying if I didn’t get pumped when Mcgillis (as Montag) showed up in the Grimgerde to fight Londo Bron. I also loved seeing Isurugi going around, being generally competent.

Actually yeah, Londo Bron. For my talk about Cyclase Mayer at the start of this, I found myself really enjoying Londo Bron, surprisingly so even. He’s a good pilot, he has noble intentions, and he feels like a really good example of an Antagonist, but not a villain. He’s only really opposing Wistario because he wants to restore the Issue Family, and Katya is the best way to do that (I might do a proper post on him some other time).

Another character I really like, despite their short screentime would be Major Bradley. He’s essentially the perfect picture of a colonial administration officer - he’s corrupt, he’s unreasonable, he’s pretty solidly classist, and it all just works. He’s not even cartoonishly evil, he’s just the sort of corrupt Gjallarhorn Official that illustrates the failings of the organisation. Obviously he shares a lot of DNA with Coral Conrad, from the original series, but the boredom, the arrogance with which he carries himself just makes him memorable. Plus he just looks obscenely British, furthering the colonial parallels.

I am absolutely loving the fight scenes in this. Yeah, a lot of the fighting is supposed to be for the in-engine graphics, so they could have totally phoned it in. But they didn’t. If only other shows that cut out background, story, plot and characterisation to ostensibly focus on the fights *cough* *cough* Build Divers *cough* could do that.

I do love how absolutely shameless Cyclase is. Just like “Oh boy, how do I get out of this one? I know, Betrayal!” It works into his character and it’s really fun to watch, but it’s just kind of hilarious how he makes at least like five betrayals in the space of the show. Very efficient.

Character Designs’ still top-notch. I don’t really have any specific examples that I haven’t already mentioned but yeah. It’s good.

Ah, I mentioned that I was considering getting the Hajiroboshi kit? The thing is, a lot of the time I can really like a character, and that can end up selling me more on their mobile suit’s model kit. This is the first time that’s ever happened with a mechanic. In brief; I don’t want the Hajiroboshi because it’s the mobile suit Wistario Pilots, I want the Hajiroboshi because it’s the mobile suit Denmer maintained all these years.

I do have two more points - one positive, one negative, but I’m gonna pull those out as separate posts, simply because I want to consider them separate from everything else, and I feel like I’ll want to follow them up separately after the finale.

In a nutshell, I’ve generally liked Iron Blooded Orphans: Urdr Hunt - it gives a good showing of the world of Post Disaster besides what we’ve seen with Tekkadan and Tanto Tempo, and a lot of the side characters are interesting. The only issue is that some characters and mechanics feel somewhat under-utilised.

(Though maybe that’s my own fault for hyping myself up for the Asmodeus).

[cielsama14]

Man Theo/Artie give me such Orga/Mika (from Gundam IBO) vibes. Like damn, here’s a list with some parallels so far:

Leader and follower but also more complicated than that, leader scared of the follower on some level, follower devoted to the leader above all but both devoted to the overall group, went way back with each other before meeting rest of the group, orphans, fucking Artie with the gun as a cold-blooded killer against those who threaten his friends

[hybbat]

Headphone emoji

(Had to reshuffle twice cause I got out of control from the IBO OST, and then Aurora by Hans Zimmer, if you're curious)

Shot Away by Siine, which I believe is one of the half dozen royalty free pop songs I heard from a sims 4 building video I kept bopping to to the point I was justing putting the videos on in the background for the music so I went and grabbed them myself lol.

It's mostly a vibes song so it's probably not great for this mem either, but my favourite lyrics among it's very few is "but I'm standin', with my heart in your hand, and I'm too deep in to win this gamble," I love how she sings it. I like tunes with the back and forth rapid syllables. Also they're just cute.

[alolanroy]

2023 media thread

Blood(originally from twitter)

2023 media thread! Copied over from twitter since it’s getting worse by the day. Scores 0-10 aren’t on the American grading curve, but more like ‘irredeemable bad’ to ‘changed my life’. Most things will be a 6-7 if I liked it. Negative = ironic.

Knives out (6/10) and Glass Onion (8.5/10). I prefer glass onion not only because it was a nice tight watch but also how oddly topical it was. Tate was arrested the day I watched this and Musk is on fire. Hopefully a prelude to more real mystery movies.

Wakfu: I’m grasping at straws for nice things to say. Not really pleasing to watch in French and some of the worst dubbing since gundam Age in the first seasons. The story feels like a pantomime and I question the standards of who recommended it. 1/10

The Rapsittie Street Kids Believe in Santa: this shirt is a cognitohazard to anyone who has used any kind of software. Each frame has so much wrong with it the human mind buckles into maniacal laughter. The grandma is the same VA as savathun. -9/10

Elf bowling: honestly kinda disappointing. Might be funny with some good company. I feel like the character Tom Kenny voices says something offensive but my memory just dumped everything about it. -2/10

Sound and Fury (2019): One of the greatest audio-visual experiences I’ve seen in a while. Not all sections were created equal though. Fucking watch it. I will say no more. 9/10

Lego Star Wars holiday special/summer vacation: Not good in the traditional sense but interesting because they give some of the characterization missing from the sequel trilogy with a dose of kid friendly robot chicken energy. Interesting to me at least. 6/10

Bleach Arancar Arc: Do I regret watching the anime? Yes. I could examine how stretched out this this was even with the filler removed all day. It is DIRE. Any sense of tension was destroyed and if I wasn’t sick I would’ve dipped. 4/10

Kamen Rider Black Sun: on a technical level I appreciate the movie. Good music, sound design, suits and it looked impressive for the budget it must have had. However, this might be the first toku I find actually offensive. No joke, it tries to recall George Floyds murder. Wtf.

Gundam witch from mercury S1: this is exactly what I needed and I’m waiting with baited breath. Nice to see the writing shine where ibo was dull. I’d buy the kits if I could 9/10

Knife or death: a perfect watch over some home cooked hotpot. The combination of gruff and warm hosts gives the show a ‘guys being dudes’ energy in a wholesome way. My only gripe is that as it goes on, it gets less diverse and loses some personality. More weirdos please. 7/10

Star Trek Prodigy: not particularly interesting on an episode by episode basis, but most treks have rough first seasons. Despite being a children’s show it’s more watchable than Picard or Disco, which is a low bar for me. It has trek spirit but it’s not made for me. 5/10

Astro Boy 2009:threw it on while I was cooking. Just as bad as I remember. I have some story boards for this for some reason. I don't know why. Speaking of not knowing why it feels like a 30-minute shows worth of content when it's over. It's strange. 3/10

Six String Samurai: I'd be more into this if the vibes were new to me. Unfortunately, I'm seeing this in 2023, so it reads like a Fallout New Vegas mod. In stark contrast to Astro Boy, this feels like it stretched on for hours and the kid ruined a lot of the cool moments. 3/10

Avatar 2: Not bad. Nothing groundbreaking, but great looking and drew me in for a sequel that was like 15 years late. I can't believe I was actually compelled by some of the characters. Avatar 2 was supposed to be a joke... 7/10

Shin Ultraman: this movie unashamedly embraces the fun Showa era energy like nothing I’ve seen. It’s funny, cool and is clearly a labor of love. It’s episode format makes me yearn for a tv continuation if it can maintain the constricted, but slick production and writing. 9/10

The men who made Ultraman: I get the sense a lot of the stuff in here should be taken with a grain of salt since it’s a dramatization, but man the peak behind the curtains on how creative and dangerous the special effects were then. Even the little things we take for granted 6/10

Vampire Survivors: I think by hitting 40 minutes I can kinda say I’ve ‘beat’ it in a sense even though there’s tons more content, but I need to add it to the list at some point. Good game with deceptively smart design to be a mobile game w/o the predatory garbage. 8/10

Rush Hour 3: Fun enough but I can feel the 2000s reliance on cringe humor and the stink of post 9-11 bigotry begin to set in. I had a few good laughs. 6/10

Loaded weapon 1: An absolute blast with the kind of cast you don’t see anymore. Again, Shatner is underutilized as a comedy actor. My final take: Sight gags are a lost art. 7/10

Spelunker my 2: I don’t really get the appeal of this game. Even with sprint switched off of default, movement felt oversensitive and deaths came only when my character did something I didn’t intend. Maybe I should’ve been on controller but this left a bad taste 3/10

Kill it With Fire: I appreciate smaller concept games like this, but as a recovering arachnophobe, this didn’t invoke as much of a response for me. My SO had a blast though. 5/10

A Few Good Men: Man. 8/10

Magic Lizard: ‘this feels like one of those adhd TikTok’s with an infinite runner game and family guy in the corners’ - @SuperheckDX this thing oscillates between middling slapstick to animal abuse. Genuinely disgusting for a moment (if you know you know) -3/10

SpongeBob in Tehran: enough of the jokes translate but the visual absurdity wears off pretty quick. -6/10

Webtoons I won’t dignify by naming: Trying out random Manhwa that caught my interest was a fun policy for a bit but I’ve been seriously burned. I could tear apart why even the best in the field have issues with long term storytelling due to issues with distribution. Im done 0/10

Puss in Boots the Last Wish: Being overhyped did this movie a disservice. The animation was fantastic, but there’s not much else here. I didn’t find it particularly exciting or funny and the musical number didn’t hit. I really it lacked that ohmf. Definitional 5/10 on my scale

Tangential, but Puss’s arc mirrors Kirk in Wrath of Khan. Do what you will with that.

Dwarf Fortress: disclaimer I didn’t play too much of this game but I appreciate its system rich nonsense. I’ll probably revisit it later since the unintuitive UI isn’t helped by most forum discussions not being for the steam version. IE idk how to make a horizontal door. 7/10

Entropy: Zero: Short sweet and to the point. It uses all of its creative ideas and remixes existing assets like nobody's business. A few stumbles like a turret stealth section that soft-locked me, but I appreciate a game that doesn't waste my time 7/10

Entropy Zero 2: I cant remember the last time I was this consistently exhilarated playing a shooter, maybe Titanfall 2. It delivers good writing, action, varied gameplay, gags and emotional beats. It caches the checks valve wrote a decade+ ago at their standard. A must play 9/10

Donbrothers The Movie: New First Love Hero. An absolute farce with almost no toku action. Needless to say it’s fantastic. 8/10. Will likely give any MMPR fan an aneurysm. The foreshadowing is clever…

Bionicle Mask of Light: I wouldn’t say it’s good since I’m an adult and have more tempered nostalgia, but I derived a lot of enjoyment watching it through the lens of knowing the lore and it added a level of dramatic irony. 5/10

Farscape S1: In its best episodes it delivers on a wacky premise and great puppets, at its worst it has pretty template episodes. The crews dynamic seems to be still finding the right balance of adversarial and friendly, and sometimes it just makes everyone seem like an ass. 6/10

Shadow of the Vampire: I might need to marinade my opinion on this somewhat. First impressions are good but part of me wishes it shied away from the come comical elements since the darker tone is interesting. Just made we want to see Nosferatu 8/10

Movie night speedrun Backstroke of the West: Surprisingly good joke dub -5/10 Marmaduke 2022: bizarre -1/10 Agent Revelation: what did they have on Dorn. 2/10

Movie Night Roundup: Alone in the Dark: false advertising, It was bright and I don't think anyone was alone. Made to be riffed on. -6/10 Fist of the North Star 1995: A total snoozefest that failed to hold our attention. The only fun was realizing Dante Basco was in it. 2/10

Pinocchio a True Stroy: We nearly watched a second dub with more generic voice action. Sadly this is basically unwatchable. 0/10 Waynes World 2: A weaker comedy than the original, mostly because it uses a recycled B plot. Nevertheless, a good palette cleanser. 6/10

Farscape Season: I appreciate the more serialized storytelling and multipart episodes. I appreciate that they are kinda figuring out the characters, specifically John going into his Joker arc. However, there were a few stinkers. 7/10

Record of Ragnarok S1/2: This isn't a particularly good adaptation, but the first fight should get an award for the most baffling adapted shounen fight. It truly put its worst foot forward. Otherwise pretty mid and doesn't make me feel particularly excited about the manga.

Vengeful Guardian MoonRider: On the plus side, it looks great and has a clear love of 90s anime and tokusatsu (Hakaider particularly). However, it just felt frustrating because of issues like an awkward walljump and a lot of cheap damage caused by the small screen. 3/10

Super Mario Bros(1993): people lied, this movie kicks ass. The bizarre mushroom kingdom is wildly entertaining, funny, internally consistent and inventive with how it remixes elements from the games. It’s not what the 2023 one will be: safe. 7.5/10

Return of Ultraman: I see what they were cooking. Not a lot to judge here but the way they stretched what they had was impressive. 7.5/10 Eragon: Laughed out asses off when playing Star Wars music. It synced perfectly at some point. But there’s nothing else to work with. -3/10

Aura Battler Dunbine (I): I'm splitting this up into three parts since I have distinct thoughts. The first third is relatively weak and fails to set up the factions (no idea what's up with house Given). However, it makes up for it with appealing classic fantasy aesthetics. 6/10

Dunbine (II): The middle chapter has a sharp improvement across the board. The politics and tactics begin to fall into place as the mech designs improve. The reverse Isekai arc with Garalia (my beloved) is a real standout. Bummer the Billbine sucks. 8/10

Dunbine (III): The final third speaks to me. The undercurrent of resignment and desperation pairs well with a massive shift in the mechanics of combat. While the repetition can get straining, the interjection of real-world interaction makes it work 8.5/10

Dunbine: I enjoyed the heck out of this series and appreciate the interesting ideas and aesthetics of this world. My only complaint is the way it approaches writing women. Its otherwise rad cast of mostly women gets tanked by Elmelie. Took me out of it. 8/10 #dunbinesweep

Farscape season 3: once again this season is an improvement over the last. Less crazy creatures, but more interestingly shot, especially towards the end. It makes the budget-friendly episodes go down more easily. I continue to enjoy John’s arc of just getting weird. 8/10

The thought that someday, someone will feed My Dinner with Andre with thousands of other contextless content into a machine learning algorithm fills me with a deep sadness. 9/10

Knife or Death Season 2: Overall pretty fun, but I felt that with the increased size of the episode order, they ran out of interesting contestants. You can only see so many redknecks in a row, and the finale was a bit of an upset in a b ad way. Season 3 needs some changes. 6.5/10

Donbrothers: This may be the funniest, most satisfying, and unapologetic show I have ever seen. I don't think any sentai can compare to it after, mostly because there hasn't, and can never be anything quite like this again. 10/10

Dunbine Neo Boston Well: phenomenal art and visuals but it kinda falls apart in execution. Eventually, you notice how little is animated and the Ovas have little time to explore its owns story let alone the amazing glimpses of this world. Good character design. 6/10

Destiny 2 lightfall: this expansion was so bad I think it broke the spell destiny had over me. It’s a bizarre swerve in story and aesthetics that is utterly betrayed by the most grating dialogue that was mixed in a way that hurt my ears. 2/10

Season of the seraph: a pretty middling season with some interesting mechanical tidbits, but not a lot to latch on to. It lacked the week to week narrative drive that kept me engaged. Now it feels like the content kinda ends in like 4 weeks. 5/10

Kentucky Fried Movie: slow start but pretty funny. The Enter the Dragon parody was a gas. We need more formless comedy chimeras. 6.5/10

JJBA:DIU 2017: what do you get when you remove the style, humor and pacing from jojo and try to take it completely seriously? Something that should never get it’s trilogy finished -3/10

Garzey’s wing: this thing lives and dies by it’s comically bad dub. Otherwise it’s a pretty write ova with a neat few ideas bot no real ending and would be an unsatisfying watch. However. The dub is hilarious. -6/10

Pledge this!: National Lampoon’s fell OFF! Idk if I can forgive @roflcopterbtw for putting this on the wheel…-3/10

Street Fighter: the legend of Chun Li: Firstly: why are you white. Secondly: if you want to see a better version of this movie, watch snake eyes. 3/10

Kingohger: first impressions: the first episode alternates between obscenely good looking and abysmal in was that is bizarre and completely preventable. They really didn’t have to do primarily cg environments. Writing is halfway to doing something cool but wiffs.

Onegamart: it’s like if a really well themed line ride kept going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going and going… 8/10 that was cool

Movie night roundup: Barbie the Princess and the Pauper: Concerningly well produced as a musical. Its a campy kids movie with comical CG. What more can I say. -6 Shrek the Musical: We were ENTRANCED by Farquad's costume! I can't say I agree with some of the decisions tho. 6/10

X-files S1 & S2: I find myself more compelled by the episodic mysteries rather than the serialized storyline. Maybe since the alien conspiracy feels a little one-note so far. The real treat is spotting famous actors and the occasional rising star at a higher rate than usual.7/10

X-Files S3 Vibe check: After a few real bangers, Ep12 and 13 were a 1-2 punch I didn't need after a stressful day. The hard dip in writing quality, bad drama, and cheap CW drama feel couldn't cover up what was clearly an anti-drug episode that no one seems to talk about. 2/10

The Man Who Laughs (1928): Essayists have already dissected this film on my behalf, but there’s something interesting here. Oddly enough it’s really obvious The Joker directly homages this more than I think it owes Taxi Driver. 7/10

G-Saviour: under the thick layer of low budget Canadian production and generic execution there’s some surprisingly cool cockpits sets and fight scenes that would’ve made for a good movie. However it isn’t and we never got the iterative sequels it wanted. 5/10

Welcome to Sudden Death: as Die Hard clones go this is a surprisingly fun watch. The reversal of the black comedy relief archetype and some genuinely cool but blue ballingly short martial arts sequences make this an entertaining 6/10 in the best way possible

John Wick: in all honesty this didn’t set my world on fire. I think it’s relevancy has more to do with it signaling that action movies could be cool again rather than the ‘secret world of assassins’ shtick I can’t see myself getting into. 6/10

John Wick 2 Electric Boogaloo: A marked improvement over the first for me, and a lot of that comes down to more creativity, bombast and actually being able to see the fights in this one. The secret society element was less rote than I assumed it would be. 7/10

John Wick 3: I think the missing ingredient might’ve been building up strong opponents. While an improvement, the movies deadly combat means each enemy gets one fight, so they don’t get the opportunity to develop. More bombast was welcome. 7/10

John wick 4: holy fuck in the goddamn. You know the movie is fire when 20 minutes later I say ‘John wick had a nunchuck, how tf did I forget that’. The last three are almost invalidated by how hard this executes on everything they both had and lacked. 9.5/10

AVGN movie: this one’s an oddity, it feels like a throwback to the golden age of early internet reviews despite coming out in like 2014. This is a realization of the channel Awesome movies but with competency and production. The gags and effects made me smile. 6/10

Trigun Stampede S1: Anime of the decade. Never before have seen such expressive 3d cg anime, let alone for tv. while it undercuts some of the charm of the original with its rush to the knives plotline, it makes up for it in its own identity. 9.5/10

The Future is a Dead Mall and Line Goes Up: I knew it was dire but wow. Line Goes Up aged particularly well. 8/10

X-Files S3: A real mixed bag, as mentioned earlier, this contains some of the best and worst episodes of television I can remember. While some parts of the serialized story are improved by getting interesting resolutions, my faith was shaken. 7/10

Pitch Black: Enjoyable as a thriller with a neat grimy version of space travel. it Tickles my fancy 7/10

Chronicles of Riddick: I guess this universe has a Warhammer 40K faction. I think the end result is cool, but I see why people think it was a weird pivot 7/10

Riddick: Just another cool thriller, liked the more survival elements at the beginning. 7/10

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi (1979): One of the most impenetrable films I've ever tried to watch. I can't help but feel I lack the cultural context for this as a parody, but the visual absurdity and direction sell it. 7/10

Robot Ninja: Perhaps I'm just a sucker for the 'artist spiraling into madness' trope but this movie has an interesting take on it. If anything the Ohio shoe-string budget energy kind of enhances the delusion and unreality of it. Very critical of the comics industry. positive 5/10

The War in Space: I'll admit I talked with my friends through this one, but the model shots and excellent space suits caught our attention. Effective final sacrifice but overall it was uneventful in a 70s toku way. 4/10 (the captain had Leonard Maccoy energy)

What's up tiger Lily: The specter of Woody Allen haunts this film. While historically important as the first notable parody dub, the space jokes (which mostly land) and lousy 60's dancing interludes kill the energy and just make me want to see the original. 4/10

Skyrim SE: Since Skyrim is kind of a Super Game(TM) I'm breaking it up since some parts of it feel totally disjointed.

Skyrim (main quest): I assumed the Blades quest chain would be on the level of the Mages College in terms of importance. I appreciate its attempts to intersect with the civil war plotline but it felt over in a hurry. The final dungeon is a joke. 4/10

Overall, having the focus on melee combat against a pretty bad enemy variety makes the game feel like a slog. It does manage moments of brilliance, but the half-baked questing feels more like frustrating writing. Base game is a mess with potential. 6/10

Skyrim: Saints and Seducers: It kinda sucks how this DLC was plopped in without any consideration. I mean yay free content (I wouldn't have paid for it), but my animosity comes from stumbling into the strongest weapon in the game on my blind playthrough, trivializing combat. 4/10

Tron: Half the fun of this movie is trying to contort the metaphor of the grid onto my understanding of how these systems actually work, like naval admirals watching Battleship. The Wendy Carlos score is really unusual and has wormed its way into my head. A charming 4/10

Passenger 57. Die Hard on a plane. No Notes. 7/10

Batman and Robin: As a 60s Batman enjoyer, I cannot overstate how much of a joy this was to watch. The costumes, the set design, the pitch-perfect acting, the architecture, the cheeseball writing..never have I seen more camp with such ambition and budget. 8/10

Skyrim: Dragonborn: this smaller, denser island shows what Skyrim can do. Stealing from morrowind gave this place a lot more character and it was refreshing. However some bad bugs and dragon controlling being a complete mess…It was an 8/10, but man 6.5/10

Skyrim: Dawngaurd (vampire): not great. Besides careening down the main quests chain without noticing the 8 radiant quests(the vamps aren’t fun to deal with). Mechanically, vampirism sucks. I never found switching forms to be anything but cumbersome and it wasn’t any better…

Vampire and dragon attacks killing NPCs is a cool idea but having that happen when you’re doing the main quest is just confusing. Adding the Vale and the soul gem dimension is neat, but kinda shallow. Each felt like other dlc they condensed.

The saving grace really is Serana, which was further advanced by an incredible mod that has me wanting to restart and take the dawnguard path. Until then…5/10

X Files S4/5: Once again there were a few bangers, but I'm starting to get the creeping feeling that the atmosphere that made the series unique is beginning to get lost. I wouldn't say many of these are terribly tense or mysterious anymore6. 5/10

STEALTH(2005): Look, I'm of two minds about this thing. Yes, it wastes a lot of time. Yes, the DOD clearly inserted a 15-second scene that minimizes the interesting sci-fi of the movie in a ridiculous way that had my friends both booing and laughing at the movie...

BUT HOLY SHIT ACE COMBAT MOVIE REAL!!! The last half really leans into being a bombastic action and sci-fi thriller. I can't think of a movie that had a more left-for-dead character and 'the loyalty switching is nearly at gundam levels' -@SuperheckDX 7/10

Bright Memory Infinite: I'll give it credit for a surprisingly fresh twist on character action, but it's over just as it gets good and I feel like it learned the wrong lessons from the early 8th gen CoD era of shooters. Worst double jump in an fps to date 5/10

X-Files S6: I'm not sure how, but a shark was jumped at some point between seasons. Immediately the average quality went down and the episodes felt much less engaging. It still managed to surprise me (Aliens in the Klan???) 5/10

Lobsteroids: it serves video game fmv vibes. -4/10 No.1 of the secret service: fun action and a Dracula assassin make up for having a plot I couldn't follow, but I'll give them points for a bravely anti-climactic ending. Just a good B movie bond. 6/10

ZOE: 2nd Runner MARS: I'm not gonna sugar coat it, this fucks. The remaster really shows how strong the art direction is by sharpening it up and it looks and plays divine. However, the translation and dub are incomprehensible. It's like what people say about Tomino's writing.8/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3: I don't think this movie was great, the jokes didn't quite make me laugh and there were some wasted opportunities, but the emotional core worked. I feel a good sense of closure from this over the MCU in general. 7/10

X-Files S7: Nah: 5/10

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3: I never got around to putting this on the list since I was hoping to finish the 2nd character playthrough, but that never materialized. 

This game has sparks of good. Good voice acting and a few creative level concepts that sell the team’s energy. The gameplay loop of tagging and teleporting is married well with the well tuned directional aim. Its also up to Inti’s bar for visual flare.

However this is all in spite of everything else. The translation makes some bizarre choices that make Joule is immediately grating, mostly due to the choice to never shut up about fetters (you could just call them seals...). The timeskip is truly bizarre since it abandons all the plot threads for a more or less identical setting, just with apologism for the evil conglomeration which Gunvolt is okay with working for now (despite being turned into a dog for some reason.) Worse, Joule is immediately the most mechanically bloated character in a 2d game, having too many features at once in addition to the (also expanded with her abilities) Gunvolt style switching. Less is more, if they had settled for GV with the flashstep or simplified Joule individually it would have been more fun to control. If they were going to give players so much more combat capability, it would’ve been nice to have enemies that could actually fight back...6/10

Kamen Rider Geats × Revice: Movie Battle Royale: Who put battle royale in my previously battle royale-free battle royale Toku show...AND it crosses over with the first battle royale Kamen Rider? I’m gonna be real, Revice nostalgia was coming on stronger than I was prepared for with this movie. I hope we see more Seeker in future material and the Ryuki cameos were heartwarming (except Ouja’s suit had a prominent pot-belly for some reason.) 7/10

Revice Forward: Kamen Rider Live & Evil & Demons: I miss revice... Making Demon Hiromi a Vergil was an interesting choice 6/10

The Super Mario Bros. Movie: I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, This is really the best version of a Illumination Mario movie we could get. It has fantastic sequences with 80′s pop music replacing the perfectly timed and funny soundtrack for what feels like a quota. It didn’t really make me, as an adult laugh or really engage much with its emotional stakes one they entered the mushroom kingdom. (I kinda liked their whole failing plumbing business) They tried to do something with the core cast, but without doing anything really memorable, save for good performances in spite of the material. Chris Pratt isn’t awful. It should be deeply meh, but it has enough colors and the occasional humor to make it work. If anything I would like to see the midpoint between this and the 80′s one 6/10

However, the pattern recognition part of my brain would have lit up like a Christmas tree if you put it in an MRI. I’ll admit that even a cynic like me soyjacked a few times when I saw something from Mario 3.

Telefrag: Listen, I don’t like beating a dead horse...but I see why it’s a dead game. bad feedback and tutorialization make matches with only one bot by default and fast ttk even less interesting than they should be. 2/10

Eagle Flight: It’s amazing how Ubisoft finds ways to ruin their own games with corporate nonsense. On startup within steam VR, I had resolve the bugged out multiplayer launcher installation while having to repeatedly switch from my VR headset and my keyboard. It left a sour taste in my mouth for an admittedly neat and good controlling game. There were a few instances of inconsistent button prompts in menus as well. The promise of flying through the air like an eagle is realized but did it really nead assassin’s creed collectible and map mechanics? 4/10

Sierra Ops: I occasionally see moments where what this was supposed to be shine through, but overall the writing could use an aggressive editing pass to allow it to capture the excitement of a space opera by tightening up the interpersonal stuff. I usually love this stuff when its concise, but the relationship drama comes across as bloated and ends up sinking the whole experience. An hour and a half of half vague meandering disengaged me for the cool declaration of war moments. Even longer until the game properly starts. It did grab me once or twice but mostly I found myself skipping and it still felt long. The gameplay is neat enough to begin with, enough to get me to the halfway mark but only having two possible other small ships in your controllable battle group kinda kills the exciting strategy and large scale warfare the premise promised. The more mechanics it ads the worse it plays unfortunately. Mostly because the mecha can't be ordered and must be actively controlled, destroying the gameplay flow. I also encountered a broken feature for the long range bombardment at the start of the third chapter where it only worked once. The only youtube playthrough that got that far had the same issue but never noticed.

I don’t think this thing is going to complete its 10 chapter plan, but with the >2 chapters I played. 2/10

Fast X: I feel hard judging this harshly since it is supposed to be part one of a duology(trilogy?) but I feel like the rubber is going to hit the road once we see the payoff to the setup. As it is, I can’t say it was mind blowing in comparison to 6-9 since some of the action sequences were deliberate retreads. 6/10

Rocky: A lot of times I find the movies pop culture upholds as classics are divorced from the actual quality of the material. This is one of those cases where I was blown away. I can’t think of another case where a character was so soulfully portrayed in every small minutia of the performance, direction and even set design. While I usually dislike the dirty look to a lot of 70′s film (I’ve watched a lot of movies that should’ve stayed in the 70s) the filth of Rocky’s world sings in every character. In the first 10 minutes I knew I would ride or die with this lovable loser. 10/10

My Friend Pedro: Interesting gunplay ideas that feel made for twitter clips. However I never quite felt the flow. The real enemy is a tedious and artificially extended playtime fattened with too many puzzle platforming segments that add nothing. Ultimately the ‘lol so random XD’ humor got old real quick. It had the energy of a Deadpool cosplay in the 2010s who didn’t know when to quit when he was ahead. 4/10

~~~Random Half-Life/Portal mod roundup~~~

Thinking with Time Machine: Its primary mechanic is interesting but cumbersomely executed. The puzzles are more a pain to pull off than solve and the writing is bad fanfiction tier. I encountered multiple repeatable crashes between levels. 3/10

Requiem of Science: It starts out as an uninspired series of levels and escalates into a baffling gasps of creativity that make no sense and have no real context. Random mashup of Black Mesa and Aperture assets? Kinda weird. Egyptian pyramid with a trap involving 15 consecutive headcrabs? What? It’s really just a series of random source assets combined with maybe your 3rd attempt at a doom wad in high school. The story is...bad. The protagonist is named Genry Freedom and it has spongebob beyond writing. 2/10

Snowdrop Escape. Too many straightforward puzzles and gunplay felt nonthreatening. I never felt challenged and this thing has essentially no story, not that I could hear it half the time. I’ll put this in my ‘bad multiverse media’ pile.  2/10

Rexaura: Good puzzles and fresh mechanics but the writing and story didn’t wow me. Competent. 5/10

Entropy Zero: Uprising: Encountered a gamestopping bug, but the pretty normal content didn’t give me the energy to continue.

Logistique: The puzzles weren’t as hard as they were dull. but I appreciate the effort 3.5/10

Portal Stories VR: can’t really say much other than I was trapped halfway through the floor and it had unity’s kinda bad movement. 2/10

The Lab: Neat gimmicks but only two were worth more than 4 minutes of my time. 4/10

Aperture Hand Lab: My controller didn’t have the haptics to progress, but it was pretty funny while it lasted. 5/10

Entropy Center Demo: Look we all know this is a portal fangame. Puzzles were neat enough with the rewind mechanic. I can’t say it has the wit that makes portal work yet just from the demo, but I hope it adds that X factor it needs. 6.10

Justice League: Putting aside my bias for the cast, which is peppered with some of my personal favorites from TV, This is a solid show. By most measuring sticks this measures up, but people like me who know too much about comics can get waaaay more out of this. It’s confident enough to show a haranguing news anchor wave around a copy of ‘Seduction of the Innocent’ assured both kids and general audiences understand its criticism of moral panics while respecting comic book fans to use their brains to catch the specific callouts to real world history. It has ham and it has heart. from the goofy golden age callbacks to the Christmas special with sharp character writing. I miss the dedication to creating quality entertainment with its material. 7.5/10

Shin Kamen Rider: Full disclosure, my experience with this movie was colored by a pretty rotten day. The first fifteen minutes were gold. There was energy. A snappy camera, brisk exposition and flare to the action. It replicated the tricks that made the original show work but dialing up the visually absurd elements to contrast with a more serious tone. I’ve heard some folks had bad screenings, but I had the pleasure of a few sporadic academic chuckles to add ambiance. Shoutout to the sight gag where the cyclone motorcycle is following Ichigo during a dialogue scene at a polite distance. The whole thing reminded me of Anno’s earlier live action take on Cutie Honey. However after the first act, I got the sense the film was petering out. Perhaps the format of adapting a handful of episodes risks getting tired, but by the start of the third act I was checked out. I don’t check my phone in theaters. I checked my phone, looked up how long the film was and questioned if I wanted to stick it out another hour. Worse this is the first movie to physically hurt my eyes. The penultimate battle is in a pitch dark tunnel with abrupt flashes of bright light that caused me to recoil, even cover my eyes after a few minutes. 3/10. That time he did a flip was cool, but I regret staying.

Rocky II: This should’ve been a cash-in sequel. It repeats the beats of a first film that needs no follow up. Rocky’s arc was done, do we really need another with the same beats? Second verse same as the first but a little bit more production value and pretty dang good. I’m giving it a 9/10 so it must’ve done something right. The melodrama of pregnancies and unemployment and comas didn’t have me, until it did. This movie waited to switch back to southpaw and didn’t let up after that. 9/10 

DragonHeart: It’s a kids movie but it does have that childlike wonder and innocence you don’t see in fantasy movies these days. If I think the dragon looks good or bad depends on my mood at the time 6/10

The Master Demon: I’ve seen low budget but this is something else. We skipped most of it. -3/10

Battleship: It really didn’t have me, and then it did. This movie needed another few weeks in the editing booth because opening you ship action movie with some boner comedy shenanigans doesn’t bode well. Gimme a tight 90 cut and we are in buisness. There is no doubt in my mind why this is a favorite in a lot of navy households, because this is somehow more hype than Top Gun. 6.5/10

Justice League Unlimited S1-2: Fantastic. Perfectly constructed. It operates metatextually as a commentary, even a refutation, of many of Alan Moore’s works and opinions on superheroes. As someone who enjoys the odd comic book, the intertextual game of ping-pong that is The Question (voiced by Jeffery Combs, who better?) is an absolute joy to see. Adaptations like ‘For the Man Who Has Everything’ show a clear love for the character driven aspect of capes and cowls that you don’t see anymore. It more thoughtful and nuanced than it has any right to be, and talks up to any audience with more respect than I’ve seen out of superhero media (outside of maybe Gunn’s movies). Even the most die hard modern comic book fan should loop back to this for a shot in the arm of hope. 9/10

Justice League Unlimied S3: there was a third one I guess 7/10

[it looks like a few of the things I added got lost so quick lightning round]

Dungeons and Dragons, Honor Among Thieves: Hey! Thats pretty good! It’s a charming and fin fantasy movie, don’t see those as much as we should these days. Best of all it really captured the energy of someones unwieldy campaign. Hope a sequel has a completely different party. 7.5/10

Bumblebee in 4K: Each subsequent viewing I can deconstruct this into its component movies more and more, but ‘steal from the best!’ 7/10

Mikadroid: It was fascinating and had a unique atmosphere. The obvious symbolism of a 80′s Japanese bubble disco built on top of a ruin of fascist superweapon is a treat. Great costume and model work where it counts, but it undercuts itself with poor momentum and a monster that is shown in a few unflattering angles. Spotted a classic Ultraman actor so I’m happy 7/10

LoZ Cartoon E1: annoyingly competent 4/10

Kappa Mikey E1: I see why this wasn’t good enough for 2000′s MTV. In spite of it all it was actually a little funny -5/10

Mars Needs Moms: The implications will tie your brain in knots while the actual story is so bog standard it numbs your mind at the same time. The aliens were clearly somebody’s fetish in production. -4/10

Dune 1984: I’mma be real with you chief. this isn’t great. Sorry Mr.Lynch, they can’t all be winners. Nice Cameo though. I will come to the defense of character inner monologues though, but having them whispered doesn’t work. I wasn’t wowed by the special effects but the weird set dressing had a charm. 5/10

Across the Spiderverse: I might need more time to digest it, but within the first 10 minutes I had to stop and think if there might be other animated movies that look this good. Not even close. I think the beats hit me differently than some others, but yeah, no doubt. It’s great. Anything else would be nitpicks I will withhold till the second part. 9.5/10

Oh wait, Unlimited SpiderMan didn’t have a prominent role: 0/10

Heavy Metal L-Gaim: It pains me to say this, but I couldn’t finish it. Individually, each episode delivers top notch cartooning with expressive and goofy animation that really sell the wacky cast. That is, when we, as an audience, can get it. The plot lacked forward momentum and enough of it felt dull that I dropped it a few times. I skipped to the end and found a backloaded finale with a soggy final note. The vibes are top notch, but it can only take you so far. 6/10

Rocky 3: I though a shark was jumped when Hulk Hogan showed up, but they had me. They fucking had me. 8/10

Wolf Tracer’s Dinosaur Island: this had to have been a tax scheme or something. -4/10

Skull Island: I got nothing. No real emotional response. Nothing. It was there. It was inoffensive. But I gotta point out that at this point, Kong’s survival rate for plucky kid companions is pretty low. 5/10

The Italian Job (2003): A fun enough heist movie, but now I want to watch the original to compare 6.5/10

Transformers Rise of the Beasts: Just because it’s CGI action slop doesn’t mean it can’t have heart. Putting aside my predisposition to like this, it was a decently constructed version of what these movies are. It was coherent, funny and well made. My only gripe is that at the end they do something just kinda weird, but you know what? Who cares! Besides that one moment, the movie had my suspension of disbelieve right where it needed to be to have a grand old time.

As a Transformers fan? There was fanservice. I was a fan, and I was served. ‘Subversion of expectations is kind of a tainted expression, but by reversing a few familiar bleats was a nice variation on a theme. They could’ve easily messed it up, or gone too far, but so much as a few notes of a leitmotif made me a hair shy of spontaneous combustion. The credits stinger? Dumb as hell, but you know what this movie earned it, and My entire friend group was popping off. 7.5/10

Rock 4: This doesn’t quiiiite live up to the premise of ‘Rocky destroys the soviet union’, but it tries. however I felt more like I was watching an ad for the album. Kinda like Netflix shows that are desperate to make the next big TikTok dance after Wednesday performed well. 7/10

Farscape: I gave the last season a fair shake and found it kind of unwatchable. 2/10

Half Life Alyx: Oppressive. Immersive. Possibly the last VR game I’ll ever need to play until they make a sequel. This could only be by the virtue of being the only vr game that actually feels like a real game, but it is far more than that.

MyHouse.pk3: I kinda ruined this for myself a little since I blasted through the non-spooky wad version a few times confused about what the fuss was over. However the creativity and magic to make this work is astounding. The final beat was pretty cool. Short and sweet. 7/10

(Lost a few of my entries due to an edit error, these’ll be shorter than my original thoughts)

Black Mesa: A triumph of game remakes. While Xen is a more total reimagining, the rest of it really makes me appreciate how ahead of its time a lot of the original Half Life was. I often found myself suprised when reviewing the original, sections I thought were added in were in fact there since 1998. Genuinely gorgeous at times. 9/10

Devilman 2004: How do you make Devilman Boring? If you have seen any 2000′s Japanese b-movie, you have seen this one. Its got all the halmarks, minimal action, camcorder grade early digial picture quality and a lot of high school non-drama for some reason. -2/10

Bloodshot: This movie goes hard than it’s redbox-grade appearance would have you believe. It weaves this deception into its intentionally genre generic setup in a way that makes tired sci-fi tropes feel exciting. Its costumes and CG fights feel like they outmatch what marvel pours millions into. 7.5/10

Barbie Princess Charm School: The things I watch for our movie night’s wheel. It’s competent, but not as funny as the last one I watched. -5/10

Rocky V: It’s very 1990, though I feel like the energy is brought down by the cheap contrivance to reset rocky back to the streets TM. I will say that the emotional beats with Micky hit hard, and I appreciate having the fight at the end be out of the ring. Refreshing, but I think this was a good place to end it. 7.5/10

Andromeda S1: An efficiently produced show that takes star trek (in all but name) into an interesting new status quo. I did worry at first that it would fall into the bad habits of white savior storytelling and some cheesy sci-fi concepts (nietzschean? really?). However I can’t contest that I had a good time and there were enough fresh episodes to keep me happy. 7/10

Movie Night Speedround

Alone in the Dark 2: this is clearly a movie they just retitled. 4/10

Jupiter Ascending: Can’t rate since I might get back to this later but it at least looked neat. -4/10

Nick Fury Agent of SHEILD: Good casting but this sure is a TV movie. -4/10

Nutcracker and the Four Realms: This was more fun when it was an actual ballet production for 5 minutes. Generic late 2010s Disney twist and fluctuating production value. Morgan Freeman is a clockpunk father cristmas. 6/10 

[mr-up-on-a-downer]

my big problem with IBO is how just fucking edgy it is but at least there’s more of it I can enjoy than G-Reco which I have tried multiple times to watch only to get filtered by episode two. There’s something about the way it’s written I just can’t vibe with, and I definitely didn’t have this problem with Turn A.

[cerastes]

Hey, I watched Gundam IBO and (while having issues) i ended up liking it. Any suggestions where to go from here in Gundam?

Go for Gundam X, it’s a really fun romp that I think will give you the vibes you seek with a cohesive story and a really good, underrated cast. X is really fun!

[wordsandrobots]

Have you listened to any other songs by the bands that did the IBO openings/endings? Man With a Mission (who did Raise Your Flag and Blaze) has a song called Followers that gives me big Shino/Yamagi vibes

Well, that's definitely going on the playlist*. Completely agree that fits them.

But I haven't much, no! I should though. That said, and at the risk of being excommunicated from the fandom, I think Raise Your Flag is my least favourite of the opening songs? Rage of Dust edges out the pack, with Fighter a close second. Regardless, I definitely should look up more from the bands involved because all the IBO songs are great.

Actually, on the subject of songs, thanks to this video, 'Kyouran Hey Kids' by Oral Cigarettes has permanently lodged in my head as an IBO song too, despite being the OP to a completely different anime!

* Currently, the Yamagi/Shino playlist includes the following in addition to others I've mentioned previously in relation to them:

'Romance Addict' by Grace Petrie; gender flipped as appropriate, this summarises why post-canon Yamagi is Like That in my fics.

'Delirium Tremendous' by Felix Hagen and the Family

'Reconnect' by Director

'All Dolled Up' by The Orion Experience (...I really should write something at some point showing what happens when you introduce Shino to Chryse's queer scene)

[kynaswhereabouts]

Hearty Harvest Cafe

Location: Sibaguan, Sagnay, Camarines Sur

Ever since pandemic started, pop up cafes along the road has became the newest trend in food and beverage business industry under the new normal as we encourage alfresco dining to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. As travel restrictions lightens after two years of coping up with the limited mobility during these days, people get to travel once again although still with the responsibility and precaution by continuously practicing the standard health protocols. It is no surprise at all into why people would travel as well to visit this outdoor cafe located along the road while probably traveling or road tripping to Sagnay, Camarines Sur. 

Hearty Harvest Cafe is an outdoor cafe. It has an aesthetic small cabin for the staff where they brew coffee or cook the tablea/cocoa as well as make the sandwiches you ordered. They also displayed different kakanin available there. 

The lot where this cafe was established was spacious enough and a relaxing place to be. In fact, it is one of the most known to be visited recently in the Partido district. This is frequented by locals, travelers from nearby municipalities, riders and cyclists. This can be your perfect weekend escapade from the busy life in the city.

We can attest that the travel was worth crossing borders for because of the quality of the food being served. We tried both sandwiches available on the menu and their hot tsokolate which we really liked at first bite and sip. We also tried their ibos and arroyo for kakanin. Not only that the entire meal was delicious but it was also affordable. It is no wonder that people were really encouraged to travel all the way here. I also would highly recommend this cafe for a weekend escapade. We travelled all the way from Naga City for this.       

Off course, it is not just about the food. The ambiance also served as a significant factor into encouraging people to visit this cafe. It is actually another one that is seemed to be straight out of a Kdrama or would give off the out of the country vibe because this is a rare site. This isn’t the first outdoor cafe in Camarines Sur but this is probably the first that is this aesthetically pleasing. Once again, another Instagram worthy place to practice those photography skills and creativity. Might as well so some photoshoot while there. 

I would gladly go back here for the food and if I would be needing some peace. There is low mobile reception here so people who are trying to contact you can’t reach you here. Hehehe This is a perfect place to unwind for the weekend if you are actually already burn out and been considering to go for a long drive then have some coffee/ hot choco afterwards. Or better yet, eat some kakanin and sandwiches too.