#Midnight Juggernauts

[rastronomicals]

9:09 PM EDT June 30, 2024:

Midnight Juggernauts - "Come As You Are" From the album   SPIN Presents Newermind: A Tribute Album (2011)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

[steveandthesea]

(via Midnight Juggernauts - Vital Signs - YouTube)

[twistedappletree]

the controversial

ultra-commercial,

now universal.

[marveltournaments]

[illyanarasputinfan]

Magik combats Ultimus alongside Zombie Juggernaut and Zombie Iron Man in Scopely Studios’ Marvel Strike Force.

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.

DC

midnight sun by merils

Who would win: four men with guns who just happened to get Red Robin to walk into a trap, or one royally-pissed Kryptonian juggernaut?

Yeah, it's not even a contest.

reasons are better than rules by destiny919

"No one will actually explain Father's rules to me," Damian blurts out. "They tell me we don't kill, and killing is wrong, and Father would never do it, but no one ever actually says why! As if repeating the rule is the same as explaining it! As if I am supposed to just know, when I do not!"

Drake is quiet, eyes on something in the distance that Damian cannot see. "Damian, may I tell you a secret?"

Marvel

Thirty Hours by polaroid15

The sun sets. Peter breaks three toes and hits his head hard against concrete. There’s a steadily bleeding wound in his side that he’s staunched with his webbing and tries not to acknowledge it when it burns. He can still walk in a straight line, which is good. He’s starving and tired and cold. It’s been fifteen hours.

Or, Peter doesn't take any breaks during a lengthy fight with the Avengers. The mind-melting fever that follows really should have been expected.

Clone Wars

An Hourglass In Hand by ecarian

“I thought daemons didn’t eat,” Rex noted once, during a celebration feast, as he and Cody watched Boga devour her meal with some fascination. Varactyl she may be, but she was a tiny one. There wasn't much interior space for the truly momentous amount of meat she was ripping into.

Boga daintily rubbed her beak against a folded serviette that looked kind of like a bird, and said, prim, “I can do anything a human can do.”

“Oh?” Obi-Wan said mildly, from where he’d been tapping at a datapad. “Shall I save you a portion of these reports then?”

Set My Mind at Ease by Eightbitpale

Marshal Commander Cody - clone commanding officer of the 7th Sky Corps, second in command of the 212th attack battalion and, currently, the proud caretaker of one still-warm lightsaber - was having a very long day.

Actually, fuck that. It had been more than a long day. Long days were Cody’s bread and butter, practically his comfort zone. Marshall Commander Cody ate stim shots for breakfast and every shiny this side of Coruscant knew it. Long days were his bitch.

No, this had been more than a long day. Today had been a bad day.

———

The one where Cody and his general try their best to tell each other that they care. At least they’re trying.

Your Smile In Stone by ecarian

Wooley: can we arrest people for yelling this early?

There were two figures standing at the foot of General Kenobi's statue with their backs to Wooley, an adult with a hood, and a child with light hair. The child was pointing at a puddle of Temple tookas who were curled up in General Kenobi’s lap, lounging in the stone folds of his robes, the bend of his knee.

Wooley: belay that. Child nuisance.

The Goblin Emperor

Sweet Hope by baladric

Maia Drazhar arranges a festival, meets his gay aunt, falls in love with his secretary, and misses his mom through it all.

"In the way of true stories, there was no discernible beginning. Perhaps it had begun that first day, in the shabby receiving room at Edonomee; in the cockpit of the Radiance of Cairado; at the mooring mast of the Untheileneise Court, with that first smile.

The pith of the matter was that Maia Drazhar was wildly, tremulously in love, and love had made fools of much wiser men than he."

In All Its Forms by Anonymous

Before his father ruined everything, Nurevis Chavar only thought to introduce the new emperor to all the most beautiful things life could offer.

When he found himself free from relegation again after his father's death, would the emperor whose friendship he had sought so long ago wish his presence at court? And, if he could return to court, would his emperor wish his friendship again?

[pyppyn]

So with all the nonsense over on reddit about stealing fashion I want to share Trynnt's main outfit because I like how it looks. And because it's silly to get upset about people taking your look. So here's every skin and dye below the fold. It's not my fashion it's OUR fashion.

Head - Reading Glasses - Grave

Shoulders - Shoulder Scarf - Hydra/Hydra

Chest - Requiem Gambeson - Deep Glacial Sky/Mithril/Midnight Fire/Pastel Violet

Hands - Requiem Gloves - Grave/Mithril/Midnight Fire/Pastel Violet

Legs - Light Corsair Leggings - Grave/Hydra/Midnight Fire/Darkness

Feet - Elegy Walkers - Deep Glacial Sky/Mithril/Midnight Fire

Mainhand: Bolt

Offhand: Silence of a Thousand Years

Back: Guild Backpack

Alt. Weapons:

The Juggernaut

Infernal Roar Warhorn

Frostblossom Staff

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Rollcage Stage II Sampler 2000 Drum n Bass / Big Beat / Jungle

Here's a little three-song 12-inch from juggernaut UK dnb label Moving Shadow that was released in anticipation of a fuller soundtrack for 2000 racing videogame Rollcage Stage II, which was also released on PC in North America as Death Track Racing. Over the past couple weeks, I've been exploring the partnership that Moving Shadow had with Rockstar Games in the early 2000s—a couple mixes from label founder Rob Playford came with a bonus disc that contained playable demos for Grand Theft Auto 2, segments of another Playford mix were featured on a radio station for GTA3, and then at least one of those songs from that latter Playford mix also debuted in Midnight Club: Street Racing as well. But with this tiny videogame soundtrack sampler, we see that Moving Shadow's relationship with the games industry in those turn-of-the-millennium years wasn't just limited to Rockstar.

So ultimately what we have here is a highly unfortunate vocal big beat clunker from E-Z Rollers sandwiched between two pretty great and different shades of dnb from Technical Itch and Omni Trio. Tech Itch, who is a master of the dark dnb arts himself, comes through with the fantastic "Deadline," a real trip with multiple breakdowns that infuses itself with some lovely jungle breaks; and then on the flipside, Omni Trio delivers something a whole lot more atmospherically chill with "Secret Life," a song that suggests that the virtual racetrack it was crafted for is almost certainly colored in icy hues of blue.

That E-Z Rollers tune, though...woof, what a total gimmick that one is 😒. It's sort of like if The Chemical Brothers tried to make a rough draft of a new theme song for a y2k-era reboot of Carmen Sandiego??? And I get that that might actually potentially sound fun and intriguing on paper, but trust me, it most definitely *does not* work here. It's really an unforgivably cheesy monstrosity. 

Anyway, although these three tracks were specifically made for this videogame, the release of this particular limited edition 12-inch actually appears to predate the release of the game itself by about a week and a half in the UK; so if you wanted a sneak-peek into some of the exclusive Moving Shadow material that was gonna be featured in the game, you could cop this before the game actually dropped. 

Planning on tackling a fuller version of Moving Shadow's Rollcage Stage II soundtrack later this week. Stay tuned ✌️. 

Highlights:

Technical Itch - "Deadline" Omni Trio - "Secret Life"

[discoizdead]

Your invitation, G.L.O.R.I.A

[themurderofcrowscollective]

141 at night cause I live for chaotic energy nights

Ghost: *Creeping through the base in a bedsheet with sunglasses on, clearly sleep deprived.* Price: *Also sleep deprived from working constantly.* Oh fuck me there's a ghost- Soap, going with the bit: Somebody call the ghostbusters! *Goes to attack Ghost with a broom.* ---------------------------------------------------- Gaz, high off of chaotic dumb energy: *Slides on the floor with a saxophone.* Ya like jazz? Soap: Oh no not again- Gaz: *PLAYS VERY OFF-TUNE JAZZ MUSIC AS LOUD AS HE FUCKING CAN BEFORE RUNNING OFF LIKE A MADMAN.* Ghost: I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH THAT FUCKING THING! *Proceeds to run after Gaz with a baseball bat.* ----------------------------------------------------- One time Price caught Ghost (the problem child) with Soap (the chaotic child) and Gaz (the gremlin child) at midnight with duct-tape, pillows and markers. What were they doing? Duct taping pillows that were drawn on onto Ghost who was going to scare the recruits who should be asleep by yelling 'OH YEAH!!' and bursting into their dorms. He wanted to tell them to knock it off but instead he pulled out his phone and recorded the whole thing. No recruit knew it was Ghost and legend of the Pillow Man, a cousin of the Kool-Aid Man began to spread as a cautionary tale to new recruits who aren't asleep by nightfall. Pillow Man made his return when the 141 decided to do a pillow fight that only happened at night during October. He was considered the juggernaut that needed to be beaten. ----------------------------------------------------- More will be posted later once I can think of something funny

[hausofmamadas]

| So much for my nine lives |

⁂

Pairing: David Barrón Corona & Benjamín Arellano Félix (Midnight Mass Vampire-ish AU)

For @narcosfandomdiscord NarcOctober - Day 30 - Day of Amnesty (originally Day 29 - Day of Horror)

Prompt: Came back wrong

Word count: ≈ 1.2K

TWs: Canon-consistent & vampire-related(?) violence

This was the part in the all movies where the person in my position comes to the horrible realization at what he is and what he has to do. So this is like … kinda Barrón and Mín in the universe of Midnight Mass or really like the vampire lore of Midnight Mass applied Narcos Mexico? Anyway, this is just a fun spooky, lil ditty I did. Enjoy Mín finally giving Barrón everything he ever wanted. Spoiler alert: it’s not the eternal life that matters.

⁂

Shocked awake, I sat forward sucking in deep, sweeping gusts of air that crackled through my chest, inflating my collapsed lungs. Like they were two dusty, burlap sacks, the air dragged in and out so sharply and painfully I began to cough. My shirt was caked with dust and dried blood that looked almost purple in the orange menace of the pre-dusk sun. I looked down and at the trail my body had made. Must’ve been when they dragged me into the cave.

But I was dead. Dead just then and I knew it. Now I wasn’t though. I came back somehow. Only, I came back wrong.

I remembered little before I died but the commotion at the cafe. Panicked crowd, a few rounds ejected from my gun, as I grabbed Benjamín by the collar of his jacket, screaming, “we gotta go!” and ran toward safety.

Safety. A funny word to describe Ramón and Kitty, two flashily dressed gangsters, semi autos in hand, beckoning to us from the corner where the street met the back alley road, the curb of which the Escalade was parked on. We’d been so close. I’d shoved Mín in front of me and turned around to return fire at the crowd of fatigues surrounding the armored truck across the street, just before I felt the bullet enter my chest. Then another just under my ribs.

The thing no one ever tells you about getting shot? When a projectile traveling at 1700 miles per hour enters the human body, what you feel first is the shock wave. It juggernauts through you, traversing through muscles, tissue, your very cells, so fast and forcefully, the feeling’s more akin to electrocution. It was a miracle my heart was still beating as the ground came up at me, fast, before I sank into the black.

So much for my nine lives.

Shielding my eyes from the stray beams of sun that peeked through the cracks of the cave entrance, I took a lighter from my pocket and lit it turning to face the dark side of the cave and get a better look at who or what might be inside.

Which one of them would’ve done it? Definitely not Ramón. Not enough self-control. I would’ve been an unintended afternoon snack. Hope would suggest Pancho or Dina, but common sense would suggest otherwise. The only one among them who had been at the cafe with the strength and self-restraint to do it without killing me more dead than I already was could only be Benjamín.

And yet, it was hard to imagine him, sour, overly-critical, Motherest-of-Mother-Hens, Mín valuing me enough to offer up eternity, even if he did owe me his life, what with everything I did for them that night at Christine’s. I rolled my eyes. And that was without an immortal advantage.

With a sly undertone of acknowledgment, almost an echo with my disbelief, Mín’s voice rang out from the shadows that clung to the cave walls. “Tus ojos. Se brillan como se supone que deben hacerlo.”

The eyeshine of a cat. How unsettling it had been the first time I’d caught it in Dina’s eyes. Mistook them for headlights in the lamplight of the warehouse parking lot when we were chatting shit some late night, after they’d finished the count. I’d read somewhere, probably in one of the hundreds of books I devoured, trying to fend off brain rot and existential dread in a cell at Donovan, that it was called tapetum lucidum. An extra shiny layer in the eyes of cats and other nocturnal animals that helped them see in the dark.

“What happened?”

“Your ability to maintain your composure under the strangest, most precarious of circumstances never ceases to amaze us.”

It wasn’t altogether clear if Mín was speaking for the family or if there was actually someone else there with us, the place was so dark. But as soon as I opened my mouth to ask, I was doubled over, a jagged pain drilling relentlessly into my gut, tunneling through my chest, all the way up my esophagus and into my throat. My face was close enough to the ground, the breath I expelled violently kicked dust back up into my face. The flame from the lighter snuffed out when it hit the ground next to me.

“Yeah, you’re going to need to remedy that.”

I let out a grim, stuttering chuckle that could’ve been mistaken for the growl of an animal who just felt the hinges give way, the bar of a trap finally slamming down on its neck.

This was the part in the all movies where the person in my position comes to the horrible realization at what he is and what he has to do. The part where they’re supposed to freak out, panic, clam up at the idea of killing as a way of life. But the sick thing? This wasn’t a movie and I felt not an ounce of guilt or fear at the prospect. I’d been taking human life to live for decades now. No sense in an apex predator apologizing for assuming the nature of its design. Shit, it’s not like I made the rules.

A faint skittering sound along the edge of the walls jackhammered my eardrums and before coherent thought could be formed, the soft warmth of light and heaven itself burst into my mouth, soothing the ragged itch at the back of my throat. Blood from some poor, unfortunate little rodent that had made a home in the cool of the cave leaked all over my hands, as I drew from it; hose from a hydrant.

Benjamín stepped off the wall, where he’d been standing for who knows how long and circled me slowly, waiting for me to finish. When the critter’s body finally hit the ground, he clapped a few times, observing, “Pues eso fue fácil, verdad?”

Sighing wearily, “sí, fue tan fácil,” I wiped the blood from my chin with the back of my hand.

Closing the loop, Mín approached me where I sat, still kneeling on the ground over the critter’s carcass, and picked up the lighter. He flicked it open. Light materialized next to his face, the flame illuminating his eyes, activating that telltale glow of Other. That glow which I now apparently shared with him and the rest of the Arellano siblings.

Eyes boring into his, I addressed him direct, “Why exactly am I here, Benjamín,” landing on his first name pointedly. A name I rarely used out of fear, or maybe respect, or maybe just the desire to avoid whatever grief he might be prepared to dish out to me. What was the point now? As far as I was concerned, there was none. Not when we had forever to fight. But Mín didn’t look like he was fixin’ to fight right now.

“I brought you back.”

Annoying. Not really an answer and my face said just as much.

“I brought you back because we cannot afford to lose an asset such as yourself.” Mín continued, gazing into the fire like he was some kind of ancient sorcerer, divining an answer from it, “Por muchas razones y en muchas ocasiones,” then flicked the lighter closed, “ya has demostrado lo que vales demasiado que te perdamos ahorita. And with our enemies outnumbering us, we need more than just soldiers.”

I blinked back at him slowly, almost lazy but with evident curiosity because I had no idea what the fuck he meant and I was starting to get tired and that burning in my throat was kicking up again.

He stood up, dusted off his pants, and walked toward the entrance of the cave, voice bouncing off the stony walls and getting smaller and smaller the further away he got.

“Y’know if I learned anything from my uncle’s hubris, it’s that when your back’s against the wall, the only loyalty guaranteed is that of family. And since I brought you back, the blood in your veins is blood we share.”

Just when he reached the threshold, sky outside now darkened red by the last of the sunset, Mín turned around holding out the lighter in his hand. Extended, as if to summon me. “That is what you are now, Barrón. Family.”

═

taglist: @narcosfandomdiscord, @narcolini, @ashlingnarcos, @artemiseamoon,@drabbles-mc

[nowisthewinter]

8 songs that have been on repeat for me recently, tagged by @do-you-have-a-flag (It was an open invitation for everyone to which I pass on to you.)

TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me

Midnight Juggernauts - Shadows

Bauhaus - Boys

Parov Stelar - Booty Swing

Balming Tiger - Buriburi

Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf

Melleefresh vs deadmau5 - Attention whore

Memorials - Boudicaaa

[magxit]

The Swift Agenda 02 | Aug. 16 to Sep. 20, 2023

Taylor Swift — all the way from the physical and digital sales era — has now surpassed the unstoppable force, streaming juggernaut Bad Bunny as the #2 most-streamed artist in Spotify history.

Despite giving the industry a massive head start in algorithm dominance by removing her music at her peak (2014–2017) and thus losing out on Spotify’s crucial audience-building years, Taylor Swift is now only behind the king of streams, Drake, in the all-time rank and is vying for the Spotify crown as she continually DOUBLES his numbers (with a whopping 40M+ lead) on a daily basis.

It would take her approximately 4 months to ultimately close the 5-billion gap standing between her and the highly coveted title — with the impending release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) more than ready to offset whatever damage that a new Drake album may cause in the near future.

Taylor Swift has surpassed Metallica and is now the #19 best-selling artist of all time (via @chartmastersorg ), shifting 168,860,000 equivalent album units since the start of her legendary seventeen-year career, solidifying her status as the de facto leader of today’s music industry and widening the ASTRONOMICAL gap between her and the remaining 21st-century artists in the all-time Top 100 (with the nearest one having 121M):

— Taylor in the 160M–169M range — 0 artists in the 150M–159M range — 0 artists in the 140M–149M range — 0 artists in the 130M–139M range — 5 artists in the 100M–129M range — 5 artists in the 80M–99M range — 5 artists in the 60M–79M range

Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” movie takes the world by storm as it shatters the 24-hour pre-sales record in AMC’s eleven-decade history, edging out several Marvel blockbusters.

With its STAGGERING demand, it will swiftly claim the title for the biggest concert film of all time (and beyond) upon its October 13 release.

Taylor Swift’s “reputation” has surpassed 6 billion streams on Spotify, making her the ONLY artist in history with 4 different albums achieving this feat (Lover, 1989, Midnights, and reputation).

With “folklore” merely 60M+ streams away, Taylor Swift will very soon have FIVE different albums surpassing the 6B milestone — one that is supposedly reserved for A-list artists’ absolute, definitive, career-defining PEAK eras. And, once again, just to let it sink in: she is about to have FIVE.

Taylor Swift has spent SEVERAL more weeks at #1 on Billboard Artist 100, extending her all-time record to 79 weeks.

— Nearest male: 37 — Nearest female: 20 — Nearest group: 21

Taylor Swift’s “Lover” is now the #6 most-streamed female album in Spotify history, surpassing Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next”, becoming the FIRST among the SEVERAL Taylor Swift albums projected to do so.

With 1989 (Taylor’s Version)’s preorders alone ALREADY surpassing folklore’s actual first-week debut (846K), the pop bible’s re-recording is poised to OBLITERATE its predecessor’s original numbers in 2014 (1.287M) and even challenge the streaming-era giant “Midnights” (1.578M) for the biggest Billboard 200 debut for any streamable album ever.

Currently, GoldDerby predictions put Taylor Swift at the helm of the upcoming GRAMMYs:

— #1 frontrunner for AOTY — #1 frontrunner for SOTY — #2 frontrunner for ROTY

Taylor Swift has tied the record for the most VMAs wins in a single night, bagging 9 out of 11 awards and SWEEPING all major categories.

She now holds the all-time winning records for the BIGGEST categories in the VMAs, AMAs, and GRAMMYs.

— most wins for VMAs “Video of the Year” (4x) — most wins for AMAs “Artist of the Year” (7x) — most wins for GRAMMYs “Album of the Year” (3x; tied with Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra)

Going way beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, 33 MILLION PUZZLES for the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) Vault were SOLVED in less than a day on Google, signaling an earthshaking demand for what is shaping up to be THE most powerful album release of the decade.

[rikiblues]

shinjū (心中)

featuring. enhypen ni-ki x fem!oc contents. 86!au, angst, heavy angst, major character death, assisted suicide blood and gore, detailed injuries, racism, discrimination, mentions of concentration camps, forced military enlistment. fluff, love confessions, first kiss.

track. voices of the chord, sawano hiroyuki word count. 5080

note. some world notes; they're fighting a war against war machines called the legion, the 86 are people w colored hair and eyes thrown out of san magnolia by the alba, people w white/silver hair and eyes. they fight in war machines called juggernauts that don't account for pilot safety, and they communicate using a device called para-raid. handlers are alba military officials who direct them from inside san magnolia, typically incredibly abusive, and the 86 have little to no rights at all. that's it for this au, hope you enjoy ahah

Hazy darkness begins to give way to golden light.

Riki Nishimura opens his eyes slowly, aware of his head spinning, aware that he's practically numb. Not good—he has to be bleeding badly somewhere. Being able to feel pain, he's learned, is better than experiencing so much pain that your body goes into shock.

He blinks, and blinks again. Slowly his awareness spreads out, and his nose is hit with the metallic tang of blood. So much that he stiffens, wondering just how screwed he is. Just how many others they're losing again today...and if he himself is on that list.

That nonexistent list only etched in the hearts of their comrades. The only memorial allowed to them. Nothing else—not even a simple grave, not even a burial. 

He chuckles a bit when he remembers Shinei Nouzen and his scraps of metal retrieved from ruined Juggernauts, engraved messily with the names of fallen comrades. Riki hasn't yet lived long enough to be a name bearer, but regardless of whether he doesn't have a call sign, Shin will take a piece of his Juggernaut and write his name. It comforts him.

Of course, the thought of this all means that he's dying. He wouldn't think like this if he truly believed he had a way out of here.

A small sob gets his attention, and his head—thankfully he can move that fine—snaps to his left, and he jolts. There lies Mila, soaked with blood, her brown hair so soaked with it that it's darker, drippign droplets of it. Not all of it is her own, that much is obvious.

And she has a gun pointed right at Riki's head.

"I'm sorry," she hiccups, "I'm sorry, I can't—this isn't what I—"

Watching the only girl he's ever loved do this breaks his heart. Nobody should be subjected to this. The gun's muzzle is a full six feet or more away from him, and he will die instantly should Mila pull the trigger. Like he knows she will.

"Mila," he says hoarsely, "please."

Her hand shakes but she does her level best to keep it steady. "Riki," she lets out another sob. "Why? We—we were supposed to—"

"I know," Riki is beginning to feel the first sensations of pain from somewhere around his chest, a stinging ache. Crap. A chest wound. He's not getting out of this alive. "But remember what we talked about. Remember what we promised."

Mila cries harder.

𓆩♡𓆪

Midnight meetings at the age of sixteen aren't out of the norm, especially as an Eighty-Sixer. Comfort is hard to come by, and they will take any of it that they can. 

Riki Nishimura is one of those many hopeless Colorata, clinging onto some pathetic resemblance of hope and humanity when really, what is there left anymore for him to live on for? Perhaps the pride of an Eighty-Six. He knows he values that above far too much—never will he ever descend to the level of the white pigs.

Even if it means biting his tongue bloody as the Handler throws verbal assault at them. He wishes so badly sometimes he can rip the Para-RAID off his ear, but of course, it's permanently attached, while the oh-so-wise and noble Alba get to wear pretty little collars as they like. Hilarious. But unsurprising.

Why is he getting so angry about this at one in the morning? Probably the lack of sleep. He doubts he's ever slept this badly in the two years he's been serving as part of two different squads. Part of him wonders how he's still alive, and then he remembers he'll just die anyway, so he chooses not to worry about that.

"Riki?" a voice hisses in his ear. "Where the hell are you?"

He stifles a giggle. "I'm looking for something in my Juggernaut," he whispers back. No one is actually in the hangar with him right now—Mila just likes to worry when he doesn't show up to their little rendezvous on time, hence the Para-RAID call. "I'll be quick."

"Riki, it's literally pitch-dark in the hangar. What do you think you'll be able to find in there? And anyway, where are the mechanics?"

"Asleep in their rooms, I'd assume." 

Mila lets out a sigh. "Well, be quick and don't trip over something. You'll get in trouble."

"I know, I know," Riki mumbles, squinting in concentration as he feels around the cockpit of his Juggernaut for the rock he had picked up today while out on sortie. They'd lost another squad member today—Harua, the only other Orienta in their squad—and he'd spent too long crying over him. The only upside was the little, albeit kind of stupid, gift he had found for Mila while they retrieved another squad member stuck in the wreckage of his own Juggernaut.

"I saw Shin walk past just now," Mila says after a moment. "He looked...sad."

"He can emote?" is Riki's automatic, unthinking response. He immediately winces, realizing how insensitive that is. "Sorry, I...I just mean, he usually looks so..."

Cold. Unfeeling. Like a reaper.

"...he had a piece of Harua's Juggernaut, I think," Mila responds quietly. "There was something metal and shiny in his hand."

"Oh." Riki bites his lip, continuing dig around the cockpit. The metal is still warm from the day's sortie, not aided by the fact it has no cooling system whatsoever (or that the hangar is just a wooden warehouse-looking building with the mechanics' tools in it). "That's...that's good."

At least Harua will be remembered, Riki consoles himself. Shinei Nouzen is a strange boy, but a mostly reliable one. Riki says mostly because he knows next to nothing about the guy, other than his apparent interest for reading.

Everyone knows of their silent squad mate's habits now—from his absolutely silent footsteps to his tendency of collecting remnants of fallen comrades' Juggernauts, engraving their names on the shards, and keeping them hidden away. The Eighty-Six aren't allowed to have graves, which just contributes to the Legion problem, so Riki supposes that it happens to be Shin's way of giving them one.

Like a reminder. Like a memorial to who they were in life.

"Found it!" he mutters triumphantly when his hand comes in contact with a small, cooler object round but slightly oblong in shape. He quickly closes his fist around it and clambers down from his uncomfortable perch of leaning over the side of the Juggernaut, massaging his ribs with a grimace as he lands on his feet lightly.

"Found what?" Mila asks.

"You'll see," Riki replies cheekily, trying to keep the mood up. Losing squad mates is nothing new, honestly—by the next sortie, either they'll all die or they'll have to be reassigned to different squads. Riki knows which one is likelier, but a small, stupid part of him hopes he and Mila will make it.

"Okay, okay, just get over here already," Mila says impatiently. "I'm getting antsy. Do you know how weird it is to just in a corridor by a closed door? Not even by a window? When it's one in the morning?"

"I'm almost there," Riki whines, hastening his footsteps, making sure that Mila hears them. The settings on the Para-RAID are usually kept to the lowest—only transmitting sound and unfortunately, just a hint of emotion—both because Riki hates people reading into anything more than what he shows, and also because he refuses to be caught off-guard by the Handlers. Besides, it's funny to stomp his feet and feel Mila's wince as she no doubt thinks about the scolding they'll get if they're to be caught.

The darkness isn't so absolute that Riki can't see his hand in front of his face, but it's still a relief to emerge into the moonlight. The Eighty-Six don't exactly have electricity access, at least not at night, so they usually guide themselves by moonlight. And, well, on moonless nights...there are other ways.

"Riki, hurry up unless you want Raiden to go all mom-mode," Mila hisses, "because I think I just heard him talking to Shin!"

"I'm almost there," Riki repeats, "meet me outside. I've got something for you."

Immediately, Mila falls silent. "Okay," she responds, and he can practically hear the gears in her brain turning. It's amusing how he can do things like this and Mila will give it genuine thought. 

It takes less than two minutes for them to meet outside the barracks, and Riki reaches up to cut off the Para-RAID connection himself. Mila looks up at him with narrowed eyes for a second before looking at his hands clasped behind his back. She knows better than to try and look at it, instead raising an eyebrow at him.

"Patience, Mila dear," Riki says mischievously, much to her frustration. She frowns at him and strides ahead, but Riki knows all too well that she isn't actually upset, just messing around with her. Okay, and maybe a little pissed he took so long to get here, which. Fair.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" he calls out, giggling, striding after her. His longer legs help him reach her faster and Mila turns around, her own face breaking out in a grin, sparkly in the same way her blue eyes are. In the moonlight, both her eyes and her brown hair—signifying her mixed Deseria and Rubis ancestry—take on a silvery, washed-out sheen, but she's no less beautiful.

Mila Clemens is so beautiful it hurts to look at, a little bit.

(Okay, so. Riki might be a little whipped for her.)

"I do not want to be subjected to another scolding," Mila scolds, "and I don't think you want one, either."

"Then let's go before we get caught," Riki says, taking her hand and breaking into a run. Mila's startled shriek pierces the air as she's forced to run on light steps, dragged along behind him. He knows nobody will actually care—Raiden knows they need times like this after days like this, before days like tomorrow inevitably will be—and that in the end, as long as they don't wander too far, they'll be fine.

"Riki Nishimura!" she shrieks, but she's also laughing and her other hand is clutched around his wrist. "You're going to make me fall!"

"You're more nimble than that!" Riki calls back, giggling harder than ever as they reach the small hill they usually find themselves climbing at night. He sprints up to the top without pausing, and neither do his giggles or Mila's frantic yells and laughs and curses.

"I swear to god—" Mila cuts herself off with another high-pitched shriek as the two of them tumble to the soft grass, all because Riki throws himself down and takes Mila with him. They hit the grass in an undignified heap, giggling uncontrollably.

Riki unentangles himself from her. Their laughter dies down and they lie on their backs side-by-side, gasping for air as they look up at the night sky. If it weren't for the moon, they wouldn't be able to see each other at all.

And this is their purpose: going out almost every night, especially on nights when they lose members (which happens far too often) to look at the stars. To look at those distant lights, to wonder if there exists other beings in one of those planets, watching the Legion War, watching country after country be wiped out, watching San Magnolia kill off the Eighty-Six in their characteristically brutal fashion.

All of a sudden, Riki misses Harua with a sharp aching just behind his ribs, right over his heart.

Harua is far from the first teammate that Riki has ever lost. But they'd been closer than one might expect—a sort of expectable bond forged from being the singular Orienta in the squad. The white pigs may be just that, but that doesn't mean the Eighty-Six are great all the time, either. Riki and Harua had both seen their fair share of discrimination for their skin color, for the difference in how they looked. Even if their current squad members are all pretty cool, the hurt stays, always. Especially when you're supposed to be sticking together against the Alba.

"Mila?" Riki whispers. "Today, when I was going to check on—on Harua, I found something."

He can feel Mila turn on her side to look at him. Harua's Juggernaut had been downed, and Riki had stupidly jumped out of his own wrecked one to go get to him, before Raiden had sharply ordered him to stay where he was. Raiden isn't their squad captain, but they've learned to listen to people like him and Shin, by now. 

Riki had spotted the shiny little rock in the ground right before he'd climbed back into his Juggernaut, biting his lip at the fact that one of his teammates was fighting to protect him. In the end, that teammate scraped by with a little bit more than a nasty gash to the face from flying shards of metal during the battle.

That little rock was what he held onto, hunching his shoulders, biting his lips, as he listened to Harua's terrified scream echoing through the air, through the Para-RAID connection, before the Legion unit brought a blade down and neatly beheaded him. Nobody was able to save him. Nobody was able to end it for him before they took him.

Such is their life, but it doesn't stop him from getting upset every now and then.

"What did you find?" Mila asks, and that's when Riki turns around to face her as well. He reaches out a fist between the two feet that separate them, and drops the shiny little rock. Mila picks it up, examining the smooth, blue surface. "It's pretty."

"I know it's stupid," Riki says awkwardly, "but you saved me today, so I just..."

There are a hundred different things he could've done. Take her laundry duty. Help the girls in the kitchen. Go hunting with the boys for a change and bring something back for her. So many acts that could've won her over, and he chose to give her a stupid rock.

But he can't find it in himself to regret it, knowing Mila likes these small gestures better than anything else. Something small, meaningful. Though what the rock is supposed to mean, Riki isn't really sure, other than that the shade matches her eyes.

"I didn't save you," Mila says, "and it's not stupid. It matches my eyes, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, well..." Riki coughs. To this day, he doesn't know how to handle it when Mila calls him out so obviously like this. "Don't deviate from the point. If you hadn't warned me, I would've been dead. That Ameise would've—" he makes a slicing motion across his throat.

"Julien warned you, too," Mila points out, turning the rock over in her hands. She likes it, Riki thinks with a burst of joy.

"Yeah, half a second after you," Riki counters.

Mila laughs. "Okay, okay, I get your point," she says, turning onto her back again. Riki somehow finds the courage to stay where he is, looking at her. She must notice, but makes no comment on it. "Is this some kind of courting gift, Nishimura?"

Riki blinks. "Huh?"

"I said," she repeats without turning to look, but a playful smile curls on her lips, "is this some kind of courting gift?"

His ears burst into flame, practically. "I—I don't—know?" Riki stammers out, which prompts Mila to burst into laughter, finally turning to look at him again. "Why would you—?"

"Sophia told me you may have a crush on me." The words make Riki's face and ears burn worse. "And, well, once I started looking for the signs..."

What little he can see of her blue eyes seem darker. "We don't know when our last sunrise will be. So...I thought to myself, what's the worst that could happen, if I went for it?"

That kills the fluttery feelings swirling in his chest, the hotness in his face. He exhales slowly, turning onto his back, too, eyes tracking the shapes of the constellations in the sky, trying to work out what to say, and how to say it. 

"At first," he starts, "you didn't really seem special to me."

Normally, Mila would be making fun of him for that, but now she just listens quietly, humming in response. Riki sucks in another breath, because what he wants to say is by no means an easy feat, but he feels the need to say it, because he could die tomorrow, and he doesn't want to leave anything unsaid. As somber as it is, the thought of it kills his nerves.

"You were just another Processor," Riki goes on. "Yeah, you're really pretty, and yeah, there aren't many girls in our squad—" or even among the Eighty-Six as a whole "—but I was just focused on getting better at...not dying, you know? Because the truth is, death scares me. Even if our entire lives are shrouded in death."

"What changed?" Mila asks. Her hand finds his in the semi-darkness overlaid with silvery light. "Or, well, when did that change?"

"I guess when the platoons were first reorganized," Riki reflects, "and we had to work together. I dunno. I just know we started to work together more and it kinda went on from there?"

"It was like that for me, too," Mila admits. "I mean, it's hard not to notice one of the only Orienta in the squad when he's basically a loner, but...you get what I mean."

"Yeah," Riki agrees, "I do." A beat of silence, and then, "it's—it was Harua who helped me realize. That I like you, I mean. That I like you a lot."

"Really?" Mila sounds startled; Riki doesn't turn his head to look. He's afraid he might lose whatever this rush of courage flowing through him is if he looks. "Harua?"

"Yeah."

"He helped me realize, too," she reveals. Riki blinks, but keeps his head firmly in place. "He pestered me about it a lot before I gave in and faced my feelings. He didn't tell me anything about you, though. That was all Sophia."

"So he was playing matchmaker the entire time," Riki huffs out a laugh. "Wanna bet both he and Sophia were in on it together?"

"Why bet when we know that for a fact? Sophia's a sucker for romance," Mila snorts, right as Riki lets out another giggle, thinking of their mischievous, hyperactive friend. 

The silence falls, though, when the weight of her words settle in.

And yet, Riki refuses to let this chance go to waste. This could be their last night under the stars. Their last night together. The last chance to tell her what he needs to say.

"Mila." He sucks in a breath. His hand clutches hers tighter. "I love you."

She whispers back a quiet, "me too."

Joy bursts through Riki's entire being, and he turns to face her, grinning like the biggest damn fool on the planet. Mila turns to face him at the same time, and their eyes meet, and they're both giggling and grinning and just reveling in the sheer ridiculousness and euphoria of the moment and Riki just loves her so much he doesn't know what to do with all of this feeling.

"I'm going to sound really cheesy," Mila warns, "but sometimes I feel like nobody else complements me the way you do."

"Stop!" Riki starts actually laugh. "No romancing in the middle of the night!"

"You're romancing me too!"

"Only because I can't help it!" he protests, mouth aching from all this smiling. "You expect me to be able to help it—"

A sudden noise not too far off startles them both and they're up like lightning, ready to run, hands on the guns strapped to their waists. Riki's head swivels, heart pounding. He can't pinpoint where the noise came from. Did a Legion unit actually manage to sneak up on them? How much did they have left? Could they still run—

"Just a rabbit," Mila sighs out in relief, pointing to the animal a little distance way. "We're fine. Legion units make more noise than that anyway."

"Unless it's an antipersonnel type," Riki mutters, "but we're not on the battlefield, so."

Not exactly relieving, but Riki takes it. He sits down heavily on the grass, acutely aware of how ruined their mood is. Mila sits down beside him and lays her head on his shoulder.

"It's frustrating, isn't it?" Mila murmurs. "Knowing that there's love to be found in places as awful as this, but not knowing if we can live to experience it to the fullest."

"But I'd love you anyway," Riki says. "Even if I died, I'd love you."

"That's physically impossible."

He shrugs. "Just because something is supposedly impossible doesn't mean I can't promise to do it anyway. Because I will, you know. I will love you till death, beyond death, even."

"Okay, then," Mila says quietly. "I believe you. Because I will, too."

"But," he continues, "promise me you won't let them take me. If worst comes to worst...please. Do it. End it. Don't let them take me. I can stop them from taking you, but I can't defend myself if it comes to that."

"I'd kill myself before I let them take you," Mila whispers. "That's a promise."

"I won't let them take you, either," Riki vows firmly.

And when he leans down to press a kiss to her hair, she looks up. There's no negativity in there; she just looks sad and surprised all at once. "I love you," she murmurs. "I don't want to lose you."

But you'll lose me anyway. I'll lose you anyway.

Riki leans down to really kiss her, inching slowly so that she can move away if she doesn't want to, but she doesn't. Their lips meet and the kiss is simultaneously the best (first, actually) and saddest kiss of his whole life; they're slightly shaking in each other's hold, and Riki feels the sting of tears in his eyes.

"I don't want to lose you, either," he whispers when they pull apart. He hugs her tightly, burying his face in her brown hair. "I can't lose you, either."

But loss goes hand in hand with life anyway, doesn't it?

𓆩♡𓆪

And so, here they are. Trapped at the edge of a cliff of death where there is only one way to go—down. Down, down, down, until they are no more.

Riki's been impaled in the chest by flying shrapnel and he can't even tell if it's numbness or the actual loss of his right leg that makes him unable to feel it. Mila's entire left forearm is gone. There's shrapnel embedded in her shoulder, and a deep gash from somewhere on her torso is dripping blood everywhere. God, the two of them will not be making it.

Hence why they need to end it. Now.

"Do it," Riki urges, starting to inhale deeply, but stopping when pain ricochets through him faster than that bullet can travel. "Mila, come on. We don't know when they'll come back."

For all he knows, their squad-mates have driven the Legion away from Riki and Mila's ruined units to allow them time to end it, or something. 

"I promised," Mila cries. "But I—I can't do it to you—"

"You should be able to do it because it's me," Riki lets out a rattling breath. He can taste blood in his mouth, in his throat. "Because you don't want me to be taken by them. Because you don't want me crying out for you for all eternity in a craze."

The admission that his last words would be about Mila snaps something inside her. He can tell from the way her eyes harden. The way she closes them, inhales deeply despite the pain wracking her body right about now. Because of course she doesn't want that; she wouldn't wish that upon anyone but the white pigs. And even then, being taken by the Legion seems all too cruel.

"I don't want that to happen to you, either," Riki whispers. Tears well up in his eyes, hot and burning. "Harua's already gone. I couldn't save him, so please. Please. Don't let it happen to either of us."

He fumbles around for his own gun, and levels it at her. His hands shake but he's sure of himself. Ending Mila's life by his own hands? A muchbetter alternative. The only choice he has.

It's better than being beheaded by the Legion, becoming nothing more than a central core processor for one of their units. To be multiplied infinitely until there's so many of them screaming their death throes over and over again.

Riki knows this, because he overheard Shin talking to Raiden. He wishes to this day he hadn't known that, because now it makes the idea of becoming a Legion unit all the more terrifying.

He steadies the gun, closes his finger around the trigger, begins to pull just as Mila begins—

"MILA!" a voice shrieks, accompanying stomping footsteps. "RIKI! Where are you guys?"

"Sophia," Mila's eyes widen. "Oh, no no no no—"

"MILA!" the high-pitched female voice continues yelling, even as every inch of Riki wants to yell right back, to tell her to be quiet lest they're found, but it's bound to attract more attention from any Legion which might be nearby. Besides, their blood is an easy enough trail for Sophia to find them, as gruesome as it is.

It doesn't take long for her to come across them, and she immediately steps back, golden eyes blown wide. "No," she whimpers. "Please, no..."

"Sophia," Riki rasps. "You don't need to see this."

The petite Heliodor girl glares at him furiously. "Bullshit!" she snaps. Ever a raging storm, that's Sophia, indeed. "We can—we can still take you back to base, help you heal—"

"Now that's bullshit on level with the white pigs' logic, Sophia," Mila stops her. "You know there's no saving us. Maybe if we had medical help..."

She lets the sentence trail off. The brutal honesty puts out Sophia's fire as quickly as it had flared up as she tracks her eyes from Mila's bleeding stump of a forearm, the shoulder injuries. The gash Riki now realizes comes from a piece of metal wedged deep in her stomach. Riki's chest, and his leg, which he really doesn't want to look at right now.

The Eighty-Six don't have medical staff. They have to make do with what little supplies they manage to scrounge up. The only 'valuable' Eighty-Six, in any sense of the word, are the mechanics and their only use is to maintain the Juggernauts.

The Eighty-Six's only purpose is to fight the Legion and die trying. Nothing else. If they get injured, then it's game over. From there, the only option is to die.

Being assimilated by the Legion is not an option most are willing to accept. Riki would just shoot himself here and now if he didn't think Mila would be left alone. He doesn't think she would able to do it with his body lying in plain view—just as he doesn't think he can do it if her body was before him, either.

Sophia lets out a sob, pressing her blood-covered hands to her hands. Riki doesn't want to know whose blood it is. "This is so unfair," she sobs. "I don't want to lose my three best friends all in the span of two days."

Riki wants to point out that at least she didn't have to watch Harua die, but she definitely heard his death screams. His cry of, "someone please help me!" right before he was taken. But he doesn't think that'll help.

"I'm sorry, Sophia," he tries, gentler than he's used to being. "I'm so sorry that it has to be this way. We don't want to leave you. We would never."

"We love you, girl," Mila inhales shakily. "We love you so much, you and Harua. But you should go. You don't need to see this. Nobody should."

"This world is so messed up," Sophia looks up. "It took my parents. It took my sisters. It took Harua. And now it's taking you, too."

Riki knows Harua himself had a bit of a thing for Sophia. The two of them were friends, but it was difficult to tell what their relationship was, exactly. More specifically, it was Harua who was more sure of how he felt, and Sophia who never gave a thought to the nature of their relationship.

Matchmakers who could've been in love. 

"The world takes and takes, Sophia," Riki tells her. Oh, the pain is becoming unbearable now, the smell of blood only growing stronger and stronger. "It took my parents and sisters, too. Mila's parents. We're all a victim to it, and there's nothing else to do but soldier on through it."

He knows that so well. So many times have passed where he's had to tell himself just to stay afloat. Just to stay sane. 

When he had watched Konon be assigned to a different squad and never heard of her again, Sola left behind in the camp before she would be inevitably forcibly enlisted too. Never knowing what happened to either of his sisters, or his parents, who he knows are long  dead by now. He had almost wished to be back at the camp amidst the constant abuse, physical and verbal.

"I hate it," Sophia says, looking at them wide, wet eyes. "I don't want to keep losing."

"One day it'll end, one way or another," Riki says. "Please, leave. We don't have too much time left and I don't want you to see this, Sophia."

"Just—just please remember us at our best," Mila croaks out. "Remember that we loved you and Harua. That you were one of the best parts of our lives."

Sophia backs away slowly, swallowing hard. "What should I tell the captain...?"

"Tell him what you need to."

"Okay." Her golden hair and eyes glimmer in the sunset light. Harua would've wanted to witness this sight a thousand times, Riki thinks. He had always thought Sophia was a sunset kind of girl. "Goodbye...I love you. Both of you."

And then she's turning away and running, sobs wracking her frame as she goes. Riki aches to see her in so much pain, and it's worse when he sees the way Mila's closed her eyes, crying softly. 

"I don't want to die," she confesses. 

"Neither do I," Riki says. "But..."

"Yeah." Mila takes in a shaky breath. Levels her gun, and so Riki does, too. "I love you, you know. More than anyone else. You were my thin thread of sanity at times."

"You're everything to me," he admits softly. "I love you more than I can put into words."

"So then—" her grip tightens. Riki mirrors the action; it's like they're going to do everything together in their last moments. "Goodbye, love."

"Goodbye."

They pull the triggers. Mila's beautiful, beautiful smile is the last thing Riki sees before the bullets meets his forehead square in the center.

The best goodbye he could've wished for.

shinjū (心中), meaning "double suicide", used in common parlance to refer to any group suicide of two or more individuals bound by love, typically lovers, parents and children, and even whole families. 

lovers committing double suicide believed that they would be united again in heaven, a view supported by feudal teaching in Japan, which taught that the bond between two lovers is continued into the next world, and by the teaching of wherein it is believed that through double suicide, one can approach rebirth in the Pure Land.

songs listened to while writing:   - rock with you, seventeen   - voices of the chord, sawano hiroyuki   - my youth, nct dream

[this-daydream-is-dangerous-13]

Blondie? An incredible force. As a commenter said: “It’s just another Wednesday for her!”

The Swift Agenda 01 | Aug. 9–15, 2023

1. Taylor Swift ascends to unimaginable heights as she has now entered the Top 20 best-selling artists of all time (CSPC), shifting 164.5 million equivalent album units since the start of her legendary seventeen-year career, rising to the upper echelon among the all-time greats and leaving her 21st-century counterparts perpetually (with the nearest one having 120M):

— Taylor in the 161M–180M range

— 0 artists in the 141M–160M range

— 0 artists in the 121M–140M range

— 5 artists in the 101M–120M range

— 4 artists in the 81M–100M range

— 6 artists in the 60M–80M range

With the advent of streaming dominance, it’s easy to argue that modern artists have it “better” — but judging from the several tiers separating Taylor Swift, it’s evident that her success is an outlier vs. the rest of the industry, even among A-list and A+ list artists (i.e., the 15 remaining 21st-century acts in the all-time Top 100) who’ve long been compared with the pop titan.

2. Taylor Swift simultaneously charts 11 albums on Billboard 200, making her the only artist in the chart’s seven-decade history to do so 4x.

Much more impressively, she also charts FOUR albums inside the Top 10 of Billboard 200, making her the only artist to ever achieve this remarkable feat THRICE.

Billboard 200 weeks:

— Number 1: 63 (#1 woman, #3 overall)

— Top 10: 309 (#1 soloist, #2 overall)

— Top 200: 2456 (#1 woman, #3 overall)

3. Taylor Swift closes the first leg of her colossal “The Eras Tour” with universal acclaim, omnipresent impact, and industry-shaking commercial success. Official numbers are pending, but with the tour’s 53/146 dates (so far) alone, it’s estimated to break nearly every single record in existence.

4. During the last day of the record-shattering first leg of The Eras Tour, on her 6th consecutive show at the majestic SoFi Stadium, Taylor Swift announced the impending release of #1989TaylorsVersion.

With a STELLAR first-day US preorders nearing half a million, 1989 TV is essentially locked for a 1M+ debut on Billboard 200, challenging its legendary predecessor, “1989” (1.287M), or even the streaming-era juggernaut “Midnights” (1.578M).

5. Taylor Swift spends another week at #1 on Billboard Artist 100, extending her record to 76 weeks.

— Nearest male: 37

— Nearest female: 20

— Nearest group: 21

6. Taylor Swift is, once again, the #1 most-streamed artist of the day, week, month, quarter, and year on Spotify. She remains the #1 most-streamed female artist in history (54.9B) and currently outpaces/outstreams the two male artists leading the all-time rank with 60M–70M gaps on a daily basis.

Moreover, Taylor Swift occupies FIVE spots in the Top 10 most-streamed albums of the week (overall), making her the first artist in Spotify history to EVER achieve this. Each of them is gaining a whopping 10M+ streams every single day.

7. Taylor Swift now singlehandedly owns 25 spots (55.6%) in the Top 45 biggest streaming days (above 100M) in Spotify history, while the other 20/45 days (44.4%) are divided among seven male artists.

8. Midnights has officially reached 6 billion streams on Spotify, making Taylor Swift the only female artist with 3 albums surpassing the 6B mark.

9. Taylor Swift simultaneously charts songs from four DIFFERENT albums on Billboard Hot 100, making her the first solo artist to do so:

— Cruel Summer, #3

— Karma, #13

— Anti-Hero, #18

— Blank Space, #49

— I Can See You, #63

10. Cruel Summer becomes Taylor Swift’s record-extending 17th #1 song on Spotify US. Though based on projections, the highest it can get on the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 is #2, which would make her tie with Drake for the all-time record. It remains to be seen if it has a chance at #1 next week, so it’s advisable to withhold purchases and focus in streaming for now.

Meanwhile, Taylor has yet to acknowledge the SIX record-breaking Eras Tour shows at the SoFi Stadium, leaving people anticipating that SOMETHING is coming any minute now.

[purplekoop]

Alright, let's break it down:

Overwatch Figure Collecting: the somewhat definitive breakdown

If you're a fan of Overwatch and want a cool way to showcase your love of its characters without actually playing the video game (a very fair predicament), then my utmost recommendation would be to get your hands on some of the variety of fantastic poseable figures available for... a good majority of the cast.

See there's one hang-up when it comes to collecting just about any cast of characters from an existing franchise in physical form, especially one as large and varied as Overwatch's: not every character gets to be in every lineup. While some get close, as of now there isn't a single series of figures that contains every single Overwatch hero, even just from the original lineup from the initial 2016 release.

To help alleviate this as much as possible, I've charted out every single current character (meaning this is a week away from being at least somewhat dated) to try and find the best option available for every character if you want a collection of figures designed around a 1/12th scale collection. If you're not familiar with the term, this scale means every inch of figure is equivalent to one foot of a life-sized character. These figures also tend to be called 6-inch figures, since most action figures in this scale are designed around fictional dudes that are around 6 feet tall. This is the standard scale for most modern action figure lines, such as Marvel Legends, meaning it fits the best with the most other lines of figures. This'll be helpful for when we have to mix figure lines, since it provides a standardized base with only slight deviations between the lines.

I'd also like to clarify: This will only be a discussion of figures, with at least one point of articulation. Yes, that low bar is important for later. This does still rule out several things that I don't feel fit this type of collection, such as keychains, other minor collectables the ungodly overpriced statues on the official Blizzard store.

All that said, let's start with my favorite Overwatch figure series, and my highest recommendation, especially for a beginner collector like myself:

Hasbro's Overwatch Ultimates series

Released in 2019, the Ultimates series is a line of figures produced by American toy juggernaut Hasbro. Hasbro has a long but somewhat shaky track record of making 6 inch figures, being particularly infamous for the aforementioned Marvel Legends line, a massive collection of Marvel figures that have a somewhat negative stigma among hardcore collectors for cheaper production value relative to their $25 USD price point.

Those complaints however are much harder to carry over to the Ultimates as far as I'm concerned. Every single character looks fantastic and extremely game-accurate, packed with detail and accessories, making them both great display pieces and fun to just play around with.

The line was released in two waves, each consisting of both individual character boxes and two packs. Each character came out at about 20 USD, with two packs predictably being about 40 USD. Reinhardt is a bigger figure in a big box, so he costs a bit extra, but you can find him for decent prices still.

Wave 1 consisted of Tracer, Sombra, Lucio, Reaper*, and Reinhardt individually, with two packs consisting of Pharah+Mercy (teehee) and Soldier 76+Ana*.

Wave 2 introduced Zarya, Junkrat, and Cassidy individually, and a two pack of Genji and Hanzo. It also has several recolors, with the only notable one for here being a 4-pack of Genji, Zarya, Pharah, and D.va, all featuring Carbon Fiber/Midnight skins.

So. Slight hiccup: Reaper, Ana, and D.va don't get their default skins in this line. Reaper only has Blackwatch Reyes look (seen above), Ana has her Shrike design (her masked vigilante look), and D.va only has the Midnight skin. She also doesn't come with her Meka, in addition to not being available by herself in-box. Reaper and D.va have alternatives that are higher quality and have the default skins, but Ana's only 6 inch figure is the Shrike design, so it's unfortunately my best recommendation.

From here, we're gonna keep a running total of how many characters we have figures for. I'm only going to keep a total of Overwatch 1's roster of 32 heroes, since OW2's new heroes have next to nothing as of now.

So with the Ultimates line, we have 12 characters with their default skins, but 3 more if you're willing to accept an alternative skin as a substitute, bringing us a "generous" total of 15 out of 32. Already almost halfway there!

If I didn't make it clear already, I highly recommend the Ultimates line, it's super affordable for such a good quality set of figures. I said before each figure was priced at 20 USD MSRP, but especially with online secondhand listings, the average is really closer to 15 per figure. Thanks to listings of multiple figures (called a "lot" if you're looking for them on those sites), you can pretty easily find multiple figures bundled together for less than they tend to be individually. Personally speaking, I've gotten 3 separate lots for less than 150 USD total, and already have the majority of the unique figures, and most of the extra recolors to boot. Seriously, don't slouch on this line, the value of what you get for what you paid is great. Just don't expect to find too many of them in physical retail stores, but maybe nab them if you manage to get lucky and find one for a good price.

But if you want something that's a bit higher quality in exchange for a higher price point, while still roughly fitting in with the Hasbro line, then that brings us to our next set of figures

Good Smile's Figma

Good Smile is a Japanese company that makes high-quality collectibles based on a variety of franchises, primarily anime and games. Their Figma line consists of 6 inch scale figures with extremely high-quality detail, extensive articulation, and tons of accessories to enable a variety of poses.

...If your first instinct as a collector is "wow, that sounds like it'll be really expensive!", then good job, you'd be correct! Between production costs and the extra complications of importing from another country, Figmas are pretty pricey to come by.

But what of their Overwatch offerings? Well...

We have 10 figures total here, 6 of which are familiar faces. Tracer, Genji, Pharah, Mercy, Soldier 76 (though he seems rare, don't count on finding him easily), and the cowboy guy are all here if you want a premium alternative to the Hasbro line for those heroes. For the extra money, you get better sculpting detail, better and more thorough paint jobs, more articulation, and more accessories, including better quality weapons, more hand poses, and even alternate face swaps. You can also take off Pharah's helmet or the cowboy's hat. These are substantial improvements, which... you'd hope for with the money, but whether they're worth it compared to the Ultimates alternatives is really up to you.

Speaking of alternates though, we get to the default skins for D.va and Reaper that I alluded to earlier. Reaper is about all you could hope for, while D.va comes with more accessories like a can of Nano Cola, her hat from the Shooting Star cinematic, and... still no Meka.

We do have some new faces here too: Widowmaker and Zenyatta. Both of which are fantastic figures with tons of accessories... and also the Figma price tag in full swing. Zen in particular I've rarely seen listed for less than 100 USD. He's probably my most wanted but least likely to get soon official figure.

So, back to our running total, we can add 2 more brand new figures, and also get to add the default designs for Reaper and D.va, making our generous total 17 of 32, and if we feel like being mean to Ana then we're at 16/32, exactly halfway.

And if we stick exclusively to official 6 inch scale figures... that's where the list stays.

But if we're willing to bend our expectations a bit, then we can look into some alternative options, starting with Good Smile's smaller scale line...

Good Smile's Nendoroids

Nendoroids are Good Smile's smaller figure line, featuring chibi designs of a wider range of characters, but with the general production value you'd expect from Good Smile, with the details and accessories not far from the Figma line. According to the website, most go for about 45 USD from the start, but secondhand listings may vary. The figures are on average about 10 cm, or about 4 inches for my fellow americans. They definitely don't fit exactly into our collection, but let's look at what's on offer for Overwatch anyways:

15 figures total, the majority of which we've already seen before in a more proper scale.

With that said, I do want to point out a special note with one hero here we've seen before:

We finally got a Tokki!!! Designed so D.va can fit into it and everything!!

...Sold separately. For. A lot. I haven't seen many listings either, so don't get your hopes up too high for nabbing this one.

As for the others, we have 3 heroes we haven't seen yet: Mei, Torbjorn, and a surprising appearance from Ashe, the newest hero we've seen so far. All of these come packed with accessories, including... B.OB.!

Well. I didn't say you get all of him.

Now, getting a high-quality item for Ashe is cool, but the real highlight of the line for me is Torbjorn. He comes loaded with articulation like a movable welding mask, and tons of accessories including an articulated turret, and even an armor pack from before his rework! The real reason I mention him though is. Well. It's Torbjorn. Aside from the one anime eye and some slightly off proportions, he's not gonna be too far off from what you'd want from Torb in a 6 inch scale. Better than the solution on my shelf currently at least, but we'll get there.

So, again, this line isn't exactly what this kind of collection is for, but if you want high production value, good accessories, and a better (but still a bit high) price point than the Figmas, then I think these would be a nice addition to the collection, if you don't mind a couple heroes being a bit on the stubbier side than usual.

Adding these to our gratuitous estimate, we're up to a clean 20/32 heroes! Not too bad, but there's one more note I'd like to touch on here before we move on to the last set of "figures" I'm gonna go over.

We've actually gotten confirmation that nendoroids for Kiriko and Sojourn are on the way!

Kiriko looks to be coming sooner, which makes sense considering. Japan. But hey! Cool to see OW2 heroes get something!

But to round out our cast of OW1 heroes... I dunno. I think we might have to take some... drastic measures.

Funko pops.

I don't think Funko Pops need as much of an introduction as the other stuff we've talked about today. The menace of every fandom-pandering mall store, it's hard to like anything even tangentially nerdy without one of these blank-eyed menaces taking the semblance of its cast.

Now, okay, these barely quantify as "figures". Even most dedicated Funko Pop collectors would be self aware enough to admit that. But remember my "one point of articulation" rule from earlier? Well. You can move the head around. That's. Something.

The main reason we're here though is that we're getting desperate. We've got 12 more characters to find, and have already ran out of actually decent figure lines with more characters. If they don't have a Funko of the character, they don't have anything for 'em.

And well, good news: almost every OW1 hero has a Funko Pop! And not only that, they're some pretty above-average Funkos to boot. Not just in quality, but even size for a few of them. Bastion, Roadhog, Winston, Orisa, and Wrecking Ball are all 6 inch "super size" pops, which at least helps them feel a little more in line than just the standard 3.5 inch ones. There's also pops of Symmetra, Doomfist, Moira, Brigitte, Baptiste, and even Echo. Every other hero we've already discussed also has one too. Even B.O.B. has a 6 inch funko! Currently the only one I have is Torb, who's on my Overwatch shelf as a rough proximity to scale with the others.

There's also more skin variants than I care to count, including OW2 variants for Tracer, Genji, Reaper, and Cassidy.

But yeah, add those new heroes up, and that brings us to... ...31.

31 out of Overwatch 1's cast of 32 heroes has a Funko Pop or other, higher-quality figure.

If you haven't been keeping a head count, that leaves Sigma out as the only one with nothing.

Don't feel too bad for him though, he's got every single Overwatch 2 hero keeping him company. Sojourn and Kiriko included, but at least they've got Nendoroids confirmed on the way. If you're curious why they skipped him but not Echo, it's because Echo is in a small wave of Overwatch 2 branded pops.

Now, if you feel like I've been too kind to Funko here, I'm gonna fix that real quick, because there's one more officially licensed series of figures right now. Good news, they're actual, non-chibi figures.

Bad news?

Funko's Overwatch 2 Action Figures

If you ever want to know what it sounds like to have a wet fart in Action Figure form, then pick up one of these things.

Other than featuring the Overwatch 2 designs, making them the only real poseable figures to do so right now, these things are completely worthless. First off, they're 3.75 inch scale, noticeably smaller than either of the other proper figure lines. They're also much, much, MUCH lower quality, not just in terms of looks (the style for Tracer's face makes me mad) and lacking accessories, but just general production quality. I've heard it's EXTREMELY common for limbs to be so loose on these things, the legs tend to fall out.

they're... technically at a lower price point. But they're still such mediocre figures, I can't in good faith recommend these to basically anyone. Get the decent pops like Bastion or Orisa instead if you for some reason insist on giving Funko money, at least those won't literally fall apart on you.

So, I said earlier Funko was our last stop, but there's one more thing I want to gloss over that some of you might've been thinking about already

Lego Overwatch

I didn't bring these up earlier since They don't quite count, and they feel like they warrant a full separate post once I get my hands on some of them where I can go into more detail, but Overwatch has a variety of Lego sets, featuring a good chunk of the cast in minifigure form, and some of the cast in a form that's slightly less "Mini", with Winston and Roadhog being special "bigfigs".

Reinhardt and D.va come in a set together featuring their armor and Meka respectively as the main builds of the set. It does mean that Rein outside of the armor is disturbingly normal size relative to the rest of the cast, but hey, cool builds aside from that. Hoping to get these soon actually.

I don't know how well these measure up to scale with the proper figures, but I wouldn't count on them fitting with anything besides the Lego sets, and in that context they look a little too big, but it's whatever.

Wrecking Ball also has a buildable mech, again not counting on it to scale great with the non-lego figures, but it's a fun-looking set still.

Going even bigger though, and we reach Lego Bastion.

Yeah this is why that cross promotion skin exists. It's a buildable Lego Bastion! It transforms! It's so massive it might actually fit close enough to the 6 inch scale! Ganymede looks... less than great, but hey, I'm not complaining too much besides that!

Obviously it's not DX9 Freeman (again, check my last post), but it's still really neat, hoping to get my mitts on this one soon too.

So... yeah! There's my breakdown of every major official series of Overwatch figures. Hopefully this helps someone out there get a better idea of what's all available and how complete of a collection they can expect to get. Again, I highly recommend the Hasbro Ultimates series, but really just get whatever you want with your budget and quality standards as a collector. If you get all the Funkos, reskins included, then hey, more power to you. Or if you just think this is neat and have no intent on actually buying any of this stuff, then I hope this rambling was at least entertaining.

(also I accidentally lost the Figma and Nendoroid sections of the post before needing to retype them so yeah this post took way too long to make, so seriously, thanks if you made it through this far.)