#ONE PIECE GOOFY REAL dude he's so.

[astrozure]

oh my god goofy one piece !!

[bbyjackie]

𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐒... 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐒 — ♡

one piece social media feat: strawhats special appearance: whitebeard pirates, heart pirates, kid pirates

》 in honour of barbie!! (+ oppenheimer)

♡ liked by nefertari_vivi, ace and 10.4k others

_ynln: barbie girls in the new world 🎀💄

[music: Beauty And A Beat - Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj ♫]

tagged: p1rateking_luffy, lovenami, theroronoa.zoro, nicorobin, nefertari_vivi, sogekingg.usopp, blackleg.sanji, jinbe, ilovecottoncandychopper, S0U1K1NGBR00K, FRAAANKY

FRAAANKY: LETS GOOOOOOOOO 🔥🔥

nefertari_vivi: so happy to meet up with you guys again!! 💕

↳ _ynln: we missed u!

↳ lovenami: lets do it again!

↳ blackleg.sanji: YOU WERE SO BEAUTIFUL VIVI 💞💘❣️💕🥰😍

lovenami: we look so good omg ‼️

ace: CAN'T BELIEVE WE RAN INTO EACHOTHER

↳ _ynln: EEE IM SO GLAD YOU JOINED US!!

↳ p1rateking_luffy: HEHE IT WAS SO FUNNY WHEN U FELL ASLEEP ACE 😂

sogekingg.usopp: BEST DRESSED CREW IN THE NEW WORLD

trafalgar_d.law: it looked like you all copied doflamingo's style

↳ _ynln: PLEASE DELETE THIS B4 HE SEES IT I DONT WANT TO DIE🙏🙏

↳ p1rateking_luffy: HEHAHHA TRA GUY YOURE RIGHT

↳ doflamingo_: Looking good @_ynln

↳ _ynln: you're old enough to be my dad 😐

↳ doflamingo_: Add a dy to that

↳ theroronoa.zoro: more like you should dy off 😭😭 (liked by trafalgar_d.law, _ynln, sogekingg.usopp)

CAPTAIN.KIIIID: fire song choice (liked by _ynln, theroronoa.zoro)

♡ liked by marco_o, iampops and 14.3k others

ace: ran into these losers 😪

tagged: _ynln, p1rateking_luffy

marco_o: so when you said you couldn't do cleaning duty, you were out watching barbie

↳ ace: And I'm bad like the Barbie (Barbie) I'm a doll, but I still wanna party (party) Pink 'Vette like I'm ready to bend (bend) I'm a ten, so I pull in a Ken

↳ marco_o: you need to be put down

_ynln: omg i made it on THE FIRE FIST ACE'S ig?! 🫢🫢

↳ ace: YOU WERE LITERALLY IN THE LAST PHOTO DUMP

↳ _ynln: NO WAY YOU POST ME IN THE SAME DUMP AS LUFFY AND EXPECT ME TO BE OKAY W THAT 🤨🤨

↳ ace: mb you're the no.1 fr 😌🤞

p1rateking_luffy: LERS DO A MOVIE NIGHT AGUIB WIEH SABU TOO

↳ saaaa_bo: real, if that's what you were trying to say

iampops: Sons, let's go watch barbie together

↳ ace: pops i ain't even gonna lie, there's no way we can bring you to the theatre and not have the marines after us 😭😭

↳ _ynln: ace YOU'RE the liability, i literally ran into the marines and they were offering me DOUBLE your bounty to turn you in

↳ lovenami: AND YOU DIDN'T DO IT?

♡ liked by nojiko.ko, blackleg.sanji and 6.9k others

lovenami: glad this fit is boutta be on my new bounty poster 🤞

tagged: p1rateking_luffy, _ynln, nicorobin, nefertari_vivi

_ynln: nami nahh 💀 we were running for our LIVES

↳ themarineofficial: my mum told me to chase after my dreams (liked by _ynln, FRAAANKY, theroronoa.zoro)

↳ sogekingg.usopp: WHO TF HACKED INTO THE OFFICIAL MARINE IG LMFAOO 😭😭

↳ lovenami: scariest notification

trafalgar_d.law: luffy? more like goofy. why's he trying to rizz up the camera man like that

p1rateking_luffy: Tra guy what does rizz mean

↳ trafalgar_d.law: RIZZ: Another word for spitting game/how good you are with pulling and sustaining bitches. [Urban Dictionary]

↳ p1rateking_luffy: I GOT THAT ILLEGAL RIZZ 🤪🤪😇🙏🔥🔥

↳ _ynln: LUFFY WHAT

↳ lovenami: ?!!

↳ jinbe: ?

↳ trafalgar_d.law: wtaf

↳ p1rateking_luffy: Ace told me to say it :((

↳ saaaa_bo: ACE STOP RUINING LUFFY'S DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

↳ ace: GUYS OMG DONT HATE ON ME TBF HE PULLED HANCOCK AND SHES LIKE 30

blackleg.sanji: MY BEAUTIFUL GODDESSES IN ONE FRAME HOW DID I EVER GET THIS LUCKY TO BE BORN INTO THIS LIFE 💓💖💘🧡💕💖💗❤️

↳ p1rateking_luffy: I'm in the photo too!

↳ blackleg.sanji: sadly.

↳ _ynln: 😭

♡ liked by sogekingg.usopp, BONBONBONCLAY and 12.7k others

p1rateking_luffy: Last nighT was fun

tagged: ace, theroronoa.zoro, _ynln, blackleg.sanji

ace: WHAT WERE YOU DOING TO ME?

↳ _ynln: dude you were GONE 😭

↳ p1rateking_luffy: HAAHGAHA DID YIUO SEE THE THINGFW WE DFEW ON YOURE FACE

↳ trafalgar_d.law: ever feel bad about yourself? think about luffy's spelling (liked by saaaa_bo)

lovenami: WHAT WERE YOU GUYS DOING TO YN AND ZORO IN THE SECOND PHOTO

↳ lovenami: WAIT WHEN WAS THE PHOTO EVEN TAKEN?

↳ p1rateking_luffy: Ryght after the marnjnes follqweod you g0uys instead

↳ sogekingg.usopp: aint no way i was fighting for life and these rats were having the time of their life 🫤🫤

↳ _ynln: 😝

↳ p1rateking_luffy: 😝

♡ liked by killerrr, SOU1K1NGBR00K and 10.1k others

_ynln: strawhats take on oppenheimer next 🖤

tagged: p1rateking_luffy, lovenami, theroronoa.zoro, nicorobin, nefertari_vivi, sogekingg.usopp, blackleg.sanji, jinbe, ilovecottoncandychopper, S0U1K1NGBR00K, FRAAANKY

themarinesofficial: strawhat ladies and roronoa zoro i will need to arrest you for stealing my heart ❤️

↳ _ynln: LMFAO UM IM CRYING??!!

↳ nicorobin: This is slightly uncomfortable

↳ CAPTAIN.KIIIID: LMFAO THE WAY ZORO IS INCLUDED AHHAA

↳ blackleg.sanji: BACK OFF FROM THEM 🫵

↳ theroronoa.zoro: just crucify me again

sogekingg.usopp: OKAY BUT FR WHO HACKED INTO THEIR ACC 😭😭

↳ FRAAANKY: nah people in the marines just getting bored fr

ace: YOOO LETS MEET UP (liked by _ynln)

↳ p1rateking_luffy: @saaaa_bo COME TOO

[soursturniolo]

boyfriend hcs (sfw & nsfw) • chris sturniolo

boyfriend chris

- talking stage would last a long time with him. he wasn’t really looking for a relationship when you both met but as he got to know you and got closer to you, things changed for him.

- I feel like it would really take something happening to make him realize like ‘oh shit I really care about her, I want her to be mine’. it’d probably take him hearing you talk about some other guy or you just calling him out about feeling strung along for him to make the jump to dating.

- once you’ve labeled it and talked about everything and decided to be official though? he’d be so damn good to you.

- kid is goofy as hell. you’d always be laughing with him. either him saying something crazy or funny or doing something out of pocket would have you both dying.

- that doesn’t mean he can’t be serious though. he understands time and place and if there’s ever a serious discussion that needs to be had, you have his full and undivided attention.

- music is really important to him and a big part of his life. he’d LOVE having a collaborative playlist on Spotify where you both can add songs you like that make you think of one another.

- LOVES pda. Gives no fucks. Always holding and kissing on you, as long as that’s okay with you of course.

- “hey mama” started as a joke but it’s now how he greets you half the time. The other half he’s calling you babe or just your name.

- seems like such a player but fr is such a gentleman with you and makes sure you know he only has eyes for you.

- shows you off any chance he gets. someone doesn’t know who you are? Don’t worry he’s pulling up your insta real quick. and always emphasizing that you’re HIS girl.

- so proud of you and your accomplishments. give the man a megaphone. don’t worry he’s got one ordered.

- values your opinion so much. goes to you for advice and opinions on things often.

- likes staying in just as much as going out. sometimes you both just stay in and watch a movie while cuddled up in his bed or on the couch, other times you go places like top golf or the movies. either way, you’d always be having so much fun.

- doesn’t play with you. if he hears someone saying some disgusting or disrespectful shit about you he’s shutting it down immediately.

- this man loves being the little spoon. I said what I said. loves to lay on you with his head on your chest while you play with his hair.

- possessive af. If he catches a man staring at you like you’re a piece of meat at a party he’ll put his arms around you and pull you in, kissing your head while he literally glares daggers at the man.

- at the same time, super chill about you having male friends. not weird about it like some guys are. he trusts you and isn’t worried, he knows he’s got your heart the same way you have his.

- protective in really cute ways. the kind of dude to see you bend down under a table or near a corner to pick something up and he immediately covers it with his hand to make sure you don’t bonk your head coming back up. If you’re walking in downtown LA he’s always got to be the one closest to the road. always checking in on you at events and parties you guys go to, making sure you’re not overwhelmed or uncomfortable

- overall just a sweetheart fr, even with all the dirty jokes he makes

NSFW content below!! Stop here if you don’t want to read.

bedroom chris

- ass man all day everyday. LOVES when you wear skirts or dresses that hug you and show it off just right.

- you wore a sundress one day and this man almost had a stroke right then and there. sundresses are gods gift to anyone attracted to women and he felt blessed that day fr. it just showed off your curves so well and he really liked that it gave easy access.

- you called him daddy once as a joke, thinking he’d gag or laugh. instead, he leaned in and asked you to say it again in such a sexy raspy voice. you were the one gagging later.

- loves doggy style. it’s the go to, he loves being able to spank you and grab your ass. but he’ll never say no to you riding him.

- talks absolute FILTH. whispers in your ear about just how he’s going to take you, how good he wants to make you feel, how sexy you are, how he wants to hear your scream for him, how your his and his only.

- begs you to sit on his face. And he doesn’t like any of that hovering bullshit, no. You tried that once and he grabbed your hips and pulled you to sit down on his face so quick and held you there until you finished. he feels like he’s died and gone to heaven when you’re on his face with your fingers in his hair shuddering and moaning and he gets to pleasure you and have a literal front row seat to watching you finish.

- really enjoys aftercare!! always making sure you’re cleaned up and situated before worrying about himself, especially after a rougher night.

- smirking and so smug when your legs are sore the next morning, he takes it as a job well done. but fr he’ll offer to massage your legs or back to make you feel better, he doesn’t want you in pain.

[melonteee]

Okay am I crazy or did Oda ACTUALLY write most of the straw hats (and most other characters in One Piece tbh) to be very heavily queer coded?? Like I feel so happy watching this series because of how INSANELY queer it is. Like ESPECIALLY nami for example being heavily hinted at for being a lesbian like i genuinely was expecting a kiss from her and vivi 😳 but then any time I mention it on tiktok or anywhere else, people are like "NO WAY NO WAY NAMI IS SO OBVIOUSLY STRAIGHT WEHHHHHH!!" Like...I reeeeally hope that oda doesn't do a naruto and put all the women with a man at the end just..because. Like I genuinely hope he wrote them that way ON PURPOSE 😭 like I had no idea that a lot of the straights actually ship nami with luffy??? Like not to hate on others ships or anything but ehhhhh?? Like I guess people don't understand the difference between sibling and romantic tension?? Or does the hot girl just HAVE to get with the hero at the end?? I truly despise that trope 😭 and I know that oda said no relationships between the strawhats (let's be real, he ships frobin I see you oda lol) but I hope he doesn't side with dude bros on these kinds of things is all I ask. Because that would be suuuuper disappointing 😞

lol Oda famously does his own thing, he made Gear 5 goofy because he was sick of writing serious fights. He literally said something along the lines of "I know most stories have the power up be serious, but I don't want that. I want One Piece and Luffy to stay fun."

I have no idea if Oda intentionally queer coded his characters, but I do know he wouldn't care how we interpret them. He's said before that he thinks freedom of interpretation of his characters is great, so whether intentional or not, we at least know he wouldn't have some vendetta against it.

But what I DO know is whenever I see Shonen bros think One Piece is gonna follow regular Shonen tropes, I always have to laugh cause One Piece constantly doesn't do what they want it to do. Gear 5 was a disappointment to a lot of shonen bros cause they wanted it to be a scary cool Luffy, but instead it was a Tom and Jerry cartoon. No one can ever say what the hell Oda's gonna do because at this point in time, he can do whatever he wants. I can't ever see him following what's conventional for a shonen, like I will genuinely be shocked if he ends it with everyone getting married and having kids because 'that's what a shonen is'.

Like, this is One Piece. Why does anyone think it'll fit itself into the Shonen box exclusively, especially by the very end lmao

[ravennaortiz]

Okay inspired by your 90s prompts. Let's go with Guero and the prompt: It's the way you love me, it's a feeling like this

Hello Lovely! One serving of Guero coming right up!

“Thanks for letting me tag along” stated Bottles as he and Guero walked into the local poetry café. Guero simply nodded. He was nervous. He felt out of place amongst the crowd of poets,writers, people he deemed smarter than him. If he was being honest he would have bullied, mocked and hazed some of these people back in middle and high school. Now he felt like the loser as people stared and whispered as they watched the two bikers.

“I’ve always wanted to come here. I heard the teas are great. They have a London Fog which is-“ rambled Bottles as they made their way to some seats. “Dude. Here go get them. Please just. Please” stated Guero as he stuffed money in to Bottles hands. He was on the verge of a panic attack and needed a bit of silence. The whole drive here Bottles had been rambling about this place and how kind you were to invite him, how cool and nice you were. Especially compared to Guero.

Guero sighed as he took a seat near the front. He wanted to be able to see you easily. He was looking around as he texted you that they had arrived. He smiled when you replied back with a silly photo and a suggestion to try the London Fog and that you would be going fourth. You then told him you were pretty sure you were going to vomit butterflies the way your stomach was fluttering with nerves. –You are gonna be great babe. I love you- He texted you as he sent a goofy smile back.

By the time the lights dimmed Bottles was back with two drinks and a muffin. “She’s going fourth” stated Guero as he took one of the drinks. Bringing the drink to his nose he gave it a quick sniff. It reminded him a little of you. Warm vanilla with undertones of something he couldn’t quite place. Carefully he took a sip and was surprised by the taste. Bottles chuckled as he watched his friend, his face screwed up in concentration as he took another drink. “Tastes like a flower and sweet but like a orange or something” stated Guero as he looked at Bottles. “Do you like it? I can get you something else” stated Bottles as he started to get up. “Nah. It’s not bad I like it. It’s different” replied Guero as he shook his head and taking another sip. Maybe he was a tea guy after all.

Guero and Bottles sat silently listening to the people before you. The feeling of inadequacy started to come back as Guero struggled to understand some of the words. Hell he wasn’t even sure some they were real words.

 “You okay?” inquired Bottles as he watched his friend start to bounce and tap. Sweat building on his forehead as his breathing quickened. Before Guero could reply you stepped out onto the stage. His breathing slowed down as your eyes locked with his, smile brightening before you blew him a kiss which he instinctively caught making some of the crowd who had seen the display aww.

“This poem is for someone I hold in my heart. Who doesn’t see himself as fully as I do.” You spoke into the mic as you looked around the crowd. “This piece of work is simply called The Poem. While the prose is simple the feelings behind every word are as complex as the amazing human I call mine” you continued as your eyes landed back on him.

“It’s the way you love me. A feeling like” you began to speak. Your eyes floating over the crowd but always coming back to him. Guero now felt like he couldn’t breathe as he leaned forward on the table. He was so caught up in the warmth and feeling of your words. He felt each of them like you were touching him. He felt intoxicated as he soaked in your feelings and for the first time feeling worthy of you.

Want more Guero? Click here

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[hikikolol]

*vity as your fwb*

ot9

idea from this piece (*slip up*) where in; nine of your friends take turns into pleasuring you -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

♡ park serim

he'd so be the type to call you up in the middle of the night when he's feeling a little stressed from all of the requirements given to him from his course

hard dom on days he's frustrated and soft dom on days he just wants to chill

calls you 'angel' 'babe' 'baby' with the occasional 'slut' 'cum bag' and 'cock sleeve'

dreams of the threesome you did with woobin that one time (it was the first time you squirted so much)

would literally invite you out to the gym just so he could fuck you right after

black lingerie sets him off bad

asks you to cockwarm him often when he works on his reqs

♡ ma allen

it's obvious that allen is a giver, your pleasure is his pleasure

insane fucking stroke game through and through

he calls you in once every blue moon, it's because he always waits for you to make the first move (he feels guilty that the other guys use you too much that he doesn't want to take your rest days and make it his own...unless you ask for it)

literally would make a list on his notes app on things he did that made you moan loudly so he could do it all in one go the next time you guys do it

such a SWEET FUCKING THING

one of the best aftercare fr

moan his name, it would make him lose his mind

♡ koo jungmo

would literally use his "black card" excuse to bed you when you're not in the mood

sugar daddy in the making fr

the one who started it all by asking you to suck on his dick one night when he was feeling horny and it was just the two of you in his room

you don't know why you said yes but it was mostly because his eyes were too mesmerizing

great at sex and you can't even deny it

highest sex drive amongst the rest, it surprised you the most when his stamina was so high even after three rounds (as if he doesn't almost die from running up four floors of stairs)

treats you out on dates after resting which is nice

it's the literal princess treatment

♡ seo woobin

the literal definition of soft dom

so caring before and after intercourse that you might've thought he was your actual boyfriend

sweet fucking words dripping like honey while he whispers them into your ears MY GOD

tries not to ruin you too much but can't help it on some days when he's feeling a little bit more

you still dream of the day when sweet ruby choked you while you were having sex, it was one of his rough days

he dines and he wines before he fills

makes you breakfast when you sleep over too, waffles became a staple

loses his fucking mind when he sees you in a skirt. he would literally go up behind you and starts grinding (this is when you guys are alone in the dorm, he's not big on exhibitionism)

♡ ham wonjin

it's a 50/50 with this dude, there are times where you're horny but his jokes turns you off immediatley, and there are times where his jokes made you completely wet

he's great with sloppy thrusts, those make you cum so much faster

he likes eating you out too

lingerie lover, would seriously not take them off whilst you fuck

high socks too? sign him the fuck up, he loves the visual of your flesh being so tight in long socks, it turns him on way too much

you had to remind him that periods were a thing at one point because he was trying so hard to eat you out but you kept pushing away

texts you at the ass crack of dawn to say he's at the door and to let him in so you can fuck (there are times when you left him out to go home, though)

literally goofy sex to passionate real quick

besties 5ver tho

♡ kang minhee

lazy sex? yeah, lazy sex

literally would be lounging around on his bed and you'd catch him stare at your tits until you give in and pull your shirt up yourself

can't deny this man of tits, could literally spend hours fucking them

wearing a low cut shirt will be the death of him (cue dragging you into his room for a quick fuck)

sleeping on his bed would most probably end up with sleepy sex as he grinds his hips onto you while you try to sleep

you can never say no to minhee, honestly, because once he uses that eye smile that lifts up his freckled cheeks oh you're done

aftercare consists of him wiping you down then throwing it at a random corner of his room to lay down with you...falling asleep right away (one time you had to put his brief and boxers on for him while he slept)

sugar daddy in the making

♡ song hyeongjun

an absolute switch, one day he likes being on top then the other he's a complete bottom

his whimpers makes you lose your mind, gets louder the nearer he is to cumming too

he texts you in the middle of the night to tell you that he touched himself to the thought of you, in a very shy cute way that had you running to his doorstep

drives you insane with his thrusts, insane stroke game pt. 2

high stamina = hours on end

skirt kink pt. 2

most fav position is when you ride him though, best position for switch me thinks. one minute, you control the speed and the next, he has you slightly lifted up so that he could ram himself into you (cue screams)

luvs luvs luvs when you call him 'puppy' but will never say that out loud

♡ kim taeyoung

has an ego taller that the tallest building fr

pretty chill but can totally be evil, he starts up most of the threesomes...

absolutely gets a kick at seeing you fucked out, and maybe being fucked by someone else while he's in the room

flirts nonstop to get your attention

something you found cute though is when he kind of gets shy after cumming, the shy smile that creeps up to his face when he reaches out for something to wipe you with looks so ethreal

loves to look at you while he fucks, it's either staring at your fucked out face or his point of view when his cock disappears into your cunt, he feels like it's straight out of a porn video

after all that shy shenanigans though, he never fails to pull up his digi cam to take a picture of you being a mess (all with consent of course)

♡ ahn seongmin

the first time you had sex, you were expecting him to learn quickly but you never expected him to make you moan so loud

seriously has the most sub energy but is surprisingly a switch, you loved it when he put your legs up to ram into you (made you cum embarrassingly fast)

tries not to overthink too much when he's pleasuring you so that he could enjoy it himself, forgets that thought the moment you moan out his name though

he knows the a to z of aftercare, went as far as to put on a face mask and pampered you all night

likes to do it in private, meaning, if there are other people in the dorm, you can forget about it

would like to learn how to eat you out next

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- surprise!! came earlier than expected lmaoo i had way too much motivation to write today so here you goo hihihi hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it <33

[spacesapphi]

YIPPIEE time to bring in my ideas for Jas' parents and talk ab the kind of ppl they were when it comes to my writing! I haven't finished drawing them in my style yet, but I have picrews here as a very basic idea of what they would look like !

Their names are Amelia and Jason Anderson and I think ab them so much.... Ty to my moot moonferry for helping me figure out names for them!!

ANYWAYS more pieces of info below the cut for em :3

Amelia

- went to college as an education major, wanted to specifically work as an elementary school teacher!

- genuinely believes in the concept of magic (which TBF is real in Stardew) and will defend her belief to death

- she was so excited to have a daughter so she could dress her up in cute costumes and outfits, Jas was about 3 months old on her first Halloween and she had the most elaborate fairy costume on Earth

- Was put off by Jason's flirting at first bc she completely misunderstood his relationship with Shane and genuinely thought those two had a thing for a bit, even though they didn't (Def walked up to Shane like "hey just wanted to let you know your bf is hitting on me 🫤" "MY WHAT???")

- once she found out she was wrong, she finally reciprocated Jason's flirting and asked him out for their first date

- Took the film class she met Shane and Jason in initially because it was the only available class of a credit type she needed. She's happy she took it in the end

- Both of her parents passed, and like Shane, was raised by her aunt. That aunt passed away while she was in college though :(

- got into gridball to be a supportive gf to Jason at first, but soon became a huge enjoyer of it and the Tunnelers specifically!

- very much the level-headed and chill one in the relationship, she keeps Jason down to Earth

- loves storytelling, and was great at it. She had a genuine gift for doing different voices and making the books she read sound fun. Her students loved it

- like Jason, is fairly tall, standing at 5'10

- Jas looks JUST like her, just with Jason's hair color. Everything else is like an exact duplicate of Amelia though

- loves jewelry, specifically fun and funky earrings! She has a decent collection of them

- an amazing cook, she just generally has the knack for it! She can look at pretty much any dish and know what she needs to do to make it

Jason

- he was a visual arts major, like Shane! He genuinely wanted to be a movie producer one day

- He was also on a gridball scholarship like Shane, and while it was a big passion, he didn't plan on going pro with it

- a very goofy and funny guy, flirted with Amelia using the corniest pick up lines (they worked though so he considers it a win)

- TOTAL WIFE GUY he loves Amelia very much and would do anything for her

- also a total girldad, he was so excited to find out he was having a daughter, like running down the street cheering excited

- his family disowned him after he came out as bisexual, so he really doesn't have anyone. This fact also helped him bond a lot with Amelia and Shane,, given that all three of them didn't have much family in life.

- he absolutely has a motorcycle and would take Amelia on scenic drives for their dates. She thought it was so romantic!

- he is VERYYYY tall, like 6'4

- very close with a lot of the guys on the varsity gridball team. He's a total social butterfly and has an easy time connecting with a lot of people

- he helps Amelia get out of her shell, just like she helps him stay more grounded

- tried to play a love song for Amelia on guitar for one of their dates. He does not know how to play guitar. She thought it was cute anyways :)

- was very nervous the first time Marnie invited him and Amelia over to the ranch for Winter Star. Since she looks more "traditional" and is religious it reminded him of his family and he was initially worried she'd be like them. She thankfully is not and is a very understanding and accepting person (Shane had to go "dude she helped pay for my top surgery what the hell are you worried about")

- worst cook on earth, he pours cereal into a bowl and it lights on fire (/j but he's BAD at it)

- dormed with Shane in college, they got up to so much stupid antics while rooming together /pos

BONUS height chart for the trio. Shane is so short bro

[strawhatyami]

Why you absolutely should bother with watching One Piece in 2022:

Alright I'm going to get straight to the point.

Usually when you ask people “what’s so great about One Piece” the most popular answers will be about the loveable characters, good world building and great foreshadowing.

Which is all very true and I’m here to delve into why, starting with the main character :

Monkey D. Luffy:

I once saw someone describe Luffy as a "pretty simple character that is done right". And I must say that’s the best way to describe him.  His straightforward, curious, extroverted nature is the is the perfect window to explore such a vast interesting world.

Luffy does his own thing, he’s selfish in many ways, his main goal of becoming the king of pirates itself is rooted in selfishness and greed. But he’s still a chill and kind-hearted dude. It just so happens that the selfish things he wants in life are fairly tame things like eating lots of meat and punching those who hurt his friends or innocent people in the face.

And in truth, he’s quite the emotionally intelligent character which is such a charming quality that has landed him allies and friends all over the world.

In short: He’s just goofy and loveable and I like the fact that Oda ditched trying to force a "relatable" protagonist (him not having any internal monologues is a nice touch that fits his character well imo).

And before we move on, I’d like to give an honorable mention to Tanaka Mayumi who is such a wonderful voice actress<3

Next up : World Building and character design

This anime undoubtedly has some of the best world-building that I’ve ever seen.

Which is great because at its core, One Piece is an adventure manga not a battle manga. Sure fights and matchups are important and epic and Haki is one of the coolest power systems out there.

But also watching the heart wrenching relations and back stories of the characters and seeing everything connect and having characters from 400 episodes ago make a comeback and be relevant to the plot in ways you never expected is WHERE IT’S AT.

Oda plays a lot with foreshadowing and he’s very good with continuity and revisiting small details which makes the story a lot more cohesive as a whole.

Watching this show feels like an adventure which is what Oda was going for. It’s so immersive and really plunges you into this fictional world that is so well built and versatile that you will never find yourself bored because each island is a new story. A new adventure.

The character design is also top-notch.

Oda has opened many possibilities for himself with the art style as the cartoony style helps in creating a fantasy world, you get more design freedom when you're not limited to proper proportions and things like that.

And he uses that freedom to create memorable characters but also to integrate parts of their personalities into their designs. Some of my favorite character designs include Sir crocodile, Franky, Kuzan, Doflamingo, Boa Hancock and Baby 5 just to name a few.

Last but not least, The humor :

Okay so humor is subjective. However I can confidently say that no anime has ever made me laugh my guts out the way OP did, the humor is elite and the jokes (especially pre-time skip) hold up even 20+ years later which says a lot.

And I think what plays a big role in that isn’t so much the joke itself but the (often) deadpan and downright hilarious delivery from the talented voice actors.

SO TO RECAP:

Cool mc, watching him punch bad guys is satisfying af.

Great worldbuilding.

Lots of heartwarming moments.

Characters be silly and loveable.

Lots of tiddies. Male AND female.

It has Trafalgar Law in it.

But yeah real talk this show has been a source of comfort for me lately and I believe it has something for everyone (especially if you're a sucker for the found family trope, it does it really well.)

Plus with the manga drawing to an end now would be the perfect time to catch up~

[ryansjane]

About bmf, I found kawi's character realistic with how he feels his life has been moving in a downward spiral since this one specific event and feeling helpless in doing something about it. And then I see some people say he's so unlikeable and so and so and im just like wow, im glad u guys got ur shit together by the age of 30 but it's not the same for everyone. It's also only the first episode, idk why people seem to expect a flawless character already. How's he gonna have character development then??? Some criticisms are fine but i feel like some are just super clouded by their dislike of the actor that it's ruining the character and the show itself for them. Im so sorry for ranting but WOO had to get that off my chest and u seem very reasonable about the show and the discourse surrounding it

I honestly don't see how people could think kawi is unlikeable tbh. like, for me, "perfect characters" are the ones I can never like bc they're so flat & boring. also as you said, obviously the characters are not gonna be perfect from ep 1, the whole point of a piece of media and ESPECIALLY series is to follow some sort of adventure and/or character development. tbh I'm not surprised though bc I've realized a while ago people love aseptic characters & basic ass stories the most bc don't challenge them, and that could never be me lol. that's why I love khai from theory of love even though people say he's an asshole, sean from not me even though people say he's too hot-headed, or teh from I told sunset about you (not ipytm, that teh can choke) even though people say he's too mean or whatever. I want characters that are real, that make mistakes, that I don't even agree with sometimes. and kawi? isn't even that out there lol, he didn't do anything but be a coward & a goofy ass lil' dude born in the lower class. also him getting his shit together before 30 would mean he's not in survival mode in order to repay his debt & pay his bills, which he IS. also if people can't detach bmf from krist, which is within their right, they don't have to watch it lol

xxx

[dna-d2]

(One Piece Live Action Spoilers, Beware) (Also long post alert, Also Beware) (TL;DR at the end)

(Beware)

So I finally finished watching the Live Action One Piece and BOY LET ME TELL YOU.

(Please note that this is coming from someone who’s read the manga numerous times and is almost caught up on the anime. So this is a time for me to lovingly rant about this show/franchise in general)

I loved it. Like, to start off with, I fucking loved it. It had a couple flaws, and I certainly wouldn’t say it’s the BEST way to experience the story of One Piece, but I had so much fun with it, god.

Like, one of the biggest flaws you see with live action anime adaptations is that they make a bunch of changes, and these changes feel like they were made by a bunch of higher-up suit-wearing dickheads who think they managed to systematically dissect why people loved Dragon Ball so much and gave us the war crime that was Dragon Ball Evolution.

No, OPLA does have changes, but these changes feel like they were made to actually ADAPT the story into a new medium, since this would require a whole different type of storytelling compared to anime or manga. And (almost) all of the changes do feel like they were able to get the same point across as in the anime/manga, just in a different way.

Like pretty much everyone’s been saying, the casting choice was SPOT-FUCKING-ON. Like

HOLY SHIT

Guys, Iñaki as Luffy was absolutely brilliant and you’d have to kill me before I’d ever say anything different, I mean it. The closest I’d have to a character complaint (and it’s really not a complaint, it’s more of a nit-pick than anything) is that Zoro was just not goofy enough. OG Zoro gets caught up in the shenanigans more than he’d like to admit and gets pissed about it and many other things. OPLA Zoro was way more stoic than that. Though I did also like the stoic himbo energy he was giving off too, so like I said it’s not ENTIRELY a complaint. Just a slight nitpick. (And this is nothing against the actor, the actor did a phenomenal job and I will hear no slander against him or any of the others. Especially Usopp’s actor. Dude was perfect in pretty much every way)

And then the only REAL complaint I had. Well, two, technically. And they both center around the final two episodes.

One of the ONLY changes I didn’t like is that the people in Cocoyashi DIDN’T know that Nami was working for Arlong to buy back the village. The anime/manga had them all know about it and play along so that her efforts to help them wouldn’t be in vain, thus when she was double-crossed by Arlong, they had 7 years of resentment against just HIM to get out, and it felt so nice knowing that these guys were more than willing to fight to the death for her in her name and in the name of the years she sacrificed for them.

In this one though, the fact that they didn’t know just made it feel less impactful to me. They hated Nami for years, then just gave her an apology for not realizing what she was doing before deciding to march on Arlong Park. They didn’t even march on Arlong Park. It felt like the writers were rushing this along a little bit, which kinda leads into my other complaint.

I think there should’ve been ONE more episode. Just one. Nine overall. I think they should’ve spent 2 episodes, 7 and 8, specifically on the fight against Arlong, instead of an episode and a half with the resolution to the Garp thing stuck on at the end. THEN made episode 9 the resolution to the Garp subplot. Or hell, I think even just an extra 30 minutes would’ve helped a lot more. But it felt like they didn’t 100% get how to pace it out properly and had to change certain things that resulted in being a detriment to the overall product. I didn’t feel anywhere near as moved during Nami’s scene asking for help as I did during the anime/manga. In those, she looked absolutely broken, pushed so far past her breaking point that she just couldn’t see a way out of this darkness she’d found herself in for years and years. And in OPLA, she just…Didn’t. It’s hard to put to words, but it just wasn’t as impactful to me.

NOW WITH ALL THAT SAID!!!!

This is an incredible show in its own right. If I didn’t have the anime/manga to compare this to, I would have almost no gripes whatsoever. Maybe even none!! I enjoyed the hell out of this from start to finish, and only came out of it with like one complaint and a couple nitpicks. That’s INCREDIBLE for a live action anime adaptation. Not to mention the way that this is already proving to be a great way to get new people into One Piece. (They don’t realize. They don’t realize that this is the gateway show. That this is where it starts. They don’t realize that they’ll be hooked after this. They don’t realize. But I realize. I know. And soon, so will everyone…!!!)

So yeah, OPLA, solid 8/10. It’s not the best way to experience the story overall, but it’s great for beginners and I will watch again for Easter Eggs and further enjoyment. You should watch it.



TL;DR: One Piece Live Action is great actually, and while it’s not perfect, you should watch it and I love it.



[lanternkiwi]

my silly little collection of michael kaiser panels (plus a little bit of ness and isagi) i saved while rereading the neo egoist league arc cause bros panels are too good

this is kinda long so buckle up cause i accidentally went from chapter 155-200 i got caught up in it 😭😭

starting off strong with the beloved kaiser impact still hate that name but this panel is too good

(chap. 162)

next is this panel from chapter 155

something about kaiser behind noa is so raw plus the emphasis on his rose tattoo. mm delicious

from chapter 156, a fan favorite 

bros on that demon time fr

chapter 157

me next tbh

its the way ness has a handkerchief on hand for him and his goofy little smile LMAOO

another fan favorite. kinda corny but like what kaiser line isn’t corny LMAOOOO also ness’ applause is so cute 

RAW. shit eating grin with the number one rank dude knows he’s the best fr

chapter 164

he just looks good here idk what yall want from me 

I AM WEAK OKAY

chapter 167

what a crazy insult LMAOO

chapter 168

NESS ??????? ness is hilarious i love him and michael fr

banger

kaiser still got his hand on ness LMAOO and the way ness is lookin at him i know what you are

this color spread is TOO good

chapter 171

do i need to say anything tbh

his hair looks so good AND HIS TATTOO AWOOGAA

chapter 173

banger team shot fr. kaiser at the front, ness as his right hand man, isagi and kunigami serving those looks, kurona adjusting his glove, and yukki taking off his jacket just WOW what a beautiful team

chapter 177

heyhowyoudoinlilmamalemmewhisperinyaear

LMAOOOO i love isagi

chapter 178

isagi’s always ends up flabbergasted around this mf

another banger for the books

chapter 180

HES SOOOO

chapter 181

his insults are so funny fr LMAO

banger after banger

chapter 182

hes such a piece of shit but i love him

and not a drop of sweat in sight i need to see him against sae NOW

chapter 185

WHAT AN ASSHOLE I LOVE HIMMM

asshole characters like him are so much fun LMAO “hes mean to isagi :((” ISAGI CAN SUCK IT UP HE PLAYED WITH BAROU HE CAN PLAY WITH KAISER

he puts the bastard in bastard münchen 

chapter 189

“shut up and focus” im sat

he just looks really good here LMAO

chapter 192

what a man what a man what a man

chapter 197

HE JUST LOOKS GOOD HERE WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM MEEE

chapter 199

kaiser with the prettiest puzzle piece real

chapter 200

NESS AND KAISER JUMPING ISAGI IS SO FOULLL

it’s truly bastard and manshine vs isagi and kurona fr 😭😭

now that we’re caught up with the manga (i fr reread the entire neo egoist league arc to get some of these LMAOO the majority i already had saved on my phone but) i hope isagi scores and humbles THE FUCK outta kaiser, as much as i love michael isagi needs this LMAOOO

anyways i love michael kaiser i just think he’s a fun little guy that adds a lot to the dynamic of bastard and the manga overall he’s an arrogant mf BUT HES MY ARROGANT MF

[chzdavmpr]

Goodnight Punpun Reading Diary Volume 2

Content Warning: I try to avoid going in detail about the more explicit parts of this story, but this does book gets real explicit for a while, so I'll still warn here that this post will discuss a plot point about abuse and sexualization of a minor. Also if you plan on reading this book yourself PLEASE LOOK UP THE TRIGGER WARNINGS FIRST CAUSE THAT'S JUST THE ONE I CAN'T AVOID TALKING ABOUT

Theory: perhaps "God" represents a part of Punpun's inner thoughts. (Note: I tend to be pretty bad at picking up on themes and symbolism in a story before finishing it, so for some of you that statement is probably pretty obvious.)

There's 2 of him now???

With the wager Punpun and Yaguchi set up it's very much them ignoring Aiko being her own person, but for different reasons. For Punpun he's in his incel arc but for Yaguchi it very much he more has his own issues in how he sees himself that he needs to overcome before he's ready for any relationship.

In volume 1 I thought Punpun's uncle was a chill dude, but he not only has a pretty cynical outlook at life, but he thinks his own sister should die just for having armpit hair, but gets off to a vhs labeled "high school hotties" and now I think I hate him. [Note from after finishing the volume: it get's worse. Now I 100% hate him]

Ok so either we are getting guy-with-afro lore that he works the this karaoke bar, or he's just a gag character that the author puts everywhere for no reason

Uh oh. UH OH. I see where this flashback is going STOP USING THE SAME WORDS YOU USED FOR THE POTTERY TO DESCRIBE THE 16 YEAR OLD!

As of the end of "part 3" I am very uncomfy. And that's probably the point, it forces the reader to be like "that's fucked up" and then look back at that whole date scene that was played mostly wholesome and say "this whole situation is fucked up" (which they probably should have already but the legacy of Scott Pilgrim has taught that you can never be too obvious with this stuff).

They have a lot of zoom ins on Yuichi's eyes in the scene where he brings- what's her name again (checks list of important characters at beginning of part 4) oh shit her name hasn't even been said. That makes this even worse then I thought.

Back to the point though, the scene in Yuichi's apartment has a lot of zoom ins on his eyes being drawn in a more human and realistic manner. I think this is to remove that "goofiness that undercut the darkness" I talked about for Vol 1. If this scene played out and was constantly showing Yuichi as a little bird in a crude artstyle it would make it easier to look past the monstrous behaviour of him by writing him off as "silly." But I feel the author really wants you to stew in the uncomfortability of this so that you really grasp that Yuichi is a bad guy.

Since Yuichi is the one telling this story, I wonder if he's lying about any details, in particular I wonder if he did actually go all the way with the 16 year old. I hope I'm wrong, but there is a chane.

WHY THE HELL IS THE CAFE GIRL STILL INTERESTED IN HIM? Honestly that makes me highly suspicious of her, cause I don't buy "love at first sight" for an appropriate motive to still be interested in a guy significantly older then you, who you've gone on ONE date with, who just told THAT story. Honestly I hope that there's more to her motive cause if not I will be honestly disappointed in that character writing.

Wait the guy who attempted to murder the mom and then set himself on fire isn't either dead or in prison? He's just fine?

The appearance of another "God" who is a different face raises a lot of questions and I don't think I have enough info to piece together an answer rn.

It's definitely healthier then being dead, but this relationship with Yuichi and cafe-girl doesn't seem healthy at all.

"God" opened his eyes. I wonder what that could mean.

So it looks like there will be a 2-year timeskip at the end of each book. Assuming Punpun was like 8 in Vol 1 he'll be like 20 in the last. Interesting.

Closing thought on the volume: This is honestly more what I expected going into Volume 1. I would no longer call this a "dark comedy." We are in full on dark drama now, just with some goofy elements.

Looking back at my notes I had a whole lot more to say about Yuichi's story then I did Punpun's, and I'm trying to think about why that is. Cause Punpun's story is one which I feel I probably should have more to say about but most of the time I'm just kinda along for the ride and don't end up having much to write notes about. The only thing I can think of that I probably could comment on is how Yaguchi is like the only morally good character (except maybe cafe-girl) in this whole volume.

I think part of this is that Punpun himself isn't really the strongest character to me. I know about him, how he feels, what he wants, but him rarely talking and has almost non-existent body language so his scenes flow weird. He can't really bounce off the other characters. I hope that by the end of this story I have less of an issue with this.

While reading this volume I also, as an exercise to get better at media literacy, tried to ask "what is Goodnight Punpun about?" What is the main thing this story is trying to tell? My conclusion so far is that I have no idea. My best guess is it has something to do with how being surrounded by negative influence can make someone worse. Which I guess isn't the worst first attempt at figuring out the theme. But with later reading diaries we'll check back in with this theme and see if it holds up.

Also I realized I only used 1 image for this, and it was for basically a background detail. I should be more liberal with them next time.

[myassbrokethefall]

xf rewatch: squeeze and conduit

(As if this wasn't already apparent, I'll warn you that any off-the-cuff posts I manage to spew out as I rewatch are going to be rambly, unorganized and rudderless. I am tagging all of these "xf rewatch rambling." And I will be kind to us all and put in a cut.)

Eps 3 and 4, and we're still building some real foundational XF DNA here. Squeeze of course is our first MOTW and it's all nicely laid out for us: Colton and the jackass squad are all like, hurrrr it's ol spooky mulder he thinks a flying saucer did the murders, and even Scully is like, so whaddya think, these are the stretchy fingerprints of ALIENS? And it gives him a great opportunity to say, please Scully, I have range, we don't ONLY do UFO episodes cases on this show in this basement, sometimes we might have a "week" where we are investigating a "monster"! That will keep us busy!

It's also really interesting to see Mulder interact with the rest of the federal law enforcement universe for the first time, and how he plays into it in a smartass way, but how it really is relentless (with Colton in particular like physically blocking him from the crime scene even before he calls off the stakeout). Mulder doesn't get really mad about it until it gets to the point where he knows they've let a killer go and no one will listen to him about that. He's just such a fundamentally Good man, and it's a lovely thing to once again see through Scully's eyes how he is not the unreasonable one here, that despite his willingness to connect the dots to make a picture that is Beyond the Realm of Science, he IS, in fact, connecting dots, he's not just making shit up, and none of these dudes making fun of him are actually listening to him. I am loving watching how they draw his character in these early days.

Then with Conduit we're back into UFO stuff and it's our first Gordon/Gansa ep. This is the first episode I don't know like the back of my hand, although I remember it pretty well (and I don't know Squeeze AS well as Pilot and DT). It is quite solid, and MUCH more based on Carl Sagan's Contact than I remembered. As I rambled to a friend earlier today and will now do here again probably even less coherently, this whole thing was great for me until it falls apart at the end with the pieces of paper forming the portrait of Ruby. Despite this being a nifty reveal, the portrait is just SO GOOFY!!, and it is just a step too far for me. The aliens are sending numbers through the TV to Ruby's little brother — sure. And he's compelled to write them down and they turn out to be, in binary, the aliens repeating back to the humans what they've heard in transmissions from Earth, in what is assumed to be a way of reaching out or saying hello (this is what happens in Contact). I love all that, it's very spooky, it's a fun side-swerve when M&S get interrogated by the NSA because Kevin was accidentally transcribing top-secret military info, and it is undeniably a great moment when Scully goes upstairs and looks down and has the realization that it's a picture of Ruby. But... how can the 1s and 0s be BOTH encrypted satellite transmissions AND the precise sequence that makes a physical picture of Ruby's face? Also, is it like, a school portrait? Why is she smiling so hard? Did the aliens tell her to smile and snap a photo of her on the spaceship? Are they reading Kevin's mind and that's how he pictures her, with a giant cheeseball grin? It just kind of falls apart for me and it is silly enough that it breaks the momentum of the episode. 

On the other hand, I get that they wanted to make it unequivocal that the aliens were communicating to Kevin about Ruby specifically — and to make that explicit tie between this situation and Mulder's memories, as expressed in the hypnosis in the (very emotional) last scene, about Samantha's abduction: the voice saying that she's ok and she'll be returned to him. This is a touching consistency that I never really picked up on before, that it is the aliens' MO when abducting a kid to make an effort to let a nearby loved one know that they don't have to worry. So working instructions for how to arrange the papers on the living room floor into their tv transmissions in order to make a giant Sears portrait of Ruby is another way of delivering this ultimately benevolent, hopeful message, I guess. 

You couldn't keep it this way indefinitely, but I really do feel wistful about these early days when there was such a sense of wonder with the possibility of aliens, and so much unknown, before it all got bogged down in super soldiers and magnetite and consortiums and viruses and black oil and impregnating people with science against their will. You can FEEL Mulder's agitation and urgency in wanting to get Ruby's story and his agony at being blocked from it, and yet also understand Darlene's refusal to let this crazy-sounding stuff that has branded her a kook her whole life define her daughter's life as well. Just good stuff.

I will note though that there have been 4 episodes here so far, 3 of them dealing with UFOs, and in all 3 of those they have done the thing where you think you're seeing UFO lights and then it turns out to be a vehicle Very Much Of This Earth. I think you could give that one a rest for a little while, show. 

Let's get real, this is all prelude to Jersey Devil, up next. Yeah baby. 

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Spiderwebs Pt.2: For Whom the Bell Tolls

For this story we’re going to need to go a little further back than Dressrosa. Back to a time that felt so long ago even when Dressrosa was in serialization. Back to the island One Piece became about something bigger. Doflamingo is such a fun villain because he’s built so well. But we establish his ethos through Bellamy. This is such an amazing scene, where the beauty of Mock Town the classic pirate haven comes into full swing. It’s not unlike Zoro & Wano down the line; this island offers a lot of temptation but Luffy keeps his eyes on the prize.

The point with Bellamy though is how he’s changed come Dressrosa. Why he’s stalled on that path. I don’t think I really need to spell out how antithetical Bellamy is being to the core of this series in Jaya. It’ll also be great for distinguishing Blackbeard as a villain. Bellamy & Doflamingo are the “real” pirates that are interested in taking the money and power they see in front of them, but BB is still up for finding the big treasure even if he’s willing to go about it the “wrong” way.

The climax of Skypiea, ringing the bell, is still potentially my favorite moment in the series. The big goofy shadow in the sky as Cricket looks on. But of course everyone on Jaya would have seen/heard it. It was only a couple of days after that Straw Hat kid whopped Bellamy and ran off. Surely it was the talk of the town! Bellamy lost everything to follow suit but he made it. There was an island in the sky, there was a perfectly good “scientific” explanation for it. Be a little more open-minded yo. Quit acting like you know everything because grand scheme of things Bellamy wasn’t really that noteworthy of a pirate. How about the idea of him mentioning it to Doffy, who could easily casually know “yeah, Sky Islands are just a thing dude.”

Between here and then though we meet Doflamingo. Quite a few times. He’ll get his own but I care about two big themes that pop up intermittently. His introduction and followup with Bellamy/Sarquiss on Jaya is all about inducing infighting. That’s a big aspect of Wano’s “quiet” theme I’m always on about. Then the symbolism of his talk about SMILEs, the side effect we learn come Wano, and how Bellamy is “The Hyena.” An animal famous for it’s laughter. Bellamy is often laughing but it’s a cold, heartless kind of it. Even here, it’s what he’s bringing up leaving behind.

This is where the complexity comes in. Luffy from way away on a whim cheers for Bellamy. There’s no meaning to it. He doesn’t hold grudges and the man has changed for the better. That’s laudable. His goal in and of itself is not detestable, he just wants to earn someone’s respect. Wrong man to try and earn the respect of but we’ll get to that in a minute. What I love in hindsight is this idea of Luffy doing something innocuous that ends up wounding the guy’s pride. And it’ll end up coming back around in the clash later. It’s a big element of Luffy & Bellamy’s story this arc. Luffy casually introduced a big hurdle by doing something Bellamy took as shameful. Pride & Shame are obvious big themes for Wano later, case in point:

This underpins a lot of how Luffy acts towards Kiku. He respects her after Bakura. Narratively its why you would rather her see her father figure show it’s okay to ask for help than a classic “I want to live” or “Save me, Luffy.” It’s why 1042 was such a vindicating chapter. Once everything else below was stripped away, we hammer the core themes of Kiku’s story as Izo’s flows directly into Luffy’s. That’s still core, he didn’t get distracted, but after Bellamy he wants to respect her pride. This is there from the get-go, it’s a barely subtle part of the Sumo match that he’s weirdly like, “yeah yeah if you can somehow beat me do what you want with Kiku.” Why he feels a need to pipe up at Sanji’s advances, not making a scene but slipping in a “hey, she’s really tough.” The significance to her story in Chapter 1000 is Luffy looking up to see Izo (who he should recognize) there with the group.

Izo’s the one who makes this mistake. Don’t dote on her like the baby sister of the group. Respect that she’s playing the part. He gets it after he gets a snippy response, Kin’s begrudgingly accepted it, but still the segment immediately flips to Neko learning about Carrot/Wanda giving into their anger and Yamato just “itching” to fight. Given an extra layer through Kin’emon with his words at the end of the Raid about respecting a decision a woman summons all of her courage to make alongside the little bit about finally showing she was next to Toki. Anyways, the idea is that Luffy believably learned his lesson in how to navigate someone like that through Bellamy. An example of how careless words can have unintended effects. 

Breaking the rule a little bit here, but it’s important. Because we’ll already set that up...then give Bellamy the big lesson about misplaced loyalty. Doflamingo knew what he was doing making Luffy waste time with him. Putting him down with that big punch first would have been kinder, it would have let you get back to Law faster. Don’t lose sight of the goal, Bellamy needs to see Doflamingo fall too. He’s put his faith in the man this long and never seen a real reason to doubt that. This whole fight is just heartbreaking, even get the big fake smile to drive the point home.

I find it really interesting too that this chapter, Bellamy the Pirate, is followed up by the SBS segment spelling out Monet & Sugar’s connection. How they followed Doflamingo out of being rescued from a bad situation. There’s also another thing Bellamy in Dressrosa has going for him that we mentioned a lot for Kiku in Wano. Being the more mundane example of the arc’s core themes. The grounded counterpart to the fantastical symbols like living toys, the classic puppetmaster, and repressed memories.

[secretgamergirl]

Have I done any serious Lovecraft bashing in the last year or two? I feel like I’m overdue.

I’m almost positive I’ve sat down and written at least one big long post on the general subject of how there is nothing redeemable or interesting about H.P. Lovecraft, but I’ve also definitely seen another like hundred examples of people misrepresenting his influence and talent since, so, here’s another one.

See, there’s this popular myth that H.P. Lovecraft, despite being one of the all-time most virulent racists and quite open about it, was some kind of grand visionary who made all kinds of super important contributions to the horror genre, and... he just didn’t. Honestly I’d kinda want to burn down his legacy even if he did, because no for real, the racism was absolutely astounding. People’s jaws were on the floor about it even when he was alive. I feel pretty good about just completely throwing the whole output of right wing extremists in the dumpster like nazi game devs and such, so I don’t see why this should be different, but also for real, nothing of value is lost in doing so.

Like, first of all, he’s just a really bad writer. Really formulaic structure to all his stories, they all have basically the same protagonist and he sucks, tons of purple prose setting things up and then just kinda glossing over the main events, and dude really did just abuse the hell out of a thesaurus. And the subject matter’s not great either! In pretty much everything he ever wrote the big scary thing is kind of always just privileged white dude anxiety. “What if I’m not the center of the universe? What if I’m not actually a pure and noble white guy but I’m secretly the product of the dreaded race mixing? What if, like, a trans woman was kind of into me? What if I ad to deal with some other culture doing stuff I’m not comfortable with? There’s a couple that are more “starfish are just creepy” but it’s not a huge element in those and also I mean that’s just true.

There’s still the big influences though, right? Well, not really, no. Evil cults trying to bring back evil gods/monsters was totally ubiquitous way before Lovecraft. Super advanced space weirdos were too. Big freaky monsters doing sexual stuff with tentacles simply does not happen in any of his stuff. There’s no cool monsters really. Or people doing cool magic rituals. Just glancing at things and running away really. Like, guy wasn’t just unpopular in his day because he was a white supremacist scumbag, he also just couldn’t write well. I’m always pointing this out, but you realize Cthulu isn’t even actually much of anything in Lovecraft’s actual stories? The Call of Cthulu is mostly just this all build-up kind of story, with a couple people piecing a few random incidents into a vague semblance of an investigation, and at the end some big goofy sea monster starts to wake up from a coma and then... promptly has a ship plow into its head causing it to pass out again. That’s it. That’s the whole story. No big evil plans or minions or eating 1d6 investigators, no referencing in other stories. Basically everything in the pop culture “Lovecraftian” bubble is fan fiction, mostly tracing the route of “someone made a tabletop RPG vaguely inspired by other authors’ playing with this guy’s stuff which ended up being popular enough in Japan to be name dropped in some porn VNs, and people just kind of assume tracing that all the way back must lead to something good.”

This all made a lot more sense before/in the early days of the internet, where there was a sort of weird nerd elitism in knowing certain bits of obscure trivia and catching the right references. A lot of actually really talented horror people back in the day kind of got in the habit of referencing some memorably weird terms this one old racist tossed into stories that sometimes showed up in one of the oldest horror magazines one could find copies of if they really looked. In particular people found it really fun to keep referencing ���the necronomicon” as like a pokedex for weird ancient monsters and occult stuff and made it enough of an in-joke to mislead people into thinking this was a real book. But the whole idea was you had to have access to this magazine from the 1920s to really be in on the joke. Stuff just kinda doesn’t work that way anymore. Wikis kinda killed being in the know on weird trivia connections.

The other thing though is people used to just do a little name drop of a book or a monster while doing their own stuff, and that’s fine, but now you have so damn many people doing “Lovecraftian” stuff where they more directly reference his better known stories, and there’s kinda this whole subgenre where people just run down that checklist. There’s dozens of “Lovecraftian horror” games where ooh, you’re some reedy nerd or detective and you go to this town called Innsmouth and people are suspicious and oh no they’re like fish people and they chase you around and you pass out or maybe find some weird idol and somehow or other you’re on this big mystery island and we’re directly quoting that “even death may die” line without context, and whispering voices tell you to poke at 7-pointed star symbols and oh no, you woke up Cthulu and he comes and eats you, credits. And like... it’s just running through the same checklist every time. It’s never informing a more original work, or putting interesting twists on things. It’s like how you used to have nerds just quoting whole scenes out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or quoting catch phrases from Austin Powers or Borat. Just so incredibly tedious and pandering to people who don’t ask for anything more than having the references they know quoted back endlessly.

Anyway, point is, we really wouldn’t lose out on anything if we just freaking buried this one old racist hack. If you want to do some referencing and name dropping to weird spooky stuff that’s maybe from space or the ocean or whatever, there’s plenty of stuff you can shout out that’s actually good, and isn’t giving a certain kind of people to start grinning smugly and referencing what this guy named his cat. Like for real, any time you feel compelled to drop in some kind of Lovecraftian reference somewhere, just namedrop Junji Ito instead, or directly reference a short story of his. It’s all way more interesting and fleshed out and you’re just throwing a spotlight on someone who as far as I can tell is just a really nice talented artist who likes cats. Cats with names you can say out loud, even.

[ajgrey9647]

"hi" *raspy voice* + Boom! Comics; Sentry Skull; Post-Shattered Grid (but please, please, PLEASE don't go near the zombie timeline; me and mine are still so enraged about that)

A Skull in Bloom

*Not gonna lie, this is way longer than I thought. But came surprisingly quick as it unfolded in the wildness of my mind. Enjoy!

In the end, Tommy Oliver proved to be every bit of the ‘fucking dick’ he was purported to be. To Skull’s way of thinking, there was a big difference between just being a ‘fucking dick’ and being a ‘piece of shit.’ And to his astonishment, Tommy managed to fit both bills.

Skull’s cheeks were streaked with sweat and grime, the sun blindingly hot overhead as he made his way back to the other Coinless. His gear was heavy despite all the lithe muscle he had put on as one of Drakkon’s Red Sentries. It was a relief to never have to don that insulting red armor again.

As Lord Drakkon, Tommy had demonstrated more than just misplaced fear and anger. He was a whole psychopath; a cruel, vicious, narcissistic demon spit up straight from the bowels of Hell itself. If he recalled correctly, there was a religious story about the Devil being allowed to roam the Earth for so many years. He wasn’t sure, but it sounded familiar.

Things had changed so quickly that at times, it didn’t seem real. It was like the plot of a futuristic dystopian horror movie. So much carnage, pain, and death. Sometimes, Skull marveled that he managed to survive and at times even thrive. As a child and young teen, he was sure he’d be one of the ones to be picked off first.

Looking back, Skull attributed this miraculous survival to his actions that day at the mall, the day he’d valiantly shoved a cocky, hateful Green Ranger from the second level straight into the fountain below. He’d stopped him from killing the Blue Ranger before his very eyes. Really wild when you thought about it.

Eugene Skullivitch had saved someone’s life, and not just anyone. A fucking Power Ranger! Skull wasn’t a hero. He was just a lonely, neglected, goofy punk. A freak, as the Green Ranger had screamed at him full of wrath mixed with disgust. The evil Ranger had been thwarted by a powerless, skinny teenage boy, not another Ranger.

That had really bruised Tommy’s exaggerated ego.

Skull plunged the end of his walking stick into the dirt as he surveyed the horizon. Still a whole lot of nothing out here. Abandoned buildings, wild creatures scavenging for food, disease-infested insects. He wiped a hand across his shiny brow, dark strands licking at his flesh when they moved.

Up ahead stood the bombed-out hulk that used to be Angel Grove’s mall; his own personal Disneyland. The weary traveler gave a slight smile as memories flooded him of all the good times he’d spent in this place, enjoying bad mall snacks, rocking it at the arcades, and laughing his ass off in the joke shop. He still had his old banged up ear buds and his music player; older than dirt now, they were merely relics of a bygone age.

More importantly, it was the site of the beginning of his transformation.

Saving the Blue Ranger had inspired some latent part of him, a part he never knew existed. It wasn’t all the attention and accolades he’d received that gave him such satisfaction. He could have done without all that honestly.

That Blue Ranger was right. Skull was braver than he thought possible. He’d done something incredibly dangerous (and stupid) by charging the Green Ranger. What if he’d turned around, still holding that wicked-looking sword of his? Skull had no martial arts training period and this dude was able to kick even the Power Rangers’ asses.

Despite always having to look over his shoulder after that heroic stunt, Skull felt his confidence start to slowly bloom, like a delicate flower. He was actually capable of more. The Blue Ranger’s words always echoed in his mind when he found himself feeling frightened.

Skull had felt a weird connection with this Ranger that he couldn’t explain as well. Maybe it was because like Skull, the Blue Ranger was of a slighter build but unlike Skull he was soft spoken. The Red and Black Rangers were bulkier and more commanding in their actions and speech. Blue wasn’t flashy and upfront.

So it wasn’t a deal breaker to be a hero if one didn’t have muscles and bravado. You could be smaller and reserved and still powerful. Skull wished he had more time to talk with the Blue Ranger, but duty called. He could still see the graceful acrobatic flip he’d done over the railing to rejoin the team.

After that, Skull found that the Blue one was his favorite. He’d catch the monster battles on the news and wait on baited breath to see if his Ranger made it out alright. Somehow, he had also scraped together enough moola to get an action figure of his own. Bulk had ribbed him at first but Skull put his foot down.

Having that confidence boost surprised him. He found he had more influence than he believed. He was even able to steer Bulky in a different direction when he decided to get up to shit; no always but rather often. Skull started to relax into being his own unique person and express some of his hidden flamboyance.

Then everything just went to absolute hell.

The Power Rangers had been defeated. Rita had won. Then, the space witch was dead, killed by her own Ranger; he was revealed to be none other than that ‘fucking dick’ Tommy Oliver. Rechristened Lord Drakkon, that murderous fuck went on a killing rampage. Drunk on his own power and rage, he’d somehow overlooked Skull as he went after the Rangers.

Jason, the Red Ranger.

Zack, the Black Ranger.

Kimberly, the Pink Ranger.

Trini, the Yellow Ranger.

And most shocking of all: his former best friend and co-adventurer, Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger.

The crazy bastard ended up slaughtering Jason in their Command Center and decimated Billy as the boy bravely defended Trini. Skull had to blink back tears; they stung his eyes with the sweat and grim irritating their surface. He sniffed and continued forward; the much-needed supplies tucked within his gear making his back ache with the strain.

He thought back to a conversation he’d had with Billy, before Tommy sprouted his fangs and dug them into the entire fucking planet.

Carrying his lunch tray, Skull strolled into the cafeteria, unsure where he was going to sit this day. The clatter of plastic trays on tables, cacophony of conversations, and random loud laughter filled the room. Scanning the open seats, he was somewhat surprised to find Billy sitting by himself in the farthest corner. And right next to him was a vacant seat.

Plopping down next to the bespectacled teen, Skull grinned.

“This seat taken?”

Billy sighed and rolled his eyes behind his glasses.

“Before you ask, it’s not true,” he huffed, cheeks starting to redden.

Twirling a crinkled, over-salted fry into catsup, Skull shrugged and laughed.

“About Jason and Kim? No, I know it’s bullshit. I think everyone else does too,” he added noncommittally. “Where’s the other dweebs? I heard Kim went home sick and Jason’s in lunch detention.”

Billy looked at Skull in surprise.

“You believe that rumor is false?”

Skull arched his brow.

“Yeah, those two are such goody-goodies. No one buys it. It’s just too juicy to drop.”

Billy stared down at his food a moment before answering his companion’s question.

“Zack is making up a science experiment that failed and Trini’s assisting him,” he muttered, dropping his chin into his hand, appetite gone.

Skull nodded like it all made sense.

“Not surprised. Oliver was Zack’s lab partner, right? Five bucks he fucked it up on purpose,” he stated, like it was fact.

Billy shook his head then frowned.

“Where’s Bulk?”

“Oh, he’s in lunch detention with Jason. Bulky was egging the fight on between him and Tommy in gym class. I tried to get him to cut it out but there was just too big a peanut gallery to play to,” he explained. “I tried to tell Mr. Kaplan that Tommy said something gross to Jason first, but the teacher only saw Tommy catching a punch.”

He glanced across the cafeteria at the teen in question, who was also sitting alone, picking at his food with a sneer of disgust.

“I bet he’s the one who spread that rumor about Kimberly giving Jason a blow job in the locker room, too,” Skull added.

“Most likely,” Billy answered. “They both got called into the guidance counselor’s office this morning. That lead to Kim asking to return home and why Jason was so agitated.”

“What crawled up his ass and died? He’s awful to you guys, especially Jason.”

Billy could only shrug and sit silently.

Then, he turned to Skull and changed the subject.

“I wanted to commend you for your rescue of the Blue Ranger. That took a lot of fortitude, Eugene,” he commented.

Skull squirmed and waved the statement away.

“It was nothing. Just doing my civic duty.”

Feeling eyes on them, he turned back towards Tommy’s table and found the teen staring daggers at them.

“A word to the wise, Billy-boy. Be careful with that one. He’s not just a teenage outcast like me and Bulk. Once when I was in the office, waiting to see Kaplan, the secretaries were talking about him and all the stuff the police were called out for and CPS shit. They thought I was listening to my music but I wasn’t. And I’m glad,” he said firmly, his expression serious as he stood with his empty tray.

“There’s something bad wrong with him. Like serial killer level bad. And the way he’s fixated on Jason? He’d better watch out too.”

Skull had hit that nail on the head, if he hadn’t known it at the time.

Drakkon was a killer and much more.

After Billy’s death at the asshole’s hands, Skull had managed to work his way into Red Sentries. It had taken a long time but he knew how to play the long game. He felt it was the right thing to do. It was a way to help even with the Power Ranger no longer with powers.

Even Bulk had stepped up and defended a traumatized Kimberly from a frenzied crowd. He pulled her under his wing and declared if anyone had an issue with her, they’d have to go through him first. Skull was immensely proud of Bulky.

Moving through the ranks, the former gangly teen had gotten physically stronger. Which was wonderful. It was the mental aspect that took a toll.

Lord Drakkon was a vindictive, cruel, and abusive tyrant. Skull came to appreciate the statement that there were worse things than death. On certain occasions, he had been glad Billy wasn’t alive to see this or be at risk to undergo some of Drakkon’s outlandish punishments. He himself had to fight back the vomit until Drakkon had disappeared back to his crypt before hurling violently, barely getting his helmet off in time.

The sadistic fuck even kept a prisoner that he had somehow mentally warped into his own psychotic little pet. Not much was known about him but he was as bonkers as Drakkon and just as deadly.

Sadly, even the usually perceptive Skull did not recognize his old classmate, Jason Scott, nor would he have believed it if told the man’s identity. ‘Red’ thinner and wild-eyed, with shaggy grey hair and a real violent streak. Jason would have killed himself before serving the tyrant.

Goddamn, Drakkon was a piece of all mighty shit.

Praise be, that he was finally fucking dead!

As Skull ambled across the entryway towards the palace, he noticed a group standing in the courtyard ahead.

Rangers?? Impossible! Why would they be here?

The Ranger Slayer stood before the team, their backs to the approaching former Sentry. Bulk stood at her side, a protective arm draped around her shoulder as they listened their guests. Her face was a mask of disbelief and horror.

Hearing footsteps behind them, the Rangers swiftly turned as Skull emerged onto the cobblestone terrace. He, himself, did not resemble the Skull that they knew in their universe. Older and rugged, a quiet confidence surrounded him. And at the same time, he still had a mischievous sparkle in his dark eyes, a flair for the extravagant when it was available.

Catching the eye of this Blue Ranger, a Billy, from another dimension, Skull gave a gentle smile as he moved to stand before him.

“Hi,” he said simply, his voice raspy from the long trek.

Billy could only stare into this man’s eyes, yes he was a grown man here, and found himself at a loss for words.

“Penny for your thoughts, Billy-boy,” he quipped at the Blue Ranger, dropping a cool wink. “As long as you aren’t here to tell us that motherfucker’s clawed his way up from hell again.”