#THIS ISN'T EVERYTHING BTW. THERE'S SO GODDAMN MUCH.

[dichromaticdyke]

🗣 - Silly question, especially since this is your blog and you can say/do whatever, but is there anything you've always wanted to talk about/say/ramble on about Skwisgaar that you feel like you've never had the chance or right opportunity to talk about?

*deep sigh* what a can of worms.

skwisgaar with the yard wolves. wolves are the ones who led him to his guitar, who chased him into the hole where he would find his destiny. they were there when he re-learned his destiny, standing with him as he become the first member of the band to learn of his divine nature. the wolves are there with him when no one else is. he's not a lone wolf, as much as he wants to believe he is. he has to run with a pack, just as the swedish wolves and the yard wolves do.

birds of prey. his ancient animal form being a white owl or falcon, the flash of the hawk or falcon or whatever (i'm not a birder idk what these are someone help me) in his "Ams a God" song along with the wolves. his freedom, his ability to tear anyone else apart, but his ultimate grace winning out.

the fact that he has the most drastic wardrobe shift from anyone else. the white-on-white with a swedish belt buckle contrasted to the rest of dethklok's dark colors, signalling him as an outsider, a foreigner, someone on the fringes of the band. he doesn't even speak in any of these flashbacks until he's arguing why he should be the only guitarist of dethklok. and not only does he change his tune on that, but realizing that he does need another guitarist to elevate himself is what finally gives him a connection to the rest of the band, shedding his white-on-white and swedish belt bucklet to darker clothes and a skull, more closely matching the aesthetics of everyone else.

his passion for playing guitar overriding anything else. his drive for perfection, even at the risk of his own body. i can't remember the exact moment i decided skwisgaar was mine, but if i had to guess, it would be the skydiving moment for that exact reason. he's dedicated to his craft, no matter what, in a way that no one else in the band can match.

he's goofy more than anything, and he longs for approval. he struggles both with his language barrier and his undiagnosed autism, but he desperately wants everyone else's approval, though he'd never admit it. the way he gets defensive and angry when no one likes his idea for murderface's gift always stands out to me. his debilitating insecurity goes beyond just guitar. it took years, but he does want to be included in the band, he does want to be friends and family with these idiots, but he's scared of abandonment and he has walls up by default.

he was in a million bands. they all either broke up, kicked him out, or he left. dethklok is the only one that worked out, and i think part of him always worried that they wouldn't. he got to a point with them that he felt like he didn't have to worry about that anymore, but then nate and pickles had to go and fuck that all up. he says, "i was gettings pretty used to dis gigs" as a wall, to act like he doesn't care, to try to convince himself not to care. but look at him in the press conference:

and look at him compared to the rest of the band:

he is visibly more upset than any of them. he cares about dethklok--the band, the music, his friends, his family--more than anything in the goddamn world. and it makes me fucking angry when people paint him as just the pretty, slutty, mean blond of the group, because he arguably has the biggest goddamn heart, he just hides it because of his fear of losing everything and his toxic masculinity. but fuck he loves them all so goddamn much.

[lethby]

What's wrong with lesson 16 (everything)

A list by yours truly, who is about to collapse if she doesn't vent about it (TW: opinion lmao)

⍣ ೋ The time-travel shit

LITERALLY WHY

It creates so many problems and plot holes that could easily be avoided for no reason.

We leave everyone behind and it's never even addressed?? THEY'RE WAITING FOR US???

Barbatos, supposedly the one that cares about balance and timelines, just goes "well you're stuck here and I literally erased the other MC, good ending :D"

He told her "don't run into anyone" and she decides FIRST THING to head where all the noise is coming from, not trying to hide at all

⍣ ೋ No consequences whatsoever

It's awesome to know no one cared about MC dying

Sure, she's "alive" now, but everyone moved on so quickly??? Even Mammon, who was in the verge of a meltdown.

And it's all because we're Lilith's descendant how convenient

Even Belphie, our murderer who has hated humans for MILLENNIA, had a major switch up at this

Also, the brothers begin to completely disregard MC by treating her like Lilith

Look I understand, it's your dead sister and you miss her, BUT MC IS NOT HER. SHE IS HER OWN GODDAMN PERSON

But the worst part is... MC IS SO DAMN CHILL ABOUT IT

Even if she technically isn't the one who died, you'd expect some kind of uneasiness coming from her, SPECIALLY AROUND BELPHIE

Words can't express how much I hate it

⍣ ೋ Solution

I'm gonna make the devs a favor and fix their game

REVIVAL

MC JUST REVIVES FOR WHATEVER REASON (Lilith's will, the last remnants of her powers, Barbatos' precautions...)

Now you don't have to worry about too many plot holes, focusing on just one timeline

Also this allows her to remember her death, making her trauma more intense and veridical

I know it sounds crazy but if they could pull off lesson 16, they can pull this off

Make the brothers indecisive

They got their little brother back, but at what cost?

Everything is fine now, right? But it's not. MC is not "fine"

Make them conflicted between taking MC's side and comforting her but also welcoming Belphie and make up

MAKE MC UNCOMFORTABLE

I can't stress enough how important this part is

Give her TIME to evolve, develop as a character, and understand her feelings

She wouldn't want to be around Belphie, at all

She might not even wanna be around the others, seeing as they treat her like nothing happened

Make her upset, confused, feel like she doesn't belong, ANYTHING

MAKE HER GO THROUGH THE STAGES OF GRIEF

In fact, if you want to make her relationship with Belphie nourish, you can do that too by not just hey lol I killed you but I'm good now

Make her have nightmares

That's it

Make Belphie notice the dark circles under her eyes and the way she avoids him, then discover she has nightmares

The "now" Belphie could feel guilty

He might try to comfort her, only for her to shy away in response

Seeing as his apologies don't work this early into the trauma, he could enter her dreams and chase those nightmares away, every night, sacrificing his own sleep

THAT is a dynamic I want to see, personally

This could have been done with or without the time-travel, btw

In the time-travel, though, I was also missing some grieving from MC

Remember when I said to make the brothers conflicted? Make MC suffer more too

She wants to go back to her time, her universe, her family. They're waiting for her

But she also doesn't want to leave behind these demons, which have just found peace and happiness after a long time

Here's the catch, No matter what she chooses, she's forced to live her life regretting whatever decision she makes, since she can't make everyone happy and one side must suffer inevitably

An MC going through a heavy trauma and eventually (and slowly) overcoming it would just click with so many players

⍣ ೋ Conclusion

To me, the game didn't fully explore the feelings that going through that experience would bring for everyone, even if the idea itself was interesting. No, more like it didn't WANT to. Making MC go through all that would mean a lot of character development for a big amount of characters and little romance, which is what the game is about.

However, if you can't make that sacrifice, don't settle your game in a world rich in lore. And honestly, with all the explanations and back stories, I don't think obey me! is lacking on that. More so that, even if they were fully capable, they didn't want to go through all the trouble. Remember we're coming from an already fucked up scenario that took a lot of chapters.

Finally, this is just my opinion based on my experience. Of course, you don't have to agree with me in any way.

I have to say, that was relaxing lmaoo

Anyways, since I really like this idea and I've seen several people do it, I'm gonna make my own fanfic exploring how I think lesson 16 would have turned out realistically, hope you stay tuned!

Lethby ༊*·˚

[shinelikethunder]

seriously though, it's incredible how much of my "maybe titties again?" goodwill tumblr torched in 30 seconds through obnoxious UX alone:

i am browsing around in the android app. i see a post about disabling some new content filter. this is the first I've heard of it, even though my version of the app does turn out to have it - they put it in place before adding any mechanism to let me know it's there. strike one.

i go to settings > dashboard, the place where all the settings about what you do and don't see are supposed to live. no sign of it.

i go back to the settings menu. squint at it. see an unremarkable entry near the bottom called "Content you see" that isn't highlighted or marked as new in any way (even though i can't even visit anyone's blog anymore without having to actively tap past an FYI tooltip that can't be turned off, every single time, shilling weeks-old gift features that I've already used)

...oh, that's where my custom tag and keyword filters went. no prior indication they'd even been moved!

i have a lot of filters set up. like. a LOT. i now have to scroll past every single one of them, tag AND keyword, uncollapsed and unabridged, just to see whether there's another setting hiding underneath. on mobile! even the desktop site is more polite than this, jesus

just to recap so far: the only reason i even know to look is that i saw a random post about new content settings, and i would never have bothered with all that scrolling if i weren't crusty and paranoid about sites that hide vital settings in the depths of Menu Hell. i mean, that'd be crazy, right? surely listing all those filters with no collapse is a signal there's nothing worthwhile underneath them.

oh no wait, there they are!

it's not just one toggle, it's FOUR new settings!

all of them are set to "hide everything and never even let me know it was there"

even though there is a "blur" option that would've let me know that stuff was being hidden from me without actually showing it

even though i have, in the past, gone into every iteration of the adult content settings that tumblr has ever rolled out and affirmatively ordered it to show me the titties

THEY ARE NOT TOGGLES. EACH ONE OPENS A SEPARATE MENU SCREEN. every single one of the FOUR new settings needs like 3+ taps in the android app just to put it back to normal.

does turning on the catchall "mature content" setting cause the three more specific ones to default to "show" and let me pick restrictions as needed like a goddamn adult? NOPE, i have to go into the stupid little menu for every single one

it's almost like you didn't want me to find them and, having found them, wanted to make me pay as high an annoyance tax as possible to opt out of being nannied

the dashboard banner that eventually shows up, btw, says nothing about having been voluntold for additional filtering, and also just dumps you out in the general settings menu and leaves you to fend for yourself, with no indication of where this shit is hidden or what "this shit" even is. and that's downright friendly next to the link in the announcement post that's apparently been kicking people out of the app and onto web.

this is not how you get a rightfully mistrustful userbase to be optimistic about putting scarlet letters on their own posts. this is not how you convince anyone that it's just a courtesy, not a scarlet letter, or that it won't be used to punish and stigmatize you the instant the wind shifts direction.

in the most practical here-and-now terms, this is also not how you get people to USE the new content warnings on their posts! artists, especially, are hardly gonna jump to flag anything as mature if it means every single one of their followers - regardless of age, previous adult content settings, or whether they're in Apple's walled garden or not - has just been silently opted out of ever knowing it was there. (this goes double if it requires more than one sentence to explain how to reverse it. which this new setting seems almost deliberately designed to do.)

look, i want the titties back, okay? i would be delighted if this turned out to be the first step towards bringing them back. i know Tumblr is under duress from Apple that affects how they can do whatever they're doing here. but the way it's being rolled out sucks needless ass, and if they wanted my hope and trust, well, those are easier to muster up when I'm not going in grouchy about the frustrating UX of an app that's just taken hostile action against my prior explicitly-affirmed preferences.

[isa-ghost]

Do you have any headcanons as far as Philza and BBHs' relationship? I've enjoyed thinking about that because I think it's one of the few relationships on Philza's side that's actually a bit more complicated? But also Philza saying that BBH wouldn't lie is the funniest thing ever.

Or if no headcanons about Philza and BBH specifically what about Philza, Bad, and Cellbit as a trio in charge of the order because I really loved that

OOOH this is gonna be an interesting challenge because I don't watch a lot of Bad :0!

qPhil headcanons masterlist

Obligatory they're both thousands of years old mention. There's some things they can talk about and relate on that no one else on the island can. MAYBE Foolish, but Foolish tends to just focus on the present and vibe. Phil and Bad though, in the right conditions, they could and will have deep conversations about the past and their experiences.

On that note holy fucking shit these two would be terrifying teamed up together. If the Feds ever do something harmful or permanent to the eggs, god help them when these two decide they're armed enough and hatch a plan. They'll rain hell on the entire island and then some. And every other parent will be more than willing to join them. Do Not Piss Off The Immortal Murder Dads.

Phil could tell clearly that Bad is part demon. Finding out he was part reaper was a surprise. Honestly with how much of a lil trickster Bad is, Phil is surprised he isn't part Fae or something.

Phil takes one look at how Bad goes "no idea what you're talking about, nothing happened :D" about stuff like him Literally Dying and is like [uncanny Mr Incredible] "at least I'm not that bad." Phil just (very poorly) hides things and says he's fine. He doesn't straight up deny anything happened (and couldn't convincingly act like nothing is wrong the way Bad can if he tried)

Missa is a reaper. Bad is a reaper. Phil wants to see them talk about reaper things together. Or see them both in action. He himself can also carry small conversations about it since he's learned so much through osmosis :D

Actually that's kinda why Phil feared Bad so much during Purgatory. That was him in action. And he never wants to be on an opposing side of it again.

He doesn't resent Bad for Purgatory btw he just jokes like it sometimes. Same as with Tubbo (or anyone else for that matter), he blames the Watcher for trying to destroy their friendships.

Has straight up looked Bad in the eyes like "are you aware you are raising the most terrifying egg. Are you." He genuinely thinks if Dapper wanted to, he could kill Phil in his sleep. Every time he sees Dapper, he's learned something new and insane.

Tbh Phil sometimes envies how full of whimsy Bad is. He's seen infinitely more horrors than Phil for sure, yet he always ironically seems like a little ball of sunshine despite being a literal shadow lookin demon. What The Fuck is this man's secret to staying so silly.

Phil is endlessly fascinated by the extent to which Bad can come up with more and new protections for the eggs. He thinks of stuff not even remotely on Phil's radar. See, Phil's a safety expert as a survivalist, but most of his skills involve using what's around you and your wits, because survival is largely about relying only on yourself because you rarely have any other choice. Bad on the other hand will not hesitate to seek out new tech, other people, or tinker and experiment until he discovers new ways to use anything and everything he can get his hands on. Phil admires how intuitive he is.

Also Bad is really good at making bases and Phil enjoys seeing how balanced the aesthetics and practical parts are. Bad can make something look cozy and lavish as hell while also putting like a billion farms and gadgets into it.

I wonder how a conversation about possession would go. :) Surely Bad has some insight on it as a demon?

Something about how the two of them have arguably the most horrific egg death nightmares. I don't know where to go with this but goddamn would Crows and Ghosties be feasting.

Actually wait shut up, I just realized something kinda cute. In the same way Phil can talk to birds (particularly crows ofc), Bad can talk to the dead/undead (particularly ghosts). Imagine the sillies that could come out of that. It's said that animals can see the dead, what if Phil's murder conspires with the ghosts that follow Bad around ;D

The moment Phil would use his wings if they were healed, Bad would clock that he's the Angel of Death. I'm not sure he saw Phil flying during Purgatory, but if he did, he knows. And that would lead to many interesting conversations. :)

[greenerteacups]

Hi GT, I hope you are doing well! who is your favorite Weasley?

Thank you! Absolute treat of a question. Oh, man. It's Ron, right? It was always going to be Ron.

So here's the thing: the Weasleys are a really well-characterized family in that you can kind of see a lot of character emerge through limited sketches and contextual information. Bill is Number One Boy, the best at everything, oldest child who was always confident and at peace with his indisputable place in the family; so he's a chill, cool, incredibly competent guy who naturally takes-charge. Charlie is a patented never-grew-out-of-your-middle-school-dragons-phase Weird Kid, but like, mindfully and enthusiastically so, because his parents probably still had plenty of time to support and nurture his interests; plus he's also different to Bill and excels in different ways, so they aren't too competitive (as we see). Percy is the first one to suffer from the pressure of mounting expectations, and he's very quickly followed by the twins, who do the classic "if I can't be the best I'll be the worst" late-sibling trick of acting up for attention, so he gets lost in the shuffle. (The fight between Ron and Percy in Chapter 58 is, hence, in substantially about the relationship between the two most-ignored members of the Weasley family, and that's why Ron is so much angrier at him than the rest of them. Like I've said before, Ron always thinks he's got it the worst, but he takes pride in being able to kinda "tough it out," and nothing pisses him off like other people's self-pity.) Ginny is obviously the baby of the family, a girl with everyone wrapped around her finger, and I love her, but I feel like we didn't get enough grit in her portrait— she's just really successful in everything she does, in a way that can read as flat to some people, and certainly read as flat to me my first time through the books. In fact, Ginny reminds me a lot of Bill: first daughter/first son, described often as "cool" and clever and good at basically everything, charming and generally liked by all. Which is lovely. A delight to read, just like the twins are. But my taste in characters ranges way more fucked-up and mean.

Ron is the last boy, "sixth son of a woman who wanted a daughter" (fascinating line that complicates everything we know about Molly's relationship with her kids — and BTW, how the hell does Ron know that, and how old was he when he learned it? And this also comes into play with Molly's cry of "not my daughter" to Bellatrix which like, as a moment obviously fucking rules, but also — there's a reason she says daughter, not "child," right? Do you see what I'm digging at? Anyway). Ron meets Harry and recognizes himself in how Harry defaults to thinking people don't care about him, or won't help him if he asks, because — although they come from very different circumstances, Ron's home was completely loving, just not as nurturing as he always needed it to be — Ron usually goes in assuming people don't care about him, too. So his first instinct is to go: "Alright. Well, I'll care about you, then, weird stranger. Do you want to share my horrible sandwich, and also my life, perhaps?" Goddamn! Sixth of seven in a house with never enough to go around, and he's immediately like: "fuck it, room for one more." Because he could have been Percy — and you can see it in the way that Ron is mean, sometimes, he's not careful with his words and he struggles with empathy and he's got a vengeful streak that comes out when he's pissed — but he isn't selfish enough, he loves too much and too easily, and it takes shockingly little to earn his loyalty. You just have to pay a little attention to him.

[june16th2018]

ninjago characters i dislike/hate and why

☆ s2-7 lloyd

HIS GODDAMN FACE DUDE

i just physically CAN'T with his weird ass smile and his ugly haircut, it makes him so detestable (and looks like donald trump tbh)

also idk i get the fact that he's the main character and all but the way each season somehow managed to always revolve around him was pretty annoying, especially for 7 years old me whose favorite character was jay (bless season 6)

plus his vOICE?? like i know they kept his childish voice bc of the fact that his body grew faster in that one dinosaur episode but it was still unbearable

i like his new design tho! and i think his character is much more enjoyable in the most recent seasons!!

☆ s6 nya

okay i know i'm making myself lots of enemies with this one but i just can't help it

tbh i think the whole "nya is part of the team although she's a girl" was so SO great and much needed because she, indeed, isn't just "the girl ninja" and appeared to be very useful since the beginning of the show!!

however, it felt soooo forced at some point, like when she refuses to simply grabs jay's hand?? girl just take his goddamn hand it won't kill you and it doesn't mean your his gf

i know it was kind of on purpose but it just projects a ridiculous image of modern feminism, as if "feminists were too dumb and too much of dramaqueens to the point it puts ppl who just wanted to help in delicate situations" like..

☆ nice garmadon

his evil/oni ver is everything to me, but why does becoming nice prevents you from being hilarious like you used to be..

his outfit ate tho

☆ sora, arin and kai 2.0

okay first of all i'm not a huge fan of dr, but i keep watching since i crave ninjas content and i need to see pixal's comeback

those three are SO annoying i sigh everytime they get screen time, especially sora bc istg if they chose to not bring pixal back because of the fact that this b!tch is basically doing her job (less effectively ofc 😒) imma throw hands.

(this was me having beef with a lego fictional teenage girl btw)

☆ misako

i think the whole fandom gon agree with me but she is a shitty mother

wdym you left your baby???????? garmadon did too tbh but it wasn't really his fault so like.. it's ok i guess 😒 but misako? no excuse at all. if you wanted to do your stupid research you could've taken lloyd with you or at least visited him from time to time.

theres probably more but idk 🌺

bye? 🤨

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

U MADE IT THROUGH THE BEHEMOTH FIGHT!!!!!!!!! giving u blanket & choccy milk etc. it is an Arc!! not as bad as the s9 n stuff imo. but.its heavy. so much fucking happens. man. at least chevalier isn't dead. anyway if u have any thoughts on the All Of It u know im always curious!! but also just celebrating with u!!! yeaaa wahoo arc 25 time :]]]

SO MUCH STUFF HAPPENED THERE I DONT EVEN KNOW WJERE TO FUCKING STAAAART MAN. holy shit. God. fuck. okay. regent. first of all. what the fuck man. I thought for sure he was about to have a whole arc coming up what with Heartbreaker apparently pushing his way into BB !!!! FUCK!!! I hope imp kills his ass so badly. taylor is once again put in a position where she feels like she's betraying the undersiders trust what with the video being posted online. god. I really really hope they don't take that out on her. that situation just felt so fucking dire from start to finish. I KNEW some people weren't gonna get out of there alive but... goddamn. forces were fucking decimated. I know there's a boost in public perception considering the fact that behemoth is FUCKING DEAD but at the same time like.... how the hell are they gonna recover from this. I mean. whatever they've done it countless times before apparently but. man. nothing compares to the feeling of dread immediately following reading an endbringer attack. fuck.

HEY??? SCION ACTING ON HIS KILL ORDERS BTW. FUCK ME UP. OHHHH U KNOW IM THINKING ABT THIS SO HARD. why the fuck did it take him so long to get there? what was he DOING. he finally acted on his kill orders. fuck. I csnt even put my thoughts abt this into words apparently im just fucking speechless over it. you're telling me he had this capability the whole time. God. what else is he gonna do. kind of holding out for a scion mad god arc or something. idk. man. it feels like the foundations of the world have fucking shifted .

also!!!!!!!! EXTREMELY delighted to know golem was theo this whole time !!!!!!! I've been dying 2 see theo again and I'm SO excited he's golem specifically because HE DID SO MUCH IN THAT FIGHT. HE DID SO MUCH. HE WAS HUGE. his big hands were one of the biggest things slowing down behemoth I'm so proud of him. I'm so ridiculously attached to this kid apparently even tho I know something terrible is probably gonna happen to him. can't wait to see how he helps bring about the apocalypse. really glad he's on a wards team and not a villain. that just makes me happy :]

uhhhhhh bringing this full circle thinking about the undersiders now. bow the hell are they gonna cope with regents loss. badly I bet. pretty good it doesn't seem. predictions i think brian is going to have a bad relapse with his trauma, imp is gonna go murder revenge arc on heartbreaker, tattletale is going to try to hold things together but not be good at it, Rachel is going to live on the other side of the portal with her dogs and be also bad at coping with things. idfk. still extremely emotional over that shot of rachel and taylor sleeping in the helicopter though. man. huge wolfspider w but at what cost. somethingsomething taylor telling her to be with imp while she copes w regents death even if she doesn't say anything her presence is still good. cut to rachel being there for her in the aftermath of everything and letting her fall asleep. and trusting her enough to also fall asleep. feeling a big type of way about that. fuck all the plot stuff im thinking about my bug dog yuri now

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia Chapter 427 Quick Spoiler Talk: Closure for Some Villains

I'm mainly writing this as a countdown of the final My Hero Academia chapters for myself, but because I wasn't as invested with this chapter as I was last week's Todoroki-centered one, I don't have much to write this week. Solid chapter, though so nothing to complain about there:

I really liked how Deku's conversation with Spinner was handled and how that contrasted with how the public thought of him. Spinner saw Shigaraki as his first real friend who understood him and had similarities to him. To Spinner, Shigaraki was his hero. To everyone else, Shigaraki was an actual menace to society who killed a lot of people and ruined a lot of lives. To the rest of society, Shigaraki is seen as a villain.

Deku handled the situation very well too by listening to Spinner talk instead of arguing against him at any point. Letting Spinner grab him in his massive form and not even flinching shows how far Deku has come for better or worse (he's still a good boy who's been forced to mature over 1+ year, remember). He doesn't even stop Spinner from telling his side of the story in the future and even suggests that Spinner write his story as a comic book. Maybe this is Deku's way of making sure that history isn't forgotten so that it doesn't happen again even if there's a still chance it might repeat itself. He won't ever forget about Tomura Shigaraki himself regardless.

Also, I want to quickly point out that this panel of Izuku is one of the prettiest panels of him we've seen in a good while. Like, goddamn Horikoshi; this is legit beautiful artwork 💚:

I mentioned it in another post I made here, but I'm so satisfied with how Horikoshi left Overhaul's fate in the worst way for him. There are absolutely worse fates than death and this is one of them. Having Overhaul essentially pay for what he did to Eri for the rest of his life via guilt, scolding, eternally apologizing, and literal haunting from his beloved boss (Eri's grandfather who was put into a coma by Overhaul before she was abused btw) who will remind him of his sins until he dies is some damn good comeuppance. This is another example of Horikoshi not letting characters off the hook when they don't deserve it. Not everyone gets a happy ending.

And ending the chapter off with the new first-year girls chasing Bakugo and Shoto down is fucking hilarious 😂 Shoto especially looks so done with everything and Bakugo is wishing they would be expelled already 🤣! I'm surprised this hasn't happened earlier, but better late than never. Ah, the curse of being pretty boys 😭🧡🩵

And finally, we are officially on break next week. This is the last one we will get and after that, it will be only 3 more weeks until the final chapter of the series. We're getting damn close, guys. I'm scared, excited, sad, all kinds of emotions. I assume next chapter we'll get to see more of our beloved kids in Class 2-A and some of the new first-years. I wonder if we'll get an update on Ochako and Toga too, but that remains to be seen. Right now, all we can do is rest up for 2 weeks and see what Kohei Horikoshi has in store for us for the final 3 chapters of the series.

[phoebespenglers]

the whole idea of gumball is that it's self aware, right. like. there are multiple characters in the show who know they live in a tv show - rob, sarah, and banana barbara to an extent. but they don't control what goes on in it.

that's not to say they haven't tried, though. intentionally or non-intentionally.

rob is gumball's nemesis and is constantly trying to foil him, but always ends up getting defeated (poor rob. he doesn't deserve that) because he's the show's antagonist and the second he beats gumball, which won't happen - the universe probably implodes (we have seen this happen, btw. when something happens in the World that isn't meant to, such as richard getting a job, the laws of the universe go out the fucking window.) rob can't control shit, even if he's tried by getting the universal remote or turning the characters into humans.

and then we have sarah in "the shippening", who accidentally stumbles upon the CN magic writing book that causes anything one writes in it to come to life - of course, sarah isn't aware it has this power and that she can, essentially, control the entire world until gumball and darwin jump in to stop her from destroying everything. sarah isn't going to destroy the World, though. she's not an enemy of gumball - she's one of his best friends. but she also knows that she's living in a tv show, as referenced in MULTIPLE episodes (such as "the fan" where she sings the outro music), though she doesn't really seem to have an issue with that lol, like rob does. anyway. the point is, she has accidentally tried to control the world and failed because of gumball's interference.

and finally, we have banana barbara. and she's. well. i think her "burnout" did fry her brain, but it also opened her mind. like. she knows more than she can physically let on, so she paints to communicate. she definitely knows the World is ending. she was predicting the future all the way back in season 3, in "the oracle" with the watterson family void painting, which is honestly. really fucking good foreshadowing by the writers. lol. one could also say that she controls the future, since it's shown in "the future" that anything she paints will come true, so she can choose to change the future - but actually, that would be incorrect!! she can only paint "what's left" of the future. which is. ominous. also, she seems to deliberately choose not to fuck everything up with her painting powers, and whether she is doing this intentionally because she knows how much damage that would cause, or non-intentionally because she's too off in her own world, i don't know. banana barbara i am Staring at you.

but anyway. my point is, these side characters have tried to control what happens in the show through their own means, but have ultimately been unsuccessful. and why is that?

because the show isn't called "the amazing world of rob" or "the amazing world of sarah" or "the amazing world of banana barbara". it's the amazing world of gumball. this is GUMBALL'S world. yk why his ego is so goddamn huge??? because he is inadvertently controlling the entire world and what goes on in it. whether the other characters like it or not, this is HIS WORLD and he can do whatever the fuck he wants in it! the world quite literally revolves around him! but here's the thing. he has one Major disadvantage.

he doesn't know that he lives in a tv show, like the other three do.

he can't see that "none of this is real". he has no idea. he thinks he lives in this perfect little world where "nothing can go wrong". and because of this, he has no idea that he CONTROLS it all. he controls it all naturally. because that's how he is. egotistical. he thinks the world revolves around him, because it DOES, but he doesn't actually know it does. which makes him all the more powerful and also really fucking dangerous. because he's unpredictable. we don't KNOW wtf he's gonna do to affect the show, whereas rob, sarah, and bb are all doing what they do whilst knowing they are in a tv show.

which is literally why gumball watterson caused the downfall of his own tv show. HE made rob like that. HE made rob figure out that he lived in a tv show after putting him in the void, which caused him to do all of that shit with the remote and trying to turn the characters into humans. had gumball not villainized rob, the show probably could've ended more normally. and like, obviously this was a writing choice from the shows' creators but if we look at it like this then - yeah. show plot-wise, gumball started and ended the show. or - he's going to end it. eventually.

what i'm getting at here is since there's going to be a s7, i have a prediction that in the last episode or two (if they do a two parter) gumball is going to somehow figure out that he lives in a tv show. maybe from rob, maybe from previous events that foreshadowed this happening. idk. and in the final moments of the show, everything will be getting destroyed. there will be no resolution in sight. and why is that?

because gumball has not yet accepted that it's time for the show to end.

so he's faced with two choices:

1. let the creators end the show against his will (because, obviously, they are the powers that be here) with no resolution because this can't go on forever. everyone is suffering, getting sucked into the void, etc. the audience is left unhappy, like they were at the end of s6.

2. the better option. he accepts that the show is ending and stops the suffering in the process - because, again, he controls everything. the ending of the show is gumball accepting that it's over. they've had a good run, but it's time to go now. and with that, the show ends. credits roll. tears are probably shed.

THAT is how i think they should end the show. anyway.

[towerartt]

Handsome Jack 8, 12 ❤️‼️

ouhhh so sorry this took me so long to answer...

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I’ll tell you if you promise not to get mad at me💔

A big chunk of the fandom wrongly views him as the Capitalism Incarnated, while he is quite obviously simply a product of the psychopathy breeding system. Jack’s psychopathy is a reaction to a crime that is uniquely capitalistic. Angel’s kidnapping is a crime of greed. He is, as every Borderlands character, uniquely traumatised by the world he was born into. Borderlands shows what capitalism does to men. Jack is not much different from the psychos/bandits of Pandora. For both, the planet is a prison. Psychos choose to assimilate, and Jack chooses to destroy it. He is the universal threat; neither the poor Pandorians nor the elite are safe from him. 

But does the distinction matter? I believe so. This affects the narrative as a whole. 

We can choose to see Jack as Capitalism, and we get to kill him, and then we all go out for milkshakes. Simple and up-lifting, and very American. But to me, Borderlands is largely pessimistic. Honest people die, the leaders are either cowardly or evil, and the oppressed are often gross, stupid, and difficult to sympathise with. And we cannot kill capitalism, so we kill a scapegoat in its place. The world of Borderlands is fixed: Jack’s death does not affect the status quo; it only frees the tyrant spot for the new, yet-to-come aggressor. This is less satisfying, isn’t it.

(Possibly I am overanalysing a silly shooter game that isn't concerned with a critique of capitalism/colonialism deeper than a simple and straightforward “It is very bad.”)

And despise is a strong word. Interpret him however you want. What I truly despise is haters going "Why are you Jack's apologist?" because he activates my maternal instincts! Next question.

+ personal nitpick. The "Is he/is he not a tragic hero" debate. Girls NONE of you are using the same definition of neither hero nor tragic. I hope a huge asteroid takes out all of us.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I have soo many so I'll just drop a few here that I haven't talked about before mkay <3

Uncharacteristically (and unsurprisingly) squeamish about burnt flesh. Nisha once brought him a scorched hand after some village burning (it looked kinda funny she thought it would make him laugh how was she suppose to know he is so goddamn sensitive) and he started gagging when she dropped it on his desk. When she gets really mad at him, she dumps some burnt remains at his apartment (she loves him dearly btw)

He journals a lot. Partially because, in his opinion, it is a very Great Leader activity, but also because Angel cannot pry into what he has written down on the pages. He knows this deeply annoys her. She can see everything, and she knows everything except for her father's thoughts. Sometimes Jack makes Angel echo him and patiently wait while he finishes his entry to really rub it in. He sometimes draws her.

I hope this is comprehensible. Part of Jack’s mythos being that he only has scars on his front, kinda like Alexander the Great, because a real hero always bravely faces his enemies. But actually, his back is a mess of scars from childhood. Wouldn’t that be fucked up?? All his fanatics are like "Erm, Jack would never ever let anybody get him from behind because he is SUPER cool and smart, and he never runs away from a fight <33" I think this would add to his inferiority complex.

Thank you for this ask💕 Ouhhh I love talking about this guy

[volivolition]

FURY OF A SHATTERED MIRROR CHAPTER 16 LIVE BLOGGING UNDER THE CUT

[MAKES A REALLY PAINED SOUND] EMPAFY. ELEGDROGEMISTY. WHERE ARE THEY. I MISS THEM HKJFH

okay hold on scooting back to the beginning WE ARE IN PAIN ARUGH.

a groggy passenger... hello our "shivers" :'] <3

^ cries about him as usual. One day at a time, Harrier. You can do this. awhghj... sobs forever...

"RHETORIC - *Little*?" HKJGHG

urhg i love how inland is written in this so much...

HALF LIGHT HVKJHG "SOMEONE'S HARVESTED YOUR FUCKING ORGANS." NOOOO BUDDY NO!!

INTERFACING YOU'RE THE MVP OF ALL TIME, IMMEDIATE TAKING STOCK. ough SCREAMED when this was spoken "Motherfucker. Roll call, *NOW*." LIKE OH SHIT!!

i love how everyone answers roll call hkjhg theyre so silly... volition IMMEDIATELY complying, taking it seriously. all of the physiques hkjhg and drama "I doth remain." you sure do buddy!!

"Anyone else?" ... "Shit." OH GOD OH FUCK. SCREAMS. THE DRAMA IN THESE LINES. THE TENSION IN THE SILENCE. GOING WILD ABOUT THIS BTW.

i love pain threshold. very much.

PSYCHOLOCOMOTOR'S PRAYER!! ough surely the -1 to the communist skill and the +2 to the fascism skill won't mean anything important for later checks

FINALLY SOMEONE'S HANDED YOU THE SCRIPT!! THANK FUCKING GOD HKJHF

"That's just indigestion I think" lmao... oH AND THE. "When was the last time you ate" "You don't know" THAT PARALLELS THE QUESTION YOU CAN ASK THE PRINCESS ISN'T IT? AND HER ANSWER??

ohhh endurance you're. so fucking weird and silly and dumb. arent u usually into the monarchy? a little bit?? hkjgh HI AUTHORITY WELCOME BACK JHGKJH "the highest authority imaginable short of God himself, and he's been rather scarce as of late." <- OKAY REALLY COOL LINE ACTUALLY.

narrator honey when did you get some communism in you bro hkjhg HKJGH NARRATOR YOU HAVE TO BE NICE.

again endurance you are so fucked up sometimes my guy hkjgh

"LOGIC [Trivial: Success] - I don't know where to begin." HAHAAKJHSKJHFKJH. TRULY "GOD WHERE DO I START WITH THAT"

"hey can we talk about how authority just reappeared?" [everyone collectively shrugs and moves on]

HKJGH YOU DON'T NEED TO BE SEXIST ABOUT IT HKJHGF

OH THE ATTEMPT AT GETTING ECHEM AGAIN HJKHFKJFH back to getting the gang back together! once more, from the top!

HEY ITS THE LEDGER YAY!! "the part of your brain that knows how to read and write these scribbles is missing." [MAKES A SAD LITTLE SOUND...]

HEY HEY HI SUGGESTION!! :] came back with the ledger because it gives you the skill bonus!!

HEH.

"YOU - I'm not buying into fascism, fucker. (Opt the *fuck* out)." THATS RIGHT MOTHERFUCKER WE ARE OPTING THE *FUCK* OUT!!!!

im not actually sure what this rhetoric check is referring to :0 alas.

oh goddamnit yeah we're still going down this route hkfjhf ENDURANCE WINKS. STUPID ASS-

HKGJHG EVERYONE BE SO NICE TO PAIN THRESHOLD RIGHT NOW HFKJFH

DAMN. GODSPEED, FULL-ASS YOUR MORNING JOG!!! GO GO GO!!!

SMILING ABOUT HIM SMILING ABOUT HIM SMILING ABOUT HIM SO HARD I LOVE THIS GUY WAJHFGKFHJGH....

VOICE OF THE HERO HI BUDDY I MISSED YOU!!!

OWWWW OKAY WE'RE GOING IN I GUESS HJKH

I LOVE YOU DEARLY DRAMA YOU'RE EVERYTHING TO ME.

oh that missing check is DEFINITELY savoir faire. actually i need to make a list of the guys we're missing because goddamn i love organization. we still need Ency, Concept, VisCal, Emmy, Espri, Echem, Hand/Eye, React Speed and Savvy!

ooohj god we just. hit the wall okay ouch hjdkhd

WELL THATS ONE WAY TO GET HER BACK HKJFHG HEY CONCEPT <3

noticing "Shivers" and Hero are a bit different hehe... oh yes, hero, pronounce revachol the soft "sh" way please hdkjhd "PLEASE DONT CALL ME BROTHER." HJKFHF...

do you have a purpose buddy? personally i think you're just fine, very good support pillar <3 YAYYY NEW TASK NEW TASK FOR THE HERO YAY YAY YAY YIPPEE HEHEHE we'll slot it in! we'll figure it out buddy!!

"HALF LIGHT - TAKE IT." hdkjh okay buddy okay okay chill

inland and hero hanging out. having a good time <3 its okay dreamer i love hearing your funny words <3

HSJKHKFJH "Again, again, again!" HDJKFH <33 OKAY COACH WELL. AT LEAST WE GOT A MORALE POINT.

^ HAKIHSJKDHDKJD SMILES. SMILES THEYRE SO SILLY HEHEHEHE

"Well same to you! Goddamn." HAIKHJD??? GODDAMN.

cmon inland!! cmon!! cmon!!!!! ALL OF THE. EVERY CALLBACK FOR THE CHECK, EVERY SMALL THING... OH WEEPS FOREVER. NO DAMNIT... DAMNIT...

"no, this is a new one, even for us" HDJKFHKFJ... YEAH "SHIVERS" AND INLAND DON'T USUALLY DO THIS KIND OF THING.

half light... oh my darling....

"LOGIC [Trivial: Success] - People die when they are killed." so true logi. you're so right.

volition and hero encouraging not to kill her but... we've got too many physiques. and the body remembers what the mind may forget...

OW. FUCK. FUCKING HELL HERE WE GO. THE CHECK... BEAT POLIO, THE JAW... HJKDH HI ENCY IM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME WE'RE GETTING THE SHIT KICKED OUT OF US

oh half light remembering, half light KNOWING... oH GOD IT'S BECAUSE VISCALC AND REACTION SPEED AREN'T HERE. WE'RE MISSING TOO MANY MOTORICS. OH GOD. NO OH NO

HANDY!!!!!! HANDY I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY TO SEE YOU BUDDY AAAAAKJSHKDJHDKJFDHDHN HHEEEHEHEHEHEHEEHEH YAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! OH MHNJVFJNFKJFNKJFD IM SOS CIJFFKJNDKJFNDFIGNID YAY!!

"HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Legendary: Success] - Shotgun blast." THIS IS THE FUNNIEST TWO WORDS TO COME BACK WITH WITHOUT CONTEXT THANK YOU HANDY THANK YOU I LOVE YOU HJKDHFKJHF IM SO FUCKING HAPPY ABOUT THIS GUY.

IS HE TALKING ABOUT THE ESPRIT EVENT??? WAIT DID SOMEONE SURVIVE? IS IT OKAY???

WHOOPS HE FORGOT OH WELL BACK TO THE PRESENT. some fucking day buddy you'll get your gun back MARK MY WORDS, with the hand/eye +3 YOU ARE GOING TO GET THAT GUN I FUCKING PROMISE HDJHD my god im ALWAYS SO HAPPY WHEN A SKILL GETS THEIR CHANCE TO SHINE HHEHE GO HAND/EYE GO!! FLAGRANT DISREGARD GET UP PAIN THRESH LET'S GET MOVING.

okay back to the fight ourgh. actions scenes are so well written for most of the narration being localized to within harry's head, its so well done

EMPATHYYYYYY MY DARLING MY EVERYTHING MY FAVORITE GUY EVER!!! HELLO!!!! IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE Y-

ELECTROCHEMISTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY GUY MY GUY MY GUY MY GUY!!! SPINS HIM IN A CIRCLE AAAAA YAYYYYY YIPPPEEE I WAS SO SCARED HE WASN'T COMING BACK HNDKJDHJ AND I GET A VOLITION AND ECHEM CONVERSATION I AM SO WINNING I AM SO HAPPY HEHEHEHEHE

IM JUST GONNA PASTE THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION ACTUALLY IT MAKES METOO HAPPY HKDJHD

^ THOSE ARE MY GUYS THOSE ARE MY GUYSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! KICKS MY FEET SO HAPPILY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SMILES ABOUT THEM. empathy is DISAPPOINTED IN US HKJHDK and echem you make me so happy dude, YEAH WE GOT THE BRAIN CHEMICALS DUDE!! voli you have to be SO nice to him right now my beloved hkjhg

oh welp we killed her. and we're dying. oh no. OH AND THE FLASK... :'] still... not the worst. at least she enjoyed it. at least there was a shared laugh at the end. i can only hope for the best as we continue...

A WORTHY CHALLENGER. <3

OKAY LIST REWRITE, we're still missing VisCal, Espri, React Speed and Savvy!

are we sticking with this or are different guys going to be missing next time? WILL VOLITION BE GONE?? that'd be tragic. HDJKHD which voices will we gain from this? im definitely not as in tune with stp as i am with de so im never really sure about the princesses hkjhd Adversary i think??

wow. i love this fucking fic. hi thank you for reading my words, if you did. i appreciate you :]

[merichita]

(Goddamn I was finally able to write at least my character's personality and more, buaa. Btw this was translated so any mistakes are not my fault!)

Dr. Harlow

Personality:

Kind and calm at first sight but inside he is just someone empty who needs to use everything in his favor to survive and cure himself of the parasite that consumes him. Harlow is the type of person who will always be kind to manipulate others for their own good, he resorts to this only when it is new information about a possible cure for his parasite or also for other personal reasons, you never know...He has the perfectionism syndrome, where you want to achieve impossible goals and have everything perfect at the same time, which can be understandable due to where you work and what you specialize in, nuclear physics and radiation. He is a little "dishonest" with his own things, in fact almost all of his sanity has worsened since he became home to the parasite or rather: part of it. Even so, his morality is based on the fact that death is not the solution to diseases, that there may be something far beyond where we can find a cure for everything. Basically someone very ambitious for the common "good", he is such an excellent persuader that you will not realize the consequences of the actions required by Harlow's request. He still tries to be useful and help, understand and seek cures, these thoughts originated in his childhood.

He has a fear of getting sick, since his body does not have the best defenses like others. This fear originated as a child and continued until he was an adult, but now with the parasite he no longer gets sick as often, according to his words...Something that not even he admits is that he has hysteria, influenced by his family, specifically his mother's family, deep down he lies to himself that everything is fine with his mentality and health, although not be true.

Family and childhood:

Mother, father and a younger brother! (I will talk about him later since they are both united in each other) childhood is considered the helplessness of not being able to have done anything to cure his mother of her madness. When Harlow was born she was occasionally mistaken for being delicate because she got sick quickly, which her mother associated with her being a "delicate child" and was given the name "Lily" whenever her mother was awake or quiet...Her mother suffered from schizophrenia and was also influenced by family hysteria, which is why she often had violent attacks on her own children. Harlow's father was not present at all, probably sleeping with other women because his wife did not satisfy him for being "crazy." And lastly, to his brother, when he was born, Harlow always protected him from his mother's outbursts so they were always together like this, although their relationship is too complicated at the moment, they are both on thin ice and if they make a bad step everything will crumbles. (I will talk about this when I upload information about the brother since he is another of my ocs that I want to talk about :3!)

SCP Foundation:

He discovered the SCP foundation by persuading a co-worker about where he worked, successfully getting his co-worker to take his recommendation to the SCP foundation, which worked well, and he was admitted and joined the research department, specializing in nuclear physics and radiation, thus over time raising the security level with a lot of effort. He has too much grudge against 05 because they did nothing regarding the parasite case, yet he refrained from doing anything foolish knowing that he is on thin ice with them so he continued to be cooperative with the SCP Foundation to have more trust from his superiors and make the most of it. He mostly isn't so hard on the newbies because he somehow feels some empathy because he reminds him of his brother. So if you see a man waving at you from a distance, get closer, he's just the one wanting to start a conversation with you and get to know you better.

Personal data and details!!

(his clothes, his open eyes and how his hair works)

• Has nosophobia and hysteria

• The brooch that he wears around his neck was a gift from his mother, his brother also wears one of his but the jewel is a different color than his.

• During a containment breach he met SCP-706, where they had a small talk where they became friends, since that day Harlow occasionally visits SCP-706's containment cell as he sees her as a younger sister.

• The four little moles under each eye is something unique among his family that was inherited from his mother

• His favorite animals are owls and seals

• he is a person who can convince anyone of anything

• His favorite flower is hydrangeas and the ones he hates the most are lilies.

• he calls himself with his last name but never with his first name, since he has never mentioned it.

• One of the employees who has never gone to therapy and does not even attend the monthly psychological evaluations, ignoring that, no matter how much he needs it.

[theajaheira]

im so serious btw where the FUCK does he get off. how the fuck does he think he has the right to so much as exist in the same space as that man. i don't care if he's bleeding out on the road he should never once have ever come to giles's house. never. what a fucking phenomenally self-absorbed piece of shit move. not only is he lost in guilt over all the different people he killed to the point where he feels he should kill himself rather than honor jenny GIVING UP HER LIFE to give him this chance at living, a fact that he and the show at large never so much as CONSIDER in this whole "evil wearing jenny's face" thing, he shows up at the house of the man whose LIFE HE DESTROYED and goes "can you help me? :(" i can give angel some leniency for some things and i am willing to be argued with about some of my harsh calls about him but this is one that i think is irrefutably awful and selfish of him. even giles points it out within canon.

and i think eighty to ninety percent of the reason i'm so furious about angel pulling this shit isn't just because of the action itself and what it does to giles! it's because the way i see it, he has two options here when there's weird supernatural shit going down -- he could go to giles, or he could go to buffy. he is not in contact with giles right now. arguably, buffy is the most intuitive choice when it comes to a thing like this, because he's been talking to her already and IDK MAYBE GILES MIGHT NOT WANT TO HELP HIM BUT WE KNOW THAT BUFFY DOES. but it is very clear based on what we know about angel that he makes this choice because he doesn't want buffy to have to take care of him after everything he did to her. giles is collateral. giles is angel's collateral. giles is always and forever angel's collateral. angel places his own well-being over giles's but not over buffy's, even though he has systemically ripped apart giles's life and personally tortured him and left jenny's body in the bed of the very apartment he's showing up at. angel spins a little fantasy about jenny (who GAVE HIM BACK HIS LIFE) hating him and wanting him to die, because he has never once thought of her as a three-dimensional person as angelus OR as angel. i want to run angel over with a goddamn zamboni.

[bonnieisaway]

man idk if this was more blatant and I've just been slow as hell to analyzing Redtooth but giving up the blood demon really is his worst nightmare isn't it. I mean he took it in cause he was weak, he made the deal he did because he wanted power, and then ironically enough Huilian sealed that power as best she could to limit it.

But he was required to forsake the Heaven Lily kung fu and everything else to take the blood demon, and he was already seen as fairly weak when he was learning it. If he gets rid of it he really has nothing left, and he's weaker than he ever has been before. I mean he only really found Huilian again for the first time so he could remove the seal she put because he wanted more power and wasn't strong enough. I mean he claimed Seven could've never hurt him without the seal, pretty much his only driving motives during the series have been to murder people for various reasons and get the seal removed. And the seal was to protect him. How insult that has to be from his perspective, calling him weak enough to not handle himself.

And he really does idolize the leader a lot it seems. Sorry btw this entire post is gonna be an unholy ramble about his general character (again). He has such an allegiance to the leader, who I imagine has to be one of the definitions of power in Xuanwu. Three active and alive Shadow Killers reacted to Green Phoenix's movements, but Shimen seems to only be there because Manjusaka is, and Manjusaka seems to only be there because she can one, fuck with Thirteen, and two, for just the fuck of it. Nobody really comments about why or anything, except Redtooth: who wants Green Phoenix's head on a fucking stick. I mean, he constantly says "-that traitor," and Green Phoenix most often manipulates him bringing up the rules the leader has in place. And it's not just about the fact he almost killed Redtooth, because aside from the fact he constantly says "that traitor" and not "that son of a bitch who tried to fucking murder me and frame it on a dude who fucking cuts hair for fun", he critizes White Fox for not also thinking about Green Phoenix. The Shadow Killers hardly seem to give an inch of a fuck about each other, so why would that matter to White Fox? I mean White Fox hardly gave a lick of a fuck the man was still alive. Like, White Fox hadn't known yet about what happened, sure, but these fuckheads hardly get along so goddamn much that expecting White Fox to go White Knight for the leader with no reward involved feels out of left field, because they only went for Seven again for personal vendettas or the reward. Shimen and Manjusaka had orders to go for Green Phoenix, and Redtooth had spite that ran so deep not about the kill but the inherent betrayal that he almost expected White Fox to react too. Fuckin, what does it matter? He's the strongest motherfucker around and no one threw a hissy fit when we all wanted Seven's head on a fucking spit. Redtooth is so insanely loyal to the leader. Which might've also caused his hatred for Seven, again, imagine losing the entire life you wanted and sacrificing everything to become the most feared motherfucker, pulling up to become a shadow killer, and then bro walks in with a fifteen year old who's never killed anyone before, bro would have lost his damn mind, but just. I kinda lost my point I feel like I've repeated it nine times but Redtooth sure is a leader dickrider and I wanna know why because aint nobody else in the league gives THAT much of a fuck

[astralartefact]

Placeholder Name for Atarase's Media Diary

Entry 005 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake

<<Prev: Unicorn Overlord

Synopsis

The Only Plumber I know is made to visit Fantasy America to collect yet another set of mystical stars - and we gladly do it all over again.

How much did I know before playing?

I played the Original and I liked it very, very, very, very, very, very much. One of my favorite games ever.

Did I like it more than I expected?

It was everything I hoped for <3

If you say you like Turn-Based RPGs and own a Switch you owe it to yourself to play the Classic.

Since I liked it, here's what I hated about it

I would be hard pressed to find anything really.

I guess they could have added more things (the Luigi fight we all crave and the rest of the Paper Mario 1 cameos that were even hinted at in the game files of the original) - but I think what they added is good enough. They added Super Bosses, they added non-intrusive QoL - I don't need them to change the face of the game, I like the OG for a reason.

(and also a thought I had was - I don't know how many writers from the OG Games (both PM1 and TTYD) worked on the Remake and if there isn't much overlap I could see the Remake Devs feeling weird about putting those fanservicey kind of things in on their own)

Also the Thinking Music is punishing don't stop the banger while I'm over here being stupid navigating the UI q_q

What did this game make me think about?

Similar to what I said in my Entry on Unicorn Overlord, I kept thinking that this game - at least in this day and age - isn't even all that groundbreaking - it just does the thing you're supposed to do, the normal Turnbased RPG Overworld-to-Dungeon-to-Boss Loop really really well and it's kind of weird that people don't do it more often.

I guess Thematic Takes on RPG Staples aren't interesting enough for the Unique Selling Point Crowd anymore :/

Specific Impressions that will stick with me

the soundtrack

The Excess Express was the Progenitor of my love for Train Levels.

Specifically for this Remake - How having Vivian's Trans Moment* makes Mario's actions more heartwarming.

*look forward to hearing about this in the ramble section

Outstanding Audio

Very non-exhaustive List because Goddamn. This Soundtrack.

vs. Shadow Sirens

vs. Atomic Boo

Moon Battle

vs. Magnus Von Grapple 2.0

There is one single "bad" thing I have to say about the Soundtrack and it is... that I think Origami King's OST is still unbeaten as my favorite. The banger ratio of that game is simply unbeatable.

All the Partner Themes they're all so good and they're used like twice each

Edit: ___the bonetail theme, goodness___

Besides that they did exactly what I wanted them to do. The Paper Mario Sound Team is just amazing, they do not get enough credit. I'm so excited to see what's next - whatever it is the entire team decides and/or gets to do.

btw there's nothing quite as irritating to me than people complaining about remake soundtracks, even in the off chance that i agree with the sentiment its always voiced in the most condescending tone possible and it drives me up the walls. and sure, ppl can voice 'valuable criticisms' and disappointments or whatever, but i also can read them and be baffled why you thought you needed to share it sounding like you're the only person on earth who understood the original, especially when - like it is in this case - the remake sound team is the same as the original, they literally made the thing you like so much and you thank it by calling them names for daring to 'not get' one specific second in their own work as much as you do.

especially now that we don't really have technical sound quality to improve on there's always going to be changes you like more and less because any remaining difference is closer and closer to a lateral move and the only 'value' difference is subjective opinion. and regardless, the original keeps existing, you hear the new soundtrack in context for a playthrough at most, afterwards you can just listen to the og again.

Favorite Character

Toadette. My All Time Fave, she steals the show everywhere she goes <3

Also Mini-Yoshi, Vivian, the Rich Bob-Ombs, Kammy Koopa,...

Favorite Arc/Story Line

The Excess Express, I know it's relatively short but I just really love Train Levels

Also Glitz Pit, I guess I just like when the Dungeon is the RPG Chapter Location.

Favorite Set Piece

The Remake is so beautiful I could really put anything in here.

Honestly I love all of the Chapter 6 locations, the train in the different atmospheric lightings, the Sunset train stop, Poshley Heights,... (Bad Glimmerich in german, one of the reasons I will allow Fluffy)

Favorite Scene

The Excess Express being covered in the Smorgs (is that the name, they're called Fluffys in german which is kind of lame but I will allow it)

Best Performance

I'm leaving this in here because they didn't replace Charles Martinet for this one and they got me too often with random Luigi Dialogue sounds there's a really good one where they talk about luigi and when they show his picture he echo-ey goes 'wahoo!'

Also the new voice sounds they gave all the characters were too cute, some of them sounded really really nice.

German Localization Notes

I can happily confirm that Barbara is Trans in German too! I can't tell you with certainty how the situation was with the original but I'm pretty sure it was also removed there.

Honestly the German Localization for this Game is and was so good, you people have no idea. I don't know how similar the text between the two is (I haven't played the OG in years) but they kept all the names from the old Localization - which I was a little bit worried about since the german names are so wildly weird (in a good way) I could have seen them go back and 're-align' some of them.

The OG Localization didn't give that much of a damn about keeping in line with the source material when it comes to Character and Location Names, but also they got the Vibe so well they honestly did a better job at it in certain places.

For every weird thing like calling Petal Meadows Fire Valley (which makes more sense when coming from the japanese name but still mischaracterizes the 1-1 world of this game in a way that's honestly fascinating to think about) and boring names like Fluffy we have things like calling "The Great Gonzales" Bomba Luigi, a change I will defend with my life, that's such a funny name, it even makes that Bowser Scene with Rawk Hawk funnier when Bowser is perplexed who the fuck Bomba Luigi is supposed to be. (mini yoshi calls you bomba throughout the game and nobody remarks on you being called like your brother - not even luigi himself, which makes it funnier)

Also the Grandma Bubu (Puni) yells the phrase "Soll ich mir in der Kälte hier Gicht holen!?" (do you want me to get gout in this cold) at the Boy Bubu and that's just. I'm still laughing about it. I hope you have a similarly fun-to-shout sentence in its place.

Ugh, I love it. I know if I looked it up people would complain about how much they 'changed'.

--- ENTERING THE PRETENTIOUS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY ---

What about this game gives me Hope for the future of gaming?

I just want this game to be a sign to let future Paper Marios break the character design regulations again. (if you didn't know, these are an actual thing and are why post ttyd has either fully unique looking npc or entirely non-unique npcs, it's for brand integrity reasons so new characters aren't confused as 'official' and like all brand integrity stuff it sucks the fun out of everything)

I'm even one of the four people in favor of letting them do whatever they want with the gameplay if they don't want to do Standard Turn-based RPGs anymore - by which I mean to say I was fine with Sticker Star - but the texture that only PM and TTYD have, the Texture we all want and crave so much, comes squarely from the unique Toads and Goombas and Koopas and Bob-Ombs..., all the ones they're not allowed to do anymore because the Brand Integrity Manager says no.

(okay so to put this a little more thought out: specifically the unique npcs make the paper mario style less about 'haha paper pun' (which, as funny as they might be once in a blue moon, not a single person cares about) and more an abstracted story book-esque depiction of the mario universe. it makes the entire thing work better by just being 'real but less detailed' - which also makes the plot work better with fewer details - instead of... well, a paper(thin) joke.)

What about this game makes me scared for the future of gaming?

The Unique Selling Point will be the end of me.

Ever since Dexit (yes i'm specifically blaming that hot mess) awakened the worst type of Gamer to the fact that complaining about Problems caused by Capitalism means nobody can disagree with you, Nobody gets to have fun anymore. Not gamers, Not devs, Not anybody.

Everything has to have Value now, everything has to have a reason to exist, a unique take and always also a quantifyable improvement on what came before. If it isn't as good as 'it should be' it's an insult to the people paying money for this! You need to fix this, I paid for this! I know what's good and need to share my intellectual opinion on this minor detail that you clearly don't have any idea about! What in god's good earth are you smoking that you thought this was acceptable?

It comes with this "Customer can do no wrong" mindset (which is often enough wrong btw, you're very much responsible for your own goddamn actions) and it always belittles the thoughts and decisions of the developers who more than likely have to fight higher-ups for those to actually end up in the video games they produce.

Sticker Star really is a good example of that, aside from the Brand Integrity stuff that made us lose unique NPCs the other thing people endlessly complain about is that the Sticker System disencourages Battles which i'm pretty sure they just heard someone smart say once and that therefore the system sucks, who could ever have thought of pivoting to something that stupid???

Well, it's actually a really creative idea on a very foundational RPG problem: Turnbased RPG Battles and the Overworld are for the most part distinctly seperated from each other. For a standard TRPG what you do in the Overworld has fuck all to do with your battles. This is an attempt to make Overworld Exploration a meaningful part in the Battle Gameplay Loop. It has its downsides and it didn't work out perfectly, but I think it was an interesting idea to put to the test!

But I guess that's not allowed. The Devs simply were too stupid to realize you would just end up doing a lot of backtracking to get good Stickers. They just simply don't know what they're doing and we have to make that clear to them by lambasting the game whenever it comes up. (and also to prove to everybody that you have very smart opinions)

There's a thing I learned in school and you might have heard that too before: You shouldn't tell people negative feedback (first). And that might sound like "a nice thing" to do, you "shouldn't hurt anybody's feelings" after all, but here's the thing why I think we should do that: Most of the time People already know what they did wrong, but they don't know what they did right - what they can capitalize on.

Maybe keep that in mind the next time you share your "Valuable Criticism" underneath an official Instagram post (btw who in their right mind does that)

The Ramble Section where I get to actually talk about what I thought about

Let's talk about 'Nintendo adds Transphobia.' I know it's just a meme. Still don't like it :) I liked that they added the Transphobia! I just don't like the meme.

It's like bnuuy. I don't get the joke. It's not fun to pronounce. If the joke is that u and n are upside down, then you could also type pnuuh, that's the entire word upside down. Why are you all finding this so funny. I just don't get it. And just for the record, it's fine you find it funny. I hope you feel validated that I'm okay with your choice of meme. I just don't get it.

But with 'Nintendo adds Transphobia' there is this undertone of "What they did is good" (that's the happy reaction gif in the background) - but the thing they added, the Transphobia, is some amount of bad, or else it wouldn't be funny to be happy about it. We would prefer if you added the Trans Character without including Transphobia after all. But would we? Would that be "better" - whatever that would even mean?

And just to get it out of the way, yes, for a lot of people it's probably haha just a joke about how it sounds funny to be happy about adding transphobia - but then i still don't know what you people think you're doing when spreading a haphazard joke about 'nintendo does a transphobia' in a day and age where nobody checks any of the news they receive when nintendo is literally doing the thing they are supposed to be doing, like come on guys i do have the moral high ground here and i am firing shots

Fully aware that I'm taking this too seriously - If this is what's resting at the heart of some these jokes then I would guess this comes from the "It shouldn't be a huge/integral part of their character!"-BS that people (on both sides) have been peddling for years (because assholes really want that and well-intentioned people rightfully don't want to be fetishized) - but regardless of what you're using that sentiment for, clearly it's not that easy. Like, it should matter to the character or else it might as well be a JK JKRO "Dumbledore is Gay" Tweet and never be talked about again.

It's not like Beldam bullies Vivian just because she is Trans, Beldam bullies everybody, she almost bullies Doopliss more than her. It's just that 'her bullying feels meaner ever since she realized she was a sister, not a brother.' You know, exactly what they state in game and exactly like somebody would probably feel about it even if Beldam's Transphobia didn't play any part in the bullying at all, Feelings don't really care about Facts after all and it creates another dimension to Vivian, a tangible relationship between her and her bullying.

Sure, everything about her story would work without her 'being trans' - but a little change like that goes a long way to color all of her interactions. Even just the simple fact that Mario is nice to her hits a little different knowing that her sister treats her differently since she lives as a woman.

But that's all kind of besides the point because while they wrote a Trans Character facing a struggle that hopefully people will at least feel a little represented by - that's not the only thing they did. They put a Canonically, Directly Stated Trans Character right next to the best plumber you know. And that's kind of the thing that annoys me the most about "They Added Transphobia." Like guys. She's a main character. She's not some weird side quest character that appears one time, doesn't even have a name and says a weird line about it before disappearing forever like that one quest people bring up to say FF14 has Gay Representation. You Can Have a Fully Canonically Trans Woman on Screen for 50% of this Game, Right Next to The Mario Man, And He's Like "You Rock Girl. Love Wins." He doesn't even wince when she implies she has a crush on him.

This is a much bigger deal than some of you make it out to be! This is a serious occassion and you made the social blunder to show up wearing "They added Transphobia"!

And for the people that missed it: Origami King also had a Trans-affirming Birdo Moment where they used her for a Secret Drag Show at the Coffee House at the Rainbow Spring. The Paper Mario Writers know what they're doing with Mario's Image and even Nintendo's Brand Identity Manager can't stop them. You look foolish and don't know who you're talking to. These people made Mario canonically visit a gay bar hiding as a coffee shop. Fix your wig.

[vergess]

So a friend reblogging this interview tips post, which is a perfectly fine post with advice that is useful or whatever.

But I desperately need hiring managers to stop acting like the livelihood and continued survival of their interviewees is "playing the game." It's not a game; it has never been a game. It's people's survival. Our lives.

I understand that to management it's about showing team spirit. But to everyone else, management just said that I need to buy new clothes if I even want to be considered a meritorious applicant, regardless of my skills, experience and attitude.

Because every single thing I own is "ratty." That is to say, it is worn out, thread bared, and has stains/rips embroidered over. That's what being a poor person looks like.

"Oh just spend $20 on a shirt and pants."

I'm also fat. Button down shirts that won't be an Obscenity charge are $40. Pants are $60. I have 37 dollars to my name and I still have to buy medicine and shelter.

And remember: this expense is for the lottery chance that I may get hired. It is NOT an expectation presented AFTER an offer.

I get to pay for new clothes for russian roulette.

I should spend everything I have and more to buy one outfit for interviews and really, really hope that this time I get the job. Even though interviews are notoriously biased against fat people, POC, queer people, and women.

Management also just said I need to prove that I know about the company atmosphere from personal, unpaid, off the clock research above and beyond the application and interview process.

That I should self teach, BEFORE so much as an offer is made.

Meanwhile literally hundreds of my applications are thrown away on a weekly basis (I do about 15 applications a day most week days, and have been for multiple years now). The reasons for this are varied. Sometimes its because my name sounds too ethnic (I've had so many interviewers compliment me for not being Black which they thought based on my name). Sometimes they think I'm over qualified for every single job within 55 miles of me, as though having a college degree means I can photosynthesize instead of needing a home.

Often it's simply because companies lie all the time about whether they are actually hiring, posting dozens of fake job listings. That way they can tell their overworked and underpaid staff, "Oh, the reason you have 3 doubles a week is because of all those lazy unemployed assholes that don't want to work."

The fact that there is a "game" where the loser may become homeless or dead at all is deranged. The fact that the losing players all have to smile, and cheer, and cooingly tell the winners what a Good, Good Job they did is significantly more disgusting.

And let me be clear: the OP of that post is a hiring manager. That shit about "ratty clothes" is entirely under the hiring manager's opinion. There's no way to know what a given hiring manager thinks of your clothes, though if you're visibly poor, fat, or nonwhite chances are they would think you look unkempt in a full 3 piece suit with garters.

That shit about "show me you did independent unpaid labour to prove your loyalty to a company that isn't even hiring you yet" is ALSO under the manager's absolute judgment. You have NO way of knowing what stupid tidbits of information are the "right" ones to recite. You could memorize every piece of information that company has ever published and you STILL would not know which trivia is the Right Answer.

Same with the "ask me a question" shit.

There is no right answer. Interviews don't check for skills, abilities, experience, or even team cohesion.

They are vibe checks. They exist to give hiring managers a way to disqualify IMMENSELY qualified candidates over their own unexamined bigotries.

And btw? We have the science to prove it. It's called "implicit bias."

If you have an accent, are fat, aren't white, are visibly disabled or queer in any way, etc? Your inability to get a job is not because you "didn't play the game."

It's because the "game" was rigged to fuck you over from the start.