#Thread : Finding Loid | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

howlingday · 2 months

Note

Ok but imagine what would happen if Loid and Perry teamed up? No one could stop them.

Okay... Time for something new...

--------------------------------------------------

AGENT T

A Phineas and Ferb/Spy X Family One-Shot

--------------------------------------------------

"An extended conference overseas?"

"Yes, it's a sort of outreach programs between different countries to share different psychiatric methods." Loid explained to Yor. "I'm sorry this is so last minute. I will try to call you as soon as I get back."

Lying to Yor felt wrong, but it was a necessary evil in his life as a spy. The truth was that he was assisting in a joint operation with a foreign intelligence agency, though the whole thing felt like a bad joke to him. Whoever heard of a spy agency under the title of "The Organization Without a Cool Acronym"? Regardless of his feelings, his mission was clear. He was to rendezvous with the agent known as "The Platypus" and provide backup as required.

"Papa?" Anya, his daughter, pointed to picture in her book. Coincidentally, it was a platypus. "Is this a plassapess?"

"No, it isn't." Loid shook his head. "Just because I'll be gone for a little bit doesn't mean you're allowed to shirk on your studies. I expect nothing less than perfect marks when I return home."

"Aw..." Anya groaned.

"Loid, where is this conference being held?" Yor asked.

"I wasn't given the exact details myself, but it's in a region known as the 'Tri-State Area'."

--------------------------------------------------

"And that's about the gist of the assignment, Agent P." Major Monogram said through the video screen. "Find out what Dr. Doofenshmirtz is up to and put a stop to it!"

"If it's evil, sir." Carl's voice said off-screen.

"Yes, yes, if it's evil, put a stop to it." Major Monogram rolled his eyes. "We're counting on you, Agent P."

Perry the Platypus gave a salute and left the briefing room.

"I thought the evil thing was implied, Carl." Major Monogram grumbled.

"It doesn't hurt to be sure, sir. Words can be confusing."

"Not as confusing as this finger trap." The major lifted his hands to reveal his fingers had been locked in a threaded snare trap for fingers"

"Did you put your fingers in that trap again, sir?"

"Carl, we've been over this; if I don't do it myself, then how will I learn when I need it most?"

--------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in the middle of a city in the tri-state area, at an oddly designed building with the logo, Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.~, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz heard a knock at his door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He opened the door to an elderly man delivering the mail. He was fragile and hunched over. In his hands was a clipboard and a large parcel behind him. "Oh, look at you! You're so old! Why aren't you retired yet? Here, come inside and rest for a bit. I can show you what you're delivering is being used for."

The elderly man hobbled in, his left leg limping with every step. He mumbled something alike to a thank you before being seated on a large loveseat inside a laboratory. Unknown to the oddly kind-hearted doctor, the old man was actual the legendary Agent Twilight in perfect disguise. In front of him was a massive ray-gun of sorts, like in the cartoons Anya watched, with a scope and a trigger beneath. At the tip of the barrel was a missing component.

"So, you're probably wondering what it is I'm building with a mind-tapping helmet." He held out his hands. "Oh, I'm a little rusty. I usually save these backstories for my nemesis, Perry the Platypus, but here goes." Through Agent Twilight's perfect mental imagery, every word spoken became a clear picture of the very sad and tragic backstory of the target. "You see, back when I was growing up in Gimmelshtump, it's a town in Drusselstein if you didn't know, my grandparents would always say something, but mean something else. Like, they would tell me to wash the ham, but what they really meant was marinate it, but it was one of those old sayings that grandparents use and, me being a child, I didn't know what they really meant because I'd only heard it said once." He ripped open the parcel, was handed the mind-tapping helmet, and held it to the device. "And that's when I came up with this! BEHOLD, THE SAYWHAT'SONYOURMIND-INATOR!" He then climbed his way to the apex of the machine. "With this inator, people will say what's on their mind and mean what they really say! Like, say your friends want to hang out and, I don't know, do old person things, like play cards, but the way they say it makes it sound like they want to sleep all day, so they'll say what's on their mind! Here, let me try it on you!"

Faster than Agent Twilight can react, the nefarious doctor was already on the ground and using his weapon on him. He was then hit with the powerful radio waves the machine emitted. He blinked.

"I don't feel any different." He said aloud. "Did this mad scientist's machine really work-" His eyes widened as the doctor laughed for a moment.

"Hey, who are you calling a mad scientist? I'm not mad. I mean, I'm mad now, but I'm not always mad." He looked to the platypus climbing out of the parcel package. "Perry the Platypus, tell him I'm not always mad." The platypus in the fedora chittered. "See? He gets it." At this, he gasped. "PERRY THE PLATYPUS?! Wait, were you able to hear my backstory while I you were inside the- OOF!"

Perry punched Dr. Doofenshmirtz, sending him stumbling backwards into his machine. The machine fired off in a random direction before being taken into the hands of its creator.

"There's no need to fight me, Perry the Platypus. Why don't you just-" He fired the inator on Perry. "USE YOUR WORDS! AHAHAHAHA~!"

Perry winced at the sudden radio waves bombarding him. He blinked a few times. He was looked at expectantly by his nemesis.

"Chkchkchkchkt."

"Oh, right. You're a platypus." He then pressed a button on his inator and a net flew out and ensnared Perry. "But I planned for that!" A punch flew in from out of nowhere, knocking the doctor over with his inator. Standing not far away was the old man from before. "What are you doing, Old Man?"

"My name," the mask ripped, revealing the spy, "is Agent Twilight, and on behalf of the good people of Westalis, I order you to surrender your weapon."

"Westalis? Where is that? Is he with you, Perry the Platypus?"

"Chkchkchkchkt."

"I won't allow you to threaten the good people of the world with this strange contraption." Agent Twilight said, fully removing his disguise. "Especially while I am assigned to this joint operation."

"Well, I didn't really have anything planned for someone bigger than Perry the Platypus, but I did have this in case he escaped!" With a push of a button, another net of ribbon spewed forth. Unfortunately, the new agent was too fast to be caught and rolled his way over to Agent P, where he easily ripped apart his bindings. "No, no, don't do that! That is so unfair, fighting two against one!" He groaned. "Of all the days for Norm to take one of his 'mandatory vacation days'."

This vacation day in question included going to the mechanic for a semi-spa treatment involving oil, rags, and oily rags. Back to the fight, Agent Twilight kept the doctor on his toes, swinging fist after fist, easily overpowering his opponent. Meanwhile, Agent P was altering the inator by turning the mind-control helmet around so that the machine would reverse its effects.

"I cannot fail here. I cannot allow my emotions to get the better of me. I must keep on my toes. I need to keep applying pressure and overwhelm my opponent with quick, but meaningful strikes."

"Ugh! I regret hitting you with my inator." Dr. Doofenshmirtz groused amidst his thrashings. "Why can't you be more quiet like Perry the Platypus?"

"Chkchkchkchkt." The OWCA agent chittered from atop before swinging the inator around and firing it on himself Agent Twilight. Agent P patted himself down before giving a thumbs up to his fellow agent from afar.

"Oh, finally! I didn't think you would ever stop talking!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz groused even more.

Agent Twilight was about to go in for another punch when he was dragged away by Agent P. Looking back to the inator, he saw that there was a self-destruct device placed at the device's weak point. Jumping over the balcony, Agent P held tight to Agent Twilight, the two silently gliding through the air to a safe location. On the winds, they could hear the defeated shouting of their shared nemesis for the day.

"YOU DON'T NEED AN INATOR TO KNOW THIS, BUT CURSE YOU, STRANGE OLD MAN, AND CURSE YOU, PERRY THE PLATYPUS!"

A GENT P~!.

--------------------------------------------------

"Excuse me, is this your platypus?"

"Huh?" Phineas turned around to see a man standing in their yard, holding Perry in his hands. "Oh, there you are, Perry!"

"I found him wandering around in your front yard, and I thought it was odd to see an animal so far from their home."

"He's not far from his home, he's simply living in a new home away from his natural habitat. We feed him four meals a day, plus treats, and give him as much comfort as possible." Ferb explained in excess.

"Oh, I... see..."

"Yeah, sorry about Ferb." Phineas explained. "He's been a lot more talkative than usual today. It's almost like some kind of radio wave went off and made him say everything that was on his mind."

"That's... quite an imaginative explanation." The man said. "But maybe this will help. I specialize in psychiatric help and this device helps ease those affected by 'radio wave' abnormalities in humans."

"Oh, you mean like brain stimulation therapy?" Phineas asked. "Isn't that controversial?"

"Yes, yes, it is." The man quirked his brow. "But I believe it may be the best way to help your friend."

"Oh, Ferb's not my friend. He's my brother!"

"Ah, excuse me. Now, may I use my device. I promise no harm will come to your brother."

"Well, okay, if you say so." Phineas stepped aside and let the man hold the device up to Ferb before pressing a button. Ferb blinked a few times before the man placed the device in his pocket. "How you feelin', Ferb?"

Ferb gave a thumbs up.

"Hey, it looks like it worked! Thank you, Mr... Huh? Where'd he go?"

--------------------------------------------------

"Papa! You're home~!" Anya cheered, running to the door.

"You're back already?" Yor asked. "I thought you'd be gone a lot longer, considering how far you were traveling."

"I was offered a trip on a much fast return flight than the one prior." Reaching into his doctor's bag, he pulled free a plush doll in the shape of a strange creature with a duck bill, a beaver tail and feet, and a strange greenish-blur fur color. "Anya, I found this on the way home. I remember you being curious about platypus before leaving, so I thought you'd enjoy this."

"Thank you, Papa!"

"Oh, that is so cute~! What are you going to name him?"

Anya thought for a moment, then noticed a certain look in his eyes. It was the same look he held when he was in thought of something. Focusing on him, she heard a name said over and over again.

"Percy the Plassypess?" Anya smiled, tossing her plush in the air. "Yeah! Agent Percy the Plassypess~!"

#spy x family #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #heinz doofenshmirtz #phineas and ferb #perry the playtpus #major monogram #phineas flynn #ferb fletcher

32 notes · View notes

anxiety-elemental-kay · 7 months

Text

And Take Away Its Pain: A Comparison of Masculinity, Trauma, and Queerness in Warcraft and Warframe

First, I want to shout out my friend Silriven at BluSky. (If any of you are mean to her I will Find You.) This thread she wrote recently reflecting on if/how she still likes Anduin as a character was what got me started writing this essay. She talks about the fandom response to Anduin, and the ways both the fandom and writers contradict themselves in discussing the character. The reason I wrote this essay is because I can think of another character and video game that work as a counterpoint to the way Anduin is portrayed.

Even before this specific thread, I made made a thread on BluSky comparing Warcraft and Warframe much earlier because both these games had major update reveals at around the same time. Not only that, but their content served as an interesting contrast between the different games' stories, and my own reactions to each.

The War Within[1] trailer and related announcements were revealed at Blizzcon 2023, around the same time as Digital Extremes, the developers of Warframe, held Tennocon 2023, which included a thirty minute demo of their next major story update, Whispers in the Walls.

For those unfamiliar with either/or World of Warcraft and Warframe, I’ll give a quick summary of the trailers.

youtube

In TWW trailer trailer we see Anduin Wrynn sitting by himself in a desert. Anduin is a character the players have known for a long time, and last time we saw him he chose to disappear in response to a trauma he suffered in that expansion’s story. Here his face is dirty, he’s grown out a beard, and his hair is cut short. He has a vision of something that looks like a star calling his name. A second character appears, an orc named Thrall. The two talk; Thrall is calm while Anduin is angry and confrontational. They discuss the visions they’ve been having, how someone at “the heart of the world” is calling out to them. (Anybody who’s kept up with Warcaft's story even a little bit will know this voice is the Titan Azeroth, who lives inside the planet Azeroth.) When Thrall touches Anduin’s shoulder, Anduin has a brief flashback to when the ghost of his father touched his shoulder. Anduin draws his sword and declares “I’m not that person anymore! I have no Light! Not after what I’ve seen, not after what I’ve done!” Thrall replies “You are not your past, Anduin” and expresses his trust in Anduin, who struggles to not cry, and lowers his sword. Both of them experience a much stronger vision of the star calling for them, then Anduin accepts Thrall’s hand, and Anduin pledges to stand with him. They both express confusion at who could be calling out to them. (It’s Azeroth you dinguses!!!) The trailer ends with a cool shot of a giant sword sticking out of the desert, before switching to The War Within expansion logo.

Now, the Whispers In The Walls showcase was a full demo including gameplay, but to keep the comparison as fair as possible, I only talk about the opening three minutes [2]. You can see the whole showcase here.

youtube

In the Whispers preview, we open with a cutscene. We start with some spooky eldritch speech, then we shift to someone the player will have heard of before, but never seen, Albrecht Entrati. Albrecht checks a beeping pager, and then an old computer, both out of place against the stylized sci-fi future setting of Warframe. He is followed by his feline companion. He gives his cat some pats, then he sits in a sci-fi casket, where his kitty also curls up. A second character, who we’ll learn later is named Loid, approaches Albrecht with his head bowed and eyes on the floor. Albrecht reaches up to Loid to touch his cheek, and wipes away a tear with his thumb. (Remember this moment, it's important for a point I'll make near the end of this essay.) Albrecht's dialogue is subtitled as (Quiet whispering). Then Albrecht lays down, and the casket closes. Loid raises a hammer as the casket makes loud sounds and lights flash, before he finally brings the hammer down to smash the casket. The screen cuts to black, then the gameplay starts.

Comparing these two teasers at the time, I thought about how Whispers was much more effective at building a story hook by creating mystery. Even if I limit myself to that opening cinematic, we have one character, Albrecht, who we’ve heard a great deal about and is important to the story, but we’ve yet to meet him in-person. The contrast of his 90’s tech and fashion against the more fantastical technology common to Warframe’s universe is stark and creates interesting questions. We’re introduced to this relationship Albrecht has with Loid. I don’t know who these people are or what their circumstances are, but I see genuine love and conflict. I’m already invested in learning more and seeing what happens to them. It’s a great hook! I actually rewatched that opening three minutes a few times while writing this because I have brainworms!

The TWW trailer is about creating a hook based on seeing where beloved characters are now, seeing what’s become of them when the player wasn’t looking. Azeroth the Titan is speaking to the main cast, which is clear to the audience familiar with the game but not the characters for unclear reasons. Anduin is still suffering, unable or unwilling to heal from his trauma. Thrall wants to him to come out of hiding. Anduin agrees to. That’s it. What’s the story hook here? Anduin seems to have gone nowhere in the years since he was last seen, and I have no sense of where his story (or Thrall’s, or Azeroth’s) might be going. I don't even know why Anduin changes his mind and chooses to help Thrall. What, just because there's another big threat to the world? The last one wasn't enough to bring you out of hiding? It’s just stuff happening, a general sense of vague Peril. I can't even get that excited about the shot of Sargeras' sword! Blizz should've thought to address that earlier, like, when the planet got stabbed! That was cool and exciting! Our planet got stabbed by Warcraft Satan! Then it's ignored for years until now, after people kept asking what was going to happen to it. The trailer tries to build a mystery about where the visions are coming from, but it's the Titan Azeroth, the players figured it out right away, there's no mystery. I don't have any reason to feel like the writers care about the story, setting, or characters. I’m left feeling nothing for any of it but a vague sense of disappointment.

Even more, the TWW trailer feels like it’s deliberately avoiding adding any details. Anduin talks about how he’s lost his Light, how he’s “not that person anymore” which is not a bad way to take his arc, but I can’t connect it to when Anduin was enslaved by the Jailer in Shadowlands. I know where his trauma comes from, but the trailer makes no effort to explain or expand on how those specific events affected him. I’m not even going to explain what any of that means to people unfamiliar with Warcraft because it doesn’t matter! In both dialogue and in visuals, the trailer gives little texture or meaning to what Anduin is feeling. In the Whispers trailer, I know Loid is sad, not just because Albrecht is leaving, but that he has to have a role in that departure. I don't know what happened to Albrecht at this point, but the emotional hook is there along with the questions about the story. I care because I believe these two characters are in love. Why should I care that Anduin feels he's lost his Light? I have no sense of what this loss means or feels like. I have no sense of what he's struggling with, or what he might face in the future.

Since those trailers were released, Warframe had its promised Whispers update, and I’ve played the full quest and leveled up the linked faction, which contained more story. While I know I’m being unfair comparing a trailer to a full release, I will continue to do so anyway because 1) I’m a bitter old faggot, and 2) the full story of Whispers makes the comparison between Loid/Whispers as a whole and Anduin/TWW even more interesting/saddening.

This is your warning that I’ll be spoiling the quest Whispers In The Walls. Eventually. I've got some foundation I want to lay first.

I found a tweet thread by Christie Golden, one of Warcraft’s major writers. She links a TIME article about a woman struggling to raise her son to be gentle and kind in a world that encourages anger and violence in men. Golden lists Anduin (among others) as an example of nontoxic masculinity in fictional media. In her replies she goes on to expand on her thoughts.

Here’s the tweet by Golden that stuck out to me: “Too often men and boys who gravitate to the gentler side are automatically perceived as being gay, whether they are or not. ALL men/boys should be able to display these qualities, just like all girls/women can be tough and fearless and athletic if that's who they are.”

What’s wrong with being perceived as gay, Golden?

To be fair, there is a point here about assuming someone’s sexuality based on their personality or behavior. That is nonsense, and assigning traits to someone based on an observer’s opinion isn’t good. I even agree that not all straight characters should be one thing and all gay characters should be another! The problem with Golden’s statement is the implicit bias, being “automatically perceived as being gay” is framed as something bad. Why shouldn’t straight men and boys look up to a gay character? Can they not see themselves in a queer character? Why?

This is another reason why the comparison between TWW and Whispers is so interesting, because Whispers is gay. Sure, there are people who will argue Loid and Albrecht weren’t in love, because no one explicitly says they were together, but if you’re paying attention that’s unneeded. Loid refers to Albrecht as “my Albrecht”, and later, in a diary entry, we hear Albrecht refer to Loid as “my Loid”. There's a moment in the quest where we watch a recording of Albrecht, and he says, “I need Loid to understand why I had to leave. Without him. Why I forced him to destroy the device after I had gone. And why I could never say the words he so needed to hear.”

If you listen to the codex entry “Albrecht’s Notes: The Aftermath” about what he went through after coming back injured from the Void, you get even more. Albrecht describes Loid as “crooning motherly” and how “Loid nursed me then” back to full health. His descriptions, and the voice acting, are entirely earnest. There is no sarcasm or veiled disdain as he describes Loid in these feminine terms. The affection Albrecht both received, and gave, was genuine.

“The agony bit deep, but it was clean. Blameless love bled up from me.

I had decided to live.”

Yes, yes, this section is partly for me to be snappy at the people in the Warframe community who insist Loid and Albrecht aren’t a couple. What I want to demonstrate here is mechanically how Warframe tells its audience these characters are in love without needing to spell it out. Why it’s reasonable (and valid) to interpret characters as queer even if they don’t list their labels on their bios, so to speak.

To bring this back to the character of Anduin Wrynn: while he’s never been officially portrayed as queer, his story, at least in its earliest years, very much was.

Though we don't see much of Anduin in-game early in Warcraft's life, his first story plays out in the supplementary comics and novels. There’s a conflict between who Anduin feels he is and who he is expected to be. He’s expected to become a warrior like his father, Varian, but Anduin finds wielding weapons difficult. He's unable to reach Varian's standards for who he should be. Instead, Anduin chooses to become a healer, in Warcraft terms he chooses the priest class, and focuses on spellcasting and support. At one point, as Anduin is about to leave home to go and train in healing magic, Varian reaches out and nearly breaks his son's arm in his attempt to force him to stay. Varian is horrified at what he's done, and Anduin leaves.

Anduin's story is literally about rejecting the traditional masculinity his father represents to pursue his own, alternative path. We see how the life Varian's lived, a warrior's life full of violence, has poisoned his relationship with his son, how his toxic masculinity was a destructive force. Varian’s story in parallel is learning to accept Anduin’s choice, and learning to understand that his son is still powerful and capable, even if he’s not “strong” in the way Varian himself is. In addition, Anduin is one of the few characters who objects to the war(craft) between the two player factions and wants to find peace between them. Anduin’s story was, in theme if not in content, very much a queer narrative! It's about challenging tradition and finding a path that's more true to who he is and what he believes in.

This was why I connected with the character of Anduin initially. I started playing Warcraft in late Wrath of the Lich King, after ICC came out. When I first met Anduin he had a default human child model, and he said and did basically nothing. Then Cataclysm was released, he got his own teenager model, and a whole questline to himself. Suddenly he was someone with agency, wants, and personality! And then Mists of Pandaria came out and Anduin got to be a major focus of an entire expansion!

Anduin was absent from the next expansion, but the one after, Legion, Anduin returned with an adult model, and his father dies during the story's prologue. While he didn’t get the same focus he did in Mists, in Legion Anduin still had a whole storyline about becoming king, accepting his new role, and making peace with his father's death. It's smaller than his role in Mists, but it's a storyline I enjoyed!

I’ve literally watched this character grow up in real time. It’s a powerful experience!

(Side note: there’s a lot that can be said about Anduin as a monarch, what kind of state head he is, how he treats his people, and is an aspect that largely goes unacknowledged in the canon story. I'll shout out Silriven again, this is a topic she's gone a good job of discussing before. I want to acknowledge this part of his character, but I consider it beyond the scope of this specific essay. I do think making him king, making him someone who extracts taxes and sends people to die in war, does have a major impact on his character, his masculinity, and how he processes trauma. However, talking about monarchy, even a fictional one, is its own topic and needs its own space to explore. It's something to keep in mind whenever discussing any major character in Warcraft who is also a major political leader.)

Through all this I would say I saw Anduin as queer. At no point does he express serious romantic interest in anyone, nor does he appear to be under any pressure to find a partner through either societal or political norms. The themes of his stories made me think he was gay, especially as the only other character he grows close to is another boy. Anduin was a comfort character for me.

This began to change in the expansion after Legion, Battle for Azeroth.

Anduin begins to wear a set of plate armor, looking more like his warrior father, and the role he once rejected, than the priest he chose to be. He leads his armies in a war that he used to be wholly against, a contradiction he never fully confronts. When he punches Wrathion, a childhood friend who reappeared in the last expansion patch, players responded with praise in real life. “Manduin” punched Wrathion, who Anduin claimed was responsible for his father’s death. Which he wasn’t, and can only be seen as responsible through a Five Degrees of Kevin Bacon type web. I'm not sure why Anduin says this, unless the writers wanted to either smear Wrathion or erase the history of friendship the two had previously. Or, maybe they didn't want to bring up any legitimate reasons Anduin might be angry at Wrathion, like abandoning him. If I had a nickel every time one person abandoned another to go on an ill-fated time travel adventure, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't much but it's weird it happened twice.

(Here's a tangent: Imagine if Albrecht ended up in alternate Draenor and/or Wrathion ended up in 1999. Those stories would've gone VERY differently.)

Since I’ve brought him up, it’s time to talk about Anduin and Wrathion.

This topic is. Divisive. In the Warcraft fandom.

Wranduin, the ship name, is something that appeared in fandom mid Mists when the two characters first met. Anduin was curious about who this Wrathion person was and set out to investigate. Long story short, their families had a long history of conflict, and Anduin had every reason to be suspicious and mistrustful of Wrathion. Was openly mistrustful of Wrathion. They continue to hang out together through the rest of the expansion.

This all leads up to a particular moment in the novel War Crimes, taking place after the main events of Mists of Pandaria. Anduin and Wrathion continue to spend time with each other in that book, playing games and discussing politics. When Anduin expresses how tired he is, Wrathion declares “I shall, if asked politely, take you on my back and ferry you to fascinating places, where we will have adventures that will age your father ten years in one night.”

I've never read any of the books myself, but I’ve seen this passage passed around online and it stands out to me. It feels genuine, two teenagers who are close friends but also bad at vulnerability and Feelings, making a connection and finding comfort in each other. I’m not even asking anyone to see a romantic angle to this, just to understand the emotions of the moment. It feels specific to them.

I was in the Warcraft fandom during Mists, I thought their relationship was interesting, and it could make for an interesting romance. Despite ideological differences, they were very much kindred spirits. People born into power who’ve also suffered immense loss of agency. Both were forced to grow up quickly, had their lives endangered at young ages, and both want to protect the world they live in, even if that means different things to both of them. That tension, the clash between their ideals and their personalities, the potential for connection and division both, was what made their relationship so interesting.

Then Wrathion disappeared for several expansions, came back in BofA, and the first thing that happens is Anduin punches him in the face. We never see them in a scene together after this moment ends.

It's worth noting that while Wrathion isn't human (he's a dragon in disguise) his humanoid form makes him one of the very few non-white characters in the main cast. They reintroduce him by having a white man, who was once a friend, punch him in the face. This is an action Anduin has never apologized to Wrathion for.

There’s another Warframe character I want to talk about briefly: Ticker. She’s a trans woman.

She's been in the game much longer than Loid and Albrecht, but like them, her identity is never explicitly stated, but at the same time it's unambiguous. She has a deeper, more masculine voice, has a masculine appearance (Old Mate rank spoilers, but if you know you know) while her body language is very feminine and she uses exclusively feminine pronouns and terms for herself. One her voice lines when you speak with her is “A person gets told a lot of things over the course of a life. Who they are. Who they should be. Amateurs, lecturing a professional.”

She is a trans woman, she has some of the best lines in the game, and I love her.

My greatest disappointment with Ticker is that she isn’t involved in the greater storyline associated with her zone. We do meet other good characters (Eudico in particular is a lady character I adore) but Ticker’s exclusion sticks out to me. Sure, one could point to Smokefinger as also being largely absent, but Ticker’s role in the story is to help pay off people’s debts so they don’t suffer more than they have to. This is something she has to do in secret (to her boss’s boss, not to the player natch) or risk facing harsh punishment herself. This could tie directly into the area’s larger story about a workers' union violently revolting against its hyper-capitalist overlords. Why isn’t she in Vox Solaris DE??? By the way, the player sides with the union.

(Side note: Blizzard is an American studio, while Digital Extremes is Canadian. I can feel a potential discussion of these two countries, labor unions, and these two games, but like the point about monarchy in Warcraft, that needs its own space. There's definitely things to talk about, but I'd need to do real research before I could begin to approach it.)

So looking at Ticker, then looking at Whispers, this update shows growth to me. Warframe is showing two men in love[3], both characters and their identities are treated with respect by the narrative and other characters. Yes, this isn’t the same as depicting a canonical trans woman, but I’m inclined to be patient and kind when I sense that creator(s) are earnest about portraying experiences that aren’t theirs. We all have internal biases we need to uproot, it’s a journey that will last our whole lives, and one that will inevitably end incomplete. We can all and always learn to improve our art, as well as our compassion and understanding of other people. For me, forgiveness for earlier depictions that were poor or problematic is easy when I believe the creator(s) are making a sincere effort. We all make mistakes, and we all grow. Hopefully DE will add another canonical trans person to their game who will have a bigger role.

I’m hammering this point home because I have never felt this level of sincere effort from Blizzard.

I know I’m comparing an middle-ish game studio to a massive AAA company, and I do not care. Whether it’s because of the writers’ cowardice or a producer’s mandate, Warcraft takes only small steps to be inclusive, while Warframe is genuinely trying. (DE also updated skin shaders specifically so darker tones would look nicer in their new lighting system!) It's things like this that make Golden's talk about Anduin being an example of nontoxic masculinity ring hollow. Only one of these games seems willing to engage with marginalized stories, with people who live outside of the strict roles we're assigned. The concept of "nontoxic masculinity" cannot exist if one is unwilling to engage with queerness. Allowing men to embrace more gentle behaviors also means not shaming anyone for being gay. Allowing men to do and be things that aren't the pinnacle of traditional masculinity means understanding and embracing that men can and will engage in more feminine behaviors or roles, and this doesn't diminish their gender identity. These concepts are linked.

(I know this is a very binary way of framing these concepts, but let me tell you, Blizz is NOT ready for that discussion.)

Warcraft has added gay characters or made some existing characters gay, but never anybody in the main cast, nothing that would get a major spotlight. Anduin could’ve been an easy solve for this, whether he started a relationship with Wrathion or someone else, it doesn’t matter! Having a major character in a game as large as World of Warcraft would've meant so much. Instead they hide their queer characters in secondary roles, in supplementary media, and made them into easter eggs in the game. Never major characters, never the focus of the story. Nothing they would, for example, show off at a major convention in 2023.

Moving away from talking about queerness for a moment, something that struck me watching the Whispers demo again is that DE isn't afraid to make their new character flawed. I don't want to say unlikable necessarily, because I did like Loid right away, but he's also rude to the established character traveling with us ("Resume your duties, construct!) and then dismissive of the player. He's supposed to wait for an "operator" to arrive at the labs, and thinks it's obviously not the player. By the end of the quest (which I'll talk about in a moment because yes it's relevant) Loid comes to accept that the player is the one he's meant to work with. When you level up the related faction in the full release, Loid eventually tells the player that his role was to care for Albrecht, and it would be his honor to extend that same service to the player. This arc is sweet and feels earned because Loid started so abrasive, the writers weren't afraid to make him abrasive, and even by the end I wouldn't say he's flawless. In fact, in the next update, Dante Unbound, DE has hinted that Loid will have to confront the established character he was rude to in Whispers. Loid feels like a person who's going through shit, in the way that people go through shit. Not with grace, but trying his best anyway.

I bring this up because one of the long standing issues with Anduin as a character, which has gotten worse as time goes on, is the unwillingness to give Anduin flaws. I wonder if this connects back to the point about the lack of specificity about his feelings or experiences in TWW trailer, why Thrall's simple "You are not your past" feels so strange, and why the trailer seems reluctant to acknowledge Anduin's anger as a problem. Anduin has, for a while, been positioned as a moral core for the game, the character who is primarily interested in peace for unselfish reasons. Part of the reason I enjoyed Anduin as a character in Mists was because, sometimes, he got to act like a shitty teenager. He'd be sarcastic or smarmy or do something objectively dumb, like run off to fight a major enemy of his nation on his own. This is especially true when interacting with Wrathion, which includes Anduin using the taunt "You're what, two years old?" To which Wrathion replies "Two in DRAGON years." It's very endearing! Look at these brats, they're believable teenage friends to me. Yes, Anduin is one of the few peace-seekers in the story, he tries so hard to be good and kind even to his enemies, but in moments like these he still feels like a person.

We could look at TWW and say Anduin is demonstrating anger issues, which would be interesting because, like in the example of almost breaking Anduin's arm, this was something Varian struggled with. Except it doesn't feel like the trailer recognizes this as a flaw. The moment goes by and is quickly forgotten. I can look at Loid in Whispers and I recognize where his bitterness comes from: he felt abandoned and so pushes others away. The one detail I did like in TWW trailer was the comparison between Thrall touching Anduin's shoulder, and Varian's ghost doing the same in the past. That moment felt like a trigger for Anduin, reminding him of that moment when he was so vulnerable, but also of his grief for his father. (Nevermind we had that story in Legion about Anduin coming to terms with his grief. Let's ignore that.) It's the most sincere moment of the trailer, but it doesn't follow through! As soon as the second vision dissipates, Anduin takes Thrall's hand and pledges to help. Why? Again, "because there's another big cosmic threat" isn't a good enough reason. What does he feel in this moment? Why did he change his mind now?

Nontoxic masculinity doesn't mean "flawless person". I would still say Loid is a good example of nontoxic masculinity, regardless of if or when he does engage in more toxic behaviors. I'd say as a character Loid is a better demonstration than Anduin of nontoxic masculinity because he's capable of self-reflection, realizing he did something bad, and correcting himself. One interpretation of events in the story of Whispers (because much of Warframe is open to interpretation) is that the local eldritch horror was feeding off of Loid's resentment towards Albrecht, and this was fueling its assault on the labs. Only in reminding Loid of Albrecht's feelings for him, specifically in a way Loid had been deliberately avoiding, can the player begin to take down the bad guy of the quest.

This is a great time to move to my last point about Whispers’ full story: the ending.

I know we can talk about ludonarrative dissonance about two games where the player regularly enacts mass murder and trying to square that with certain story themes. Listen. Hear me out.

In Warcraft, the solution to the final boss is always kill them. (Or arrest them in the case of Garrosh in Mists. In truth this was only a stay of execution). Part of this is the limit of always putting an expansion’s conclusion in a raid. There always needs to be a big fight in a specific kind of setting with specific player expectations. I wish Blizz played with this more; maybe we can only seal away the bad thing? Or maybe the goal is to hold something off while an NPC does a magical ritual that saves the day by some other method? I’m sure there are possible, creative solutions other than “hit bad guy (or his toes if he’s big) until bad guy falls over”.

How does the player save the day in Whispers in the Walls? I’m going to cover this in detail because it’s one of my favorite moments in the whole game.

You spend much of the quest fighting off The Murmur, constructs summoned by the local eldritch horror, called the Indifference (among many other names[4]) which is trying to break into the labs the quest takes place in. The final encounter, the story's climax, has the Indifference possesses a Vessel, one of many unfinished biomechanical giants Albrecht created and left scattered around his lab. The evil Vessel moves in to attack the player, who then possesses a Vessel themself.

The player’s Vessel holds up a hand, and we see a button prompt.

I'm stealing a point from another Tumblr user because it's great. Go read their post and the replies if you're curious about this particular moment!

This button prompt isn’t unusual. There aren’t many quick time events in Warframe, they're not a part of regular run and gun gameplay, but they do appear. If you’re like me, you’ve gone into the accessibility options and toggled button mashing off because wrists hurt. This prompt isn’t unusual to see for me.

But if you didn't use that accessibility toggle, you'll still get this specific prompt. It will be unusual that you're being asked to hold to interact with the scene, rather than the usual smash a button to make thing happen.

So you hold the button, the player’s Vessel reaches out, and when I first played I got excited because I think I’m powering up a big blast to destroy the enemy Vessel!

Then this happens:

youtube

I encourage everyone who can to watch the video for the full effect, but I’ll still describe it here:

The background music is ominous, and as you hold the button there's a heartbeat sound. The player's Vessel slowly reaches toward the enemy Vessel. When then the prompt button disappears, the scene goes quiet. The player Vessel gently holds the enemy Vessel's face, mirroring how Albrecht did to Loid at the beginning of the quest. As the music changes to a calming vocal track, we see the enemy Vessel's face change, drop from aggressive to lonely longing. The camera backs away as the two Vessels slow to a stop, posed to echo that "memory of love". The camera switches to Loid, who holds a hand to his own cheek, then looks back at the Vessels. He understands the connection too.

This kind of thing isn’t unheard of for Warframe either! I'll keep additional spoilers to a minimum, but a previous main story quest, The Sacrifice, has similar themes. In fact, my favorite moment from that quest involves a monologue by a major villain about how he is literally unable to comprehend the idea of empathy or compassion. He doesn’t understand why the player character, in a moment of vulnerability and understanding, is able to do what he couldn’t, with all of his violence and brutality.

“And it was not their force of will - not their Void devilry - not their alien darkness. It was something else. It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing —

— and take away its pain.” [5]

In a story where the primary antagonist is a mysterious entity called “The Indifference” we don’t defeat it with force. With hate. What’s the opposite of Indifference?

It’s old man yaoi love. We defeat Indifference with love.

I don’t feel like I was cheated out of a cool moment. I suspect some people did. It’s not like Whispers didn’t have cool moments! I’m not even going to argue that this moment was uncool, just that it brought up different and unexpected emotions in me! It was an interesting and affecting twist on how we expect these encounters to go. It’s moments like these that tell me that Warframe's writers, for all their flaws, are putting genuine thought and emotion into their game. They’re thinking about characters and themes, trying to follow them through even with the scattershot way that video game design demands writers work.

Writing this description reminds me of a moment in Shadowlands, the expansion that traumatized Anduin. It takes place in (surprise!) the Shadowlands, the afterlife of Warcraft’s universe. Thrall, the second character we see in the TWW trailer, meets his mother in Shadowlands. She died when he was a baby, and now that he meets her in these weird circumstances, they begin to create the bond they couldn’t have before. In particular I found this conversation they have touching. A mother who didn't get to know her son, and a son who never knew his mother, finally get to connect. “I knew who you were the moment I saw you,” Draka tells him, “Do you really think I would not recognize Durotan's eyes?"

“Come, I wish to know more of your life, all of it,” she says to him, sounding tired.

youtube

It’s such a sweet moment, and bonus points for focusing on Draka, a woman who was functionally fridged prior, who now gets to be a character with personality and (some) agency in Shadowlands. It’s such a perfect demonstration of everything that could’ve been interesting in Shadowlands, what was and is interesting in Warcraft’s story, and what’s so often set aside or overlooked. Can they continue to have a relationship when the current conflict is over? Questions like this are interesting, but Shadowlands doesn’t engage with them at all, and it's poorer for it.

In Warcraft, trauma is aesthetic. Pain is aesthetic. It doesn’t matter what caused Anduin’s suffering in TWW trailer, all that’s important is that we know he’s suffering. We know he's important because he’s a main character and he’s sad about something. But, like, not sad in a way that would make him cry. That part is critical because we all know boys don't cry, right? That bias feels implicit in much of Warcraft's emotional moments. How much more touching would Thrall and Draka's reunion be if Thrall was allowed to cry at finally getting to meet his mom?

Loid does cry, at the beginning of Whispers' quest and during the story of the faction associated with the update. His emotions, and thus his story, feel more genuine and engaging for allowing him that vulnerability.

Warframe wants to engage with specific traumas, how they can make us bitter towards others, perpetuate our own and others’ pain. The point of pain is to understand it, because in understanding, that pain can be taken away. Warcraft has no interest in taking away pain, and it has no interest in understanding it. It’s not about emotional connection, because that requires a vulnerability and a capacity to self-reflect that Warcraft has no interest or courage to engage with. Pain is aesthetic.

Whispers is setting up a longer story arc for Warframe. At the time Whispers was revealed, Warframe was celebrating its 10th anniversary, and the previous main story quest wrapped up the storyline the game told from its release. In this way, Whispers is again an interesting comparison to Warcraft’s The War Within. TWW is also meant to be the start of a new story arc that will last several expansions. I know which story I’m excited about, and which one I feel nothing for.

Loid was a character I met for the first time last year, he immediately felt like a person, and I was emotionally invested. As a player I so badly want Albrecht to finally say the words Loid needed to hear. Anduin Wrynn is someone I’ve known for years, but is now a cardboard cutout. I don't feel compelled to follow his story because... what could it be? Warcraft doesn't seem interested in any conclusion or goal for him. He just is.

I have a lot of complicated emotions about World of Warcraft, as a game and as an influential piece of media. I played the game for many years, and it was an important part of my life. In many ways I’d say it's still a part of me, even after I stopped playing the game itself. Part of writing this essay was following up on some thoughts I shared with friends on BluSky, but part of it feels like exorcising a demon, or bleeding out poison. Part of me grieves for Warcraft, what it meant to me and what I thought it could have been. In Warframe though, I've found a place of comfort and compassion. In between all the space ninja nonsense and vast quantities of horrific violence the player commits, Warframe offers growth, and a way to let go of what hurts us.

—

I'll take a moment and shout out an excellent video essay by Shaun on Youtube called Andrew Tate: How to be a Real Man. It's a great resource for a more general discussion of masculinity in the real world. The video is a criticism of Tate and his approach, why it appeals to some men, and further dissects what masculinity means, and what nontoxic masculinity means. (Is it an inbox full of pictures of Aragorn?) It's a good dissection of masculinity as a concept, and one I'd recommend if you're curious about the topic of toxic/nontoxic or negative/positive masculinity.

—

Yes not only do I have my paragraph long asides I've now also added footnotes. This isn't a peer reviewed journal, you're not my mom, I do what I want!

[1] One of Warframe’s major quests is also called “The War Within” which might be confusing to a reader who knows Warframe. Don’t worry about it, I’m talking exclusively about the upcoming Warcraft expansion here.

[2] For bonus points, if you haven't played Warframe, go to 20:55 on the demo video. You'll see a logo and release date for Whispers In The Walls, hear the live crowd cheer, and the creative director will start to speak... until she's interrupted by something in the game. What you see and hear next is almost exactly as it is in the final release, including the music, minus an extra line of exposition from Loid. This wasn't just a stunt for the convention. I fucking LOVE Warframe.

[3] To be honest this is part of a personal measurement I use to gauge how queer friendly a work is: if they have queer women do they also have queer men? A good example of why I use this is Mass Effect. That franchise always had queer women and an option for lesbian romance, but only in Mass Effect 3 did they add one (1) queer option for a masculine Shepherd. I am a (nonbinary) lesbian so on the one hand I don’t want to dismiss all queer women in media as “pandering” and queer men as “valid”. It’s more of a guideline to estimate how willing a piece of media/creator is to transgress heterosexual norms. Depicting men who love men is seen as more transgressive than two women in love by the gaming community at large. The reasons for this are complicated and they all suck.

[4] hey kiddo

[5] I wanted to avoid spoilers for other Warframe story quests, but The Sacrifice is, again, an interesting point of comparison for Anduin's story. The Sacrifice is, largely, about a character coming to terms with his grief over the death of his son. If you see the whole video I link there, you'll see the player presented with three options: Wrath (We use this memory. It fuels our wrath), Acceptance (We accept this memory and move beyond its reach), and Emptiness (We return this memory to the Void and find peace in our emptiness.) I just wish Anduin's grief over Varian was, at any point, treated with this level of nuance and care.

#kay writes things #warframe #warcraft #anduin wrynn #loid #i'm a little hesitant to tag this #since i could get some real negative attention based on what i've discussed #and the nastier parts of both fandoms #whatever i wrote thousands of words i'll share it #for me and my friends and i guess the rest of you can read it too

53 notes · View notes

nemaliwrites · 9 months

Note

For the drabble: Loid and Yor 😌

Uhh missed the word so um.... comb?

One advantage of having a fake husband who knows your identity, Yor finds, is there’s always someone to wash the blood out of your hair.

Loid combs through her wet hair with an impossible amount of care. As though she’s something breakable, something to be protected and cherished.

Yor lets the dark locks fall forward to cover her eyes. Tears slip down her face, not going unnoticed.

“Yor, are you all right?” he asks, worried. “Am I hurting you?”

The comb threads through her hair like an embrace.

“You could never hurt me,” she says, and it’s not a lie.

send me two characters and a word!

#thank u for the ask hehe <3 #spy x family #loidyor #loid forger #yor briar #yor forger #drabble game #my fics #100 words #nem drabbles #nemali writes

20 notes · View notes

alteredsilicone · 6 months

Text

The First Failure

Dad had a portrait of Albrecht Entrati mounted on his wall, along with other esteemed scientists, but for some reason it was Entrati that he would point to whenever he felt like giving a lecture.

"Remember, Viri, no matter how hard you try, how long you work, you will never reach the light of the Orokin, but we can always hope to follow in their footsteps, however far behind."

The corpse of Albrecht Entrati laid at Virgo's feet. Arthur had cut him from groin to neck, his guts spilling out, blood and pus and viscera everywhere. The smell was frightening. A normal person would have cried, screamed, retched, but Virgo simply stared. She remembered countless sights like these, she caused sights like these. Kalymos laid not far away, her head only partially detached. A hasty, messy cut, not like Albrecht's.

"So, how fucked up is he? Can we put him together?" a voice came up behind Virgo. Artemis.

"You have a surgeon's needle? Thread?"

"Do I look like a fucking surgeon?!" Artemis snapped.

"Do you have tape?"

Artemis stared at Virgo, grimacing.

"You want to tape him together?!"

"Eir said we need Albrecht and Kalymos in one piece. If tape is what holds his guts inside, it's tape we use. We can rearrange him later at the ritual site."

Artemis chuckled.

"I've desecrated plenty of Orokin corpses, but this is a bit too fucked even for me. You tape him up, I'll go find Eir."

"Did you find Arthur?"

"Yeah, put him out of his misery."

"He was still alive?"

"Barely. Kavat got him good. Lost too much blood. So I sent him on his merry way." Artemis did a finger-gun gesture at her head then walked away.

---

The corpse of a young woman laid at Albrecht's feet. She had blonde hair with a hint of blue and pink. He had never met this woman before yet she felt familiar.

Albrecht knelt beside her. Something had cut open her chest and torn her ribs apart, exposing her heart. He reached into her chest cavity and pulled it out. The heart was blue and cold to the touch, pulsating cords keeping it attached to the body. It whispered.

The corpse grabbed Albrecht's arm. He did not flinch.

"What killed you?"

"Love."

---

Loid stared at the wall. He could not bare to look at the screen. He listened as Artemis cussed out her sister as the two shuffled Albrecht's corpse around.

It's not him. It's just an echo of the past. He's not dead.

Loid could not help but steal a glance. As if his gaze could penetrate time and space itself - the moment he turns to the screen, the sisters stumble and drop Albrecht's body on the floor, spilling viscera everywhere. Artemis shouted expletives, Virgo scrambled to push Albrecht's insides back where they belonged.

Loid looks away. His own insides twist. He bends forward, folding his arms over his stomach as if beset by a sudden pain.

It's not him. It's just an echo of the past. He's not dead.

---

The casket hisses and hums as it slowly opens. Albrecht opens his eyes and is greeted with a harsh light. Kalymos meows.

He is in the middle of the desert.

How?

He steps out of the casket. A vast nothingness. He is not in his lab. He decides to take a step forward, Kalymos right at his side. He walks and walks. He can feel solid ground under his feet, but no signs of anything else. Albrecht walks and walks and walks until he comes upon a mound.

He gets down beside it and shuffles the sand. There is something under. A skeleton, covered in tattered rags.

Albrecht recognizes a golden oculus.

He is alone in the world.

#viriverse #wf 1999 au #this is nonsense lol #cw for violence though #my writing #<- rarest tag on this blog

6 notes · View notes

unrelaxing · 6 months

Text

media list (26.02.2024 - 26.03.3024)

👂 Listened:

Albums:

Speak Now (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift (2023) [8/10, probably my favourite of her re-releases, Timeless and Electric Touch are amazing vault songs.]

Red (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift (2021) [7/10, I don't really love any of the vault songs in this except for the 10 minute version of All Too Well, and while I like the tune and vibe of I Bet You Think About Me, I find it lyrically awkward.]

D-Day by Agust D (2023) [5/10, musically I just don't vibe with Yoongi's solo stuff a lot of the time, so it always ends up being a very distant appreciation, and I'll be honest and say I probably wouldn't listen if I wasn't already a fan.]

Indigo by RM (2022) [8.5/10, really really solid album, though it couldn't quite overtake mono. for me in terms of how much I loved it - considering if I were to rate mono. it would absolutely be a 10/10.]

Podcasts:

Morbid Episodes: ⤷ EP 502: The Highgate Vampire ⤷ EP 503: The Torsaker Witch Trials ⤷ EP 541: The Unsolved Murder of Georgette Bauerdorf

📖 Read:

Articles:

The ATO is reviving old tax debts totalling billions, threatening some taxpayers with bankruptcy by Nassim Khadem from abc.net.au

Dissecting the Diabolical Documentary 'Mister Organ' with Filmmaker David Farrier by Lulu Dropo from The Advocate

How Michael Organ Weaponised the Family Court... and Sean Plunket by David Farrier from Webworm

Mystery in Japan as dangerous streptococcal infections soar to record levels by Justin McCurry from Guardian

China visit sees $105 billion iron ore exports on the brink by Jamie Seidel from news.com.au [I don't often remember to actually put any political articles on this list, but this remained open on my tabs for a while so it makes it.]

Too close for comfort: Aussie filmmaker’s accidental portrait of a psychopath by Karl Quinn from Sydney Morning Herald [As made obvious by this list, I do tend to watch something then immediately seek out more information - a lot of the time it just leads me to reddit threads, but other times I do find articles and read those.]

The Bible Says Jesus Was Real. What Other Proof Exists? by Christopher Klein from history.com

What is the historical evidence that Jesus Christ lived and died? by Dr. Simon Gathercole from Guardian [I was dragged to church by my other and it hit me that I'd never even tried to find proof on whether or not Jesus wasn't fiction, so I started reading what people had to say. tldr; no archeological proof, though people of Jesus' class at the time didn't tend to leave archeological proof of their existence, and it seems there are accounts of Jesus starting 30 years after his death from non-Christians, so. Probably a real guy. Whether or not he's actually the son of God is, of course, unable to be proven.]

Books:

Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling [finished! Another 10/10.]

Pine by Francine Toon [dropped - couldn't continue this one anymore, it's slow and filled with details that had nothing to do with the actual mystery or the characters themselves - I think other people might have appreciated it for the way it allowed you to visualise the setting so vividly, but to me it was just incredibly boring.]

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen [in progress, told myself I'd read more classics and thought I'd start with one I was supposed to read in high school.]

Spy x Family vol. 1 [finished! 10/10. Immediately bought the 10 volumes out on Amazon after reading this because I enjoyed it so much. Loid Forger is a goldmine of a male character, the kind that's easy to fall for and to root for. Anya is sweet and funny and interesting, and Yor is just the icing on the cake of their dynamic.]

Spy x Family vol. 2 [finished! 10/10 - my goodreads rating system is going to be SKEWED after reading this manga.]

Spy x Family vol. 3 [finished! 8/10 mostly because I didn't love Yor's brother at all.]

📺 Watched:

Movies:

Dune: Part Two [8/10 - this really revitalised my love of going to the cinema! I've watched it twice, and I've made plans to see some other movies in theatre and it's really all because this was such an experience to see on the big screen. Highly recommend.]

YouTube:

The Deranged Arsonist Who Filmed Their Own Crime • Mystery Files from Watcher

The Perplexing Legend of Vermont's Sea Monster • Mystery Files from Watcher

True Crime Cases with Disturbing CCTV Evidence from Lazy Masquerade

Documentaries:

Our Planet II [This was gorgeous and informative and also eye-opening in how it shows you the direct impact of human carelessness on so many creatures, to the albatrosses choking on plastic and the walruses unable to find ice to leave its baby. At the same time, there's hope! There's humans helping crabs cross roads, and bridges being built for animals who've used the same paths for hundreds and possibly thousands of years.]

Life In Colour with David Attenborough

Worst Roommate Ever EP 1-2: [the first episode one was WILD, especially because I had no idea this was a true crime when I clicked on it, and so did not expect it was going to involve several dead bodies buried in a little old lady's backyard. I do feel like this was such an intriguing case that I had a hard time finishing the second episode, since it feels so much more ... dull in comparison, as terrible as that is to say about murders.]

David Farrier's Mister Organ [I'm a long-time fan of David Farrier, but didn't get a chance to watch this for a while. This one is a dark, dark tale that has nothing to do with murders. It's all psychological. I'm always amazed with how well Farrier can explore the darkness of humans without turning to the usual things we think of when we think of 'bad' people. I'd also recommend reading this article - which I'll also read on my read articles list - after watching this documentary, just so you know how insidious Michael Organ truly is.]

Into The Deep: The Submarine Murder Case [I don't give the things I watch ratings, but if I did, this would be a 10/10 - it's a unique experience to be able to see footage of how the people close to a murderer react as they realise the kind of person their friend is.]

#booklr #manga #music #documentaries #.mp4

3 notes · View notes

spicylove4ever · 2 years

Text

Possible outcome for Anya Forger (theory)

(Yes, I also watch Spy x Family)

As we know, Loid is the only one aware the Forger family is temporal. Anya seems to be distracted or simply not listening when he thinks of that distant future. And Twilight tries to set his mind to be able to leave the identity of Loid when the time comes.

I also have the headcanon he is perfecly OK with Yor loving Anya because that means Yor would still be Anya's mother after he fakes his death. That way, Anya would still have a family and a home.

But there is a detail that might make the Forger family last.

You guys remember when Bond got adopted, right?

These guys came in and interfiere because Bond was involved in a terrorist attack, but mostly because he was a genetically modified dog that they couldn't allow to be in the hands of the enemy.

And how did they solve it (after Anya refused to let him go, yes, but still)?

Anya is a test subject from the same laboratory Bond came from. There is a big (and let's be honest, this story likely will make it happen at some point) chance they'll find out about Anya's power, especially if they pull the thread on Bond's origin laboratory.

So the question is, would Loid have to make his job to keep Anya away from the hands of the Ostania goverment?

That could go two ways:

Twilight would have to take Anya with him after he ditches being Loid.

He would have to keep being Loid.

I guess we all like option number two XD.

And maybe Loid might have to not stay with Anya, or WISE won't try to keep an eye on her/take her, but I don't think so since I doubt they would leave a mind reader unattended.

#spy x family theories #spy x family anya #loid forger #anya forger #spy x family possible outcome #just a theory #i would like that though

26 notes · View notes

sarsaparillia · 2 years

Note

Cat and mouse *Shook*??

cat/mouse is going to be a probable two-shot that is essentially the product of my deep desire to write about ostentatious galas, very stupid pining, and every single identity reveal that exists. here's a snippet:

---

The lab coat, like everything else, is only a prop.

For once, however, Twilight won’t be the only one acting. Increasingly on edge as the week’s worn on, his Berlint General colleagues had been all aflutter at day’s end. The lab coat is only a prop, but every person in the building will be wearing whatever tiny advantage they can get their sun-starved, medical-malpractise-lawsuit-in-the-making filthy little paws on.

Twilight’s own starched whites are only one piece of the puzzle, and they’ll be expected. The other—

“Yor?” he calls down the hall. “Are you ready to go?”

She comes out of the bathroom still fixing her earring, and his breath catches involuntarily in his throat.

Very rarely does Twilight forget that his wife is beautiful. But every so often, it does somehow manage to still take him by surprise.

Right this minute, she’s so lovely that it nearly bowls him over.

Yor is sheathed in champagne-coloured silk cut close to her body, skimming down the line of her hip to puddle around her ankles on the floor for all its modest neckline, boat-cut right below the collarbone. Her hair is pulled back from her face with glimmering pins, tiny ruby drops that stand out starkly in the shining dark mass of her hair. She’s bare-foot and perfect in the hall-light, and because she’s still fiddling with that earring, she’s hardly paying attention to him. It allows him long, crystalline seconds to just enjoy watching the delicate bend of her wrists.

“Let me?” he finds himself asking.

She heaves a sigh of relief, shoulders relaxing in real time. “Do you mind?”

“Come here,” Loid says, lips twitching with amusement.

Yor hands him the offending bit of jewelry with palpable gratitude, and turns around to let him at her ear. The earring is another ruby drop on a golden thread, long enough to almost brush her shoulder. It’ll catch and refract any glimmer that it touches.

Loid looks up, and finds that his wife’s spine is bare to the waist.

“You’re going to cause a riot,” he says, very neutrally, refusing to acknowledge the desert suddenly blooming in his throat. She’s so pale that if he kisses her, the flush will stain her skin all night.

“What?” Yor blinks at him over her shoulder.

Instead of answering, he swipes down the line of her spine, trying to wipe away dust.

“Oh,” she says, blinking again. “Is it too much? I-I thought it was pretty, and it’s brand new, but…”

“It is pretty,” Loid says. He tugs very gently on the folds of fabric at her shoulder; the cowl catches in a tangle. “You always look lovely, Yor. I’ll just have to keep my arm around you all night.”

Ever gratifying, the expected blush rises in her cheeks. Loid can’t imagine her blushing like this for anyone else; doesn’t want to. His wife tips her chin, and the long shadow of her throat goes taut. “Loid? My earring? We—we’re going to be late!”

#my writing

12 notes · View notes

fiftyfires · 1 year

Text

grimxreaper (spyxfamily) au:

scarlet is a grim reaper still tasked by satan to kill once a day. so is brook. except neither knew of each other's roles. this is further reinforced by the fact that brook is technically not a sinner, so scarlet doesn't suspect anything of him, nor does she even think that he is a much older and wiser man stuck in the body of a six year old.

chase is a detective. unlike loid, though, his family is allowed to know his job just cos he's not a spy but only the tip of the ice berg. no one knows that he has killed before, except both scarlet and brook know. but nobody mentions it to anyone.

like the early chapters of im the grim reaper, scarlet and chase are only using each other. scarlet needs a place to stay, she just so happened to also get a child, and she needs to know of her original identity. although in the webcomic chase used scarlet for case x, in this au he uses scarlet to show his mom he is happy and married.

scarlet and chase find themselves questioning how brook manages to beat the shit out of his other six year old classmates, despite him looking more malnourished compared to the other kids. coupled with the fact that he is exceptional for being incredibly lazy, and responding to chores and tasks such as cleaning his bedroom or studying with "nah".

brook, however, is an incredibly smart kid. this is due to him having personal tutors from when he was alive, living as alexander. that is how he managed to get into the prestigious eden academy.

but there has been times when brook is in danger, combined with chase's detective shenanigans, both chase and scarlet would come to save him. he thinks to himself why these people even bother, but in the end goes for a super tight hug with them anyway because he realised how much he hated being alone.

also when scarlet is saving brook, she would less rely on her more prominently red reaper powers to keep who she assumes to be a naive six year old calm and not freaked out.

chase, like loid, is a great cook. scarlet, like yor, is a horrible cook. however, unlike yor, she is really bad at cleaning.

once brook got a really deep cut, and chase is panicking about the ambulance coming in time, so scarlet stitched him up. chase is surprised to see that scarlet just so happened to carry needles and thread in her (stolen) hand bag. but scarlet keeps these things in her hand bag because she has seen other mothers do it as well, but more or less for sewing clothes with holes just in case.

#spy x family #im the grim reaper #scarlet #chase #brook #chase carter

4 notes · View notes

spydcddya · 1 year

Note

8,15,22 :3

MUNDAY MEME » ANSWERED.

↳ @auburniivenus not accepting !

8. What are some similarities between you and your muse/muses? Answered

15. What do you look for in a rp partner?

For me, besides basic etiquette, is someone that takes initiative & also has full engagement when plotting. although sometimes i can be "absent" or ghost for a couple days at a time, i do appreciate when an rp partner hits me up first. i'm also chalk full of creative planning & like when an rp partner gives the same energy back and can generate a lot of new and fun ideas for our muses to interact. of course... i won't know that until we become mutuals how deep they can go but i see now with having loid for nearly a year now that a lot of dynamics discussed with my mutuals have been the same or similar plot point. i love the spy x spy dynamic or loid having coworkers or adopting a new kid, & i just want us to delve deeper. i love unique relationships. we don't have to stick to one route, so rp partners do not be afraid to throw ideas at me so those relationships can develop. let's give our muses a story! doesn't have to be random.

i look for open minded people too. chill people too because i'm generally a calm individual & i don't like to get wrapped in the chaos on here if i don't have to. i look for amicable people that i can come to whenever i'd like, i look for those that are honest with me , & i look for partners that don't rush & take their time with their replies. it can be weeks to months later & i'll be still be happy you wrote a masterpiece by giving it your all as opposed to impulsive roleplay. i respect that. plus, i move like a turtle myself and i'm not looking for things to reply to asap unless it's short or crack since i like quality writing rather than quantity.

22. Short, medium, or long threads?

Definitely somewhere between short and medium so i don't make my head explode. one or two paragraphs at minimum. three tops. any longer makes me feel the need to match or get close to it & i find that can make me stress and i'm focusing more on length than the narrative. i also find longer threads do consist of more purple prose which can sometimes confuse me too when i read them, so i stick to smaller threads that can get more to the point so we can move forward. though some are exceptions because i've got a few in my drafts ;) it really depends on the plotline & where it goes.

#hello and thank you so SO much for these questions !#❛ ⦗ ᴄᴏᴅᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ☾ ∶ ⁎﹡☆ ᴛᴡɪʟɪɢʜᴛ ⁎﹡☆ ⸺ answered .#❛ ⦗ ᴄᴏᴅᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ☾ ∶ ⁎﹡☆ ᴛᴡɪʟɪɢʜᴛ ⁎﹡☆ ⸺ ooc .

2 notes · View notes

mvsicinthedvrk · 2 years

Text

these are what my characters will be up to during the plot drop. i’m keeping all my pre-plot-drop threads & keeping them chill unless we otherwise chat about transitioning, but if you want a PLOT DROP starter for any combination of characters, hit this up and i’ll get them written asap.

wei wuxian: fighting the monsters by using his demonic cultivation, with absolutely incredible accuracy despite how drunk he is.

xie lian: also attempting to help as many people as he can, whether that’s fending off dracula or tying up the wolfmen by using ruoye. even though he can get injured he literally can’t die, so he’ll be throwing himself in front of other people who are in danger.

martin blackwood: figures he should probably fight as well. surprisingly decent at it, mostly using unconventional tactics. will end up getting tangled up in the mummies or invisible men somehow, because those are things he has no experience fighting.

yuri plisetsky: useless in a crisis; ducking and getting the hell out of the way, while being mad about another stupid disaster in this stupid town

noah czerny and loid forger: also just staying out of the chaos for the most part, though they’ll both be trying to find their friends/family first.

orpheus and blathers: scared out of their minds, trying to help but probably just getting in the way more than anything.

liu qingge: stabbing/punching/slaying monsters very seriously.

sha hualing: stabbing/punching/slaying monsters but having FUN about it

dongfang qingcang: could fight, but lacks the motivation to help literally anyone but himself.

wen kexing: same as dongfang qingcang, except he’s looking out for himself, a-xu, chengling, and a-xiang, and that’s it.

he xuan: probably still just munching at the food table, unbothered.

#hw: plotting call #hw: starter call #long post tw #death mention tw #violence mention tw #injury mention tw #alcohol mention tw #drinking mention tw

5 notes · View notes

the-silver-peahen-residence · 2 years

Text

||Overnight playtime||

Hello dears, Peahen mom is here but with a drabble request for my friend. In this one, it involves Blanche who is working in his office at nighttime, trying to finish. But he got a guest that shows to be Loid, a friend of him that’s helped him.

As the two were catching up, he forgot tonight was a bad night due to him forgetting something. what did he forget? Ready to find out.

||Warning||

~Heavy NSFW in this drabble (Heavy Sexual content)

~a/o/b verse (Loid is an alpha and Blanche is a omega)

~Breeding/mating

~Marking will be present

~~Guests for this thread~~

Blanche Santos belongs to @within-the-resort

Loid Forger belongs to the anime Spy X Family but me due to rping as him as a muse

((Grammar errors and things will be present but this is written for fun. Hope you like it.))

Blanche was not expecting to be for the late evening, figuring this was going to take a few hours but it took longer than he thought. For now, he was just working on trying to fix up something and hope to be out of here before it got too late. Even when it got this late, he tries to hurry home for some reason but kept forgetting why. Eh, it’ll come back in time.

As Blanche kept working on the last bit of paper work, he was able to finish it. “There. Finished! Now I can head on home and-” he then heard a knock on his door to look up. Now who can that be this late? “Uhhh Come in?” he sees the door knob turned and the door opening. It shows a male poking his head in to show....

“Ah! So it was true your still working this late, Blanche.”

He blinks to see it was his friend and partner he works with at times Loid Forger. A.K.A Twilight.

“Oh hello Mr. Forger. I was not expecting the late night visit.” He smiled as Loid walks in shutting the door behind him to walk inside. He and Blanche have worked together on some cases or missions together. With his detective skills to Twilight’s skills. They were pretty good as a team. But it was nice to see him once in a while.

“Well, even so it’s nice to see you even so but again, I was shocked to see you here during the time. So, i figure I come to visit you once more.” He showed a calm smile but Blanche smiled back.

“Well, I’m happy to have you visit me this late. I was just finished with some last bit of work before heading out. Maybe we can get something to eat?” he suggested this to see him agree.

“Food? I was actually coming to see if you wanted to get some food with me? I had some idea where we can get something to eat.” he suggested with Blanche smiling.

“That sounds like a nice idea. We can go to this nice place I heard of. It’s pretty good having some food for the last night.” He said but thinks. “Just let me get my coat and we can leave.” Blanche smiled.

“Sure. Go ahead.” Twilight was watching him getting the coat, till something picked up his nose. “???” he looks to blink, smelling something flowery but sweet in the office. Was he having new plants around? He did have some new plants but the smell didn’t come from them.

Where did it come from? He was looking about as Blanche was working but as soon as he did, he looks back to Blanche. He got near but tried not to have him notice to slowly take a sniff. Right away, his eyes widen to see the smell was coming from Blanche! Hold on; was he.....yeah, he didn’t know this to cover his nose quickly while looking flushed.

‘Did this mean Blanche’s an omega!? He didn’t say he was.....oh shit..maybe coming tonight was not a good idea...but his scent smells pretty nice.’ he thought while working but Blanche was humming but Loid tried to remain calm.

“So what did you feel the mood to eat? Something of sushi? sweets? Or something random? Their so many shops around I’m sure we can find one.” Blanche smiled getting his jacket to face him. “Hmm? Are you alright Loid?” he saw him covering his nose but said nothing.

“Yes, I’m alright. Lets hurry on. We don’t wanna be late.” he said. He had to get out of here he said not looking at him. This worried Blanche wondering if he was alright. He keeps holding his jacket and walks to him, gently touching his cheek.

“Loid, are you sure?”

“...Y..Yes...” ‘please don’t get near me. Your scent...it’s really heavy.....’

‘It smells so good..his glands are releasing such a pleasant smell. I wanna make him mine. I have to make him mine. This vampire is m..mine.’ his alpha self said but he winces that made Blanche worry. “Loid?” he said but he looks to help him sit down.

“We need to g..go remember?” Loid said trying to act calm but his face was flushed red while looking down. Blanche was worried not expecting to see him like this.

“But you look sick. I think I have some medicine here..just a moment.” He goes to his desk to look for some medicine. While he did, Loid was panting but saw him looking. The room was getting heavy that he was worried trying to help him. However, Loid was already affected by the small traits of Blanche’s scent.

“Oh dear, I should have something in here. Did I forget to get some from home?” he mutters but he was so focused on looking he didn’t see Loid panting harder clawing the couch till Blanche found something.

“Ah, there they are!” he picks it up but gets the bottle and some water. He goes over to Loid and sits near him worried. “Here, this should help. I guess you have a headache but this should help.” he said about to touch his hand but Loid beats him to grab his wrist.

“!?” He looks worried to Loid but seeing him panting heavily. “Loid? What’s wrong...are you-” That’s when he got pull up against him but heard Blanche gasp from his hold. He begins nuzzling and holding him tight as Blanche was flushed confused.

“L..Loid, what’s the matter? Why are you-”

“S..sooooo good..you smell so good~” he whines but this really got Blanche confused. He smelled good? “Ummm thank you? But I’m not wearing anything-”

“I know...it’s just your scent..it’s already taking over my brain....making me wanna make you mine..”

Hold on......when the other thinks for a second, his eyes widen. Oh no!

‘M..my heat! It must have kicked in but how!? I took my pills didn’t I?’ he thought but he thinks to remember only to see that he left this morning from home but...he remembers the medicine he usually takes was laying on the table by the door. This made him sweatdrop.

‘I f..forgot to take them....their still on the table at home! T..then that means...’ Blanche begins struggling but yelps feeling Loid’s grip tighten on him. Light nips were felt on his neck as he grips Loid’s jacket.

“L..Loid, d..don’t...we need to get you something to calm down. You..Your going into a rut..” he whispered but Loid didn’t hear still nipping his neck but was panting. He felt his sharp teeth starting to form wanting to smell and feel Blanche even more that his grips his rear hearing a squeak from the vampire omega.

“But you smell soooooo good. It’s so nice..” He whispered that Blanche blushed worse. He had to calm him down and fast. He tries to move away from him or sit back up but Loid keeps his body against his own leaving more kisses and bites that he was grinding against Blanche to hear a weak gasp as he grips his shirt.

“Mmmmmm...”

“L..Loi..d...n..nooo d..don’t...” He moans softly while holding onto him that Loid grips his rear harder and still kept throbbing. He wanted Blanche so badly even breed. He panted grinding against his clothed cock but his hole was twitching and wet. After a few minutes of grinding, he suddenly grips Blanche’s pants to tear them to make him gasp. “?!?”

That’s when Loid holds Blanche down and kisses him deeply as the vampire’s eyes widen in shock from the hot kiss. He whimpers trying to snap him out of it but he breaks the kiss to moan out feeling Loid thrusting against him wanting it even more now.

“I’m s..sorry Blanche, I can’t....Your scent is already getting stronger I have to make you mine..I have to breed you to make you mine.” He whispered still grinding against him but Blanche was flushed seeing his dazed out expression that he was red himself. Seeing his Alpha already burning from excitement.He even feels him hard to grow wetter.

“..I..If you must. I feel bad that I got you all excited because of m..me...so please...let me help you feel better..” he whispered to look at Loid, pulling him down to kiss his lips.

~~Later~~

Blanche was gasping feeling Loid biting and nipping against his neck as he was forced to bounce on his cock hard while crying out twitching. He’s been dazed since his own heat began and now he won’t stop just going harder and harder that he cries out even worse.

“L..Loid! Please your being s..so rough..it’s t.. too much..” He moans out drooling but Loid kept thrusting up into him while hearing the soft sexy moans from the vampire detective. He’s already got his body coated in bites and kisses, still thrusting up harder and harder leaving a wet mess on the couch. He’s been fucking Blanche for a bit now but he only growls wanting to feel more. That’s when he quickened his thrusts to hear Blanche crying out with wide eyes.

“N..Noooo!! Not so fast I’ll cum!! I’ll cum!!” He grips the chair but Loid kept going harder and harder before he snaps his hips feeling his cock twitching and release. He groans feeling his cum filling Blanche up as he twitched panting heavily. However, he yelps feeling Loid force him on his knees before thrusting again.

He gasped from the feeling but it changes to moans as he was clawing the chair feeling loid take him again.

“Still sooooo tight. This wet hot hole feels so good~” he panted still thrusting his hips as Blanche squeaks still feeling some of his own cum hitting the couch under him and of some Loid’s own cum running down his legs.

“You get so tight when I hit just right here..” He groans thrusting up as Blanche was covering his mouth trying not to be too loud. Even if his omega senses were screaming for joy. He loved this feeling even with a alpha like Loid. He felt his hole aching and growing wet, wanting more of him that he cries out twitching. His hand was coated in some drool that he felt Loid pull his hand away to hold his arms down. He begins bucking up into the other hearing the claps of their skins.

“MFffmm!! mmmm mmmm!!”

“So good and tight..I want more. I need to feel more of you Blanche!” he growls before quickening his thrusts making Blanche gasp throwing his head back. His fangs were showing with his golden eyes glowing from the arousal.

“Ahhhh! N..No! S...so rough! Your slamming into me so-Nuggh!!” he twitched with his body over burning in pleasure that he was crying out drooling. “Ahhhh Alpha!! Alpha please!!!” He whines feeling him slamming into him even harder that he growls gripping his ass now to help him move. He wanted everything as Blanche was gasping quickly feeling his hole stuffed with his cock. After a moment, Loid kept going before slamming Blanche’s hips down to feel his cock twitching. He was groaning out cumming as Blanche gasps feeling his hole tightening as it was growing wetter.

Loid panted to see Blanche shaking on top before he lays him on his back panting heavily to grip his waist and start moving again. Blanche groans weak but looks dazed at him. “L..Loid~” he was so out of it that he growls deeply to lower down biting against his shoulder hard. He cries out with eyes wide but felt him licking the spot while snapping his hips forward.

“Your mine Blanche...your all mine.” He panted still pounding away as Blanche couldn’t move crying out for him. Even if this turned out to be a heated mating session seems they will be stuck here for a while.

#IC #silver roses #Drabble/short or long stories #silver butterfly mun #peahen mom #the mansion owner #Overnight playtime #a/b/o au #omegaverse au #Loid Forger(alpha)#Blanche(Omega)#within-the-resort #resort fantasy book #peahen writer

2 notes · View notes

yorprincess · 2 years

Text

Twiloid Threads

Finished Threads

Finding Loid (CW: Murder, Anxiety, Depression, Paranoia)

The Almost Confession 1 2

Pocky Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (CW: Anxiety/Panic Attack)

Incomplete Threads

A Visit: 1 2

Walking Arm in Arm: Last Reply (Finished?)

Concussion: Last reply

Revelations: Last Reply (CW: Dark themes)

A Simple Touch: Meme prompt post

The Suit: Last reply

A Gift for Loid: Last reply

Reassurances: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Not an ask 8 (ask thread) (CW: Partner argument, alcohol consumption)

Midnight Gifts: 1 (Ask thread)

Desperation: Last reply (CW: Isolation, depression, Missing person, rage)

Puppet Practice: Last reply

Blushing/Loaned shirt: Last reply

Smooches: Last reply (CW: Suggestive themes, Lots of making out)

@twiloid

#Twiloid #OOC : Rachel #Temporary Thread Tracker #((For my own sanity))

2 notes · View notes

casliveblog · 8 months

Text

Custom Toonami Block Week 165 Rundown

Spy X Family: It’s the final battle for Yor’s cruise ship arc and I kinda like how they aren’t pulling any punches, like she had to be stealthy before so they had some pacificst takedowns but the majority of these people in this final gauntlet definitely died. The whole episode is basically one long boss rush action sequence with Yor fighting all the assassins underneath the fireworks which is a pretty cool setpiece. At this point Yor’s crossroads of destiny story arc is coming to a head and she’s actually afraid because not only is she dies will she be leaving a family behind but if she even gets severely hurt they’ll have to pull her out of Loid’s house and pretend she got transferred so she’s kind of having a crisis of faith about whether to be an assassin anymore while also holding back to avoid hurting herself so she’s not really fighting her best when the samurai guy comes to kick her ass. Still she’s able to pull herself together and tell herself that she’s fighting for the people close to her so there’s less evil in the world they’ll live in (I still doubt the odds that someone that’s been an assassin for about two decades has killed exclusively evil people that absolutely deserve it but whatever she needs to tell herself). There’s also a small side story with Yuri getting sick and specifically getting the shittiest brand of herbal tea because it reminds him of Yor’s terrible tea which is pretty funny.

Inuyasha: This episode is kinda weird because we’re literally like 1-2 episodes away from the end of the original series and this one sets up a whole fuckton of plot threads that won’t get resolved until The Final Act and makes it so you kinda need a refresher before going into The Final Act so like why did they decide to end it on this specific arc, I get the feeling the show just kinda reached a breaking point where they couldn’t do any more filler for as long as it was taking for the manga to progress. Anyway, following up sort from the parasites last week, only tangentially related is a demon mountain that has a secret stone that can hide demonic aura completely and Naraku fucking steals it and decides to jump Kikyo. Like Naraku seems to be ridiculously good at hiding since the only times they find him are when he comes out to attack someone and wants to be found or when he’s laying a trap so idk why he cares about hiding himself or his Heart Baby at this point given none of the five factions that hate his guts have any clue where he is at any moment. Still it’s kinda funny how since we left Inuyasha’s Dad’s Grave Naraku’s been like ‘fuck Kikyo, gotta find Kikyo’ and we have a whole arc about how hard it is to find Kikyo and Kohaku just kinda… trips over her in the woods and Naraku uses his new stealth rock to jump her and then uses Weezing’s Smokescreen to get away when Inuyasha’s group show up even though he’s literally immortal at this point there’s no reason for him to run. The demon mountain gave Inuyasha’s group some crystals that track his stealth rock which ironically makes what Naraku’s using to hide himself the best way to find him. Still after some minor obligatory ‘Inuyasha talked to Kikyo how dare he have a strictly business conversation with his ex idk’ drama, the group starts finding zombie demon chimeras because Hakudoshi’s been experimenting doing Mahito’s soul transfiguration shit to make the perfect demon guard body for the Heart Baby which seems like a lot of work given Inuyasha’s able to just Wind Scar/ Adamant Barrage it like everything else even if they get away. Now this kinda fucking kills me, Hakudoshi sends flesh tentacles into Miroku’s robe and has a brief fight with him and instead of just… you know, stabbing through his defenseless enemy he has the tentacles roam around inside Miroku’s robe to grab the stealth rock seeking crystals and harmlessly steal them, like are they even trying to kill anyone that isn’t Inuyasha anymore? Feel like the others would be dead five times over if Naraku’s gang bothered to acknowledge them at all. But yeah that’s where we’re at, entering the final little adventure and they just dumped Naraku making a body and stealing a stealth rock for his heart, Hakudoshi doing soul chimera shit and a half dozen other plot threads in our lap that will get absolutely no payoff for five years if you were watching the original run.

Yu Yu Hakusho: It’s the last episode before the epilogue and the fight is kinda disappoint tbh, idk what it is but the Demon Tournament fights just haven’t had it, though it is kinda funny that the pinnacle of demonic power just devolves into Yomi and Yusuke putting all their energy into their fists and punching the shit out of each other, like they’re not even punches that are that strong they just have glowing fists for doing normal-ass punches. Still, the aftermath of the fight is pretty nice, Yusuke actually losing and Yomi winning because of his son, it’s a good way to show how the tables have turned and how Yusuke’s opponent is now the one fighting for his loved ones (though Yusuke still gets the friendship boost and becomes ‘definitely a new power level take our word for it it’s not Sacred Energy but it’s essentially no different’) Also the tournament is won by one of Raizen’s friends who makes a ‘no fucking with humans’ policy his campaign slogan and Yomi and Mukuro were too tired from their previous fights to beat their next opponent which like… for all the shit they pulled in the Dark Tournament arc they at least let them rest between rounds or use healing magic or some shit except for that one round where they were like ‘okay next fight’s… right now, go’ like imagine if Toguro was the semi-finale fight and then they just had to like immediately fight Chu’s team or some shit and lost like that’d be some bullshit, Yusuke’s all grown up and rigging the rules in his favor like a real adult. It’s kinda funny how much of a vacancy Kuwabara not being here leaves like I get he has no place in a demon tournament but they have to inject what he would’ve said into many parts of this episode because having Yusuke’s most important ally miss the finale is also kinda bullshit. I also kinda don’t understand the rules here like Enki puts up a ‘no fucking with humans’ rule and Koenma says he’s not gonna see Yusuke again until he dies for real but Yusuke still talks about coming back to Demon World sometime and having his Dark Tournament pals visit and like… isn’t that shit against the law now? Idk. Kurama tells Hiei to fuck off and burn his own bridges if he doesn’t wanna open up to Yukina and we get the casual reveal that the whole anime is a marketing stunt by Koenma, Botan and Ogre to sell Yusuke’s greatest hits so to speak like what an odd note to end on, like I don’t think it changes anything but it’s such a weird fucking joke to pull right before the finale.

Jujutsu Kaisen: It’s time for the Gojo smackdown hour once again and this episode had the ominous aura of those ‘we’re giving a lot of foreshadowing to a character’s backstory and relationships because they’re about to die’ episodes like you’d see in Naruto where we give Kisame a three episode flashback to make us feel something about him dying. Of course Gojo dying isn’t even remotely on the table at this point, like that’s not even what the bad guys want they just wanna throw him in the Jimmy Neutron Hyper Cube. Gojo squashes Hanami like a bug and the other two can’t make much headway until Mahito shows up with a literal trainful of mooks and makes Gojo reenact the scene from Futurama where Fry drinks a hundred coffees while opening his Domain just enough to give everyone a mild coma instead of killing them since he’s pragmatic enough to not fall for hostage tactics but still doesn’t want to actively kill anyone himself. Now this combined with the sudden hypercube and the dramatic revelation that Kenjaku is controlling Geto’s corpse is enough to make Gojo’s brain stall for long enough for the hyper cube to grab him. I think they’re embellishing a bit since I don’t think Gojo’s just gonna stand there for a full minute but we did kinda just do a lot of time dilations shit but yeah I spoiled myself on this part because I had no clue what I was watching at the end of the movie (also dunno how Kenjaku grew Geto’s arm and shit back considering Yuta did do a full Uryu vs Mayuri on him and Kenjaku implies that if Gojo hadn’t done an Obi-Wan and not killed his corrupted best friend he couldn’t have made it this far. It’s just kinda funny that Gojo has to claim that everything about Geto is the same but he can tell in his soul it’s not him when it’s like bro the guy is stitched up like the doctor from Nightmare Before Christmas no duh. Like ‘Aww, what gave me away? Was it the stitches? It was the stitches wasn’t it?’ And Gojo claims that even without him Yuta’s gonna come kick Kenjaku’s ass like in the movie and like… wow way to throw everyone else that’s actually here including the real main character under the bus. Kenjaku’s just like ‘bro that temporary movie power boost bullshit ain’t gonna fly, this is canon, bitches’.

Also side note I just kinda like how the bad guys are always just hanging out playing games when they’re discussing evil plans like idk it doesn’t make them more likeable per se like I don’t like any of these guys but it gives their evil scheming more flavor. Since I was on the record of saying I was glad JJK had bad guys that were just horrible dicks with bad motives as opposed to Attack on Titan and MHA being like ‘we deserved these terrorist attacks due to the faults in society’ I like that JJK’s villain motives are ‘bad things should be the only things’ and I stand by that, their motives are still stupid despite them showing a bit more comradierie like I don’t think it’s enough to make them sympathetic but it’s enough that it keeps them from being flat, it’s a good balance.

Zom 100: It’s been a while, hasn’t it? When we last left off, Akira finally got to his hometown and we set up the Bizarro version of his crew that has a way too on the nose “BUT EVIL” version of his backstory. The majority of the episode is populating the little higurashi-style village Akira’s parents live in with small stories and people that we’re gonna feel really bad for/want to save when everything inevitably goes to shit, this is still a zombie show after all, can’t escape the Survivors Seek Sanctuary, Engage Enemy loop entirely. Plus the little tour does set up the plot points that’ll be the town’s biggest vulnerabilities. Akira also has a nice little chat with his dad where he elaborates on the whole finding a dream thing, he basically has Senku’s backstory but Taiju’s booksmarts so becoming an astronaut didn’t exactly pan out but he doesn’t regret seeking it or where he ended up because dreams are what makes a person feel alive in the end, it’s a good little topper to the message Akira’s been pushing since the beginning, kind of a more down to earth approach to following your dreams just in case there isn’t a zombie apocalypse that breaks down society as a whole freeing you up to live a life of whimsy with scantily clad anime girls, just in case. Meanwhile Higurashi enacts his plan and his plan is… ‘fuck those guys’ with ‘those guys’ being whoever he’s currently looking at. I mentioned this last time I reviewed this show but Japan seems to be weirdly adverse to talking about its systemic issues and makes anyone that has problems with the system a cartoonishly evil entitled asshole that just wants to watch the world burn or just kinda does a ‘toughen up and get through it’ mentality, like I’d say Akira is a foil to that but he didn’t really face any of the problems of society so much as it kinda fell apart around him so it’s kinda hard to take the commentary with any edge to it other than ‘shit sucks, here’s zombies’. But yeah Akira and Higurashi do end up having their faceoff and the funny thing is their bucket lists both have the exact same amount of items on them and I read through both and Higurashi’s list isn’t THAT different from Akira’s in some spots, like a lot of them are just ‘murder murder murder’ but there are some that are just like ‘buy cool shit’ which is what Akira was doing in some of his more materialistic entries. Like something weird about Higurashi’s group is that as dark and abusive as they are, they seem to want make sure everyone gets eaten by zombies instead of actively killing anyone themselves, like one of them has a fucking gun and is just shooting it in the air, that may change but for the moment they don’t seem to want to actively murder anyone, just murder by proxy through the zombies which is still shitty but it’s a weird place to draw the line. Akira rightly tells them off that you can do what you want but you can’t just go around stopping people from doing what they want which is what makes up the bulk of United States Supreme Court cases so that’s kind of a sticky moral but it’s a little more clear when your bad guys are literally just ‘I wanna kill people and blow shit up because this dude I met in college seemed happier than me’ but yeah, it’s showdown time.

Ranking of Kings: Man we have a lot of finales today don’t we? We’re really close on like half these series but this is the only one where it’s the straight-up last episode. Anyway… FINALLY, PROGRESS, like jeez I’m kinda more mad the put one episode of story progress at the end of this series of filler but it’s just been so long since I’ve been excited about this series I don’t care. Desha finally gets into the Ranking of Kings vault and it turns out after a layer of fakeout prizes designed to weed out the greedy kings, the real-ish prize is… a wish from a demon. We just had that though like several characters in the series have had that and it doesn’t seem worth all the effort of being the top of the ranking, as powerful as it is there are clearly other avenues and it still comes with the curse of twisting a demon child and the bounceback monkey’s paw effect that always happens unless you literally have their head I guess. So Desha wishes to restore Ouken at the cost of all of his own memories and just kinda becomes a bum on the side of the road that Bojji and Kage… just kinda pass right by. Ouken gets to show off why it was good to revive him and is a fucking badass breaking into the Ranking vault and fucking KILLING A GOD by pissing himself which is way cooler than it sounds. We don’t really find out what’s going on with the Rankings vault but the shadowy observers of the vault are people that Ouken regards as ‘innocent life’ and immediately halts his rampage and even puts his life on the line to kill the god to protect them so I’m guessing they’re some sort of former kings that have been set at the task of being imprisoned in the vault for some purpose and have avoided being corrupted by it. Meanwhile Kage and Bojji have hit their destination at random RPG town and Kage reflects that Bojji is way too innocent to make it on his own and resolves to be smart enough to let him keep his innocence so he can do the streetwise stuff in his place because he doesn’t want Bojji to lose his trusting nature like he did which is a nice note to end on but another example of ‘setting up plot threads in the finale for some reason’.

Vinland Saga: Einar fucking tanks all the farmhands and gets them to run off and the rest of the episode is Thorfinn’s coma dream. I like that even though there’s explicit theological metaphor going on here it’s not like Thorfinn’s in a real death’s door situation, like this isn’t him literally falling into hell it’s just how his mind is interpreting his current struggle. He initially sees his dad but Thors is just like “I know you been fucking up, killing people and shit’ and he falls into a chasm that’s a very grim depiction of what Valhalla sounds like with everyone just murdering everyone all the time, though Askeladd shows up and tells him that’s just how the world works for people who can only use violence. It’s basically Thorfinn’s disillusionment with his warrior culture and how an afterlife where people fight all the time sounds really shitty to him at this point since he didn’t like doing it when he was alive and living in a world full of senseless wars is just as bad. He’s feeling pretty shitty about decking the farmhand last episode and feels like he’s regressing back to someone that just kills his way out of all his problems, it’s one of those progress isn’t linear moments that shows why Thorfinn would benefit from some modern psychology if he could live another thousand years or so. But yeah it’s a very neat scene where the bodies of Thorfinn’s victims become the platform for him to rise out of the pit of violence since he can’t exactly bring them back but he can always stop being shitty. Thorfinn wakes up and tells Einar he won’t ever hurt someone again and this is going to be a weird series if it’s just Thorfinn Steven Universing his way out of ancient Denmark, because that’s a very tall order. I definitely admire the message and the resolve and definitely killing people is bad but if Thorfinn’s really gonna never lay a finger on anyone again he’s gonna need the best Talk No Jutsu on the planet or just never run into a guy that just wants to murder people again because that WILL happen and I’m not ready to do Morgan’s character cycle from Walking Dead all over again, they already did it like five times in that show so I’m curious to see how the writing maintains Thorfinn’s pacifism while not looking like it’s selectively only giving him conflicts he can talk his way out of.

I don't have anything planned for next week to replace Ranking of Kings and with several other series ending within the next couple weeks I'll start thinking of new shows to watch but I'd be willing to let the rest of the month be smaller blocks for the time being until I can find some stuff I really want to watch.

#ooc #Toonami #Custom Toonami Block #Spy X Family #Inuyasha #Yu Yu Hakusho #Jujutsu Kaisen #Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead #Ranking of Kings #Vinland Saga

1 note · View note