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#Yugioh has been a part of my life since I was very little and definitely shaped who I am today
cartoonsbyandie · 2 years
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Rest in peace, and thank you, to the real King of Games.
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pillage-and-lute · 3 years
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Pins and Needles: Part 2
Part 1, (here)
———- 🌷 🐺 🌷———-
“Oh my gods,” came a voice from over the counter that Geralt was currently under, sweeping up leaves.
“Uncle Lambert was right!” Ciri said, draping herself over the top of the counter so she could smirk at her dad. “You’re totally hiding from the twink tattoo artist.”
“He’s not a twink,” Geralt said, straightening up, dustpan in hand.
“Not what Uncle Lambert said.”
“Bertie hasn’t even seen him,” Geralt said, scowling. 
Unbidden, the memory of just how solid Jaskier had felt in his arms. How low his shirt was unbuttoned and how delightfully hairy his chest was. Not a twink.
“I should be concerned about how invested you are in my dating life,” he told Ciri. She was sitting on the counter now, battered combat boots thumping against the side.
Geralt didn’t exactly have a conventional relationship with his daughter. He’d been friends, although not terribly close, with her parents, and when they died and there was no one to take Ciri, he had. Lambert joked that it had been temporary insanity. Eskel said that Geralt had just experienced a bout of baby fever. Vesemir just smiled knowingly.
They all knew the real answer. It was orphan syndrome. A nasty mix of abandonment issues, trust issues, and the inability to leave other orphans to social services. All three of Vesemir’s boys had it, because he’d become their dad only after they’d each individually been kicked from every home the state could place them in. 
So Geralt had taken one look at the squalling, tiny baby, with hair so blonde it almost looked like his own. Geralt had gotten stiffed on the genetic spectrum, and through no fault or deficiency his doctor could find, had entirely white hair by 23.
Now, Ciri was sixteen, captain of her hockey team, and raking in the medals for Judo. Geralt took great pleasure in bragging about her at every PTA meeting, especially since it meant rubbing it in Suzanne ‘My daughter’s a piano prodigy’ Delmore’s face.
“If you’d been on a date since Aunt Yen then maybe I wouldn’t be so concerned,” Ciri said, popping her gum. 
Geralt winced. His relationship with the used bookseller down the street had been disasterous and short, but in the end, Ciri had been able to tack yet another name to her list of non-blood-relative aunts and uncles.
“We’re better as friends,” he said. “Move your foot, I need to get into that cabinet.”
Ciri obediently swung her foot aside so he could grab the florist’s foam. “That’s why you should go ask out someone else...like the cute tattoo artist.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh, can I get a tattoo.”
“Absolutely not. Wait until you’re nineteen.”
“But I can get one at sixteen with parent’s permission,” she made puppy eyes. “Dad, it’d be so cool.”
“Nope.”
“C’mon, why not? And why nineteen, why not eighteen?”
Geralt smirked. “Did you know that your Uncle Eskel has a tattoo?”
“No,” Ciri said, leaning forward.
“Mmhm,” Geralt said. He began selecting flowers from buckets for his next arrangement. Something nice, maybe with some tea roses.”
“Oh, c’mon Dad, you have to tell me now!” Ciri hopped off the counter and got her apron off the peg. It had been a gift from Lambert. Geralt’s own was a simple denim apron, and her’s was the same, except it had “Don’t flirt, I’m a minor” embroidered on the chest.
“Well,” Geralt said, handing her her own block of florist’s foam. “He was eighteen, and he was really into Gwent.”
“That card game? The one that used to have that super weird animated tv show?”
“Oh yeah, we all were huge fans, but Eskel was the biggest. Which was funny, because Bertie and I beat him every time.”
“Oh my gods,” Ciri said. “Does Uncle Eskel have a Gwent tattoo?”
“Yep,” Geralt said, snipping off a too-long stem. “On his thigh. It’s pretty big, too, that’s why he only ever wears those ugly cargo shorts or long pants.”
“That’s hilarious!” Ciri said. “But what does it have to do with me?”
“There’s a lot of personal growth done between eighteen and nineteen,” Geralt said, trimming a leaf. “And I don’t want you to get something you regret. But when you are nineteen, I will happily pay for your first tattoo.”
“Really?”
“Mmhm. I don’t want you going to a cheap placing and getting some horrible blood disease.”
Ciri beamed at him and Geralt smiled to himself. He was a very cool dad.
“Why don’t you get a tattoo?” Ciri asked.
“Why would I?”
“It would look totally cool.”
“I don’t even know what I’d get,” Geralt said. He examined the flower placement. It was even, but maybe too even, he swapped a couple of the taller flowers around.
“You’d get to talk to the cute tattoo artist, I bet he’d have some suggestions.”
“I like wolves,” Geralt said. 
Ciri rolled her eyes. “Dad, like every guy with a tattoo get’s a wolf. Be original.”
“Trees are nice,” Geralt said.
Ciri groaned. “Even worse than the wolf. Maybe you should go over to the shop, see what sort of art he does. Can I get a piercing?”
“What? Oh, yeah, if you want. What sort?” Geralt was a little taken aback by the quick switch, but Ciri was sixteen and had ADHD, so he was pretty used to it.
“I want an industrial.”
“Which one’s that?”
“The bar, through the top,” Ciri gestured. 
Geralt fluffed out some petals. “Yeah, definitely. I’d much rather you get any cartiledge piercings done by a professional.”
Geralt, in his moody teenager phase, had gotten plenty of piercings, several on his right ear and all the way up his left. Most of which he’d done himself with a needle he’d boiled to sterilize it. He shuddered to think of Ciri trying it. Geralt had lucked out and not shattered his cartiledge, but there would be no risks taken with Ciri’s perfect ears.
“Cool,” she said. “Can we go right now? We usually close for lunch about now anyway.”
“I’m not sure they take walk ins,” Geralt said. He did not look cute enough to go see Jaskier right now. 
“We can ask,” Ciri said. Taking his hand and tugging him across the street.
———- 🌷 🐺 🌷———-
I imagine that in this world Gwent is like a mix of Yugioh and Magic The Gathering. 
Tag List!
@jaybeefoxy  @sweetiepieplum
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yozzers · 3 years
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vexos hcs and random notes
ill update as i go, because yes i do update my masterlists every once in awhile, i should probably add them to my pinned... 
General
I sincerely hope they have a small living arrangement so I can inflict them with the pain of having to share almost everything with each other
I just want Shadow and Lync to share a bunk
Like to think that alongside Volt, Mylene and Lync were also recruited by Hydron
None of them officially joined until they were a bit older but probably trained to eventually join the Vexos; in the mean time they probably worked for Hydron or something like that
Volt recruited at 11; Lync a year later and Mylene following not long after (respectively 13, 8, 12 when they’re all gathered)
My reasoning to why Volt is patient with Lync’s antics and Mylene less so but doesn’t lash out as badly as you think she would around annoying little kids; grew up tgt moment
Spectra probably forced his way into the Vexos like “hiiii i see you dont have any Vexos members <3″ bcs obv he wasn’t using royal scientist dad privelages (i think, bcs Clay seems horrified abt Spectra being a Vexos and well, being Spectra) 
Shadow had an advantage of being a nobleman (in terms of him being accepted into the Vexos’ ranks)
the Vexos and their set of rules magent-ed on the fridge door or something and every time they go over a page they have to staple/tape a new page on
Joined in this order, Volt, Spectra, Shadow, Mylene, Lync, Gus 
Vexos being a “chance of death low but the chance is still there” type of job... they feel like idols girl help they are bakugan idol group who work for the government 
sorry the way the vestal kids talk about them... going to treat the Vexos like a kpop group now
Spectra Phantom / Keith Fermin 
[canon] son of a (royal?) scientist. definitely had it good and comfy
think it’d be REALLY funny if he already knew Shadow before he became Spectra, Shadow just doesn’t recognize him bcs of his stupid get up
throws childhood friends Shadow Spectra at you, just two weirdos 
Keith specifically keeps Shadow from ever meeting his sister which is why neither of them really recognize each other
Pre-Spectra; probably would’ve been really into bakugan biology and what not. Feels like the kind of person to talk w/ his dad about “do you think we could change their appearance if we messed w/ their mechanical ball form or would it not carry over to their released forms”
this mf looks like a biology major i feel it in my guts 
mom isn’t dead she just divorced Clay bcs he didn’t know how to balance family and work, good for her
probably lives in another city now, and it’s a bit more of a hassle to meet with her kids so they don’t see her as much but she is present in their lives (keep in contact in other ways) 
probably went a bit silent when Keith went missing
didn’t bleach his eyebrows bcs he didn’t want to harm the skin around there and he never thought he’d take the mask off around others, or about how stupid he’d look without the mask
please please please please draw him with his pink hair roots in his MS fit he should've grown out some of his bleached hair by then
daddy issues is truly the root of evil
Gus Grav
Just Some Gut background; middle class just living life
[canon?] was going on a route to being an “idol brawler”, because that’s kind of what their brawls felt like, since it was all purely for show with some competition. it felt less like a sport and more spectacle.
Gus wanting to be an idol brawler is actually such a funny string of words put together I’m making that a thing, if he didn’t join the Vexos he would’ve been an idol brawler
I like the Gus needs glasses hc (shoutout to @marmeladebois ‘s post on that) 
The hc of him being half human and Runo’s half brother is so good 
Cooks well but refuses to help cook fr the Vexos (unless Spectra specifically asks) --> that job is usually left to Volt
not related but reminds me heavily of yugioh vrain’s Spectre (or other way around... Gus was the blueprint) 
Shadow Prove
[handbook canon] a vestal nobleman 
has an older brother (oc; Lux- casual Haos brawler)
inferiority complex or whatever, the only thing he bested his brother in was Bakugan
the Prove family being typical prim proper noble family and forcing Shadow to be repressed is something, but the Proves having the same kind of wavelength as Shadow but in different variations is funnier. They’re just Like That.
Probably not a military family, does work closely with the government still; um im thinking somewhere under the Fermins but not by much
Considered running away from home several times 
Unwillingly has knowledge on Vestal classic literature/ music
hard clutching a wall whenever he wants to join in on discussions about it bcs he knows this stuff but no way is he going to make himself look like a nerd + hes not actually that interested
*debates you for fun and bcs i hate u <3* 
You know how he doesn’t take his job as a Vexos member super seriously, I wonder:
did his parents force him to be a Vexos since he wasn’t interested in the political side of his family and probably against taking up anything related to it, so they had him do something that’d still be beneficial to the family?  
joined to pursue a freedom he didn’t have as a nobleman and is now just taking it really easy?
has clowns > jesters debate with volt; obv he’s team clown, volt is team jester
incredibly irrelevant but if he was a human he’d be chinese, i’ve claimed him, prodigal son older brother and fail son dynamic is there 
Mylene Ferrow
While I like the idea of her being from a military family, I want to make her like Ling Wen (TGCF) in the sense she started from the bottom and climbed to the top... it fits her ambitious nature of grasping for more, she hasn’t reached what she considers the top just yet... 
[very Ling Wen specific but Mylene being put in jail fr crimes unknown to me and being recruited  by Hydron bcs she kicked serious ass is an entertaining thought] 
I like to think she’s closest to Shadow due to the fact he kind of forces his presence onto her so... not her choice in that matter. “annoying” to “endearingly annoying, you still aren’t getting special treatment though”
Ofc Volt and Lync are on the same level, but I think they all know when to give each other space so they’re more of a “we hold each other at a distance, but we’re aware of out closeness which is enough for us”
Then its Spectra and then Gus in the “closest to Mylene” scale; she just straight up hates Gus and it’s mutual
whoever made the “Mylene and Spectra were exes” hc I think it’s really funny so I’m adding it here 
terrible fashion, she’s the one who chose the outfits when she and Shadow went to earth; her fashionable armor look she usually has was designed with Volt’s help, she just voiced what she generally wanted 
Her red lipstick look was bcs she thought it’d make her look more serious/ intimidating (Volt and Lync approved, it rlly does work on her)
Shadow matches w/ her (via his red nails) after they get teamed up tgt several times bcs he thinks they’re basically the go-to duo matchup whenever they’re assigned work n it’d be cool
Very forthcoming about the fact she used to be considered a criminal and was from same rundown area Volt and Lync come from
She’s grateful she got out of jail but she still has no respect for Hydron and despite how much she tries to hide it she does make it pretty clear to him she doesn’t really like him
I wish I had more to say about her... but It’s all relationship esque, i think in general she’s enjoyable and good so what I want more out of her is character dynamics
Lync Volan
[eng dub] he has grandparents; whether they’re still alive or not is...? 
was part of the same area Volt is from
probably aware of each other but didn’t really know each other
you sound like you have mommy issues 
came from the same area as Volt, but lived further out and closer to those areas where there were some bits of nature left 
ill expand on why he got picked up by Hydron another day lazy rn
Volt Luster
[canon] he’s from an area that just straight up looks like yugioh 5ds’ Satellite, and Hydron was the one who pulled him out of there  
He says Hydron pulled him out of there when he was a kid? I’d assume at youngest it’d be like Hydron (8) and Volt (11)
has a neat collection of handmade jester dolls 
lot more artistic than he seems 
Had his guardian bakugan with him the longest; had Brontes even before he met Hydron
Would the others consider him weird fr having a talking Bakugan that acted friendly with him n cracked jokes? 
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stormech · 2 years
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So, I did an ask meme I found. For context, this is geared towards Yugioh kin, and I’m a fictive but the questions are applicable and I wanted to answer them. I guess this is also my way of reaching out to the community, if there are any people like me I haven’t met yet, because I like meeting new people.
1. Are you canon divergent? If so, how?
Not really divergent, more like extended. It’s been almost 4 years since canon for me, so I’m 20 now. Things certainly kept going after what you see in the show ended. The Ignis were all revived and there was a second war… I’ll talk about it to people who want to hear it.
2. Do you still play the game today? Are you any good? Do you still use your original deck?
Yes! I don’t duel in canon but I use the deck I remember using, Thunder Dragons.
3. Is there anything in particular you remember that wasn’t shown in source that you feel is important?
The Ignis Revival project, and the reveal that in my canon at least, Genome was behind coding Lightning’s behavior. Revolver, who analyzed the code, described it as being “like being born with PTSD”. Genome wanted to create an AI weapon and he was hoping that Lightning would kill me and the others off so that he could get away with no survivors that knew about it. I also wish people knew that Lightning has been making amends after the war and has settled down very peacefully and is working to leave his trauma behind him. I, for my part, have forgiven him completely. I know that’s not the narrative a lot of people hoped to hear but that’s what happened to me and that’s how I feel about it.
4. What’s something mundane that’s funny now?
I can’t think of much because I’ve had so little life experience and so little of it was funny, but my favorite little memory was when I first met Lightning and I asked him if he was a fairy.
5. Did you have friends or enemies? If so, who are they? Are you in contact with any of them today?
I consider Yuusaku my best friend, and we’re in contact today. Revolver, Takeru, Aoi, and Spectre too… and Baira, who I’ve definitely adopted as an older sister. And my brother, of course! And Lightning, the light of my life (quite literally). I’m very blessed to be in contact with everyone, whether they’re in my system or another. As for enemies, the Genome from my canon can rot in hell and I’m glad we’re not in contact.
6. If you’re comfortable sharing, is there anything traumatic or heavily negative that you went through that you still struggle thinking about?
The Genome stuff mentioned above. I don’t really remember the Lost Incident at all, since Lightning took those memories away in canon, but I still struggle with the “You Lose” screens in games like Duel Links.
7. Did you have a favorite Duel Monster? If so, which?
Thunder Dragon Thunderstormech was my ace, so it’s very special to me! Paladin of Storm Dragon is also important to me and I make sure to keep it in my deck.
8. How do you feel about doubles? What would you do if you met one?
I have met one! We haven’t talked much, but I regard him with fondness and am happy to see him around. I find the concept of doubles fascinating, so I’m totally fine with doubles of me or my friends.
9. If you’re from a world that didn’t have one of the later forms of dueling (ex. Rush Duels) what’s your opinion on them now?
I know the rules, even though none of us have seen Sevens. It sounds interesting and I think I’d try it if given the chance! Also, we didn’t have Pendulum in my world, so that’s super cool too!
10. Do you have any regrets? If you could go back is there one thing you would do or change? If so what would it be?
I think… I would find Lightning right after the revival — or maybe at the beginning of the second war so I could explain the misunderstanding — and talk to him and open up to him and… I don’t know. I had so little control for most of my life, it’s hard to think of where I could have done something different. But maybe if I had shown him my love sooner, things would have turned out better for him sooner, too.
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thebibliomancer · 4 years
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Essential Avengers: Avengers #207: Beyond a Shadow...
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May, 1981
“After countless centuries HE LIVES AGAIN! THE SHADOW LORD COMETH!”
He cometh riding upon a tornado like its a mighty sand worm. What a guy, this Shadow Lord.
Honestly seeing the Avengers tumbling about in a tornado cracks me up every time. Especially Wonder Man who looks nonchalant about it aside from being ass over head.
So I don’t think we’ve really talked about it but this period of Avengers is kind of between main writers.
Since issue 200 and its four writers, we’ve had David Michelinie and Roger Stern on the two-part adaptation of that Ultron novel, David Michelinie for that weird story with the Crawlers in the sewers; Jim Shooter, David Michelinie, and Bob Budiansky for the Yellow Claw two-parter, Bill Mantlo for the everything is on fire story and now Bob Budiansky and Danny Fingeroth for this issue and the next. We start getting a consistent writer again starting in #211.
I wonder what was going on behind the scenes around this time.
Anyway, onward.
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So we start the issue with who I assume is the Shadow Lord. But he’s not riding a tornado, like Pecos Bill. He’s standing on an invisible ocean structure of some kind. Apparently a mysterious invisible ocean structure of some kind that hasn’t been seen for almost two millennia.
And yet, someone has kindly painted the title of the issue in English on the mysterious invisible ocean structure of some kind.
Some guy, maybe the Shadow Lord: “The dreaded time has at last arrived, the moment I prayed would never come... the moment I knew would surely come. He is soon to return, and only the power entrusted to me is capable of stopping him. And even that power may not prove sufficient.”
“With every passing second, my city and myself pass ever more fully into the Earth’s plane of existence. Would that the cause of my return here from the barren vastnesses of the Shadow World was as joyous as the glow of this new day’s sun.”
“But the grim responsibility of an entire race is my unwelcome inheritance. It is a duty I cannot shirk. Alas, I must take what comfort I can in knowing that no matter what the result of the coming debacle, I will at least be free to rejoin Ayshera, she whom my heart holds most dear... though whether our reunion will be in celebration of victory -- or in darkest mourning for the ashes of this planet -- none willy truly know until the final battle.”
Some Guy sure is helpfully monologuing his entire life story here. And even so he manages to be vague, inside his own mind, about the nature of the threat he faces. Way to preserve the mystery, Guy.
Also, he’s from the Shadow World so he may be a Yugioh.
Anyway, as one might expect, a city appearing in the middle of the ocean out of nowhere is of alarm so US aircraft carrier Poseidon shows up and starts yelling at Some Guy.
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Some Guy decides that they sound mad but he doesn’t have time for lengthy explanations so instead he gestures and the winds and waves start whipping up.
Welp! Seems like the US Poseidon is going on an Adventure!
Meanwhile, Mt. Vesuvius!
Yup. Its that kind of story, the kind partially set at Vesuvius.
Some archeologists are digging in the foothills of the mountain in what has been a fruitless several weeks of archeology but one of the archeologists finds a hand shaped object which may be a hand.
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They mistake it for a statue at first but realize its actually a perfectly preserved lava mummified corpse.
And while they’re busy congratulating each other about how wealthy and famous this discovery will make them, they fail to notice the hand moving its finger shaped fingers.
And elsewhere again, the best damn thing.
A cowboy shouts “SLAP LEATHER, YA GALOOT!” and then gets shot by a cannon.
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This isn’t the Wild West of the America, this is a spaghetti western film set and the director is very upset at Black Bart’s shitty death acting. How hard is it to get hit by a cannon and then to fall down and pretend to die like you just got hit by a cannon?
You wouldn’t think there’s a wrong way to get shot by a cannon but you’d be wrong.
Simon Williams, Wonder Man: “I’m sorry, Mr. Bertolini. It’s just that, being Wonder Man, it’s hard for me to pretend those cannonballs are hurting me when I can hardly feel them.”
Mr. Bertolini: “True, signore Wonder Man, but I hired you because I thought you could-a act!”
Oh yeah, Mr. Bertolini talks like Mario. So that’s another tally for Marvel’s respect of other countries and cultures.
Aside from this being the seventh take on a ‘guy gets hit by a cannonball, beefs it’ scene, cannonballs are expensive. The cannonball that bounced off Wonder Man’s midsection looks fine but maybe you can’t just reuse them.
The filming breaks for lunch and Wonder Man wanders over to where his moral support is.
His moral support, of course, being Beast.
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And he is moral supporting but he’s also multitasking with some women because even in Italy, women are just fascinated by blue fur. Furries are universal.
Wonder Man doesn’t feel supported though and this lousy spaghetti western film is a good opportunity for him.
If you remember, the last project we saw him get was as a cheetah print leotard wearing muscle man on a kids show and he got fired for making the host Uncle Elmer look ridiculous.
(Revealed to Simon’s chagrin in #194, lost to mishap in #201)
Being in an actual movie, even a spaghetti western, is the boost his career needs.
(I think we need to confront the actual possibility that Wonder Man is not a very good actor. But he might be a good stunt man if he can learn to act like things hurt)
Wonder Man’s publicist Rachel Palmer shows up as well and wow. Rachel has never appeared before and given the fillery nature of these chaotic no consistent writer times may not appear beyond this story. But you instantly get the sense of their working relationship.
And they have good banter too.
Wonder Man: “Wait. There she is -- Rachel Palmer -- the apple of my eye, the light of my life, the bane of my existence!”
Rachel: “If you delivered your lines that well in front of the cameras, Simon, you might actually keep this job -- which’ll make it just a little easier to hype you as a star back in the States.”
Wonder Man: “Your encouraging words are a constant source of inspiration, Rachel. But I’d appreciate it if you’d confine them to your press releases.”
Rachel: “You’ve got me all wrong, Simon. I hope this whole thing turns out well for you. Really.”
Wonder Man: “And for yourself. After all, if you make me a big name, you can ride along on my coat-tails and become a media hotshot -- instead of being stuck as a flak for Grade D Westerns.”
Rachel: “No, Simon. I--”
Wonder Man: “Forget it, lady. I’m a big boy. I know that all’s fair in love -- and show biz.”
And then he walks off towards his trailer, satisfied at getting the last word with someone whose job it is to make him look good. Beast says that he thinks Wonder Man was too hard on her and that Rachel probably digs Wonder Man.
Wonder Man: “Maybe you’re right. But I still can’t get over feeling that Rachel’s motivated by sheer self-interest and everything else places a distant second.”
(I’m pretty sure she does dig Wonder Man because unbeknowst to Wonder Man and Beast, she follows them to the trailer, wanting to convince Wonder Man that she’s not as self-serving as he thinks and also to invite him to a romantic dinner)
Anyway, Wonder Man’s social life isn’t important. At all. And not right now. Because when he and Beast go into Wonder Man’s trailer and discover the Avengers’ emergency signal briefcase is BEEP BEEPing.
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It’s Cap and there’s an emergency situation that demands immediate investigation.
A brand new island city has just popped up in the middle of the Mediterranean slash off the coast of Majorca from out of nowhere and the government wants the Avengers to investigate.
Presumably the US government.
Because if I know anything about mysterious island cities appearing from nowhere - and I know exactly one thing - by jingo, they start wars!
Beast is enjoying his vacation so asks why the US Sixth Fleet doesn’t handle it instead. They’re actually paid to do things while on an ocean. But Iron Man just says that the fleet has had problems.
And with a little reading comprehension we can guess what problems. Because we’ve seen it. Its not a mystery.
Iron Man has a Stark plane sent to pick Beast and Wonder Man up and fly them to Majorca. Or somewhere thereabouts. I don’t know if Majorca has or had an airport.
Wonder Man bemoans that he’ll never be a movie star if he keeps leaving the set to go have exciting comic book superhero adventures.
Which is a little like complaining about being too handsome. Ya jerk.
And remember how Rachel Palmer was peeping on them? No? Scroll up a little and look at the above panels again. Back? And remember how Rachel Palmer was peeping on them?
Her media senses are tingling and telling her that she should definitely go check out the city that appeared in the middle of the ocean. She’s much intrepid for not a reporter.
Meanwhile, some slice of life filler fluff that doesn’t matter but that I find delightful.
And if this liveblog isn’t about sharing things that I find delightful then what is it about? Exhaustively recounting plots to comic books from decades ago? That’s just a side benefit!
The call to action back at Avengers Mansion comes right when Wanda is having Vision move a couch.
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Vision: “Wanda, while it may be true that I am capable of moving this couch about all day, it seems a gross misuse of my android abilities to do so.”
Wanda: “Maybe if we just move those shelves then you just put it down there. We’re Avengers, not interior decorators.
This is the content I eagerly crave.
So back in not America, Beast and Wonder Man complain about the plane ride but passing over the ocean they see what trouble the Sixth Fleet was having.
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Some Guy, Possibly Shadow Lord managed to strand the Poseidon aircraft carrier fully on a deserted island.
And I was wrong about the plane taking them to Majorca. Its apparently taking them to Poseidon because it lands on the ship’s airstrip so the two Avengers can consult the stranded sailors about what the heck is going on.
Captain Paul Garrison tells them that they were investigating the mysterious new island/city (not mentioning that they were also yelling at it) when a tidal wave suddenly swelled up and carried the Poseidon several miles and left it on this island.
And apparently the same thing happened to any other plane and ship that attempted to approach the island. Thwarted by winds and waves.
Damn you, nature!
Anyway, its all rather mysterious but Wonder Man figures
“Well, we were sent here to investigate. So... let’s investigate.”
And Wonder Man rockets off to investigate the city. While giving Beast a piggyback ride.
Which. Amazing image. Bless this issue for its bounty of amazing images.
Bear in mind that the captain said that the aircraft carrier was carried several miles. Wonder Man’s belt rockets have impressive duration considering he can’t be carrying much fuel on his person.
When they reach the city, they find a localized hurricane hovering right above it. But Wonder Man just flies down through the eye of the storm to get to the city.
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Some Guy Shadow Lord is surprised because he had been expecting big boats and planes. Not a guy with rocket pants and a blue gorilla riding on his back.
But he’s able to shoo them away just as easily as any big thing, with a wave of his hand summoning a wind that carries Wonder Man and passenger Beast away from the city.
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Meanwhile, Rachel Palmer is also here. She spent all her money renting a plane and then a boat but she’s going to get to that mysterious city and get an exclusive inside story!
So is she a journalist? Or what? She’s Lois Laneing but as far as we’ve heard her job is to convince people they want to see Wonder Man do stuff in movies.
Wonder Man spots her and tries to fly to her rescue but two water spouts spurt up to ruin this rescue plan.
The first one launches Rachel’s boat into the air and smashes it to pieces. The second blasts Wonder Man out of the sky preventing him from saving Rachel from falling to her death.
But unseen by either of the Avengers, a strong breeze safely lowers Rachel to the ground of the city.
Because what is an Avengers comic without men developing weird and intense feelings for a nearby woman.
Some Guy: “How beautiful she is, how like my own Ayshera. And, also like Ayshera, she is courageous... and more than a little headstrong.”
Cool. I hope this doesn’t get weird. Or that we’re not asked to sympathize with a guy whose only ‘sympathetic’ trait is a possessive attraction to a woman. Looking at you, Living Laser. And, I guess, Graviton.
Anyway, Wonder Man doesn’t see Rachel getting rescued by an airbender so he works himself into a lather.
Wonder Man: “That sinks it! It’s one thing to attack naval ships and planes... one thing to attack Avengers... But when he kills an innocent woman who could do him no harm -- that guy’s gonna answer to WONDER MAN!”
Honestly, I think you’re selling Rachel short. I’m sure she could do harm if she put her mind to it.  Like, what if she covered him in bees. That would suck.
Anyway, Wonder Man rages through the city’s protective winds and then gets SAFUUSH!’d between two walls of solid water.
He’s left sputtering and disoriented in the ocean. At least until some hooks hook down from the Quinjet, hook Wonder Man, and then hook him up into the ship.
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I didn’t know that the Quinjet had hooks for grabbing people out of the ocean but I am thrilled.
Ideally, the Avengers would use their newfound ability to vaudeville hook people into orbit more often. I can think of so many instances where it would be useful, or at least hilarious.
Anyway, Wonder Man apprises the other Avengers into the situation.
Meanwhile, not dead Rachel Palmer wakes up and finds the Shadow Lord brood slouching in a chair and watching her while she was unconscious.
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She is alarmed that he’s just sitting there staring but he basically goes ‘DON’T WORRY I READ YOUR MIND TO LEARN YOUR NAME AND LANGUAGE’ and then decides to explain his entire backstory.
Shadow Lord: “The city in which we stand is the Shadow Realm and I... I am called the Shadow Lord!”
DAMMIT I KNEW HE WAS A YUGIOH!
Anyway.
THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO! Give or take! An ancient tribe decided to move to an island to isolate themselves from “primitive, superstitious neighbors who feared [their] more advanced society.”
Off to a good start with this guy.
Free of the mundane concerns of living in a world that hated and feared them, they were able to peacefully ALL BECOME WIZARDS WHO COULD CONTROL THE FORCES OF NATURE.
Maybe the X-Men are onto something.
So the Shadow Lord’s people learned to control, winds, waves, earth, and maybe fire so what I’m saying is that it was an entire island of Avatars.
Boom, sequel idea. Give me millions of dollars, Nickelodeon.
“Though veiled in mystery, rumors of our existence spread throughout the world. We were feared and shunned by the other peoples of the Earth -- which allowed us to continue our studies undisturbed.”
“Those who mistrusted anything they could not comprehend... they called us witches and sorcerers. Those who knew and understood us called us... the Earth Lords!”
“For centuries our sole purposes were to augment our knowledge of the Earth’s forces and to maintain the natural balance between these forces. Otherwise, we had no interest in the day-to-day affairs of the outside world.”
Maybe I was wrong about them being Yugioh. Maybe they’re the Time Lords from the Doctor Who.
Anyway, the Earth Lords were happy sitting on their island being Avatars but over the eons they sensed a disturbance in the Force, for I must reference all the things.
"Over the eons, we became aware of a seemingly immortal, human force of awesome destruction, one who could potentially plunge mankind into an irreversible slide to its doom.”
“Singlehandedly he could destroy towns. With an army beside him -- countries. Time and again, he did. It was when he finally joined the legions of Rome at the peak of the Empire’s power... that we first feared the balance of nature was in danger of being destroyed. Rome could forever take over the world.”
The Earth Lords tried on several occasions to destroy this menace. We don’t get to know what constituted these efforts and that’s disappointing because of what the final successful attempt was.
By 79 AD, they knew he was on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius so they caused it to erupt, just to bury this one guy under hundreds of tons of rock and ash and lava.
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Mission accomplished.
Except for the little thing where the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius also wiped out Pompeii and Herculaneum and other cities people know significantly less about, killing over 20,000 people.
As things go, that’s pretty dire amount of incidental deaths to kill one person. And the Earth Lords realize that this was a pretty major fuck up.
So they decided that they couldn’t be trusted with their powers and that they would disperse into the outside world to live and die as people do and have their powers dissipate over the years.
But before they did that, they discovered that the seemingly immortal guy they hit in the face with a volcano was somehow still alive somehow. Just trapped. Under hundreds of tons of rock and ash and lava that cooled into rock.
They killed thousands and didn’t even permanently kill the dude they were trying to kill? That’s pretty incompetent. They really can’t be trusted with their power.
Since he eventually might get out and resume being a dick, the Earth Lords drew lots and chose one of their number, the Some Guy later known as the Shadow Lord from the Shadow Realm, to forever watch over the city alone and await the day that the immortal guy would again walk the land.
And to help him solo the dude that took an entire city of people and a volcano to deal with, the Earth Lords concentrated all of their powers into this one Shadow Lord guy and taught him how to send himself and the city into a twilight plane of nothingness which is back to being called the Shadow World.
So this might also be Twilight Princess.
For two thousand years the Shadow Lord in the Shadow Realm in the Shadow World observed Earth and waited. And now, it seems that the seemingly immortal dude is back.
Rachel: “But I don’t understand. How can one man threaten a whole world -- and live for thousands of years in solid rock?”
Shadow Lord: “This is no mere man, my dear... this is the Berserker!”
And speak of the devil and we scene transition to him because we scene transition to Pompeii.
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The lava mummified human figure that seemed to move before has stopped beating about with finger twitches and has gotten up to rampage around and backhand archeologists.
Don’t feel bad though. They were in it for the money and fame, those fiends.
Back at the city of Shadow Realm, the Avengers suddenly show up as a full team and basically enter swinging. Iron Man even blasts a wall for no reason.
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Rachel tries to tell the Avengers that Shadow Lord means no harm but the Avengers can’t hear her over the sounds of Wonder Man loudly reassuring Rachel that they’re here to rescue her.
Iron Man exploding a wall for no reason probably also didn’t help.
So Rachel instead tries to tell Shadow Lord that the Avengers are a force for good. While he can hear her, he chooses to ignore her.
Using his powers of being the Avatar, he tries to pull a rocks fall but nobody dies. Rocks falling is something the Avengers deal with panache and also lasers and punches.
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Some panache. Beast’s skycycle gets hit by a rock and he ends up leaping onto one of the spires of the city to avoid crash. And then, like a cat who climbs a tree except its a building in this context, Beast has a hard time figuring out how to get down from there.
While the larger Avengers punch and laser boulders and jump onto spires, Wasp just flies right in and shoots Shadow Lord in the eyebrow.
Amazing. Another good use of Wasp powers, being able to get in close while the opponent thinks the team is distracted at a distance.
Shadow Lord is none too pleased to be shot in the eyebrow by a tiny insect-sized flying woman and decides that a particularly karmic punishment is required.
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Shadow Lord: “An insect-sized flyling woman! What sorcery is this? But if an insect you be, then it is only fitting I ensnare you in a cocoon of living wind... a cocoon which will grow and envelop your so-called fellow Avengers!”
And as Rachel still pleads with Shadow Lord to knock it off, he summons a giant tornado that suck in all of the Avengers (save Beast stuck up on his spire).
Shadow Lord even has the tornado carry him along, the better to continue mocking the Avengers as he carries them to their doom.
Shadow Lord: “You hopeless children! Did you actually think to defeat me, to deter me from my purpose? I who who command the earth and wind themselves to do my bidding?”
Yeah, dude. Definitely not sounding like a supervillain now. Cannot fathom why the Avengers are assuming you are one.
Iron Man manages to escape the tornado by firing his boot-jets at maximum, sending him flying free with a SHA-BOOSH! but also carrying him far away because momentum.
Shadow Lord then creates a whirlpool in the ocean and has his tornado carry the Avengers towards it. The whirlpool goes to the bottom of the ocean. Which then cracks open to reveal bubbling magma.
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That’s right. The Shadow Lord is going to shoot them out of a tornado, into a whirlpool and into magma beneath the ocean floor.
Its. At least more precise than hitting them with a volcano, I’ll give him that. Definitely feels like overkill to go from rocks to tornado-whirlpool-magma execution but its definitely more precise.
Somewhat more precise.
Because when Iron Man manages to slow himself down to turn back he notices that a yacht is being swamped by the waves Shadow Lord is churning up.
And because of heroism, he takes the time to scoop the yacht out of the ocean and rest it safely on an island.
Geez. There’s a lot of boats being beached in this story.
Shadow Lord actually sees this. And a thought starts penetrating his thick skull that maybe he should have listened to Rachel.
Shadow Lord: “The armored one paused in his attack on me to save those people -- innocent people... which is more than we were able to do 2,000 years ago. Perhaps, as Rachel says, they are not agents of evil...”
He decides that he’ll stop throwing them out of a tornado into a whirlpool into magma but he doesn’t get the chance to put that train of thought on the tracks.
Beast waves Iron Man over. From his perch on the spire he’s noticed that the building he’s on is cracking from the strain of all the power Shadow Lord is throwing around even though he’s not been throwing it at that building.
So Beast deduces that the city is key to Shadow Lord’s power in some way and should have the shit beaten out of it.
And as Iron Man starts punching some wall, Shadow Lord doubles over in pain and the tornado he was about to dissipate dissipates.
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The other Avengers get free and decide hey, follow the leader.
Jocasta: “The battle has truly just begun. Malevolent power such as this must not be allowed to exist. We must follow Iron Man’s lead and destroy the city -- totally!”
So unnoticed by the Avengers as they level the city into a pile of rubble, Shadow Lord staggers and swoons at Rachel’s feet.
But even dying, he still has some exposition bottled up.
To be fair, he’s been isolated for 2,000 years with no one to talk to.
He explains that the powers of an entire population of Avatars was way too great to be contained in one squishy mortal body so the powers were instead imbued in the city itself.
And with the city destroyed, it can no longer serve as a source of power and also can’t keep him alive anymore.
He’s honestly not too broken up over it. Since the Avengers are valiant and worthy, they can pick up his unfinished business while he goes and dies and gets to reunite with his girlfriend who died sometime during those 2,000 years.
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Shadow Lord: “But please understand... I am as much to blame for today’s events as anyone... I bear you no malice... we misjudged each other. I have done my best... no more can be expected of a man... perhaps you will succeed... where I have failed. So do not mourn my passing... for me, death is but the long-awaited door that opens to my beloved... Ayshera.”
And the Avengers realize belatedly ‘we done goofed.’
“A sad -- and confused -- group of heroes grimly watches the passing of the Shadow Lord... and only then does the cruel truth reveal itself to them: what they had thought to be one of their greatest triumphs is instead... one of their most bitter defeats.”
Oh, and as I expect they’ll soon find out, the Berserker has been kicking the Italian army’s ass near Pompeii so that’s probably escalating into a bit of a situation and they just accidentally killed the guy who could have helped with that. Although in fairness, he deliberately ignored Rachel when she told him that the Avengers were heroes.
Like he said, he fucked up too.
Still, while its a bit of a Marvel tradition to have mighty misunderstanding fights, I don’t think they tend to result in people dying. One for the history books.
Next time: the Berserker.
Follow @essential-avengers​. Also like and reblog. And send me Avengers triumphs that are way more impressive than beating up a city.
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punkinroses · 4 years
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Yugioh Season 4 Quotes Prompt Meme
I am stressed, tired, sick of my job and needing a brain break. Yugioh Abridged is my go to for that at the moment. So. Have a sentence meme thing. Feel free to reblog, change pronouns, etc. Go have fun kids. Be wild. Be gay. Do crime. Love you
“The whole saving the world thing really eats into your study time.” “But my teacher gave me, like, a bunch of gold stars! And an A+ in trying.” “I already know everything I need to know about mathematics from playing card games.” “I was also thinking about doing some of the drugs later.” “(name)’s hand is on fire!” “That sounds like a commotion! .......Yes. Definitely a commotion.” “Well, I’m sure the city can defend itself.” “Those neutral motherfuckers. I never cared for them.” “How the hell did you people get in my house!?” “I’m not sure I like the rich douchebag channel.” “We figured you had more of an emotional connection to these.” “Damnit, (name), we agreed I would do the monologuing.” “My spirit guide has once again served its purpose.” “It’ll be called the bitch ass retirement plan. Named after you, ya bitch ass!” “That’s some OP bullshit right there.” “Broseph...Brosephine...Bro DiMaggio.” “I’ve got shoulder pads!” “Now what are you gonna do, Bromeo and Juliet?” “It’s not often I get to hear the worst insult ever coined by a human being.” “Yeah, they once sucked out Channing Tatum’s soul as a joke.” “I have nothing else in my life, please!” “So you’re someone I haven’t seen in a really, really long time? .........Are you my parents??!!” “Stop abusing the concept of friendship!!” “You must have spent YEARS researching this! Even though you can find this exact information on the back of any Yu-Gi-Oh! DVD!” “King of doors, bitch!” “That’s two points for Middle Earth, zero points for (name).” “I was not prepared to watch this today.” “Okay, so, you’re a lost cause.” “If even one of you makes a Sharknado reference, I will end you so hard.” “Try this on for size, you Sauron-looking motherfucker!” “I thought we had an agreement! You agreed to not be a little bitch, but now you’re being a little bitch!” “Maybe they’ll take someone’s soul that we don’t care about this time.” “Goddamnit, you never help me, ever!!” “Alright, douchebags! I’m sick and tired of us not being on top!” “These meetings get fucking weird.” “How much more specific can I get? SOMEWHERE in CALIFORNIA.” “I wonder if there are card games on the moon.” “I knew it. This is just some cheap trick to get me to come see you, so you can hit on me with a bunch of cheap innuendos, isn’t it?” “And, to think, people call you a diluted egomaniac.” “That’s not possible! I’M the adorable one!” “For some reason, cruising for chicks has caused me to become severely injured.” “I would be so turned on if that wasn’t such a huge waste of trading cards.” “I’d like to spread some vegemite on those things.” “You left me on a blimp with a known psychopath, while I was in a coma, so you could go off and play video games.” “So, in other words, since we’ve never seen your balls drop, we can assume it hasn’t happened?” “My douche-senses are telling me that (name) is mocking me somewhere.” “Should I remind you to tell them to go fuck themselves when we get there?” “He will eat you with his crocodile face.” “Okay, did you have to include the part of the story where they insulted me?” “Hey, a sword! I can stab people with this!” “Seriously? That was your one Koala joke?” “Try believing in the heart of the cards.” “Quiet, you sorcerer.” “If you’re seeing this, (name), it either means I’m dead, leaving behind a very fabulous looking corpse, or my soul has been captured.” “Maybe it had something very kinky on it and 4Kids had to censor it.” “I’ll leave that up to the fanfic authors.” “I’ll write a highly unfavorable research paper about you! With inconclusive findings!” “I feel like I should be concerned, but I just can’t stop thinking about how Copernicus is such a stupid name for a horse.” “You know that thing takes people’s souls and I found it on a dead guy, right?” “That was acting, children! Bravo for me!” “According to my research, I’m in a crapload of pain.” “Learned that trick from playing Super Mario World.” “I’ll just be over here wibbling to myself. Please, pay me no mind.” “Okay, everyone. I’m going to go scream into a pillow for the next five minutes.” “Are you telling me that we can't build an elevator into space?! Because that sounds like something a guy who doesn't want to keep his job would say!” “And let me tell you one last thing. All those times I got angry and declared that I would have my vengeance on you: I WAS FAKING!” “I'm glad we spent all our money on this bag of potato chips and generic brand soda.” “By the way, I memorized several dozen dinosaur puns, just so I could use them in this.” “The only reunion that’s about to happen is my size ten up your buttocks!” “Dorō! Monsutā Kādo!” “You're right, (name). I lost control. At the end of the day, this is just a game.” “We’re going to disturb the spirits of the dead! Yay!” “What the fuck even is this season!?” “Won’t somebody fetch me some ice cream!?” “I’m old and I hold a stick. That automatically makes me the wisest person in the valley.” “It’s a good thing I played all that Assassin’s Creed!” “It’s a good thing I played all that Banjo Kazooie!” “Oh, thank God, because I really wasn’t listening to any of that. Any of it.” “Now, I have to go back down there and challenge that vulture to a card game.” “Okay, (name), I’m going to level with you; I may have lied about the pizza.” “It makes me look really bonkers cool while I kick the shit out of you.” “Actually, he says his name is Cornelius Jr. and he wants to play basketball, just like how his father wanted him to.” “You can talk to snakes!?” “Hey, are you sure it’s safe for us to fly straight into that strange weather phenomenon?” “I guess we’d better confront whatever villain of the week that is.” “Well, these buttons look important.” “We mostly get by using our street smarts and ingenuity.” “No, I'm mad because I never wanted to know what one of Hideo Kojima's wet dreams looked like, and now I do, so thanks for that.” “I swear on my life we didn't keep a single flying war machine of death.” “Well, it would be way more intimidating if its face wasn't so damn adorable.” “Yeah, they’re dead. Dibs on their crappy broken stuff!” “Did you guys notice that this episode had the exact same ending as Bee Movie?” “I'm also glad we're not going to Florida as it means that we are not going to Florida.” “OK, but wait! I'm almost to the part where we met two ghosts in the California desert who just happened to be related to the guy we're fighting. Oh God, you're right; it's all just bullshit, isn't it?” “Breaking stuff will fix it!” “I'm bi a lot of things, but lingual is not one of them.” “Welcome back, asshole.” “Hey (name), wanna reenact a scene from Back to the Future Part II?” “I'd rather throw myself off the roof.” “Damn you, Microsoft Flight Simulator!” “Yes, but you had to steal my catchphrase to do it! Is nothing sacred to you?” “That is the single most offensive thing anyone has ever said to me.” “OK, children, from now on, everybody uses the Buddy System. When I say "Go," I want you all to choose a buddy and form an everlasting and inseparable bond between them 'till death do you part. OK, go!” “(Name), remember, whatever happens, you mustn't become an evil little sh*thead.” “Suckers! Consider yourselves ditched.“ “Well if any other anime in existence has taught me anything, most of the drama tends to happen on...the roof.“ “Just my luck. Dork Fest continues.“ “No! It's got a scythe. The deadliest farming implement known to man.“ “This heavy-hearted metaphor was brought to you by Da, a subsidiary of Doy, Inc.” “OK, this is also total BS. When I came back from the dead, I didn't get a chorus of heavenly music and a light show.“ “It's a good thing I'm so buff or that fall would've killed me.“ “(Name), promise me you're not going to embarrass me in front of the U.S. Military.” “ Guys, I think we took a wrong turn, because I'm pretty sure this is the Chamber of Secrets.” “Those aren't Funko Pops! They're much more disturbing!” “Yeah, makes your measly five thousand years look like a five thousand years of being a bitch, bitch.“ “Okay, but why are we in space?” “I have no idea who that is. You are talkin' fucking crazy right now, man. Are you okay? Do you need water? How long were you in the desert for?“ “For the record, I was dressing up in suits of armor before it was cool.“ “(Name), this is like, the third time you've tried to murder one of my friends, stop it!” “Nah. As a teenager with unlimited access to the Internet, I get to do that every day.” “As I was saying, (name) is a damn handsome and valuable person. Thank goodness for them.” “They died as they lived... pissing me off.” “Okay, who let the posh shithead in here?” “I'm so happy you escaped the cold embrace of death so that I could experience your deathly cold embrace again!“ “Wow. My eBay sensors are tingling.“ “You know, we really have no idea where this portal will take us, but I have total confidence in this decision.“ “None of this matters to you! You're already dead! Blah, blah, blah, omae wa mou shindeiru.” “Glad we came all the way up here so that we could not know what was going on.“ “Does this mean I can take back all the nice things I said?“ “I'm not doing any of those things. I'm just enjoying being with you.”
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ahgastae · 5 years
Text
Penny for Your Thoughts?
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Jinyoung x Reader (Soulmate!AU)
Fluff
Word Count - 5.3k
Warnings: you know what? i think i did pretty good on the swears this time. so unless you’re allergic to sweet, tooth rotting cuteness, i have no warnings for this one!
Quick A/N: bolded text is spoken/heard in korean! also, i changed this up a bit from the intro/headcanons for story purposes, and i hope that isn’t a problem.
Unlike most people in his system, Jinyoung has a love-hate relationship with the voice inside his head. No, not the nagging little voice in the back of mind telling him to strangle Yugyeom, but the actual voice invading his thoughts. The voice belonging to his soulmate. Now, Jinyoung is truly grateful for the perks of his system, like ‘meeting’ his soulmate before their fated encounter. But, sometimes, hearing her in his head makes it all the more harder for him to wait.
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Jinyoung sighs blissfully, letting the stress roll off his shoulders as he finally sinks into the practice room couch. He loves comebacks as much as the rest of his group, but none of them are exactly fond of the exhaustion that comes with them. Jinyoung’s gently eyes close, basking in the small moment of peace. They don’t come around very often, considering his groupmates’ personalities, and he cherishes the few he gets. His mind toes the edge of consciousness, teetering on the brink of sleep when-
“Jinyoung-ah!”
That didn’t last long.
Jinyoung’s eyes flash open, just in time to catch Jackson leaping towards him without warning. He grimaces when the older male lands across his lap, legs splaying along the end of the couch. Besides him, Jaebum snickers under his breath.
“I think you almost got five minutes this time,” Jaebum remarks, amusement written on his face. Jackson smiles widely, wriggling around in Jinyoung’s lap to get comfortable.
“I wasn’t aware I was being timed.”
Jaebum shrugs, “It’s just something I do to keep myself occupied. That, and it’s always amusing to watch them try and wake you up.” Jinyoung glances around the room, realizing his remaining four members are all watching him, and they’re all simultaneously trying to hold in laughter. He rolls his eyes, but can’t hide the small smile on his lips. Really, he’s not surprised. He would be shocked if they didn’t try to mess with him while his eyes were closed. But that still doesn’t stop him from pushing Jackson off of his legs.
Jackson whines when he hits the floor with a dull thud, “Hey! Is that how you treat your elders?”
“The only thing elderly about you is how fragile your bones are.” The room breaks into giggles, and only intensifies when Jackson mocks pain, clutching at his chest as he flops down dramatically.
“Wounded!” He cries. “Wounded by own blood! I raised you on my back, Park Jinyoung!”
Jinyoung smirks as he rises from the couch, “And that will be your downfall.” He acts out removing a sword from its sheath, pointing the imaginary blade at Jackson’s chest. “Any last words?” Jackson locks eyes with him, chest heaving theatrically. The room is silent, the five other members all waiting with bated breath. Jackson does not disappoint.
“Wang Gae... Park Gae...”
Jackson collapses with a grunt, limbs spread out all around him. Immediately the room erupts once more. Bambam and Youngjae rush forwards, feigning tears and sorrow for their fallen friend. Jinyoung turns around, pointing his ‘sword’ threateningly at the last three members.
“Have you anything to say?”
Mark and Yugyeom quickly shake their heads, faces growing red from laughter. Jaebum chuckles, hiding his smile behind his hand. Jinyoung nods triumphantly, and returns his weapon to his sheath. 
Then, amidst the loud laughter and dramatic sobs, he hears it. A sound he’s grown to become quite accustomed to. One might even say he’s fond of it. The light giggle flashes through his mind in a second, and then it’s gone just as soon. Jinyoung’s heart swells in his chest, although he can’t tell if it’s from adoration or embarrassment.
At least she enjoyed his performance.
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I bite my lip, staring down at my notebook as I try to hide the smile on my face. I know he has a penchant for theatrics, and I find it really endearing that he does, but I really wish he would wait until after my professor’s lecture on cognitive functions. 
It’s not often that I find myself popping into my soulmate’s head. In fact, for the most part, I try not to. In the beginning, my soulmate was a pretty private and reserved person. He didn’t like me barging into his head at the most random of moments, and I understand that, but it’s not exactly like I had any control over it at that time. I didn’t even know I was in the thoughts system until the day I had the weirdest out of body experience of my life.
People always ask what it’s like to have a direct link to my soulmate’s mind, and, honestly, it’s fucking confusing. That link can vary in strength, and sometimes changes on a day-to-day basis. Most days, it’ll be a streamline of thoughts, like a phone conversation. I’ve been told it’s the main way those of us in the thoughts system communicate with our significant others, but it took awhile before I wasn’t the only one talking.
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“Why are you so intent on killing Yugioh?”
The question escaped my mind before I could stop it. By then, I knew that wasn’t the name of the tall friend he always wanted to strangle, but it never failed to entertain him when I got it ‘wrong’, so I wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. Moments later, I felt the familiar feeling in the back of my head, letting me know he’d heard. Usually that would be the most I got, so imagine my surprise when he actually responded.
“The little shit keeps eating all my chocolate. It’s what he deserves.”
I smiled, trying hard not to let my excitement show too much. That was the first time he purposefully communicated with me, and I was over the moon to see some progress being made.
“Ah, a capital offense, I see. Off with his head, then.”
Then he did something I never expected, at least not because of me.
He laughed. And I swear my heart was sold from that moment on.
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Nowadays, it’s more common for him to reply to me when he gets the chance, and it almost feels like we’ve become some sort of weird, long distance friends. That’s probably something strange to think about my soulmate, but I still hesitate to bring up anything that might make him uncomfortable, or draw himself away. The last thing I want is for him to feel trapped inside his own mind.
Other days, there’s only subconscious feelings, like a sudden craving for strawberries, or a tinge of intense, yet unexplained frustration. I once snapped at a friend for breathing too close to me, despite having no idea why I was so bothered by it. It was odd, sure, but it wasn’t my strangest day, either. That title is reserved for moments when the link is the strongest. 
The connection between two individuals in the thoughts system is believed to be strongest when one or both of them experiences exceptionally powerful emotions. In times of exhilarating excitement or crippling sorrow, the bond is so strong, they say it’s possible for the two souls to partially merge. What does that mean, exactly? Well, it’s a little hard to explain.
The first time it happened, I was fourteen, and my best friend, Rory, had just told me they were moving. Granted, they were only moving about an hour or two away, but I swear it felt like my entire body went cold. I’d known them since elementary school, and I couldn’t imagine how my life would be without them. My heart just snapped, but when it did, it felt like something else was put together. 
One moment, I was blinking back tears, looking into my friend’s eyes, and the next, I was in a small room with mirrors lining the walls. Except the person staring back at me in my reflection wasn’t me. A young boy, probably close to my own age, stood frozen in the mirror, jaw hanging open in shock. I glanced around the room, acutely aware of his head turning in the reflection with my movements. There was no sign of Rory, no sign of the park we were sitting in, no sign of me. 
My chest began to feel tight as I soon realized I had no idea where I was, or even who I was. How was I supposed to figure out how to fix it if I didn’t know what it was? I couldn’t just run up to a stranger and say I somehow switched bodies with a teenage boy I don’t know. And if I was there in his body, did that mean he was in...?
In the midst of my thoughts, a hand landed on my shoulder, jolting me out of my concentration, and effectively scaring the shit out of me. I jumped, instinctively elbowing the person behind me, and throwing their hand off as I stepped away. I heard a pained groan, and turned around to find another boy, clutching his stomach and swearing under his breath.
“Jinyoung, what’s the matter with you?!”
When he spoke, I knew it was in a language I couldn’t understand, shouldn’t have been able to understand, but was somehow able to comprehend.
“I-I don’t know who you’re talking about.” It was weird to hear a voice that wasn’t my own come out, even if I recognized that it wasn’t my mouth saying those words. It was even weirder when I realized I responded in the same language he was speaking. 
The boy sighed as he stood up straight with the roll of his eyes, “Seriously? I didn’t expect you to be one for jokes like this.” He took a step towards me, but stopped when I took an equal step back. “Jinyoung-ah, are you okay?” 
I tried to respond, to tell him that I’m not ‘Jinyoung’, that I’m definitely not okay, but something in my chest broke, and, suddenly, I wasn’t in the mirror room anymore. I was back on that park bench, Rory gripping my hand tightly with a worried expression on their face. It took a few hours for my parents to finally calm me down, and an even longer time for me to understand what the hell had happened to me. Why I had suddenly found myself in a random boy’s body, and why (as Rory would later tell me) he found himself in mine. At the end of the day, I came out of that situation with several confusing revelations.
One, I am in the thoughts system. My soulmate and I are connected in arguably the deepest, most personal way; through our thoughts. Two, ‘soul-swapping’, as they’ve termed it, is a rare event that can occur between two soulmates in the thoughts system. It’s what happened that day, and could happen again at just about any moment, given the connection is strong enough. And, finally, ‘Jinyoung’ wasn’t just some random boy. He’s my soulmate, and I’ve been trying to find him since that day.
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“Miss L/N, care to join us back in class?” My psych professor’s voice abruptly breaks me out of my memories. My cheeks burn as I realize I’ve been zoned out for a good twenty minutes, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Shit. This isn’t the first time this has happened, and I’ve been warned multiple times to stop it. Professor Kim stares me down from the front of the classroom, and I shrink under his gaze.
“Sorry, Professor, I was just...”
“Lost in your thoughts?” A couple giggles sound from around the room. I glance down at my notebook, biting my lip. Why do I keep doing this? I literally cannot afford to be kicked out of the international study program. Not when I’ve come this far to find him. “Miss L/N?”
I look back up at Professor Kim, trying to ignore the burning in my face, “I’m sorry, Professor Kim. I promise I’ll pay attention from now on.” The professor nods, turning back to the board and resuming his lecture. I pick up my pencil with a sigh, forcing myself to focus, and keeping in mind why I came here in the first place.
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Two years ago, I sat in my cramped dorm room, quite literally bored out of my mind.
“Hey, Jinyoung?”
“Y/N? What aren’t you asleep yet?” I scrunched my eyebrows, glancing out my dorm window at the, very much, daylight sky. 
“I’m...not tired yet, I guess.” It wasn’t uncommon for Jinyoung to say things like that, to get the time of day wildly off. It was part of what lead me to believe he must have lived somewhere far away, in a time zone where perhaps my day was his night.
“You should go to bed soon. Not getting enough sleep is bad for you, and you need it for your classes.”
I scoffed. Jinyoung practically knew my life to a T, yet I knew next to nothing about him, except that his name was Jinyoung, he was around my age, and that he lived in South Korea. I only found out about the last thing when I realized that the foreign language that I suddenly became fluent in during soul-swaps was, in fact, Korean. Other than that, he doesn’t like to share very much about himself, even though he had been talking more and more over the years. Honestly, it was kind of irritating.
“Jinyoung, how come you won’t tell me about where you live?”
“What do you mean? You know I live in Korea.”
I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, but I have no idea where in Korea. And you didn’t even tell me that, I figured it out myself.”
“Why are you so interested suddenly?” I hesitated to respond, eyeing the pamphlet sitting on my nightstand. A number of my classmates had talked about stumbling upon their soulmates while studying abroad, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the same would work for me. I only needed to know where I had to go.
“I just...” I struggled to find an excuse. “I just want to know more about you. You know so much about me; where I live, what I’m studying, who my friends are. I worry sometimes that I really am only talking to a voice inside my head.”
Jinyoung went silent, and I was scared that I had gone too far. While I wasn’t technically lying about sometimes thinking he wasn’t real, it felt wrong to not tell him the truth behind my curiosity. Then again, every once in a while, I wonder if his response would have been the same, had I told what I was really planning.
After a few harrowing minutes of silence, Jinyoung finally responded.
“Seoul. I live in Seoul.”
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I hum to myself as I push open the door to my dorm. I somehow managed to keep my mind in my own head for the rest of the day, but I now have a sudden craving for chocolate, and I have a feeling my own taste buds aren’t to blame. I trudge towards the kitchen, licking my lips as I remember I have a few candies stashed away in the back of our fridge. With any luck, I’ll be able to finish them off before my dormmates get home.
My hopes are quickly dashed, however, when I enter the kitchen to find my two roommates, Jieun and Soojin, have not only returned early, but are currently sitting on the counter, munching on my chocolate. My eyes narrow, and I drop my bag onto the floor with a resounding thud. Both girls’ heads whip towards me, shock and guilt written on their faces.
“Y/N! You’re home early!” Jieun smiles forcefully, attempting to subtly move the bag of candy behind her.
“And you look really pretty today, unnie,” Soojin adds. She hops off the counter, and outstretches her arms for a hug. I dodge out of her reach, and snatch what’s left of my chocolates out of Jieun’s hands.
“Yah!”
“Don’t you ‘yah’ me! These weren’t yours in the first place!” I pop a candy in my mouth, sticking my tongue out at them.
Soojin’s lips drop into a pout, “We just wanted to have a little, unnie. You always buy the best sweets.”
“Quit trying to butter me up,” I point a warning finger at her. “You took my candy without asking, and now you get to face the consequences.”
“What consequences? Are you going to give us the silent treatment?” Jieun laughs. “You wouldn’t know which way was up without us showing you around Seoul.” She jumps off the counter, opening the fridge, and pulling out what I assume is tonight’s dinner. Soojin giggles, covering her mouth when I fix her with a small glare.
“Excuse you, but I think my Korean has improved a lot, thank you very much.” Jieun and Soojin share a look.
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot,” Jieun teases. “That must be why you came home from the store with dog shampoo the other day.” Soojin erupts in laughter, giving Jieun a high five as her body shakes with glee. It’s my turn to pout, crossing my arms indignantly.
“I thought the dog was just another one of those cute brand characters!”
Jieun laughs, patting my head when I furrow my brows, “’Thought’ being the key word.”
“Speaking of thinking,” Soojin interjects as she takes a seat at the table, gesturing at me to follow. “How were your classes today, Y/N?” I sigh, going to pick out another chocolate when I realize the bag is now empty. I guess Jieun wasn’t kidding when she said there weren’t very many left. Tossing the empty candy bag in the trash, I walk towards the table and plop down in the chair across from Soojin.
“Same old, same old,” I hum, resting my chin on my hand. “I kind of...zoned out in Professor Kim’s class.”
Soojin quirks a brow, “Zoned out, or zoned out?”
“The second one.”
“Unnie, not again!”
“I know, I know! I don’t mean for it to happen,” I sputter. “It just...does.”
“Is Professor Kim the one who demands everyone speak in Korean, even though the class is for mostly international students?”
“Uh-uh,” Soojin shakes her head. “That’s Professor Song.”
“I thought she was the one who always extends due dates.”
“Guys!”
Jieun glances at me from her spot in front of the stove, “Oh, sorry, Y/N. We were just talking about the professors.”
“I know what you guys were talking about, I just...” Soojin reaches across the table, laying a comforting hand on my forearm.
“Y/N?”
I sigh, running a hand through my hair, “I guess...it’s just getting to me a bit, you know? I can only spend so many years abroad with the costs and the credits I need to graduate, and it’s starting to feel like I’m not going to accomplish what I came to Seoul to do.” I shake my head, trying to get rid of the tingling feeling in the back of my mind. “It’s frustrating knowing he’s here somewhere, but having no idea if I have any chance of finding him.”
“Don’t say that!” Soojin cries. “You’ll absolutely find him! That’s the whole point of soulmates, after all!”
“I hate to admit it, but she’s right, Y/N. You came all this way, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time,” Jieun shrugs. “Besides, how many Jinyoungs can there possibly be?”
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A frown etches itself across Jinyoung’s face. He really didn’t mean to eavesdrop on that conversation between Y/N and her roommates, but he did, and now he can’t get it out of his mind. How could he have not realized it sooner? In hindsight, he supposes there were quite a few things that made should have made it fairly obvious. Like how her sleep schedule suddenly became a lot more aligned with Korean Standard Time. How she hasn’t talked about her college friends for a while now. How her optimism is slowly declining as the efforts of her international search continue to be fruitless. Jinyoung wants to beat himself up for not noticing it before.
Y/N’s looking for him. She’s been looking for him. She came all the way to Seoul...for him. He briefly remembers the short conversation they had months ago, where he finally shared where he lived. She’d been curious for so long, he could feel it, but he was worried that revealing too much about himself would lead to her finding out who he is. That he’s not just Jinyoung, her soulmate. He knows how stressful being with an idol can be, and he reasoned with himself that he didn’t want to subject her to that.
But now he knows she’s out there, and even closer than before. She’s here, somewhere in Seoul, desperate to find him when he’s given nothing but the vaguest of clues. Jinyoung realizes that his idol status is not why he’s afraid of meeting her. He’s just afraid. Ever since he first discovered he is in the thoughts system, back when he was fifteen years old and just became a trainee, he has worried if he’ll ever match up to the idealized version she has of him in her mind. Y/N doesn’t know it, he promised himself he wouldn’t tell her until they really met, but he’s been falling for her since the day she first asked why he wants to strangle a certain maknae.
Jinyoung decides then and there that neither of them are going to wait much longer. He’s tired of only imagining what she looks like, dreaming about how it would feel to have her in his arms. He’s going to start putting in as much effort as she is, beginning with ‘persuading’ Jaebum to finally end practice for the night.
“Jaebum hyung,” Jinyoung calls for the leader’s attention. “I think that’s enough for today.” Jaebum raises a brow, and opens his mouth to respond when one of the maknaes beats him to it.
“Ah?” Bambam grunts from his place on the floor. “How come Jinyoung hyung gets to decide when practice ends? I wanna go home, too.”
“Because I don’t drain his pockets whenever we got out to eat.”
“That’s debatable,” Mark scoffs. “Remember that time at the karaoke bar-”
“Jinyoung’s right,” Jaebum interrupts. “We’ve been here long enough, and it won’t do any good to be sleep deprived tomorrow.” He glances at the exhausted members, all in various states of tiredness. “Let’s finish for the day.”
Sighs of relief ensue around the room, as everyone collects their belongings and slowly start to filter out the door. Jaebum is the last to leave, and Jinyoung sends him a nod of thanks as he exits. A feeling of determination is set in his chest, and he hopes he’s not too late to catch Y/N before she drifts off to sleep.
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Jieun’s question sticks in my mind, plaguing me as I lay in bed that night. Yeah, there might not be a huge number of Jinyoungs in the world, but that doesn’t necessarily make my search any easier. I know enough about my Jinyoung; what he likes and dislikes, his mannerisms and habits. I like to think I’d be able to recognize him fairly easily. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean I know what he looks like. The few times I’ve gotten a look at my soulmate have been during the few times we’ve soul-swapped, and that started to happen less and less as we’ve both matured. Not that I necessarily want them to happen, considering how damn disorienting they are, but what Jinyoung currently looks like as opposed to the last glimpse I got five years ago would be a great help.
I groan, running my hands down my face in an attempt to drown out my restless thoughts. This is so not what I want to be doing at ten minutes past midnight.
“Can’t sleep?”
His sudden appearance immediately sends a feeling of calm through my limbs. A smile ghosts my lips, as I close my eyes, and let my arms fall to my sides with a sigh.
“That obvious?”
He chuckles, “Just a little bit, yeah.”
I stopped trying to understand why I hear Jinyoung’s thoughts in English years ago. I just chalked it up to another weird quirk of the universe, and learned to be thankful of the mental translator between my mind and his.
“What are you doing up this late?” I ask.
“Thinking about you.”
“Jinyoung.”
“Okay, okay,” He laughs. “I just got out of practice. I was thinking about you, though.”
“Why are you practicing so late? It’s not good for your health.” I furrow my brows, realizing I sound just like he did a couple years ago.
“Maybe I like it when you worry about me.”
“...Seriously?”
He sighs, “I’m...preparing for something big at work. After it comes, I’ll be able to rest as much as I want.”
Something in the back of my mind tells me that’s not true, but I don’t mention it to Jinyoung. This isn’t the first time he’s had ‘something big’ coming up, yet he refuses to tell me anything he actually does at work. I keep having to remind myself that even though we’re soulmates and have been talking to each other for several years now, we don’t actually know each other, and I’m not entitled to that information. Doesn’t make it any less frustrating, though.
“Y/N?”
“Hm?”
“Did...did you really come to Seoul to find me?”
My heart stops. How did he...? I never told Jinyoung about coming to Korea. He’s always so private, I didn’t know how he would react if I did. How did he even find out?
Then I remember the feeling from earlier, the one in the back of my mind during my conversation with Jieun and Soojin.
“This little shit was listening in.”
“I’m being genuinely honest when I say I didn’t mean to.”
“‘Didn’t mean to’? Jinyoung, that was a private conversation!”
“And I apologize!” He stresses. “But you haven’t answered my question yet.”
“I...”
“Actually, wait, don’t answer it. I don’t want to do it like this.”
“...Jinyoung? Are you okay?”
“Y/N, how far away are you from Gyeongui Park?”
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I tug my jacket closer to me in a vain attempt to fight off the chill night air. What the hell is Jinyoung thinking? What the hell am I thinking? It’s almost one in the morning, now is not the time for me to be wandering around Gyeongui Park, half an hour away from my dorm. I sigh, plopping myself down on a nearby bench, and staring up at the starry sky.
Jinyoung stopped responding shortly after I left the dorm. I have no idea what he’s doing, or why he wanted me to come to Gyeongui in the middle of the night. He seemed nervous about something, and, to be honest, I can’t tell if the rapid thrumming in my chest is his or my own. I take a deep breath, and close my eyes to collect my thoughts.
I’m sitting in a park, by myself, in the wee hours of the night because a voice inside my head told me to. A small laugh bubbles past my lips. God, I sound like someone straight out of some cheesy romcom. Or a B-rated horror movie. Jieun always tells me I would be the one to die first. I wonder if the murderer would go easy on me if I told them I’m waiting here for my enigmatic soulmate.
Suddenly, my ears pick up the unmistakable sound of gravel crunching under shoes. Someone’s getting closer, and my chest tightens at the realization. I try one last time to reach my soulmate.
“Goddamnit, Jinyoung, if I get stabbed tonight, I’m going to haunt your ass for the rest of your life.”
The footsteps stop. All I hear is the sound of my own breathing, and my heart thumping against my ear drums.
“Y/N!” A familiar voice gasps. “Shit, this is not the way I wanted this to go...”
My eyes flick open, and I realize why I recognize the woman’s voice. 
It’s mine.
I stare incredulously at my own face as my mind struggles to process what’s happening. If my body is there, then who...? I glance downwards, and everything starts to click into place.
“Jinyoung?” I ask tentatively, shiver running down my spine. “Is that you?”
“Yeah,” Jinyoung sighs, and I try to ignore how bizarre it sounds hearing my own voice. “I...don’t really know what to do right now. This isn’t how I wanted us to meet for the first time.”
“Not in our own bodies?” He looks down, kicking at the dirt on the ground, and sullenly nods his head. He juts out my lower lip in a small pout, and I can’t help but laugh.
Jinyoung immediately perks up, “What are you laughing at? Our first meeting is ruined! Years of waiting for this moment, and we don’t even get to see what each other look like! How are you not upset?”
“Jinyoung,” I start, gently grabbing his (my?) hand, and leading us towards the nearby bench. “This is pretty weird for me, too. I’m speaking a language I don’t understand right now, and looking into my own eyes. It’s just freaking bizarre.” I take a deep breath, softly squeezing my hand. “But I honestly don’t mind. I don’t need to stress about a perfect first meeting when I already know you’re perfect for me.” Jinyoung’s gaze drifts down to our hands, and he slowly intertwines our fingers. There we go.
I blink, and suddenly I’m staring down at my hand, my own hand, being tightly gripped by another. My eyes trail from our joined hands, up his arm, until they finally meet his. A warm feeling spreads through my chest, and I bite my lip to stop the smile from stretching across my face.
“Hi,” I whisper, giggling at the way he beams at me.
“Hey, there.” I tilt my head in confusion. Is this the weird translator’s work?
“How are you...?”
Jinyoung chuckles under his breath, “I have some...friends that are fluent in English, and when they found out my soulmate is absolutely horrendous at Korean,” I lightly smack his shoulder with my free hand, and he laughs before continuing, “I was forcefully enrolled in express classes.”
“I’m trying my best!” I insist, remembering the conversation I had with the girls earlier this evening. It’s strange, really; that feels like a lifetime ago, even though it’s only been a couple hours. Jinyoung tugs on my hand, drawing my attention back to him.
“You know, you still haven’t answered my question.” My brow furrows as Jinyoung moves closer, eyes sparkling with something I can’t pinpoint.
“What do you mean?”
“You came all the way to Seoul just for me. I didn’t realize I was that important to you already. I must be pretty damn special.”
I scoff, rolling my eyes playfully, “Says the one who caused a soul-swap because he was so nervous to meet me.”
“Really? Because I seem to recall that happening because someone thought I lured them to the park to be murdered.”
“You were listening, you little shit!” I exclaim, and Jinyoung smiles, leaning towards me. “Why didn’t you answer?”
“Maybe because I was too busy thinking about how to tell you I’m in love with you.” 
I fall silent, watching the corners of Jinyoung’s lips turn up in amusement. His breath fans delicately across my face, forehead coming to rest against mine. My eyes remain locked in his gaze, and I start to feel warm despite the chill of the late night air. After what feels like an eternity, Jinyoung finally closes the distance between us. Our lips softly meet, and for a moment, I forget we’re sitting in a public park in the middle of the night. Jinyoung’s kiss is sweet, but passionate, his hands coming up to gently cradle my face between his palms. My eyes flutter closed, and I realize that I would sit on this bench with him forever if I could.  Unfortunately, people aren’t built for that, and our lungs do eventually need air. 
When we finally break apart, I feel lightheaded. Jinyoung’s eyes are bright and loving, and I can’t help but smile at him glowing under the moonlight.
“I love you, too, Jinyoung.”
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oh, my god! hi! it’s certainly been a while since i posted a written piece like this, and it feels pretty good to get back into it! i took a break from writing prose for a bit to focus on my school work, and the semester’s coming to an end soon (which means finals) so i can’t necessarily say it won’t happen again. that said, i will try my best to keep writing and get more out.
if you liked this, and maybe want more got7 soulmate!aus, or even if you just want to see more of my stuff, i have links in my blog description to my most recent works and my entire masterlist! thanks for reading! -aly 💖
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icequeen-shiva · 5 years
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alright, you know what
about two weeks ago maybe by now, i made a post about how i’ve recently hit 200 followers and i’d like to do a q&a again, and even with a reblog from someone more ~*popular*~ than me, and multiple reblogs once a day for a few days by myself, i didn’t get a single fucking question. not one. earlier today i posted two pictures of myself where i felt pretty (i’ve since deleted them) and nobody i actually know of liked it and i got asked by a stranger who doesn’t even follow me if i had any nsfw pictures. i don’t get asks anymore, i don’t get shit. and that tells me that, you may be following me, but you aren’t connecting with me. and i feel that. i get on tumblr and i don’t feel like i’m friends with fucking anybody. and i did that. i know i did that. 9/10 times i let my fear of rejection and embarrassing myself overcome my desire to talk to people, so i don’t do it, or i let it fizzle out and we go our own ways and we don’t become friends. 1/10 times i actually function as a human being and make a connection or at least something that sticks a little.
so here, below the cut, is a comprehensive (loosely) list of things that i like, in no particular order at all, besides tickling, because apparently both sides of this need a little help connecting on any front.
scooby-doo
beetlejuice
the addams family
the sims
the mcu
classic disney animations; my favorites are dumbo, the great mouse detective, the rescuers, sleeping beauty, and oliver and company (it’s old enough that i consider it in the classic category)
~modern disney animations too; my favorites are treasure fucking planet, coco, and... i’m a sap, beauty and the beast. rise of the guardians too even though it isn’t disney.
musicals; i can’t pick a favorite just fucking ask me, but i don’t know a lot of newer ones honestly
empire records
the greatest showman still
cats (i mean the animals but i also like the show even though it is Weird As Hell)
my cat in particular
alice in wonderland
stranger things
space jam
tsum tsums
elvira, mistress of the dark
dice
kiki’s delivery service and specifically jiji things
winnie the pooh i don’t even fucking care i LOVE HIM AND ALL OF HIS FRIENDS
silly hats
playdoh
interesting earrings
exploring libraries or big bookstores
true crime mysteries; my favorite youtuber for this is georgia marie, bless her. i also watch bella fiori and kendall rae
fictional mysteries too
i have a kind of fascination with jack the ripper and with the lizzie borden case
shipwrecks! i don’t know why but shipwrecks fascinate me! why did they go down? all the stories that went with them!
i once read a novel that was told as a series of letters, or journal entries, by people on the titanic, including the iceberg and it was THE absolute saddest book i have ever read in my life. like, obviously i knew what was coming, but i got attached to the characters, the letters made them alive and it was just like... NO. NO I DON’T WANT THEM TO DIE. I KNOW THEY’RE GOING TO BUT THEY CAN’T. and it was awful. i had to put it down and cry.
cryptozoology
the bermuda triangle theories (i’m not saying i believe sOmEtHiNg’S gOiNg On but i think some of the theories are interesting)
ghosts
the nancy drew computer games
monopoly
i still play a lot of my snes games; my go-to time killer and head-clearer honestly is kirby’s avalanche. i also play a lot of super mario rpg legend of the seven stars, super mario world, kirby’s dreamland 3, and donkey kong 2 and 3
final fantasy x in which i’m guaranteed to call almost (i can’t stress that enough) every character at some point “my child”
hyrule warriors, i know it’s not a tRuE zelda game but it’s fucking fun
same with fire emblem warriors
red dead redemption
kingdom hearts
the uncharted series
splatoon but i don’t have it wahhhhh
mind you i am not very Good at videogames, i just like to play them anyway
game grumps
ninja sex party
jacksepticeye
markiplier
monty python
crocheting
tea
harry potter
classic rock. pretty big on queen lately. i like tom petty and the heartbreakers. i like joan jett and the blackhearts.
i just... like rock. across the board. i like the offspring. i like some rage against the machine songs. acdc on the radio makes me happy. def leppard on the radio makes me happy. beartooth, starset, powerman 5000, as long as it’s got a good beat and good stuff going on behind the vocals then i’m gonna be happy. i’m way more into the guitars and the bass and everything going on instrumentally than i am vocally, honestly. the whole big guitar solo to van halen’s “you really got me” and then that bassline that comes in, that bassline is sexy. it’s so simple but i LIKE it.
anyway music as a whole gets me right in the heart and can lift me up when i am at my literal worst point
it’s hard for me to name a favorite or specific bands that i like because there’s so many and i’m not really picky about it. 
pop vinyls
good ol’ vines
buffalo wings
mac and cheese
grilled cheese
dr. pepper
i drink a l o t of dr. pepper
pretending i know how to do makeup well
history; i watch a lot of expedition unknown and mysteries at the museum, and sometimes i’ll watch a free documentary on youtube if it catches my attention. last weekend i explained the donner party to my boyfriend. just.. on a whim. because i’d just watched a thing on it and he said he didn’t really know what it was. i’m that person.
OH I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED THIS BACK AROUND TRUE CRIME BUT I READ A BOOK ABOUT H.H. HOLMES AND HIS MURDER CASTLE AND THE CHICAGO WORLD’S FAIR. it was by erik larson, i believe. larsen? i could google this. devil in the white city. there’s been talks to make it a movie. it’s a good read though i will admit i skipped a lot of the fair parts because i was there for the murder.
i also read a book about the lusitania by the same author and i was like ohhh my goooood what. it got a little boring sometimes, i had to push myself to keep going, but i would read dead wake again.
csi: miami reruns are the greatest thing don’t @ me
dark purple and black aesthetics
just like... witchy aesthetics. those colors and black cats
if you haven’t noticed by any selfies i’ve posted, i do have my lip pierced and i love finding new lip jewelry. i have a new opal stud in and i love its look
leather jackets
combat boots; i have a galaxy print pair and a pair with classic marvel comics stuff printed on the inside and you can fold down the sides to show it. they’re my faves.
owls
drunk history
the first 5 seasons of supernatural and i still have a soft spot for the winchesters and castiel
i’m slowly making my way through watching the librarians
i’m also making my way slowly through watching the magicians
(american) football
nature walks
going to the zoo
going to the aquarium
like really take me to either of the above and i will lose my shit
road trips
savannah, georgia
the smokey mountains
last august i drove by myself from ohio to boone, north carolina for a friend’s wedding and that wedding was smack on a mountain top and it was the coolest thing i think i’ve ever done
roller coasters BUT NOT EXTREME ONES baby steps ok
log rides tho, i don’t know why, i always love the water rides
ren faires!
cosplay, even though i’m not exactly active in it myself (but i want to be; one of my offline friends is an actually-getting-kind-of-internet-famous mei from overwatch cosplayer)
cards against humanity
foosball
pool but i suck at it
speaking of pools i love swimming ... but i suck at it, i just like boppin’ along in a pool
cookouts
summer
there is nothing like being out in the middle of nowhere in summer when the evening starts to fall and the sky is dark, dark blue and there’s a sea of shimmering lightning bugs out over a field. it’s beautiful. it’s peaceful.
there’s nothing like sitting outside on a calm spring night and listening to the spring peepers (they’re frogs) either.
if you couldn’t tell, i live in the middle of nowhere. i have to find enjoyment in the little things.
campfires
dancing around said campfire, you cannot have a campfire without good music. this is when a lot of my classic rock education came to pass.
elephants
my favorite books are the abhorsen trilogy by garth nix, tied with the serpent’s shadow by mercedes lackey
i am trying to get into comic books by way of the youtube channel comicstorian. they break comic books down for you and read them aloud with the images, altered slightly to avoid copyright strikes (and that’s all made very clear, it’s not done sketchily), and it’s been really easy for someone like me who doesn’t just have a comics store close (and i would otherwise continue on as i have been, forgetting to ever look for them on the internet). i listened to injustice 1 and 2, and they covered the game. i’m actively following scooby apocalypse, and there was some teen titans stuff i went all the way through up until now. i don’t think it’s finished yet from what i remember.
i love museums
candles
i actually kind of collect tea sets
i also have a collection of sand art bottles AND IF I’M EVER AT A FESTIVAL OR A FAIR WHERE THERE IS A SAND ART STAND YOU CAN BET I AM GOING TO MAKE ONE
yugioh duels; i’m definitely just a novice and it’s just a fun pastime my friends got me into when they found their giant binders of cards again
i’m not actually that big on pokemon, i don’t know a lot of them but it’s still fun and i know some. but i did love pokemon go when my friends still played it (don’t really have time anymore, and it kept crashing way too badly on one of their phones anymore anytime they tried to join a raid and it just wasn’t fun as a group then)
i don’t have any but i like the ~look of crystals and would like to have some, not for my own aesthetic but i just... like having pretty things!
listening to the rain
how the air smells (at least where i live) after a long rain and everything is just cleansed
depression has stopped me from writing for a long time but, in my heart, writing has always been something that has touched me ever since i knew how to do it and could put my stories down on paper instead of having to just talk about them... so i’m going to include that here
root beer floats
hotdogs
hard dip ice cream (if you don’t know what hard dip means... as my boyfriend didn’t... it means ice cream that you have to use a scoop with, not soft serve)
soft serve’s good too tho don’t get me wrong
strawberry milkshakes
this isn’t even stuff that anyone would need to know on this site to befriend me at this point, nobody’s gonna message me like HEY I READ YOU LIKE STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKES ME FUCKING TOO
you’re cool if you do that lmao
so bad they’re good creature features from the 50s and 60s
the old godzilla movies
i like the moon more than the stars, but i like them too
flower crowns
bouncy balls
original skittles
this has gone on way too long, nobody is reading this, your mom’s a hoe, goodnight
no she’s not, i’m sorry, if you got this far then i hope your mom is a nice person
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fantroll-purgatory · 5 years
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I know! Where’s her symbol? Where’s her horns????
I’m hoping for some help on classpect and lunar sway so I can settle on a symbol before designing her horns.
World: Alternia - Hiveswap Era? Maybe???  Name: Whimam Natron -  Whimam based on “whim-wham” the origin for the word “whimsy”. Natron, as in the mineral used during mummification in ancient Egypt.
I love this name, it’s a Good One. Combining mummification and a clown character together is fun to me since jesters were pretty popular in ancient Egypt. Worldwide clownery. Age: 9 Sweeps
Theme/Story: Whimam is a Subjug going through a bit of a crisis of faith. After an especially intense rage led her to maim her lusus she’s begun actively suppressing her highblood rage and trying to a live a quieter, more peaceful life. This is of course at direct odds with worship of the Mirthful Messiahs, that pretty much mandates regular culling and attendance to a (literally) bloody church. 
She’s also found that not culling most every troll you run into and embracing the less murdery side of clown-hood nets you more friends and she’s quite happy about this development. As a result she’s torn between being devout in her faith and the bits of a new life she can now see. Goals: A general overview would be nice! Strife Specibus: Chain&hookkind - or just “Chainhookkind”. Not to be confused with the tool. It’s literally two large meat hooks connected by a length of chain. It has various uses in combat, but she prefers to hook someone and pull them in before finishing the job up close.
I do think that’s very great for the intimidating aesthetic, a good time all around. If you wanted something more Clown-y/circus-y, you could consider Devil Sticks or a Cyr wheel, but I think this fits the slaughtering tendencies of clown church. Fetch Modus: I don’t know
You could probably work out a juggling modus where she has to catch the ball she’s looking for without dropping any of the others in order to extract the item! Or if you wanna focus in on the hook concept, maybe slide in an interest in fishing and give her a fishing modus, haha.  Blood Color: Purple  Symbol and Meaning: Hoping to get classpect help that will decide that.
We’ll discuss that when we get down to that section! Handle: merryMausoleum [MM] Quirk: This is something I was also waiting for my symbol for deciding. If you have non-symbol related ideas (or even ideas for the symbols you recommend) I’d love to hear them though!
Okay not to bring up HxH, but could theoretically take inspo from Hisoka to add card suits to the end of sentences depending on the mood she’s feeling. It has a double function since card suits are associated with relationship statuses on Alternia! 
This is also a bit of a niche reference, but Saggi the Dark Clown is the 34th Yugioh Card introduced, so you could replace E and A with 3 and 4 respectively, in traditional homestuck fashion. 
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Special Abilities: Chucklevoodoo - Can send psychic images of her violent intent to others, letting them see in vivid detail just how awful their death is about to be. Lusus/Guardian: Crocodilehound - Giant crocodile with scaled wolf limbs and paws. Their relationship has been testy ever since Whimam blinded her in one eye during a fit of rage. Think cold companionship – Whimam feeds her and she helps keep Whimam safe, but they don’t stay around one another often (not that Purple Lusus tend to be the most attentive, anyway.)
I’m almost tempted to say, like, Crocodilion instead. Lion legs instead of wolf. Since lions get used in circus performances a fair bit! Or crocodelephant? But crocodilion sounds fun.  Interests: Whimam really loves taxidermy and, through intimate contact with plenty of troll and animal guts, has developed extensive knowledge on troll and animal anatomy. A desire to entertain has led her to become well-versed in various party tricks including: juggling, sleight of hand, and balancing acts. She hopes to eventually become a subjugglator.
Does she have any interest in the more medicinal aspects of biology, or just the guts and blood? If she isn’t interested in health, it could be something she starts to look into more as she leans into her nice side. Another fun little idea is that you could have her interested in drawing? Purely for anatomical drawing. Catch her with this on her walls.
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And taxidermy isn’t the only form of animal preservation, you could get her into mummification and wet preservation, too. And does she do other preservative forms? Like tanning, maybe? Skull mounts? Insect-collecting? 
Appearance: Since I’m attaching a talksprite (I can’t for the life of me make one of the classic sprites for her, even after extensive time fiddling with parts and bases) a few things aren’t shown. Her pants are in fact poofy waist-high shorts. She also wears a ton of jingling bracelets and some comically large shoes. 
CUTE. All of this is great and I really wouldn’t change a thing. Personality: Whimam is a recovering murderclown. The life she led up until recently was defined by violence and a close relationship with death (which made her feel close with her faith). She grew up culling trolls for her gods and beasts for her Lusus. Eventually she started culling both for her own interest – taxidermy. Her massive hive has multiple rooms dedicated to the stuffed remains of her victims. 
After she let her rage get the best of her and tore out one of her Lusus’s eyes she began repressing that side of herself. She culls only as is required for her Lusus to eat and has even withdrawn from her church life. Despite this she’s still faithful to the Mirthful Messiahs – a fact that as mentioned earlier has left her in serious conflict with herself.
Keeping her rage in check is harder than she expected and so she’s more or less just started bottling it all up. She puts on a chill, affable affect and pretends she’s always calm even when she’s absolutely bristling, and avoids extraneous conflict as much as she can. This can and does lead to moments where she experiences serious outbursts when she hits her limit.
On the upside she’s now making friends for the first time in a while and is learning to channel a fun side of herself that doesn’t rely on brutal murder. In conversation she’s a fairly mellow woman who focuses on listening over talking. She’s vulgar with a dark sense of humor, but deceptively sensitive to insults. Usually she’d just kill someone for hurting her feelings, but lately she’s taken to awkward attempts at deescalation. She’s, naturally, more patient with highbloods than lowbloods.
I love this writeup, this is a great and very strong personality and a wonderful arc setup for a character. I don’t really have a lot of commentary to give besides saying you should think of more specific calming techniques she uses! Highblood rage can be so potent that we’ve seen that, like, Gamzee goes off sopor and is immediately in murderclown party zone. How does she chill out? Calming music? Woodburning? Really, really aggressive juggling? 
Lunar Sway: I don’t know. I was thinking Prospit, but the more I’ve written the less certain I’ve been. She’s been comfortable in the church and the hemospectrum, feeling no need to rebel against either, but she’s now in a more conflicted head space than ever before.
I think she’s definitely prospit. One of the things that is noted about prospitans is that they’re adaptive- they try to change themselves rather than change others. She is honest about herself even if she tries to hide her blowups and she is dedicated to altering herself and her behavior rather than trying to tear down the clown church’s socially ingrained patterns of violence. She is also emotionally reactive and somewhat impulsive, which is a prospit trait more than a derse one.  Title: This is the big point I’ve been stuck on. I’ve been waffling between several aspects and I can’t for the life of me settle on even just a handful of classes.
Too Obvious as it may seem given her story’s focus is on Rage, Too Obvious is sometimes right- I think she’s a Sylph of Hope. She spent a long time inverted as a Prince of Rage, acting out violence, but she has come upon a new set of convictions that she is dedicating herself to. She is opening up and broadening her own choices and paths and using her behavior to passively create new hope that wasn’t there before! 
Which would make her symbol CAPRINIUS, SIGN OF THE CREDULOUS. 
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I hope this review was helpful! I didn’t have a WHOLE lot to say, she was already pretty solid. Thank you for sharing!
-CD
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meggannn · 5 years
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writer’s interview
from @thunderheadfred who was kind enough to tag me in her interview here :D
Q: What is your coffee order? i don’t drink coffee! at starbucks i usually get a strawberry acai with lemonade, or hot chocolate, or a frappuchino.
Q: What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done? i was in a town parade when i was a kid. i’ve lived a pretty average life.
Q: Who has been your biggest mentor? a lot of fandom friends have been social and writing mentors, even if they didn’t know it.
Q: What has been your most memorable writing project? i don’t know if i could pick one. ‘down girl’ is probably a landmark in my memory so far just cause it’s something i don’t normally do (serious plot), and since i’m not done with it, it still occupies a large chunk of my writing brainspace and gdrive. buuuut after recently finishing ‘@heyitsspiderman’ which became its own weird beast, i’m really proud of that for being something different and i’m proud of myself for committing to what made it different; i think it made the fic bigger and better. it’s the kind of thing i’ll be glad to have made in five or ten years, even though it took so much extra work.
Q: What does your writing path look like, from the earliest days until now? i don’t remember writing in elementary school, but in a confused and muddled order, i remember the following during my preteen years
posting a really dumb self insert og fiction on deviantart and the only comment i received was crit so i gave it up
writing a now vaguely remembered harry potter fic on harrypotterfanfiction.net which involved harry falling off his broom during a quidditch practice. and malfoy was involved i think
writing my first Real Fic, a pirates of the caribbean jack sparrow/oc thing (the first of many) which i forced my friend to read in 7th grade spanish class to which she wrote back in my notebook “you so are strange but this is really good.” while potc was my first Interest and i made some friends, i was mostly a lurker, and still very very underage and unprepared for some things, namely like not understanding what fic ratings really were or why they were there, and unintentionally reading my first smut fic, which was. quite a shock at the time
i joined my first Real Fandom in high school (yugioh) where i met a lot of other fic writers (yugioh ficcers tend to write for a million animes so even if they weren’t particularly good at it, they wrote A Lot, and that was the same thing to me). this was where i learned to think of writing as a craft instead of just kinda spitting words out at the page.
after that i think was the legend of korra a little after i joined tumblr, and the rest is history per my ao3 account.
Q: What is your favourite part about writing? having finished the part/chap/doc i’ve been working on. even knowing it’s shit, having finished anything at all.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you? 8am: gotta get up, gotta get out, gotta get home before the mooooorniiiiiing cooooomes  8:30am: crawl out of bed 8:50am: die walking into a basement stairway on the way to work reset back in bed 8am: gotta get up, gotta get out, gotta get home before the mooooorniiiiiing cooooomes
Q: What does your writing process look like? some fics start as vague notes but most start as fully-formed ‘scenes that could be cool’ that eventually trigger other interesting scenes, and then the motivating force forms around it. i write the scenes down as i think of them which is why i have a million half-formed ideas scattered across my iphone and macbook notes. the interesting ones get their own gdoc.
Q: What’s the best advice you’ve gotten? if you want to write, read.
Q: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned? your gut is usually right, except when it’s wrong, which is why beta readers and brainstorming friends are invaluable.
Q: What advice would you give someone who wants to start writing?
just because a trend is popular doesn’t mean it’s good
go with what’s right for the story. try to find the guiding needle that points north and follow it as far as you can. it’s ok if the needle switches direction, or disappears for a while and reappears somewhere else later. it’s all part of the process, and that’s why we write drafts
find someone you trust to be honest with you to be a beta. usually i send my stuff to 2-3 friends for different opinions because i know they’ll all pick up on different things
commit to your POV, but keep in mind that while you’re committing to your POV, everyone else has a world going on inside their own head, and the world does not center around POV character. i am NOT saying to restrict yourself to one POV if that’s what you want, i mean remember that whatever or whoever your POV is, they are limited in what they can do and perceive and the universe should treat them like they are a random NPC
this isn’t really advice but personally my two judgment touchstones are usually 1) characterization and 2) wordsmithing. I can forgive a lot — meandering plot, okay dialogue, simple diction — so long as the writer can string a sentence together and the characters feel like real people (or at least real versions of themselves). i’m NOT saying to only focus on those two things, but knowing that that’s what i value has definitely helped me understand what kind of writer i am
lastly and most importantly: that empty word doc isn’t gonna fill itself
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oakmd · 6 years
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Congratulations ! You received 1,000+ followers !
Continue? ▶YES ▷NO
 Well, I can’t really express anything but amazement at such an accomplishment, and to be honest I’m pretty blown away that so many of you have stuck with me since the beginning of this blog, and that so many of you enjoy Professor Oak enough to stay. I’ll forever stand by the fact that this blog was the best 'joke’ I ever made, and probably one of the most fulfilling things I’ve actively kept at. 
As much as I hope this blog has helped you find comfort and laughter, RPing Professor Oak has definitely changed me for the better, as well. It has given me an outlet to heal parts of myself and provide help to others, and also pushed me to practice positivity even when I know I get so low sometimes that I don’t even want to try. Another bonus is that I have met wonderful people here, most of you just strictly friends on the dash, but I’ve also gained relationships with people that have extended into discord and I’m sure it has made all the difference this past year and a half. 
As usual, I’m not really a fan of long-winded gushes of emotion, so I’ll keep it short, but I would really like to have it be known that my love for Professor Oak has grown tremendously, in ways I would have never reached without taking the time to thoughtfully craft his backstory and work to develop him further. I know he’s a very nostalgic character that so many of us know and respect that I’m always very careful of how I choose to build on the image without ruining what’s already there.  Out of all my many muses here, this one has seemingly ( and surprisingly ) all at once snuck its way as my primary blog; the blog I always look forward to logging into the most, where I enjoy following your activity whether it be IC or OOC, and just generally enjoy being in the presence of people so passionate about a fandom associated with my childhood. I love this little corner of a community that has welcomed me and engaged with me and unknowingly kept me going, and to look back at my experience and see that I’ve had no trouble at all makes me feel really lucky.
There will never be a way to fully and accurately express my thanks, but I will say it anyway: thank you so much, and I hope that no matter where you go, and no matter what you do, you are trying to be your best, and that you’re happy. Professor Oak will always be there to congratulate you when you reach your dreams.
IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER ( because my mind is so scattered - ) special shout outs to special people: 
@timecapscle - wasn’t it you that said i’d one day get 1,000 followers? : ) you’ve literally supported me since the beginning and i just wanna say that i appreciate your enthusiasm for professor oak as much as i appreciate your enthusiasm for bill. its wonderful to see someone represent an otherwise under represented character and you do it well. i care for you so much, and wish nothing but good things for your future even if you want to do bad things in the name of science
@diligentseeker / @evolutionexpert  - someone i consider a cherished friend, despite how sporadic our interaction seems, i appreciate all our random long talks on discord, and i’ll never forget our very first conversation. it meant a lot to me, and i want to thank you. i dont meet a lot of ppl that i feel ‘get’ me on some unspoken level, so when it happens, its a nice surprise. anyway i won’t ramble because i take it you’re not one for praise, but im glad people like you exist. with that being said please stop making professor elm stress me out.
@undinaes - the moment you’ve been waiting for. SIKE! just kidding; its no surprise that you’re always filling my dash with testimonials from people that see you for what you are. you’re a beam of sunshine with all the qualities to match; warm, bright, and a natural source of energy that brings people together. your passion for writing is astounding and even when ppl dont deserve your kindness, you’re unbiased in giving it out. truly a mom through and through. but most importantly, ur my girlie and im glad we met :v
@ofpalletown - in my mind, you are practically ash, and ill be here to support you even during all your moments of Extra™ ... but aside from that you’re very loyal to your friends and full of something sunny that i can’t describe. ur gonna be okay, kid. so pls stop stressing out ur dear prof oak 
@03redd - i probably mentioned not long ago that your blog is really good, but ill say it again in case you weren’t listening. i love your blog? its very fun to follow, and i think you’re one of my favorite reds. even with me not being game verse, its so easy to just immerse myself in whatever nonsense you have red drag professor oak into. i dig your creative energy. 
@normaliium - and ofc i cant leave out my cousin. the one to be admired, the ever-successful, brilliant human being that loves me even when i take off ten years of your life each night. my life would lack such substance without you, and i will never forget all you’ve done to help me when i would otherwise be left to myself. you make me really proud to know you, you really do, and everyone i ever talk to you about can attest to that. #YOLO
@bossgiovanni - you haven’t been active in forever, but you remain one of my friends and that’s all that matters. from skype to discord, im glad we could stick together even with our blatant differences in opinion. you are always so nice to me and say the kindest things, and i just wanna say thanks. hope youve been doing well! you are capable of so much, and i believe in you, so don’t forget that. 
@agentmansley - can i jsut say thank you for staying true to your muse and throwing even the purest of characters into your mess? i have loved your blog long before i made professor oak, and you’re seriously one of the funnest people i’ve rp’d with here. everything i’ve written with you is refreshing and new, and never fails to make me laugh. thank you for your love for kent, and also for writing with me. i know you’ve been MIA for a while, but you’re definitely a memorable person. 
@tcssaiga - i dont have a lot of cross-fandom interactions so when they happen im usually pleased. you’ve got great characterization, and have perfect dialogue. i never watched a whole lot of inuyasha but i’ve atched enough to know that you’re pretty close to canon. thanks for the interactions even if you’re mean to prof oak on archer ; (
@askgarymfoak - MY LITTLE ACORN!!!! the dedication you have for gary honestly gives me so much life, and i love rping with you on discord and just yelling about sam / gary hcs. its always a highlight of my day and i can tell you’ve thought about gary and his life long and hard, and its so cool to see someone interested in all that makes him the Headache we all recognize and love. please never stop sharing with me the personal hcs you have for the boy, i always want to hear them. 
@futureheld - we don’t even rp with each other on this muse BUT youre one of my longest tumblr rp friends that i still talk to and you’re really important to me. we have history, we go back!!!! okay? #FRIENDSHIP n all that. but tbh id follow you on any muse because your writing is just great? id write any weird crossover with you because you have a talent for making it work seamlessly anyway. thanks 4 the memories, loser. 
@seviiserver - CELIO!!! we dont talk as much as we used to, or rather, we talk in bursts every now and then but i consider you one of my good friends! not only are u really talented in all things artistic, but i love your writing and it’s always enjoyable to read, even if its not one of our threads together. you made me have so much adoration for celio and like all the other ppl ive met who bring life to underrated / under-rp’d muses, i enjoy seeing everything you pour into him... AND ALSO I LOVE OUR OAK / ROWAN INTERACTIONS? i love them so much it hurts okay. even if its just silliness in discord it brightens my day. anyway perhaps one day we will cross paths in this sleepless city and i will finally teach u how to ride a bike.
@rottenrhythms - i know i dont have much to say or comment with whenever you message me on discord, but i admire how much detail you put into your characters and meta. im always impressed with all the work and thought you put into your world-building; i wish i had that much drive. also, you’ve made a lot of improvement with yourself from the time i first started talking to you on skype. be proud of your progress, and keep working at it, it’s worth it in the long run!
@lack--two NATE youre definitely a very sweet person, and perhaps a little more devious ooc than i’d imagined you would be ( at least to me, why must you poke me for reactions? ; ( u wound me ) but you’re a soothing presence to be around and im glad you were finally able to make discord work. bonus points for letting me yell about yugioh all the time. never stop being wonderful. im here for you whenever you might need a listening ear, okay? 
@loyalpika / @palletbloomer - #PRIKA!!! ever since i first followed you i remembered being blown away by your extensive headcanons on pikachu and i genuinely enjoy every blog you make! we dont talk OOC but from all your ooc posts you seem like a very caring older sister and thats nice to see; with you running around all the time, i hope you do get some rest every now and then! i hope our camaraderie never falters, take care friend! 
@thepkmnnurse - i cant forget all the love and support both you and your muse have for professor oak, and im happy you try to spread positivity on the dash whenever you can! we don’t talk much OOC but from what i can tell you’re just as kind and nurturing as nurse joy herself. i hope you’ve been taking it easy wherever you are, and i hope your days are bright!
@rebelracket - will there ever be a day that i dont enjoy seeing your delinquent muse causing havoc on the dash? your creativity is wonderful to witness and i enjoy clarissa so much, thank you for interacting with a pure ol’ muse like mine. i hope we can continue to keep writing together, im excited at where we might end up. p.s. your art is delightful.
@porttownprince - you’re a gentle presence on my dash but im glad that youre here and that you’ve stuck around despite all the bad things that followed you. i hope you can overcome all the trauma you’ve been through. thank you for being kind with me!
@nikkouki - i know i dont say much but i enjoy your random check ins with me on discord, and i think youre a sweet young girl. you’re gonna go far in life, just make sure you keep going! continue being a precious kiddo and don’t forget to study your japanese ; (
@viciousvainglory & @midoriyamight - i cant think of one without the other so accept this double-tag lol. you’ve both supported this blog since the beginning and i wont forget how welcome you made me feel! no matter what blogs you’re on im glad we can still be friends! you deserve the big toblerone! 
@fateandfury - my long time writing parter without knowing we were long time writing partners! the work you put into professor juniper is something to behold! we haven’t seemed to interact much despite rping professor muses, but that doesn’t mean i don’t appreciate your take on such a muse!
OTHER BLOGS TO BE ADMIRED ( also in no particular oder) : @sterlingsilverchampion @starmarkcd @pxgtails @satanstories @champofpallet @golden-oak @spriggaens @nurturen @florenselite @craniumaniac @ask-guzma @tenderpoison @gocatchem @faemoria @hikaup@writtenbykaichu @executiveariana @honoxtokage @simikami @bigcalavera @rotorotom @thehopcful @and-they-succeeded @metalprincess13 @keep-those-memories-away @hisvanity @attitxde @asmayflies @sesshcmaru @theagentlooker @ambcrly @kantocowboy @dauphindekalos @beareroftheblueorb @blastingxff @aquaelegance @bugeyesboutique @make-it-trouble  @thunderstonereject  @theagentlooker @soultattered @scvedbylove  @diluviumx @inevitabilis-sors @pokedouche @fightiniumz @firespun
I’M SO SORRY IF I MISSED PEOPLE, THIS IS REALLY HARD FOR SOMEONE SO SCATTER-BRAINED AND MEMORY-FOGGED AS ME. EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT INCLUDED AND EVEN IF WE’RE NOT MUTUALS, I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT OF THIS BLOG. WITHOUT ANY OF YOU I WOULDN’T HAVE GOTTEN HERE.
BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A GIVEAWAY!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
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steve0discusses · 4 years
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Yugioh S4 Ep6: Gozaburo Kaiba Just Casually Started WWIII And Only This One Guy Cares
Welcome to November, where we celebrate writing a 50,000 word book as if I don’t do that every single time I write about an episode of Yugioh. Hello, this is my season. It’s wordy season. I’m so freakin good at doing this. I can’t say most of what I’ve made is any good, but I CAN say at least I’m prolific. Do enough content to fill that bitter pit and walk right over it, that’s been my motto for the past 5 years.
Anyway, I had an awful flu this past week. (Everyone I live with had it so every bathroom was like ground zero) It was SO bad. I still can’t eat spicy food over a week later (Which is so hard for me because usually I can keep up with my Indian friends, that’s my spicy level--max spicy, please--but since this illness, my white taste genes went into overdrive and I tried putting pepperoncini slices in my sandwich and it set my mouth on fire. Pepperoncini. It’s v embarrassing.)
I did attempt to write this post. Unfortunately I never made it past this cap because I got VERY distracted by the emblem on Alister’s face, and how it isn’t proportionally adjusted to match the angle of his face, and it was like three paragraphs of just wanting to talk about it. And then at some point I got very distracted talking about how many empty glasses I was given at my place setting at this baby shower I went to during the flu epidemic, and it mattered a whole lot to me at the time, but I think, overall, was mostly just some sort of nonsense. The things I’ve spared you. 
(bro has just informed me that the 4 gold-lipped crystal goblets I was given at this baby shower was actually very distressing and a very big deal and that I should absolutely talk to at least someone about it, but maybe he’s just saying that to make me feel better, but I have no idea. I am too sick for sarcasm at this time but my god why was I given so many glasses????)
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I straight up have no memory of if I’ve made this joke before. Maybe.
(read more under the cut)
Since it feels like 8 years since the last time I could just eat chicken without feeling like I consumed an entire Thanksgiving meal, a little recap:
-Alister pretended he was Pegasus to lure Kaiba and then, off screen, murdered everyone in Pegasus’ castle
-Pegasus got murdered by I’m pretty sure Mai (which is like...OK then...)
-Yugi and Co went on vacation by driving directly through San Francisco and peeking out the window and saying “yeah that’s enough for me”
-No adults, not even Roland, bothered to come with their kids this time, so the only adult of the entire crew--Pegasus--is dead
-Rex and Weevil are luggage
-The Eye of Sauron showed up and it was the end of the world but Yugi threw a dragon at it so I guess everything is OK now
-Monsters are real but they are hard to animate so we’ll just pretend like they’re causing havoc everywhere although most of the planet seems basically unaffected by this.
-The Grim Reaper is a friendly monster that hangs out in a Japanese park and that feels fairly on brand.
And I think that was all that was happening so far.
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In a weird twist of fate, Mokuba is the only one in this room that isn’t trapped which sort of...if you’re the only one NOT kidnapped wouldn’t that also be a type of being kidnapped?
And we finally get to figure out why Alister wants to Murder Kaiba so bad and, spoiler, it reaches.
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???
I’m gonna get more to the obvious problems with Alister’s devotion to murdering all the Kaibas in a bit but yes, Alister is in fact going to try and Kill Kaiba on this kid’s show because of Kaiba’s Dad, who is such a horrible and abusive person that Kaiba essentially drove the bastard out of Japan and straight to the bottom of the ocean.
Just kinda feels like Alister has been living under a rock...which, I guess he has been. He has been living in some weird Atlantis structure so I guess he never got the memo that Gozaburo Kaiba is hella dead.
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So that’s what they’re up to. How’s Sausalito?
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Um.
Huh.
So the North Bay is a really classic scenery. It’s rolling hills. It’s NAPA. It’s like...definitely not Arizona. California has a couple of mesas but they’re no where near here and the Monument Valley style Mesas really only exist in Monument Valley.
And I know it’s because the background artist for Yugioh is all horny for horny rock structures but like...this couldn’t be farther from the Bay Area in the way that it is drawn and it is such a shock after all the work they did last episode to research that Bay Area lore. Once they crossed the Golden Gate they were like “well no one will care about this part” which is true not only of Yugioh but also of real life Californian politics.
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Anyway, I have been making a map, but unfortunately my original file will not suffice. time to fix it.
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There we go. Now they’re in the right place. Just smack dab in Monument Valley, Arizona, smack dab in the middle of the Navajo Nation and so hypothetically, not even in the United States anymore.
While in the car, Yugi has just been anxious as hell the entire time, and just going “y’all I have a bad feeling I’m uncomfortable I have a bad feeling” while Joey and Tea just patiently stared at him flipping out in the corner. So...kinda like a normal trip with someone who has high anxiety/possessed by a ghost. I  kinda feel like this is every girls trip to Disneyland for me. There’s always one Yugi who’s like “no one said anything about CROWDS.” and you kinda just gotta let them do their thing. Just let them get it out of their system and hide in the bathroom when they need to hide in the bathroom and don’t fight it, they’ll be fine. Just hold their spot in line when they desperately look for a secret place to medicinally vape because there’s too many freakin children at Disneyland.
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And it is HILARIOUS that Yugi is able to have this type of premonition but cannot figure out that they have somehow missed San Fransisco and have wandered into a DESERT.
Back in Pegasus’ California (an island that legitimately looks more like California than actual Yugioh California) Alister has decided to go completely off the rails and it happens so fast and without any warning.
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the line is actually “This doll used to be my brother’s” which is a very different meaning but both are likely from weird ass Alister and this weird ass show, so I’ll leave the cap like this (although yes, this is what I thought Alister was saying for kind of a while until I recorded it for this blog and was like “oh shoot I heard the line wrong when I had the flu huh.”)
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Man, RIP Noah, he would have been excellent this episode.
Honestly seems like just yesterday when Seto and Noah were pitted against eachother by a cyberdemon Dad-head floating in the sky, Mokuba was possessed for some reason and being used as a human shield, Tristan was a robot monkey, and Yugi was just shrugging at Kaiba from across the field like “Kaiba if you don’t play good you die--oh my gods, he died. Well that was bound to happen...again.” Man.
Alister should be their best friend, this is nonsense.
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So lets do the math to 7 years before 2002.
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I searched Wikipedia for wars during 1995 (they do have a list of 90′s wars) and looked for any that involved heavy use of tanks and their artillery fire (on big swatches of cities like this), inner city western architecture, temperate landscapes, and western clothing that match Alister and Mikey (AKA WWII vibes) and found out:
Nothing fits that description
UNLESS Alister and Mikey are time travelers from a WWII bombing in Europe. This is Yugioh. That could happen. Probably not, but youknow...it’s not too late for Yugioh to bring in time travel.
I mean if you don’t want to get super political in your cartoon just invent a world war I guess? We’ve already clarified that Gozaburo was Big Boss, so at this point I can easily see him inventing wars just to sell ships.
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(I could probably add thousands of more deaths at this point but I have no idea where they are, if they’re on a tiny island or an entire country so I’ll just...leave the count alone but just now it’s implied that a hell ton of people died during this episode)
People going off about how Sesame Street is so amazing for talking about issues like you’re Dad going to prison while Yugioh was straight up talking about the intricacy of the War Economy. Yugioh being all “don’t forget kids, your good capitalist economy survives off of the undeserved bloodshed of civilians in other countries! Eat the poor!” and it’s like hot damn this heavy commentary came out of freakin no where.
Anyways, this is stuff most kid’s shows will delicately skip over but nah, Yugioh is going to go here, and they are going to steamroll directly through it with massive tanks.
So, lets kill this kid’s entire family and talk about the terrors of the World War of 1995 and all the war orphans who get recruited to become soldiers at the ripe old age of 9. Alister was 9 when he was recruited to be a child card soldier.
This kid’s show.
Alister is...basically Raiden, right? Like as long as we’re talking about Metal Gear, this kid is just one step away from cyborg implants and weird colored blood?
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Better wear bright red when you visit the war crime scene, surprised Gozaburo didn’t invite like an entire photo -op crew to incriminate him even further.
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Now we did look up “where the hell is Alister from Yugioh from?” (there is no answer) and we did find out a little factoid. In the Japanese version of the show, Gozaburo had bought the land and was just forcibly evicting Alister and his family from their home with tanks.
Which is wild.
He just straight up evicted an entire metropolitan city????
Like the dub did a way better job than the sub at this one, I’ll give them that.
It’s just so weird that Gozoboro just didn’t like...raise the rent like a normal bad landlord. Instead he was like “rather than gentrify my land and save me a ton of money, I’ll just destroy everything I just bought and murder everyone here” which is like...
...Seto did the world so many favors when he kicked out his Dad, right? Like Damn. I don't understand why Alister isn’t freakin worshiping Seto right now when his whole deal is “I must kill Gozaburo” and Seto’s like “yo I already did that. Twice. I didn’t even have to literally kill him either, I just embarrassed him so bad that he killed himself. His stupid tank company sells joke games now. I literally turned the man into a joke.”
Then again, Alister is on the green magic and like I think it alters your brain chemistry somewhat.
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(How ripped did Alister get in this episode, by the way? The kid is like 16 years old or something so how did this happen? ...The perpetual horny line running straight through Yugioh, man. Look at it run. That 16 year old is drawn like he’s 28 and really into Crossfit and his crop top gets smaller and smaller like every scene.)
So like this is a very gray issue that I cannot believe they brought up in a kid’s show (like can you imagine if Scrooge McDuck had to face facts that his company murdered tons of people???), but also this is Seto Kaiba. Seto grew up in the system, so like he doesn’t need to be lectured to about dirty money because he was on the losing end of that not too long ago. Seto is himself basically a upscale war orphan since he was adopted by Gozaburo to continue the machine like a freakin maniac (a Solidus Snake, if you will) so of all the people on this show I don’t get why Seto would care about this. This is just how Seto views the entire world as either losing or winning and no reason to feel bad about it because he’s been both.
Also...Seto stopped the machine. Kind of. He was unaware that cards were the same thing as weapons, but at least he stopped the sale of huge child-stealing tanks.
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So they play the game for a little while and Seto does kind of poorly as usual, and just when I thought this episode couldn’t get any weirder...
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And just like that, Seto peaces out. Like he does almost every single time he has ever played a card game solo except for that one time he was playing Joey Wheeler. (Which was also one of the few times Seto ever won.)
Like I just want to remind you that this segment is in the same episode as WWIII and the tonal whiplash is pretty remarkable.
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That’s right, we’re back in the Unnamed Monster World, which is not the Shadow Realm, and which I thought you could only access if you were dreaming and able to search through the puzzle maze.
Apparently this can just happen at any time and all that stuff with the guiding Kuriboh and Yugi and Pharaoh trying to find this place was just...them wasting time.
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Again he ditches the legendary sword so freakin fast because who needs a sword when you have a dragon? Only this anime.
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And that’s how Seto, who was absolutely going to lose this game, somehow just barely came to a draw.
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So just to recap, Seto has yet to win a card game that he didn’t get prophetic help for via a hallucination or Yugi telling him what to do. Unless you count Joey and grandpa.
Then, the one last adult I forgot about, the driver of Yugi’s car, decides that it’s about time that he also died and left this show as adult free as possible.
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THE HELL ARE THEY?
Also...maybe it’s the angle but the writing on that gas station looks a lot like kanji.
Yo, what if this is the backgrounds for a different show and they’re just sharing? I mean I doubt it because Yugioh had a good enough budget but...what if? What if that’s why they’re in Arizona?
Anyway, next time we’ll find out if this guy just drops dead or has been a Yugioh monster this whole time, and I think maybe both?
And if you just got here, this is a link to read all my Yugioh recaps in chrono order
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kuriboo · 4 years
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Regarding the final Zexal post, certain aspects of the show are further explained in the sub. Of course the dub cuts them down for both runtime and gotta-keep-it-Y7 reasons. But, yeah, I feel like if it was given another season, it would have filled in the blanks. Still, your post is valid and is one of the reasons why Zexal doesn't really have much hype from the Western audience. I guess is that this show relies on the audience understanding later on that the plot is (1/2)
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aw shit i think tumblr ate the second part, sorry.
i’m really glad the sub explained some of this stuff better. the dub’s definitely near unintelligible at times with just barreling into new concepts head first without any sort of explanation. i could argue that it’s my own fault for watching the dub, but...i just like dubs, i just prefer dubs, i try to watch dubs as much as possible over subs. other yugioh dubs i’ve watched before have certainly had similar problems (taking out explanations that were given in the original writing) but i think zexal’s the worst case of it from any dub i’ve seen (to be fair, i haven’t seen too much of arc v, or more than the beginning of vrains, but the pieces of arc v i have seen are from the end, and if my memory’s right i think they didn’t take much out of the zarc explanation. but also, it’s been a year or two, so. shrugs)
but yeah i agree, i think zexal definitely could’ve benefited from more episodes. at the very least, explain how yuma’s mom ended up in astral world. i’d take more episodes revolving around tori if they were more like the part where tori challenge yuma to a fashion contest. i’d take more episodes of kite learning to live his life for himself instead of just for his brother, which seemed to be basically dropped (unless the sub did more with that). i’d take more episodes about kazuma (ugh) if they explained how his wife got to astral world, if they actually showed somehow like what his powers are since every time he shows up in a new episode he does something completely new and is just like “deal with it lmao”. (unless the sub explained that more). 
i know there are people who don’t like having every little thing explained and depending on the situation i sometimes agree but like. it depends on the situation. i at least need some kind of base rule system established. like the numbers (you know before they made like a bunch more numbers that don’t follow the rules) where the cards came from astral, they’re very powerful and usually possess whoever has them, and as astral regains them he regains his memories, and all that. i don’t need much, but at least like. i need something to make me believe that kazuma can’t just like teleport anyone he wants to astral world. i don’t need like why yuma wears whatever socks explained, but i like having some basic knowledge of seemingly large and important contexts. the first half of zexal actually did a much better job of that, honestly. 
and just because some of this stuff might be just dub issues doesn’t mean the dub writers are allowed to write it badly anyway. anime dubs are, in some ways, an accessibility feature for people who can’t see (or can’t see well). there should still be an obligation there to make the show make sense (even if you make it better suited for kids here and there). but also like, subs and dubs are a choice for anyone to make. i don’t have issues seeing, i can watch subs fine. but i absorb the material better if i can hear it (or, when i can, see it and still read the subtitles, because sometimes i just don’t understand words being said very well). and zexal was something i wanted to absorb and pay attention to well because i liked zexal and i like yugioh. i would be more mad at 4k media but honestly, vrains seemed like it was doing better (at least of what i watched) so i guess at least they learned from it. and, at least they learned from their voice casting decisions in arc v, it seems. dub zarc and dub yugo still haunt me. i don’t think i can actually watch the full arc v dub with 80% of it involving yugo, i don’t think i can listen to him that much. and there’s definitely people out there who wouldn’t even be sure how they’d get access to the subs. a large portion of people in the west are gonna watch the dub, and yeah, it’s really a shame that the dub writing has just made a lot of people in the west ignore/dislike it. there’s a lot of good stuff in there and good concepts clear in the dub that could’ve made it great. but like. i dunno. a lot of that’s just me. a lot of people just prefer subs. and i just prefer dubs when i have the choice available. yugioh’s pretty much the only thing i’ve ever watched subbed, and that probably won’t change much. i guess i’m just disappointed that the dub’s as bad as it is.
if i’d watched zexal subbed as episodes were coming out, i’m sure i would’ve liked it more. but also, it aired in japan from what, 2011-2014? (the dub went apparently until 2016, but that’s a nonissue, we’ve never regularly gotten the channel it was on anyway). i was way too busy to try to keep up with it up until like...october 2013, and by then, it would’ve taken a lot of time to catch up and it would’ve taken a lot of energy that i didn’t have anymore to invest that much time into something new. there were people on my dash watching it then, but all i got out of that was “i don’t like (barian form) vector’s face he looks weird i’ll pass”. i wasn’t really getting into new things at that time, i was mostly just...rewatching things i’d already seen (i saw some of the gx dub as it was airing so i got back into gx at the time). the timing for zexal was just not right for me. at that point, information about arc v was just starting to come out, and i fell in love with yuya’s design and the little bits of information immediately, so i was just waiting for arc v to come out. getting into a new series was too daunting. 
now, like. a lot of zexal’s stuff still really resonates with me? lord knows i could use some more confidence. but i think i would’ve liked it more when i was younger. i was 17 when the zexal sub finished airing i think. 17 doesn’t always sound too different than 24 to me sometimes, but i was in a completely different stage of life. but also, then again. i had more confidence and was a lot braver than i am now. i’m overall a better person now i think, but back then, i also just kinda...high school helped me build up some of that shit and i lost it all by the time i was 20. 
maybe i’ll watch the show subbed some day. i have that option available to me. maybe i’ll enjoy it more if i do. it’s just a shame that zexal came out at such a bad time for me. and it’s a shame that the dub’s as bad as it is. it feels so...lazy. 
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kihocrystal · 6 years
Text
Summer 2017 - Final Impressions
I may have skipped writing opinions up for Spring season (due to computer issues...), but I’m back for Summer season! I even fell behind this season because of school (hence why this is half a month late), but nonetheless, here are my thoughts on the animes I finished this past season! 
The list of shows is in the tags, and are ordered alphabetically under the cut!
Boku no Hero Academia S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )
This was another really fun season of Boku no Hero Academia! This season was twice as long as season 1, which meant double the action! Most of the action this season was actually more on the light-hearted side, as two of the main story arcs of this season were the School Tournament, and the Final Exams. These arcs got to see the cast work together and face off against one another, which helped us learn more about their characters in the process! Almost everyone had their time to shine (which was great!), but the one who had the most prominent character arc was Todoroki; we learned about his troubled past with his family, and how he changes his mindset and attitude throughout the tournament, which was great to see! Character development was definitely a big aspect of this season (as seen through both of those arcs), but there was also a good amount of overarching story set-up as well! The main arc showing this off was the Hero Killer Stain arc (which included the Internships), which was definitely my favorite part of this season! Seeing Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida face off against him was super fun and interesting, and also kicked off some plot progression that should go towards future arcs! Midoriya has improved his super power usage over the course of this season, and we also learned about All For One, which will surely be the Big Bad of this series as a whole. The finale also teases more things about upcoming conflicts, which included Midoriya having an interesting interaction with villain Tomura (and a ship might be sailing with Ochako and Midoriya)! It’s a good thing a season 3 has already been confirmed, because an open ending like this would’ve been bad otherwise! As it stands though, it’s a really good lead-in to the next season! Season 2 was great set-up for things to come (and good fun action on its own, of course!); I probably would’ve enjoyed this season even more if there was more interactions with the villains, but that will surely come in the upcoming season 3!
Isekai Shokudou - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )
This was a cute little show that was a good pick for “comfy show of the season”! I enjoyed meeting the wide range of characters and seeing them try out different types of food. I also appreciated how the food reactions were very downplayed, in comparison to more over-the-top fares like Shokugeki no Souma. That being said, they go into just as much detail describing why the food is so good (at least in the earlier episodes). I also liked seeing the patrons interact with each other, including getting into fights about who’s favorite dish is better. Each character’s story about how they discovered the diner (and the occasional backstory) was enjoyable to watch; we didn’t learn much about them outside of that, but we learned more about their interests and relationships via how they interacted with others both inside and outside the restaurant. It was also nice seeing how the restaurant has been a recurring thing for years, going back to the chef’s grandparents! The story is episodic, but each individual story was a nice, occasionally heartwarming, and “comfy” thing to watch once a week. The art-style complemented the easy-going pace as well; it was warm-toned and drew the food quite nicely (even if the animation itself was standard fare). This may not be a super in-depth slice-of-life show, but it’s a good watch if you just want to relax and see some good food!  
Kakegurui - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )
This was the most popular show of the season on MAL (in terms of amount of people who watched it), and it’s easy to see why: high stakes (and over-the-top) gambling, the extreme reaction faces, and VERY sexual characters who get off on gambling (with yuri overtones to boot!). The more sexual scenes kind of got old for me over time, but I enjoyed all those other aspects! The crazy gambling games and characters were fun to watch (as someone who enjoys YuGiOh so much, that’s right up my alley!), and the crazy reactions added to the over-the-top appeal. Yumeko was an enjoyable lead, since she’s got just the right amount of insanity behind her also-enjoyable sweet facade (plus her seiyuu, Saori Hayami, did a great job performing her!). Many of the other main girls got some time in the spotlight too, both student council members and eventual Yumeko allies (though some student council members got more time than others, for sure). The main male lead, Suzui Ryouta, was definitely just there as an audience surrogate though, since he’s pretty bland (though he had some involvement in some gambles too!). When you get down to it, the appeal of this show is the characters and the gambling events themselves; all the story in-between just feels kind of lacking in comparison. Even the finale, which to be fair was anime original, kinda felt like a non-ending; the outcome kind of made that final gamble pointless and didn’t leave me with a good sense of conclusion (but hey, at least it’s better than a full-on cliffhanger or abrupt stopping point!). This show was far from my favorites of this season, but it was still an fun time during the gambling parts (which thankfully there’s a lot of here!). If you enjoy over-the-top gaming action and don’t mind the more sexual aspects (which can get somewhat explicit at times), you might like this one!
Made in Abyss - 9 / 10 ( A )
This is easily my pick for AOTS, no contest! It’s just a great adventure show from top to bottom, with a great sense of adventure and mystery! It also helps that the setting is one of the most unique and mysterious we’ve seen in anime for a long time! The Abyss is full of many different elements that not even the in-universe cast know of, which lends itself well to majestic scenes, along with terrifying secrets (it’s a lawless place, after all). Not to mention that the background art captures it extremely well; the huge amount of detail is a good contrast with the more square and cartoony character art-style! The soundtrack is used wonderfully, as it really gets a grand sense of ambience, mystery, and scale all at once! (Especially that one insert song they use a couple times, but first in the premiere!) The Abyss has been a cool place to learn and see more about over the course of the show, but it can definitely rear its ugly dangerous head from time to time, too. Meaning, this show can be VERY gruesome at times; there’s quite a few scenes involving large amounts of blood, and even body mutilation. It’s definitely not for the squeamish. If you can handle it, these scenes just add to the raw emotion this show has, and will have you on the edge of your seat! As for characters, Riko and Reg were a really good duo to follow in their journey! Their personalities (plus abilities and awareness of danger) balance each other well, and I enjoyed seeing them grow closer over time! Riko’s definitely an odd case since she has no fear of the Abyss despite never being able to return home, though (^^;). My other favorite was Nanachi; she was (unfortunately) only in the *last four* episodes, but her character and story really makes up for it! I enjoyed the rest of the cast too, including the cynical and crazy Ozen and her maid assistant Maruruk (she was so sad when Riko & Reg had to leave ;~;). The only real gripe I have about this show is its… inappropriate jokes at times. Lets just say there’s quite a few penis mentions (and yes, they say that word outright). However, the (double-length!) finale was crazy good; incredibly intense, fucked up, emotional, and with a hope cherry on top (including the balloon scene! I just wish I knew what was written inside!) Just learning the full details of Nanachi (& Mitty)’s backstory was REALLY fucked up… and the whole buildup and execution (I’m sorry…) of Mitty’s death brought a few tears to my eye (and I don’t cry easily when watching stuff!). The story definitely isn’t done yet (which impacts its score as a standalone season a little bit), but it had as good of a conclusion as it could’ve had. It sets up an easy-to-hate antagonist really well too, all within the span of one (double-length) episode! This show is definitely the best of this summer season (and one of my top picks for this year!), so this is a very easy recommendation! (Unless you don’t do well with gore, of course).
New Game!! S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )
I really enjoyed this second season of New Game! It definitely took a slightly different approach, as there was a bit more emotional and dramatic moments (which personally, I think is a good thing!) I also can relate to this show quite a bit, as I’m now a game design student at a community college; so as a result, seeing the girls work on a game in a variety of ways (along with the working process in general) is very interesting to me! Of course, that’s not to say this show is the most realistic portrayal of the industry, per se, but it’s still cool to see more of this slice-of-life comedy about working in a game company! This season shows the team work on a new IP from start to finish, and all the trials that happen along the way. The girls are challenged a lot more as well, especially Aoba as she gets her first go at being the main character designer (with help from Yagami-san)! The concept art contest was definitely the biggest moment for her character arc; seeing her do her best on an art piece, despite knowing she’s going to lose by default due to a sales decision, was bittersweet to see for sure (but she came out much stronger in the end)! That even tied into Yagami’s character arc as well, since she realizes she’s holding back the growth of her younger employees (;~;). Aside from that, the programming aspect got a bit more spotlight this season! Watching Nene make a game by herself, then see her as a programming intern was great to see! Speaking of interns, we got two new girls this season: Momiji and Narumi! Both of them served as good “rivals” for Aoba and Nene, even if there wasn’t fierce competition between them; I just liked seeing their different (more cynical) viewpoints and how they interacted with the other girls (and learned from them + vise versa!). This season ended on a strong note as well; seeing Yagami leave for France and all the girls going to see her off (plus Aoba’s tearful goodbye to her!) was a great emotional end to the season (and heck, it could be a good end to the series in its own right!). I definitely liked this season even more than season one, as the increased emotional depth added a lot to this cute and fun series! If you like slice-of-life comedy shows, this is a really good one to check out!
Princess Principal - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )
This show is my runner-up for AOTS, so you know this show is a fun time! It’s always fun to see a new spy anime, and this one really delivers on the spy action! The action scenes are really well done, with fluid motions and well-choreographed fight scenes! Add in the steampunk / early 20th century-style, and you’ve got a really cool spy show! The characters’ art style (for the girls) are definitely more on the moe-side, but they were fun to watch the whole way through! The main girls’ personalities were a good mix, and really interesting to see play out (especially Ange’s deadpan shtick). They all have their own skills to contribute too; even Beatrice, with no spy training, can use her mechanical neckpiece to perfectly imitate other people’s voices! The story is mostly episodic; while there is an overarching premise of an England-esque country being torn apart by war and regimes, each episode focuses on one specific spy case. I liked this approach, as each case told a nice little story than could range from action-packed & tense, to somber & heartbreaking. Each of the main girls get some spotlight time too in at least one story, meaning we get more insight into their personal histories and personalities, which is great! The main character focus though is definitely on Ange and Princess, as they swapped places when they were kids and reunite in the spy team during the present timeline. This story is kept vague (which added a good sense of mystery to these two!) until slightly past the halfway mark; it was great finally seeing their backstory when it came time! Their relationship had a big part in the final two episodes as well; speaking of that finale, it was yet another action-packed good time! But it also was very open-ended; The main villain hasn’t been defeated, and the anti-hero spy (Zelda) in the final two episodes got away as well. At least the main group is back together, and hopefully we’ll see them in a season 2, because the ending makes this season suffer a little bit as a stand-alone show. That being said, this was one of my favorite shows of the season for sure, and you should check it out if you like steampunk-style or spy stories!
Re:Creators - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )
What a solid show! It’s not every day we see a modern anime have a definitive and satisfying conclusion, but here we are! The first episode might not have won me over initially, but it definitely grew on me over time. Exposition was a bit more heavy-handed in earlier episodes as well (which is the most common complaint I’ve seen), but it’s not as bad later on. Re:Creators had lots of themes and messages about the act of creating things and what can come from it, which was really cool to see, especially since I’m an aspiring artist myself. This show may have had a lot of action, but the characters (both creations & creators) and how they interacted with each other was one of the most enjoyable parts for me. I definitely related to the main character (Souta) quite a lot, as he had a hard time creating things (& enjoying it) due to negative circumstances (albeit his reasoning was guilt-related, via mine being self-confidence). Not to mention he admitted to having negative bitter feelings towards his friend Setsuna due to her success (which I admit I also relate too…). Seeing this kind of character reflected in an anime, in addition to seeing a variety of different creators, was definitely great to see, since I could relate to it so much! The creative process is a big part of plot progression & magic-power-logic as well, which is super unique! Seeing a bunch of different genres being represented was cool as well, including a magical girl! (though I wish Mamika was the first to die & last only 8 episodes… at least she was a great character in that short time!) Magane was probably the other standout character for me, as she had a fun personality and was a real wild card in terms of what she could do (though she took a liking towards Souta, in the end). The villain, Altair, was also a great concept for a villain, since she was a Hatsune Miku-type who could use endless material from fan-works as her powers! Each character got at least a decent amount of development/screentime, and like I mentioned before, the conclusion to Altair’s story was really well done, and even left room for an epilogue episode at the end… I love when they do that! The ride that was Re:Creators was full of action, funny moments, heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. In the end… it’s a really good original action series that’s actually complete!
Sakura Quest - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )
P.A. Works does it again with another really good “working women” series! Like Hanasaku Iroha and Shirobako before it, this show follows a group of young adult girls working to try and revitalize a small rural town. As I’m getting older, I love seeing anime with characters closer to my age range, as they try to find their place in a working adult world, just like I am! The “revitalizing a rural town” aspect was also interesting to see play out, as there’s a lot that goes into that, like trying to get your name out there (either through the web or through TV) or organizing and planning events! The story plays out over the course of the year, but there’s lots of 1-2 episode-long stories that show off all these aspects, along with highlighting certain characters (which I always love to see!). It’s definitely a slice-of-life show that has a lot of character growth, and seeing the team accomplish things and the town slowly-but-surely come together was great to watch! The cast of characters was also really nice, both main and supporting! Most of the supporting cast were elderly or adults, so seeing them bounce off the young adult main group (& seeing their ideologies clash and work together) was cool to see too! Each of the main girls had their own realizations and journeys to make while working for the Tourism Board, whether it was learning the value of small towns (Yoshino) or finding your own way to do what you want to do, even if you fall short of your dreams (Maki). By the end, all five of them definitely show off some good insight towards adult life! The finale was nice as well, showing their classic festival finally coming together and the Dragon Song showing up again (which was one of my favorite mini-arcs back during the first half). While it’s left unclear whether Manoyama gets absorbed or not, it definitely ends on a happy, conclusive ending for our characters, and the town is definitely better off than at the show’s beginning. This was an enjoyable, down-to-earth show to watch, and you should give it a try too if you like slice-of-life shows (or if you enjoyed Hanasaku Iroha or Shirobako)!
Senki Zesshou Symphogear - 7.0 - 7.5 / 10 ( C+ )
This fourth(!) season of Symphogear was a big, fun action fest, just like the other seasons! The strong points of this series have always been the bombastic fight scenes, the insert songs, and the characters, which continues to be true here too. This was the first season that I stopped trying to focus on the story, and I think my enjoyment actually improved because of it! This series’ story has always been silly and tries to top itself with every iteration, which happens again in this season; it likes to pull explanations out of thin air, and have situations work out for our heroes at *just* the right time so the show can have a cool “badass” moment. I will give AXZ credit though for at least trying to pull elements from past seasons into this season’s weapon upgrades and logic reasoning, even though it still kinda feels like an ass-pull to me (then again, other people disagree with me on this, so YMMV!). The story is definitely this series’ biggest weakpoint for me (which is why I tend to rate these seasons relatively low), but its strongest aspects are in top form and a lot of fun to watch! The fight scenes and power-ups keep finding new ways to one-up themselves, and the main Symphogear girls continue to have an enjoyable dynamic together! The new antagonist group was mostly just okay, but the core three alchemist girls (Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, and Prelati) grew on me after they turn on their master (even though I liked Cagliostro the entire time, really~). The final episodes were a fun time, as always (including Hibiki being an evil god-monster at one point!); it’s notable though that they set up some things here for the already-confirmed season 5! Symphogear definitely grew on me this season, as I realized it’s the epitome of a popcorn-action show; just shut your brain off, and enjoy the spectacle!
Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul - 8.0 / 10 ( B )
This was another fun and action-packed season of Shingeki no Bahamut! While I’m not sure whether I liked season 1 more than this one, it was still a very enjoyable watch throughout! One of the main reasons for this was the main new addition to the cast: Nina! She’s such a fun character to watch, as she’s strong, goofy, and jumps into action right away! I wasn’t the most fond of how “horny” she was for other guys, but that settled down a bit once she finds the guy of her dreams…. Which by the way, is also the main antagonist of the show, King Charioce. She falls in love with him when he’s in disguise, but even after his reveal, she still doesn’t give up her love for him (while simultaneously trying to stop his evil crimes). It’s definitely a unique approach to this type of romance for sure, but it was still a bit odd to me that she still stayed in love with him despite all the tyrannical things he did… At the very least, the execution of this subplot was pretty good, as were all the other story beats! This show has strong execution throughout (the prison escape arc was a highlight), with high quality animation (especially those dance scenes!), swelling music, and the right emotional notes. The problem for most people then will be some story beats themselves, mostly at the show’s end. A couple notable characters seem to get killed for no good reason, Charioce’s motivations try to spin him as “a good guy all along”, and his punishment at the end seems too light (as he merely just loses his eyesight); plus it feels like the people being oppressed by his rule turn right around and he gets praised as a hero for defeating Bahamut (which btw he himself summoned)! And oh yeah, Bahamut isn’t actually dead for good (leaving things open for a possible continuation). Oh well, at least the bittersweet aspect of a voiceless Nina and a sight-less Charioce being together is a nice touch. (I may sound mad here, but I didn’t hate these episodes at all ^^; ) In any case, the whole journey was fun to watch, and was full of engaging action the whole way through. I enjoyed seeing all the returning cast come back, and seeing them interact in both the upbeat and darker moments. Even though the ending won’t win over everyone, if you enjoyed the first season, you should have a good time here too!
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prismatic-bell · 7 years
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Yugioh dm for fandom thing
How I entered/learned about the said game/show/movie/etc of that fandom
Ironically--given how much I despise TAS these days--one of my friends showed it to me in college. This was at the very beginning of the Great Hiatus, before we knew it was going to be a Great Hiatus. So there I sat with, what, 30 episodes? We’d barely gotten through Duelist Kingdom, at any rate, and there was just. NOTHING. Coming out. I was hooked on how fucking ridiculous this premise was, and also thought Ryou was precious. One of my other friends was like “it’s a manga, you know” and I went “I DID NOT” and proceeded to borrow most of the series from her. What I didn’t borrow, I read at Borders. And the library. And in fanslation, when none of my other sources had the volumes I needed. And eventually started buying myself. I’ve been in this goddamned fandom for slightly over ten years and only just started actually watching the DM anime last week. To date, the DM manga is the only YGO canon I’ve ever finished in its entirety, even though I love GX and 5Ds (and dear god Season Zero let me tell you about our lord and savior Megumi Ogata).
Fave character
MAHA’AD. Like, I don’t know what the fuck it is with me and minor characters, but goddamn this overdramatic sinnamon roll, I love him. He’s only in, what, two volumes of the manga, and when I hit the chapter with him and TKB in Akhenemkanon’s tomb and realized what was going to happen I legit just stopped reading and whimpered out this little “ . . . no.”
And I happened to read that chapter in fanslation, which means I also got one of the most shipping-agenda-fueled probably-mistranslations of Maha’ad ever. I still have no fucking idea what he actually yells before he throws himself into those swinging axes, although I sincerely doubt it’s what I actually read. I really don’t give a shit what the official translation says, either. In my heart it’s always going to be MY LIFE FOR THE LOVE OF MY PHARAOH, sorry about it.
Least fave character
...mmph. I mean, I really don’t like most of the one-off duelists. I’ve never really liked quirky gimmick duelists in YGO, regardless of the specific YGO in question. Sometimes a random one will charm me, like the quiz kid in Arc-V, but on the whole I find them kind of annoying. So if we’re counting “least favorites, completely, including EVERYBODY,” it’s probably like . . . Insector Haga or something. But if we’re just talking mains/secondaries, I’d probably go with Malik. I know, I know, I should cover myself in shame now. But so much of his character development (at least in the manga) is driven by the other Ishtar siblings telling us about him, and I have so many issues with how Yami no Malik was resolved.
OTP(s)
Jesus wept. I think this was the fandom that first led me to “I don’t have ships, I have an armada.” DSOD definitely sold me on Atem/Kaiba, but outside of that there’s Yuugi/Ryou, Kaiba/Anzu, Kaiba/Kisara, Atem/Maha’ad, and obviously puzzleshipping/blindshipping is Baby’s First Ship. I also used to hang out on the kinkmeme on LiveJournal and I’d write anything that intrigued me just to see if I could, so I’ve also read, written, and enjoyed Atem/Ryou, and I have a whole laundry list of shit I wrote in an attempt to see just how far I could push the envelope because I was nineteen and thought it was fun. Said list includes but is not limited to Pegasus/Pandora, Yami no Bakura/Yuugi AU, Kaiba/random Mafia mook (it’s from the Season Zero part of the manga guys), Yuugi/Black Magician, and, do not shoot me, Kaiba/BEWD. Yeah. All these people doing “Kaiba’s new mind-controlled holographic system is causing his inner furry to create all new uses for Black Magician and BEWD sprites” fic right now should’ve been around in 2009. *crotchety fandom grandma voice* In MY day, nobody just handed us  convenient plot bullshit in a beautifully-animated movie to write smut with. We had to come up with our own convenient plot bullshit.
Pairing that everyone likes but I don’t get
Violetshipping. I mean, aesthetically I can kind of see why Kaiba/Jyonouchi is popular, but like . . . Jyonouchi hates Kaiba, Kaiba could not give half a fuck if Jyonouchi exists?
Fave thing about the fandom
It’s gotten so much friendlier and open since I was in it for the first time.
The most despised thing
The Disk Horse continues.
If there is something I would change from said game/show/movie/etc., what would it be
Oh, man. Hm. Well, I’d really like a Konami-animated version that actually stuck with the manga more closely, but in-manga, which is what I’m more familiar with, I’d say “give Anzu a more active role earlier in the game.” She is, arguably, second only to Yuugi in her importance; without her Atem would never have learned his name. But it sort of comes out of nowhere. She doesn’t duel; she’s used as bait in a few Shadow Games, but that’s about it. And then holy shit she has the best idea in the entire goddamn manga, follows through on it, and like fuck yes Anzu I love you, but we really need that to be more obvious earlier.
. . . . also, literally fuck that dude whose name I can’t remember who’s a living Millennium Tablet or whatever. Everything about that is so wrong and needs to not exist.
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