#a character like this before - exactly like this - and did a fantastic job

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

(Part 1) (Part 2)

Part 3 of the insanely long posts where I discuss the messy writing for Edelgard, why it failed her as a character, and how they had every opportunity to write her well but didn't.

This part continues my comparisons from the previous post. The post was already extremely long and I felt that it would be difficult to read it in one sitting if it wasn't broken up (it might even still be lol).

Like before, the Tellius games are used as examples that discuss what went wrong with Houses and how smoothly the story handled itself, versus Houses' push and pull story, particularly regarding Edelgard (as compared to Ashnard and occasionally Micaiah). That is to say, Tellius knew what it wanted to do and succeeded at doing it. Houses on the other hand wanted something and kept holding back.

It's notable how most characters refer negatively to those who joined the Empire, or there's indication that they were forced to do so.

"Deluding" being a very fucking good word used here, and by Ignatz of all people which says a lot on its own, let alone that he's saying it to his best friend. Basically, the general response to fighting characters from the Empire or who joined the Empire willingly is "you made your bed and now you have to lay in it", whether that's killing your friends or regretting your choice, etc.

"If I wish to live" is a very heavy thing to have to say. Lorenz is basically in no better a position than being a hostage at this point.

This is when attacking him with anyone but Byleth, so it's more difficult to say if he's talking to them or referring to himself (i.e. why would you attack the Empire at a time like this because doing so is reckless). Based on the above quote though, it's fair to assume he's referring to himself, indicating he wants to oppose them and plans to, but at the moment he can't.

Similarly, we have this from PoR:

Forced into service for Ilyana.

Implication by Oscar that Daein is a questionable choice. Shinon explains that he can rise to the top with good skill (which he has) and so chose Daein. This reflects Ashnard and Edelgard's "rise to the top" mentality.

Something else worth noting a bit off this particular topic is that Ashnard and Edelgard both refer to their rule as their vision for "the world". However, as far as the residents of Tellius are aware, Tellius is the world because the rest of the world save for their continent was drowned in a flood a long time ago. Edelgard refers to Fodlan, the continent, as "the world" multiple times in both games. Very notably, all main characters on all other routes refer to Fodlan as, well, Fodlan. When they speak of their ideals for its future, they still refer to it as "Fodlan", thus expressing their desire for the future of their continent, but not implying anywhere outside of Fodlan is beneath them (which would be true to Edelgard's character, as she believes all non-Adrestia lands are beneath her, which is literally one of the first things she ever says in Houses depending on your response selection).

Other than that, here we go with more similarities:

This is very reflective of what characters feel toward Edelgard. What Bryce says is also a reflection of CF's ending cards (those of you reading this who are here for this content and not hate reading know what I mean I'm sure, so I won't put in a full list of examples, but for some: censorship, assassinations, watching the citizens, Caspar's JP CF ending (implied to be no better than Miklan's old group), etc.

For the next one, Ashnard's line is basically the concept Houses gives off as a whole and is also even referring to a few times, that history will decide if someone's actions action were just or evil. It depends on the victors, and that's what Ashnard is saying here.

There's also the fact that he's being told, by a former Four Rider no less, that his path is "so incredibly stupid" (in the most polite, knightly way possible even LMAO. Points for Tauroneo for that one). Considering Ashnard and Edelgard have identical goals and motivations across the board (aside from genocide, as Ashnard doesn't care about genociding any race (i.e. Nabateans for Edelgard) and has no desire to) and this is dialogue given directly to Ashnard, who literally does not respond to the actual comments and pivots to something else (which is exactly what Edelgard does throughout all routes in Houses, be it her own or the others), imo it says a whole lot about Edelgard as well and the intentions the writers had for her as a character.

So effectively, Jill's words here are dismissed by her enemy. I don't recall that Edelgard does this quite so directly to people, but she does use words that dodge the comments aimed at her. She makes it a point to let her enemies know that she does not care.

Granted, at least Ashnard is funny about it! Come back some other time I'm busy is a lot funnier than no u.

Adding this in from RD since it holds relevance to the Edelgard portions of this:

This is if you don't recruit Jill and trigger this battle dialogue.

This is an example of desperately trying to defend the actions of someone you care about but can't actually defend. In this case, obviously Micaiah more or less had her hands tied because of the Blood Pact (an actual reason for the fighting that she was against and literally had no choice regarding, i.e. she wasn't "forced to do it because of the status quo" or any other nonsense used to prevent Edelgard from sounding like the villain the devs literally said she is).

Back to Tanith, boy, I wish she could've been in Houses with this line. For the people, Edelgard says? Look around you, naive classmates of hers who followed her because (insert shallow reason here that even Hopes gave more depth toward). Is all this death for the people? Well, according to Edelgard it sure is. It's deaths for the people! She sees a bright, happy future (for herself!) in all this death!

No, I'm not joking. Well, I'm making fun of it. I'm making fun of the fact that the devs actually thought to have this in the game (Houses) and still tried to pivot around her being a full on villain. Edelgard repeats many times that she will kill and sacrifice for her goals (not for the people, but for her own selfish goals like Ashnard. She uses "for the people" as her cover story, but we all know if we're not here to hate read what those CF ending cards really told us).

Point being, "for the people" is the cover up story, and Tanith is saying "this isn't for the people". Fact is, she's right. It's not for the people. In Micaiah's case as per this game, it's because they're being forced by Begnion (the Begnion Empire, mind you, which in both Tellius games has its own extreme problems among its nobility just like Adrestia) via Blood Pact to continue this fight. Tanith isn't stupid. She knows this mess isn't for the people. That's how Micaiah has to phrase it to get people to fight for her and not turn on her, because if they do decide not to fight, that means they aren't capitulating to the Empire's demands and thus the Senate will initiate the Pact. She convinces her allies it's for the people, who they themselves don't even necessarily truly believe it but force themselves to for a friend's sake.

For Edelgard, it's a cover up story, but of course it's not because of a Blood Pact. In her case, it's back to Ashnard. Her story/character/motivations/etc are a mix of Ashnard in Micaiah's part 3 situation. She's basically Ashnard but with people defending her with lines similar to what they say about Micaiah/why she's doing what she's doing. This doesn't mean Edelgard and Micaiah are the same, no - it means that's just what the characters say about Edelgard in her defense.

Also, if there's an Empire in an FE game, it's the villainous territory, plain and simple. As a few examples because I'm not going through every game:

Begnion is a major antagonizing territory in RD, and in PoR there are many things going on behind Sanaki's back because a good chunk of the nobility is corrupt. Even their army is corrupt in RD. Let's not also forget that the mastermind antagonist of the entire Tellius series' plot is the fucking Prime Minister of the Begnion Empire. He's no Duke Aegir (who is, mind you, also a villainous Prime Minister), but the way he manipulated Ashnard the way Thales manipulated Edelgard is eerily similar. Difference being, he actually cared about Sanaki and they had a very positive relationship which was genuinely real and true, but he did admit to lying to her and whatnot. He staged everything, much like how Thales staged everything to cause a continental war (the entire premise of what Ashnard is trying to do). The Begnion Empire is basically run by corrupt nobles and a guy masterminding a continental war, with Sanaki as the figurehead. It's a combination of Adrestia's corrupt nobles and Thales' manipulation, with Edelgard being the manipulated into action Ashnard who always had these ambitions but just needed the spark to begin his war.

In FE4's second half and in FE5, they are fighting, surprise, an Empire that is run by, surprise, a literal cult of shadowy, underground people waiting to take revenge on the bloodlined people. This is the inspiration they took from FE4 during Houses obviously, but that alone should tell you the Empire is meant to be the villainous territory in Houses. Jugdral had been ravaged by the Lopt Sect and the people were, and knew they were, suffering. All this to revive their god, just as the Agarthans were trying to revive their hero Nemesis. Mind you, Loptous is the villain that the bad people are trying to revive, so... that should probably tell you Nemesis ain't that great of a dude. If he's a hero the villains, anyone considering him a hero is also a villain. Edelgard just also believes anything the Agarthans feed her for some reason and parrot all their beliefs and desires despite being a victim of them. Stupid writing choice for her imo, but that's what was decided. Not to say Edelgard is anything like Alvis, boy oh sir no, that's another topic entirely but don't get me started on it. All I will say is that they're nothing alike. Edelgard says the pretty words but doesn't go through with them nor mean them. He says them and he means them, but he was blocked by the Lopt Sect who had the actual control of the Empire. Every blame was laid at his feet, but he had no real power and that was stated directly in the game.

Grado was basically an empire that was corrupt in waiting. No matter how righteous it seemed due to its leaders, as soon as those leaders died/got corrupted, the nasty people came flocking out. That means they were there all along and as soon as they got their chance, they took it. Take a look at the villains you face and how nasty of people they are. Look how bad it became as soon as Fomortiis was truly in charge.

Dolhr is a fucking disaster I ain't even getting into that internal dragon war turned dragon and human mess LOL; just know it's Not A Good Place. Also consider that Lang (a particularly terrible person) betrayed Grust (a perfectly reasonable place turned corrupt due to Dolhr's influence) to join up with them and Lorenz said Not Today, rebelled, and Lang was in charge of ordering Marth to go fend off that rebellion (and threatened Altea to get Marth to agree to fight). Lorenz continued to say Not Today to the point of committing suicide rather than work alongside them or die for them. He held no ill will toward Marth for what Marth had been ordered and essentially threatened to do (for fear of Altea's position in all this). Seeing Lorenz of all people refuse to take part in Grust's Dohlr loving bullshit, Marth also rebelled. Consider that how every time a Leicester noble sides with the Empire, it tends to be the corrupt or morally questionable ones. Like Marth, people were afraid to rebel. Quite ironically (or perhaps intentionally? who knows the devs ain't said), it ends up being Houses!Lorenz who rebels against the Empire in VW and optionally in AM if recruited (or in AM would die as, again, essentially the Empire's hostage). Like Archanea!Lorenz, he was against the Empire, and like Marth, fought with them for a short time out of the force of threat to himself/his lands and people but eventually had enough and turned on them.

So, did the writing skimp out on Edelgard and Adrestia being completely villainous? Yes. Are they supposed to be? Yes, absolutely. Both in writing and by the devs' word, she is the villain. Did they, in the game, fuck that up because she was marriage material? Absolutely! Did they reduce her character to being a love interest who was obsessed with the player character and couldn't win her war without her love interest? Yes, completely!

What I'm saying is that she had potential to be more interesting (re: I love Ashnard and I've said this many many many times and will never stop saying it because he's a great villain and probably my favorite in the entire franchise, which imo should say a lot when I view him and Edelgard on completely ends of the villain spectrum despite them being identical in all the explained ways) and it was ruined by the devs toning her down so that she could be waifu material.

She had potential to be a well written character and great villain like Ashnard is, but it was bogged down both making her an uwu sweet waifu (thus attempting to negate her bad qualities with the uwu behavior) and trying to insist that she was fighting for a good cause (which I suspect is because they wanted to make her marriage material. You don't see us being able to marry Ashnard or, as a female example of a villain, Petrine - who for that matter directly serves Ashnard).

My point in this last section is that FE Empires have been the villains since its goddamn inception, and Adrestia is no stranger to that, but Edelgard herself was written as though, because she's a woman, had to be fetish bait, marriage bait, and a cute girl. If it was a man running her Empire, we'd have the result of... -lists off every male imperial ruler in FE history-.

It's also a huge shame to me that the first time they truly had a woman in charge of the villainous territory, they completely botched it. It could have been awesome to have a good female villain, but they ended up blurring the lines. They ended up reducing her to straight man bait too, what with all her female relationships having women obsess over her (compare to the other wlw relationships, canonically optional or not (ex. Cathmir being a canon ending and Dorogrid not being an ending), which don't feature the women involved treating their partner how the women treat Edelgard). I'm not saying bi or lesbian players can't like her, but that she was seemingly written with straight male players in mind.

Other wlw relationships aren't written the way Edelgard's relationships are written, which is basically nothing but loving up on her most of the time (both male and female characters do this except Ferdinand and Linhardt, the former of which was completely rewritten to be a 180 and yet another of Edelgard's harem in Hopes). This includes Petra, who is a political hostage. She should be questioning Edelgard as to why her territory isn't free yet despite Edelgard being emperor now, or when it will happen. None of this is really touched on, and Petra just decides that she wants to fight and die for Edelgard (including in Hopes, where her feelings about that are even stronger and she literally says in their A support that she knows she's risking her life but actively desires to for Edelgard's sake, even if it means betraying her own people for it). Instead, they ignore all that for the sake of having yet another female obsess over her.

Now, does this mean people are bad for liking the better sides of her that happened as a result of this? No, people can still enjoy the character we ended up getting because of these side steps - the character we ended up with regardless of their intentions. However, I do think it's because of all these side steps that people don't see her as a villain despite every intention of that being there and being present. However, I also think people should understand why she's also hated because of these side steps. For example, why I hate the Edelgard that we ended up getting, but yet I love Ashnard despite all these many comparisons I've made.

It's just a shame that we didn't get to play on the villain's side and have it play out as, very explicitly, that the player character is now also a villain. That we made the choice for our character to be a villain to side with the villain and ultimately take part in villainous actions. It's a game with a story! That kind of thing should be explored! It doesn't make people bad for enjoying a villain's side of the story with that villain not being side stepped as a good person. If we got to play a route Ashnard I would love that! I wouldn't deny that he's the villain just because I'm playing his route though, and that's what CF tried to do - deny that the villain is the villain. It's not "everyone has their reasons" yadda yadda everything and anything is morally gray. That's what they try to push to excuse Edelgard despite her being Female Ashnard in every other regard.

There's a reason it got to the point of the infamous "no u" line - because they were trying to have a story that justified the villain, fell short of it because the not-villain they kept gunning for the idea of was committing villainous behavior/actions, and couldn't actually justify it in a way that sounded reasonable. It ended up coming like she had no excuse for her actions, which, yes, makes sense, because she doesn't have any! She's the villain! But they... tried so hard... to side step it... when they had nothing they could side step it with... and now that line is the local Houses laughing stock... in the woman's own route...

Lastly, there's the aspect of the war dialogue versus playable characters. There are two things:

Most of the recruitable students in CF only say they fight for the Empire because they fight for Byleth - their professor - not Edelgard. The only characters who specifically say they're fighting for Edelgard are the original BE students. The others claim to only be following Byleth's path (or they simply joined after being spared).

In other words, the recruited characters weren't given dialogue to imply they actually care about Edelgard's path and are not even there for her. That gives off the notion that these characters aren't necessarily even in agreement with her. Very few (such as Lysithea if recruited prior to being spared, and Constance) actually fight specifically for the Empire or Edelgard (and Constance's reason is for herself and not Edelgard).

Basically, the writers didn't bother even trying to give the characters motivation to fight for Edelgard's path, and so made many of them - let's face it - ooc in the process. I won't go over details in this post about specific characters being ooc, but if anyone is ever curious and doesn't already know, I could definitely make separate posts for those.

In comparison, RD gives legitimate motivations to the characters you fight against regardless of which side they're fighting on. Zihark is the most iffy, as his motivations to defect from Daein for the Laguz Alliance make more sense, but even he is at least given the introspection of "why am I fighting for this/what am I doing". Any character who was previously playable in PoR has a legitimate motivation to fight for the side they're on, including the possible defector characters where their dialogue makes sense on either side.

Some characters also understand they're fighting people they care about and just won't fight them. Brom and Meg, father and daughter (a huge disaster in CF when it comes to parents fighting their children and absolutely butchering the parent characters' characterization just to somehow make the situation work even though there were better ways of handling that) won't fight each other, just as Zihark will not attack laguz - fitting right into his character. He will attack back against a beorc, but in gameplay will not attack back if attacked by a laguz.

In Houses, they didn't even bother with this and it made a lot of the relationships feel a lot more shallow. For example, Ilyana is only on the side of the Laguz Alliance in part 3, but she can talk to Micaiah - her previous commander in part 1. She attempts to talk Micaiah out of fighting, eventually deciding well okay fine we're both strong against each other's magic so it's not too bad, to her despondently giving up and saying they should forget that conversation ever happened.

On a very similar note, the dialogue in Houses is often very volatile (particularly in the localization) from recruited characters to their former friends.

They gave off the impression that the Empire is right and just, and how dare anyone be against them. The dialogue is handled in a way that makes almost every character angry (with few exceptions, one being Mercedes against Annette) with their old friends. There is very very little of characters being genuinely upset in a sad way that they're fighting their old friends.

When characters in RD know each other and have to fight, it's always respectful and/or sad. The relationships are respected in the writing - individually - and character's didn't have to be tweaked to make their situaton work.

What does this have to do with Edelgard's writing? It's the fact that characters recruited onto CF treat the war they're fighting on the side of to be the correct side in a way that tells the player "you are the good guys". Now why is that a problem? Because the intent was originally to make Edelgard a villain.

Instead of going through with it, they made it so every character you recruit (including characters who spent their entire lives prior to the war living in the lands they are now attacking and helping an aggressor army invade) didn't just become a villain along with the rest of the people on your side. They make them come off as actually justified.

I don't mean just that the characters themselves believe they are personally justified, but that the narrative itself tries to tell you yes, they are actually justified... even though we're trying to also tell you that these are the villains you're with. The narrative itself pushes against itself, framing you as being in the right, and always pushing characters to be sad about fighting Edelgard regardless of her actions.

While Dimitri has the back and forth in the second half of AM about how he feels about fighting her, he's the only character who has a justifiable reason to feel so conflicted. The narrative is always pushing how sad it is that you have to fight her outside of just Dimitri's feelings. They take it a step further in Hopes, when Edelgard basically has a harem of people obsessed with her and praises her for all she does, never telling her when she's gone too far.

Compare this to Micaiah, who Soren claims is seen as a goddess by her followers. She has the love of many people, including playable characters, who openly doubt her and her actions (specifically in part 3) - repeatedly. Micaiah is not a villain and is not written to be. Characters push against her for answers and reasons (including Sothe, who is basically the Hubert to Edelgard), leaving her in awkward positions where all she can say is that she believes in her king, because the truth is, she has no other answer.

Houses' narrative keeps trying to insist that Edelgard is justified and heroic, while constantly having her lie to the other characters/not answer their questions or concerns, ally with the other villains, invade innocent and neutral lands, conscript civilians, admit to sacrificing her own civilians for her own personal selfish goals (so sacrificing random innocent civilians just going about their daily lives who have nothing to do with her), consider all lands not ruled by her to be beneath her, victim blame anyone who fights back against her, and... the list. Goes. On.

As a character she had potential to be a great villain whose side of the story you could actually play, but for whatever reason the writers just... didn't go through with it. Whether it was for marketing, because they didn't really know what they wanted to do ultimately, felt that you shouldn't be able to marry a villain and didn't want to remove the option to marry her, who knows. It just remains that the story went in wildly different directions and ended up with people having different perceptions of Edelgard because of it.

And if anyone says "but you hate Edelgard so of course you would say all this!", I'm gonna respond to them with a picture of Ashnard and that's it. :)

Also, I hate Micaiah (and will admit she's not the villain) and have for many, many years (looong before Edelgard was even a thought in IS' mind)... but Edelgard's existence has lessened that hate somewhat slightly because of how awful her character is. I don't mean that in a love to hate way either - I mean that treating her atrocious behavior and actions as good and heroic is disgusting and abhorrent to me.

There are extremely, extremely, extremely few characters in the entire overall franchise I truly hate with a visceral hate that goes beyond "ugh they're so annoying". Of those characters, most of them are just well written villains and not characters I hate the stories of (Valtome comes to mind, but he's a very unfortunate case of evil queer villain stereotype. May not have actually been an intentional dig at queer people from IS though and may have actually been a harmless whoopsie (especially given how RD has, iirc, the first trans character in the franchise, which the localization sneakily completely cut out from its existence. Nowadays we have Rosado for queer rep, so that points a little bit more to Valtome being a big whoopsie-we-didn't-mean-it-that-way. Lekain also comes to mind, who at least isn't a big oopsie).

So no, I don't just hate Edelgard for the sake of hating her. I hate her because the narrative evidently couldn't handle her, or the fact that she was a female lead and a villain. Considering that, that's why I wanted to make this analysis - to list off the reasons that I find that the writing failed her as a character. That writing is how my feelings came to be what they are.

She wasn't allowed to be her own character and own it. Ashnard was allowed to be his own character and own it. I don't agree with Ashnard and his world would be shit to live in lol. He's an interesting and amazingly handled character though, and I absolutely love him for what he is.

I love Tellius because of how authentic the writing feels. How real, true and emotional it feels. Both its games don't shy away from putting their leads on the spot. It tackles difficult subjects and it handles them spectacularly. Characters are put into certain situations where they react as you would expect them to, thus not manipulating things here and there just to make a situation fit and work that normally shouldn't.

Yes, I am absolutely fucking telling you that Sylvain would never lay a hand on Dimitri, Felix or Ingrid that wasn't a bro hand or a flirt hand. He is their awkward flirting bro and he would not kill them. Thanks Hopes btw for fixing the recruitment issue and making almost none of the Lions able to defect - because they wouldn't based on who they are and instead of staying true to that in Houses, they changed those things just to fit the mechanic of recruitment instead of limiting who you could recruit to make sense with the characters.

Anyway, I think I'm done with this absolutely ridiculously insanely gigantically huge giant analysis that took three massively enormous parts to finish. Hopefully I don't think or anything else to add.

If you made it this far, you are the good shit.

[becausebuckley]

michelle's buddie fic recs: week 51!

almost the last fic rec list of the year, can you believe it? like last week, i haven't cross-referenced this list with previous ones, so apologies for any potential double recs!

this is a mix of fics with all ratings, so some include NSFW content. please take a look at both the ratings and the fic tags before reading! some might also contain spoilers for season 8.

if you come across something you like in this list, remember to show some love to the author by leaving kudos and a comment!

before the night fades | MilenaDaniels/@milenadaniels| 8.6k | T

EddieAna and BuckTaylor double date and it ruins everyone's night. this fic is one of my favourite outsider povs ever! it does such a wonderful job of capturing our 911 characters as well as fleshing out a lovely cast of ocs <3

chicken alfredo | EiraLloyd/@unlifeira | 4.6k | T

when Helena laughs at the idea that her son is now able to cook well, Buck ropes Eddie into proving her otherwise. this captures the buddie dynamic so so well <3 also made me hungry lol

do you want me (or do you want me dead) | carpediaz/@sofa-king-lame | 2.3k | T

The one where Buck finds out Eddie wears reading glasses and loses his fucking mind over them, and Eddie knows exactly what he's doing. eddie in reading glasses is a VISION holy shit buck is so relatable in this. i love the silly fun!!

emails i can't send | heartbeatdiaz/@lonelychicago | 6k | T

buck should've known better than to let his email account open and then give his computer to a toddler to play with. i love love love the formatting of this one, with the emails and everything <3 so so good!! they're just french angelfish <3

i took a little journey to the unknown | 42hrb/@exhuastedpigeon | 4.3k | T

“I-it’s okay, you don’t have to talk,” Buck says and the comforting warmth is back on Eddie’s hand. The only thought that rings clearly through his head is that Buck’s hand is safe. Buck is going to keep him safe. “Just - can you squeeze my hand if you’re awake?” this is just such a lovely fic. i love the character study elements and the hand holding and just <3

in the dark (with the stars) | tawaifeddiediaz/@aashiqeddiediaz | 13k | M

Eddie’s relationship with food, anxiety and cooking, as told through the past and present. eddie's relationship with food in both canon and fanon is absolutely fascinating to me. i loved this take on it so much <3

last first kiss | songbvrd/@songbvrd | 3.4k | GA

Buck tries to say goodbye. Eddie isn't ready. frankly i think the best promo i can give this fic is exactly what i said in my comment here, which is "tim minear better be taking notes" because wow it's just that good <3

lucky boy | serenelystrange/@serenelystrange | 1.9k | T

In which Buck and Eddie are so bad at being in a secret relationship, but instead of show-typical angst, fluff! secret relationship buddie, the gift that keeps on giving <3 exactly the fic i needed on a cold early bus ride this week!!

platonic co-parents don't kiss like we do | thelikesofus/@thelikesofus | 7.1k | M

5 times other people see Buck and Eddie kiss + 1 time they really mean it. i love love love all these different types of kisses <3 the loveliest buddie fic from the perspective of the firefam!!

take what the water gave me | Daisies_and_Briars/@cal-daisies-and-briars | 20.7k | M

New transfer to the 118, Eddie Diaz, has a secret. And upon getting to know his coworker, Buck, who is also hiding something, he begins to suspect their secret is the same. He's wrong. i've been devouring every little snippet of this fic i've seen on tumblr and i was so so excited to see the full thing land in my inbox! and wow did it not disappoint. such great worldbuilding and such a fantastic characterisation of eddie <3

the bunkroom fic | exvichan | 11.5k | T

The Station 118 bunkroom has witnessed a lot over the years. Private conversations, spats, occasions of affection, joy, and anguish. It’s seen pranks, and games, and camaraderie. It’s even been privy to an unfolding love story or two. It holds the memory of each of these moments. the 118 bunkroom my beloved <3 i love these little moments so much, especially the conversations between the firefam!!

the wayward son | brewrosemilk/@gayhoediaz | 56.9k | E

Eddie misses his son, grows a mustache, pines after his best friend, and becomes a regular at a gay sex club. That last part is either an indulgence or an inevitable, somewhat self-destructive conclusion to several decades worth of compulsory heterosexuality and catholic guilt. Don’t ask him which. i can't even capture the vibe of this fic in just a few lines but holy shit is it brilliant. the most incredibly writing, great characterisation, and also just very hot stuff. an immediate bookmark and new favourite!

[brokenlovesong]

The JPC Darrel analysis I promised

Alright guys same deal as the last with just as much chaos. Sorry this took three years

Anyways. JPC DARREL LETS GET INTO IT

So he plays the youngest Darrel, no doubt. He’s tall but much smaller both physically and the way he portrays himself on stage. Using this he really plays into it. He’s a much less angry Darrel, more tied than anything else.

I think runs in the family reprise is where his version of Darrel really shines. He plays it very differently from Brent, Victor, or even Dan. He’s just so tired of it all. He doesn’t even start yelling until the end once pony has pushed him to his brink. When he sits down during the “you don’t tell me when you’re coming home lately” line it’s much less confrontational. He’s trying to stay calm and reason with his brother. It’s not until the “tired of lifting you up” part that he’s finally losing control and breaking. That’s the first time I think I genuinely saw him angry and even then he’s consciously trying to reign himself in but pony keeps pushing. And dude he YELLS “You have no idea what I give up for you” and because he didnt spend the song nearly as angry as like Brent does, that scared me so much because he just snapped.

I wanna talk about the scene between Darrel and dally because that scene was done in a way I’ve never seen it before by both Jpc and Josh Boone. Jpc is a much less physically intimidating Darrel. Especially compared to Josh Boone. That was taken into account by both of them which I have to give so much praise for because they did such a wonderful job. Darrel went in thinking he could push dally into revealing. He clearly had no intent to fight him. He was taunting him. But let me tell you dally knew how to play Darrel like a fiddle. He knew exactly what buttons to push in a way Darrel couldn’t. While he normally yells half that scene, dally didn’t raise his voice ONCE. He was even SMILING at the end because he wanted Darrel to swing at him. Dally loves fights and he knows he could easily win against jpc Darrel. So he played him. Decided to see how far he could push because if Darrel swung he could easily take him. Absolutely fantastic scene and lemme tell you Josh Boone calmly speaking the last bit of the scene with a smile? ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING

Now throwing in the towel. So jpc flubbed the first part and bro I’ve never been more stressed (probably not as stressed as him tho LMAO) but he managed to keep it together which I give him so much credit for. He took his anxiety and stress and used that as a focus for his acting the rest of the scene. Other actors usually play this scene as very defeated. But he was much more anxious about pony and what’s to come next. And tbh this is the most in it I’ve ever seen Jason. Now I love Jason but I have found his acting style to be more passive then I’d like in some scenes (JUST MY OPINION PLEASE DONT ATTACK ME) I think because of what happened to jpc not only was he soda trying to comfort Darrel, I saw Jason trying to comfort jpc and it made the scene so much more beautiful and strong.

Overall, jpc Darrel is wonderful. My only main issue is that I felt like he read too similar in age to Brody as ponyboy and frankly Jason read older than him. Nothing to do with his acting. Jpc is an incredible actor. But I just feel like with the cast the way they are, while he reads as Darrel’s actual age, much of the cast reads older than their characters and so this does affect how he’s seen.

I did see him as soda too, with Dan darry, and I thought he was literally like who I envisioned soda to be when I read the book. Like he gave such soda energy it was incredible

[neyafromfrance95]

Can I just say I kind of feel sorry for the writers because you can tell they conceived the show as revolving around Haladriel and they really don’t want to deal with the Celeborn issue so they play lip service while writing something completely different lol.

To be fair though Tolkien himself wasn’t interested in him or him and Galadriel as a pairing especially when you compare how he writes his epic romances. It really feels like he was put there so we can get Arwen pretty much. And then she leaves without him to Valinor while he’s left mourning her which 🤣.

But yeah as far as the show goes if they didn’t want fans to see Haladriel as romantic they would have shown her grieving Celeborn…instead of falling in love with her arch enemy. This is just my opinion though but you can’t say how much she loves and grieves Celeborn while showing the complete opposite on the show. There was a way to center the relationship between her and Sauron without it being framed as romantic/soulmates but they didn’t which tells you everything you need to know.

exactly!

even before trop, it has been believed that the only reason tolkien wrote celeb0rn was to somehow connect galadriel to arwen and elrond.

the initial plan was for gal to marry elrond, but tolkien wanted galadriel to be the leader in her own right (it is her main defining trait) and keep doing her own thing. he did not want her to be defined by her husband/child. if she was married to elrond, she would be known as elrond's wife/arwen's mother first. so he gave her a npc family in the background instead.

but even then, i'd say her relationship with elrond is still more important in the books. and in the movies, she even seems closer to gandalf, lmao. so i'd say it would be better to focus on her relationship with elrond and establish her friendship with gandalf rather than introduce a new love interest (bc yeah, even if it's not explicitly romantic, haladriel is romantically framed).

btw, don't even get me started about how everyone seems to forget about finrod??? the one galadriel misses, the real "third" between her and sauron, her "guiding light" IS FINROD! nenya symbolizes galadriel's desire for power = sauron and galadriel's light/wisdom she got from finrod! nenya was made by sauron's design and using finrod's dagger! it's like sauron and finrod's battle continues within galadriel.

i don't dislike celeb0rn, but i think it's crazy that he was created so that galadriel can't be reduced to the domestic role and yet certain segments of the fandom do that anyways - reduce her to being her npc family's wife/mother in the show that intends to explore other aspects of her story and identity!

and idk man, but i feel like tolkien must have had some ideas for sauron and galadriel. "he gropes ever to see me and my thought" feels very significant. and they mirror each other in several ways as well.

trop does a fantastic job at giving this dynamic context. galadriel's greatest desire is to possess power, sauron's greatest desire is to posses the light. it makes sense for them to have a push-pull dynamic that's both intimate and cosmic in its' essence. the perfect way to expand on all the little details connecting sauron and galadriel in the lore. and it's just a fascinating story on its' own!

it would be such a waste to discard this dynamic for the sake of introducing the character that was never supposed to be that important. especially considering that the writers seem to have the show conceived with haladriel as its' core in their minds.

[lyrisnightblood]

Dear "lovely" "canon Jiang Cheng Stans",

I see what you're doing here. I can see y'all talk about "book meta" and "writing Jiang Cheng as canonically accurate" and you know what?

Y'all are doing a fantastic job, keep it up 😍🎉

Yeah really! I mean it!

Y'all are doing a fantastic job showcasing just how utterly pathetic y'all are, how chronically online y'all are, and most importantly, y'all are doing a marvellous job showcasing your hate boner for a fictional character you claim to hate and is an "antagonist".

Keep up the lovely work y'all, show the world how you lack an ounce of reading comprehension, you booktok obsessed peeps!

And while you're at it, let me go spittin' facts, straight from the book.

Jiang Yanli is dead. End of the story. You can fantasize to your heart's content about how "she'll react to JC raising her son" and get your pants in a twist about all the bad things she'll supposedly say, but that's just it. You can only imagine it.

You know why?

Hmm idk cos she's fucking dead and no one knows what the dead wants?

This is exactly like "Don't do this your mother wouldn't have wanted this of you" "don't talk like you know my mother she's dead and i don't know what she wanted cos she's dead"

Well

I should've expected such callous behaviour from antis 🤷

Admit it, y'all wanted Wei Wuxian to raise Jin Ling huh? C'mon, don't be shy🥰 you can say that

Except your fave never could've raised Jin Ling cos 1) as if the Jin Sect would let their Sect heir be raised by the jianghu's most wanted person (Gasp, "wEi wUxIaN sLaNdEr" love check your books even wwx acknowledges that fact lolll) and 2) how tf could a dead man, no less a man who's soul got ripped into shards, take care of a baby?

"but Jin Guangyao was a better parental figure, and an actual parent"

Yeah, a parent who killed his own child cos he was worried about his reputation (I can already smell y'all coming at me to defend him like chill, I only said the truth, and yes, man was more worried about people knowing he married his sister and losing position than the life of his own son, just because he loved Rusong didn't change the fact that he was ready to go to the extreme). Not to mention how Jin Guangyao held a string to his own nephew's neck and threatened to kill him to save his skin while it was Jiang Cheng who begged him to let Jin Ling go

Betcha Jiang Yanli's ghost is watching the scene while sipping tea and praising Jin Guangyao huh

"but one of Jin Zixuan's cousin-"

Jin Zixun is dead. And is a truly despicable person. Or did you forget how he insulted Wei Wuxian left and right?

Oh wait. Of course you forgot, "criticizing" Jiang Cheng takes precedence! My bad, i should've known!

Let me stop y'all before you say "Jin Guangshan". You must be the utterly worst person in the planet to want a known womanizer and child abuser and rapist to raise a child. IDC Jin Guangshan is related to Jin Ling. Y'all just want a known abuser and sexual predator to raise Jin Ling just say you don't give two cents about the poor boy except when you want to hate on Jiang Cheng 🙄

"what about Jin Furen"

Yeah what about her? Or did you forget how she canonically had a role to play in Jin Ling's upbringing?

Who do you think is responsible for Jin Ling spending half a year in Lotus Pier? Certainly not Jin Guangyao!

If there was one person in the Jin Sect who could have enough sway to ensure that her own grandson is spending a significant amount of time in another sect, it's Jin Furen.

Three guesses why she did that?

Lol you actually thought I'd wait for your guess? LMFAOOOOO you're so cute 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

She did that because Jin Furen cared for A-Li and - wait for it - A-Cheng!!!

Reread the books if you missed it, mmkay?

She was fond of Yu Ziyuan, and by extension her children, and post-SSC, she offered to support both of them on multiple occasions (which they declined because any political support from Jin Sect would've come with strings attached cos JGS😑)

Establishing the fact that Jin Furen cared for Jiang Cheng, she had agreed to Jin Ling spending half his time in Lotus Pier because she sensed that he was all Jiang Cheng had left, and vice versa.

Y'all also have utterly forgotten about the cruel way Jin Ling's paternal cousins have bullied him for being an orphan. Like, Koi Tower is supposed to be his home, and he was bullied to the point where Lotus Pier became his sanctuary.

"AHA! GOTCHA! QIN SU SHOULD'VE RAISED HIM!"

Laughing My Fricking Ass Off TM

My man Qin Su was RIGHT THERE! No one was stopping her from raising Jin Ling! She could've been the maternal figure Jin Ling needed! And no one would have questioned it, it was actually expected for that timeline.

Except.... Did she? Did she do anything to make Jin Ling feel loved? Has Jin Ling ever talked about his aunt the same way he talks about his uncles? Apart from the respect that he gives to her as his paternal uncle's wife, does Jin Ling refer to her fondly? Even once?

"Alright, your point?"

Why thank you for asking 💗😌

My point is that Jiang Cheng is canonically the best guardian for Jin Ling, and this conclusion comes AFTER analysing every other candidate.

And you know what?

I am absolutely right🎉💗🌸😻

Evidence?

Exhibit A: Jiang Cheng accompanying Jin Ling's nighthunt to look out for him but also keeps himself at a distance so that Jin Ling actually participates in the nighthunt

Exhibit B: Letting Fairy enter Lotus Pier despite the strict dog ban (which he had adhered to even after wwx died)

Exhibit C: Jin Ling never once flinches or looks scared when Jiang Cheng shows his temper and says "I'll break your legs", he knows his jiujiu is all bark but would never hurt him

Exhibit D: "how dare you hit me? Even my jiujiu had never hit me!" - Jin Ling to Wei Wuxian (who btw oh so casually hits Jin Ling as if it's a normal thing to hit a child💀)

Exhibit E: "A-Ling! Who made you cry?" - Jiang Cheng when he saw a crying Jin Ling. No admonishment. No Judgement. And certainly no anger directed at Jin Ling.

Exhibit F: Jin Ling being unafraid to cry in front of his jiujiu, he knows he won't be judged.

Exhibit G: Jiang Cheng saving Jin Ling on multiple occasions.

Exhibit H: Jiang Cheng begging Jin Guangyao to take him hostage and release Jin Ling, without hesitation, despite his spiritual energy being locked and being stabbed in the chest.

I could go on and on and on but unlike you lovely people who have no hobby other than slandering Jiang Cheng, I have TONS.

And also a life.

So, go fantasize about your Jiang Cheng hate boner elsewhere. I see your pathetic attempt at taking over the Canon Jiang Cheng tag and it ain't working.

Ciao 🤟

[dr9com9ge-ix]

Were there any ideas that you considered for your Sprunki AU before scrapping it at the last minute?

So alot of Sunshine suburbia is like- Being developed still! So “Last minute” isn’t really that… Applicable? I’ll just list a bunch of things I remember changing. (Also the delays and inactivity isn’t a loss of interest- Its more so I’ve grown a bit busier with having a job for a moment!— Also headaches ow)

- Most of the character bios (aka the initial design posts) on this account are technically outdated compared to the sprunkisunshinesuburbia blog’s, especially like… A bunch of designs (I stare at OWACKX/Oz’s old design and shudder…)

And like portions like “Raddy was a bounty hunter” etc- Aka don’t really take too much of the info of those posts as canon to the au.

- Deciding all sprunkis have tails of some sort, For mostly just “Tails are cool. This makes them more interesting silhouette-wise” and like it makes me happy they’re a little less ‘ just a colorful human’ and more ‘Colorful critter!” This especially applied to Jevin who uh… I was almost gonna leave as is but people kept making bald jokes and I was getting a little annoyed.

Actually not a little! Very annoyed. But the current design I made is like… My favorite now so at least the bald jokes made something good happen! (I also REALLY didn’t wanna give him poofy emo boy hair I’ve seen alot because like… Idk I just did not think it fit him for whatever reason and also I think he should be allowed to be a little bald… as a treat.)

- During christmas, My friend Mira gave me the design for Luxia, The Lighthouse creature so she and some more characters got incorporated into the story. Initially the town was only going to have Glowe and Therman as sort of duo running the town but then it became 4 people when I made Syno and Nymn aka the Lighthouse keepers. (Wonderful Art below by @knightmira )

- Also making Glowe and Therman a biiit older than like late twenties— They where formerly like 20+ but I went “That’s a little young to be founding an ENTIRE town” so I tacked on a decade. I also think people should be less scared of making characters older than 20 or something.

- Making Tunner actually have a horse- Its now a weird critter thats horse-like but not a horse! It’s called a honse! (Very different I know but I think it’s funny and it stuck) A bunch of the critter designs (Including Honses and Blinkers) are by my pal Aqua! Also the doodle below is of Tunner’s Honse, Cornbread! Possibly from an earlier period… She’s an ol’ girl. She’d be alot scruffier but he takes good care of her.

- Having like… “Normal” animals. I’m a big proponent of “I could do MORE with the world building!!! There’s NO way critters on Cacophony would be exactly the same as earth animals!!!!!” so like— Making equivalents/counterparts for certain animals! Like cats- I’m telling you now that they’re called “Meows” in this solely because I think sprunkis would call alot of animals after their sounds. (Not all- But like some of em)

- Similar to the animals- Some plants are more fantastical. I say this specifically because like. In Vineria’s old bio on this blog that she smokes weed- It’s actually Sprunknip now! It’s a bit siller- Works like weed and catnip to sprunkis!

- Sky’s age- I actually for awhile thought he was 15 but actually he’s 14. This one is literally just me forgetting and then remembering.

I think! That’s about it? Idk what else to put here!

[whetstonefires]

I was really enjoying the recent 'Amanda Waller vs the Entire DCU' Justice League storyline, because Waller is one of my favorites and this story just kind of pulled out all the stops on her.

Sad her Brainiac Queen Oracle-bot 'daughter' didn't get a longer run; kind of like Slade Wilson the fact that Waller is a middle-aged parent who has not done any actual parenting for a long time informs her character in fun ways imo, so the superbot calling her 'mother' was great. Waller is so much fun, and very like with Lex Luthor it's always a delicate balance between letting her be cool and letting her eat absolute scenery. (Before inevitably eating floor.)

Her premise is very much like. What if Batman was just some guy, where 'guy' is gender neutral, and the terms are set that by 'just some guy' we don't mean sane and normal, we mean not in a position to become a fulltime superninja.

Her chosen weapon instead is bureaucracy.

Her backstory, which as far as I know is still current, is she was a normal middle-class citizen whose husband and one of her kids went out one evening and got shot to death in a Random Gun Crime.

To which she responded by going back to school, getting a doctorate in Political Science, and seeking employment with the federal government. Because this trauma led her to crave access to power.

(Because she spends so much time mixed up in questionable scientific research etc you'd think her 'Doctor Waller' was because she's in STEM, but no. Polisci.)

Also more like a normal person and less like Batman, she is not particularly hung up on protecting other people from suffering the way she did, except on the most abstract level where if the world is reordered to her schema, this will stop the Bad Things.

I love this. I love how much of a brass-bound bitch she is. How impossible she is to intimidate or convince to look 'up' to anyone ever. Every time we get to see Waller up against some objectively more powerful baddie and she cleans their clock or just ruins their day I am hooting and hollering. She's fantastic.

But. Just like with Lex Luthor, it is very important that she also sucks. She's selfish. She overreaches herself. Her plans get the people who trust her killed; she cannot resist taking advantage of her position for personal advancement--never anything as trite as embezzlement, either, it's always about power.

She has taken the Suicide Squad down with her so many times and yet she keeps getting appointed to head it up again because she Has Experience (and other people who try to do the job tend to rapidly get eaten by a sharkman or whatever), which is not exactly realistic but it's an exaggerated parody of how management positions do tend to work, so it feels believable.

She has so much contempt for supervillains, and yet whenever it comes down to the punch she falls into the lure of that same megalomania, and then things blow up in her face.

Is there something distinctly Problematic about the character whose destiny is to be repeatedly destroyed by her own hubris in seeking access to specifically institutional power a black woman? Little bit, yeah. But it also works so fucking well specifically because her lack of perspective about when she's gone too far becomes so much more sympathetic, when you know just from looking at her how many bullshit barriers she had to burst through to get where she is.

Anyway I always get excited when she's in things.

[dreadpiratesilas]

Every once in a while I encounter some random weirdo on the internet who likes the Brotherhood of Steel and/or Arthur Maxson for all the wrong reasons.

Now from a storytelling standpoint, the BoS is probably my favorite faction. I think Arthur Maxson is a very compelling and fascinating character who I hope Bethesda does more with in future games.

I find them fascinating as an American who never sees any criticism of the US military in fiction. All of our movies, shows, and video games venerate the military industrial complex. Even before Trump was elected, you literally couldn’t criticize the military in any meaningful way. Not if you wanted access to military equipment for the movie shoot or to not be boycotted. That’s why all of our war movies play like glorified recruitment ads.

Science fiction and fantasy are great because they give us other means to explore ideas that maybe aren’t socially acceptable to criticize directly by using stand-ins.

The Brotherhood of Steel is a fantastic stand-in for the US military (in fact it literally descended from it). It makes a great vehicle for critiquing the military and our culture around it.

Whether it was on purpose or accident, I think the transition of the Brotherhood from Fallout 3 to 4 was kind of brilliant.

My first Fallout game was Fallout 3. I knew nothing about the game so it was really easy to put myself in a vault dweller’s shoes. I was isolated from the world and had the notion that the USA were the “good guys” drilled into my head over and over. Even if I didn’t believe it, it still seeped into my psyche and I would find myself falling for pro-military propaganda even if I didn’t like what we were doing with our own military.

It’s easy to side with the BoS in FO3 and think you’re siding with the good guys from that perspective.

Then Fallout 4 comes along. I first ran into Paladin Danse (my favorite companion). At that point nothing seems too terribly amiss. It’s just “oh cool, I remember you guys, sure I’ll join”.

Then you get to witness them literally invade the Commonwealth at the end of Act 1. Maybe it doesn’t register as an invasion. Maybe you’re just taking in the impressive sight of the Prydwen and all of the vertibirds immediately upon exiting Fort Hagen and it just doesn’t register that it is an invasion.

It wasn’t until I got aboard the Prydwen and I listened to what everyone was saying that I realized “oh shit I just joined a fascist organization on accident”.

I think Bethesda did a great job of illustrating not only how groups evolve, but how easy it is to fall into those ideas if you get caught up in rhetoric and follow a charismatic leader without critical thought.

I myself fell for it at first.

When I say my favorite faction is the BoS, it isn’t the ideology that draws me to it (I much prefer the Minutemen or the Railroad). It’s because it challenged me to think harder about what factions I choose and what exactly it was that drew me to it in the first place.

What weirds me out are the people who take Maxson and the Brotherhood at face value and think they’re right.

The BoS are not the good guys. Arthur Maxson is not a good guy. At their core, they’re not much different than the Institute. Shaun is just Maxson without the charisma.

A BoS ending in Fallout 4 gives very “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” vibes. Sure they defeat the Institute. But now the people of the Commonwealth have to deal with this invading military occupying the wasteland that loots everyone of resources and tech and doesn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon.

Yeah that definitely doesn’t sound like the US military at all.

[dovahkiin796]

Dead by Daylight x Five Nights at Freddy's

The highly anticipated and most recommended crossover has finally happened! Springtrap steps into the fog of Dead by Daylight to forever jumpscare the helpless survivors for all of eternity.

This is truly a dream come true for the FNAF fans. For years we have requested for Springtrap to be added to game as he fits the environment and tone. To those who said he doesn't, you don't know the lore at all and are just hating just to hate and I laugh at how stupid you all must feel that he got added in. A win for the franchise my friend and I will say.

Speaking of, we both were blown away by the announcement of the crossover almost a year ago. Despite saying we wish it could happen. We (at the time) accepted it wouldn't happen. But man, were our minds blown at seeing the announcement. I know they were excited as Springtrap is their favorite character in the whole franchise.

Now to move on to what else was mentioned in the second part of the 9th Anniversary of DbD

Get a much closer look at the Yellow Rabbit skin. I'll say they did an amazing job getting the look right and of course, getting the handsome face of Matthew Lillard right. I'm honestly eager to hear the voice lines Matthew Lillard recorded for this skin. I like the one detail of the suit where Mr. Cupcake took a bite out of it. Letting us know when exactly Movie-Afton was taken into The Realm.

But damn does the suit make him look massive! I know in real life Matthew stands around six feet in height. However, he doesn't have the size the suit gives him. I wonder if I'm misremembering that and should go back and watch the part of the movie where he comes in wearing the Yellow Rabbit costume.

I'm curious how the jumpscare animations are going to look with this skin. I'm kinda hoping they look goofy. X3

Glitchtrap being a skin for Springtrap is really surprising! I truly thought he wouldn't be added because he debuted in Help Wanted, a game published by Steel Wool. Technically making him a co-owned character despite it being obvious he came from Scott Cawthon's head.

Regardless, I'm happy to see Glitchtrap get some more love beyond the Help Wanted games. I wouldn't exactly say he would be the most scary skin to be chased by. But definitely the most disturbing.

Like with the Yellow Rabbit skin, I'm curious how this skin will work with the jumpscares.

This was a skin that everyone expected. Albeit people saw it as a Legendary skin for The Clown killer. I was honestly surprised by this skin because of the weirdness surrounding Special Delivery and the skins it introduced. But I'm guessing since Illumix shutting down all the skin rights went to Scott. Which is good if the case because I don't want those skins to be forgotten.

I can already see the fan art of Clown Springtrap and Clown being friends. X3

This is both terrifying and cool as fuck! The mask's mouth opening up to reveal the rotting corpse within the Springtrap suit and then roaring at you would be the scariest thing to ever experience. Despite what little we see of it. Whoever designed the corpse did a fantastic job. It looks both decayed and, in a sense, mummified by being encased in the rabbit suit for 30 years. Also, I don't even want to even imagine what Springtrap's breath smells like. Probably kill you on its own before the knife does. X3

Also, I think this clears up a misconception where people think William is possessing the suit and not his dead body. Honestly, what he possessed being different from what the murdered children possessed makes more sense and ties the connection to Michael Afton even more. Father and son possessed their corpses that are doomed to rot.

Plus, it better fits with the name Springtrap and as we see in the lobby and in those FNAF 3 secret images. William Afton is trying to remove the suit from himself. Wouldn't make sense for him to that if he's instead possessing the suit.

This has to be the most graphic death we have ever seen committed by a Fnaf character and it's so fitting it's done by Springtrap. The way how it is done also fits the character. Sure, it's not a springlock suit, but it's close enough and it references the first movie which is the obvious inspiration for this Mori. The victim is basically being turned into chum by this thing.

Springtrap has multiple voice lines and laughs when doing the Mori and each one is amazing. You can tell he's taking in great joy slowly killing his victim and tops it off by roaring at their dead body.

[smahell]

otaku fm sinful sounds - the disappointing reply to the fans' outcry.

this morning i wake up to a notification from the obey me! official channel - a new otaku fm episode? celebrations. fantastic. i'd been waiting ever since i saw a photo of kada and yamashita back in the iconic studio. we hadn't received a new otaku fm episode for roughly two years, and of course, when a new one is announced there's going to be expectations surrounding that. expectations that will originate from the previous seasons and episodes.

so after watching the one which came out today, i was just genuinely disappointed.

"that's it?? that's the episode?"

you might even notice that the episode doesn't stay loyal to its usual 35-45 minutes format. in fact, anime and chill had the longest episodes, and is what I'd call "peak obey me™". these episodes are half that length. and i'm expecting the newer ones to be even shorter.

sinful sounds (ss).. was never advertised to be as short as almost the otaku fm mini series with the side character's vas-

even worse? the twenty minute time frame was meant to be shorter. they went overtime.

i'd totally understand if it was labelled 'otaku fm mini - sinful sounds', but this was meant to be a return to formula. with the abundance of paid content coming from solmare recently, this was meant to be something that those without dispensable income could actually enjoy. yes, it was also stated that listening to the asmr would "make the episode that much better", but assuming that i'd enjoy it regardless is an overstatement. whether you listened to the audio drama or not, this was just a disappointing way of coercing people who don't use twitter to listen to it. and another disappointing reminder of what obey me has become.

be warned - i talk about the actual episode here. so maybe go listen to it first before reading on.

yes, hearing the voice actors come back.. of course i'd love that. that's one of the main reasons i wanted it to come back. they even acknowledge how long it's been since the last time they did, but then it goes straight into "what is ASMR??"

like.. the fanbase is full of deluded white women /j .. i think we all know what it is!!! i guess it's helpful nonetheless, but then they're like:

"let's listen to a clip!!!"

hey...what?!?

(and said clip takes up a good chunk of the episode..)

my point is.. it's not really them gisting about anything. the whole thing just feels scripted and stiff. i don't feel that liveliness that i feel from rewatching previous episodes. sure, yes, asmr is meant to be calming and relaxing.. but that's not what i think of otaku fm. they're spoonfeeding me a product like it's baby food.

it's just a 20 minute ad. really.

some could say "well duh, that was the point of otaku fm, to advertise obey me and give more fan content!!"

then tell me, genuinely. did this episode give you any fan content of the vas or character that you've either already heard before OR content that really satiated you.

let's use anime and chill as an example. the anime and chill series was made to advertise the anime, but they didn't spend all the time talking about it. and you didn't exactly need to have the money to watch the anime to enjoy the whole thing. the voice actors themselves are performers. they're used to taking the reins on a project and creating an entertaining experience, which is why even though a segment is based on asking one question, we learn so much about them on a personal level. if a radio episode can make me feel like i'm chatting with two friends, then its done its job. this episode felt like watching two unskippable ads in a row on youtube. end me.

for me it's bringing up the question - all this paid content might just turning more fans away rather than bringing more in. i'm suspecting they've ben losing money since the decline in popularity after lockdown.

it's just making me think, well, five years in the future, will obey me as a game even survive? because trust me, after this disappointing episode, i'm starting to turn to ex and bee as my lord and saviour.

this isn't a diss at the voice actors at all. they were told and paid to do this, and they've done it perfectly well. this is more at a poke at the higher up executives calling the shots for this. because it always is- /hj

think i'm the only one who hates it? read this other post from another person on youtube who's also another avid fan of the voice actors. i might be repeating one or two of their points, but i saw this before i ever listened to ss, and trust me, it was a red flag for what was to come.

again, i'm not making this post because "arghhh i hate solmare i hate the vas".. no. i'm doing this because i can see that in another universe, this new series could've been amazing. it just falls flat. and i feel like it will continue falling flat until the developers and higher-ups behind this game acknowledge the scraps and and shreds of a fanbase the game has left.. i'm disappointed.

before you even begin praise this episode, listen to every single episode featuring sumi shinya, miura ayme, and/or takuhei yamamoto, laugh your heart out, then come back to this post. and mourn what has been taken from you.

[tobiasdrake]

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy 19 - Mad Dash for the Kitchen Asuras

Here we are on Day 4. Still awaiting word that will probably never come.

Are we ready to explore the probability that we've been abandoned to fend for ourselves yet?

Also, Hiruko talks about Alexa exactly the same way my family talks about our cat.

Yeah, that's my thinking too.

Also, Miss Amemiya. Very polite of you, Ima. Darumi deserves the respect.

Ooh, good catch. If Alexa isn't here then he can't get pissy about who eats what. Though I would still have some reservations by the possibility of an enforcement mechanism of some kind. We don't know what the rules are, so eating things other than dry bread might make you explode or something if you aren't using the Infuser.

We don't know what the rules are. There is a non-zero chance that all of the food in the real world is somehow lethal to anyone who hasn't Blood Cocooned themselves and the dry bread is actually for all-a y'all's safety.

Only one way to find out. I guess Now and Then have volunteered to be our guinea pigs. If you guys explode, while try to jab your corpses with Infusers and see if that's good enough for the Revive-o-Matic.

Gaku, you work for slave wages to support a family. How is something so basic as "A rule only exists so long as it can be enforced" lost on you? Have you never had to shoplift to get by?

Now and Then have definitely had to shoplift to get by. I did not miss the part where they're orphans or some shit.

But I also would have expected better of you, Gaku. Shame on you. Go outside and steal from the pharmacy until you learn.

There you go. That's better. You know, if you're this much of a stickler for obedience to authority, I bet you aren't working a union job, huh? That might be part of your problem. You're letting the capitalists take advantage of you. If you ever see your home again, you should considering unionizing.

And stealing from corporations where needed. Learn from the orphans, Gaku. They know how to get by in this cruel, cruel world. Unless they explode.

I'd at least give Now and Then like an hour to see if something happens to them. But if y'all want to dive in now then be my guests. Since we now have the full team eating, we all get to share in whatever fate may or may not await.

To be fair, that was a staged event for shock and intimidation. I don't think Monokuma could actually summon the Spears of Gungnir wherever he wanted. He just wanted Class 78 to think he could.

Now, AI Monokuma and the Exisals, THOSE were another story.

OH WOW I FORGOT YOU WERE HERE

Full team -1 eating, I guess.

Not joining the others in making a mad dash for the kitchen Asuras?

...I kinda think that's the point, Hiruko. He gave us the tools we need to defend the school and then removed himself to a place where we can't keep pressuring him for information.

We definitely aren't going to find him, but if it makes you feel better, sure.

In any case, while they're searching the school, I have one other tutorial I need to learn about.

I mean, I'm also going to be hanging out with peeps too. Sorry, Hiruko, but I refuse to only use my time productively.

VR Training simulations are practice battles for grinding XP. Yeah, that makes sense. Much bigger and more complicated than the little battles I ran into while exploring, too.

Darumi's MVP mugshot is fantastic. 10/10.

I don't know how the level system works but it could hypothetically also be good for bringing underleveled characters up to speed. That's a problem you run into sometimes in other TRPG franchises like Fire Emblem.

Aha, here we go. This is the level-up system and--

I FUCKING KNEW IT

That WAS what the Lv.4 and MAX at the end of her two skill names meant! Hiruko's fucking near-maxed out on two separate skills while the rest of us are level 1.

She has played this game before.

Alright, while y'all look around for something we aren't going to find, I'm gonna go find out what Darumi's crying about.

Well, shit. That is a crisis. In fact, it's a bigger crisis than Sirei's vanishing because we actually have a >0% chance of success searching for it.

Why would that matter, Takumi? Even if something is cheap, it still sucks to lose it. Especially if it's something you need to use regularly. Gonna flick your nose if you think like a capitalist again.

Relatable. Sometimes you just need to let it out.

Some people's problems can't be swept under the rug by running up and declaring, "I'm your Daddy now!" Take your anti-crying propaganda somewhere else, Takumi.

[amber-angel]

Okay! I saw Les Mis performed by the current US cast with my roommate a few days ago, and I wanted to share some of the details that I liked (this is going to be long). Some of these I wrote down during intermission, some are things I remembered after, so some stuff is a little less specific. Also this will be two parts

PETIT GERVAIS! I gasped at this part, such a good detail to include

Valjean can SING, that high note on "24601" during Who Am I was incredible, the breath control is evident. His RANGE

Fantine's voice was amazing. I Dreamed a Dream was so good, and Haley Dortch owned that stage. Every song that had Fantine was a good song, and I had tears in my eyes during her death scene

Lovely Ladies was beautiful, the woman in the red dress has a pretty voice and the staging worked really well

I think there was a detail during the scene between Fantine and the guy who tries to get her arrested that I liked, something about the way Haley Dortch sang it, but I can't remember it exactly, sorry

I loved Valjean's "my race is not yet run" (he did a vocal run) during the confrontation, and his harmony with Javert was so satisfying

Little Cosette was so good, loved the detail of little Eponine mocking her melody and that the Thenardiers harmonized with her as Valjean walked her back, I don't think I've seen that done before, and it worked really well

Thenardier saying something (I didn't catch it, I think it was "die"? Not their fault, I'm hard of hearing) to Cosette and her just going limp was hilarious

Valjean and Cosette bowing to each other and dancing was adorable

Madame Thenardier has great comedic chops, loved her bits, especially in Master of the House. And of course Thenardier himself was hugely entertaining

ENJOLRAS

SIR

HE CAN SING. I can't even describe it better than that. Devin Archer teach me your secrets please

Kyle Adams hi. The way he plays Grantaire feels so real. There was a lot of coat swooshing and looking at Enjolras. The amount of tiny details and things that just he was doing makes me want to have this show with this cast imprinted in my mind so I can rewind and watch every person on stage individually

There will be more Grantaire details in part 2 (he's one of my favorite characters, so I did pay attention to him more)

Marius was great, his little "tease..." when Eponine threw his book was funny and endearing. Jake David Smith had some really good moments where he turned lines into a funny bit ("I'm doing everything all wrong") or a moment to make the audience connect with the character

Sometimes it can come across like Marius doesn't actually care all that much about Eponine, but Jake David Smith and Mya Rena Hunter did a fantastic job of showing real affection towards each other. All the props to them

I love, love, love the character details, the fact that they're evident in the performances says so much about this incredible cast

Also the set design was absolutely perfect, One Day More with Valjean in one balcony and the Thenardiers in the other looked amazing. I loved how much even the pieces that are usually just backdrop or setting were used in the staging

Also also the costumes were beautiful. I especially liked Cosette's dress and the outfits for the wedding

My roommate liked Javert's hat a lot

[oneatlatime]

The Earth King

As always, commentary off.

No. Sokka. No. Stop. This is your stupidest idea yet. I want to LEAVE Ba Sing Se.

Sokka. Listen to your sister. And your other sister.

Toph embodying my will manifested on screen.

What makes you think the Earth King is going to listen to four teens and their fluffy dog? When I put it that way, this is Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo plus Momo. Does that make Momo Scrappy Doo?

We're going back to Ba Sing Se. Great. Yay. I'm so excited.

It is rapidly becoming apparent that Sokka has lost his mind.

Surface to air rocks is funny. I'll give it to them, that's good.

This fight scene music is fantastic.

Aang took a level in badass at some point without my noticing.

I know these hats are inspired by real historical hats, and so I really shouldn't make fun, but these look like the lovechild of a toilet brush and a feather duster.

This fight is majority Toph and Katara. RIP the egos of these several hundred Earth Kingdom soldiers.

Please ensure your fluffy little butt is securely stored in the overhead bins before takeoff.

There's no way these guys are still alive. This is what was done to Jet, doubled. They dead.

The girl who doesn't even want to be here is doing all the work. Typical.

My congratulations to Toph, Katara, and Aang for demolishing an army without breaking a sweat. If only season 1 Katara could see you guys now.

I said in my previous write up that Zuko doing something good always comes back to bite him. I didn't mean it this literally. Did he have to take the jug out with him, or was that for the drama?

Good job guys!

Soka steals my job and points out the fulfillment of the Beat Up Sokka quota.

His earthiness has an interesting set of priorities.

So... is this episode just going to be talking?

He brainwashed your friend? Did you miss that he killed him too?

I said in my last write up that Long Feng was Avatar's first competent villain, but the tone he takes with the Earth King is so unsubtle that I'm thinking of rescinding that claim. Unless the King is so dumb that subtlety isn't required?

Toothprints. Sokka the idea guy coming in clutch. Too bad his brain wasn't engaged at the start of the episode.

Appa is a herbivore. Confirmed. Although he should have fangs for aesthetic reasons. Fanged Appa would be metal.

This king is a confusing mixture of endearing and infuriating.

No mere fever will prevent me from doing mundane actions in the most dramatic way possible!

Way back in the 90s there was a print ad for Chevy trucks that I remember seeing in magazines. It had a shirtless guy in jeans sitting on the bed of his truck in a field, pouring a bucket of water over himself. It was kind of at sunset and had a very late summer vibe. I had completely forgotten about it until I saw Zuko's bucket shenanigans in this scene, at which point I was abruptly -ABRUPTLY- reminded of how much time little me spent staring at that ad.

OH MY GOD. The King doesn't know about trains!!! BLASPHEMY.

Huh. So the King isn't stupid, he's just horrifically naive.

Positive attitude Sokka is kind of frightening. I do not like.

If I told this King that I had a bunch of puppies in my windowless van, he would totally fall for it. So much about the Earth Kingdom suddenly makes sense.

That one guard is having a doozy of a day.

Did the King just show a smidge of self-awareness? Wasn't expecting that.

Who is this? I have no idea who this is. I didn't realise how integral the scar was to the character's design. Give it back.

Yikes. A bunch of shmymbolism. I suck epically at decoding shmymbolism unless it's really spoon fed to me, so I'm not even going to try to understand this dream beyond 'poor guy has a really bad fever.'

Has anyone seen the Spencer Tracy movie Father of the Bride? There's a bit where he has a dream that the floor on the way to the altar does pretty much exactly this. Hungry floors must be a common dream experience.

Pretty.

If the King is really this completely ignorant of the war, who's been directing the army?

It's pretty neat that Sokka is the spokesperson of Team Avatar, and that no one disputes that.

Aang says "there's a comet coming this summer," but I heard "comic" and I know they made tie in comics for the show, so I was like "ooh a crossover episode!"

"You're already vulnerable. The Fire Nation won't stop until the Southern Water Tribe falls. You can either sit back and wait for that to happen, or take the offensive, and give yourself a fighting chance." -Sokka's dad speaking to the men of the Southern Water Tribe, while his son listens perhaps a bit too closely.

If the King really was completely in the dark about the war, how does he even know who the General is? Did Long Feng have the power to keep the General from mentioning the war?

"Your majesty I'm General How, head of the Council of Five." "What's that?" "It's in charge of your army." "Right. And what's the army up to these days?" ... " ...I planted a lovely tomato garden this year."

I love that earthbenders don't wear shoes, and that it's culturally normal. Makes an intriguing visual contrast to their fancy duds.

I have GOT to know what Mushi the teamaker's secret file says.

Toph can't read guys.

Sokka, Katara, I get it. You miss home too. But how would anyone at all from your tribe know to send a message for you to Ba Sing Se? Last time you all touched base, you were headed to the Northern Water Tribe. And those guys sent you off to Omashu, not Ba Sing Se.

Nitpick time! Katara starts reading the text of this letter out loud before she unrolls it.

Katara's voice acting while she's reading the letter is sweet. She's so excited.

Iroh. Priorities. Tea can wait.

"Huh? What's happening?" "You huffed a bit too much cave slime under Lake Laogai. Just ride it out."

This vase is lit like a main character.

"You're going through a metamorphosis my nephew." Iroh, he's a bit too old for that talk. Hang on I just realised that Zuko went through puberty on that ship. I bet that was rough.

I don't trust this. This news is all too good.

Aang referring to them all as "the family" hurts a little bit.

It is unbearably sweet to let Sokka go see their dad while Katara helps the Earth Kingdom plan, but Katara sucks at planning. Then again, the Earth Kingdom sucks in general, so maybe having a sucky planner will be a net improvement?

Either way it's good little sister content.

But there are six Kyoshi warriors. I counted in Appa's Lost Days.

Oh they didn't

Attack hug!

Airbender Zuko is a very effective jumpscare. Don't blame him for freaking out.

You know it's bad when finding the scar intact comes as a relief.

Nope. Don't trust it.

Fuck this guy.

Long Feng even eats rocks maliciously.

Fuck these guys.

Oh they did. Fuck these guys.

Final Thoughts

And just like that, it all went to shit. Or it will.

I was braced to be annoyed by how conveniently quickly the Earth King got with the program, but it actually fits well into the rest of the episode. Instead of a thing that goes improbably well, it's the one thing that goes right in episode filled with set up for everything falling apart. That bothers me less.

This episode was actually fun. At least until the end. It was mostly talking and Zuko on a bad trip. But it was win after win for everyone but my Ba Sing Se hating self, and it's always good to see your favourites having a good day. But! I have a glimmer of hope! So long as Sokka and Aang aren't completely written out until they return to Ba Sing Se, at some point I'll get some episodes outside of the city. And I have Appa back, so things aren't too bad in the grand scheme of things. I wonder that Appa wasn't upset at having all his people back for five minutes then having them split up again.

I do not like positive thinking Sokka, and I especially don't like that I have no idea where he came from. That point wasn't set up at all. I want my baby cynic back.

If letting Appa go was enough to trigger Zuko's morality crisis to the point of physical illness, why didn't letting Aang go in The Blue Spirit, or choosing to chase after Iroh rather than the Gaang in The Winter Solstice Part 1, cause a similar illness? What is different about this time?

Toph was once again the voice of reason in this episode, or rather my personal audience insert. Although it did surprise me how excited she was to see her mom. I thought that sending bounty hunters after their own daughter was kind of unforgivable, but either Toph doesn't know, or she's a more forgiving person than I am.

I realise now that this should have occurred to me when I watched Appa's Lost Days, but what idiot didn't take the Danger Ladies into custody when the Drill was stopped? btw I keep calling them the PowerPuff Girls in my head.

This episode was simultaneously a finale to a lot of threads and an introduction to a lot more. It was a chance to breathe between crossing the finish line of the 'find Appa' quest and starting the 'season finale' quest. It was also structured backwards. The big fight was like six minutes in. The 'what are we doing this episode?' was one of the last scenes. But it still works. I'll be interested to see what I think of this one when I rewatch it. It was such an info dump that I wonder if my opinion of it will be different once I watch it with all of the relevant facts known to me already. Either I'll appreciate the episode's other parts like the comedy, or I'll be bored. We'll see.

Two episodes left this season! I don't think I'll be getting to those before next year. See you all in 2024! (time needs to slow way down)

[darcytaylor]

My thoughts on Season 3 of Bridgerton

I have been trying to word exactly how I feel about Season 3 of Bridgerton.

From reading what other people have said it seems like there are mixed reviews.

I will say this right now - I really did enjoy my time watching it. I think Nicola and Luke did a great job at portraying Penelope and Colin.

I think part 1 and part 2 have completely different vibes and I can see why they accepted the 2 part release. It gave the viewers more time to digest everything and to appreciate the first 4 episodes.

But I also think (for that very reason) it hindered the season as a whole because it seemed to me that I was watching 2 different seasons of Bridgerton. They left the rom-com elements in part 1 and didn't look back, and went straight for drama. (I do love some drama in a television show though)

Maybe if it was released all together it would have flowed a bit better because I wouldn't have been searching for the rom-com lightheartedness, that I saw in part 1. I would have accepted that the drama was about to happen and happy to say goodbye to the rom-com vibes.

Having been able sit with part 1 for so long and really appreciate all that the first 4 episodes had to offer, part 2 seemed to be a bit confusing.

One of my favourite parts of part 2 were the moments that Colin was angry at Penelope. I think Luke did a fantastic job at portraying someone who was in love and angry at the same time. I said this before and I'll say it again, his eye/face acting is on point!

Nicola and Luke had mentioned before that Penelope and Colin finally open all of themselves to each other, that's how they were able to make their relationship work and become partners.

I loved seeing them not be ashamed to confess their love with each other, it was heartwarming seeing Penelope take of her shield and not hide. That was the main take-away from part 2, Penelope revealing all sides of herself, to everyone around her.

She spent her whole life in the shadows and she was now stepping "into the light". That is why it had to be Penelope confessing she was Lady Whistledown, unlike in the books. That is why they needed to reveal she was Lady Whistledown to the Ton.

Whistledown was her shield that protected her, but she completely stripped that away and let herself protect herself. It was beautiful to watch and Nicola smashed it.

Do I think that some of the background stories were a bit dragged out? Yes. I don't think they needed all of the threesome scenes of Benedict. I didn't mind him becoming more aware of himself and having the threesome. I think most of us were waiting since Season 1 to finally see it happen! But I think they showed 1 scene too many of it and it became tiresome, it didn't feel like it was enhancing his story/character, by the last threesome scene.

I really loved the direction they took for Francesca. You can see that she walks to the beat of her own drum. She is guarded but at the same time so open. If that makes sense. I think that her season will be one to look out for, for sure! Especially since we now know that her story will have the LGBTQ+ storyline. Mikaela Stirling! YES! It actually made me gasp and smile when watching them introduce her.

As for the Eloise storyline, I think Claudia did a fantastic job at portraying hurt and love and wanting the best for people even if you are mad at them. I love the fact that it took so long for Eloise to begin to forgive Penelope. It seemed more real that way.

I know people didn't love the way that she befriended Cressida and how she seemed to listen to her. But she needed that friendship to understand why her friendship with Penelope was special. To see how a person can be the way they are because of the people who raised them. To see that bad people can do good things and good people can do bad things.

So my final thoughts, I loved the season as a whole. It made me smile, laugh, be angry, hopeful, cry. It did everything I would want a television show to do.

Were there some issues. Of course. There really aren't a lot of television shows that I would say are perfect (I have 1 but I'm not going there).

I look forward to watching more seasons and to see what ALL of the actors do in the meantime.

[neometalsilver]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56808592/chapters/144429325

i wrote a fic for the @sthbigbang !! it was my first multi-chapter AND my first time writing something other than h/c so i got to push myself waaayyyy out of my comfort zone which was super super fun and rewarding. honestly i actually feel as though i learnt a lot about writing while doing this, i've never done an event like this before so everything was very new. thank you to fenn, ellie, summer, joy, frosti, and chaz for hosting and modding the event! yall did a wonderful job <33

i got paired with three artists: @0vergrowngraveyard, @aqspec, and @soupsnspoons! they all did SUCCH a wonderful job and their pieces are so incredibly fantastic. i will link their art as it is posted but pls do check out their other works as well!!! thank you as well to @axtrip27 for being my beta reader. the patience it must have took to not go crazy when i threw scene after scene at you 24/7...... your edits and suggestions were absolutely vital to this fics completion.

aqspec’s art

overgrown’s art

soup’s art

summary below:

A character and relationship study explored in 5 snapshots. - Tails is, in many ways, a surprising child. As a small child living out in the woods, it’s easy to underestimate exactly what he is capable of- a mistake even the most well meaning of people make upon first meeting him. Whether they underestimate his intelligence, his insightfulness, or even how far he will go to protect the people he loves, there is always something new to learn about the kit. As he grows, each person he meets will make a discovery about him that changes how they view him, for better or worse.

[jason-todd-fangirl-14]

thunderbolts* rant bc I can!

major spoilers ahead for thunderbolts*. If you haven’t seen the film, stop, go watch it, and then come back!!

where do I begin😭

this movie was worth the year long wait, I’ll start with that. The comedy was hilarious, the action was thrilling, Bucky was everything and more, & Bob, need I say more?!

also the moments between Alexei and Yelena were so touching, especially the part just before Void happened. Bro I was tearing up, and I’m pretty sure the guy next to me was too!😭

ugh, this was one of the best recent marvel movies, I think. I loved everything about it. Truthfully, I don’t know too much about the Fantastic 4, or who Bob was going into it, but immediately he became one of my favorite characters in the film (behind Bucky, sorry not sorry lol). I felt absolutely awful for him—he didn’t deserve anything that happened to him. I love that there was depression representation, despite me not personally struggling with that that much, but from what I have experienced, I think they did a great job representing it. The hug they gave him while he was fighting the Void was so moving and powerful, and exactly what all of them needed, not just Bob.

Also side note, when they were traveling through the rooms, my heart felt so sad for all of them, probably going through their own worst regrets/memories to find Yelena and Bob, especially Bucky. Bucky has been through so much, battles nightmares constantly of all the hell Hydra put him through, all the lives on his hands that haunts him every day. My man Bucky needs some peace from all the chaos and relax a little. I truly feel so so bad for him. Still not so sure how I feel about him being a Congressman, but I get it, they need to give him a occupation that still involves heavily with the Avengers and fighting crime and government seems like a decent choice. I still think he deserves to live out on a farm with some goats in peace away from all the noise tho, but that’s just my personal opinion.

anyway, I’m super tired. It’s been a seriously long day, and I need to try and get some rest. I may add some more of my thoughts on the film here later when I’m not nearly falling asleep. If you’ve watched this film, let’s chat about it in the comments. I’d love nothing more than to converse with someone about how awesome this movie was!

until next time :)

~Rosie