#a lot of my feelings about nearly EVERYTHING can be summarized into:

[tizeline]

The Sep AU is super interesting, like it grabbed my brain and does not want to let go-

I find it interesting how from the Drax Trios innitial perspective everything Donnie is just justifies their opinion more-

Donnies dark aesthetic, murderous humor, dangerous machines, deadpan attitude and lack of liking of magic combined with his alleged backstory and being friends with a human? U could really argue he got indoctrinated into being a villainous mad scientist or smth. They don't know that that's just him, Donnie TM. I can absolutely see them being worried that "Long lost brother" got brainwashed so badly and how annoying that could be for Donnie himself lol

I'm also curious on Donnies relationship with Splinter. Is it better than in canon or similar to Canon or worse? Since in Canon Donnie is craving parental approval, does he still here?

Thank u for (potentially) answering :)

First of all, "Drax Trio", thank you, I needed an easier way to refer to specifically Raph, Leo and Mikey in this AU so I'm gonna steal that

Second, yeah, Donnie acting like a cartoon villain is really just cementing the Drax Trio's idea that he's been corrupted by humans. You know Draxum's villain song in the show? I can totally see Donnie putting on a perfomance like that XD Speaking of Draxum, to be fair he's very alike Donnie in the way that he's fully embracing the whole Evil Scientist aesthetic, but in that case his sons would just excuse it with "oh haha dad's just a bit silly goofy don't worry about it it's not like he's actually evil!"

Anyway, you know how Mikey basically forced Draxum into having a redemtion arc in the show? He'd try to do the same with Donnie in this AU. I've been thinking about this for a while so I'm defintiely gonna draw it, but he's constantly going full Dr. Feelings mode trying to teach Donnie how to be a "good person" and such and Donnie finds it INCREDIBLY annoying!

And Splinter! Being a single parent taking care of a child who was created to be a super soldier while living in the sewers is HARD, but not nearly as hard as taking care four of them at the same time under the same conditions. So while Splinter is still dealing with depression and burn out in this AU, he's doing better than what he is in canon. For years Splinter and Donnie would literally only have each other, so they'd end up growing closer as a result. That being said, because Donnie didn't have any siblings to spend time with, he'd end up demanding a lot more attention from Splinter. Which he didn't always recieve, because his dad is still very much dealing with a lot of emotional baggage. To summarize, Splinter is still a flawed parent, but he's not terrible by any means, he and Donnie are close, but Donnie is also a lot more lonely (especially before meeting April).

[devilstruly]

PASS IT FORWARD

pairing - timeskip. kuroo tetsuro (shocking ik) x msby manager gn. reader

summarization - being co-workers (kinda) and more than friends with kuroo comes with its pros and cons

includes - mutual pining, pining at work, distractions at work, did i mention pining, msby 4 and all the shenanigans that come with them, etc.

a/n - i've been thinking about this the whole day and i need to get it out. kinda long whoops. hopefully you'll like it tho <3

It's around 5 pm when you're finally able to sit down on one of the benches by the court, your papers and notes disregarded in your bag. Propping your chin on your hand, you watch in amusement as Atsumu sets to Sakusa and the latter hits a perfect line-shot.

The blonde is undeniably talented, anyone can see it from a mile away, but in all your months of knowing him the awe you feel never seems to falter. Not to mention the outside hitter. The curly-haired objectively handsome outside hitter.

Most times, you question the higher forces when it comes to dealing with these four, but when you have time to sit and observe them it becomes very clear why they get the amount of attention they do. All of them have these amazing qualities that seem to just lure people in. And apparently a lot of people seem to share that sentiment.

Kuroo Tetsuro included.

-

It's around 6.30 pm when Kuroo finally steps out of the JVA's main building, the light breeze causing his bangs to sway to the right.

He immediately fishes his phone out of his coat pocket, ignoring all the other messages and immediately going to his contact list.

The whole day today he was drowning in work and didn't even have a chance to text you and tell you his proposal was approved. Sponsorships flooded in, arrangements had to be made, timings discussed, and so on and so forth.

While he awaits for the steady beeps to pass and your voice to replace them, he can't help the small smile on his face.

'Hey! Finally decided to leave?'

At the sound of your voice his smile inevitably widens and he has to bite his lip to suppress it even the tiniest bit.

'Yeah, someone has to do the extra work around here.'

'Not if you're not getting paid for it you don't.'

'You have a point. It's worth it though.'

'Is it?'

Kuroo can practically see the face you're making and the image has him completely forgetting about the cold outside.

He's so focused on the warmth spreading through him, as well as all the memories from a few hours prior, it takes him a moment to register you calling out his name.

'Kuroo? You there?'

He forces himself to take a deep breath.

'They approved it.'

-

'Oh my god! Tetsu! That's fucking amazing! Congratulations!'

His deep chuckle reverberates through your phone and the swarm of butterflies in your stomach increases tenfold.

'Thank you. We should celebrate, don't you think? Dinner's on me. Invite the guys and meet me at Miya's at 7.30.'

'Okay. See you soon.'

You hang up with pride radiating of off you, so much so that even Sakusa is intrigued by your sudden spirit uplifting.

'What was that about?'

Four familiar faces surround you as your arms fly up in the air, your grin rivaling Hinata's signature smile.

'Kuroo's pitch was approved!'

A series of positively shocked statements follow, but all you can focus on is the happiness cursing through your whole body.

-

The familiar layout of Onigiri Miya greets the five of you when you step through the front door, immediately spotting Kuroo occupying one of the bigger tables. He's laughing at something Suna is showing him on his phone and for a moment your world just stops.

His hair falls every which way, due to the amount of times he ran his hand through it probably, his tie is loosened and the first two buttons of his dress shirt are unbuttoned, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

And he's laughing. That horrible, loud, manic hyena laugh that has you nearly tripping over your own feet.

Everything about him is naturally beautiful, in ways you couldn't even begin to describe.

Not to mention his eyes. You could get lost in those forever. There's just something about the golden specs in them and the intensity in his gaze whenever it meets yours.

Like now.

When he looks up he finds you immediately, and if possible his grin widens. It's like his body has a mind of its own because before he knows it he's standing in front of you.

'Hi.'

'Hi.'

Atsumu rolls his eyes somewhere behind you, the action earning him a slap on the back of his head by his brother, but you can't be bothered by anything besides Kuroo.

'I'm so proud of you, Tetsu!'

Your arms envelop him in a flash and he prays you don't feel the speed of his heartbeat.

Like a puzzle, when his own arms wrap around your form it feels like a perfect fit that neither of you wants to break. Unfortunately, you eventually do, but make no effort to move further.

God those eyes.

'Get a room already!'

Atsumu's shout breaks you both out of your trance, flushed cheeks and sheepish smiles.

'Before we start, I have an announcement.'

All attention falls onto the tall man who doesn't seem at all fazed by it, another thing you admired about him.

'You all...'

He makes a long pause for dramatic effect, which earns him a slap on the arm from you.

'...Are looking at the new Special Chief of PR Department at JVA.'

'Wait, seriously?!'

'Mhm.'

The table errupts in cheers and claps and you, once again, feel that fulfilling surge of pride when you look at him.

'You're fucking amazing.'

You shake your head with fondness. Fondness that Kuroo senses when he looks at you.

Under the dim lights of Osamu's restaurant, you admire the sharpness of his jawline, the curve of his nose, the way his stupidly messy hair covers half of his right eye...And too caught up in him, you fail to notice his eyes unable to pull away from your lips.

He was already standing close, you two never seemed to care for personal space, but he takes a step closer for good measure. It seems to have the desired effect when your eyes snap up to meet his, the corner of his lips tugging upwards ever so slightly.

'Do you mind if I-'

His voice is barely above a whisper but you cut him off with a nod and zero second thoughts.

'Please do.'

The moment your lips meet it's officially game over.

It's just you two in the world, no customers, no pro-athletes throwing comments in the background, just him.

[zombie-bait]

Omg i just realized I have something tiny to add to the whole James Somerton debacle. I'm currently watching the hbombguy vid (as you do when procrastinating assignments) and I remembered something that stood out to me in James' old videos.

So I used to be a fan of his stuff. I am also a fan of Hannibal and IWTV. He made a video covering both so naturally I was very hyped. It was called 'The Gay Appeal of Toxic Love.' The vid itself was fine (I don't remember having any super strong opinions of it besides being excited to hear ppl mention Interview cuz I had recently become obsessed) but one thing did stand out to me. In the IWTV section he mentions Nicki and, naturally, his death:

"After becoming a vampire, Nicky becomes nearly catatonic, and eventually slips away from Lestat entirely. And after centuries of dealing with depression and severe mental illness, Nicky kills himself."

(sourced from this transcript: https://github.com/TerraJRiley/James_Somerton_Transcripts/blob/main/Transcripts/The%20Gay%20Appeal%20of%20Toxic%20Love.txt)

To anyone who's read TVL, I don't think I need to explain that Nicki had not, in fact, been around for centuries. "Nicki had lived to be 30" has been rattling around in my head since I first read it.

And like, obviously I don't expect every youtube essayist to read several long-ish novels to have a full grasp of the series' deep lore, especially when the focus was largely on IWTV and Loustat rather than the entire Vampire Chronicles. Still, it makes you wonder a bit about the quality of the research being done here. You can find the proper info in like, 5 seconds by just going on the fan wiki so I'm not sure what his sources were. And that's the issue at hand, isn't it?

At the time I felt a tiny bit smug recognizing the error but in light of everything that's been revealed, it's kind of telling. I'm not saying this part was plagiarized (I haven't found anything but others on reddit have found issues with different sections of the same video) but rereading the transcript it comes off as someone who clearly doesn't know much about Interview.... It feels like he's reading through a loose summary of plot points rather than analyzing a piece of media that actually means anything to him. It's very much Interview for people who don't know Interview which, one could argue is fair. Especially beyond book one, VC is a niche series and a lot of elements that are important to certain characters or plot lines cannot be summarized quickly for an audience unfamiliar with it. A good writer, who's done a lot of research about the specific topic they have chosen to make a video on, would be able to balance this. There is a LOT to analyze about queerness in VC and its a shame to see one of the more popular queer media channels half-assing it just to churn out videos heavily made up of other people's work. In retrospect he had several videos like that, where he would discuss things like manga/manhua communities while clearly having little knowledge on the nuance of those subjects. He was an outsider who presented himself with a strange amount of authority.

This was content created with the sole intention of propping up queer stories and history, yet it's built off stolen work from queer authors and doesn't actually care that much about exploring the communities it features. Vids like the IWTV one weren't really fact checked because it's only people like me who would might give a shit or even notice anything is off in the first place. There's a bit of a similar vibe in some of his other vids where he undermines the experiences of queer women because he clearly has not taken the time to learn about the nuances of representing queer women in media. These are things that irritated me when I first started to notice them but I put those concerns in the back of my mind because I cared about the topics he was covering and was excited to see these discussions becoming more mainstream.

The revelations of this evening have been disappointing to say the least.

(also for the record I know he made other more recent vids about IWTV but I haven't seen those and even if his account was still up I don't think I would lol

BUT

I did look at the transcript for his 'Vampires and the Gays Who Love Them' video (found from the same link I included above) and this quote about the IWTV AMC show is sending me: "Daniel has never grappled with the complexities of being gay"

Shoutout to straight, uncomplicated icon Daniel Molloy. Devil's Minion was a mass hallucination, spread the word)

[pepa-brainrot]

Encanto Oc Appreciation week two! Relationships ✨️

@encanto-extended-edition

It's my beloved sunshine trio! I finally drew all of them together (took me long enough I know)

Some more of Armida's relationships summarized below the cut 💛

(I am so terribly bad at summaries Im so sorry- If I could write out the extent of all of their relationships I would- sadly I dont have the time..)

Alma: Her relationship with Alma pre movie is strained- mostly because she fears the older woman. Armida is riddled with anxiety and intrusive thoughts over what her mother in law may think of her, and often fears Alma thinks she got into the way of her daughter's relationship- or that she isn't a "real" madrigal. Basically.. it's a lot of assumptions on how Alma feels about her.. but they are not always truthful.

Armida also tends to disagree with Alma's ways. But between her being passive by nature and having a fear of speaking up, she never says anything. Rather she does her best to help by being there for other family members the best she can be.

Julieta: She was the first of the triplets that Armida became close to. Armida had visited her stand often, and at first Julieta thought the younger woman was accident prone like Agustín.. Over time it became clear that wasn't the case, but Armida was always super polite- despite lying about why she needed to be healed. She always made sure to thank Julieta - not just for healing her but for everything she does. After that it was surprisingly easy for the two of them to talk- and making friends with Julieta naturally got Armida talking to Bruno and Pepa. Although out of the triplets Armida is the least closest to Julieta now, she still feels incredibly safe with the woman. Armida is set trying to lessen Julietas work load. The only issue being- she really can't cook- all she can really do is help with preparation when needed. So instead she settles with going out to town when Julieta needs anything. It's not a lot, but it's something at the very least, and it's appreciated more than Armida will probably ever realize. 

Bruno: While obviously Armida is closest with Pepa and Félix, she also shares a really close bond with Bruno. The both of them being pretty bad insomniacs, they bonded a lot over sleepless nights- She'd tell him about the stars if the sky was clear enough and he'd talk about his rat telenovelas or sometimes about his gift- and she'd comfort him. She's a fan of his telenovelas- she loves the rats, and he's actually a really good writer. She offers to help make small costumes and even jokes about background music for suspense. All and all their relationship is very cute- I like to say they are like platonic soulmates. Obviously after Bruno disappears and comes back things aren't the same.. while he was in the walls some nights she'd sit and talk with his door instead, not knowing he was actually listening. Things are a bit awkward when he comes back- Armida having a lot of feelings about him "leaving" when he hurt his family so badly, but in the end she understands his motivation. 

Isabela: When Isabela was little, the girl loved getting her hands dirty. so naturally - Armida loved taking the girl out with her in her nature walks, because even at twenty seven she herself still loved to explore. It was something they bonded over, Dolores never really being as interested. But of course fell apart after Isa was pressured into being the golden child. Now they aren't nearly as close, but the both of them still remember digging for worms near Casita, or going looking for different types of plants in the jungle. Sometimes Isa still takes walks- taking the same paths they used to when she was little- when she knows no one is looking for her. It helps clear her head. Of course after the movie the two begin to grow close once more, Isa being quite excited to show off all the new plants to her supportive tía.

Dolores: I think the majority of the fandom has agreed that Dolores is a daddy's girl- and I completely agree. However she of course loves each of her parents. Mida specifically doted a lot on her when she was younger- having been their first child. She'd often sing to her- writing her own little songs for her daughter. After Dolores got her gift it was a nice thing for the young girl to focus on- her mother singing. Unfortunately getting her gift, like with many of the madrigals, forced Dolores to grow up too soon. She's often a bit protective over her mother, due to things she's heard over time. Armida mostly dislikes the fact that Dolores feels the need to protect her- as she should be the one protecting her.

Little bonus- Armida despises Mariano at first. She disliked him when he was with Isa, not because she knew Isa didn't actually want to marry him (though she has suspected maybe something was up, if she had known that straight up I don't imagine she'd be able to keep quiet about it.) She's- in general- overprotective when it comes to any of the kids dating. She does, however, come around to him. 

Luisa: With Luisa there isn't too much to say. Like Pepa and Félix, Armida treats each of Julieta's girls like her own kids,and Luisa is no exception. She used to read or sing to her each night as a kid, as she did with all of them. Each grandkid grew up with at least one song or story before bed, and sometimes even as adults or teenagers they still request it. But as with most of the kids, as Luisa grew up she stopped having time for things like that. Still Armida is always ready to sing or read to her once again- no matter how old she is.

Camilo: Camilo and Armida have very similar senses of humor at times, which means they make for quite the pair. The two of them sometimes pull little pranks around the house, nothing too much of course- after all she's still his mother and won't let him get away with everything, but he still gets away with more with her then he does with Félix or Pepa. Though being fifteen he doesn't spend as much time with his mom as he did at one point in his life- he still won't deny he loves her very much.

Mirabel: Pre movie, Armida would try her best to make Mirabel feel just as special as the rest of the family, but being busy and slightly stressed she could only do so much for the girl. Still, she did what she could when she could. She started to teach Mirabel embroidery after her failed gift ceremony to try to distract the little girl and make her feel better, she didn't expect her to pick up on it- but she's very proud of how far she's come. She's quite proud of the young woman in general.

Antonio: the baby of the family, he is absolutely Armida’s weakness. She has the hardest time saying no to him, much like others in the family. The fact that he looks so much like Félix really does not help- luckily Pepa and Félix are a bit better with saying no to him. She worried a lot about him, and his gift. Part of her had hoped that maybe he wouldn't get a gift, since she's seen how sometimes the gifts the family have can really feel more like curses, and he's only five- but luckily he gets a gift he really enjoys, one that she herself had wished for a lot as a child, one that doesn't seem like it will put immense amount of pressure on her baby boy. She enjoys learning what some of his animal friends are thinking, and reading them all to bed. (Sometimes she spoils some of his animals.. she can't help it)

[intersectionalpraxis]

Hello! I hope this isn't an annoying question (I promise I'm not about to say something horrible or bigoted - I'm just shy and therfore anonymous), but I'd like to have your advice on how to go about informing people about the genocide in Palestine.

Most people that I know in-person have (quite literally) zero information about any of it, and I have no idea where to even start when informing them. It's hard to summarize everything that's been going on without overloading them with tons of information - or even boring them because I explained it poorly. Many of them have that mindset of "oh, this is bad, but there's nothing we can do," and I'd like to inform them as well as motivate them to advocate for Palestine themselves.

Sorry, this was kind of long! Thank you in advance!

Hello! It's definitely not annoying at all, thank you for your questions/inquiry.

subhi is on of the creators I always recommend following on tiktok and on instagram (if you aren't already) -their posts are both educational-based and they cover current events (for other creators on tiktok/all their platforms I'd recommend James Ray, A'isha, Dr. Nahla, fakegyllenhalal, Nuha, as well as anat_international -to name a few).

subhi created a free online crash course on Palestine that you can find here:

you can also find their page here: @/palestine.academy on Instagram:

Lets Talk Palestine on Instagram has a plethora of educational resources, too (I have followed them for years and they have helped me learn A LOT -their content has many 'beginners guides to' on their Instagram page. I also always recommend following them -here is their link tree:

Palipunk also created a Masterlist here, which they pinned on their profile, as well as fairuzfan -they have a list of helpful resources in this post that cover some of what you were worried about/how you can best address people who may not be as receptive or with whom don't know much about what is going on -I will attach it here:

These are great sources here for you to reference and/or share with the people you know in-person who would like to learn more about Palestine, from past to current, but also as a reference for you to feel more confident/comfortable talking about topics that you know about/have learned about. This is by no means extensive, but it is something I can share to give you a starting point.

I can't say I have the perfect response, but letting them know, first and foremost, you don't have to be an expert to understand that what is happening to Palestinian people is mass ethnic cleansing, and that the Israeli Occupational Forces (the IOF) are committing war crimes. If this was happening to any western/European country there would be a global outrage -like even recently Biden referred to what Putin was/is doing to Ukraine was genocide, but the systematic killing of nearly 30,000 Palestinian people is not?

And to emphasize -if they feel like nothing can be done or even after they understand/have acknowledged what is happening, you can encourage them to look into boycotting (as many Palestinian activists and allies have said -it's the least we can do), because it has been working in varying different capacities. Here is a helpful resource to look into and share with them directly if you are taking your time to go through some of the link I directed you to:

I am also nowhere near an expert on these topics, and there are plenty of Palestinian creators here and elsewhere that I follow that make content talking about Palestine that you also can look at as well (some of them are included here).

I hope this offers some more clarity, and I know there may be tough conversations ahead -and it may depend on context, but whenever I'm addressing global issues with people who don't know about what I'm talking about I usually start with "did you know about..." and if they're not receptive to something I say "do you realize what you said can come across as 'x'" and that 'x' being either insensitive, racist, sexist, xenophobic/whatever they said that is problematic. Turning the onus on them to answer for their bigotry of ignorance, and then being able to educate/inform them.

It's also never the responsibility of Palestinian people, or any person/community being oppressed by a settler/imperial/colonial force both* (fixed a typo!) currently and having a history of such to 'explain' their oppression -so please if they do look outside of the recommendations I've made, please tell them no person who has/experiences marginalization/systematic oppression has to educate them about their suffering (there are some exceptions, but my bottom line is if you don't know then do your own research). It's inappropriate and can be traumatizing/re-traumatizing to many. I'm not saying that's the case for you, but learning/unlearning is something we're all doing, and unless we attend a conference/watch a documentary/are engaging with content they create, then please be mindful of this.

Wishing you the best!

And as always, free Palestine.

[karoochui]

I just wanted to say I am so enamoured with Binary Insurgence! I eat up everything, every little crumb, you drop about it and the entire idea is so interesting to me! I'm so in love with stories and worlds like this! I'm also curious to know about the relationship between Sun and Moon, if it's alright to ask. How was it before the fire compared to after? Does their relationship begin to mend (because I'm certain over the years it deteriorated) when y/n comes back into the picture? If any of this is too spoilery or you just haven't fleshed it out yet then you don't have to answer! I'm just super curious about the boys and how you see their dynamic/relationship. I just look forward to seeing how their bond has grown and/or broken and how it may be mended over time.

AHH im glad you like it so much!! Im happy to talk about what i've got, but you are right not everything is fully fleshed out. I have points i wanna get to but while im brainstorming and planning i make up a lot of stuff as i go and then go over it again later to see if i like it or can connect stuff in any way. I have 3 chapters for Arc 1 fully summarized as of now! (Which probably doesn't seem like a lot but i like my chapters long, so it's quite a bit actually).

I wanna say, too, that i'm planning for the first story to be more in the perspective of the reader, so most things about Sun and Moon's personal thoughts and feelings are gonna be more implied than said. I might have some switching points of view, i'm not sure, but i haven't found a place i'd do it or think it's relevant. The sequel is gonna be more from their perspective since it'll mostly be about them.

NOW! I see Sun and Moon as brothers, so they really treat each other in a way that's like that. Before the fire they get along pretty well. Most instances of issue would be when Moon blocks out Sun when he fronts, or just mutual panic over the fact Moon lost his shit w/ the virus. They'll have their disagreements about things (i havent planned specifics yet) but generally they're chill. Sun just worries about Moon hurting people, but Moon worries too. With the way the virus functions in this AU it's hard for Sun to fully fault Moon for what he does, especially because he's also affected by it but not nearly as bad. (I'm gonna explain this more in another ask i have).

Plus, even before the virus they were always glitch/bug-ridden because technicians fucked up their programming continuously after removing them from the theater to work in the daycare. So they had to kinda navigate through that together, glitches and errors on both ends (though not deadly). They hate P&S bc of this, obviously. Hardware fixes suck but they fucking HATE software examinations.

Later on though some issues come into play whenever Sun starts getting worse by being further exposed to the virus (it gets worse for him when they eclipse) because it presents itself in Sun differently than it does Moon. He gets snappier and angrier at times (that comic i made that's captioned "well someones snappy") and while they both understand he doesnt mean the shit he does it's still not great. And nobody's gonna just let themselves be talked to like a dog even if the reason it's happening is because of something the other person can't really help. They're still relatively fine at this point, though.

It's at the end when shit goes really bad, because this part of the story does end badly. I won't spoil specifics but after the fire Sun loses his shit. He starts trying to put the blame on Moon for everything (the virus enhancing his already bad habits/fucking with his line of thinking) out of grief and anger. That carries over into the apocalypse and he just gets worse in general. He gets irrational.

It's a long period of time though, so he eventually also manages it, in his own way. But! I did say before in an ask that in the sequel he's "not evil, persay, but he's a fucking nut". He damns Moon to an hourglass to just fucking get rid of him about 100~ years before they meet you again (he fully thinks he's in the right for this (and he also just hates him) and the only reason he really even stayed around after that was to make sure Moon didn't get out again). He's not a bad-intentioned individual, but he's off the fucking wall at many times bc of the virus having made him worse. He's stubborn as all hell to an infuriating degree, he's irrational, hard-headed, reckless, and while a good bit of his old, kinder self is still pretty prevalent he can be downright fucking mean if provoked. Again, worse than before, and it doesn't take much these days! I always imagined him to have more dramatic, snappy, diva aspects to his personality (even before Help Wanted 2 came out) bc hes so theatrical and intense, so basically take a Sun that's like that, crank it up to 100 and put him in a Bad Situation. That's what Round 2 Sun is like at his worst. He's not a complete lost cause though, and he's far from dumb when he does stuff, just clouded by his own judgement. He doesn't think anything's wrong with him (or does he?).

Moon doesn't really hate him like Sun hates Moon, because although he knows that what happened (the ending of the first story) is technically both of their faults he just feels guilt. They do fight a lot, though. Most of it is Moon trying his best to tell Sun that he's basically full of shit and not seeing things right after Sun starts something, but Sun's at the point where he's gotta learn by consequence. Part of the reason he's so bad is bc 1: hes been infected by the virus for so long now and 2: in his grief, anger, and resentment he's learned to live with it rather than fighting it.

But the sequel is gonna be a feel-good story! Falling in love w/ the reader all over again, i want things to get cleared up - or at least some kind of middle ground between Sun and Moon - the whole sha-bang.

[hindahoney]

This is going to be heavy, probably. I'm trying to research as best I can but the information I'm finding is presented in a way that is battling my processing disorders. I'm sorry for the question and the long-windedness. Recently I've stepped into learning about Judaism, as I'm ashkenazi and my family at some point threw it away to convert to Christianity. I've spent a lot of time recently, studying and appreciating my heritage. While sitting with a friend, I was complaining about all the antisemitism I was seeing on the internet in my searches. And he didn't know I was a jew. He is Muslim, and is not from the USA. He says using Hebrew on the internet is stupid, and invites hate because of what is happening in Palestine- this is something I've heard of but haven't educated myself on fully. So I've been reading about it. I am conflicted. I am not benefitting from anything happening in Israel. I don't wish to oppress or harm anyone. I don't understand why Israel is doing this, how this connects to myself or other Jewish people. I don't want to be insensitive to anyone. What is happening in Palestine? Why is my friend treating me differently? Again I'm sorry. I want to educate myself and I'm trying, I have tabs open as I type this, but I feel it's valuable to ask and discuss outside of my tabs as well. You have no obligation to answer. I will not put down my studies in Judaism. I am not ashamed. I just want to understand, and seek perspective. - ♠

Alright, so this is kind of a difficult question. There's no way for me to summarize everything that has happened in Israel without having some sort of bias. Every source you find will be biased in some way, finding something that isn't is nearly impossible. The only book I've seen that has been decent at explaining is 1967 by Tom Segev. I've heard that book is appreciated by Zionist and non-Zionist Jews alike.

Your friend is treating you differently because they're antisemitic, whether they realize it or not. There's no other explanation for why someone would treat you differently after they find out you're Jewish. It doesn't matter if it's about Israel or not. You've never been to Israel and you don't have an opinion yet because you don't even know what's going on. You have absolutely zero control over what the government of Israel does. The only thing he knows is that you're Jewish, and he decided to bring up Israel and say that people shouldn't speak Hebrew online, after you mentioned antisemitism. Your friend is antisemitic, and you need a new friend. Your friend also sounds uneducated, if he's saying that people speaking their native language online is "stupid" and warrants antisemitism over things they don't have control over. He probably has only ever heard one side of the situation and doesn't care to hear anything else.

I'm sorry you experienced this, good luck on your journey of reconnection. On the bright side you will make many new friends to replace him.

[retphienix]

Oh nice!

So I had planned on breeding a new team before tackling them again, but I also decided to do my grinding IN their castle for a little bit before doing the breeding (and then after, obviously) and when I got to the boss room I noticed it retained the second form.

So I figured "Oh, I can probably just beat the second form, I'm in a much better position now. Let's try." and I got it pretty cleanly :P

The fight itself is pretty good; Definitely one of the best I can remember in this game but I won't sugarcoat it- my mind wasn't so focused on boss encounter design in a DQM game where you basically zerg your stats up to a billion by breeding :P

That said- heavy melee attacks, a couple debuffs, and every few rounds they toss an AOE that can be dangerous- that's something to counter! Pretty nice!

After we knocked out the boss everything is happy go lucky~

There were a couple lines of dialogue I rather enjoyed- like the framing of the orbs of Loto as being a title granted to the brave who will save/lead this world (a repeat of DQ stuff around Loto) but following that more specifically with "That is why it targets children since they are the future" was pretty cool- I liked that- especially in the context of the DQ spinoff that's always been far more focused on the younger group of DQ fans, I like that :)

Everything's good and great and we're heading home and then we see a spooky image of eyes in the darkness where the spirits are, yippee!

Also I really enjoyed the little credit sequence showing some of the little "scenes" we've had on this adventure. I have mixed feelings on the efficacy of those scenes but I like it! Also smiled at the caravan camp scene but it also just made me wish there wasn't a limit on the camp because GIVE ME MY SUIKODEN STYLE BIG CAMP!!

So. Here is where I am at an impasse. I need to summarize my thoughts on the game (got a good amount of them) and I need to confront that ending scene since I've already admitted I know what comes next.

So here's what I'm going to do. I am going to explain my thoughts on the game As Of First Credits Sequence (now). Then, I am going to ATTEMPT the "second quest" orb collection part of the game.

I say ATTEMPT because I don't know how.... invested, I am.

From the sounds of it it's the "Do you want to grind nearly forever to get level 3 caravan members and max out your monster stats" mode. It SOUNDS like that- and *I* don't *want* to do that in this particular DQM title. But it also has a definitive goal- you're aiming to get the orbs, fight the thing, you get a second credits scene- then you can fight the dragonlord from DQ as a victory lap. I also think there are boss fights against each of the spirits and I do not know if those are challenging or bonus or required or anything about them.

I will ATTEMPT the orb quest, and if it feels too tedious- if it feels like I HAVE to seek out a level 3 sage for teleport just to keep my sanity with all the back tracking (it sounds like a LOT without teleport)- basically if I don't enjoy it after a few hours of trying, I'll cut it there, I'll admit my defeat, celebrate having beaten the main game because this is objectively the main game, the orbs are post game "Max your team!" stuff, and that will be it!

So then, my thoughts on Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart.

Altogether. It's alright.

This feels experimental as all hell. It's trying to mash a lot of ideas from main DQ titles in a way that I feel is... not altogether working here.

Mainly for me it comes down to two things.

The Caravan aspect is under-utilized, it's a weight around your ankle for the first few hours of gameplay and then it's just kind of "there" for the rest of the game with no real relevance.

Caravan members DO matter, except they kept the basic DQM monster aspect and arguably even buffed monsters to be better than before since their stats seem to explode MUCH faster than in prior titles- so it's??? Kind of just another layer to the gameplay that doesn't feel like it needs to be there and doesn't feel like it adequately adds to anything I'm doing... Kinda.

Early on you're struggling to breath and are excited to find new members that can alleviate your various caravan needs, then you learn better skills and get a decent income and all of a sudden caravan members are just "Here's some bonus damage, here's some bonus healing, here's a map"

Perhaps in the post game where you get stronger variants of each job they will begin to be much more impactful on play, but in base game eeeeeeh.

I do not hate it though. I think it's a failure because the primary impact it had on my gameplay experience was making the beginning hours worse, but, I think the strength of DQM titles is in team building prior to fighting rather than the fight itself- and the caravan is explicitly an expansion of that idea. You have no (real) control over the caravan in combat- so pre-planning is essential to getting the most out of them- this aspect I don't just like- I LOVE.

It's just I pretty much ended up with just "Here's some warriors to hit, and uh... the rest of my caravans sure do have members." because my options weren't too interesting and my monsters far out-performed anything they could do.

The reforming / breeding system is just fucking god awful compared to previous entries, and it does NOT make up for it in any meaningful way on its own merits.

The core issue comes down to the frequency at which you're allowed to interact with the system. Breeding in DQM games is one of the coolest parts of the entire experience- mashing skill sets together to make a new one, mashing monsters together to constantly get new mons you've never seen before- it's THE most fun part.

Not here.

In DQM:CH they retained the level 10 minimum requirement, but then limited your max amount of monsters PERIOD for the entire experience. You get 3 monsters, TOTAL, in the main game, 1 monster in a side quest, and apparently 1 more monster (I think that's it?) in the post game.

I had 4 monsters TOTAL to do breeding with.

Now for proper context, you don't breed the 4 monsters you have together- you collect hearts from random encounters and loot (the random encounter part is "pretty much" how it worked in previous games) and mash 2 hearts into your 1 monster to make that monster become a different monster.

The thing is, the monster limit matters, a lot. Your backup monster does NOT level up, so they can't be bred at all unless you swap to them which you're given practically no reason to ever do that, and you breed, I repeat, by mashing 2 hearts into 1 of your monsters.

This means you HAVE to level up your core 3 party members to 10+ to breed and you can only breed in ways that include your 3 party members.

The problem is hard to describe without an example from a prior game; In previous games "hearts" were just monsters- you had a farm full of monsters. Monsters on the farm leveled up as you leveled up your party (at a reduced rate). And every time you wanted to breed you just mashed ANY 2 monsters (party or not) together.

This meant in previous titles you could go to the starry area and breed 10+ new monsters all at once, having fun exploring the combinations and deciding who you wanted to make your new team out of.

In DQM:CH you breed your main 3 and that's it. There is no way to combine hearts to see new combinations for fun, you preview it on top of your current monster and then decline until you find the 1-3 breeding combinations you'll be doing today.

The severe limitations put on the quantity of breeding you get to do SEVERELY hampers the fun, like entirely- I had no fun breeding in this game. That sucks.

Now the system in place Works. They made the stats you retain more apparent and they made it so when you breed you don't start from "0" and instead you get to keep your skills from level 1 instead of re-learning them. Those are "nice" adjustments, but then where's the fun part? I had no fun.

Moving on though.

DQM:CH overall felt, interesting. The caravan aspect is something I think has potential but it doesn't really do much with it, and the breeding system is revamped in a way that entices you to explore it- only to find you're not really allowed to play with it much to explore it much so it falls flat too.

The game beyond those two features is kind of a "bland" DQM story. While DQM1 was all randomly generated zones, it had 2 things to keep it grounded a bit- each zone ended in a beautifully designed reference location to previous Dragon Quest games which gave each zone a little memorable scene- and Great Tree itself was a fantastic hub world that evolved as you progressed and gave the entire game a lot of identity.

DQM2 repeated the hub world sense of "life" with Great Log, but also gave each of the zones you explore a little mini narrative to solve along with their unique aesthetics like the desert world and ice world etc.

DQM:CH on the other hand is like.... a really low budget retreat of Dragon Quest's hub. No place feels like it has any real life going on, no place feels real, the whole game /feels/ like "overworld walking" with nothing going on. Perhaps part of this is how towns were handled, but in general the feeling was omnipresent. You get a basic goal at the very start and then just sorta walk forward until it says you won, I don't know, maybe I'm being a hater but I didn't really get the same charm I see in the prior 2. No place to consider my caravan's home*, no location that evolves over time in meaningful ways and gives you a reason to talk to anyone, nothing beyond "Walk forward until you finish" pretty much. :/

*Speaking of home, the camp just felt like a missed opportunity. I keep bringing up Suikoden but I mean it, what a missed chance to let us make a big dragon quest home base with tons of classes! On top of that, the camp isn't a fun place to be. Great Tree and Great Log are fun- they have tons to explore and they have interesting changes over time. The camp can get a couple buildings added if you recruit specific jobs. That's it. No one has anything interesting to say, and you're forced to return A LOT despite that.

And every time you return you do the same few things. Save the game through a ton of dialogue at the church tent. Talk to old lady or merchant to restock rations through a TON of dialogue. Sometimes talk to the camp dude to reorganize your caravan through a TON of dialogue. Sometimes breed your monsters through a reasonable amount of dialogue. And then when you want to leave you just go- wait- wait no you don't. You can't just go. You HAVE to go talk to Luin who will ramble for a calendar year about hints of your current quest EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Before asking if you want to leave, or leave and bring the camp along.

Going to the camp sucks eggs.

Anyways, positive stuff, the gameplay kinda hits the mark. You do get "too strong really quickly" but that's okay! It's fun leveling your guys and forming your party around roles and (when it lets you) breeding some new monsters, and the quest is straight forward the whole time- almost always "Hey, there's a dungeon to tackle and it's kinda tough, go do that" or "Hey, can you collect these 5 things? Go find em" and that's chill since every quest is located in a relatively small zone.

The biggest zone is the end game where you suddenly get the whole world to explore.... except it's for nothing because the end game is just "Go to one of the spirit's homes, come back, okay there's the castle" so- a little weird- but alright.

The straight forward-ness is a bit lacking for excitement, but I was invested the whole time. I was enjoying playing with my monsters and completing each spirit's task, I'd say it worked out!

Anyways I typed too much. My take on DQM:CH is that it's......

mid.

It's experimental and I am giving it some slack for that purpose. It's really slow to start, it's not very charming compared to the previous, it messes some stuff up, but it gives you reasonable tasks and some toys to play with and then you win. It's Alright.

I wouldn't play it again, beyond the bit I plan to try of the Orb Quest. So I GUESS that makes it my least favorite DQM title so far, Joker 1 was more interesting than this one I think.

But being the worst of the series (so far) doesn't make it a terrible game I don't think. Especially considering what sounds to be a pretty meaty amount of post-game stuff to do. Definitely not bad.

Not a fan. 💜

[rushingheadlong]

I’d be super interested to read your thoughts on Brian’s relationship with his father!

(always appreciate your insightful commentary, even if I am mostly a lurker in the fandom over here lol)

Mmm, so okay there’s gonna be a huge disclaimer on this post because I need to be very clear that nothing I write here should be taken as indisputable “fact” about Brian’s relationship with his father. I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about things, just from spending the past few years consuming any interview with Brian that I can find, but at the end of the day this is all just speculation and it’s important that we all remember that. 

With that out of the way, a lot of my thoughts about Brian and Harold’s relationship revolve around the tension that exists between Harold’s role as a father and the friend-figure that he often was when Brian was a child.

To summarize what I said in my other comment earlier, Harold not only actively encouraged all of Brian’s major hobbies as a kid but participated in them with him. He was the one who got Brian into photography, music, and astronomy. He bought him his first telescope, showed him how to develop photos, and built the Red Special with him. The impression I’ve always gotten is that Brian intentionally chose to spend a lot of his free time in the evenings with his father, rather than being forced to do so, because Brian speaks incredibly fondly of those times. And we also know that Harold was an incredibly intelligent man in his own right and he pushed Brian to excel academically, which of course he did. 

So we start to get a picture of Brian’s childhood where his home life and a large portion of his out-of-school socialization is dominated by his father and their interactions, and on the whole Brian seems to think positively about this time… possibly because it’s a time where Brian is receiving praise and validation for pursuing interests that Harold already has and achieving all of the academic goals that Harold wants him to reach. Basically, you can make the argument that he’s living the life that his father wants him to live and so their relationship is good. 

And then Brian goes to university, and everything sort of goes to shit. 

Because once he’s at uni, he stops doing exclusively what Harold wants him to do. And suddenly Harold isn’t his quasi-friend, he’s Brian’s father trying to put his foot down - and Brian tells him no. 

Brian has said several times that the falling-out they had over Queen was exacerbated by their stubbornness, and that he was too much like his father to back down and reconcile if Harold wasn’t going to apologize too. They went nearly two years without speaking to each other and, genuinely, I think that did irreparable damage to their relationship on several levels even after they made up again. 

The first is obviously that Harold’s feelings about Queen… didn’t entirely change. In fact I would argue that Harold never accepted Brian as a musician, he only accepted that Brian’s choices were making him money. In the George Tremlett book from 1976, when asked about Brian’s future, Harold talks as if the band won’t continue and explicitly says that Brian should finish his thesis and maybe build a private research laboratory if he has the money. And Brian has talked in Queen in 3D about wowing his parents with the car he was able to buy, and impressing them with the Concorde flight to NYC with room service at the hotel and the whole nine yards even though he didn’t have the money to do that because he wanted them to think that he really had “made it” as a rockstar. 

That isn’t to say that Harold hated Queen or anything like that, but I don’t think he ever thought “Yes this is the best thing for my son to do with his life” and rather came around to a position of, “The music isn’t bad and as long as he’s earning a living off it then I’ll leave it be”. He clearly supported Brian enough to go to shows and track their tour itineraries on maps but he never gave up hope that Brian would leave music and return to his studies.

The second is that part of their rift wasn’t only over Queen, but over Brian’s relationship with Chrissie. They were living together at the time, and had been for several years, but weren’t married yet. Brian has explicitly said that Harold found that to be “immoral” and was extremely against it, and he's also made less-explicit comments about feeling extremely pressured to propose to Chrissie during this time.

Personally - and I have no direct evidence to support this - I suspect that Brian’s and Harold’s reconciliation process was a bit of a negotiation. Not in any sort of formal way at all, obviously, but I can very easily see Brian thinking, “If he can accept the band, the least I can do is finally make an honest woman out of Chrissie so he’s not upset about us living together.” and proposing from there despite the fact that his cheating would seem to suggest that he wasn’t entirely ready to commit to her.

The reason I suspect this is because Brian has talked before about feeling pressured to live up to Harold’s expectations of what a father and husband “should be”. Harold was an incredibly traditional patriarch and tried to distill those same values in Brian, without much success. Brian has talked about feeling like he was expressing himself, his masculinity, and his heterosexuality all “wrong” because he felt pressured to perform those things in a way that did not come naturally to him, and how he struggled with readjusting to family life after tours because he couldn’t be the head of household like Harold was. 

The final reason I think their falling-out did lasting damage to their relationship is because Harold didn’t give Brian any explanations at first for why he had been so eager to build the guitar but so angry about Brian actually using it. It was only much later on that he finally admitted to Brian that he had wanted to be in a band himself after he got out of the RAF but Ruth was already pregnant so he had to set aside the musician dreams in order to support his new family. To quote Brian directly here from this interview, “I realised then that he’d found it hard to accept my choice because it was a dream he’d been forced to reject.”

So now we have several layers of Harold living, or trying to live, vicariously through his son. And while I don’t want to accuse Harold of being a bad man or a bad father… it’s really not great that his reaction to Brian getting to live the dream that he couldn’t was to not speak to him for nearly two years. That’s such a huge and abrupt change in personality and opinion that it probably fundamentally changed how Brian viewed the support he had gotten from his father up to that point. (Like, if Brian didn’t realize then that Harold only supported him when he was doing what Harold wanted I would be shocked.)

Also in terms of changes in opinion, I want to add in another quote from Brian from that same interview about talking to his mum after his father died: “Mum told me they’d had a difficult relationship. But as a kid I had no idea, it just felt like a secure and loving home. She felt she’d just submerged herself in Dad, as wives did in those days. She made up for it much later, getting a job in a chemist’s and turning into this great, social person.”

Ruth wasn’t allowed a license or a job while Harold was alive, and Brian’s phrasing of her “turning into this great, social person” here is… concerning to me, tbh. I really do not want to accuse Harold of being abusive because we have exactly zero evidence that he was - but he was absolutely a product of his time and held very deep-seated opinions about gender and familial roles. And once Brian became aware of more of the ways in which those opinions manifested, I think he struggled to reconcile that against his foundational image of his father which is probably rooted more in their shared hobbies than his conservative views. 

I think Harold May was probably a man who, thanks to the time period he grew up in, viewed Brian and Ruth as being “his” and expected them to do what he wanted them to do. I think that as a child Brian was largely unaware of this dynamic, due in part to the fact that his own interests aligned heavily with his father’s, and so I think Brian grew up very much loving his father and wanting to do anything to make him proud. 

I also think they never had that sort of relationship again after their falling-out. I think once Brian saw first-hand how stubborn, possibly even controlling, his father could be that it fundamentally changed their relationship even after they reconciled - but like with a lot of people, I think a large part of Brian kept trying to make his father proud of him anyway. And I think Brian did that by trying to demonstrate his financial security and by trying to be the husband/father that Harold expected him to be, even to the detriment of his own marriage and mental well-being. 

And I think that as Brian has aged himself his understanding of his father has changed in ways that are often messy and difficult for him to articulate. I think Harold left him with a lot more questions than answers, especially as Brian has made several comments over the years about wishing that Harold was still around to ask him about things. I think in some ways Brian struggles to balance an understanding that Harold was a product of his time with just wishing that Harold had been in some ways a different, or better, man. 

I think Brian has spent a large portion of his life chasing his father’s approval, with varying degrees of success, and I think he regrets a lot of that when he looks back on things now. 

But underneath everything else is still the seven-year-old being taught chords on his first acoustic guitar and the twelve-year-old helping to develop photos and the sixteen-year-old hand-carving an old fireplace mantel into what will be the Red Special… And I think that largely Brian considers the friend who was there for all of that to be a different person to the father he fell out with, and that Brian has spent the roughly 47 years since their reconciliation trying to fit together a coherent mental image of Harold again.

[transpersian]

Bottom line is: I choose who I talk to. Nobody from either side is going to dictate that to me.

so y'all are like... in ok terms now? that's good to hear ig. maybe there's hope for everyone after all. idk your post made me feel warm inside. i'm happy for you, please stay healthy and take care of yourself. thank you for all the thoughful discussions, you helped a lot of people and i hope people remember it. <3

"Okay" doesn't come anywhere close to describing the complexity of the situation. Let me see if I can give you an idea by summarizing some of it, briefly and impartially:

We've both been through a lot directly because of each other and we both still have a lot of active and complicated feelings about them.

This affects a lot of relationships that both of us have and there are a lot more ongoing elements to the current landscape than just us.

And you can bet your ass that both of us have been having discussions with friends who are very, very not okay with what we're doing.

I always said I'd be willing to talk and I meant it. These principles matter if we're to ever have hope for anything but eternal war, here or otherwise. They've served me well and guided me true in the face of doubters for a long time.

Does this resolve everything? No, of course not. You just have to look at Twitter to see the current carnage. I'm going to be sticking very strictly to what I said in my post: I will not be speaking positively or negatively of anyone on either side regarding this conflict. I can only encourage you to look at what's happening and decide for yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~

Thing is, I'm still here. You can send questions, and while I can't promise I'll be able answer them, I'll do so to the best of my ability.

My personal code and approach towards this situation still holds true. I still believe in approaching things a certain way. That's why I said that the current discourse isn't for me; the tornado got away from me while I was gone and now it's too big to steer.

I can only encourage people to be civil and empathetic, evidence-focused and direct, to not engage with the inevitable spectators that want to turn it into a participation sport.

When it was a few Tumblrs on here, that was doable. Now the war's come home for them and I don't have nearly the level of credibility or influence that some people who are involved do. I can't turn them one way or the other. Even the content creators are mostly watching from the sidelines not wanting to get involved.

~~~~~~~~~~

And beyond that... y'all, now that I've made this decision, I'm coming to realize just how fucking exhausted I've been.

I'm not turning my back on anyone who doesn't turn their back on me, I promise. Even then.

But I need you all to understand that while I can't tell you everything that's gone on behind the scenes, the people closest to me and supporting me the most through this have been increasingly concerned about how this has been impacting my well-being, and whether I would ever be able to pull away from it.

They've wanted me to step back. It wasn't my initial intention when accepting her invitation to talk, but the fact that the opportunity has arisen from it right as the need for it has become dire is just good luck.

~~~~~~~~~~

Again, not to get into too many details, but January got harrowing. I went through the worst mental collapse I've had since last July (if you've read my doc, it's the part with the panic attacks). I have a whole life outside of this that I've had to maintain, and if I told you the level of high-pressure work I deal with in my day job, you wouldn't believe me. This is on top of being caught in the middle of my parents' divorce and helping plan and prep my sister's wedding.

I've been burning the candle at both ends for months, practically every single day. I tried to take breaks, but I'd inevitably get a day or two in before some other thing happened that needed my attention. With where last month pushed me... I don't know.

While a lot of elements aligned and a lot of thought went into these decisions, I lost people for even talking to her in the first place, and honestly, I don't really blame them. I understand the feelings that people have about this. Believe me, I'm still having some very direct, personal conversations about it in DMs and VCs, especially after today's post.

But I have thought about this, a lot. If you've been reading my posts for a while, you've seen how I've approached this situation the whole time. Those principles and values just extend further than a lot of people consider to be wise, reasonable, or even just plain not "fucking insane." If any of y'all had known me for a few years, you'd know that this is not a new thing for me; this path has served me well for many years and has been an essential compass in pivotal moments.

Sometimes it pays off. Sometimes it kicks me in the ass. But I never regret it.

I've always been direct and honest about my perspective, and I'm still very much who I've always been. I'm not some naive child wandering into a trap; I'm deeply considering how I handle every step of this, and me doing my own thing here isn't going to change much in the grand scheme of the current fight.

~~~~~~~~~~

If you've had faith in or respect for how I've done things so far, I'd like to hope that I've earned that. I simply ask that you consider these actions in the context of those feelings over the gut discomfort that may come from the notion that we're even having conversations in the first place now.

And I don't know what conversations you think we're having, but they're definitely not full of bubblegum and butterflies. We've both got BPD and have put each other through hell. There are a lot of big feelings to contend with. Hurt and rage and resentment. Things that can't be fixed or taken back or forgiven.

If you don't understand why I'd be open to a chance to have those conversations, I can't explain it to you. I only ask that you continue to trust my increasingly unconventional approach to all of this.

You don't have to give it to me. You don't owe it to me. I can only ask for it.

So... are Poppy and I "on okay terms" now?

I don't know.

It's complicated and really fucking weird.

But it's definitely not the catastrophic idea that some people think it is. I just hope they'll give me the time and chances to prove them wrong.

[zolusbian]

Your fics got me into lacho hyperfixation hell. I have reread all of them two or three times this week alone. You're just so good at their characterization, I love your work. Do you have any advice for writing them? Both in general and any thoughts on how they'd vibe in an au where Lalo meets Season 1/2 Nacho? Lalo is just a slippery character for me to get a grasp on, and I feel like Nacho really changed from earlier seasons but his lack of screentime makes the details and nuances a bit blurry.

hey! thanks so much for the ask!!! and wow, that's a lot of rereading, ha.

as far as writing them, i've been thinking about how i would summarize it. lalo is definitely the harder character to write for but i always say that the upside to writing him is getting to lovingly describe, like, nacho's eyelashes and bow legs, lol.

so here are some general guidelines.

nacho

nacho speaks only what needs to be spoken. he is not verbose nor particularly eloquent. his speech in 6x03 didn't change my mind about this--that's a special occasion. he is also prone to being crude about things, especially in the earlier seasons. ("you're shitting me." "looks like a schoolbus for five-year-old pimps.")

despite what the reality is, nacho has convinced himself that he is doing everything for his dad and that he has a conscious/he's better than everybody else. nacho is a liar to everybody including himself, about everything. this can be tricky to write, because you have to fight the impulse to tell what's really going on to the reader, so trust your reader's intelligence! alternatively, when you go really angsty (as i am prone to do), you can have nacho have moments of self-realization and then bury them with something like sex, alcohol, drugs, or working out. or just zoning out on the couch with amber and jo's mac and cheese or something.

regarding amber and jo: nacho feels a certain detached protectiveness. they are his morality pets. they are there to keep his bed warm. they are there for mindless sex and to make him feel like he's doing something, i.e., housing them and giving them drugs. the fandom joke that they're his housecats is pretty much accurate. he's kinda shitty about it, but nacho is a kind of a shitty guy.

nacho is smart but not too smart. he does not achieve complete self-awareness and he does not think his plans through. he is prone to thoughtless, impulsive actions that he thinks are well-planned (hector's murder.) this is the key thing i have to say about writing nacho: nacho thinks he's better than everybody, but he's not.

lalo

lalo is not incapable of love, empathy or sympathy!!! he is perfectly capable of those things, he just has a fucked-up, salamana-influenced moral code that disregards most people. lalo loves his family, especially his uncle and yolanda (i will die on that hill--he greets her like a man greeting his mama!!!). if he lets you into his circle--which is nearly impossible and something nacho accomplished through the skin of his teeth--he will extend emotions to you. he just simply doesn't care about most people.

relatedly, lalo is not needlessly cruel. it may look like it, but he's practically cruel. he doesn't kill margeritte (sp) or her dog because he doesn't have to, there's no reason to suspect him; he kills hector and the travelwire guy because it's easier to eliminate witnesses. that being said, he can enjoy warranted violence perfectly well--the bell story exemplifies this, but still, in his mind, there was a reason for the violence.

lalo is gay and also does not see women as people. (these are two separate points, but in lalo's mind, are related.) yolanda is the exception because she's not a Woman, she's Mom.

lalo is prone to flourished speech and is a physical talker. it's a nice complement to nacho, who stands there stone-faced and goes "Sure." or "Nah." to everything.

lalo also thinks he's better than everybody. he kinda is. he's not baselessly confident.

a random pet peeve for both of them: i don't like random spanish in fics unless it's something untranslatable ("mijo" for example). i prefer indicating whether they're speaking in english or spanish. i have lacho talk pretty exclusively in spanish with each other, but either way works, really. (i enjoy the headcanons about lalo thinking nacho's chicano spanish is shit, lmao.)

NOW about the au--lalo would be completely charmed by nacho! i think nacho would have to go through the impressing lalo thing, but this time proving he's not just some over-pompous low-level street guy. lalo might be weary and not take nacho as seriously at first. then nacho would reveal some of his inner smarts, bat his eyelashes and swing his hips or whatever, and lalo would go AWOOGAH with cartoon eyes popping out of his head. maybe they'd take down the cartel together, or maybe nacho would prove lalo's fatal flaw. who knows! we'll find out if i ever get around to writing this fic.

i hope this helped! :)

[bookishfeylin]

hi :)) i don’t mean to bother you or anything but I just binge read acohas and like- I love it so so much.

I remember when I first came into the fandom and like, I didn’t (and still don’t) like Rhysand, and I would see people posting about how much they love him and when I or someone else would bring up how bad of a person he is they would get so mad and defensive, so I really just love that you’ve acknowledged his wrongdoings but also still hold Tamlin accountable.

(sorry if I’m rambling) but I also really enjoyed the part when Nesta rejected the bond. I’ve seen a lot of people here talk about how toxic Nessians relationship is, like how Nesta was treated and how the IC only really started treating her like a human being after she was mated to Cassian, but I still really loved it bc Nesta was done so dirty in acosf. I also loved Nesta in the most recent chapter, she just seemed so at peace at the end. but yeah I just wanted to say that I really love this fic and i really enjoy your writing style as well, it’s real satisfying to read :))

also the numbers at the end of the chapters are very very ominous and mildly (very) concerning 🤨

Hello! Oh, this definitely isn't a bother, not at all. I love long rambly asks and comments about my fics and I love talking about my fics, ESPECIALLY ACOHAS because that's my venting fic lmao.

In all seriousness though, thank you so much! This ask means so much to me.

When I began writing ACOHAS, I was very frustrated with how EVERYONE in canon acted shitty, but only Tamlin and Nesta were actually called out on it. But when I've tried to find Rhysand/Feyre/Inner Circle critical fanfics, too many of those brushed Tamlin's and/or Nesta's bad behavior under the rug as well. I wanted everyone's nonsense to be called out, and for the aforementioned characters to actually have growth, so I tried my best to convey that in ACOHAS. Rhysand+Co are called out, but Tamlin is still held accountable for his own actions and is forced to acknowledge that he is everything he thought Rhysand was. He became the monster in Feyre's story, and I would never want to ignore or downplay that as an abuse survivor myself, whilst acknowledging that Feyre and Rhysand are the monsters in other people's stories, too. That's why Sanara, for example, exists as a character.

The same is true for Nesta, albeit to a lesser degree than Tamlin, since this whole fanfic is about Tamlin atoning for his wrongs whilst Nesta isn't NEARLY on his level of bullshit and doesn't need nearly as long to work through her issues and grow as a person. A large part of that growth was getting over her persistent self-loathing in ACOSF, since she ends the book... not really loving herself? Hoping one day she'll be worthy of love? Nesta's "growth" in ACOSF can be summarized as her deciding to be nicer, her learning to fight, and her hoping one day she'll deserve love. That's a HORRIBLE takeaway from a book that claims to handle trauma and mental illness well. So she gets more growth in ACOHAS as well: she learns that she deserves love, that she deserves better than the scraps Cassian and the Inner Circle were giving her, but she also knows that she never wants to treat other people like they treated her. She never wants anyone to feel as hurt and broken as she did. Hence, her growth. So she's finally at peace in this latest chapter, for the first time in her life, because she's truly satisfied with herself as a person.

And the numbers. Yes. SOMETHING happens once the countdown finishes. Though I am legally obligated to not reveal anything about it

:)

[ave-atque-vale-herondale]

also (same anon as before) tell me how you felt about qoaad!! any predictions for twp?

if you haven’t, i recommend reading the novella books:

- the bane chronicles is fun especially if you like magnus.

- tftsa was so cute i loved her (read nothing but shadows before you read tlh)!!

- ghosts of the shadow market is definitely super important for world building for tlh and twp, so i strongly recommend reading it before them (it could be a little boring at times, i admit. but jessa is adorable). read cast long shadows and every exquisite thing before you read tlh. the rest is a lot of world building for kit’s background and jessa.

- OH OH also read the tec series if you haven’t (it follows malec) and i think it’ll eventually connect to twp.

- i believe cassie has these short stories about the tlh cast set before chain of gold. i remember reading them every month on her newsletter before the book came out. i think you can find them on her website? they’re not super important but they do get referenced once in a while in tlh

you probably know all of this and i probably mansplained (can you do that if you’re a girl?) everything 😭 but it’s better to be safe than sorry!! i hope you had fun reading everything and def let me know if you have any questions!

I'm gonna do my best to answer this in a comprehensive manner (let's see how long that lasts lol). You're my fave! (feel free to pop into my messages if you ever wanna chat or anything)

Okay I'm gonna start by saying that I had a strange relationship w TDA. I mentioned some of this in my initial post but I'm just gonna go through everything for continuity sake, if you will. Last summer I intended to finish the 3 series before my semester started. I got through all of TMI and TID but finished only LM and 150-ish pages of LoS. I waited till this summer to pick back up. I remember feeling bitter when I started LM because it was strange to have a modern-set book that didn't focus on my fave TMI gang (I watched the CoB movie religiously when I was younger and, before I knew better, watched the show weekly). It took me a while for Emma to grow on me and I initially had a hard time keeping track of all of the Blackthorns because there were so many of them. What kept me going were all of the connections to Mr. Poe (yes, I just called him that. deal with it.) I've started rambling so let me summarize this portion by saying that TDA didn't snatch me up until mid-LoS. okay, onward.

QoAaD was so reminiscent of CoHF and I loved it very much. WARNING SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO MAY READ THIS FOR SOME UNGODLY REASON. I appreciate the importance of the Thule portion and know the book would be shit without it, but, despite it still being fantastical, the apocalyptic vibe was not my fave. It was nice to get Livvy back for a bit (can I just say how shocking it was to have her death right after Robert? cause I feel like cc v rarely kills important characters so I thought Robert was fulfilling the death requirement yk?) and I LOVE to hate Sebastian. I'm gonna say something crazy here. I love Kit and Kieran more than I love a majority of the Blackthorns. Kit has been my fave character from this trilogy and I am not ashamed to admit it. The entire Ty Livvy spell shit was crazy because I completely felt Kit and wasn't angry at him for not outright saying that it was a bad idea, especially given the situation. I just can't believe cc had me expecting them to be fully in love with each other by then end, ONLY FOR THEM TO NOT EVEN BE ON SPEAKING TERMS (yes I know I need to be up to date w SoBH, I just need business day or two to marinate in my TDA emotions). The battle was epic, Julien's meeting was genius, Kieran is a great king, and the Malec wedding nearly had me sobbing. I'm gonna stop here w my thoughts on QoAaD cause it's getting out of hand. I am so sorry I am typing you up a full essay.

Predictions:

watch cc give us a 3rd plot that gets crazy because of some questionable heavenly fire incident (I mean, technically all three series plots that I've read have involved it if you count Jace's affect on Jem).

I'm super worried about a main character death because I think it would shatter me but it's also probably necessary? idk I dont wanna think about it

I also feel like something crazy is gonna happen to Aline and Helen because although they were literally exiled, nothing too traumatic happened to them in the main line of the story that the reader got to directly experience

not a prediction but truly me BEGGING ON MY KNEES for Jace and Kit content. I need them to be drama Herondales together. Also, Jace literally told him to come to him for personal advice so Jace helping Kit deal w his relationship w/feelings for Ty would be ideal (I really don't know how that would happen but let a person dream)

Final Segment:

Don't worry about mansplaining, youre good bae. I'm in the loop but I'm also not at the same time, if that makes any sense at all (there goes my promise of writing in a comprehensive manner). The only reason I haven't purchased the novellas is solely because it's more efficient for me to purchase a box set of a trilogy. (I do have the Codex and The Denizens of the Downworld books though). CC has done her best to make her world make sense but that woman writes up a storm and no matter what I'm always behind lol.

[summonhouse]

tell me about sweetheart. i see you tagging them a lot

SWEETHEART gets tagged so frequently because she is SOOO funny and also bc so many of the posts on my blog fit her theming so well its hilarious. its freaky. i think youd like her what with the robots and such tee hee. oh god this got long i summarize the entirety of the rp campaign she was for and its way way way longer than what ive got down even

art by lazer god i hope that loads!

i posted her recently in the context of her being an au of lawrie where she was made for a friends roleplay campaign and world (westal bay), so shes tweaked from the lawrie formula just slightly but keeps the core concepts- shes a robot, but unlike lawrie who was commissioned to be a son, she was created by a lonely little freak who wanted a robot girlfriend (unfortunately for him, she is male. she/her mlm winning 24/7. so now hes gay.), however the technology to make a sapient person from scrap metal got the attention of the jeff bezos of westal bay and sweetheart was taken from him and instead placed in the hands of a couple of terrible lawyers with her memory wiped. shes told now that shes human and their son despite her rampant memory loss, and even with all the holes in her brain all she can remember is vague impressions of nathan her creator- of course not knowing shes a robot, she assumes these are not memories but premonitions and that hes her soulmate and she goes A Little bit crazy as her parents neglect her and she is allowed to sink fully into delusions and fantasies about her beloved boyfriend

art by apotheoseity, dm of westal bay and writer of nathan. so swart (i call her swart mostly sorry) starts off the campaign as goofy, ditzy, real stupid. shes rich, she knows capitalism is a scam but cant do much to change it though she wants to, shes overly kind and naive and just helpless, she desperately desperately DESPERATELY wishes to assist people because she is so delusional she believes shes some sort of divine beast sent upon the earth to save everyone, because she does not identify with humans. she along w the other player characters are hired to investigate various strange and upsetting happenings around their city (westal bay) WHERE she nearly immediately gets dragged into a cult. because of course shes prone to religions indoctrination, shes very very lonely and she thinks everything in her brain is so much realer than the depressing and cruel reality around her and they tell her SHE!! can be their savior. she is manipulated into drinking the blood of a desecrated and juiced god, which is a procedure that SHOULD kill her horribly, overabundance of magic tends to do that. but. because shes a robot, she can handle it well and gains magic powers :) this further influences her terrible delusions and everything quickly goes downhill- the rest of the team are disgusted by the cult and swarts support of it, swart doesnt have it in her to refuse the cult now because shes already drank the koolaid as it were, she NEEDS to help people as they learn that the city is so much more corrupt than they thought- major labs working with the cults and experiments to try and create new gods are abundant. DURING one of these excursions into a lab shes told straight up that she is a robot, not a person, and in fact just a prototype as the jeff bezos is forcing (unknown to her) her boyfriend to make more of her as companions like theyre fucking furbies, so she just goes full fucking tilt. sooo much anguish around her and everything she tries to investigate or helps with just gets worse, her teammates dont really like her, at most they feel bad for her, and eventually their investigation leads her back to nathan finally where thats like. thats where its cemented that she is Fully fucked up bc she and nathan will do aaaanything for each other, they love each other desperately. even kill :) final conflict of the campaign as all the terrors have been uncovered is that nathan steps up to the plate on fixing it, AT SWARTS SUGGESTIONS, by killing everyone in their way so that he can uplift swart as god and remake society !! makes a big murder robot, murders mr jeff bezos, tries to murder the prime minister but the team finally bands together to stop him as his robot begins malfunctioning and trying to suck his soul up- everyone has to drag swart around and make emotional calls to her to stop trying to help nathan as he fully fucks people up it was so. so good.

im really really obsessed with her, i could go on and on and on about her characterization and every little interaction she was in but ofc theres little context bc, private rp haha. but god... she asked nathan once why he made her and he just said, i dont know, i wanted to see if i could. imagine that! her lifes so much of being dragged around, set up on a pedestal and ascribed traits- this is a cool robot i could make! this is a cool boyfriend who has to love me because im all he knows! this is my son who will look and act exactly like us! this is our new savior! this is the prototype for our new project! shes subject to so much scrutiny and she cant even do anything, its everyone around her deciding what she should be and what she should do, she'll listen to any suggestion because she feels so hopeless- its why she keeps doing evil shit, she literally just wants to help people and being told maiming others does so shes like yeah that might be true, i cant do literally anything else! shes so peppy and sweet and optimistic, she knows everyone deserves better but by the end shes so tired and broken up she just wants to kill people so that the obstacles in the road from her big happy ending get out of the way- she thinks life is like a fairy tale and there ought to be one big bad guy to be killed in a glorious just manner. in the end though, everythings ok. nathan gets therapy or something and her parents are arrested so she owns their big stupid mansion, and she invites all of her new friends to live with her, so shes probably learning how to act like a human right about now XD. heres some more of my favorite art of her!

aaaand heres her toyhouse with a more full and properly written description of her story- i dont think its been edited since the last session though hmm https://toyhou.se/14625750.sweetheart?key=2jaB07sEHwA2coD

[circa-specturgia]

(let's pretend I sent you this on Saturday)

HAPPY STORY TELLER SATURDAY--//

Do you have any piccrews/ art of your main characters? If not, then any faceclaims or visual representations that can help us in your fandom visualize them? O:

@bloodlessheirbyjacques

AAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Hey @bloodlessheirbyjacques! Thank you so much for this ask!!! ✨ I’ll try not to geek out about any of my characters too much and stick to just their design, for now!

This might take me a while so I advance I apologize if this is answered really late after this was sent in!

While I don’t have any picrews or faceclaims of my main characters, I do have a bunch of art that I feel represents them pretty well! (I’ve drawn nearly all of them at least once, but, in all honesty I feel like I haven’t been able to capture them in any of the attempts and so I’ll mainly use the art I’ve found!) And I have way more than just 10 cause, well, I gotta get the vibe right, but the Hellsite won’t let me post more than that so, eh, maybe another time! Added some songs in there too

Onto the bastards and beloveds!

Cas

The MC of my main WIP! 19, Bisexual, tall, messy hair. Eyes dark and not so much piercing as they are deep, pulling you in as opposed to shooting through you. Lots of layers, sweaters, robes, uniforms, all sorts, usually darker colors, burgundy, not red. Dark academia mixed with dark cottagecore. Arsonists Lullaby - Hozier

Ciro

Notes: First and foremost with this one, thanks again to @muddshadow for the fantastic depiction of my boy! Go check out their art and blog, it’s some great stuff!

An Æris/Winged, a race of humanoids possessing wings and in some cases taloned and scaled feet and hands. 22, very tall, kind and open, flowing robes/loose linen clothes, gentle winds and ocean breezes, silver on light blue. Movement - Hozier and Moderation - Florence + the Machine.

Alix

Recently thinking about making them Non-binary, on top of being aro-ace. Anxious, not very social, observant and observing. Purple eyes, like their mother, and an unwavering moral compass. Old paper on a dark wooden desk, bronze and silver, telescopes and metal tools, sketchbooks, pencils and dark ink.

Cyril

A Jin, (think Tieflings in DnD). Buttoned shirts, vests, ornate jackets in all shades. Golden-rimmed glasses. A mentor figure, around 40-50 or so but Jins age slower/weird, has a tail and horns, and slit pupils, along with several piercings, a university professor and military general. Messy past. Old and new books, theory and practice, lots of training and ungodly hours. Blood in the sand, burning passion. I am Defiant - The Siege and Would That I - Hozier

Adira

Cold, timeless marble, black ink on steel, stormy gray eyes and a presence that commands respect. Same age as Cyril, is an Alf, so, also ages slower. Stubborn, but cautious, believes firmly in learning through experience and with a callous but often necessary realistic view on most situations. Could snap a man in half. Could snap anyone in half for that matter. Castle - Halsey and Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene - Hozier

Tamara

Working on her engineering degree, brilliant mind, witty intelligent, tinkering and designing, sketchbooks usually filled with blueprints and notes on machines and mechanisms, calculations etc, with a personally created organization that nobody but her understands. Alix’s sister, hence the purple eyes. Metalworking, workshops and forges, staying up late lost in time, and a killer shot with a rifle.

I haven’t ever really tried to describe them or summarize them quickly, and while I don’t know if this is quite right for all of them, I’m still working them out as I’ve recently decided to throw about 20k written words and 50k planned out the window, and try and start from the top on everything, so this was a really welcome chance to come back to my characters and give them some thought! Thank you for the ask and the opportunity! ✨✨

[doctapuella]

okay @keefsteef i was gonna send this in an ask but i got SO OUT OF HAND that i'm just putting it here so i can keep it organized!!! it's so many words i'm sorry!!!!!!!!! behold: my konosuke takeshita manifesto

i don't actually believe that you need to know or understand the rules of a match to get a lot out of it! they have a set time limit, and go until either they reach time (ending in a draw), or a wrestler can win either by covering and pinning the opponent (both shoulders flat on the mat for a count of 3) or submitting them (getting them in a hold they can't get out of, and the opponent physically or, if thats not possible, verbally taps out and gives in). everything else you can pick up as you go.

OKAY SO! sometimes it's difficult to find full matches for the bigger professional wrestling promotions (including AEW which is the one i've been mostly watching and the US-based one that takeshita is working with rn). the smaller/indie promotions (which he also wrestles with sometimes) often upload full matches to build hype, and those tend to be really intense and less cinematic and sometimes a lot cooler than televised matches. but! AEW does usually put up highlight clips, and those are really good for catching up on a storyline. so i'm dropping a few takeshita-focused links here for you to enjoy at your leisure:

this video i found is kind of a "who is konosuke takeshita?" mini doc, which is def a great starting point! it's about a year old and there's a lot of filler, but i learned a lot from it about the structure of japanese wrestling and the context of how wrestlers like takeshita have gotten to where they are. the takeshita-specific parts start around 6min.

[quick side note! you may have heard the whole 'wrestling is fake' comment before and really all that means is that outcomes are often predetermined, but the moves are all legit even if coordinated, and any good wrestler will say that their primary goal in any match is to make sure their opponent is safe. which i mention because some matches, especially indies, can get super violent. so for me, i'ts important to know and remember that they're highly trained not only in making stuff look cool but also in keeping both themselves and their opponents safe. some of the clips below include copious amounts of blood, but i didn't put anything with major legit injuries.]

some AEW highlight videos from the past 6 months or so, that give the overall trajectory of his current arc:

match vs bryan danielson (member of the 'blackpool combat club' faction), who was currently on a run to challenge for world champion title against mjf (current champion). couple weeks later, takeshita fought mjf and got real wrecked, and danielson came to help him out, nearly missing his own match in the aftermath, because his opponent's faction-mates trapped him in takeshita's locker room. (the takeshita vs mjf one was also the first match i watched live! so it has a special place in my heart.) (also mjf's character is a fucking dickhead to the extent that i feel the need to give a heads up for it.)

he then had some one-off matches that didn't really impact the story, and tbh i think they didn't have a good grasp on his storyline yet, but then!!!! a huge feud (that is still going on currently and i do not even understand all the layers of it) arose between two groups:

the elite (brothers matt and nick jackson, kenny omega, and later hangman adam page)

danielson's faction, the blackpool combat club (=bcc, also including jon moxley, claudio castagnoli, wheeler yuta)

there's also a manager figure, don callis, who has accompanied omega for years, but during this feud he started trying to lure takeshita into working with him and joining with the elite. he is trash. multiple people have called him a carnie piece of shit.

[almost everything from here on out is summarized in this video, but because i'm obsessive and extra, i added other links too. i do not myself know japanese, so i'm not sure who the guy at the end is or what he's adding in commentary, but from the backdrop it looks like he's with DDT, the japanese promotion takeshita works with and the ones who put together the video.]

at the end of an elite vs bcc match, callis got takeshita to come out and help the elite, more allying as the feud continues and he fights a match alongside omega. after it the bcc thought that, because of his history of respect with danielson, that he might help them. he refused.

then! callis turns on omega and attacks him in a match against another big figure of the bcc, jon moxley. everyone forgets about takeshita. then at the big pay per view event, big match between the two factions, omega is about to secure the win for the elite but then A MASKED FIGURE comes out of the crowd, vaults over callis (who is trying to interfere) and knocks omega to the ground. pulls down the mask to reveal that he's takeshita! working with callis, and now officially A Bad Guy (aka a heel). now he wears a leather jacket and all black gear, and glowers at the camera.

he hasn't gotten to do TOO much since, except this singles match against another awesome wrestler, bandido, then this past weekend he sided with the bcc (still hasn't joined officially) in a big match against the elite, which the elite won (the summary video above includes the announcement of the match, where moxley calls takeshita tall dark and sexy, but it doesn't have the footage of the match itself. i can't find any good clips).

i don't know whats next!!!

some cool indie matches where you can watch a whole match:

against speedball mike bailey in june 2022. bailey is another super unique wrestler (imo) and so it's really cool to see them together! it's one of my favorite matches and even from the first couple minutes you can tell it's a banger and that they're both going to make sure they highlight each other. they've teamed together in the past, so they know each other really well which makes it fun. (side note: mike's wife veda is a commentator on this one, which is also a fun element to this particular match!) i know that in this one, takeshita does one of his signature moves, the blue thunder bomb. it's such a cool, high-impact move. also uses his big finishing move, the german suplex, which he is a master of. and he talks a teeny bit at the end!

AND then this is a pretty recent one, at a lucha libre (mexican wrestling) street event in april. the organizers are a pair of brothers from mexico who also wrestle in AEW, so for them to have thought of takeshita when it came to putting together a lineup for this one-off event speaks very highly of him. i don't know this opponent that well, but the match is really cool, and i also think the setting is really unique and adds a lot as well.

oh my god this is so out of control i'm sorry thank you for your time