#a weird convoluted way but they work so well together

[esteemed-excellency]

I was talking about Hiram and the Deviless and soullessness today, and the thing that makes it all so compelling to me is:

There is a void inside you that can never be filled. A part of you will always be missing no matter how much you don't care about it. But what if one day you actively chose to care about someone and that's what ultimately saves you.

What if the person you chose to care about the most was the one who took away your ability to care in the first place? What if you were already caring about them, and you had to choose to care again, knowing that you could never do it in the same manner as before? Would you even care this much if that old part of you was still in place? Was that feeling so different from the active choice you make day after day after day?

Much to think about.

[002yb]

For the secretary au I wonder what would happen if Jason ever had to take Damian to the office for any reason like he was sick and really clingy or the babysitter had to cancel last minute (also I hope this doesn't bother you and if it does feel free to ignore it)

Chances are that if Damian is sick, Jason will take time off until his boy is back in good health. Damian and his well-being takes precedent over everything for Jason, so regardless of the situation/circumstances, Jason is staying at Damian's side. Damn anyone that tries to take him away, too.

The first time Jason calls out of work, it's with little explanation. Bruce receives a text/email explaining that Jason needs to take a sick day. And of course Bruce frets, but he lets it go with a simple, 'Understood. Feel better.'

Then Jason calls out again the next day and Bruce immediately gets so intense about it. Like there's an actual aura coming from his office as he sits at his desk and doesn't do any work because he's brooding behind the steeple of his hands.

He's using every bit of willpower not to overstep bounds to go and see Jason and bring him a care package or a doctor and--

Tim heaving the greatest of sighs because it's probably a cold, just give him a few days to recover. Stop being weird.

But then another day passes and Jason is still calling out sick and suddenly Tim is right there alongside Bruce, sat across from him at his desk. And they stew together and contemplate their game plan.

They conference call Alfred and Dick to loop them in to this really deep, convoluted plan (courtesy of Tim, who steamrolls the conversation; Bruce is so on board though - the true disaster duo) to check in on Jason and get him help; Bruce has his concierge doctor on call, so—

Alfred chiming in because, 'Or you could message him on his condition, sirs.' Or if Jason needs anything.

Which strikes Bruce and Tim dumb because, yeah. That's a real well-adjusted way of doing it. Huh. Cue embarrassed CEO and COO who stay suspiciously quiet because such a simple thing didn't make its way into any of their considerations/plans

So Dick interrupts because he's already done the above. Back on day one. You know. Like the average person does?

Tim grumbling about how Dick is far from average. Meanwhile Bruce is back to being intense because, 'what is his status?'

Long story short: Damian is down with a cold/flu; Jason is taking care of him.

Bruce stating that he's contacting the concierge doctor immediately; they can get Damian in to a pediatrician at the nearest children's hospital and—

Alfred cutting Bruce off by asking Dick if Jason needs help. Because Alfred is happy to assist.

And Dick lets them both down easy, because he's got it under control

Which. What? Traitor.

Just Dick already being there to help out. Running errands and taking care of Jason while Jason is busy caring for Damian. Maybe a bit of Dick looking after Damian, too ;U;

Ffffffff just the cuteness of Dick seeing Jason care for Damian and being reminded of how his mother used to look after Dick, way back when. The softness, the fretting. Forehead kisses to check for fever, fingers combed through sweat mussed hair. Lukewarm towels to heated skin and gentle soothing with the coming of chills and the desire for heat. Just little back rubs and assurances until Damian dozes off from exhaustion.

And the sweetness of Dick going to buy medicine and making sure Jason is taken care of, too. Cutting fruits or bringing easy meals. Cleaning up when Damian gets sick over himself and the floor ;n; Holding Damian to his chest while they're all on the couch so that Jason can doze for just a few minutes (only for Jason to wake a couple hours later to Dick walking slow through the apartment, Damian's head cradled to his chest as he talks at him, voice low and calm and steady enough to help Damian drift back off)

Something something Jason resting his head against the back of the couch and watching them fondly. And when Dick realizes that Jason is awake and watching, he smiles but carries on as he was

Sitting at the table, slouched over cups of coffee after putting Damian down in his bed to rest properly. And Jason thanking Dick for the help, but he doesn't need to put himself out for them

Only Dick isn't. Not at all

Then they talk. Quiet in the low light of the kitchen, in those hours between late and early.

(Specific talking point: slipped comment on how certain things Jason did reminded Dick of his mom. And Dick is so fond that Jason feels something like pride—so flattered he might be endeared. It's such a sweet comparison to draw, especially since Dick holds his parents in such high regard)

(Other talking point: Jason asking if Dick has kids because he's really good with them. Which Dick huffs a laugh about and tells Jason no (and it sounds a little sad, a little melancholic because infertile!Dick Grayson agenda, yep). Which Jason thinks is a shame. He'd make a good parent. And the sentiment wounds Dick so much it's so sweet ;3;).

Anyway, Dick relays to the family that Damian is just about recovered. And that Jason should be back to work soon. And that it'd be a real shame if he came back to a ton of work that the CEO and COO couldn't get done in his absence. ◉‿◉

Alternative sick!Damian situations, or just a continuation from the above:

Where Alfred offers to look after Damian (after he recovers from the worst of the cold/flu and is on the mend)

Jason being reluctant because he doesn't want to put Damian's fussiness on anyone, let alone Alfred

Although nearly back to 100%, Damian gets clingy and ornery after he's been sick and once Jason returns to not being available all hours

But Alfred insists because that's his grandson it doesn't matter how fussy he is he raised Bruce; he's got this

Which makes Jason snicker and eventually relent

At which point Alfred gets quality time with Damian and although Damian sleeps most of the time, Alfred is 𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘ about it

As for Damian being at WE...

It's an anticipated visit and Damian dresses for business, toddler/small child though he may be lol

He's well behaved because Jason asks him to be, spending most of his time drawing

When anyone dares to approach Jason's desk though, the Al Ghul demon glare comes out and scares them off hahaha

Since Damian is tucked away behind him, Jason wouldn't notice. He'd just be confused because usually his co-workers put up a bit more of a fight?

It's Tim who overhears about the cutest guard dog sitting at Jason's workstation -- so protective and sweet! Sometimes coworkers walk that direction just to see the sour expression that takes over Damian's features. Then they'll leave and laugh over how sweet it is.

Tim witnessing the intense scowl for himself and grimacing because wtf, there's nothing cute about that it's so intimidating??

======

Thank you for the ask!! It wasn't a bother at all. This was really fun to reply to, so thank you again. Sorry for the delay though. <3

[yes-i-write-fanfiction]

Hello again! I would like to know if you can write mtmte rodimus, megatron and fort max headcanons with a s/o who is like medusa? She has a human body but her hair is snakes? The reader's power to turn someone into stone only works if the reader wants it, but does it work on Cybertronians too? Thank you in advance.

-Rodimus thinks they are so cool. He loves the way the snakes move, it's almost like looking at living fire. Gives all the snakes silly nicknames but keeps replacing them when he thinks of better (aka sillier) ones. He also comes up with his own personalities and convoluted backstories for them.

-Lowkey brags about how his s/o can turn anyone into stone (or solid metal when it comes to cybertronians).

-"Oh, you think your conjux is cool? Well, mine can kill you with a single gaze so let's just say I win there, alright?"

-Adds some kind of snake motif to his paint job. Maybe some of his flame decals turn into scales? He even adds a snake tattoo to his holoform avatar, right on the bicep so he can flex and be like 'bam!'.

-Fortress Maximus is honestly relieved. Having a regular human as a conjux would stress him out because humans are just so frail and defenseless compared to cybertronians but his s/o can actually defend herself if something happens. The knowledge makes it easier to recharge at night.

-Secretly thinks the snakes are really cute. Even their hissing is cute. Will carefully boop them.

-If his s/o have problem controlling their petrifying gaze then he will try and help them with it. He's not afraid of them accidentally turning him to solid metal, not only because he trusts him but also because if he did happen to die by their hand then he would not be mad.

-Megatron does not fear his s/o or their powers. He spent most of the war surrounded by mechs who had similar abilities and so he does not think much of it. As for their appearance, well, they already look mostly human and that in and of itself would initially weird him out but once he gets past that he doesn't even think twice about the snakes.

-He's just so normal about it. He doesn't treat his conjux like an oddity, like something to be gawked at. She's just... her. Another person, an individual with quirks and opinions. He will give her a the taste of a normal life, well, at least as normal as you can have when you're together with a former warlord.

-You know his little chest decals? Those whirly things? Yeah, he makes some slight changes so they look like snakes now. Is it cheesy? Yes. But he wants to be able to carry some of his s/o with him wherever he goes.

[a-local-idiots-shitpost]

Brothers kidnap Mc but they are pretty Girls so nobody cares

I feel like this turned out a bit Yandere

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

Lucifer:

she made a very elaborate plan, but it failed so she knocked you out

anyway she actually hide you under the House of Lamentation near Cerberus

just so nobody can find you or take you away

she also thought you would fight a bit more, it´s nice your making it easy for her

but you never make it easy for people, usually you just try to be as obnoxious as possible and drive people crazy

I mean you would be stupid to run away from a pretty woman

and you know would have probably eaten if you did run

Mammon:

she just put a sack over your head and tried to drag you away

big emphasis on tried because you managed to hold onto the door frame and she could not make you let go

so she locked you in your room

and she chained you to the bed and threw the key away

the only reason you could be free is if she broke the shackles herself

but you never even tried to run away, as long as she gave you something to do you were as calm as before

she didn´t even think about it because who wouldn´t want to stay with the Great Mammon for eternity!

Leviathan:

she drugged your food and locked you in her room

because she could not think of a better place to hide you and keep you away from the others

it was a really weird kidnapping

if someone didn´t know better people would think you kidnapped Levi and not the other way around

but she plays a lot of video games with you and begs for forgiveness, despite you not even complaining or anything like that

she´s just acting like always

and was very confused by the fact you didn´t even try to leave

she just put you in her room and you didn´t leave since then

despite her kidnapping you she´s actually a bit scared of you

Satan:

she also had a very convoluted plan which failed but instead of simply knocking you out she just beat you unconscious and chained you to her bed

anyway she told you to not leave her room or she´ll shorten the chain until you can´t move

but she like the fact that you didn´t try to leave, saved her a lot of time

she also smuggled a cat in to make it a bit less boring for you

and totally not because she wants one and to fuck with Lucifer

also she thinks it��s cute when her favorite things are in a room together and getting along well

Asmodeus:

she tried to seduce you but it didn´t work how she wanted to so she knocked you out with a random lamp

in her words she didn´t kidnap you but only taken away for a short while until you want to stay with her

or in more clear words, you have to stay with her until you develop Stockholm syndrome and never want to leaver her side

she never wanted someone to be affected by her charm as much as now

but she loved it that it took a lot less time than she thought for you to be completely infatuated with her, or rather that you just decided to roll with it

you two will be loveliest couple <3

and she may or may not kill everybody that looks at you

Beelzebub:

she hugged you so hard that you passed out

it was a very nice way to kidnap someone in your opinion, because it was very comfortable

but kidnapping would be a bit to… harsh? I guess

honestly she just asked you to stay with her and you just said yes

I mean who would say no to staying with Beel?

tbh it was more like moving rooms, still forceful moving rooms, but you can leave whenever you want

and she feels really bad about it, so she tries to make it up with all kinds of gifts

it´s a very weird situation

Belphegor:

she had Beel knock you out lock you in the Attic

she could look past it if you hated as long as you let her use you as a pillow

but that you just don´t care is also acceptable for her

it was actually a lie that she could live with you hating her

she also found a curse to hide the attic from her Sisters and everybody else who might come looking for you

seem seems like both of you changed roles now

but don´t worry she won´t let anybody hurt find you :)

[space-station-collective]

some of the less pretty parts of plurality

we talk a lot on this blog about the funny or nice parts of being plural, but there's also a lot of bad shit that can come with it. it's not all good, just like it's not all bad. it just is! sometimes, seeing posts like this makes us feel a little better, knowing we aren't alone in these struggles and seeing other people who have come through it, so, here's this

this is going to require a lot of me being vulnerable on the internet lmao

everything is going under a cut, and i'm marking applicable TW and CWs here as well as in the tags. i tried to keep it as light as possible (if there's any tags i missed, PLEASE do let me know and i'll add them ASAP /gen)

(this is also quite a long post, under the cut the word count is: 437)

WARNINGS: addiction mentions, physical illness, exotrauma mentions

-) developing an addiction/dependency that everyone has to manage, due to one headmate's actions

-) trying to collectively recover from addiction when not everyone wants to, and some headmates actively working against the progress and goals

-) more specifically, having to maintain a clean streak for everyone, not just one individual. not just yourself. we have an agreement- we stick together with this stuff

-) headmates who actively dislike people we know, and generally collectively like, and having to manage and ignore secondhand emotions towards those people when the headmates in question are around (not to say, ignoring how those headmates feel about people, but moreso not letting the emotions bleed through into our own interactions)

-) panicking because your job directly relates to helping other headmates, and despite your best efforts, things keep getting worse (not directly applicable to me who is writing this -host)

-) having to agree with headmates, who have done nothing wrong, that they can't be around front, because they're symptom holders, and the body is ill enough all the time that we physically can't handle them fronting

-) fighting. constant fighting. i can't think of a day since our syscovery that there hasn't been some sort of fight, argument, breakdown, violence, some sort of incident internally

-) so many headmates with so much exotrauma. some of their triggers have bled into our collective triggers, and holy shit is it hard to explain thost to people who don't understand exomemories, or even who don't know about the system

-) having to watch littles who are far too young for any of this experience this whole ordeal

-) "Atlantis" by Seafret. it's about an extremely different topic, but the lyrics hit home. "i can't save us, my atlantis, we fall. we built this town on shaky ground." because holy fuck, it feels that way sometimes

several of these things are now managed, several are not. being human is a weird, messy, fucked up experience, and when you shove a bunch of consciousnesses into one human body, it gets even more convoluted

whoever you are, whatever reason you might have for reading this: i love you. you are not alone in your struggles. you have support from so many places, and you will get through whatever you're currently experiencing, be it so simple as your favourite pencil breaking, all the way to personal tragedy. you are loved

-the host (he/they), expressing thoughts of the collective

(scheduling this to post outside of the queue because our content is usually much more lighthearted than this and i don't want to take up a spot for that)

[kostnyan]

I love all Kalim ships equally, I do really, but there's just something about shipping Kalim with the Octovinelle trio... They're so silly together that I just can't explain it lol. Not to mention extremely interesting with exploring each character and how their dynamic would work with each other! Each relationship brings forth a different aspect of each character that I truly think should be explored. I know octo trio x Kalim is considered rare pair status in the en fandom(and in the jp fandom to some extent (Azul)) but I think more people should open their eyes to their potential!

For Azul x Kalim you have so much to work with! Azul canonly wants to get on Kalim's good side or have Kalim owe him a favor in order for him to build business relations with Kalim's father. Kalim's family are highly influential, and I love a point someone made about Kalim and Azul as characters; Kalim isn't the type to hold over deeds and actions he's done for people over them, while Azul sees the world where no one is doing something for free without a catch, and Azul doesn't want to be caught in a situation where he owes some. Kalim would 100% introduce Azul to his father no coercion needed, but it's so much funnier to imagine Azul making a long convoluted plan to get to meet Kalim's father that ends with him and Kalim married with three kids(it's all part of the plan baby, this way Kalim can't back out this situation so easily! They've started a family together! It's totally not like he's accidentlylost sight of his original goal, totally) and Kalim going, " babe, you do realize that I would have introduced you to my father without this whole 2000 step plan, right?" and Azul sweating bullets. Jokes aside, I do think their personalities would be very interesting to mess around with! Azul acts very mature and highly intelligent, and he is! But he does have his childish side, tending to be a bit of a cry baby and childish in other regards. Kalim on the other hand, though he seems very air headed and silly, he can be quite mature? I think they complement each other wonderfully.

Jade X Kalim is also interesting as well! I remember seeing someone saying something along the lines like " that the Leech twins probably look for someone who reminds them of their siblings in their partners, " and I can totally see that. That being said, on a surface level, Kalim is very similar to Floyd, but he's a little easier to handle compared to Floyd and his mood swings(though I don't think Jade minds them that much though lol). I do think Jade would probably be interested in Kalim at first because of this, but falls for Kalim as Kalim. Kalim is interesting in that since in the fact that he really doesn't see the worst in people, and he's hopelessly optimistic. The same could be said about Kalim as well, looking for someone who reminds him of Jamil(though the same thing could be said about Azul I suppose lol). I do think Kalim would try to find the similarities in both boys, but would find out quickly how different they are. Jade can definitely use someone who wouldn't see the worse in him till the bitter end, and I think that could lend to a lot spicy and angsty content if you're willing to get brain works like me! Jade is weird and obsessive in a way that just makes me go crazy.

As for Floyd X Kalim? I think surface level wise, they're a very feel good ship to me! They're both very high energy in different ways that can bounce off of each other, plus they share a few similar hobbies, like dancing and music( I remember reading some where that Floyd plays the drums(among a numerous assortment of other instruments lol) and I can't stop thinking about that??? They both play drums??? Holy shit) that I think it'd be rad to see them dance and jam out together. But at the same time they both have a depth to them that I think should be explored. I do think Kalim would be the calmer of the two, and would be able to mellow out Floyd to a certain degree if they were to get into a relationship. I also feel like regardless, they'd still be an extremely chaotic duo. I can just see the type of noise they'd get up too... They'd be like one of those super artsy fartsy space case couples you see on tv and such that are all over the place but are madly in love with each other.

Regardless, I love the octovinelle trio with Kalim... Especially because I know it'd just fuck with Jamil, regardless with who he ends up with. I like seeing Jamil suffer in the stupidest ways possibly. Like making Azul Kalim's boyfriend and never hearing the end of it from him. Absolutely awful(for Jamil that is, Kalim is obviously, and Azul would be a smug bastard). And don't get me started on the Leech twins...

[roaringdargon]

I'll go ahead and drop this after sitting on it for so long for @spr-ingo. This is for "Alternator" (AU). A PLA AU based on Yu-Gi-Oh. Feel free to have fun with this idea if you want to do another version.

It is something that has been stewing in my brain for a while but has gotten a bit too big for me. I'll see if I write anything for it. So here it is. Have fun! What spurred this idea was thinking that Emmet would be pissed if some spirit kept possessing him to fight pokemon battles.

Nameless Warden AU

Premise:

This is an au based of the original Yu-Gi-Oh plot. There was no chosen hero sent by Arceus in this timeline. Ingo is still accidentally transported to the past by unknown means. It's coincidental. He is without any prior memory. And is gifted the name Nobori(because it is convenient). Is this plot convoluted to get to a desired scenario? Yes!

In this universe Wardens hold a bit more blessed power in their assignments. The Warden bands(or other catalyst I am open to changing this) connect them to the blessed pokemon and act as a catalyst for Almighty Sinnoh's power. It's not game breaking power but it is things like the ability to be somewhat in tune with the land and its pokemon or predict the future. It's not important. The point is that these artifacts are a direct connection to the primordial powers. Which one is entirely based on who they believe in/ wish to commune with. It is very personal.

Nobori/Ingo is chosen by Sneasler and comes into possession of a sacred band. He is not as adept with the power that is bestowed upon him because he hasn't had as much time with the clan's religion, but he was the only accepted choice. He is still great at his job with his talents with pokemon and instincts so it becomes less of an issue.

Shit hits the fan while Volo spins his web. It is a trial with many injuries, but the Wardens are able to work together and calm the Nobles from their frenzy. Warden Calaba gets injured, her sacred band goes missing and Ursaluna is dying. Volo gets a hold of the item. And uses that to further tap into Giratina's power usurp the Almighty. He manages to frenzy both Dialga and Palkia which destabilizes the Wardens' connection to their chosen deity.

To summarize how the situation is solved: Ingo is less connected to Palkia than his other clan mates and was always more open to the idea of multiple higher beings as it just made sense. He realizes(through various means not touched upon) there must be a larger power other than space, time, and distortion. If he could appeal to this being he could have the power to stop this and possibly contain the distortion in a similar way to how Volo had detained the two Sinnohs. He is able to gain the approval and link to Arceus(a very hard being to appeal to. See Volo) and, through great effort, seals Giratina and the distortion world away using the power of his soul. Volo is seething, of course, that this Nobody has gained approval of Arceus and is using that power to seal them away.

Much like with the Pharaoh in Yu-Gi-Oh it is sealed with his entire soul and his name (which nobody knows not even him) is the key. Ingo's soul, now with amnesia x2, is sealed in his Warden's band artifact as a spirit. His true name is already unknown to everyone, but lore keepers erase his given one as well as many depictions of him from records as well just to be safe. Volo is definitely the Bakura of this plot and was similarly placed in the stolen Ursaluna artifact.

Ingo has been gone 4-7 years. I haven't decided.

The Future:

(warning: it/it's pronouns used briefly due to lack of knowledge. Evolves to they/them then he/him)

Emmet is given a strange box by an old friend of his brother's, Shauntal, who stated that she bought this in Sinnoh from an antique shop because that's just her hobby. They saw each other while at a party that Burgh dragged him to. She says she just feels like it should belong to him, which would be weird if it was not a completely normal thing for her to do. So he accepts with little thought. It's a puzzle box. Perfect he loves a challenge. He feels possessed(metaphorically) to solve it that night. Finds the strange band and wears it with no thought as if he has always had it.

After a while Emmet starts noticing that he is losing time. It's mostly on the Singles line when he is tired and the battles are boring anyway so he pays it no mind, but then It happens once on the Doubles and that is a step too far. He investigates his footage and sees that he is still battling, but with a strange slumped posture and a dour look. The strange thing possessing him is doing well. Even if it makes him look a bit feral. So he is being possessed. He knows that the only change to his person has been that item that was given to him. He doesn't really want to get rid of it for some reason, but it is interfering with his work. He visits Shauntal and demands she uncurses the object. She is surprised that there is such a strong spirit there in the first place. It was dormant and weak when she gave him the box. They must really like him.

They communicate with the spirit and determine that they are just as confused and aren't malevolent. Emmet sets some boundaries that they can stick around as long as it asks before battling in his stead. Heck he might even let them on some occasions like on the boring ass singles line.

TLDR Emmet gets a new spirit friend and learns how to be close to someone again. Slowly the spirit relearns who he is thanks to his new friend.

Also Cynthia uncovers some Hisuian artifacts, including a certain stolen one, so watch out for that.

---

That's the gist of it. There are other versions I was playing with, but this is the one I am liking the best now. Also so many ways that this story can continue that I haven't really thought of.

[everythingispirates]

also on the subject of jack and barbossa I really really love how curse of the black pearl sells us on why the two of them could never have worked together with just one exchange of lines i.e. jack saying he'll bargain for the aztec gold and barbossa shutting him down with "people are easier to search when they're dead" because jack has a very specific way of getting what he wants, even if the means are convoluted as hell, whereas barbossa is a lot more practically inclined but then in awe with the up is down scene we literally get this exact dynamic but in a scene that tells us exactly how well they DO work together, with jack's way of doing things being the only way to handle the general weirdness of the locker and barbossa's more grounded, practical thinking acting as a support like. shaking you so hard. there's not an inherent flaw in their dynamic nor is there anything inherently good about it their dynamic just is, for better and for worse. do you hear me. do you fucking hear me.

[edai-crplpnk]

i wanna know your thoughts on the kankuro rarepairs you don't really write for or even talk about much, so any prompt(s) of choice for kankusai, kanklee, and/or nejikank?

Ooh those are hard.

Nejikank:

I never write Neji because, I don't know, I dont have him figure out and I haven't found the angle through which he would interest me. (I'm not saying he isn't interesting! But we haven't clicked yet.)

I do really like Kankurou and Tenten as a friendship, so I'm thinking maybe when Kankurou is in Konoha they spar every so often? Neji lives AU. Kankurou doesn't know Neji much, just to the extend that he's part of the Konoha 13 so they are vaguely appointed. But maybe he sees him around at times and I mean, he's a little pretty. He could ask Tenten if he's free. She might be excited about the gossip potential of seeing all of this unfold so she encourages it.

Or maybe Neji's having a rough time because of som clan shit or idk and Kankurou asks Tenten "Is you're teammate okay? He's been looking stressed out lately." and she explains a bit and Kankurou goes for a chat and offer a spar to Neji to distract him for a bit. After all Kankurou's not foreign to councils and heirs bullshit haha.

KankuLee:

I had never thought about them and it's a bit hard to imagine I think because I ship GaaLee too much haha. (But then again I do ship KankuShika extensively, so that shouldn't stop me.)

I imagine Lee being over in Suna and sparring with Kankurou, and he's very enthusiastic about it because he is who he is, giving advices and praising Kankurou for good moves while they spar. And it's pissing Kankurou off that Lee is so much better than him that he has the time to do that while fighting 😂 Lee would be like "That was a great parade Kankurou-san!" while counterattacking with no struggle and Kankurou feels a little taken pity on. Lee is genuine, of course, but well, it's not rubbing Kankurou's ego the right way. He needs to come back to Lee for something he can win this time and flatter his self esteem with a bit. Maybe that thing is flirting, who knows?

KankuSai:

I have an AU I have never written for yet that among others includes KankuSai. It's mostly a BDSM smut AU with Kankurou as a Dom. Sai's non-binary and not super experienced. They're the one of Kankurou's partners that he is the most gentle with. It's mostly a work of proving them that they are very much desirable and that there is no need to overpass their boundaries and do things that they're not comfortable with or that make them dysphoric to find ways to 1 feel good themselves 2 make a partner feel good.

For a more canonverse thing, I can actually also see it with Sai being the most proactive one in them getting together! Trying to hit on on Kankurou and his technique is probably... You know. Sai. At times too blunt, at times convoluted in an obscure way because he's read that in a book. And at first Kankurou is wondering if he's just making fun of him and is pretty confused by the whole thing, but eventually he decides to give it a try. After all he does have that much to loose. At worse it'll be weird between them but it's already weird, so. And it goes well! Sai is actually a bit funny and nice an interest, even if his communication is not always easy to understand. So they do it again and eventually I suppose become a thing.

Thanks for the question! Two Kankurou ship I haven't posted about but would like to are also KankuHina and KankuSaku 🤔 I should also write more KankuChou.

[gavillain]

How do you think KH2 compares to KH1 in terms of the direction they went with story and characters?

I am well aware that I'm in the minority here, but I always thought Kingdom Hearts II was a big letdown after Kingdom Hearts I. I still ENJOY KH2 and I have fond nostalgia for it, but it's just as not as good as the first game, imo.

My biggest problems with it:

The Disney Worlds are entirely superfluous. You could literally cut every single out, even the ones where Organization XIII appears, and it would not change the plot at ALL. And that was NOT the case for KH1, where every single Disney World DID have a purpose, whether it was to advance the main plot (Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Agrabah, Monstro, Neverland) or to underscore major themes or ideas (Olympus Coliseum, Atlantica, Halloween Town). In KH2, you're basically playing through shittier versions of the Disney movies without it impacting anything until the time comes for you to actually go do important stuff in Hollow Bastion or Twilight Town. And the Disney worlds are the majority of the game! So it just feels like most of the time, you're just wasting time with filler.

The twist that Ansem wasn't Ansem and that he was ACTUALLY a guy named Xehanort, and Xehanort has a second incarnation who is leading the Organization while the REAL Ansem is a good guy who has been in disguise as DiZ working to undo the damage his apprentice has done was a dumb twist. It undercut Ansem's motivation and characterization from the first game, and it was just needlessly convoluted and started the trend of the series just being convoluted for the sake of being convoluted.

Riku had an incredible arc of character growth in Chain of Memories with him deciding the walk the Road to Dawn and use light and darkness together in his own way. That got thrown out the window so that Riku could be emo and mopey, turn into Ansem for some stupid reason, and be on the periphery of the plot. I get that they needed him to be offscreen for most of the game, but having him arbitrarily take like twenty steps back in his arc wasn't the answer.

They set up Organization XIII and the Nobodies as being morally gray sympathetic people trying to regain their hearts, and we have Roxas as a sympathetic person grappling with his existence as a Nobody and the question of what measure is a non-human... aaaaand all of that kinda just gets brushed aside in the main game where Organization XIII is just unambiguously mustache twirling evil, and Sora just has to kill them all. It's weird, and it doesn't jive. If you're gonna try to make your villains sympathetic, it can't just be an informed attribute where one character feels sorry for them for a reason they never showcase. Axel and Roxas aren't even in Organization XIII for most of the game. No one is conflicted, no one has any redeeming qualities. And that's FINE. You can have pure evil villains, and they WORK as pure evil. But the weird informed "oh you poor thing" quality doesn't go anywhere and it muddies the waters in a way that just makes what you as the protagonist have to do in the game feel... icky. And it's never examined.

The game design does away with like 90% of the platforming, so the level design is almost exclusively big empty rooms. You run from one side of the big empty room to the next, you trigger a cutscene, then you run across another empty room for another cutscene, and so on. I found it very boring to actually play outside of the boss battles, and there's just no exploration element in this one. Which, compared to KH1 where exploration, climbing on things, finding secret passageways, and completing puzzles was such an integral part of the gameplay.

Oh and they try to compensate for that shortcoming by adding in a bazillion annoying minigames that are equally boring. Thanks, I hate it.

This one's mostly a personal gripe, but I missed the Disney Villains council from the first game. They were fun, and tbh I feel like they were MUCH better villains than Organization XIII, wherein most of the members were glorified boss battles without any real character depth. Maleficent also kinda gets turned into a sap, and the lifelong Maleficent fan in me hated that. She gets an interesting arc, but at what cost? XD

Kairi has nothing to do, and she is pointless in this game. And characters can exist without a utilitarian plot purpose, but they never really find anything interesting for Kairi to do even just in a flavor way. She's just kind of in the game because she was important in the original and they didn't want to leave her on the island for the entire story.

WHERE THE FUCK WAS DODGE ROLL IN THE ORIGINAL GAME??? I know they added it in Final Mix, but in the base game, it just doesn't exist, and there's just no good way to dodge for the majority of the game. And to add onto that, I hate the way you have to level up Drive Forms to get abilities that make traversing the game easier, but they only level up in arbitrary ways and it's hard to even get to use them because the drive gauge takes forever to fill up. You really only can get the movement abilities in the late game where they don't even really matter anymore.

Look, I know most games have the camera being controlled by the R3 analogue stick, but I genuinely hate that. Having it controlled by R2 and L2 in KH was so much more intuitive and made me so much less motion sick. I wish they'd had a way to toggle the controls for that.

But there are a few big positives that I have to say:

The whole end scene on the beach with Sora and Riku is amazing. one of the very BEST moments in the entire franchise. Even though I didn't like Riku's arc, him and Sora getting to just sit and talk at the culmination of a hard won victory was wonderful, and this scene was a great cherry on top for their stories over KH1, CoM, and KH2. Also, I will go down with this ship.

The Roxas prologue may have gone on for a bit too long, but it was GOOD. It was well written, Roxas was interesting, and the way they used the end of summer vacation as a metaphor for the end of existence hit SO hard home for childhood me playing the game. VERY powerful, very well executed, no notes.

As previously mentioned, I like where Maleficent's arc ended up going with her trying to return to power in her own way with the deck stacked against her. I don't necessarily think it was handled especially well for most of the game, but I enjoyed getting the chance to root for my favorite villain to usurp her rivals. And that has definitely influenced my writing a lot.

The combat gameplay is really fun, and even though I don't like the mechanics of the Drive Forms, actually using them in combat is super fun. You feel POWERFUL, and it's exhilarating!

The music is amazing. It's Yoko, so of COURSE it is.

I like what they do with Pete. I know most people don't and think he's just KH's Team Rocket, but I thought Pete was fun. And I like the depth they managed to give him too.

Olympus Coliseum's story is genuinely great. I like how it's actually mostly a NEW story instead of just a retread of the movie. Hades is in peak form, and playing around the Underworld is just the best.

The Disney Castle / Timeless River story was likewise really good. I think those two and Olympus were the only two Disney worlds that I thought were actually worthwhile.

So, yeah, there's a lot that I actually genuinely really like about KH2, and I'm nostalgic for it, but I have major beef with it too. It's not as good as KH1 (which, for the record, I thought was damn near perfect), but as its own thing, it's definitely better than a lot of the subsequent installments.

[mugentakeda]

the lu ten propaganda is Working on me……. Had 2 to do finals while thinking crazy deranged thoughts about the character study i want to do on him only to follow canon and kill him with rocks at the end. to the point that i Wrote the ending and then had to chuck it as far away as possible bc i had ten (10) different final projects to deal with instead. so congrats you got my ass!!!

YES..... ALL ACCORDING TO KEIKAKU.....

and honestly??? the most fun thing about coming up with all kinds of convoluted shit about him makes just following canon and killing him with rocks at the end much more satisfying. all this good stuff fleshed out and then it just stops, like putting a stop on a candle. kinda puts the unfairness of death into more perspective. i like to have a big general backstory and his dynamics with each of the family members, and then the little cornplate details in between

i originally was gonna go straight along with what could fit into canon but i ended up deciding that my two little aus of "zhao and lu ten both studied under jeong jeong and had this weird inexplainable toxic ????thing???? friendly rivalry??? situationship??? going on" and "lu tens death at the siege was an inside job orchestrated by ozai and not actually completely done by the earth kingdom" spiced things up too much to just NOT throw in as well..... so it just worked out that way???? granted that adds a lot more shit that id have to flesh out and fit together but idrc. cus i wanted tensions between lu ten and ozai to be at a really weird high and i think that would just be the cherry on top. idk im crazy

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

Current headcanons for possible stobotnik boom!Stone

He works at/owns a coffee shop a couple towns over. Eggman was there to pick up a specific thing and decided to get coffee on the way out. It was love at first sight. Stone put a heart next to the name on the cup. The next few weeks sees a serious decrease of Eggman sightings and Sonic's feelings are a tad bit hurt. The team investigate and discover no, Eggman doesnt have a new nemesis, he's just utterly failing to flirt with this one barista and its painful to watch.

Eggman decided he cant rely on machines to handle everything for him after a few to many mishaps so he hires a personal assistant. Stone turns out not only to be super competent but half the time he's more efficient than the machines and he makes the best lattes. Theres a behind the scenes rivalry between Stone and a couple robots. Eggman has no idea he's crushing mega hard on Stone but everybody else knows. If Sonic has to hear one more rambling rant about "how great Stone is" he's gonna scream

Stone somehow inserts himself into Eggman's life. Nobody has any idea how it happened (well Sticks has a few theories). Including Eggman. He just showed up one day and never left

Stone opens a coffee shop that becomes a popular new hang out place. He's not much of a character but he is in most episodes. He can be seen serving coffee, staring longingly at Eggman from across the room, and chatting with costumers. Theres a unspoken rule about not damaging his shop during fights (his coffee is too divine. No one is willing to risk not being able to get some because he closed the shop down)

Villain Stone villain Stone villain Stone

Villain Stone who does like two attacks, is then invited by Eggman to join forces, and next thing anyone knows they're partners

Villain Stone who's trying to get Eggman's attention by making him jealous stealing his nemesis and becoming his rival

Stone gets one episode and then after that he's just occasionally seen in the background and given two lines. Stone moves to town (Sticks is convinced he's a government spy placed here to gather information) and as the only other human in town, Amy is convinced Eggman and Stone are destined to be together and she works nonstop to create romantic situations to trap them in. It somehow works. Eggman is constantly calling to reschedule fights because "i cant do thursday im going bowling with Stone"

Stone works as a government liaison. He's got a neutral relationship with both Eggman and team Sonic (even Sticks. She stops by his house to ask convoluted questions that he patiently answers or to spy on him) but seeing him usually means "uggggg what now" for all of them. Stone has a closet shrine filled with pictures of Eggman and the only people who know are Sticks and Knuckles. They dont talk about it

The government sends a group to the island to investigate something and everyone is super aggravated by all the red tape. Stone is the guy in charge. Eggman is pissed at the group and Stone in particular for grinding everything to a halt until Stone takes off his sunglasses and theres a cartoon "pretty girl hairflip" kinda thing when Eggman sees Stone's eyes for the first time. Now instead of stuttering and flushing in anger when talking to Stone he stutters and flushes because of butterflies. Stone and Shadow either have unexplained beef or are the kind of friends where you quietly stand together because you dont know anybody else here which is also unexplained. Either way its weird

(Oh what if Maria was one of the members of the group and thats why Shadow was hanging around oh great im going on a tangent now-)

(Or maybe Rouge is there and her and Shadow act like old friends. This is only relevant because Knuckles spends the whole episode looking at Rouge with heart eyes and theres a "get Knuckles a date" side plot)

[blueberry-macaron]

Watched the movie and honestly it was fine. No groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece. No disasturous dumpster fire. Just an ok movie that felt like a fanfiction from s1

Here's some more thoughts I have. There's no structure it's a little chaotic. Also spoilers (duh)

The stuff I liked:

The music was good

THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS. The lighting in every scene is perfect, the city actually feels populated and the colors overall are so much prettier than in the show

I loved the akuma designs

They do a good job of establishing how Marinette, in the beginning, is very anxious, affected by Chloe's bullying and how she doesn't have friends. That works better than what the show tried to establish, about how Marinette had no friends but still being popular for some reason

Alya being a good friend

The way Adrien deals with the loss of his mother and how playing the piano brings him comfort and makes him feel close to her. Imo the show went overboard with how literally everything Adrien does is dictated by his dad and never something he might genuinely enjoy doing. The fact that he had this hobby made him feel like he was more than just a sad boi

Adrien also seems to struggle with not having many friends outside Nino. Works pretty well with the characterization that he's socially awkward after being homeschooled for most of his life

Generally this Adrien has more PV vibes? I‘m digging it ngl

Marinette's dad is the best

Fu's introduction to Marinette sure was something xD

Gabriel was a good villain character. The show version is just some weird ass goof who is a huge ass to his son and everyone, yet the show wants you to feel for him without giving us a reason to care. This version actually has complexity. He’s still an ass, but now the pain over loosing Emilie feels real. You also have him hesitating to use the butterfly but ultimately spiraling completely into an actually threatening villain.

the fight scenes looked great

Marinette is still clumsy and awkward towards Adrien but without being too cringe about it and doing stupid shit. It‘s just heart eyes and day dreams and some stuttering. She‘s still nervous but I never felt like Adrien brought oit her worst side like in the show. She was simply a girl in love. This was wholesome to watch and so much better than... whatever the fuck the show did with the fucking dating trauma to use for """comedy""" bc the show runners have zero respect for her seriously I'll never get over how fucking stupid that was Marinette honey you deserve so much better

I honestly think this is a better version of the square. Still heavily flawed, but their dynamic feels so much more natural. Ladynoir stuff was sweet

The end where Marinette looses the earrings and then saves Chat without the costume was a good scene

Most of their moments were just quiet moments between just the two without any outside forces and characters constantly pushing them together. This bothers me in the show so much and is another major reason I cant get behind the ship, but for the most part the movie has some gentle pushing here and there but no convoluted and stupid cringy plans. In that regard movie love square is superior

Nino had a thing for Alya from the start pretty much, unlike in the show where he was crushing on Mari five minutes before getting with Alya. I like them in both the show and the movie, but the way they got together in the show was a little meh

Nino getting screentime in general

The stuff I don't know how to feel about:

Careless whisper. It was silly goofy but especially the second time when Paris is on fire and we skip to Adrien's room where he sulks... yeah that tome switch really threw me off

Two different voice actors for singing an talking. The difference was very jarring and while good for Bryce, Cristina has the voice of an angel like cmon I need her to do at least a cover from one song

Gabriel's redemption. Ok so I'm a little torn because the way they did it ties in very well with the the "power of love" theme that his love for Adrien makes him realize his mistakes bla bla, but he still terrorized a city and yet faces zero consequences, and Adrien forgives him, which are all thing that really rub me the wrong way. Idk the franchise is so obsessed with painting this man in a sympathetic light and in order for this to feel truly satisfying Gabriel shouldn't have tried to destroy Paris like 5 minutes earlier. I see what they went for and thematically it worked but I just need Gabriel to be put in prison

Speaking of Gabriel, the Adrien Gabe relationship isn't as abusive as in the show. This isn't good or bad, but I still think (very unpopular opinion) the show doesn't handle abuse well at all bc the only point of the abuse is pity points in oder to get the fans to care about the characters. So taking that out of the movie where you have limited time to wrap this whole thing up might've been a smart decision

With the ending they sort of hinted at a sequel

The cut off kiss at the end. They still act like a love square kiss is something sacred that they can‘t just give their fans. Commit to it already

The stuff I didn't like:

The dialogue was… something. Marinette just asking her mom over breakfast how to make her dreams come true. Babe just just woke up, that deep convos are for late nights

Generally the dialogue in both the movie and the show is a little weird

Lika Alya‘s „people try really hard to fail as hard as you“ Marinette spilled some coffee it‘s not that hard

Even though I liked the portrayel of Marinette‘s anxiety, at times the went overboard with it

Going back to the Gabriel redemption, just let Adrien have negative feeling about Gabriel already. The s5 finale have him idolize him and here he just instantly forgives and forget

So the butterfly is a villainous tool by default? They could've fixed their messy lore but noooo

The scene where Marinette gets her miraculous feels rushed.

The way Adrien receives his miraculous. He was chilling in his room and suddenly a black cat shows up. He doesn't even have to proove himself like Mari when she almost got hit by a truck. The moment in the show was already weak but this is just fucking stupid

the first akuma was just some random dude. They should've used someone the main duo has a connection to

Chat being a lil bitch about Ladybug rejecting him. Hated it in the show, hate it here. They could've used the movie to fix Adrien and they didn't. Other than that being a dick move as so many people have explained millions of times now, I find this such a boring source of conflict for the climax of the movie? They worked well before and they both know they care for each other as partners and even if being rejected hurts, Chat acts like LB just threw their friendship away or something with how strongly he reacts to it. In the show it felt blown out of proportion and it does here as well. I think they should've had a different kind of conflict which actively hurt their partnership or Chat stops treating LB unfairly just because to her he‘s not a romantic partner.

The fart jokes. Though tbf this is a kids movie

The way Marinette falls for Adrien was extremely underwhelming. Adrien smiles at her and helps her get up and then just walks out of the library all like „she‘s so weird“. Could‘ve been fixed if he and Mari stayed in the library and had a little conversation

Also Adrien‘s introduction in general? He just chills in the library and… yeah that‘s it. I blame this on the writers of the movie cutting character introductions short because they assume the audience already knows the characters and therefore doesn‘t have to introduce them. I don‘t think that was a good choice

The Adrienette stuff was just a montage. Would've been nice to actually see them connect (though that was probably a time issue)

Also they didn't give any spotlight to Marinette's good qualities like selflessness and intelligence. Would've been nice to see her be more willing to be there for people and help them out with things as a result of her gaining more confidence

Seriously the montage was a big mistake and takes away a lot from what could've made the movie stand out

The reveal felt a lot like Adrien only loving Marinette because she's LB, which was a big reason for me to not ship Adrienette prior to the flip (not that I did after). Something like this would‘ve been believable in a setting where they didn‘t know each other as civilians I guess, but that doesn‘t work for the square. Had they actually shown Adrienette develop outside of a montage this would'be been way more believable and touching.

I think a reverse love square from the beginning would've worked better here, or they should've made the Ladynoir side canon

Adrien tells Marinette about his dead mom. Chat noir tells Ladybug about his dead mom. How does she not make the connection?

The "power of love" theme fell flat with Marinette. she doesn't have her moment of "oh I have to protect the people I love" like Tikki's dialogue suggests. There were multiple people at the theme park she could've spotted being in danger and that should've made her want to save them. Tom being there was literally the perfect set-up. The show does this with Alya being trapped under a car or something and Marinette seeing her

I also think the jump from anxious Mari to brave Mari didn't work. In both the show and the movie it just feels like she just decides to be confident now without really getting there through hard work. The motivation was there in the show (see previous point) but in both instances it just happened too fast. Let Marinette have time to really adjust to her new role

This would've worked if the movie didn't try to keep the show's formula of "villain of the week". Why are we getting a montage about that when there's already a whole ass show with five seasons where we already see that? This montage took up time that could've been used more effectively. The movie should've tried to be more of it's own thing, really shoud've tried to flesh out the characters more in a way the show doesn't. They didn't need LB and CN immediately competent and loved by the public after the theme park fiasco. Just use the run time of the movie to get adjusted to fighting crime on a weekly basis, have them fail to then fix their mistakes and learn from them. Why not do a training montage with the point of becoming better instead of flirting? The movie tries too hard to keep up the show formula and it takes away the quality the story could've had

Also in Marinette's case it felt like the only "power of love" that mattered was her partnership with Chat. Her family and friends weren't completely unimportant but definetely underutilized in that regard. Romantic love is not the only important love you know

Their powers of cataclysm and miraculous ladybug only came in at the very end. The built up could've worked if they spent more time showing how they become good and experienced heroes over time

Generally the climax was underwhelming. Gabriel learns Chat‘s identity and the damage is made undone like 10 seconds later

Adrien being like "yeah I didn't really get close to people after my mom died" what's with the Nino erasure smh

Luka wasn't important

Kagami wasn't even there

I think the end scene hinted at the sentimonster stuff and I wished they would've just not include that

Final thoughts

There are things the movie did better than the show and some things it didn't. They don't waste much time on establishing who the characters are because they expect viewers to already know that from watching the show. But like the show, they fail to use the concepts they've set up in an effective way. The movie not only tries to stay true to the show but is almost dependent on the audience knowing the series.

But yeah, the movie atmosphere was nice. Nothing extraordinary but also not super bad. It had s1 vibes and despite the problems I listed, I had a good time for the most part. Not a must watch but still fine

4/10

[theplatypusblue]

COMPILING ALL LEGENDS OF CHIMA SEASON 1 THOUGHTS BELOW THE READ MORE (super long post, written as I was watching)

(I can be a little mean but I promise I’m having fun lol)

Episodes 1 + 2:

Man this shits super boring.

Idk if I can get behind craggers plot line tbh. He’s too much of a dumbass for me to really root for him.

The lore seems really cool so far. I like the settings and the stuff about the legend beasts.

Like?? Forest full of trees that just fall down all the time? Epic.

Legend beasts are especially cool cuz it means this is how Chima characters react when seeing a regular ass lion for the first time:

Episode 3:

Man Laval really fucked everything up.

I have a feeling all of cragger’s dumbass-ness, like, transferred over to laval and now we’re gonna be seeing him making all the dumbass decisions

The only thing I really care about here is the b-plot about Gorzan and his flower. More engaging than the main plot

Episode 4:

Prediction about Laval replacing Cragger as the resident dumbass seems to be coming true

Gorzan is quickly becoming my favorite.

Oh hey look it’s the beavers!! I remember they show up in that one episode of ninjago. I had zero context for what they were all about then but now I know!!

Episode 5:

The gorilla tribe seems like the most chill out of everyone. Gorillas 👍

Can I just say I hate the fucking skunk. He sucks.

Honestly kind of a nothing episode

Episode 6:

Eagle spire does that cool thing where all the buildings are built on super scary precipices. There’s literally a post going around about this exact thing but I can’t find it rn

Oh so the eagles are just a bunch of nerds. A little weird I guess(?) I feel like eagles are usually symbols of strength n stuff so that’s different. It’s giving cloud kingdom.

“Wing girl” tf kinda nickname??

Apparently the ravens are double crossing everyone but I have not been paying close enough attention to what’s going on to really process that

Ok so it was all an extremely convoluted way for the crocs to get everyone to fight each other. And the ravens tried to profit but they’re kinda stupid so nothing really worked out for anyone

Episode 7:

Purble moon??? Epic

Man the bears are so epic just like me fr

Nooo don’t mess w the gorillas they’re so chill :(

I am entirely uninterested in the 100 year full moon skunk fart lore. Sorry.

It’s a little strange and maybe I’m hallucinating but I feel like the animation has has somehow gotten better?? Like the lighting or smthn…. Or the facial expressions???

Oh….. skunk fart lore is plot relevant………

Now that I’m thinking… is that the only skunk in chima?? Cuz rn it looks like just the one guy

Episode 8:

Oh it’s a big boy chi

There’s a fucking peacock?? Don’t know how to spell his name. So wait if he wins who does the chi go to?? He gets it all to himself?

Oh wait nvm it’s probably a cragger thing. Mr. Peacock comes back after retirement or w/ever in order to do some evil shit with the crocs I get it I get it

Gorzan I love you

WHO THE FUCK IS THAT GUY?? Is it a pig? A warthog??? It’s giving Mr. E vibes.

Man idk this episode is structured rlly weirdly. Nothing really fit together very well. It’s alright tho.

Episode 9:

GORILLA EPISODE?? Let’s go dude

It funny cuz I feel like gorillas aren’t actually this mellow irl

STOP FUCKING WITH THE GORILLAS CRAGGER I’LL KILL YOU

Oh hey it’s our mystery mans. Oh nevermind he left again.

There are balloon plants?? Oh yeah those are the things they were using in the other episode. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to anything else that happened.

Episode 10:

Uhh I forgot to take notes while watching uhhh

The fox guy was cute. I like a little fox guy

This episode managed to make me feel a little bad for cragger!! He wants to do a good job but he kinda sucks at everything :(

It also made me confused abt cruller!!! What are you doing w ur life girl!!!!

Kinda messed up how the wolves had to serve the crocodiles tho… probly for the best she threw away that pledge

If Laval’s dad is right when he says they’re not gonna race for chi for a long time, I’m guessing they’re not gonna do any more racing episodes for some time. That’s fine honestly.

WAIT THAT RHINO GUY’S DYING. Oh nvm. This whole situation is cringe I hope it’s a one-off thing….

Also I forgot everyone thinks craggers parents are dead but really they’re just chilling in that canyon. Kinda funny actually

Episode 11:

Oh man the wolves are fucking everything up

“We all gotta stay here till the walls are fixed” bruh just call the beavers or smthn

Man what is the deal with this shadow wind dude.

If there’s one similarity I could point out with ninjago, it’s all this talk abt ~the balance~. I guess it makes sense since they take place in the same universe, technically

These bears are so cute lol napping does solve everything so true

Episode 12:

Jets travel super fast in the air. If they’re going through a storm Laval should totally be dead by now

Cragger is setting boundaries!! We love to see it. Cruller is acting pretty cringe. In her ~~girlfailure era~~

Is Laval gonna fall in this gorge?? Oh yeah he’s gonna fall in this gorge

Noooo Gorzans underwear is gonna tear

It’s a little sweet how Laval still wants to help out cragger

Episode 13:

I guess I’m still not super into cragger but I pity him a little. He’s trying his best but he’s just a bit stupid. And also his sister sucks ass

Okay. So she may be cringe but cruller is living her best(-ish) life.

That wolf is wearing a really cute apron

Man they were bringing up Shadow wind earlier and I thought they were gonna reveal their identity but now I’m a bit disappointed…

Laval is being peak dumbass rn I kinda like it. “The warm milk of oppression” lol

Pretty cute finale tbh

That’s where Tubi says season 1 ends, so i think I’ll just stop here for now. I guess they’ll bring up craggers parents next season?? For now they’re still stuck chilling in that canyon.

I definitely feel like it’s a show that doesn’t have super strong characters. I think it would better if the show leaned more into the world it’s created instead, if that makes sense. Maybe later the character writing will improve a little bit, and I’ll changed my tune. But!! Who knows. I’m having fun with it.

Idk when I’ll get to season 2, cuz I get super busy sometimes (I started this one a couple months ago but couldn’t finish it till now ugh) but I do want to continue watching!! Eventually!!!

[inventors-fair]

How the Story Goes: This Week's Winners ~

Our champions this week are @curiooftheheart, @izzet-always-r-versus-u, and @squeezyboi!

@curiooftheheart — Guildpact Ascension (Maze’s End)

This may come as a shock to some people, but in my personal MTG history, Maze’s End was my first “bad” set. And I got a booster box of it with a friend in high school. So...yeesh. All the same, it’s a relief to see the culmination of the set in a major way, i.e. with a card that’s pretty awesome. Mechanically, I won’t call it ‘self-explanatory,’ but I will say that it’s pretty easy to tell what kind of deck it wants to see itself in, and that two-color goodstuff is indeed still good. I would personally word the middle ability slightly differently but your modern sensibilities are definitely stronger than mine because I was thinking of Future Sight as precedent—and they fixed the oracle text! Wow.

All the same, this card’s a pretty iron-clad representation of Jace’s grasp as the Living Guildpact. It’s a mono-blue card, yeah, but it’s how Jace interacts with Ravnica, and the best ways for him to bring the guilds together. He sees everything (ability 1), he has a magical ability to summon the guilds as he sees them (ability 2), and the bringing-together of the guilds creates that much more power in the best way Jace knows how (ability 3). So yeah! It’s pretty darn great. Someone’ll have a fun time with Niv-Mizzet Reborn Gates EDH and this.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — From Out of Eternity (Invasion of New Phyrexia)

I’m astounded at how clean this card is. If Battles didn’t exist and there were a bunch of weird mechanics that were in its place, this would be the perfect representation of Zhalfir’s return and the battlefield’s representation of that massive incoming. Teferi who? The phasing, the explosive combat, the implications of the attack, all of it is easy to grok and easy to connect. The flavor text’s simplicity does exactly what it wants to and the name is absolutely kick-ass.

As soon as I saw this card, I knew it was a great example of how to do simplicity well. At the very least this can be played on the end step to make something unblockable, but it prevents clogged board states, it changes the way combat works if you want to declare some shenanigans then phase them, it’s a card you pick and then build around without having to force UW control, it stops boardwipes and sweepers—and it requires you to have the army in order to really pull it out, and that’s something this card makes the player want to do. It’s just so easy without being overpowered or convoluted. It’s Zhalfirin and climactic in a way that MOM wishes it could’ve been.

@squeezyboi — Attack of the Mage Hunters // Professor’s Protection (Mage Hunter’s Onslaught)

I looked at my notes, then at this card, then back at my notes, and then here again, and I found myself realizing that yes indeed, this is exactly the kind of assignment I was thinking of. You took a story moment, moved it out of time, and used a future mechanic to that moment to retell it from the opposite perspective. Like, what more can one ask for? Battles aren’t quite supported on MSE, I don’t think, hence the lack of a mockup (sorry!) but all the same, I find myself hard-pressed to find criticism aside from the fact that the text might be kinda cramped.

I really like the anti-wizard sweep as well as the cool anti-Mage Hunter’s Onslaught that happens on the flip side. That professorial quote almost makes Lorehold cool again! ... I kid, Quintorius does that already. He’s a nice lad. Casting spells to weaken the siege feels awesome, and getting to a point where you’re overwhelming the board is pretty awesome. Exiling to get spirits without having to worry about getting burned out? Heck yeah. Spoils of the Vault is too far a combo for the flipside to matter too much and nobody’s going to Thoracle that, anyway. If they’re not playing burn, you get to just make your army, after having swept them away, and then the school is safe once more. Fantastic job bringing this out of the woodwork. Quite unexpected.

Woo! Runners-up and commentary to follow. —@abelzumi

[maddiefriendlovesbilly]

Okay actually, I’m gonna be the change I want to see in the world— I Know I’m the only person pushing for this, but can you do a ship review on. Light Zeron and Officer Maloney— if you don’t know enough about either character for that,,,, I dunno— Poppy Soup and Sally Acachalla? - overthinkingtaleblr

you CANNOT do this to me I'm INSANE about both of these concepts and I'm gonna do both you fiend! I'm starting with zeron/maloney because I think the idea of that is just below spooker/maxwell for me on deranged (/pos) ships.

Light Zeron/Officer Maloney

so to start us off let's go over the AMAZING dynamic of "world's most pathetic officer of the law" and "vampire security guard on the run"

we know that maloney is. ahem. SHIT at catching criminals, which makes this whole thing work long enough that they Could form a love/hate relationship

god I want a 5k fanfic on this unironically but I would have to write it!!!!

is this post- or pre-vampire? I'm thinking pre BECAUSE imagine!!! imagine the angst

zeron is acting strangely, super out of character. the only person who knows him well enough to figure it out is the man trying to catch him :sobbing:

(also on an unrelated note, they're both aliens which I think is really cute)

look just like. god I'm just shaking my fists irl because I'm so incoherent about this

theyre like. weirdly similar tbh. something about their egos i feel like would both clash heavily and potentially work really well together

IT'S THE PERFECT ENEMIES TO LOVERS SICK FIC GODDAMN

zeron hasn't drunk any blood in ages, (something-something moral quandary something-something starving) and now he's basically passing out from malnutrition, so of course that's the moment maloney spots him in the alley he's squatting in.

and maybe if it were a stranger he would corner them and feed, (its so much easier to drink someone's blood when you can convince yourself that they aren't actually a person, in a weird, convoluted way) but this is someone he knows, maybe even respects. even if they are enemies.

so he doesn't want to drink maloney's blood, and that leaves him with only one other choice - he runs.

he pushes past him and ducks into the nearest abandoned building, hoping to lose maloney in there, but maloney's right behind him.

and meanwhile maloney, so used to their usual back-and-forth banter during fights, is highly confused (maybe a little upset - and fairly worried - if he's being honest) by this behavior.

zeron keeps running but it's clear he won't get much further unless he drinks someone's blood, and now there's literally only one person around - the guy he cares for too much (even if he won't admit it to himself).

be caught or surrender, that's his choice.

it's made for him when maloney catches his wrist - but instead of cuffing him, he spins zeron around, cornering him.

(at this point zeron is wondering if he's about to die a very painful death, but all he can do is stare at maloney's neck.)

maloney oblivious to his surroundings as always, is currently checking zeron over for injuries, and mentally slapping himself because he caught the criminal, why isn't he cuffing him?

this is around the time zeron's resolve breaks - close proximity to a very appetizing meal while starving makes it a bit difficult NOT to partake.

he goes for the neck - literally - and begins drinking like the world is ending. make this part as gay as your little heart desires.

being stabbed in the neck hurts, even more so when they are draining your blood, so maloney quickly pushes zeron off.

but a meal's a meal, and zeron is gone before maloney can even get a word in.

that's all ive got on that for right now haha, so let's hop over to pros and cons!

pros: very fun dynamic, their shared weirdness and the fact that they're both aliens (of different species) could be a bonding point, and they are both like. so so sopping wet and pathetic, they also have similar personalities in a strange way. great potential for hurt/comfort, enemies to lovers and hurt/no comfort fics.

cons: uhhhh. okay so theyre on opposite sides technically, which means any happy ending is gonna have a lot of rough spots, and there's like SO much distrust between them (and light zeron already has issues trusting others)

Conclusion: I'm like SOO biased here so give me a sec to find my center and use logic. Do I think they would work short-term? I feel like they would somehow manage it? like despite everything they'd somehow manage to stay in a not-so-secret kind-of-relationship for at least a year (meanwhile all the news stations are reporting about the two gay people fighting in the street again), and then they'd actually start going on the cheesiest dates ever (and causing pure chaos wherever they went), like coffee dates and amusement park dates and all that shit. everyone would just accept that they're dating and that maloney will probably never catch him but it's Buttsville, NC so what are you gonna do?

at the same time though, I'm sitting here like, what's the long-term gonna look like? does maloney become a criminal? do they get married and settle down? both are hilarious yet tragic because undoubtedly maloney would be a better criminal than police officer but it goes against his perception of himself, and neither is exactly built for domesticity. still, I think they'd manage. somehow it feels like they're too much of a force of nature to let something like that stop them, y'know?