#also i had to fight for my life to get used to using premiere at even a basic level lmao

[decorativecrab]

i saw this post a couple days ago and i guess you could say i can't control myself. i can't escape myself, even

[cluelessrebel1988]

If I Ran The Zoo (or how I would plot out an Animorphs TV/streaming series if I had the time/ability/resources)

So this is something I've been kicking around in my head on-again, off-again for a couple years now, and I thought I'd put it out there, just for the lols (do people still say that?)

My thought process is for a 5 season arc, with each season being somewhere in the neighborhood of 13-15 episodes long, give or take. There would be a few changes with the order of things, and a few minor characters would play a bigger role. I'm not going to go episode by episode, but just sort of outline the big arcs for each season. I'm not in any way suggesting that this is the best way to do it, just that this is how I would do it.

Season 1

This season obviously would start the events of The Invasion and would primarily incorporate events/plot points from the first 10 books, including finding Ax in his crashed ship (though I would move that to either take place in the first episode, or in the second half of the two-part premiere), Tobais getting stuck in his hawk form (and getting an episode or two dedicated to him coming to terms with that), and introducing Erik and the Chee (Erik would be introduced as a friend of Marco's early in the season, with his identity as a Chee being revealed in the second half of the season).

The only major plot point from that run of the series I wouldn't put into play just yet is the reveal of Marco's mother as Visser One (although I would be very much establishing her through flashbacks, dreams, etc., so people will recognize her when Visser One does show up).

The main arc of the season would involve the Kandrona Ray and the events of The Stranger, with the team meeting the Ellimist and learning about the ray and its significance and plotting to take it down to try to end/expose the invasion. Erik and Ax tagteam providing info about the ray and its use, but it's the vision from the Ellimist that gives Rachel the final clue, again, as in the book, with that occuring at the end of the penultimate episode. The season finale is solely focused on devising and executing the plan to destroy the ray. The plan would succeed, which would prompt Visser One's return, revealing her host to be Marco's mother as the cliffhanger for the season.

Obviously, we would be exploring the kid's home lives more, with the relationship with their families and friends and the whole 'work-life balance' thing that comes with fighting a guerilla war against an alien invasion. Not to the point where they're having to fake illnesses to skip school every episode, but enough to show that it's putting a strain on their relationships. I would also explore Rachel's relationship with Melissa Chapman more and have Melissa be a bigger supporting character in the show. We'd also introduce Karen and Aftran in this season, revealing her to be a controller early on, but something that Cassie doesn't find out until the end of the season

Season 2

Season 2 would pick up a few weeks after season 1, as The Alien did with The Stranger. The kids learn that their hope that the invasion would reveal itself with the Kandrona ray destroyed were in vain and that Ax knew that. The premiere would largely follow the plot of that book, with the Animorphs attempting to integrate Ax into society and attempting to take the fight to Visser Three with the help of a Yeerk traitor, and Ax telling the others about the Law of Seerow's Kindness. Ax would get a lot of development this season, with the events of The Deception coming into play.

Tobias would help free the Hork-Bajir as in The Change and get his human form back as a morph, and the reveal that he is Elfangor's son would be included in this season as well (Obviously we're tapping into the Andalite Chronicles for flashbacks in at least one episode this season to help set that up).

Marco's main character arc would revolve around learning that his mother is Visser One, keeping it a secret, only to have the others find out later, thus incorporating The Predator and The Escape. Also Visser One is the big bad for the season, delving more into her conflict with Visser Three. The season would end with her supposed death following the Animorphs' thwarting of her plans

For Cassie, we cover the utilize adapted versions of The Departure and set up for The Sickness, with Karen/Aftran and Cassie perhaps getting trapped somewhere and forced to work together to get out of it, laying the groundwork for Aftran to be captured by Visser Three. The season finale would also center around the efforts to rescue Aftran.

Jake and Rachel will have arcs and roles to play in each of these stories as they each start to fall into their respective roles as leader and fighter, respectively. If they get their own arc, it would be around trying to save Tom specifically.

Additionally, Melissa is still around in her expanded role, but with a new friend: David, who would be introduced fairly early in the season in a recurring role (Melissa is also recurring at this point). She and David will have a B-plot where they become friends and are together when David finds the morphing cube, the discovery of which also occurs in the finale.

Season 3

Obviously, the primary source for the main arc of season 3 is the David Trilogy, with The Discovery in particular serving as the source for the season premiere. It plays out mostly the same, with the Animorphs learning that David and Melissa have the cube and plans to sell it online. They try to retrieve the cube before the two of them can attract the attention of the Yeerks, but ultimately fail, leading to the battle at David's house. They manage to get Melissa and David out of the house before they can be captured, and are forced to reveal themselves and tell them what's happening, essentially recruiting them into the Animorphs.

The events of the rest of the trilogy, with the threat to the UN summit or some similar event involving world leaders as a target that they have to keep the Yeerks from taking advantage of -- as well as with David and Melissa's reactions to being Animorphs -- would take up the majority of the plot this season. Obviously Melissa becoming an Animorph opens up some new potential for her arc, especially around her relationship with her dad and trying to come to terms with him being a controller (and the fact that Rachel has been keeping this a secret all along). She and David would have similar arcs around their parents being controllers, but while David ultimately turns against the Animorphs, Melissa does not (although David tries to convince her to). The season ends with the gang trapping David in a rat morph, as the books do.

One of Melissa's major character traits is her interest in technology, something she used to bond with her father over (working together to take things apart and then put them back together before be became a Controller to try to keep her safe) and I imagine her and Ax developing something of an awkward friendship as she tries to ask him about the morphing technology and other Andalite technology, with him being reluctant to share due to the Law of Seerow's Kindness. But, as he's grown closer with the Animorphs, he would eventually acquiesce and they would begin to bond. The two big relationships (Rachel and Tobias, and Cassie and Jake) also take major steps this season

The other major arc for the season involves other Andalites, incorporating The Arrival and The Other, with the reveal that other Andalites are on earth and some are there to help...or are they? The season would also end with Tobias getting captured by the Yeerks to begin the laying of the groundwork for the discovery that the Animorphs are not, in fact, Andalite bandits.

Season 4

The events of The Illusion and The Test would be adapted for the season premiere, including the introduction of the Yeerk resistance (led in this series by Karen/Aftran) and Tobias's capture and torture, with the main difference being that it is Tom (who has largely been a secondary or tertiary villain thus far) being the one who conducts the torture. During the interrogation, Tobias lets something slip that most of the controllers in the room don't pick up on, but Tom does, leading him to investigate and setting up for the finale, which would be largely and adaptation of The Diversion, with the race against time to save their families taking up the majority of the episode. Melissa is able to save her parents, her father proving to be an asset in the final season with his knowledge of how Yeerk technology works.

This season as a whole would focus on escalating the war between the Animorphs and the Yeerks. The stakes become higher, as are tensions following David's betrayal. Visser One returns, learning that Marco is one of the Animorphs and we incorporate the events of Visser, seeing the Animorphs rescue her.

Following Tobias's capture and torture, Rachel becomes more angry and vengeful, setting up for her arc over the final season (we've seen hints of her violent streak over the series up to this point, but it gets more intense this season).

Season 5

With their secret out, the Animorphs regroup in the Hork-Bajir valley and try to figure out their next move. The final arc of the series would play out largely how it does over the course of the final books, with the team recruiting more Animorphs to help them with their mission, and even trying to recruit government and military officials to aid in the fight. Tom gets the morphing cube, adding controllers with the ability to morph (other than the newly appointed Visser One) to the threat against the Animorphs. The final battle would be a multi-pronged attack, with the bombing of the Yeerk Pool being part of the final assault and not a separate battle.

Rachel gets aboard the blade ship and kills Tom before being killed herself. In an effort to make up for the harm he caused, Hedrick Chapman sacrifices himself to both ensure the Yeerk Pool bomb goes off and to save Melissa one final time (the pair of them were in charge of building/detonating it, along with Ax), and Jake orders the flushing of the Yeerk Pool on the the Pool ship, alienating Erek and the rest of the Chee going forward. All of this is in the penultimate episode.

The series finale follows the aftermath of the war in The Beginning, and, as the books did, the series would end with Jake, Tobias, and Marco (and probably Melissa) being recruited to help save Ax from an as-yet unknown threat.

And there you have it, my outline for how an Animorphs series could/should play out. As I said at the start, this is just my idea and others might have different thoughts about what order the arcs should go in and what significant changes (if any) would be made. Please be kind with any criticisms, and if you'd like to share your thoughts with me, my inbox is open. I also did a fancast for the series a few years ago if anyone's curious about who would play who

[masochistartt]

okay fuck it jamie self perception post

jamie has been signed to city since he was a child. this is how the academy system works - they recruit players (children) from local grassroots leagues and bring them into their club system, hoping to raise them up to play for their club in the future (or sell them off to other teams for profit). these players are typically between the ages of 9 and 10 when they're first recruited, but can be younger/older. they're evaluated every year, and players can be cut at any time.

i think jamie joined city when he was around 9, solely because of the fact that he said his dad started showing up when he got good at football, and georgie my beloved would not let jamie go on a trip abroad with a complete stranger to him when he was 14. i think james started coming back around when jamie was somewhere between 11 and 12, playing for city's u14 team, and his skill at that age level is how james heard about him (it's not uncommon to hear about great players who are that age. city recently signed a like. legendary 14 year old and i've heard about it (young boys should not be having their egos inflated like that at 14 but that's beside the point)).

that's a whole lot of rambling before i even start touching on the original point – the contract jamie's had signed since he was ~9 that dictates what he must and mustn't do. this is the idea that he's had of himself in his head from that very young age.

screenshots are provided from the 23/24 premier league youth development forms bc honestly i cba to go back and find anything older (i've tried looking and it's not working so you're getting this) but

the scholar here is the academy player. 5.1.3 and 5.1.4 are what interest me here. jamie was obligated to not only train & play to the best of his ability always, but he was obligated to maintain a high standard of physical fitness at all times from the age of 9.

think of the thoughts that might put in a young jamie tartt's mind. he had to be at his peak always. if he wasn't at his peak, he was disobeying his contract. he was owned by his club, and he knew that if they sell him, they'll make a whole lot of money off of him (there's a certain base fee x number of years the player was trained + extras = total homegrown player transfer fee algorithm but i don't want to do math rn so im not touching on that). i don't think jamie ever wanted city to sell him, so i think he put pressure on himself to be at his best always, to never let his standards slip, and when james came back into the picture, that pressure only grew exponentially.

it's also interesting looking at the "the scholar shall not" section of the contract. 5.3.1 is interesting bc like. if the club (city) didn't think his house on the estate was safe they could've fully just. Moved Him. but 5.3.3 is insane to me. especially the beginning. "the scholar shall not indulge in any activity or practice which might endanger his fitness". this means no fun roller skating birthday parties. this means jamie probably knew how to ride a bike before he was 9 bc if he "indulged" in learning when he was with city that might have endangered his fitness. no rock climbing. no tree climbing.

and if jamie took things as seriously as i think he did (boy really wanted to play football, that was his dream in life, i don't think he would've purposely done anything to endanger that dream), i think he missed out on some fun in his childhood solely bc he was Keeping His Body In Full Fitness For His Club.

which brings us to Adult Jamie. bc he was raised in this environment, raised with the mindset of My Body Belongs To My Club, My Body is an Asset for my Club, it makes even more sense why he'd put up with the auction at the gala without starting a fight (even if the whole manipulate keeley & possibly bribe bex thing happened behind the scenes).

his club (even though he was on loan, it was his club for the season), was auctioning off Its Own Asset (jamie's body) to the highest bidder for a night. jamie's body, from a very, very young age (does jamie remember much before he was signed to city? i don't think so) has always Belonged to His Club.

this is also part of the reason that i headcanon jamie doesn't like driving - driving is, in his mind an Activity Which Might Endanger His Fitness.

also. for the record. this stuff is also in the professional player's contracts too.

the player agrees to maintain a high standard of physical fitness at all times and not to indulge in any activity sport or practice which might endanger such fitness.

3.1.6 is another reason i think jamie went along with the stuff at the gala too. the player agrees to comply with and act in accordance with all lawful instructions of any authorised official of the club. rebecca/higgins/whoever put on the gala is an authorised official of the club. he kind of. had to by contract not put up a fight with them about this

the player agrees that he shall not undertake or be involved in any activity or practice which will knowingly cause to be void or voidable...policy of insurance maintained for the benefit of the club on the life of the player or covering his physical well-being including injury.

he still can't do anything that might get him hurt. i ignore that he engages in kink practice both in canon and in my own headcanons bc i think the heavier kink stuff really only comes in later seasons' timelines and even then he's engaging in that kink stuff with someone(s) who knows that this stuff is in his contract. they know his limits.

anyways something something jamie's body is an asset for his club (city and then richmond) and i think that says a lot about the way he views himself. you know ?

[epickiya722]

So I just read a meta about how Yuji is not at all parallel with Getou. "Because Yuji is really kind from his heart unlike Getou...." Can I ask, is there really an interview where Gege said that Getou is too kind in the cruel JJK universe? Do you agree with the parallel between Yuji and Getou?

[I apologize beforehand, this kinda got long because I got into the topic and I'm running on low HP. So this may be a little all over the place. 😅]

Okay, so I don't know if there is an interview of such a topic (I'm still "new" to JJK, like I'm just being more active again enough though I had been into the since it premiered and picked up the manga, not important right now though) but I can answer that second question!

I disagree with the fact that Yuji and Suguru can't be compared because Yuji is "too kind". Don't get me wrong, my boy is so kind. And the same be said for Suguru once upon a time.

So I do agree with the parallels.

The thing is, Suguru didn't start off as some evil guy. And even if he did, that doesn't mean him and Yuji can't be parallels to each other, let alone be compared.

Sometimes, it seems forgotten that Suguru was just a child, too, when his life took a whole different course. He was just a year older than what Yuji is when he witnessed the death of Riko. At 17-18 years old, he finally snapped.

Sure, they're totally different characters on the surface. When you see Suguru, you wouldn't think Yuuji and vice versa. It takes sitting down and letting your mind wander and seeing those similarities.

If there are hero characters that serve as parallels to their villains, I don't see why Yuji being "too kind" would be an issue to why he can't serve as a parallel to Suguru.

Now, I don't know if Gege wants us to see them as parallels, but I do see that the characters share some similarities. Wrote a post of said similarities way back when, but I'll do a recap here!

Small details are that they're both are/have been in a trio that consists of them (Suguru and Yuji), a girl with a bob (Shoko and Nobara) and another guy who comes from a high-status clan with a string technique born in December (Satoru and Megumi). They both lost a limb (Yuji lost a hand and Suguru lost a whole arm), fought some old guy, has fought Yuta, and has a thing for loose clothing.

Now, I see those more as coincidences. But there are bigger details that more-so dwell into and shape into their characters.

They have witnessed someone die in front of them and someone's death had set them off somehow to the point of Suguru and Yuji being enraged and questioning how things work.

Suguru was less than a yard away when Riko was killed in front of him and moments later, Toji tells him about Satoru. Suguru was already still in shock with Riko's death since it just happened and then Toji pushed him further with Satoru's "death" (yes, Suguru didn't see Satoru die, but his "death" was a trigger for him, like that's his other half right there). There's also Haibara's death. Haibara's death was definitely another tragedy for Suguru given that Haibara was kinda the hope spot for their group. He was literally the sunshine and then that dreadful mission happened.

Yuji witnessed both deaths of Junpei and Nanami at the hands of Mahito. And as had death had been for Suguru, their deaths affected him greatly. Junpei's demise kicks off Yuji's hatred for Mahito and it's just the beginning of how his character begins to change. Yuji starts off more optimistic in the story, by the time the Shibuya Incident Arc ends, he has pretty much dulled. He already accepts his death in the beginning, doing what he can to save people. But then, he lost his fight against Choso, Sukuna did what he did and then Mahito came and killed Nanami and (seemingly) Nobara.

Both characters came to the realization that the jujutsu world sucks. They're just tools ordered by others (the Higher Ups 🙄) who don't do a damn thing really, to kill curses that will just keep coming. They accept that, but in different ways. For Suguru, he deflects and decides to "fix the problem" by killing the cause of Curses. Which is humans, or to be specific: non-shamans. For Yuuji, when he accepts it, it's when he has his final battle with Mahito. He doesn't decide to kill humans. He just accepts that "Well, Mahito, you're right, I am you. I am a killer."

Crazy thing is, when both Suguru and Yuuji hit their breaking points and kill/attempt to kill someone (Suguru with the village and Yuji with Mahito), it wasn't like they're enjoying it for revenge purposes or anything. They're both emotionally drained and just act on the simple nature of being a jujutsu sorcerer/curse user. They have those dead looks in their eyes.

Another trait they share is swallowing cursed things, which, again, plays into shaping their characters.

Suguru swallows curses and does not enjoy the taste at all. And it's something he has to do over and over and over. Curses are nothing but trouble for him. In his past, he uses his technique for saving, to do good as he believed he should do. When he chooses to be a curse user, he uses his technique in exchange for money. As a teenager, he pretty much was using a technique that slowly was mentally destroying him for people who wouldn't even know he was saving them and for people who wouldn't care less about him. If he's going to swallow the thing that he hates most just as much as he does for non-shamans, he might as well do it benefit himself.

His technique, piled on with the deaths he witnessed as well as the ugliness of people changed Suguru for the worse.

Same could be said for Yuuji. While he doesn't have to do it as often Suguru does, he still gets just as much mental damage as Suguru. At first, he handles it a little better, it's even played for laughs a little. When he first swallows one of Sukuna's fingers, it's to save his friends and Megumi. He doesn't think about it, he acts on it. When he swallows the second finger, it kicks in how gross it is, but he brushes off the taste. The third finger, he wasn't even conscious for. Sukuna swallowed that one. Four finger, again, Sukuna did that. However, even though Yuuji is aware that the more fingers he swallows, the closer his execution date is, and isn't sure how many fingers it would take for him to lose control of Sukuna, he just asks "should I eat it"?

It's when fingers 5-15 are consumed when things really hit Yuuji hard. He loses his fight against Choso, and is unconscious and close to death, which allows the Hasaba Twins to feed him finger #5. Jogo comes along and feeds him the next 10 fingers.

Sukuna takes over and we know what happens after that.

After Sukuna destroys Shibuya, he dumps that trauma on Yuuji who blames himself for the destruction. It goes down even further down hill for him.

Speaking of Sukuna, that's another thing they share. Not Sukuna, but body possession.

Both Suguru and Yuuji's bodies become vessels for 1000+ year old beings that cause nothing but problems for everyone else all while they're being used for other's advantages.

Kenjaku possesses Suguru's body to use his technique. Sukuna possess Yuuji's body as a way to be brought up into the world. Although he doesn't have control of Yuuji's body all the time, whenever he does, he makes sure to make the most of it.

(And if you're a manga reader, you know he definitely have done that.)

It also strikes me as interesting that both characters have a connection to Kenjaku in some way. As mentioned, Suguru's body is possessed by Kenjaku and Kenjaku is responsible for Yuuji existing. And I just know that had to be foreshadowed, too.

That part when that the Worm Curse Toji had comes in contact with Suguru can calls him "mommy"? Yeah... Suguru becomes a mom, alright. Adopts twins a year later, dies years later after that, body gets possessed. And what do you know! Suguru's body gets possessed by Kenjaku... who just before taking Suguru's body had been parading around as Kaori Itadori... Yuuji's mother!

Really, what sets Suguru and Yuuji apart is that Suguru ended up from being a hero character to a villain.

For two characters to never had interacted, they do have similar stories.

[hubristicassholefight]

Swordswoman Showdown 3rd place

Camilla Hect (The Locked Tomb) vs Brienne of Tarth (A Song Of Ice and Fire)

(Better here in a "preferred character" sense, not "who would win in a fight")

Camilla art by @friendamedes, used with permission

Propaganda below cut

Cam

trained w a rapier & knives. practical. handsome. extremely efficient and capable.; she’s my boyfriend and I love her. Please vote for cam she is my life

Gideon Nav uses one very large sword in defiance of the expectation that a cavalier should use a rapier, but Camilla Hect instead uses two. Just as much defiance of social expectation, twice as many blades. The reveal of her specific brand of swordiness is the heart of one of the book's most iconic lines: "Cam? Go loud."; In the spirit of the laconic charm of the Warden's Hand I will simply say "Camilla's competent."

She prefers two short swords but has been know to wield a rapier and other such bladder instruments; She also loves to organize spreadsheets

Go loud.

Brienne

gets gifted a sword made with the rarest metal ever because she’s THAT good; she’s simply the best

Brienne is one of the top sword users alive in her day. She's descended from a man who's catchphrase was "I'm better with a sword." Better than what? You. Jaime Lannister. Loras Tyrell. Any five given guys at once. She has a fantastic sword that might be magic or cursed and is named Oathkeeper because that's what she does; I love her

Beat like 20 guys in a tournament when she was 19. Was given a magic sword. Won a sword fight against the premier swordsman in the realm. Very swordly; Very tall and strong. Holds her sword in high esteem. Accomplished with other weapons as well!

She's defeated multiple of the top knights in the series in duels. One such knight gifts her the fabergé egg of swords and she uses it to defend orphans and stuff. Got out of a bad betrothal by dueling him and beating his ass so bad she broke multiple bones. Honestly there's so much more she is the swordswoman of all time. to me; She's buff and ugly and 6' 5" and so honorable and kind that she inspires the guy who fucks his sister to yknow. stop doing that. literally gets mauled for the sake of protecting a bunch of orphans (with her sword). also she's 20 she should be at the club ‼️

One of the best sword wielders in Westeros, the author says he would pick her to defend him. Has a cool sword called Oathkeeper. Manages to go up against 7 fighters and take out most of them,. The only true knight; First off, talking about book brienne, they massacred show brienne, the show runners simply didn’t understand what she’s about.“ She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice” brienne had plenty of choice but she couldn’t leave people to die. The chivalric paradigm is rotten and corrupted, but here is Brienne, the one true knight, who isn’t even a actual knight! “knights are for killing”, but here is a knight who risks her life again and again to protect innocents! Bri IS hope, she is the light in the dark that shows that things can be better, things must be better. Fundamentally an idealist: “Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die in battle, they will surely sing of us, and it's always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining”

#BRIENNE WON A MELEE WHEN SHE WAS 19 !!!!!#DONT LET HER LOSE

#MORE LOVE FOR BRIENNE#SHE FOUGHT A DAMN BEAR WITH A WOODEN SWORD#SHE AVENGED A MAN UNJUSTLY MAIMED#SHE PROTECTED CHILDREN AGAINST SEVEN MEN#NO CHANCE AND NO CHOICE

I'm going to put some propaganda for Brienne, because she deserves the world.

Some people have been quoting the "no chance, no choice" in the tags, but for those that don't know it comes from this scene:

...she could hear the faint clink of swords and mail from beneath their ragged cloaks. She counted them as they came. Two, four, six, seven. (...) Brienne sucked in her breath and drew Oathkeeper. Too many, she thought, with a start of fear, they are too many.(...) Brienne tried to keep the fear from her voice, but her mouth was dry as dust. The children, she thought. The door to the inn banged open. Willow stepped out into the rain, a crossbow in her hands. The girl was shouting at the riders, but a clap of thunder rolled across the yard, drowning out her words. As it faded, Brienne heard the man in the Hound’s helm say, “Loose a quarrel at me and I’ll shove that crossbow up your cunt and fuck you with it. Then I’ll pop your fucking eyes out and make you eat them.” The fury in the man’s voice drove Willow back a step, trembling. Seven, Brienne thought again, despairing. She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice. She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand. “Leave her be. If you want to rape someone, try me.”

This is basically one of the most badass and awesome moments of the series... because here, Brienne is not guarding a King, vanquishing a great Evil Lord, or fighting a big glorious battle... this is an inn full of orphans being attacked by raiders, children whose lives really don't matter in the great scheme of things. If they were all to be killed, nobody powerful would really care, no history book would write their names.

The logical thing is to run away from there as fast as she could. And yet, Brienne decides to enter an unwinnable nightmarish battle (one where she gets her arm broken and her face eaten) because is the right thing to do. She is a true knight.

Because, in the dark pseudo-medieval world of Westeros, where the patriarchal martial system reigns supreme, there is no space for someone like Brienne, she herself said it best:

"You have a noble father who must surely love you. (...) I know he would tell you that he would sooner have a living daughter than a shattered shield." "A daughter." Brienne's eyes filled with tears. "He deserves that. A daughter who could sing to him and grace his hall and bear him grandsons. He deserves a son too, a strong and gallant son to bring honor to his name. (...) I am the only child the gods let him keep. The freakish one, not fit to be a son or daughter."

And yet, despite being on the fringe of this society that doesn't accept nonconforming gender expression, despite not being able to be named knight, Brienne is still the embodiment of the ideal of knighthood. She is a true hero, who over and over decides to defend the innocents and do the right thing.

So yeah, my conclusion here is... I think she and kiku should kiss <3

[waitmyturtles]

THE MORNING AFTER: ONLY FRIENDS, EPISODE 2 ("I PROMISED YOU THE MOONSHINE") EDITION

Being a day late to watching and writing about Only Friends allows me a little airspace away from the gasps and dopamine of the collective community first watch of each episode, and lemme tell ya -- my dash yesterday was so hot, it was like melting Tupperware on a stove. Unfortunately for many in the fandom, the ships are going to sink. That shower scene got some folks wrecked. Many folks on my dash have a sudden disdain for Neo Trai (poor kiddo). For anyone who reads around here, you might remember my implored begging of the Tumblr family to watch Gay OK Bangkok before Only Friends premiered, and I still stand by it. The Only Friends team -- Jojo Tichakorn, Ninew Pinya, writers Den Panuwat and Best Kittisak -- are playing with a lot of concepts that I thought were just FABULOUSLY explored in this second episode, and these concepts ARE going to lead to further innuendos and endings that the shippers are just not going to like. (I think GOKB primed us for this.) And frankly, by the way this episode played out (as we were talking about a couple days ago, @lurkingshan) -- I think that's a hell of a point that the team is making in our faces.

I'm going to get to this more in a moment. Let me explain more, by way, of all things (!) -- plum wine.

So a bunch of us meta clowns (cc @ranchthoughts, @chickenstrangers, @lurkingshan) were talking about a theory I had on Friday regarding the theme of ephemerality in the first episode. How Cheum indicated to Mew that there's a lot in Thailand that'll bring them down, from pollution to radiation. She wanted Mew to nab Top -- she indicated that life is fickle, so what did her homeboy have to lose? Go get yer man, she said.

@ranchthoughts, @chickenstrangers, @lurkingshan and I took this conversation further yesterday (please read all the reblogs on this link, folks, it's a great conversation!), exploring the many more references to the ephemeral, fickle nature of time and life that Only Friends is referencing. @chickenstrangers clocked that Yo's bar is called YOLO. @ranchthoughts clocked that Sand's bag of plum wine read "you only live once." @lurkingshan noted that Jojo's played around with the ephemeral before -- in Gay OK Bangkok, examining the impact of HIV on Bangkok's gay male population.

The reblogs of the post linked above also capture some common mentalities about the "future" for our current crop of young folks today (I... am not young, lol), particularly for the young queer community. That through climate change, the slow-snail-paced fight for equity (like the legalization of same-sex marriage in Thailand) (and even comparing it to the roll-back of rights for the LGBTQ+ community in the States) -- as @ranchthoughts wrote, there seems to be a stronger sense of "live fast, die young," among younger cohorts than when I was a young lass, born in the 1980s, when a middle management career could get you everything you needed, with a unfettered retirement in sight.

To me, the most wrenching references to the ephemeral in this second episode focused on death. "Do you want us to die?," Sand asked laughingly as Ray played around in the car. Top can't sleep alone because after a childhood trauma, he's afraid he'll die alone. Ray's deceased mom is shown with a glass in her hand.

And how are these young folks behaving? In the face of literal death, as they themselves are referring to it: they're living life very riskily. Top's a player. So is Boston. We hope they're playing safe. (Gay OK Bangkok had condoms all over the place. I haven't seen any yet in OF.) Ray's blood alcohol levels are clearly through the roof. Sand's committing a crime.

Say what now? Committing a crime?

I hope folks clocked that. What's REALLY making me shake my head is how slick the non-sexual commentary was in this episode.

Going back to my original post on ephemerality that I let loose on Friday: I talked about the metaphor of plum wine and the passage of time -- how plum wine tastes sweeter and better as you let it age.

Sand was pissed that his bottles of plum wine broke because he's making it himself. That's why he wanted Ray to pay him back for the lost supply. Sand lost both product AND time.

Making and selling plum wine is illegal in Thailand. It's like the selling of rotgut during Prohibition.

SAY WHAT? For real. Thailand's laws around alcohol are wild, y'all. The display of alcohol logos is weirdly regulated (I laugh at how bottles are often blurred out in Thai dramas), brewing alcohol within Thailand is insanely complicated (some people brew alcohol in Thailand, then bottle it elsewhere and import it BACK into Thailand to skirt these laws), and -- you cannot buy alcohol from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Remember we saw Ray sneaking some sips from a flask outside the hostel site? That's a major flag for confirmed alcoholism (drinking alone during the day). But also, if Ray wanted a drink during the hours of 2-5 pm -- he had to have the booze on himself to have a tipple.

We know Jojo does NOT shy away from political commentary. We saw it in spades during Dirty Laundry.

What I love about Jojo's work is that he's unafraid to call out the hypocrisy of these kinds of laws. The making of plum wine is ILLEGAL? In Japan, making umeshu is traditional. (It's also the easiest and most delicious thing ever, please try making it!). For many of us around the world, making umeshu is a hobby, and a perfectly safe one at that. Considering Thailand's economy is so dependent on tourism, and that Bangkok itself is a world-class city, you would think that the selling of alcohol wouldn't be so complicated, and yet... 'tis.

This leads me to what I saw as the second Big Theme of this episode, besides ephemerality: I saw a lot of hypocrisy in this episode.

We got the liquor laws bullshit. We got Boston. Boston strikes me as a hypocrite for setting up his friend Mew with Top -- all while Boston's still wanting to get with Top, to the point of sneaking into Top's shower.

And Mew strikes me as a hypocrite, too. He wants to "redo" the start of his relationship with Top?... on his own terms? So, they're not boyfriends anymore? After already....having dated? Believable, my dude. The guys are in a PatPran-esque battle of... something, and I don't think it's wits, because neither of them seem to have many wits about them. They seem to be more interested in just winning a goal that (except for sex for Top) seems wholly unclear. Does Mew not know that Top may very well NOT respect Mew? Is Mew aware that his read on Top may not be at all accurate? And.... does Mew actually care? I'm not convinced of it.

Live fast, die young. What does it matter to be a hypocrite if the future is unstable, if time is speeding by -- and if no one is holding these young folks accountable for their behavior, as I put into the tags of @ranchthoughts's post yesterday? As Nick says to Boston: "you're a rich guy -- you don't care much for things." What, exactly, would make these rich kids care about being ethical human beings?

Accountability is around the corner for this group. Nick is starting to catch feelings. Boston is wondering why he's getting rejected by Top. Sand's recognizing that Ray's sniffing out something between them (cc @neuroticbookworm) (and, who knows, as NBW first referenced in her post -- Sand might be catching feelings, too). All of these friends -- it's mindblowing! -- leave Ray alone, often, wasted off his ass, to get himself home, as Sand himself notes.

These characters are going to get hurt, and it's only a matter of time until we begin seeing it happen. At the micro-level, human to human, they will hurt each other. And society, Thai society, is doing these young people no favors by not helping to equalize the inequity between rich and poor -- as Sand has to take risks to sell illegal hooch, of all things, to just get by.

Wrapping this up with what I was mentioning up at the top about the jibbles that the fandoms are starting to feel towards the established GMMTV ships of this show slowly sinking. Isn't there a bit of hypocrisy there as well? This show is NOT going to be pretty for the ForceBook/FirstKhao established ships. What are we, as fans, going to do when that time comes? Will we condemn Jojo? Will we stop watching the show? Will we equivocate by way of blaming other characters?

This show should be celebrated already for the risks it's taking, and the risks it will take. (Remember: fans protested at the GMMTV building in 2019 when the KristSingto ship was broken for He's Coming To Me.) Only Friends deciding to take on the toxicity and hypocrisy of shipper fandom? Bring it on. We cannot only enjoy the performances of these actors when they're paired up with one repeating partner. As the life of Gay OK Bangkok depicted, as the life of Only Friends is depicting -- life is a whole lot more complicated than just a dreamlike, over-organized monogamy between two people (ahem, Mew). Life -- and TIME -- will bring complications and change, sometimes unwanted change, that we have to learn to handle and manage. I'm not colored surprised in the least that Jojo's making this experience for us jump out of the screen and into our own hearts, as we see our beloved actors take risks upon themselves by their breaking of their own ships. I am all here for it, and I hope the shipper fans can be, too.

(BIG UPS to the small meta army family -- @ranchthoughts, @lurkingshan, @chickenstrangers, @neuroticbookworm -- I'm so thrilled to continue being thoughtful with y'all!)

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Tuesday all. Yay for writers strike being over. Now we just need to get the actors a good deal as and we'll get our couple back hopefully soon enough. Or have some kind of premiere on the horizon. Till then let's continue on with our rewatch. :) Getting to the crux is this whole Stanton SL. Their moments get better as we approach the climax of this whole ordeal. We don't have a ton of content but its pretty solid what we do get. Off we go.

3x05 Lockdown

We start out with our couple already in process of booking someone. Lucy is telling Tim that Stanton gave Jackson a blue page with leaving the drugs behind. She see's the guilt wash over him. She immediately stops Tim from blaming himself. Says it’s not his fault. Tim is riddled with guilt regardless and says it is. It was his fault because it was his idea to reach out to Doug's old rookie.

Then Tim sees Stanton enter the building and goes into aggressive protector mode. I’m here for it. If looks could kill oooh boy. That look in his eye is like a fight on sight clause. *fans self* Nothing love more than protective/aggro Tim. Lucy spots where his eyes are going. Quickly tries to deescalate Tim from knocking Stanton out cold immediately. Saying they don’t want to make things even worse for Jackson. Tim doesn’t hold back in the slightest when he comes up to Stanton. Asking if he wants to brush up on any arrest control techniques. Get em Tim. (Tim would've totally owned his ass if they had)

First off I love Lucy trying to ground Tim by touching him. Bringing him back to earth by saying hey we’re on duty… let's go. Doing what she does best by de-escalating him in the moment. He is ready to throw down with this putz. He doesn't care the consequences at this point. Lucy is very aware of this and is trying to head it off as quickly as possible. Doesn't want to risk Tim in the war they are waging against Stanton. She is doing her damndest to protect him from himself in this moment. Then Doug makes his next mistake... Trying to incite Tim by using Lucy and saying very inappropriate things about her.

Tim doesn’t have to step in because Lucy is gonna stand up for her damn self. Goes toe to toe with Stanton. Just like Tim does. Suddenly it's not just Tim. It's Lucy ready to take him down as well. Tells Doug he’s the one who is going to need rescuing. Whew lord This is getting good. Pass me the popcorn. Stanton is messing with the wrong couple. Separate they'll kick his ass. Together? Utter desolation. Fool of a man to try and take them on. Had no idea the hornets nest he just kicked.

Lucy telling Stanton she has a great hair pull takedown she’s been dying to try. LMAO Amazing. Don't mess someone they care about. Tim then becomes the one to ground her with his touch. Having them walk away before either of them do something they’ll regret. The fact that both of them wanna kick his ass in this moment is *chef kiss*. Best part is their natural instinct to protect one another.

Could care less about themselves but always instinctively shield the other. God I love them. Let's talk about how casual and natural they are about the touching to calm each other. Especially in front of others. My heart. Friggin love how they both wanna take Stanton down but also want to protect the other. Lucy calmed Tim down and then when Doug went after Tim through Lucy he had to be the one to calm her down. What a pair these two.

Tim can't help but give her crap about going after Stanton after she made him stand down. Lucy cracks me up with her testosterone line. How she got a contact high off of it LOL It was that and she was protecting both of the men in her life. The most important relationships to her. He threatened both in one moment and she was not going to have it. Ugh so good. Great opening scene for them hot damn. I will take this kind of content all day.

They follow up with a hilarious scene with the girl they booked. She’s asking for the bagels she stole back. The balls on this chick my god. Tim tells her they’ve been disposed of. She goes on saying how bad that is for the environment. His eye roll and his head tilting back LMFAO. I love this man so much your honor. He's in no mood to deal with this person. Lucy steps in and offers some logic to her ‘whole ethos’ Adore her stepping in and trying to run interference for Tim.

They’re both so over this girl by the end of their interaction I’m dying. They have much bigger problems today than her. She continues her obnoxious annoyance and says she doesn’t believe in money. But wants them to call her a cab. Sassy Tim arrives on the scene and he is most welcome. I’m laughing so hard at his reply. He is beyond done with this girl and her BS. Forever love how sassy he is now. Thank you Lucy haha

Lucy turns around and asks Nolan how his exam was. He says he passed but doesn’t seem psyched about it. Lucy notes this and Nolan says Grey just confirmed he’ll never make detective. Tim does this deep chuckle that does things to my insides and says ‘You mean you still thought you had a shot?’ LMFAO He’s so mean to Nolan and I love it sfm. Legit brings me joy how constantly underwhelmed he is by John.

His body language the whole scene has me rolling. Legit tickled pink Nolan with his letter of reprimand thought he still had a shot at detective LOL It’s the giant laugh that proceeds his line that kills me the most. Tim can't believe John could actually think he still had a legit shot at it after what he did. He’s such a jerk to Nolan and it makes me happy. I’m a bad person I know haha

They get pulled away by their freegan. She goes and gets herself arrested again by breaking into a car in their parking lot. John follows them out and quickly gets pulled away by a man in a van while they arrest her again. Nolan of course gets caught in a bomb threat outside the station. Leaving Tim and Lucy stuck there until the threat is neutralized. Hence the name of the ep. They're locked down till this mess is resolved.

They bring everyone in the lobby and in holding down to the parking garage. I love the chat they have about it. Lucy is voicing her concerns and anxiety for Jackson. Tim is instantly the calm presence she needs. He knows she is stressed because now they can’t be Jackson’s backup. Advises her the best he can till they are out of this current mess. The more they focus on the task at hand faster they're back out there to help him. I just can’t get over them being this united front to protect Jackson best they can. Makes my heart happy.

Once they're out of the garage Tim and Lucy do some digging on Graham their bomber. They find out he has a GF Kelsey Adams. She set up a page to fund his medical bills. Yet they haven't asked for money. Another thing is she’s going under an assumed name and they have no pictures of her. She wasn’t home when Lopez tracked her address down. All their leads aren’t going anywhere. It’s not about money or about the convict this man pretended to want release at first. So feels like they're back to square one. All they know is Kelsey must be involved in this circus. That they're close enough for her to have a hand in this with Graham. The issue is figuring why they're both doing this.

Lucy then has an epiphany and says what if it’s meant to distract them? Since this isn't about money or releasing someone. That the real reason is to pull their focus outside the station. When it should it really be focused inside. Harper then asks what kind of crazy person would be inside while her BF threatens that same building with explosives? I love this beautiful look between them. Their silent communication at its finest right here. All she has to do is look at Tim and they have the same thought. Their Freegan who got herself arrested twice in one hour is crazy enough.

They go to confront Freegan Freida and I love their dynamic. How confident they are and the back and forth they display. Trying to get her to break. Tag teaming it. Explaining how they caught her and her reasons why. Until they realize she’s not Kelsey Adams…. It was real good till then guys haha The real Kelsey takes off and breaks the keypad trapping them down there.

Harper is able to catch Kelsey in the evidence room and figure out why she’s there. They’re trying to get her fingerprints before they’re scanned into the system. Her ex-husband was abusive and has cops on his payroll. Why she was under an assumed name. Harper also finds out the bomb is a fake. Only needed them to think it was real to buy time. Also get him arrested so his medical care could be paid for in prison. With this mess resolved Tim and Lucy are finally able to return to their shift.

Lucy tells Tim about a text she receives from Jackson. Saying everything came to a head with Doug. That Jackson pulled his dad running IA card. That Jackson thinks he'll back off now. Hearing this sets Tim on edge. He wants to go find Jackson ASAP. He’s worried about what Doug is going to do since Jackson pulled his dad card. Say's he's not the type of guy you can back into corner and not react. Tim is afraid of what he’s going to do now that he is. Has them leave the station immediately to find him.

Tim and Lucy hear a call come over the radio. It’s the exact situation Tim was worried about. He’s having him and Jackson go into an area where they should have serious backup. Doing a ‘premise check’ solo. Doug is up to something and it’s not good. Sounds like he’s leading Jackson into the lions den. Which is exactly what happens. They split up and Jackson gets jumped. He is overwhelmed by 4 guys. Makes a call over the radio and Stanton says he’s coming to help then leaves him there be beaten to death.

Tim and Lucy show up on scene and run into Stanton and he “claims” to have lost Jackson. They quickly find Jackson and rush over to him. Tim calling in ambulance and RA. Beautiful thing about this moment is Jackson grabbing for his body cam. The cam footage that ends up condemning Stanton.

Watching Tim march over with Grey to suspend him. Phew lord Tim telling him 'Give me a reason'. Yum. Stanton gets the ending he so richly deserved. That ends quite an intense episode. Loved the United Front that is them in this episode. The way he fiercely protects Jackson the entire episode while keeping Lucy calm. So damn good. Not a ton like I said but enough goodies to enjoy especially the beginning.

~~~~~

Side notes none really this episode was truly intertwined. Glad to see Stanton finally get what’s coming to him. Awful that took Jackson nearly dying to get it done but glad he was finally removed.

As always thank you to everyone who supports these reviews. Been so fun for me to Analyze and share with you all. All the likes/comments and reblogs mean a lot ❤️ see you all in 3x06

[ecargmura]

Wind Breaker Episode 6 Review - The Fox Leaves The False Holly

Now, THIS is a well-animated fight of pure hand-to-hand combat. No flashy magics or powers needed. It’s just two delinquents going at it. Cloverworks did an amazing job giving us a fight scene as impactful as Sakura’s brawl from the premiere. I love how it was animated! Sako uses a lot of spin-kicks and punches while Hiiragi is more powerful kicks and punches. I think my favorite aspect of the fight was when Sako was going to kick Hiiragi, but faked it by grabbing his leg. That was so cool! I also really liked Hiiragi utilizing his tall height and long legs by kicking Sako from behind. It shows that the animators know how to get creative with these fight.

Hiiragi and Sako have history with each other. They used to be friends since elementary school when the former saved the latter from bullies. This was when Sako asked Hiiragi to teach him how to fight. When they were in middle school, Sako was keen on following him for the rest of his life and believed he’d be at the top in Furin. However, Hiiragi said that he was going to work under Umemiya and not take the top spot for himself. The moment he told Sako to not follow him anymore and get a new goal in life was when the rift between them happened. It seems it could be an asinine story for some viewers, but I see it as more of Hiiragi trying to help Sako avoid a potential toxic codependent relationship. He was clearly attached to Hiiragi sort of like how Sugishita holds Umemiya in high regard. However, the only difference between Sako and Sugishita is that Umemiya is already at the top so he is someone already respected while Hiiragi is someone who doesn’t want to take that position for himself. Sako could’ve been someone who could’ve been spiteful of Umemiya or Hiiragi because of this because had Sako gone to Furin, there would be a lot of tension. This was why Sako drifted away from Hiiragi and decided to join Shishitoren after Togame and Choji scouted him. Sako believes that power comes from doing things on your own, without the need to depend on anyone. The fact that Hiiragi chooses to be a follower and not a leader was what irked him.

As someone who read the manga last weekend, I want to say that there’s a very interesting theming with Bofurin and Shishitoren. All of the Bofurin members are named after plants, hence why their team’s image color is green and why Umemiya likes gardening. For example, Sakura’s name uses the kanji for Cherry Blossom. In Hiiragi’s case, his name comes from the Japanese word for Osmanthus heterophyllus, or false holly. The “ko” in Sako’s name is the kanji for fox. By extension, all of Shishitoren are named after animals. The To in Tomiyama stands for rabbit. The Game in Togame stands for turtle. The Ma in Arima stands for horse. The Ka in Kanuma stands for deer. It also helps that Shishitoren means Lion’s Head, hence the animal themed names. I think it’s super creative from a writer’s standpoint.

Speaking of Sako, I have to say that I really like his design. Wind Breaker’s character designs are so intricate. Sako stands out a lot to me. While he’s not as pretty as Suo, I still consider him a beauty. He stands out, hence why I think he’s pretty. It also helps that he does look like a fox like his namesake. No, it’s not weird to call male anime characters pretty and I’ll keep doing it.

I also liked the little banter Sakura, Nirei and Suo usually have as an audience member. Sakura’s shit talking actually gets his allies motivated. Suo’s fighting style is supposed a hodgepodge of different martial arts as his instructor was self taught. Hmmm, this does support my Suo being a successor theory…

As a manga reader, the Hiiragi and Sako fight was animated superbly. However, I honestly cannot wait for Sakura vs Togame, which will happen next week. All I can say is that Hiiragi’s words towards Togame, “You don’t know what’s going to happen” is foreshadowing the results of the match. Who do you think will win?

[princess-of-the-corner]

MLP Rewrite AU - How is Starlight Glimmer's redemption arc changed up, as the most divisive one in the show?

OH OKAY SO

I went into rewriting both the premier and finale focusing on her before so I'm just gonna go through plot points

So like. With the town. Change it so that Starlight's belief has her genuinely take her own Cutie Mark. Like in general I'm changing it because like like. Even if your Talent is taken, you still have years of training and knowledge. So everyone in town, instead of sucking ass at what used to be their talent, is now forbidden from doing it(even though they still crave to do so).

Starlight still knows how to do the spell even without her Cutie Mark, so she can still take their Marks. And other than being forbidden from pursuing their old talent, everyone's pretty happy actually! Not- not fully happy. They miss their passion and they're depressed, but they're not full cult-mode.

I think maybe cut down on the actual 'kidnapping and brain wash' thing for the most part. Just Starlight being very preachy and manipulative and figuring out how to poke and prod at insecurities about ones' Talent. Maybe have her words genuinely get through to some of the Mane Six. Like have Twilight think about how much her Talent for Magic has lead to the pressure put on her and forced her into the Princess role. Have Rarity feel like her Talent is wasted in her passion, as gemstone spells are only a tiny fraction of what she does. They don't fully fall for it, but they consider it.

It's only once the Mane Six convince the town that no, you're not happy without your Talent, and the town revolts, then Starlight goes 'no fuck you!!' and we get the fight.

Now for the finale:

I think having her be less 'fuck the Mane Six in particular' but still on her crusade against Cutie Marks. Her jumping through time is more to study them to she can figure out where they came from and get rid of them for good, and ofc she jumps to the Rainboom because it was an Event that connected the Mane Six through their Cutie Marks. Clearly there's more info there, and if she could see it in action....

The changes and alternate Timelines come from either her being there in general and/or her and Twilight fighting and keep ending up changing the race.

After Time Shenanigans and all, when Twilight asks that Starlight shows her where this all started, Starlight has more examples than just 'my friend got his Cutie Mark and he left'.

There's another friend whose talent was in dance, until an accident disabled them. Yet another whose passion died because their family forced them to do nothing but their talent, never engaging in a hobby even.

Even showing her ponies from her town. Sugar Belle who might be a great baker, but feels lost amongst the sea of other ponies who have baking and cooking talents. Party Favor, who is good at providing the best items one would need for decor, games, catering, music, etc., but can't plan a party to save his life and ended up floundering in requests to make a spectacle like some other party ponies.

Twilight would muse on the subject, admitting how back when she first came to Starlight's town, she questioned it as well. If she'd had a 'normal' Cutie Mark, or none at all, she may not be where she is. No complicated mentorship with the Princess, no near-death experiences, no pressure to deal with every disaster that pops up, no being forced into a role she didn't ever want.

But she also muses that, without all of that happening, she wouldn't be herself anymore. She wouldn't have the friends she loves or all the memory of them. (hell bring them back to the castle so Starlight can see the memory chandelier tree!)

Twilight brings up how she knows Sugar Belle and Party Favor and the others were miserable, and that for all the hardships they wanted their Marks back. That, now with a supportive community, they and their talents are thriving.

She doesn't know what happened to the others Starlight mentioned. But she does know that it's not your talent that's the source of such a bad state of mind, it's the environment. You need people around you who care and support you, all of you. They need to let a talent thrive. And while there may be situations, like the dancer who ended up disabled, it doesn't have to stop them. It will hurt, of course. They may never be the same. But they can still find ways to engage in what they love.

Starlight, though still angry and hurt, cannot stay in denial. But she is lost and confused. So when Twilight reaches out, offers to help her learn how to be better and how to get herself out of this mess, she takes the offer

[icarus-suraki]

1, 7, and 9 for the movie ask!

It occurs to me that I could just answer Goncharov (1972) for all of these…

Movie Questions Ask Bait!

->what is your favorite film of all time? Very possibly Mad Max: Fury Road. That movie rewired my brain. That movie scraped the rust off my soul. That movie sneaked up behind me and stole my spine. And it was great.

I literally went to see it in the theater seven (7) times. Seven. If you dig back in my blog here to June 2015, you'll see that this place was full of Fury Road. Stills, gifs, music, meta, fic, shitposts, all of it. All of it.

Sidebar: I think my absolute love of Fury Road is what's keeping me from wanting to see the new Furiosa prequel: Fury Road didn't explain everything to death so we, the fandom, had a great time imagining explanations or making things up. We dissected that movie and we also left it alone. I don't want to know too much. I like that world being left a partial mystery. We, like Max, get thrown into it and we're both figuring out how it works as the story progresses. I love that.

I can't exactly explain why I love it so much. The colors, the action, the fight scenes, the music (holy shit the music), the characters, the weirdness, the story itself, the callbacks and parallels, the newness and the oldness of it (it really is a train robbery movie at its core), the sense (ultimately) of hope, the presences of women (old women even!) in action roles… Something about it, maybe everything about it, were just perfect for me at that time and in that place.

Yeah. Favorite movie ever.

->name a movie you’re emotionally attached to? There's so many ways I could take this. Positive attachment? Negative attachment? Very Strange Time in My Life attachment?

Like, I know I can never watch L'Illusionniste, Les Triplettes de Belleville, or Grave of the Fireflies again because I cried just too fucking hard at each of them, which I think is an emotional attachment.

Or I could say the Lord of the Rings movies (all of them). They came out when I was in college and a handful of us were counting down the days to the premiere, watching this miniscule clip of video taken by a fan from a train that showed a glimpse of the Minas Tirith set endlessly, gobbling up any news or leak or rumor about production on Livejournal, engaging in the fandom of that era (which was a whole thing in and of itself), even going to midnight local premiers. So while I'm not a huge fan of the movies, they certainly were a constant presence in my undergrad days.

Or it could be the other movies that rewired my brain: Mad Max: Fury Road (see above), Princess Mononoke (baby's first Studio Ghibli film in 1999 at the local art house theater), Star Wars (only episodes 4, 5, and 6 though; I kind of deny that any others exist), Kiki's Delivery Service (which I had on VHS in college and would watch when I was stressed and depressed because I love the city), Voices of a Distant Star (the concept really got me)…

Or it could be the kids' movies from my own childhood, you know? Robin Hood (1973) is very near and dear to my heart. And Panda and the Magic Serpent is what started me down the weaboo road way back when I was 6 years old.

There's so many possible answers here. But that's a few movies I have emotional attachments to. How's that?

->guilty pleasure movie? Do I have to? Okay, okay, okay: I like a good cheesy, gory giallo movie, red tempra paint blood and all. Spaghetti westerns are amazing with their half-understandings or misunderstandings of USAmerican history to the point that it becomes something different, something bigger and more epic (I love The Good, The Bad and the Ugly so much). Martial arts movies full of dramatic scenes and wire-fu are so much fun (and I get to practice my Mandarin or my Japanese). Gothic drama, especially from the 1990s, is great like the original IwtV, Crimson Peak, The Crow…

But I paid actual, real, hard-earned money for a (digital) copy of Bloodsport and it's so bad. It's so bad! But I love it--maybe as much for meta reasons as anything.

Like, the whole thing is based on this Canadian-American guy Frank Dux's memoirs about being trained in ninjutsu by a mysterious Senzo "Tiger" Tanaka (who probably didn't exist at all and has the same name as a character in You Only Live Twice) and then going on to compete in this international full-contact underground martial arts competition in Hong King (the "Kumite"). Oh and he was also in the military at the time, doing covert missions, so he had to go AWOL to fight in this competition of course. Which he does without being caught. And he keeps outsmarting the CID officers (one of whom is played by a young Forest Whitaker) when they chase him to Hong Kong, meanwhile picking up an April O'Neill-style beautiful American journalist ("reporter" because it's the 1980s).

The whole thing is so clearly ridiculous bullshit but it's marketed as being based on a true story because Frank Dux insisted his bullshit was true. And it was produced by Cannon Films, which is another can of worms entirely (I highly recommend the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films for more backstory on the company; it is bonkers). And did I mention that Frank Dux is played by Jean-Claude van Damme? And yes he does do the most epic of splits.

And the whole thing is simultaneously so deep in meta layers (self-proclaimed martial arts masters, which ties into Count Dante and the dojo wars, Frank Dux's amazing bullshit and stolen valor, Cannon Films) and yet so incredibly shallow at the same time.

There's minimal plot, zero depth to the characters, massively long flashback sequences, even longer training montages, a totally ridiculous amalgamation of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures into just "Asian Culture," the dubbing in some scenes is practically criminal, there's minimal exploration of the location (Hong fucking Kong!!!) outside of a chase and a throwaway scene about bad restaurant food, and even the fight scenes during the tournament aren't really all that great.

But the Kowloon Walled City gets some screentime (except that it's just a set sometimes). And there are tons of locally-hired extras and bit players, along with a slew of international actors and/or actual martial artists, even if a lot of them have been cast as nationalities other than their own???--like Bernard Mariano, who is Filipino by descent but was born in Hong Kong, had no martial arts experience but got scouted while he was working out, was cast as a "Middle Eastern" fighter named Hossein, but used his pay from the movie for university classes to go on to be an English teacher in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Jean-Claude van Damme is busy taking his shirt off and wearing super tight spandex underwear (he snaps them in one scene; you're welcome). Leah Ayres is a "reporter," which is really "journalist" and one of the few adventurous jobs acceptable for women in 1980s movies to have, who maybe lives in Hong Kong or maybe doesn't but she's super cute and deserves better than she got in the script; she's The Girl (Leah Ayres is now into pseudoscience). And Donald Gibb is playing this American bar brawler who somehow got invited to this elite fighting tournament and he looks like Kurt Russell in The Thing if he were still infected by the Thing and living out on the ice alone.

Like, I could just keep going. I love this shit. There is so little that's "good" in terms of filmmaking, scriptwriting, cinematography, anything in this movie and yet it entertains the fuck out of me.

Hence: guilty pleasure film.

[yandere-fics]

Ainsley Paige

♡ "Come in baby girl, don't mind the mess, no it's animal blood. I'll wash up in a minute, it's just so nice to see you." ♡

She's a very very affectionate yandere and extremely delusional. From the moment she lays eyes on you, she doesn't even need to ask, surely you feel it too, that you two were destined to be. Her village believed strongly in love at first sight. Also it is not animal blood, she would never harm an animal in her experiments, humans are a different subject.

♡ "Ainsley Paige. The Paige name might not be as glamorous as someone like the Parley's but I promise it will still serve you well once you wed. You could call me Ains if you like though, baby girl." ♡

She's from a small village that no longer exists anymore so she is the only one coming from humble origins in the kingdom. Despite that she developed magic at a very young age and made a name for herself as being the one to discover The Adventurer when she fell into this world.

♡ "150, magic has a habit of prolonging your life if you use it right." ♡

At 20 Ainsley started to investigate blood magic and human sacrifices to prolong one's lifespan as she felt it was such a waste of the people she was already planning on killing. She eventually mastered prolonging her own life indefinitely when she was about 27. She joined the royal court at 138 when Princess Theanna recruited her to help in the fight for the throne.

♡ "I am only interested in women, baby girl. No need to worry about whether or not I might be interested in you." ♡

We got another one.

♡ "Court wizard, I was officially instated as a reward for when I found The Adventurer. Princess Theanna has always kept me very close as a magical affairs advisor even before that however." ♡

While that is her official title, her main duties are to research magical phenomenon that are affecting the kingdom, and darker magics that no other sane wizard would touch with a ten foot pole in fear of their lifespan dramatically decreasing, luckily that doesn't concern Ainsley whatsoever. It's a cushy title though, the people in court love her and think she's doing wonders for the kingdom despite her having sacrificed quite a few of them.

♡ "Well if I had to say things that I like, besides you baby girl, I guess I would say I've always been drawn to the magical properties in blood. There's just so much we don't know about why so much power is coursing through our blood streams and why others have a greater amount despite seeming virtually the same as another who has a very low amount. ♡

She also likes murder but that comes with the territory.

♡ "I hate when people make a mess in my workshop." ♡

By make a mess, she means try to fight the sacrifice so blood winds up spilling all over the place. It's just such a waste, especially when she needs all she can get in order to increase your lifespan as well. She can't have you dying on her, then she'd have to kill the whole kingdom just to bring you back to life.

♡ "I'm the premier wizard in the kingdom, so you already know I'm good at magic. Unless you were asking if there's anything outside of magic that I'm good at? Hmm, I'll try to think of something. Well I'm good at research but that's expected. Oh! Previous lovers have told me I'm an exceptional kisser, care to try?" ♡

Don't worry, they're long dead and she never loved them the way she loves you anyways.

♡ "Oh you can't leave yet baby girl, what would I do without you here to encourage me in my work?" ♡

[softpine]

behind the scenes 🎬 - compilation

[read the post] + answered questions: [elaine’s trauma] // [elaine’s flaws]

this is one of the first major instances we’ve seen of elaine choosing to keep the peace by not bringing up something that upset her (stevie lying). she’s unsure who is right or wrong, so she’d rather just smooth it over and stop talking about it. we’ll see elaine do this again with austin immediately after this, so it’s becoming a pattern for her.

i wanted this scene to have a melancholy, sleepy, small town feeling, so i thought a church would be a great backdrop. i spent literally hours decorating the church (i gave it a whole kids playground in the back, and a corn field on the other side), but then you only ended up seeing it for one picture lmao. i even had to change the lot size so i could put her car on the road more easily. anyway, there’s this sign out front:

i chose this quote because, to me, it’s a very unhelpful way to look at life: to disregard your own problems because someone has had it worse. like... no, maybe you’re not suffering as much as jesus, but that doesn’t mean you’re not suffering at all. we can see that elaine is choosing to hide her emotions because everyone around her is going through “worse” shit.

tiny thing, but when elaine is about to cry as stevie is walking away, there’s a poster right behind her that says “Don’t let depression keep you down” :)

[read the post] + answered questions: [xena’s dad?] // [why did coco get so mad?]

i learned how to use premiere for this one! it was really simple once i learned the basics. all i had to do was turn the TV into a green screen and then the rest of the editing was fun color grading stuff.

the clip from Xena: Warrior Princess is meant to apply to coco specifically. but i can’t tell you why yet!

“See how calm the surface of the water is? That was me once. And then... [throws rock] The water ripples and churns. That’s what I became.” // “But if we sit here long enough, it’d go back to being still again. It’d go back to being calm.” // “But the stone’s still under there. It’s now part of the lake. It might look as it did before, but it’s forever changed.”

since i had to rewrite some things and i don’t think it will come up later, i’ll just tell you why coco thought she could trust tom in the first place: she takes a business class with him and she thinks the answers he gives during lectures are insightful. she knew tom recognized her from porn, but he never acted like a dick about it, so this was actually a bonus for her. she thought she could use it to her advantage – who wouldn’t want to do a favor for their favorite porn star? lol. she's also noticed him at the sports bar she works at, and he's never caused any problems. he even tends to keep his friends in check when they’re getting too rowdy over a game. overall, she thought he was a pretty decent guy, but unfortunately he ruined that :/

casper has a pill bottle on his desk. you can’t see the label, but it’s xanax. he takes it when he’s actively having a panic attack. that’s pretty much the only thing he’s doing for his mental health at the moment.

[read the post] + answered questions: [was austin’s mom home?] // [suicide tw]

when the scene opens, elaine is rehearsing her apology to austin in the mirror. you could interpret this many ways, but my intention was to show that it doesn’t matter how elaine truly feels about the situation or who was right / wrong, she just wants the fight to be over. in contrast, austin has been giving it deep thought.

truthfully, elaine didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart about her feelings. she’s flattered that austin opened up to her like that, but she doesn’t actually respond to anything he wrote in his letter – she doesn’t talk about marriage or kids or the future, she just kisses him and talks about the immediate future (the dance tomorrow). the interesting thing is that even though austin talking about his feelings is like pulling teeth, he opens up to elaine far more often than she expects him to. he thinks this is what she wants from him, but she’s never actually said that.

okay, so, the gun! it’s the second time we’ve seen it now, the first time being when austin’s grandpa pointed it at elaine’s head in a state of confusion. i wouldn’t blame elaine for being scared of it, even though austin told her it’s fake, but instead elaine has no fear in picking it up and looking at it more closely. she only gets scared when she hears austin coming home. all i can really say in addition is that the gun's placement on the dresser was deliberate, as was the polaroid of austin & elaine being underneath it (in fact, that wasn’t in-game at all, i added it in photoshop).

[read the post] + answered questions: [how many times has jada predicted her mom’s death?] // [sylvia?] // [past/present comparisons]

something i find heartbreaking is that jada has completely warped her memory of her mom due to time, trauma, and guilt. she hardly ever remembers happy memories unrelated to aileen’s death. but instead of feeling any negative emotions for her mom (even if they would be warranted) she directs them all inward. we’ve seen this in her nightmares, where she imagines aileen to be a cruel representation of her own guilt. in this flashback, we see that aileen is concerned, but doesn’t believe that jada’s visions are real, and she even calls her claims “ridiculous” after knowing that at least one of them has come true. jada wanted to lighten her guilt by sharing this knowledge with someone else, but it only made her feel worse when she wasn’t believed. years later, jada still puts none of the blame on her mom and all of the blame on herself.

we have no way of knowing how much aileen really knew. she may have dismissed jada’s claims out loud in an attempt to protect her, while secretly believing her (or at least partially believing her). you can tell that something has shifted in her perception after she hears how the ride operator died, but she tries to use logic to assuage jada’s guilt – and perhaps, her own guilt as well. we know that in death, aileen will repeat “I don’t feel good! Will you take me to the hospital?” – something jada originally said, not aileen. it’s a too-late warning, a constant reminder that she didn’t listen to her daughter and it cost her her life. if jada got her tendency to worry from her dad, she got her guilt from her mom.

[read the post] + answered questions: [who did jada condemn?] // [alisa’s abilities]

i’ve said almost everything i wanted to say about this one, but i do want to expand on why alisa reacted so strongly in this situation. at first, it seems that she’s deeply offended by the insinuation that she would give someone bad advice just to cause chaos. however, it becomes clear that alisa is more offended by jada’s hypocrisy. sure, alisa herself will admit that she does unethical things with her abilities, but jada has killed people with her abilities. except... does alisa actually judge her for this? or does she simply know it will get under jada’s skin? she finishes their conversation by saying “Don’t, for one second, think you’re better than me.” but she doesn’t argue that SHE is the better person. instead, she says, “We’re no different, you and I.”

but i’m not going to tell you how alisa feels, whether she’s being genuine, or if she really does care about jada – i want you to draw your own conclusions :P

[janesaridoll]

Can you do a request for the “to love au” when Chris and the reader (she still pregnant) have a argument on a disagreement and Chris starts losing his temper and starts yelling really loud and he wakes up the kids and they are watching them argue and standing in the hall so they couldn’t see them until they see Chris and the reader arguing real close to each other’s face and Marcus and the other older kids gets in the middle of them for them to stop so after all that Chris is most definitely on the couch 💀 . The next morning every thing is weird after the argument and the kids help Chris make it up to the reader. And after that everything is fine and better. You can write this whenever you can 🫶🏽 .

A Caring Husband

Pairing || woc!reader x Chris evans

Summary || Chris breaks his promise to you

Genera || angst, fluff , happy ending

Warnings || mention of pregnancy, yelling,

To love masterlist

Kofi

The last few weeks have been hell for you; your work has been difficult, and communicating with your employees has been complicated because you work from home. Fortunately, your assistant is literally saving your life.

Your babysitter left her job due to a family emergency, your housekeeper asked you to reduce her working hours because her daughter had just given birth to twins, and you completely understand how difficult it is to care for twins. So you didn't say no to her request

Your children are occasionally well-behaved. But you have no idea why when they start school, they turn into total assholes and devils.

Your older two children are much easier to manage. Not your youngest children, who have been disrespectful and mischievous. They are always getting into fights with each other , pranking, or simply yelling at each other .

Alicia is the most difficult of them all. All she wants is her daddy to play with her, to nap with her, to do her hair, to feed her, and even change her. She prefers him over you.

You know she didn't act like this with her babysitter, and you have no idea why she’s giving you this attitude; it’s taking a tool on you to deal with her tantrums.

Thankfully, Chris has promised that once he has finalized his interviews and premieres, he will be available 24/7 to assist you. He will also take a break until you give birth to Layla, find a new babysitter, and everything will return to normal.

You're sitting on the couch, waiting for Chris to join you in watching a movie; it's been a long time since you two have had a night alone. Normally, you would go on a date night once every two weeks, sometimes staying at a hotel and returning the next morning, and other times simply going home and sleeping. This has been your tradition for the past twenty years.

“Alicia drifted off as soon as her head hit the pillow," Chris said as he came downstairs and sat beside you on the couch, taking your feet and propping them up in this lap, he began digging his thumbs into the sole of your left foot, switching between your feet every few seconds.

"Why is my assistant calling me about the new movie you accepted, Chris?" You were furious because he said he wouldn't take another movie and then did it anyway.

"I was going to tell you about it, the Russo brothers asked me and I couldn't say no," he said as he smiled at you.

"Are you serious right now?" You're going to smash his gorgeous head into something.

"It's a big film. I couldn't simply say no," he tries to persuade you

"Chris, we agreed on this, you're supposed to be here with me, I can't do it all by myself?" You slightly raised your voice. The film is currently forgotten.

"We have a housekeeper and we will get a new babysitter to help us, there's no need to worry," he explained, becoming increasingly agitated. Despite his desire to stay with you and the kids, he couldn't say no to the Russo brothers, the biggest movie directors.

"We don't have time to search for a new babysister!!! Chris, I want you here with me these are your children as well!" You clearly expressed your displeasure with him by raising your voice.

"I didn't say they weren't," he exclaimed as he rose from the couch.

“I need someone to assist me around the house, i’m fucking pregnant and I’m working and your kids are difficult to manage on my own." You yelled at him, and you didn't care if your voice was too loud and woke up the kids.

"I'll call Mom to help you around the house."

Now you're both standing up and yelling at each other, oblivious to the pairs of eyes staring at you from the stairs.

"I don't want your fucking mother to help me!!" you came even closer to him.

“You’re being ridiculous right now!!”

"You said you'd help me!! Actually no, you're not helping me; you promised to be responsible for your kids as well; I can't do everything by myself, and I refuse to."

“Then don’t!” he screamed at you.

Before you could respond, a voice interpreted you “Mom, dad... what's going on? You guys woke us up"

You look at Marcus standing away from you, behind him a sleepy looking Marlyn, Alicia standing beside her sister holding her favourite blanket looking at her daddy.

You were angry and upset, and you knew that whatever came out of your mouth would be cruel as hell. You decided enough was enough tonight, and you glared at Chris, saying, "Enjoy your night on the couch."

He just sighed back, you took your kids up with you, comforting them and putting them to sleep, Marlyn decided to sleep with you, it's been her thing since she was a child to sleep with you whenever her father travels, you thought she'd grow out of it, but no, she's fifteen and still sleeps with you.

What you don't know is that Marcus has returned downstairs to his father. "I'm not saying this because mom is my favorite, but she's really tired," he explained.

"I know, I want to be here with her, but... god," Chris sighed.

“She’s doesn’t want you to be just here, she actually needs your help dad, Marlyn and I are trying to help as much as we can but there’s so little of what we can do, we have our practices and school work. The twins been a nightmare. And Mrs.smith is getting old and she can’t clean this mansion by herself and you know mom doesn’t have the heart to let her go”

He stopped for a bit before continuing “and don’t get me started on Alicia” he said with an eye roll which made Chris laugh.

“Dad, we actually needs you with us, we have been excited for you to take a break and be with us” he stood up “we love you dad and we miss you, good night” He hugged his dad and went upstairs to his room.

Chris lay comfortably on the couch, he didn’t think his kids felt he was never around, which was not what he wanted to happen ever. His own wife is getting tired and depressed. He felt like a jerk his own family felt neglected by him.

—

Chris woke up early the next morning to call his manager to see if they could postpone the filming for a few months, and if not, he didn't want to star in it due to family issues.

He is certain that if he truly meant to be in this film, they will go to any length to accommodate him, and if not, it is their loss, not his.

He showered and dressed, then woke the kids up, dressed them, and began preparing breakfast for them.

You were still sleeping, not even moving when he entered the room or even when he woke up Marlyn, clearly exhausted. You haven't gotten a good night's sleep since you got pregnant

You finally woke up later, looking at the clock beside you that read nine a.m., you jumped out of bed quickly and went outside, thinking no one had woken up your kids for school.

You were surprised to find Chris sitting on the couch watching television, and there was no sign for your children.

“Where’s the kids?” You asked.

“The driver took them to their school” he replied.

"Who made them breakfast?" You asked again, surprised that no one had woken you up and even more surprised that you hadn't woken up on your own.

"I did," he said as he stood up in front of you, "I talked to my agent."

“About?” You went to the kitchen, and he followed you, and you started drinking a cup of coffee.

"I asked them to postpone the movie," he said quietly for a moment, then continued, "look y/n I'm sorry, I really am, I didn't realize how much you had been worked up, and I promise I'll be here, I talked to my agent for a break, and I won't do anything other than be here for you and be responsible and do whatever falls on me”

You sighed and turned to face him, "I don't want to be the person who prevents you from pursuing your dream, but sometimes I need you here with me, Chris, we've got six kids and one on the way, we have to work as a team for this to work or else what the point?"

"I know, baby, I'm sorry; I promise I'll be here with you starting today," he said, giving you a sweet loving kiss to express his regret for putting you through all of this.

He broke the kiss minute "stay right here" he left the kitchen and returned with a large orange bag from the famous high brand you adore.

"To prove to you how sorry i’m," he hands you the bag. You smiled at him; whenever you get mad at him, he always gets you a gift to show how grateful and sorry he is.

You opened it to see the new Louis Vuitton bag in your favorite color, you remembered asking your daughter about it.

“Marlyn helped you?” You asked.

"The only thing she did was send me a picture of the bag and said, 'this is what she wants,' and that was pretty much it," you both laughed at your daughter.

"Thank you baby and I'm sorry I was mean to you last night," you said as you hugged him.

"Oh, it's all right. I know you'll make it up to me since the kids aren't here," he winked at you.

"Don't get your hopes up, honey," you said as you kissed him and carried the bag to your room, and he followed you to get what he wanted.

[adultswim2021]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force #89: “Rabbot Redux” | February 8, 2010 - 12:00AM | S08E02

Happy Space Ghost day, everyone! 30 dang years with our great guy. Wow! Seems like as good a day as any to start this shit up again. To the small-yet-still-dwindling number of people who read my shit: Hi! Real life is having it’s way with me right now, so please know I’m instituting a hard-and-fast “will update when I feel like it” rule to this thing for the right-now. So, please don't expect this to be a nightly blog. It'll be more like a "nighty" blog, as in "nighty-night", because it will be angelically and perfectly asleep most of the time. Thank you. 

It’s Rabbot Redux: a fairly unnecessary explanation for what happened directly after the events of the live-action episode. It turns out the Aqua Teens drove their moving van two doors down, to the other house next to Carl’s. Not a lot happens; Neil unpacks while Rick and Vivian fight over which room is theirs. Shake immediately claims the bathroom, not realizing it’s a bathroom. Meatwad gets a luxurious room with a salad bar and a harem.

Eventually Rabbot (from before) shows up with a housewarming gift. He then crushes the Aqua Teens’ house, forcing them to go back to the old house. Schooly D shows up and sings a new theme song (which is also used over the opening sequence). This one calls back a lot of stuff from Rabbot, like Carl working out of the home, and “dancing is forbidden”.

This one isn’t especially groundbreaking, and it’s a little puzzling that they felt the need to write themselves out of that "hole". Normally they’d just ignore stuff like that and relish the show's lack of continuity. Not only did they air an episode between the two episodes (a Christmas special), but they also put it on DVD with multiple episodes between this and the Live-Action episode; I’m guessing in some production order or something. It's striking how little these guys care, sometimes. It's weird to see them dutifully tie up a thread.

This one is fairly funny, though. There’s nothing egregiously bad in it. The biggest smile I did was the part when Shake started berating Frylock about sucking his stuff. Shake is a nasty guy who says rude stuff :)

EPHEMERA CORNER

FOX on Adult Swim bump (January 11, 2010)

Hey, here's something fun and--what luck! I am telling you about it: At this time, Adult Swim was airing episodes of Family Guy shortly after they premiered on Fox, and they had a significant viewership on both channels. In the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus", they aired a fake Adult Swim bumper (intended to mess with Fox watchers) as they went to commercial, making a joke about confusing their viewers into which network they were watching. When the episode aired on Adult Swim, they followed it up with a Fox-style promo instead of their normal bumper. Fun fact: I once spoke to somebody who was writing on an Adult Swim show and they entertained the idea of doing a fake Adult Swim bumper, and asked me if any other shows had done that. I told them "even Family Guy has" because I happened to catch this bit. Took the wind out of those sails.

MAIL BAG

oh wow she's straight-up married to the mindless self indulgence guy. woof

LOL

Hello Mister Swim! What if I called you Mister Swim all the time, like you were Mr. Moviefone? Would that be a treat?

Yeah, it would be a nice treat. Thank you for being so nice to me.

[marengogo]

SECRET THOUGHTS vs REALITY - TIME:

I’m a 2020, ON-Grand Central Station Premiere (25 February 2020)-ARMY. From the very first moment I accidentally/happened to be around for this premier; my fate was sealed. So I count this day as my ARMY anniversary.

So it’s been 4 years so far, for me, which considering how much they’ve meaningfully impacted my life, it is something I don’t often like to own up to, because most of the times I feel unworthy, or like I don’t have the right to call myself an ARMY because I didn’t get to support them during bad times (Wings Project 2016, for example).

So lowkey highkey I’ve been wishing I had been around for the hard times, so that I would stop looking down on myself and feel like I have the right to be their fan.

Come 2024 and we are in this shit.

There hasn’t been a day I stopped worrying, stressing, getting angry, despairing, I actually also cried one day and so then I wondered; I finally got what “I wanted”, but at what costs?

In my head it was always just: the boys are just existing, people are trying to bring them down for no reason, we ARMY will support them and get through it until the problem is solved; THE END.

…

I had never really thought about how actually vicious ANTIs actually could be. Lying out of their asses and people just drinking it all up.

I had never really thought about having people within ARMY becoming also people you had to fight against.

I had never really thought about how long a day, a minute a second really is, while you hope and pray for all of it to be over.

I had never really thought about the actual toll of this takes on a person emotionally; so I can only imagine how the Tannies must be feeling.

I might be the only person who felt like aside from Joonie for obvious reasons the Tannies have stopped updating us on socmed ever since this mess started to become serious really, it might just be all in my head so seeing. So this update from Tae today

made me breathe and actually smile and made me think that perhaps we are out of the woods? I don’t know, we won’t know until it all ends, but for now, I’m glad to see that he seems to be doing well.

I hope THEY ARE ALL DOING WELL.

I miss them so much and I can’t wait for this hell to be over.

In the meantime, I’ll keep waiting

days until Jin comes back to me.

Marengo.

[hubristicassholefight]

Swordswoman Showdown Round 2 Part 2

Brienne of Tarth (A Song Of Ice and Fire) vs Urbosa (The Legend of Zelda)

(Better here in a "preferred character" sense, not "who would win in a fight")

Propaganda below cut

Brienne

gets gifted a sword made with the rarest metal ever because she’s THAT good; she’s simply the best

Brienne is one of the top sword users alive in her day. She's descended from a man who's catchphrase was "I'm better with a sword." Better than what? You. Jaime Lannister. Loras Tyrell. Any five given guys at once. She has a fantastic sword that might be magic or cursed and is named Oathkeeper because that's what she does; I love her

Beat like 20 guys in a tournament when she was 19. Was given a magic sword. Won a sword fight against the premier swordsman in the realm. Very swordly; Very tall and strong. Holds her sword in high esteem. Accomplished with other weapons as well!

She's defeated multiple of the top knights in the series in duels. One such knight gifts her the fabergé egg of swords and she uses it to defend orphans and stuff. Got out of a bad betrothal by dueling him and beating his ass so bad she broke multiple bones. Honestly there's so much more she is the swordswoman of all time. to me; She's buff and ugly and 6' 5" and so honorable and kind that she inspires the guy who fucks his sister to yknow. stop doing that. literally gets mauled for the sake of protecting a bunch of orphans (with her sword). also she's 20 she should be at the club ‼️

One of the best sword wielders in Westeros, the author says he would pick her to defend him. Has a cool sword called Oathkeeper. Manages to go up against 7 fighters and take out most of them,. The only true knight; First off, talking about book brienne, they massacred show brienne, the show runners simply didn’t understand what she’s about.“ She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice” brienne had plenty of choice but she couldn’t leave people to die. The chivalric paradigm is rotten and corrupted, but here is Brienne, the one true knight, who isn’t even a actual knight! “knights are for killing”, but here is a knight who risks her life again and again to protect innocents! Bri IS hope, she is the light in the dark that shows that things can be better, things must be better. Fundamentally an idealist: “Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die in battle, they will surely sing of us, and it's always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining”

Urbosa

She has a scimitar known as Scimitar of the Seven

Her signature weapon is the Scimitar of the Seven, a sword wielded by Gerudo heroes.She uses both it and lighting powers which fucks pretty hard

She’s pretty cool

#oooooh this one's hard#just tp zelda? we never get to see her fight with her sword (unpossessed)#however. in skyward sword. she's a student at the knight academy (almost certainly uses a sword)#and the reincarnation of a goddess who DEFINITELY used one (literally shown with it in the opening)#and her main weapon in hyrule warriors (non canon game like aoc) is a sword#impa is more of.... idk. knifeswoman? she never uses an actual sword i dont think#id say that urbosa is the best.#we actually see her use her sword and she's significantly older than any zelda and this specific version of impa#so yeah going STRICTLY off of 'who is the best' then that would be urbosa#im still voting for zelda though

#my psionic warriors!#vote urobosa#zelda might use a sword sometimes but face it when u imagine her she's either using light arrows...#...or magic in general#these are cool as hell but zelda isn't known for her sword#not like urobosa#and like others say impa is more of a knife lady