#also some creepy foreshadowing stuff

[ellsieee]

I'm really going to miss SWM despite the sad ending. The actors really did a great job with what they had and could do. I knew the accident was going to hurt me, and that it would be a OE, but I did not expect it to be more like a BE. More about that later. At least we got a whole episode of happy boys before all the shit hit the fan.

This scene really touched me. Su Yu pushes Wu Bi to achieve his dreams and is there to support him all the way. We also get another hint of what Wu Bi's time capsule wish is. My guess is that he wished for he, Su Yu and Doudou to always be together. Normally it's Wu Bi who is always saying he doesn't want to be separated from Su Yu, but this time, it's Su Yu telling Wu Bi not to leave him, pulling on Wu Bi's heartstrings. 🥹

Why does Wu Bi have a picture of his and Su Yu's epic bike ride framed? Did his mother draw that? Did he get the idea from her? Wu Bi, I have so many questions...

Su Yu wrote a wish card for Wu Bi too. 🥹 I am not ok. 😭

One last shout out to the shipper girl. She knows. 🤭 I'm glad they didn't write her as a crazy person, inserting herself into Wu Bi and Su Yu's relationship and doing a bunch of weird stuff to get them together.

Arghhhh the foreshadowing! When Su Yu said that, my heart filled with dread even though I already knew what was coming. No. They're going to ride their bike together forever ok. 😭

Wu Bi is so completely smitten with Su Yu. It's all heart eyes, all the time. They are so cute. Was this the reward Su Yu was talking about? I thought it would be something 🔞, but taking Wu Bi on a date might motivate him even more. I mean what kind of equestrian center has prince charming equestrian outfits? 🤭 I think they look great, but this totally looks like a date (Doudou is just there to make it look less gay).

Wait a minute... that's not what the director demonstrated! I wanted to see that peck on the lips! Please tell me they shot two versions and we'll see the uncut version later. 🙏

Psycho alert! 🚨 Mo Yi was hella creepy here. I was a bit scared he would actually hurt Su Yu. You can feel all the resentment he has for Su Yu. First his ex-gf wanted to be with Su Yu rather than him. Second, Wu Bi has chosen Su Yu over him and is acting like a little bitch towards him. Not defending him, but I honestly don't think Mo Yi would have felt such hatred and resentment if Wu Bi hadn't started being really rude and bratty towards him after falling in love with Su Yu.

The ultimate sacrifice. 😭 Wu Bi knew there was no way to stop the car safely so he chose to protect Su Yu by crashing the car on the driver's side. Even though I knew the accident was going to happen, it still hurt so much. Wu Bi will always protect Su Yu no matter what. I read some comments scolding Su Yu for sleeping even though he knew something was wrong with the car. My interpretation is that Su Yu wasn't sleeping, he was worried too, but he trusted Wu Bi completely, and Wu Bi told him to rest because he can handle it, so he did. The level of trust and confidence you need to have in your partner for that is just...

I didn't notice this the first time watching because I was too busy wailing, but Wu Bi hugged Su Yu to protect him. FUCK. 😭😭😭😭 For all the unreasonable jealousy and temper tantrums, Wu Bi really is the best boy.

This is so painful, I can't screencap bloody Wu Bi anymore. It killed me that Wu Bi woke up for a second to stare into Su Yu's eyes when Doudou called to complete their OT3, only to fall into a comma again.

Argh this ending! Is Wu Bi alive or dead? I didn't notice that the doctor nods a little when speaking to Su Yu the first time around. Doctors usually only nod when the operation was successful, so I guess Wu Bi is alive but what about the empty house? Only Wu Bi's stuff is still there, meaning that everyone left him? How is this not a BE? 😭

Of course this makes sense as a set up for a season 2 but I feel like they still could have given us a conclusion. Something like Wu Bi lives, but Su Yu left because he knew Mo Yi was crazy and he wanted to protect Wu Bi. Then the new season would be about how the boys find their way back to each other. It wasn't necessary to leave viewers hanging and heartbroken. 😢 And with 24 episodes of 30+ minutes runtime, I felt the team had enough time to tell a complete story. It shouldn't matter that book 1 of the novel ended like the series because the drama should stand on its own outside of the novel. Besides, wouldn't it have been safer just to film the whole thing at once to avoid the risk of not being allowed to film part 2?

There's a lot of doubt that S2 will actually happen, but someone asked Mo Yi's actor if there will be a 2nd season and he said that there should be. I'm not going to get my hopes up too much before there is official news that everyone is shooting again to spare myself any disappointment, but of course I am hoping for a second season. In the meantime, I hope cjd will release the uncut version of the series that she teased about before. I really do love this series so much even though I was disappointed with the ending. I'll have to treat SWM like MODC and skip the end. SWM only has 22 episodes. Yup. 🤡

[matataku-hoshi]

Groundhog Day at the Old Vic, London 2023

*dusts off the old blog* It's certainly been a minute, hasn't it! Still here, still a huge GHD fan. In the intervening years, I got to see productions at San Francisco Playhouse and at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, IL. (I also got married and went through a bunch of other life stuff, but that's neither here nor there). But then it was announced that Groudhog Day would be returning to the Old Vic in 2023 with Andy Karl, and my husband and I used that as an excuse to finally do that UK trip we'd been talking about for years.

Tumblr user colemckenzies did a great post outlining some of the changes between Broadway and 2023 Old Vic. I wanted to further elaborate on some additional changes I noticed. Obviously spoilers to follow:

In “There Will Be Sun”, the first chorus of “Tomorrow spring will come and then there will be blue skies my friend” is cut. It goes straight from “If not tomorrow then tomorrow or tomorrow there will be sun” to “Oh if I could I’d will these clouds away my love”

While obviously the revolves are gone (look at me picking up British-isms 😄), the bedroom set gets wheeled in every loop. They keep the trick from Broadway where this is always done counter-clockwise until the loop finally breaks.

As previously mentioned, there’s a wonderful lyric change in Day One. “Their dumb superstitions and vacuous chat, their total unawareness of the fact their trapped, perhaps you don't miss it if you don't know you lack it, I'm sure there was a pack of xanax in this jacket'

I adore this because of the foreshadowing, and how Phil thinks he’s singing about the townsfolk when he’s really singing about himself.

Dialogue change in 2023 when Phil runs into Jonathan:

Jonathan: “Off to the see the groundhog?”

Phil: “Why, isn’t there a tractor pull or a cow-tipping contest?”

Jonathan, looks confused: “I don’t think that’s today.”

When Rita introduces  to Phil on Day One and reminds him of the flood story, Phil takes a second before recalling, groans, and goes, "Oh, the intern? They didn't even send me a real producer." After which Rita corrects him that she's a real producer now, albeit an associate producer. 

On Day 2 when the sheriff drops his gun, Phil asks "How do you have a permit???"

At the end of Day 2, Rita sings “I mean he acts kind of asshole-ish still. I think he might be mentally ill.” While it’s on the cast recording and the early previews bootleg, I could have sworn it was cut in the final Broadway version. Regardless, it’s restored in the 2023 version.

Phil’s “Help me~~~~” at the end of Day 3 is cut.

In Philandering, they cut the line where Phil "proposes" to Nancy (which I prefer - no one is that stupid, and they make the point later that Nancy is more than a caricature)

Also in Philandering, you can hear the chorus singing, “Gonna party like it’s no tomorrow~~~” in the party scene (formerly the orgy scene). Phil also gets 10 pizzas delivered to his room.

Phil is less aggressive when he confesses his “love” to Rita in One Day. 

On Broadway, they sit down directly on the stage, and Phil leans sideways to Rita to confess. As he gets more desperate, he starts to position himself over her and tries to take her hand, after which she slaps him.

In 2023, they’re sitting on a bench together. Phil tries to take her hand, and she pulls away and slaps him. Still creepy, but much less heading in the direction of sexual assault.

Either way Phil totally deserves to get slapped. I’ve talked to a few people who have said they could never root for Phil because of this scene (which is a fair critique). The 2023 version IMO makes the same point without so much portraying Phil as a potential sexual predator. 

Right before Phil smashes the alarm clock at the end of One Day, he yells “Make it stop!” (“Somebody make it stop”? Memory is a fickle thing)

When Phil kills himself with the gun before Hope, it's more explicit that he stole the gun off of the sheriff with his faulty holster.

I don't remember if this is new, but when Phil wakes up at the beginning of Hope, he touches the side of his head where he shot himself and even though he knows that the day will always reset, he still looks a little surprised and it's heartbreaking. 

For the third death/revival in Hope (where Phil climbs the ladder):

Broadway: Phil reappears in bed

Old Vic 2023: Phil reappears on the scene of the broadcast, fully dressed

As noted, lots of changes to If I Had My Time Again. 

Cast recording: "The thing with these revolving rides / they're only fun because you know they're going to end"

Broadway (as of early in previews): "I was completely dead inside / But today I'm like 85%"

London 2023: We're back to the cast recording lyrics.

IMO the orchestration and lyric changes are for the better. I adored this song on the cast recording, but in the August Wilson theater it frequently felt swallowed up.

With the emphasis on just Phil and Rita, it’s a much more intimate song, which is what the scene needs IMO.

I also love Rita’s new lyric “Go to all the parties that I missed / Kiss all the boys I was too afraid to kiss”, because then it’s Rita fulfilling her “time again” when she kisses Phil during Seeing You.

After "If I Had My Time Again", Phil eats a carton of Ben & Jerry's while discussing the almanac with Rita. I love the implication that he’s eaten all of this junk food before, but he’s trying it again with her.

Dialogue change after "If I Had My Time Again" 

Phil: "You know, Larry, we never really talk."

Broadway Larry: "Sometimes I think you don't notice that I'm there."

London 2023 Larry: "Well you never brought me donuts before."

Not a change, but I was sitting close enough one night to see the stock photos they use for Ned’s wallet pictures of his kids, and I realized that “little Mary” is just a baby. It really hit home that Ned has probably just lost his wife in the last year or two, and he’s trying to raise five very young kids on his own.

In the Broadway/cast recording versions of "Philanthropy", you can hear some melodic callbacks to earlier songs. In the London 2023 version, the chorus actually sings lines like, "I'm not sure what the point is / But this point is it don't matter" and "If I had my time again I would not do it all the same"

There's no pause of silence before "Seeing You" starts

After Phil and Rita run off into the snow at the end of Seeing You, the couples left dancing are Nancy/Larry, Debbie/Fred, and then Mrs. Lancaster dances alone in the snow in joyous wonder. I love this bit, becuase it feels like all the different ways you can find a new meaning of love (Nancy/Larry, the couple just discovering each other, Debbie/Fred, who have moved into a new phase of their relationship, and then Mrs. Lancaster, who even as an old woman can revel in the beauty of the snow)

In 2023 when Phil takes Rita to see the sunrise, he makes her cover her eyes, and then unveil them once the full sunrise is in view. It’s very sweet.

Anyway, I love this show, and I love talking about this show, so please feel free to hit me up! I may post more general thoughts, etc. if anyone is interested.

[goldenheartstudios]

I wanna talk about Hannibal Roy Bean

  Disclaimer: No disclaimer this time, only spite

  You see, I was writing a different rant about Xiaolin Showdown, but I was in the mood of searching and reading some posts other people made about the cartoon. You know, for funsies, and because I really love this show

  And then I thought to myself: “Hey, what if I search about my favorite villain, Hannibal Roy Bean? And who knows, maybe I’ll find other people talking about the amazing dynamic between him and Raimundo, that would be neat!”

  And you know what I found?

  Nothing. And even worse, I saw people dissing on my vegetable boy by calling him “unnecessary” and stuff

  Which left me utterly disappointed

  So, I’m gonna write an analysis for the possible Hannibal (& Raimundo) fans out there, which maybe will help other people appreciate this great villain

  Let’s go

  The best thing to start with is his introduction. Which honestly, it’s my favorite introduction from all of the villains in the show

  It gives you the expectation of being a big, strong and cool-looking foe, just like Chase was, and then it subverts that expectation with showing you that he’s actually a bean (which I personally find him cool for how creepy and unnatural he looks)

  And then you see how much of a threat he can be: he’s a great actor, he’s manipulative, and he’s pretty freaking strong. His personality is also so endearing for how unapologetically cruel, deceptive, playful, and full of himself he is. From the moment he said that he’ll cover his eyes to make the fight fair for the monks won me over

  And to top it all off, Chase himself tells the monks how big of a threat he is, which makes him even more interesting

  He has a 10/10 introduction and you can’t deny that

  And the next episode is also very good at showing the dynamic between Rai & Hannibal: they immediately start to talk back to each other, they’re paired together when each monk faces off an enemy, and Hannibal is quick to hit on Raimundo’s vulnerability by commenting on how he’s falling behind with the monks by being the last one to become an apprentice

  Not only this is a great way to show a possible rivalry between the two, this also works as foreshadowing for what’s to come

  Seriously, it feels like this show wants you to think of their possible relationship

  The next two episodes have the role of giving the monks new weapons, a future reason for them to temporarily go to Guan’s temple (by having Hannibal stealing the treasure), and they show how Raimundo can return to bad habits (aka his tendency of isolating/closing himself off from others after a failure), by going through a humiliating defeat from Jack right after they lost the treasure the episode before this one

  And then, we get to episode 46, which is another great episode of showing the dynamic between Hannibal & Raimundo: it shows how Hannibal is willing to team up with Rai (possibly because he sees potential in him), and we see how he’s being manipulative and sincere at the same time

  I believe in this instance Hannibal was genuine about forming a mutually beneficial relationship with Rai, which makes sense because he’s interested in people who are cunning, capable, mischievous and with the potential of causing great damage to others. And as we know that Hannibal was watching over everyone in his cell, he saw how much damage the kid can cause when he’s on the bad side

  Also, you could say that the previous episode showed Hannibal the possibility of manipulating Raimundo on his side, as the young monk fell back into a bad habit under distress

  So him getting betrayed by Rai, just like Chase betrayed him in the past, was a stepping stone for his hatred and desire of revenge towards the kid

  And this relationship is also interesting on Raimundo’s side in this episode: he clearly hates Hannibal’s guts and he doesn’t back down in showing attitude towards him, and at the end he shows great satisfaction of deceiving him, of winning over him, as he doesn’t want to even let him have the last words at the end

  Now, we get to episode 47, which is the peak of their relationship and brings me the main reason why I love Hannibal so much: he’s utterly ruthless. It’s not enough for him to fight the kid as revenge for what he did, he decides to mentally torment him. He decides to use Rai’s vulnerabilities to hurt his close ones, by combining Shen Gong Wus and attack the others while the boy’s asleep. The concept of it is brilliant. Like, what can he do? He can’t stay awake forever. And how would it feel for him if his friends ended up destroyed without being able to do anything about it?

  Also, the whole moment of Hannibal getting his way while he’s disguised as Kimiko is one of my favorite moments from the show, for the music, the ambience, and for Hannibal’s delighted smile (on Kimiko’s face to top it all off), as he sees Rai falling asleep

  Like, look at this

  It’s so unsettling, I love it

  And the fact that Raimundo is not even safe in his own dreams? The fact that Hannibal kept digging through his insecurities, through his vulnerability and shoved it on the kid’s face while showing he’s having a blast about it? Combined with how he can show pity in the form of friendliness and buddy-buddy behavior towards the person he’s tormenting, while also keeping a side of aggressiveness and lack of care from his actions? Brilliant, absolutely brilliant

  This guy gets entertainment from torturing people and I love this

  Raimundo was able to escape only after he acknowledges his vulnerability, only after he stops running away, which is a hard thing to do for him. One thing is certain after this episode, Rai will definitely not forget this

  And we later on see how Hannibal manipulates and makes use of others too: he uses Omi’s ego to turn him into a living battery for his own benefits, he doesn’t hesitate to turn Jack into a mindless zombie, and he uses Kimiko’s invention to attack Chase when he’s weak

  This guy doesn’t follow any moral code to get what he wants. He’s not like Chase, who holds value in professionalism and morality, and he’s not like Wuya, who holds a facade of elegance and principles

  And his bean design accentuates this fact, because it’s meant to show you how appearances can deceive, while letting you know that he’s not human. He doesn’t follow human principles and morals, and he doesn’t care for compassion or being fair, because he’s not human

  He’s his own thing, he’s pure evil

  And it’s so endearing for me, because you have the freedom to go as brutal as you want. Any possible interaction and dialogue I think of him is fun for me, because he’s so fun

  And his relationship with Raimundo is also so fun, for seemingly being arch nemesis with each other (which episode 52 also wants to show you this by being the ones to initiate the last showdown of the series and act like leaders in their group-)

  The way they view each other can be interpreted in so many ways, but I will tell you how I personally interpret it

  Starting off with Hannibal. I personally don’t think Rai is the person he hates the most, I think Chase is. Which is more obvious in episode 50, when his whole motivation is to defeat him. Heck, the fact that the episode is called “Hannibal’s Revenge” is kind of a proof of their deep hatred they have for each other

  Which makes sense, because Chase is the reason why he was trapped in a cell for over one thousand years, and I bet he spent a big portion of that time on growing his hatred towards him

  And Chase seems to feel the same way, which can be interpreted in different ways. Does he hate him because of being totally opposite of him, or there’s something more to it? What if there was more to their story than we know? What if Hannibal also had some ulterior motives in their team up? What if those reasons are related with what Chase said about him doing something worse than 1000 years of darkness? What if those possible motives were another (or the actual) reason why he betrayed him? It would make sense for Chase to hate him this much, if he found out that he was being used for some grand scheme

  Just some food for thought

  Going back to the subject, I think Hannibal doesn’t only hate Raimundo, he also gets delightment in tormenting him specifically. He enjoys breaking his confidence, and finding ways to beat him to the ground

  Honestly.. I’d say that’s because he reminds him of Chase. His attitude, his skills, and Rai betraying him, could bring to Hannibal some similarity with Chase

  Which is why he would get enjoyment from tormenting him: for Hannibal, Raimundo is like a small Chase Young, but the difference is that he’s a kid who doesn’t have hundreds of years of experience. He’s not as strong, and he’s more emotional, which makes him the perfect target. Hannibal can defeat him, strike into his insecurities and make him suffer on a personal level

  Personally, I think a continuation of the show would dwell more on Hannibal’s desire to inconvenience, and even destroy Rai’s life, purely for the enjoyment of it, and because of his semblance with Chase Young

  Now, let’s look at Raimundo’s possible view on Hannibal

  With him, I do think Hannibal is the person he hates the most

  I did read a good post on how he would actually hate Chase the most, because he was constantly doubtful and hostile towards him, starting from the first time they met in season 2. But personally, I think the hatred Rai has towards Chase is more on an instinctual level. Like, he knows he can’t be trusted, that he’s up to something that he doesn’t know (and he definitely doesn’t like Chase’s superior attitude)

  But aside from this + the fact that he tried to eat Dojo & he manipulated his friend, I don’t think there’s more to this. Especially because he showed a similar behavior with Hannibal as well. But because Hannibal appeared only on season 3 (which also has fewer episodes than the second season), it may seem that he has a bigger hatred towards Chase than the evil bean

  Also, that hatred he has may be changed in the present, because it’s highly possible the monks got at least some of the memories from that alternate dimension. So it’s possible that Rai will hate Chase while having complicated emotions towards him as well, because he would have to deal with the memories he has of Chase being a good guy

  On the other hand, I think his hatred towards Hannibal is personal for multiple reasons: he’s the reason they have to deal with Chase Young (and the reason they had to deal with Guan in the alternate dimension), he used his friends, he’s dwelling on his insecurities and most importantly, he went into his mind in order to use him to hurt his close ones

  Rai has every reason to hate him, and I think this hatred will only intensify the more Hannibal tries to mess up with him

  And this has so much potential

  So yeah, this is my take on their relationship & Hannibal’s character! The fact that many people overlook him is so unfortunate, because he’s a literal goldmine for creating conflict and explore an inhuman & ruthless characters

  Some of my favorite fanfictions with Xiaolin Showdown have him done right, even if they’re few and unfinished. And who knows, maybe one day I’ll get to see more people trying to explore this character & his interesting dynamic with Raimundo

  But until then, I’m happy that such an interesting and fun villain exists!

.

.

.

  Which is another reason why I hate Xiaolin Chronicles because he doES NOT EXIST THERE-

[welcomehomerandomness]

Welcome Home Website Update Reaction Notes (7/22/2023) Part 2 (SPOILERS)

Here's Part 2 of my Welcome Home Website Update Reaction Notes (7/22/2023)! Hope you enjoy it!

I went back to the main page but awww cute Wally sprite on the news updates :)

I clicked the Home doodle on the main page and it took me to a page called “I”

“There you are! Welcome Home! Hahaha!” Wally I don’t know whether I can be happy or concerned

I clicked the yellow flower doodle on the What’s Welcome Home page and it took me to a page called “Help”

Yes I can hear you Wally

I clicked the red flower doodle on the What’s Welcome Home page and it took me to a page called “will”

My eyes are black too lol

I clicked the blue flower doodle and it leads me to the same page lol

Every time Sally calls Julie “Juliet” in “answer”, I smile

Also poor Sally telling Julie what she’s saying is not part of the script

I’m guessing every “answer” video is based off of Wally’s POV which is why his hands are shown in like two of them

Also Wally doesn’t seem to talk in any of these videos and all these videos glitch in the end, which is sus

I clicked the yellow flower doodle on the Stickers page and it took me to a page also called “I”

At the end of the http thingy, it says “i-2”

The eyes that Wally drew are kinda creepy lol

I love Julie and Barnaby’s dynamic in “answer” lol

Barnaby fake dying from Julie’s “bad” joke is kinda hilarious

Also Julie’s joke gave me a chuckle lol

Also Barnaby fake dying and jokingly asking Wally to bury him hints on some foreshadowing??? Oh no.

Barnaby and Howdy hanging out in “answer” awww

Also how many family members does Howdy have???

*searches up how many eggs do caterpillars lay* They can lay anywhere from 100 TO 300 EGGS??

SO DOES THAT MEAN HOWDY HAS LIKE A MILLION FAMILY MEMBERS???

*welcomehomerandomness was too stunned to speak and started to have an existential crisis.

W. T. F.

Anyways I wanna eat that strawberry soda pop so bad lol

Also Barnaby mentioning his mom awww

Eddie mentioning that he played hopscotch with Julie on “answer” is so wholesome

Poor Eddie being accident prone :(

Oh god poor Eddie about to be chased by Barnaby lol

THERE ARE HIDDEN EYES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD PAGE

Eddie and Howdy in the “answer” video are like co-workers lol

Eddie and Howdy = Hardworking Duo

THERE ARE HIDDEN EYES ON FEW OF THE PAGES ON THE SIDES

I clicked the blue flower doodle on the painting on Wally’s character page and it took me to a page also called “will”

Oh nothing Wally I’m just writing down notes of you and your friends :)

Awww Eddie and Julie are playing office in “answer”

Poor Eddie is so confused

Julie getting upset and destroying stuff in the background is hilarious

Awww a cute Sally and Howdy interaction in “answer”

Also potatoes. That’s it.

One of the boxes is moving!!! It’s Wally!!!

Okay the videos I got so far are (4-14) Frank and Barnaby, (10-14) Sally and Julie, (11-14) Julie and Barnaby, (12-14) Howdy and Barnaby, (9-14) Frank and Poppy, (6-14) Frank and Julie, (1-14) Poppy and Howdy, (2-14) Poppy and Sally, (13-14) Eddie and Howdy, (8-14) Frank and Eddie, (7-14) Julie and Eddie, (3-14) Sally and Howdy, and (5-14) Eddie and Barnaby

I counted and there seem to be 13 “answer” videos in total since there are like 14 videos I can’t find the last one (14-14)  so please let me know if you guys find it please

I can’t believe I spent hours on this website lol

My hands are kinda tired from typing lol

[valhallakonbi]

Have you read Off Season, Monster Season, and Family Season? If so, how do you feel about them? Any expectations about the anime adaptations?

i read all of those! sodachi fiasco stood out the most to me in orokamono, i cannot wait for it to get animated. i'm so excited that it's going to be the first arc to get adapted. it's gonna be so different from what we're used to, it doesn't even take place at naoetsu, there's so many new characters SHAFT are going to have to actually design and animate. there's no going around it. and sodachi is just superb. i love her.

more thoughts under the cut for every book

the first arc i had read after the anime was suruga bonehead because i love ougi and kanbaru. i remember thinking it was too bad i was reading a translation. i'm sure it held up a lot better in japanese, i haven't read all of the novels that were already adapted into the anime but i can tell it's kind of ougi's gimmick that you have to solve it before they give the answer, the way you would with a detective novel. likewise i can't wait for that one to get animated, the wordplay eluded me (i think i understood at the time because it was translated well) but i think the anime will do a great job at conveying the creepiness of the arc. it felt more like a comedy centered around a morbid puzzle in the middle when i read it. also OUGI IN CASUAL CLOTHES and tooe full design reveal?!?!?

tsubasa sleeping was fun now that i think back on it. i loved that we got to see dramaturgy again. i had also been waiting for someone aside from koyomi to become a vampire so it was exciting when it happened, even if it was temporary.

i absolutely adore the princess beauty arc but i don't think that's a secret.

i don't particularily care for either karen ogre or tsukihi undo. tsukihi undo was pretty funny but i don't think it was very memorable aside from that.

nademonogatari was awesome. i was still at a point after watching the anime where i actually mildly disliked nadeko. from watching the anime adaptation i had thought she was not such a good character compared to the other heroines ; i liked when she snapped in otorimonogatari, but i'm especially averse to yandere stuff that happens right after, and i thought the twist about her being delusional and breaking into koyomi's house was not well-foreshadowed in the anime at all. no clue about the novel though. but well. it turns out that not only is nadeko fantastic as a narrator (she's my favorite narrator), but she also becomes a specialist. this was another one of those things i felt might happen to at least one of the kids and i was so excited about it, especially since i did not expect it to happen to nadeko of all people. this novel marked the biggest shift in her character so far and god knows she's already had a LOT of twists and turns. also, this book features many character interactions that we'd barely seen or even not seen at all before, and nadeko's relationships are always interesting (when they don't involve koyomi). as usual the core message was very uplifting, and this one felt very on the mark.

now onto musubimonogatari. this one was a bit odd. i thought the monster of the week gimmick was pretty fun, koyomi ending up as a cop was hilarious. unfortunately i did not find the characters he helps and investigates very interesting. but i really i enjoyed seeing what everyone grew up to be. so, a bit of a mixed bag, but i would say i rather liked it overall.

i really liked yoimonogatari. it started off super gruesome until you thought about it some more. the twist was predictable but even so i had fun looking forward to it. it was also very touching, i was moved by the little girl's monologue and description of her home life. as opposed to musubimonogatari, this novel got me to care about a character we won't see again. this one also has information about the specialists' curses, and more nadeko, which was exciting.

shinobumonogatari was whatever. it felt like a cheap rehashing of yoimonogatari (edit: i probably meant another one, since yoimonogatari came after). the puzzle-solving in this one felt off. there was no way a reader could've possibly reasoned that one out. even without the answer to the cryptogram it was still fairly obvious that the culprit was not DVS, it felt like the difficulty of the riddle completely mismatched the end result. i was glad we saw her again but i didn't like this one.

i enjoyed amarimonogatari. that shit was crazy. it took a different direction from what i thought it was gonna be about but i was still hooked by how insane that development was lol. also loved yotsugi in this.

i did not read shinomonogatari as there is currently no full translation since nobody likes it enough to pick it up lmao?? i screamed when i read that covid is canon though

did not enjoy ougimonogatari either but part of that i think is that the translation was to blame. polaris has released a translation of their own since then. i was not very interested in the subject matter/overall theme. it felt weird to be "hooked" by the mention of sexual violence (something that was already explored as early as in hitagi crab) only for it to turn out to be something along the lines of "oh no i didn't mind so i wasn't getting raped but the perpetrator keeps apologizing and saying he raped me". the entity itself was whatever. whatever!!! bonus points for ougi though, always a delight, but still not enough to make up for the overall score. i loved the second half about nadeko's new mission though but was left hanging (ok i was reading a digital version so maybe that's why i didn't see it coming).

ikusamonogatari was pretty boring in the first half. it picked up a little late for my taste. i still enjoyed reading it but most of it felt like fanservice fluff, this was intentional since this was the first release in a while by nisioisin standards. still, the ending was cute!

ok that's it for my detailed review of every novel lmao

[pizzaboat]

Idk if I'm reading too much into jokes or background reactions but the "I'm nervous/afraid" jokey body language trope that's in the movie really strikes me when it comes to Nimona

Cause when Nimona shows up she's this creepy abnoxous little weirdo who doesn't mind making Ballister uncomfortable. You'd assume that no matter the weather she'll keep doing her and pushing her lovably morbid weirdness no matter Ballister's reaction

But she does correct herself in that scene at the near start of the movie when Ballister gives her an angry grunt and presumably glares at her because she keeps talking about killing the squire

The animation is obviously intended to be hilarious. Her hand movements and the instant correction of her words are funny on the surface, but when you also consider Nimona's perspective, it had a bit more to it

Ballister's face doesn't show on screen, so we don't see what made her switch up, but that doesn't matter because it sets up this background foreshadowing for Nimona. Her perspective isn't the focus of the scene, so while she's on screen fully, she's more Ballister's perspective on camera than her's

Then I also noticed that when Ballister was confronting the squire and she was messing around and talking about all the things Ballister was totally gonna do to this guy she ducks back when Ballister's comedic body language goes all over the place and she smiles nervously with full teeth

Like, as the audience we're set up to see the joke first, which is that Ballister is frustrated and isn't getting his point across because of communication, but once again in the background we're seeing the way Nimona might be reading things

More obviously we see her PTSD and stuff on display. Actual flashbacks that are serious moments in the movie

So when you take the fact she has ptsd into account and you read her again in those seens it really makes you think.

I don't have ptsd so i can't really compare too closely, but the closest I can understand or empathise with what is happening is with the fact I grew up with corporal punishment until the age of 12

And I wasn't always afraid of my parents or adults at a certain age, but I quickly perked up and adjusted myself when I saw them getting angry. Like I could be messy and all over the place but for a few seconds it could be "batten down the hatches!"

Idk. Again. No ptsd. But that's what I think is sorta happening to her there

She probably just views it as common sense. Stand back from the angry flailing guy cause she's had worse done to her for less

But I just think that's a sad and interesting detail, like her trauma doesn't just exist in some scenes, it also exists in the background of jokes in the movie or regular scenes

[sunbeargames]

My #1 favorite thing as a DM is having the PCs wake up to some weird shit that happened during the long rest.

I'm a sucker for creepy dreams, sleepwalking, gifts mysteriously appearing, all that

Earlier in this campaign, the Shapechanger character was having nightmares due to some enchantment magic. He had the Twisted Horror subclass (think Parasyte, or the 1982 movie The Thing), and so his head would turn into a mass of serrated tentacles lashing out in random directions while he slept. Shredding pillows, scratching up the walls. Freaky!

Also dreams are just such a great way to deliver some lore, foreshadow stuff, or have a character interact with a powerful being they're connected to.

Not just long rests either. I'm a sucker for visions and trances in general. Prayers, interacting with powerful items, or even while a player is unconscious in combat.

One little detail I hope to include in this campaign is a special fight when a player attunes to a magic item. It's a legendary gauntlet once used by a famous paladin, and in order to attune the player will have to prove themselves to her spirit by facing some of the demons she fought with it. It'll be 1v3, with the other players piloting the demon statblocks.

[iconuk01]

Icon_UK watches the debut of Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger

Or "Burst-Acceleration Team BoonBoomger"

Well, this was... a trip (apporpirately enough for a series whose themese are racing and cars)

In the first episode Taiya, a cool, good looking (if a trifle smug) guy in a very snazzy red car (and wearing a lot of red because branding is everything)

shows up at a fancy wedding where the bride, named Mira, is clearly reluctant, and the groom is a bit of a dick, and basically grabs her and races away in the car with her.

Turns out he's a courier, who has been hired by her real boyfriend to abduct her from the wedding. It's not stated outright, but it looks like she was being forced to marry the son of a big time gangster, an idea supported by the number of shades and guns that suddenly appear as the red car is chased by a number of cars. Truth be told, Mira doesn't look too pleased about being delivered to her boyfriend either, which Taiya notes, but says nothing about as it's her business.

Mira is, understandably, in a bit of a panic, what with the wedding/not wedding abduction/rescue and being pursued by gun wielding gangsters

Her mood is not helped by the sudden arrival of a couple of mechanical looking aliens,

driving what appears to be self aware monster truck, which ploughs through the gangsters cars like they were skittles, and which Taiya not only recognised but reveals his car has got some unusual features to escape from, like the ability to launch itself backward into the air for a couple of miles to escape the aliens, who are fascinated by Mira's wedding dress (Hey, we all have our little obsessions)

Deciding that she needs at least a change of clothes, Taiya takes her to a boutique, which he casually buys the entire stock of, and tells Mira to help herself to a new outfit. That's cool, but a little OTT, verging on the creepy, but he seems sincere.

Mira selects a rather pink outfit for herself (Ooooh! Foreshadowing?) whilst Taiya has a chat with someone over comms who turns out to be Jou, a rather strait laced type in an impeccable suit. (There's also a curry obsessed robot in the background of wherever Jou is, who is important, but let's leave that to one side for now)

Then the aliens show up again and in a truly inspired moment of weirdness, turn Mira's wedding dress into a Monster of the Week whose deep voiced battlecry, as they smother everyone within range with wedding dresses is, according to the fansub I watched, "Get Hitched!!" (Which actually sounds like a pretty good expletive when said properly... or improperly)

Taiya changes into Boon Red.

and does some fancy fighting with the aliens and their grunts, which impresses Mira more than a little.

Boon Red hands Mira off to Jou to take to the airport instead, which he does.

Then, in my favourite moment of the entire episode, about halfway there, Mira basically says, "Stuff this, I am tired of being driven by other people and of getting no say in my fate", and sneakily presses the "Fly backwards a couple of miles" button so that the car flies back into the middle of the battle, to Jou's annoyance.

There she tells Taiya that she wants to fight too and "I want to deliver MYSELF to where I want to be" which is a pretty cool way of saying she wants her autonomy, so more power to her.

Impressed by her decisiveness, Taiya agrees, giving her a BoonBoom Changer of her own, so she can become Boon Pink, and to the surprise of nobody watching this far into the episode, Jou is Boon Blue.

There's a lot more after that, with robots and what appears to be a Hot Wheels videogame level before combining into the Mecha form we've been waiting for and taking down Wedding Dress monster

Full marks to whichever designer decided that the ideal weapon to equip a giant robot, which is going to be fighting mechanical monsters a lot, is a giant screwdriver.

Things go boom, (see what I did there?) and the episode ends with Mira explaining to her rather dull (and not overly bright by the sound of it) actual boyfriend that she's not leaving with him, she's becomign a Boonboomger instead, whether he likes it or not.

As Taiya (being very smug again) notes to Jou whilst watching this exchange "The delivery was made, but the package was redirected to BoonBoomger", which is either stretching an analogy to breaking point, or completely undermining the "Self determination" arc of Mira's story.

All in all, this looks like it's going to be one of the sillier sentai in a while, and whilst I have a fairly low tolerance for that, let's see where it goes.

Alas though, I'm afraid that I just cannot get past how ridiculous those helmets look.

I can see what they're going for of course, but the spoked tyres/hubcap look would probably make a better chest design than a helmet one. The tyre moulding sticks out in front of the actors faces by several inches and looks clumsy unless they're looking right at you.

Aside from the fact that Boon Orange looks like either a showerhead or the handset of an old landline telephone, the lack of a coherent pattern to the styling annoys me.

I mean, look at OhRanger (aka Power Rangers Zeo)

They all share the concept of geometric shapes that increase in the number of sides involved as you go up the apparent chain of command: Pink is a circle (which has one side), Yellow is two parallel lines, Blue is a three sided triangle, Green is a four sided rectangle, and though that should mean Red has a five sided pentagon, I can see why they went for a five pointed star instead. Also, their Sixth Ranger has a symbol which has both six "points" and is also the kanji for "King", so that has a consistency to it.

Likewise MagiRanger (Power Rangers Mystic Force), has a pattern linked to the characters age order (they are all siblings in MagiRanger)

Green, the first born, has one horn on each side of his Minotaur emblem

Pink, the second oldest, has wings with two segments on each side of her Fairy emblem.

Blue, the third oldest, has three flukes on each side of the Mermaid tail emblem

Yellow, the fourth oldest, has four feathers visible on each wing of the Garuda emblem

Red, the youngest, has five feathers on each wing of his Phoenix emblem

And their mother, whose magic is connected with snow and ice, has a six pointed snowflake as her emblem, so it's continuing the pattern, albeit in the opposite direction.

But BoonBoomger has no pattern that I can see

Red has five spokes

Blue has three spokes

Pink has six spokes

Black has eight spokes

And Orange hasn't even got spokes, but seven holes instead

There's no logic or pattern to them that I can see and it irritates me more than it should.

Oh well, let's see how it goes with the next episode!

[randomgentlefolk]

CPC CHAPTER 145

Not the prison break I was expecting, but it's the best prison break I've ever seen XD

They finally found him!! Or well at least where he is. And damn Frederick :( Someone give him therapy fr. He really needs one. I'm so glad the LeoMieCake found him on time because.. imagine what he would've done if they hadn't found him.. You know, isolation can really do some stuffs to you, especially if you've gone through some trauma/experience that can cause your emotions to be unstable. That's why I've been so worried about Frederick since it was revealed he was imprisoned in the that hole by Leland.

LAVERNE 😭 I know she's been pretty hated since the punishment episode, but damn gotta thank her right now. You know, I've been curious about the architecture of the Plaid Kingdom because I was thinking "That's a hole.. but it has a holey roof..??? Where the heck is this dungeon located in exactly?" And now I got my answer. Imagine being the maid/butler just cleaning around like "that hole over there? Yeah that's normal it's for flood"

Isolde :( I can heavily relate with running away from problems and just sitting back. And man I'm so happy Isolde talked to Frederick too and even apologized for using him to ruin Leland's plan. Gosh damn this whole family is in such a bad state just because Leland is so petty. I will never get over that. Also aw man too bad Frederick didn't listen to Isolde :') he could've learn so much.. but that's just him, haha. That one determination that you got out of nowhere causing you to block everything out, I feel that.

IS FREDERICK GOOD? He got— he got hit IN THE HEAD, with a big rock. Bro are you good bro? That could've cause a concussion or worse.

Bro is so determined, he didn't even think about pulling himself up instead of trying to pull the whole bars down 😭

Heck yeah! Laverne saved the day! Gotta thank Whitney fr. Also Frederick lmao that gala costume was really foreshadowing huh? I wonder what Lance's gala costume is foreshadowing.. (i hope it's something silly and not him getting actually hurt)

Wait.. He's gonna go to the Pastel Kingdom with Laverne.. Does that mean he's gonna go to cpc too?! OH NO, WHITNEY! RUN, BRO! RUN FROM LAVERNE.

...damnn Blaine... Idk if I'm rooting for you or not. On one hand, poor fangirl. On the other hand, she IS kinda creepy ngl. That was kinda deserved. But dang bro.

YES! The pastel siblings MUST read Leelathae's diary! Maybe they will read it to Gwen in her sleep? Also, one statement caught my eye

Is this.. Is this legit? Is this going to foreshadow what is going to happen in the future? I haven't seen someone talk about this so please tell me if you have any theory about this.

Oh??? What could this be? A divorce? Another sneak into Leland's office? Will it be something serious or silly?

That's all for now. Uh, I'm very VERY sorry for uploading this really late. For some reason I've been feeling very numb lately. But I'm sure I'll get better so don't worry ^_^

Mono out! (But still in to hear your thoughts)

[vro0m-but-not-cars]

Okay @sweatyflytrap asked for my final opinion on the one piece live action and I have a lot of things to say as always so I'm making a post.

Light, unspecific spoilers, but well.

First of all it's not bad. But also it's not good. I don't feel excited about it, but I didn't have as much of a hard time watching it than I thought. Except the first episode. I spent the first episode messaging all my friends about how ugly it looked.

About the story adaptation :

Some changes they made I understand, because the East Blue Saga is overall pretty rough in terms of rhythm and also kinda unthetered to how the story develops later on. Of course, it's very important and necessary as far as world building and putting the crew together go, but none of the more long term plotlines are there yet, or at least you don't know that they are, and that doesn't really work with live action tv shows or it makes them look like sitcoms. They had to introduce some more middle- long- term stuff to let people see that there are bigger things happening that are worth keeping up with the series. But it feels kinda weird when you've been reading and watching the manga and anime for fucking ever. Spoils some stuff that were big moments in the original story. But again : understandable.

Some other changes I just. Don't. What. Some were weird, some confused me, some were uncalled for and honestly kinda pissed me off (re: Usopp, iykyk).

One thing I was happy about is that there is, just like in the manga, some clever, more or less obvious, foreshadowing. Well played.

About the characters :

I saw a lot of people being very happy about the cast, I... Have doubts. I'm kinda sad some of them lose important character design aspects although I understand it would have been difficult to make them look like they're drawn. Usopp without his long nose is ??? I mean it's inherent to who he is so taking that away takes away from his characterisation for me. Also is Sanji really Sanji without the curly eyebrows? I like Nami, I think she's played by a good actress as well. She's the one who felt the more solid to me. Zoro looks okay, I kinda hate how they turned him into some edgy vocal-fried annoyed teenager but well. Hopefully he'll gain more depth as we go. Hopefully they all do. We've barely seen them yet.

Now Luffy... I mean it's tricky, obviously. I just don't understand his character in the LA tbh because he's supposed to be super naive and carefree and not very smart, and sometimes he is, and at other times he says elaborate things that don't match up. Seeing him more or less seriously plan and strategise at times is intensely OOC and really took me out of it. Also it would always have been difficult to translate in LA but I find his smile very sinister at times. Overall, because he's sometimes smarter than he's supposed to be and because of that smile, you get the idea that he's acting stupider than he actually is and it gives the impression he's more calculated and manipulative than happy-go-lucky. I can't really read him well. He feels weird.

And I sure hope they get a better wig and lenses budget in the future but seeing how the Witcher characters look in their third or whatever season I highly doubt it. Seeing them with shitty synthetic dry AF hair really really takes me out of it. I cannot possibly take Shanks seriously when that's what he looks like. Don't even get me started on Mihawk. Also I've posted about this before but why in hell did they turned tall glass of water future daddy Ben Beckmann into a short jowly pot-bellied 50yo? I'm sad. AND don't try to convice me that Alvida is ugly because what the hell. Please take me on a date, I will definitely tell you you're beautiful. Also not a problem but why the fuck is Garp Welsh?

Another issue I have discussed with friends is Sanji's characterisation. Obvi they couldn't make him as creepy as he is in the manga and anime where he's straight-up harassing women but this very central aspect of his personality is almost completely lost in the LA which makes him seem very weird. It makes it difficult to understand how he acts towards Nami at times, when they're supposed to be one of the most well-matched duos in the crew. In parallel, LA Zoro and Nami have sexual tension for zero reason. Their chemistry works much better than Nami and Sanji's at this point. It's fixable in the next seasons but in this one it's kinda weird when you know their characters.

About the production :

Okay so one thing I will say without any further "but" is that Sanji's and especially Zoro's fighting scenes look very good. They're well choregraphed, and badass, and dynamic.

Luffy's fighting scenes are bad though. The gomu gomu fruit abilities look bad. He barely uses them most of the time (I guess it's costly and difficult to create visually). He looks weak, and slow. The rhythm is terrible. Also it's difficult to see him sometimes use gomu gomu to be rubbery and thus fully flexible and sometimes see the actual actor jump and bend like a more or less normal person, thus lacking the elasticity Luffy is supposed to have. It's like sometimes the rubber ability is activated and sometimes not and he just becomes a normal human being. I fully understand that it's not realistic to half animate him all the time to make it fit but again, it was very noticeable to me.

I also struggle with the overall vibe of the LA. Some things feel overly childish, like all the discourse around dreams etc. It is there in OP though, it is generally key in shōnen, no problem. But at the same time, it's quite violent and sinister at times. Buggy is scary af, he feels incredibly creepy. Which is also fine, the OP world is violent and weird. But it doesn't look that violent and weird when it's drawn. The juxtaposition of the child-like, naive, idealistic themes and the creepiness is a bit confusing to me. I'm trying to think who's the target for this aside from the obvious OP fans. It seems a bit too grotesque for children, and it feels a bit too "✨the power of friendship✨" for teens and adults. But well. It was the case in the manga as well initally and it got darker and more serious with time so whatever, I'll reserve judgement.

Conclusion :

I still don't know what to think because I started with loads of questions and now I just have even more. Mostly about how they intend to adapt the rest of it. Are they gonna buy their wigs and lenses elsewhere than Claire's? What the fuck is Chopper gonna look like? What about Brooks? Are they gonna make Ace and Law ugly as well? Because if so I might burn Netflix's headquarters for ruining them for me. Is Luffy gonna get better at fighting or do they intend for Zoro and Sanji to do most of the work forever? Is Bon Clay gonna be extremely offensive or are they somehow gonna manage to make him tasteful without ruining him? Is he gonna be there at all? I mean I could go on and on.

Anyway, as I was saying it's not bad, but it's not good. I think it works much better for people who haven't seen or read OP yet.

[susie-dreemurr]

My wishes for Season 3 of Dead End: Paranormal Park!

—This contains spoilers for both seasons. Also, please don’t spoil me with book content, I can’t read it 😭

•More Courtney lore. We still don’t know what she did to get banished, and the way she was initially dealt with, (memory loss, trapping her in the neutral plane) even for most of season 2, (kept on watch by fingers instead of being put with the other fallen, along with all the ominous “he has plans for you” that didn’t amount to shit) is very clearly shown to not be the normal procedure, and also the symmetrical broken halo….What Is Up With Them. After all the foreshadowing and hints, it’d be disappointing if they weren’t important in some way.

She’s shown to have a lot of self-loathing, especially about her internalized prejudice against her species (Plural. Bc her situation is…complicated, now 😅) . Maybe, while/since her friends won’t be around as often, she decides to investigate her past, something spurred on by talking with the other Fallen Angels and realizing how different her experience is. This could be an opportunity to explore the angels, as well.

•Please, for the love of all that is good in this world, no more time travel. At all. we as a society have moved past the need to time travel. You kind of have to refer to the past events but don’t make any character time travel anymore please 😭

•Norma being a bit of an anti-villain, at least for a while, due to the season two ending. Alongside that, I need some shenanigans of the Zagan, Norma and Temelechus possible trio because hello???? Iconic potential???? It’d also be a good opportunity to give Zagan more depth, she needs it.

•Norma’s autism gets at least name-dropped. Please… for me 🥺🥺🥺? Especially if she has a tiny plot where her feeling like her mom treats her like a little kid is actually addressed because, oof. It’s relatable to a lot of us!

•Aro Badyah!!! Based on this clip. There aren’t many aro characters, especially ones who have it dealt with in the actual show, it’d be so important to me. Especially because Badyah thinking she has to be straight because so much of our world revolves around romance that you can’t escape it, it’s everywhere. I headcannon she can find people attractive and mistakes that for romantic feelings.

•So far, Barney seems like the kind of character who had all their development/arc in season one, so he’s stuck as static for the rest of the show. However! The show can save this!!! His relation to Pugsley is something that will spark a change in his behavior. His feelings of grief and (implied) survivor’s guilt gotta have some focus, even if the show keeps a lighthearted tone. However, while he shouldn’t find out in the first episodes, Barney definitely needs to be majorly involved in Pugsley’s thing. Which, speaking of….

•Whatever tf Pugsley’s got going on….not gonna lie, I have no idea for what and how it’ll happen, except that I hope it’s creepy and that it brings him back. Also, as mentioned before, Barney has to be majorly involved in it.

•The main gang feels a bit separated (Norma’s revenge alliance with the demons, Barney and Logs traveling, Pusgley’s wtf credits, my Courtney suggestion) in the ending, lean into that. Of course, they still hang out, but it’d showcase the big negative impacts the finale had on the cast, while exploring the quadruple’s writing on their own more. Near the climax, all their storylines would combine, and that could be sooo cool!!!

•Clone Courtney was, from what I remember, missing from the prison break out. Not even a single backround shot, when we gave the other two clones some time to shine! Plus, didn’t you find it off that they just put Courtney in the F.A.P after all the ominous “He has plans for you” talk? Well. I need me some stuff about that.

Sorry for rambling, haha! Thinking of the great potential of season three keeps me from disliking the ending, lmao.

[starrysharks]

When you create characters, how do you usually go about it? I can understand the first few phases, such as mapping them out, but I would like to know more about some artist processes and you seemed like the best place to start.

By the way, have I told you you look absolutely ✨stunning✨ this fine time of day/night?

when it comes to making characters, most of the time the visual idea is already in my mind as is the character's personality,,, often times i get inspiration from the songs i listen to so the 'personality' so to speak of the song might reflect in that character! (for example, octavia's current design was heavily inspired by '100%' by angelspit, so she kind of has a personality that would reflect the singer if that makes sense?) when it comes to the design itself, i like to chose 1-2 themes or motifs that i think relate well to the character (such as needles and pins with their cobweb motifs, or velvet's 'double x' motif) and a color pallete that will give the 'vibe' i want for them! (such as royal blue for regal characters - for me it's pretty standard color language stuffs) i like to include symbolism relating to the character/anything that could foreshadow their furure role in the story as well >:] shape language is one of the most important parts of visual design for me as well - i choose one shape, occasionally two, that i think will relate to the character best! i also have to make sure the way the shape is applied doesn't contradict with the character's personality (such as why would a smart, prim and proper character have messy spiky hair or poking out bits in their silhouette?) then i apply that shape everywhere i can!

for personality and character itself, i think of three things -

1. the character's role and presence in the story - will they be a major character, or just show up once or twice? are they an ally or an enemy to the protagonist? does that change? the way the character will/can develop should be explored if they're a major character. if your character dies as well, it's good to establish who they were as much as is needed before that happens (say, a dead mom can be portrayed as caring for the short time she's alive) - but it's interesting to leave them vague and mysterious, so you can really go either way!

2. the character's goals - what do they want? are they loyal to one person or a lone wolf? what will they do to get what they want? this can help to explore the character's morals and see if they'll change as the story continues!

3. secret third option - who is the character? do they have any strong likes or dislikes, hobbies, or anything that could 'contradict' with their visual design or outward personality? (such as octavia's love for creepy-cute mascots juxtaposing her violent profession and brutal personality!) technically this could be called humanisation but secret third option is funnier. it helps to explore what the character may not be comfortable with or vice versa because it can help to express the character to the audience without doing too much work.

thats basically it! sorry if this didn't make much sense or was too long ,,, this is just the way i personally go about characters so id recommend coming to others for advice! thank you!! :D

[ponds-of-ink]

Quick Ruin Hypothesis: “Whispers of the Past Pointing to The Future?”

AKA My personal “Why do I hear boss music?” moment while trying to listen to Ruin’s audio.

Minor spoilers below, as always. Head’s up that this is going to be very slapdash because I have stuff to do irl in a few hours. There will be a character being tagged, though, just so certain fans can see.

So, let’s get down to business.

Ruin has these very faint traces of dialogue in these whispery sounding audio tracks that (if I recall correctly) play while Cassie is wearing the V.A.N.N.I. mask. And, to my surprise, I could hear Springtrap’s dialogue from FNAF AR in there along with potentially new voice lines... If my ears aren’t failing me and they’re all AR lines but spliced up.

The usage implies several things, I’m sure, but the ones I want to mention right now on are:

(1) William [or at least Springtrap] is still regarded as British in the game canon. British Will lovers can rejoice now. I know some of y’all were understandably worried.

(2) William’s presence is still here, even if it’s just echoes of Springtrap in some AR world.

That second implication is why I put “Why do I hear boss music?” in the first paragraph. Help Wanted 2 is right around the corner, and that game is having us go back to VR to complete Sister Location levels– Which, by the way, was the first game William got proper prevalence in the game canon.

...I dunno, I just feel like this whole Springtrap Easter egg might be foreshadowing for William’s final hurrah before Ruin in the timeline. Or at the very least a sign that Help Wanted 2 isn’t going to re-dub Scraptrap like I thought it would.

If not, then there’s gotta be some explanation for putting him in other than creepiness factor. Too bad I can’t decipher the more unclear lines right now, or I’d be all set with a bigger theory.

Again, be really funny if William was MXES/The Entiry but I’m not going to run with that theory. MXES’s audio has digital screaming for “whispering”, so there’s no hope for me getting answers there. Probably for the best.

I was also going to imply that Glitch-Trap’s gone so William’s ghost took his place but ehhh. That might be a stretch, given that we don’t know the timeframe of HW2 yet.

[unorthodox-oblivion]

i can’t find where u reblogged the writer ask thing but other ppl are asking you SO 3 13 16

Thank you!!!

3. What genres have you written for so far?

A lot of angst. And a lot of hurt/comfort. Dabbling in some happier romantic stuff right now and it's costing me a few years of my life lol

13. What feedback did you receive for your writing that stuck with you?

@eponine119 was one of the few little rays of sunshine that I allowed to read the fic I wrote for lost before I bothered to post it. And she said she really liked my writing style and I nearly died. Like, I kept the little note on the google docs because it made me cry. And she liked the foreshadowing, even called it creepy (a COMPLIMENT, my babies) and I just... yeah. Melted.

@obsessivedaydreamer gave a lot of positive feedback on the way I wrote Jack and Kate and that was... really important, because I wasn't sure if the way I see them would resinate with other people so it definitely helped a lot with my comfort level when writing about them.

16. Where do you find inspiration to write?

I think inspiration finds me. But for like, topics for writing, I usually come up with stuff when rewatching something (I'm big on AUs and am often going like... "what if this had happened instead", hence the collection of one-shots I plan to have lol) but also other tv shows and movies. Sailboat story was lowkey inspired by a stupid reality show my mom was watching.

Writer Ask Game

[fluffykitteninabox]

My very late thoughts on season 6 episode 11 (that turned into me gushing about the soundtrack oops!)

I'm going to start with some things that are probably going to be overlooked because everyone is focusing on Dabi which is very understandable but still..

First the animation was GOD TIER. The camera movement during Dabi's dance specifically was epic but in general this episode looks phenomenal. Kudos to the animators for bringing their A game. They deserve a raise (and also probably a vacation)

Second the voice acting. It was SO GOOD!! Dabi's voice actor absolutely killed it this episode. Hearing his full range finally after spending 5 and a half seasons with him ominously whispering every single line just ffgchcddidf.. he's so excited he's speaking faster than usual and you can literally hear the smile in his voice!! It's amazing. Shouto's voice actor should also be praised. The urgency, the panic in his voice omg!!

Ok now onto the actual episode related stuff.

The end of Uraraka's fight with Toga was great, and I feel kind of sad that this part of the episode is probably going to be forgotten because of all the stuff that happens afterwards. so I'm going to dedicate some time to it here.

Number one, finally FINALLY, they let Toga's nature play in full!!! I'm probably literally the only person on the planet who cares about this but whatever! Toga's nature is my favourite OST in the entire MHA soundtrack and I had been begging for it to be fully played since season 5. Up until now they had only played the first part. It was like they were teasing us. Toga's nature was like the carrot on a stick and I was the minecraft pig!!

In the end, I think them withholding it until now made the impact this episode more affective. You see, the song can be divided into two parts kind of. The first part has this quiet eery feeling to it. It's a simple piano accompanied with the sound of birds and laughter that becomes more and more manic as it continues.

The music builds and builds and it feels like a dam that is going to overflow until the second half kicks in. It literally feels like an actual kick. The song suddenly becomes loud and overpowering and none of the laughter that was in the background can be heard now. The dam bursts and everything it was holding comes pouring out.

And I think that perfectly describes Toga's character. As a child she was told that she was creepy because of her quirk and that she should suppress her feelings. She was told to not be herself, she was told to act "normal" based on the standards of other people. Even though in a superhuman society like that of MHA, every person has a unique ability and thus every person's normal is going to be fundamentally different from someone else's. Technically speaking there is no normal anymore. Deku even says in the first episode "Before we knew it the supernatural became normal".

Toga desperately tried to fit in by ignoring and pushing her feelings down further and further until she couldn't hold them in anymore and they exploaded out of her in the form of the incident at her school where she attacked one of her classmates. The reports from the people who knew her that we see during her flashback are all saying that this was a completely unexpected occurrence and they present Toga as an obedient child. The can't comprehend what could have caused this outburst, but in reality this was inevitable. You can't pretend to be something you're not indefinitely, you can't ignore your feelings and hope that the issues will resolve themselves. At some point you won't be able to hold it in anymore and it will come out like a volcanic eruption. The song itself foreshadowed this inevitability. The first creepy part of the song clues you in to what is about to happen. Despite the birds chirping and the child like laughter (things that are both usually associated with positive feelings) we never believe that this is a happy song.

This of course makes her a really great foil for Uraraka because Uraraka has been spending the last couple of seasons "pushing her feelings for Deku down" because she sees them as a distraction. Now do I wish she was suppressing her feelings on something other than romance, maybe something more personal to her character that isn't tied to Deku? Yes, yes I do. But this still works.. fine. (even though it would have been way cooler if this was tied how she views herself as someone coming from a low income family and how her personal motivation for becoming a hero has evolved during her time as a student, or her feelings about not being able to save everyone, which she had to face way earlier that a lot of her other classmates because of what happened with Nighteye.) but ok, her crush on Deku works too.

The important thing that we need to take away from this is that Toga has already learned the "don't push your feelings down, because they're going to come rushing back up and you'll regret it later" lesson, but Uraraka hasn't learned that yet. Even during their fight she says that these feelings should be pushed away.

Which is another reason why she couldn't understand what Toga was trying to tell her. Now in the anime they decided to make it a lot more obvious because apparently the dialogue in the manga was too subtle for some people and they didn't understand why the heroes should maybe try to help when the villains are literally begging them to understand and are actively asking for help!! I mean of course I'm sure the millionth time Deku punches the problem it will go away!! So they changed Toga's dialogue from the very vague "What do you wanna do to me?" to her actually explaining Jin's death to her and directly asking her if she would try to kill her too. Now that seems ok at first, until you realise that Uraraka's response now sounds incredibly cruel compared to the manga. This makes Uraraka seem kind of stupid to be honest, which I don't like but we have to make sacrifices for the stupid fans I guess.

So back to gushing about Toga's nature. I love that the second half kicks in exactly as Uraraka is about to use her "zero satellites" move against Toga. Up until this point in the fight Toga has been trying to explain her viewpoint to her and this is the final moment before Uraraka says "If you're gonna live as you please and threaten people then you also have to live with the consequences!"

This is the exact moment Toga realised that Uraraka didn't understand her and that there was no point in trying to negotiate.

It is because of that that she's now completely closed off. She doesn't trust Uraraka or any other hero and so that makes it a lot harder to save her now. Toga believes that the heroes want to kill her just like Hawks killed Jin, so she's treating her current fight as a fight for survival. This misunderstanding was again the inevitable outcome of this conversation, because of the opposing views each girl has.

Or at least it was in the manga, where Toga doesn't do a good job at explaining what exactly it is she's asking about. When Uraraka says in the manga "What're you trying to tell me?", her confusion is believable. When she asks that in the anime it looks like she's selectively deaf because Toga very clearly asks her "Do you want to kill me like Jin was killed? Am I going to be killed?". So when Uraraka treats this like a trivial question (the subtitles don't use the word stupid that was in the manga translation so I don't know if she actually called it a stupid question) and when she tells Toga that she has to "live with the consequences", from Toga's perspective she is confirming that she will in fact try to kill her.

The way the anime handles this makes it so that this could have been easily predictable. If Uraraka was paying attention to what Toga was saying she could have seen this coming, it's no longer an issue of miscommunication. But anyway it was still great to watch and Toga's nature elevates the whole scene in my opinion so it's fine. Basically the song is foreshadowing Toga's character arc. Her character has entered the second phase at this point

something something parallels of everyone in Toga's life failing to notice her inevitable breakdown and now Uraraka failing to notice too thus making it harder for her to save her in this final arc,✨✨symbolism!✨✨

ok I'll shut up about the song now i swear!

Another small change in this episode that I want to point out is that they revealed that Bastard Jeanist - oh I'm sorry I meant Best Jeanist, is alive at the beginning of the episode instead of leaving it as a twist at the end. I mean this doesn't really change much but you know.. missed opportunity for a shocking plot twist there. They don't show his face but it's really obvious from the clothes and.. you know, the belt with his initials in giant bold letters.

The anime also kind of confirmed something that I was suspecting for a while but I've never stated this publicly so you'll have to take my word for it, I called it!

Basically in the scene where Endeavor sees the fire in Sekoto and tries to search for Touya, the fire is red, not blue. Even though Touya's flames had already changed from red to blue at this point.

Now I don't think this is a mistake. Logically speaking a burning fire will start losing heat at some point especially if it's not consistently being fuelled. Since Touya is the source in this case, after he passed out next to the river he wouldn't be actively creating more fire. Naturally after the flames loose their intense heat they would go back to orange/red.

This is purely speculation on my part because I think it would be kind of stupid for the Todorokis to have the information that Touya died in a blue fire and then to not connect the dots on their own. I mean hmm a fire user with blue flames who is covered in burns and has the same eyes a Endeavor and seems to be about the same age as our dead brother/son who died in a blue fire would be if he were still alive. Yep, must be a coincidence!

But if they didn't know that Touya died in a blue fire, because the fire possibly changed colour by the time they realised what had happened, it would make more sense.

The scene doesn't exactly confirm my little theory, but I count it as a strong hint and in my opinion it would be a reasonable explanation.

Moving on..

Let's gush about the newest ost that came out of this episode

the theme that plays during Dabi's actual dance. One of the reasons this post is so late is because I wanted to listen to this without Dabi's monologue obstructing it. Alright first initial thoughts:

THIS SHIT IS ACTUALLY FUCKING HAUNTING!!

The fucking breathing at the beginning ZHXHFXUGCICJGXUFZHGXUC!!

The laughter!! It sounds like Touya is running around my head giggling! The fucking distorted screams OMFG!! And it also sounds like there's fire crackling sounds at the end too.

ok I'm going to try and analyse this like I did Toga's nature but keep in mind that this is extremely new, I've only heard it a couple of times and I'm not an expert in the technical aspects of music. Also depending how this will potentially be used in future episodes my reading on it might be changed.

We start with the heavy breathing accompanied by a lone piano (again)

something about pianos and sounding creepy

This gives me the feeling that this is Touya trying to survive the fire. The first image that popped into my head was Touya's burnt up body when AFO finds him

look at the "weez"

that's what it reminded me of. So I'm hoping this ost won't be tossed in the garbage and will be used again for other scenes they fit in like this once in the future.

The screaming is possibly Touya just screaming in pain from burning, but to be completely honest when I heard it in the ost it also reminded me of Rei for some reason. I think it's because it's so sparsely spaced throughout the song. It sounds more like separate moments of madness, than one long painful scream. I think that could be signifying Touya's declining mental state over his childhood. It makes sense that it reminded me of Rei because she and Touya are the ones whose mental stability got hit the hardest. Not saying the others aren't equally as traumatized btw.

The laughter could be because he's excited to finally bring this to light. He's happy to expose his dad's crimes to the world.

The song ends with the piano slowly fading and we're left with the sound of a fire crackling. This could mean Touya is now "dead" so we can't hear any more laughing or screaming. It's the aftermath of Sekoto, everything has been burnt and so the fire grows more quiet as there is no fuel left.

That's all I can do for now since this has only been used once. I might come back to see if it could potentially connect to something else if/when they reuse the song.

Anyway this whole thing is extremely late but who cares

I don't have a conclusion and I don't know how to end this

so...

if you made it this far, have some sparkles ✨✨✨

[gellavonhamster]

shadow and bone s2 (ugh)

In a few words: script bad, cast good, I have Opinions and you will hear them (but maybe don’t read this if you genuinely loved this season, I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade)

In more than few words:

the bad:

taking so many books and stuffing them all into eight episodes was decidedly not a good idea. It’s rushed. It also ruins all hopes for a more or less book-accurate Crows storyline that the Helnik part of s1 had me harbouring, because so much of Crooked Kingdom has already been used

it is not enough to reproduce a moment from the books on screen if the context which made that moment powerful in the books is lost. An example would be “Goodbye, Aleksander” - no one knows his name in the books, it’s the final moment of humanity allowed the man behind the villain, but there’s nothing surprising about this address in the show - but there were many such cases

I realize that some levity is needed and the books aren’t completely serious either, but some of the funny ha ha stuff felt so unnecessary... like when that one follower of the Darkling says something like “uh-oh” when she notices a grenade is about to explode next to her. MCU disease

there was something off about Kanej this season. I don’t think he pushed her away that much in the books. This is slipping into the more stereotypical “you’re better off without me!!” territory, which is not really what they were in the books

why the hell is Heleen dead? Inej should be the one to destroy her - it’s her nemesis, the Pekka Rollins to her Kaz, she deserves that

also, why the hell was Dunyasha replaced with some random creepy guy? I don’t even like Dunyasha, but I enjoy the dark twin thing she and Inej had. It felt important

speaking of the characters I don’t even like that still deserved better treatment, all of the Darkling’s scenes were so boring to me this season. Boring ass cliché villain lines... it’s like this was made for TV and they needed some parts when the audience can go to the bathroom

Jesper and Wylan = big cringe :( those slutty bisexuals can never remember who they sleep with, amirite

do NOT like Tolya apparently developing a crush on Inej, he’s as aroace in the books as it can get in a universe where such terms haven’t been invented yet. They better do NOT erase that

the good:

the cast continues to be perfect. They’re taking the mediocre script they’re saddled with and making it better with their skills, chemistry, and charm. I love everyone in this bar

Nikolai! I’m trying to remember why I was unsure about this casting at first and can’t, but in any case, I was wrong - he was very good. Properly charming and annoying, with a touch of the boy king and a touch of the Too-Clever Fox, just the way it should be

the small interactions between the Crows like Jesper hugging Inej or Nina and Kaz having to pretend to be a couple made me happy

Jesper’s poison-induced hallucination might’ve been predictable, but I loved seeing him and his mom together, loved Aditi in general

the BEE!!! Yeah, that was some good foreshadowing

Genya and David were one of the best things about this season, I love them so much

the mixed bag:

I was really glad I saw spoilers about David’s death in advance because otherwise I might’ve punched the screen, but then I watched the last two episodes and... no one warned me the body wasn’t found? Come on, it’s fantasy, if the body wasn’t found, it usually means something. A Twitter mutual of mine suggested the Darkling might come back in David’s body, which I would not like to happen, but otherwise I am pretty excited about the possibility of some kind of Came Back Wrong (or - dare I hope - even a happy ending?..). Of course, he dies at a later point in the books, but the showrunners have admitted that what they’re making is essentially fanfiction, and saving the character expected to die is a very fanfiction thing to do. The problem is, their fic hasn’t been particularly good so far. Still, I am very curious about how this is gonna turn out

I am one of the few people who think TGT had a good and appropriate ending, but show!Alina is different enough from book!Alina for me to believe the changed ending works well. Show!Alina has definitely suffered, but she’s still seen less death and pain than book!Alina (no execution of Ana Kuya; no death of Botkin either, as far as I recall; no Harshaw; no Fedyor dying; Marie’s death is less brutal and doesn’t happen in front of her eyes, etc.), she didn’t spend as much time underground, she wasn’t as manipulated by the Apparat in addition to the Darkling. She’s also much more ambitious and eager to be a leader. It makes sense for book!Alina to want a quiet life where no one would bother her anymore, but it also makes sense for show!Alina to take an active part in reforming Ravka. And it also makes sense for Mal to want to find out to what extent his feelings for Alina were real and what was just amplifier stuff, to find his own path now that there is no predestination for him. I do believe Malina will be endgame in the show as well, because the showrunners are planning to adapt the Nikolai duology too, which means Zoyalai and Zoya as the queen, but I have no idea how it all is going to happen

it looks like we’re going to see dark!Alina, which could be interesting! Alas, I don’t trust the writers of this show to make a good job of it

not gonna lie, the idea that Sturmhond is a title one can pass on like Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride is funny af

I saw a tweet pointing out that it makes sense for Inej to “train” on  Sturmhond’s ship before captaining her own ship later, and on the one hand, I agree, but on the other hand, how are they going to bring her back for the Ice Court Heist if she’s already at sea