#an iffy character until later on. but this time i Know Now so i can adore him right from the start

[lecliss]

Messing around with costumes in tales of arise and even tho Law's samurai outfit is kinda ugly, the hip and thigh cutouts that show like half his ass are kinda making me consider putting it on him 👀

[henneseyhoe]

The Return Of Killjoy.

Killmonger x BLACK!FEM!Reader

WARNINGS: mentions of death, gory descriptions, mentions of religion, possession, choking, rough s*x, cu*khold, !SLIGHT CNC!.

Ps. I’ll edit this fully later, so if y’all see random pov switches then ignore it really quick. I just wanted it out before Halloween was over Lmfao.

✮✮✮✮

“You sure you wanna watch this, Trey? I just feel iffy” She expressed to her boyfriend, fiddling with the frills on her socks. Her stomach felt queasy, and her nerves were higher than usual all that day. It could be because she knew that there were plans made to do something she had no instest in, plans to watch an old slasher film, but even before she knew it was this movie in particular, she had already felt a bad feeling come over her body.

“You need to calm down, baby. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, and we both know this shit is fake” Trey brushes her off in a nonchalant way, putting the vhs tape into the tv.

“Trey, please. We can watch a classic! Friday 13th?” He ignores her again, playing with the buttons on the television. “This movie is like 80 years old, who knows what type of old ass voodoo is on it?! we needed a fuckin’ box tv to watch this shit, and everybody saying it’s cursed!” She continues to press him, hoping he’d realize how stupid the whole situation was. She was never the type to be scared of movies, but she heard around town about what people saw in the tapes, and she wasn’t trying to be added to the list of people who lost their minds after watching.

Some stories she heard included people gouging their own eyes out, projectile vomiting everywhere only five minutes into the film, some even lose consciousness. “Are you even listening? Trey!” She pushed him, the boy still seeking no interest in what she was saying. She was so convinced that she could change his mind and that she had time to all before, but obviously he was adamant on watching the movie to understand the hype and fear surrounding.

“…someone literally stopped talking for an entire week after watching it. If that ain’t enough proof for you, I dunno what is!” Crossing her arms, she huffs like an upset toddler, over him ignoring her for a ‘stupid little movie’.

“That was just a drawn out joke! Wasn’t shit wrong with that woman” He says, using the tv remote to navigate through the options to start the movie. There was no turning back now, the tape beginning to roll.

✮✮✮✮

Trey yawns for the fifth time that night. She couldn’t tell if he was tired of just wanted to pretend like the scenes wasn’t scary. The movie started out with a blood curdling scream that made both the young adults cover their ears, Trey attempting to turn it down with the remote, which didn’t work, but even when he put it on mute, the scream continued. After that was the most gruesome death scene either of them had ever seen in a movie that old. It was almost too real. The main character, or who they thought was the main character, was killed only five minutes into the film. The masked man had captured her in her own home and hung her upside down with chains wrapped around her ankles. She was completely undressed, naked glory there to gawk at. Y/N caught Trey doing exactly that for a moment before the woman was split in half completely from the top down with a seemingly dull machete.

Y/N gags strongly while clenching her thick thighs closed as she watched the woman rip in half, screaming in agony until she stopped before the man could even pull the blade all the way through her body. He hacked away multiple times before he had even reached the end of her, blood splattering all over the hardwood floor.

“Ewww!” Y/N let out a girlish squeal while kicking her feet up and covering her face. Trey shook his head. “This shit is not scary, you doin too much”

“Shut up! This shit is makin’ me sick, turn it off”

“Why? You scared?”

“Yes! Stop playin’ and turn it off”

Trey rolls his eyes and laughs, switching his position so he was kneeling in front of his fearsome girlfriend. “It’s not real” she shake her head, her face still scrunched with disgust while Trey laughs at herfit. “Lemme comfort my little cry baby” he teased and kisses her lips. She melted from his touch, feeling safer than before. Trey’s hands roam her body, going for her shirt to pull it right off her body. Y/N’s safe feeling didn’t last too long, a feeling in her stomach creeping up onto her, telling her to open her eyes, which she reluctantly complied to.

Watching the screen behind Trey, multiple pictures of gore flashed as the film continued, the next picture even more disturbing than the next until the screen flashed a picture that had her jumping out of her skin, goosebumps covering her body.

She pushes her boyfriend away with a scream. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” She panicked, tears welling in her eyes. “Damn, Y/N! You almost bit my fuckin’ tongue off!” Trey shouts, tasting blood in his mouth from the girl biting down on his lip. “What are you on about now?!” Trey glanced back at the screen, but it had changed to a normal part in the movie.

Y/N couldn’t even begin to explain the feeling in her chest. The picture she saw that flashed lastly was a picture of her. In that same spot. With Trey laying next to her, his face looking as if it was bludgeoned, features beyond recognition.

“STOP FUCKING WITH ME, TREY! IM SERIOUS! IT AINT FUNNY!” She freaked, her chest heaving as Trey looked at her in confusion.

“Jesus Christ, Y/N. If you that scared then I’ll just turn it off, damn” he reaches for the remote and clicks the tv off, yet the screen went no where. Still playing the movie, Trey tried clicking the buttons on the TV to turn it off, but the film stayed put. He sighs. “Look, it’s an old tv, baby. We can smash this shit right after if it makes you happy” he said, turning back to her. Cupping her face in his hands, he kisses her again, tasting salty tears on her lips. As she gave into his temptation, the kiss progressed to him laying her down and undressing them both fully.

Trey took it upon himself to pleasure her first, something he rarely did, but Y/N brushed it off as him trying to make her feel better. Spreading her legs out for him, Trey dove in, beginning to lap up her swelling clit as she used her hands to play in his hair.

They were cornrowed back, neatly placed in straight lines and she found herself tugging at the ends of them while he slurped her up. He uses her thigh as a headrest for him so he could eat without getting tired, but his patters were already sending the girl into overdrive.

“Yes, Trey” She calls out to him, her other hand gracing her wet lips. She sticks her tongue out and licks a long stripe along her pointer finger and thumb, using her own spit as lube to twist her nipples softly. Trey had suctioned his entire mouth around her clit, beginning to suck while his fingers dipped into her honeypot, giving her a reason for her eyes to be rolling backwards into her head like they were doing.

What was into him? She had never experienced this type of behavior. She couldn’t even remember the last time she came from head alone, but this time felt so different to her.

She had wondered when he had gotten so skilled at this..and when he got a tongue.. or when he got dreads.

Popping her head upwards, Y/N’s heart completely drops. The man that was between her legs was no longer her boyfriend, but the same psycho killer that shook her up just a few minutes ago. Her adrenaline rushes, her brown eyes becoming wide with her jaw being stuck hanging low like she had just been hit with a brick. “—oh fuck” She moans, the demon himself keeping himself latched on her clit, shaking his head from side to side. He rubs his plump lips against her clit while humming, vibrations spreading throughout the girls body before she came, a tongue being right there to catch all that she was giving before it was his turn to get his.

✮✮✮✮

“Like this, baby?” The man stared deep into her soul while stroking her, his callused hand wrapped tightly around her throat. Y/N shook with fear, but she couldn’t stop the moans falling from her lips. Turning towards the tv, she watched as Trey begged and pleaded on mute, slamming his hands against the windowed screen he was trapped in. Before a singular teardrop slipped from her eye, killjoy had already turned her head back towards him, giving her no permission to look at anything but him.

“Take it. Take it like a good fuckin’ girl” He grunts, gripping her thigh and pushing it back so far that she was basically folded in. It took strength to endure the beating he was putting on her, and the little bit she had left was gradually growing weaker. He was to blame for every reaction she was currently having, from the jagged breathing all the way down to the helpless whimpers. She thought he would have never stopped, until he did, his hips colliding with hers one last time before he stops, laying a smack on her thighs.

“Now, sit that ass on it” He demands. It was like she had no control over her own body, the real version of herself watching behind her eyes in utter shock. Flipping them both over, Killjoy does the honors of pushing himself back inside of her, Y/N using the strength of her calves to bounce on the tip of his dick. It was still so much for her, he was barely inside and she already felt so full. “I can’t-“ she chokes out as her legs shake, her body cowering on top of him. Killjoy grunts in annoyance, his patience running low for the girl. He was fed up. How was she gonna be a good host if she was a coward?

Giving her that jumpstart she needed, he lays three hard smacks on her ass, sending Y/N jumping forward with a yelp, landing right back on his dick. She slid down on his thick pole completely, her thighs closing together. “Unt-Unt. Open them legs, lemme see that pretty pussy” He says, completely disregarding her stiff movements and thrusting his hips upwards. She wasn’t even thinking straight at this point, she couldn’t have answered a question if you asked.

“I’m gonna cum!” She shouts, fisting his locs in her hand, a guttural groan escaping his mouth at the hair tugs. Only the lucky knew how he liked it rough, and not one of those lucky people were alive anymore to tell the story of how killjoy himself broke them in on Halloween night. Now, it was her turn.

“Cum on this dick, pretty girl. It’s yours” He taunts with a devilish smirk, but that only made Y/N teeter over the line of ecstasy and unconsciousness just a little more.

“I’m- im-“

“Uh-huh. Show yo’ man how a real nigga do it”

“FU-“

“Show him how a real nigga make you cum!”

“FUCK”

She stops bouncing, but killjoy kept his hips jack hammering up into her, his arms arms going around her waist to hold her in her spot as he fucked her pussy with no remorse. Y/N was praying to the heavens that it would stop and this would just be some crazy wet dream, but it kept going.

“No need to pray now. He can’t help you” Killjoy speaks into the girls ears, his voice echoing in her head like they were in an empty room.

She could hear her water splashing against him, and he had no means to stop just yet.

✮✮✮✮

[randoimago]

Saw your randothoughts thing and so I thought I'd send this to your askbox. My request is for you to write whatever you want here! Like a free space!

JoJo's Part 5 Bucci Gang as Options in a Dating Sim

Fandom: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Character(s): Giorno Giovanna, Bruno Bucciarati, Leone Abbacchio, Guido Mista, Pannacotta Fugo, Narancia, Trish Una

Type of Request: Headcanons

Note(s): Ngl, this is a really cute thing to do anon. I can see this eventually being a bit tricky if I have no ideas at the time, but I do appreciate this now! I'll just use this to set up my self-indulgent idea.

Giorno

Quiet and keeps to himself. Only seen really enjoying life when he's with his closest friends. All the girls want him, but he is very uninterested (but he's polite about it at least!)

An interested relationship with his dad. It's not bad, but home life is difficult. Giorno recently learned somethings about his father that has made him very iffy. His dad still loves Giorno very much though.

His route probably begins if Player has high Intelligence stat or something. Giorno seems perfect, but his grades aren't there. Which is weird because he is very smart (and you learn the reason his grades are dropping is because he just doesn't turn in his homework or care enough about assignments).

Of course, you have the ClassicTM of some random girl being jealous of your relationship with Giorno, tells you to stay away, Giorno finds out and says to ignore her (he deals with the problem behind your back by calling the girl out, much to her embarrassment)

Maybe random Dio cameo just to freak out Players with how ridiculously hot Giorno's dad is. There're many comments online about "Forget Giorno, I wanna date his dad."

Bruno

Older student that helps your teacher in class. He's very kind and friendly to all the students (except when they aren't kind back). Very helpful. It's easy to see why several students have crushes on him, but he smiles and waves them off.

I can see his route beginning with you r running into him outside of class and seeing how tired he really is. Like his cheerful facade in school is a mask he wears. He's still kind and patient, but he also has some built up anger from past things.

You learn he lost his parents when he was very young and ended up in the foster system, which definitely affected quite a bit of his upbringing. But he even tried to keep a friendly face to help the other kids there.

You also learn that it's why he's so friendly to a wide range of people. Yeah some of the students in your class are annoying, but Bruno doesn't know what they might have been through/are currently going through.

Probably the easiest one to get romantic points with. At least, you know that you lose points with any option talking down about others so it's a process of elimination from there.

Abbacchio

Older student as well, in Bruno's class (has a cameo in Bruno's route and Bruno has a cameo in his later on). You probably end up meeting him from choosing to hang out with Bruno. Abbacchio doesn't really talk to you, mostly ignores you (which Bruno says that Leone is a nice guy, just going through some things).

Probably would be classified as the Bad Boy option, but that's not really what he's going for. His looks and attitude give him that rep.

His route begins by you going to find Bruno's usual spot you hang out in and there's only Abbacchio. You can choose to not talk to him or ask about Bruno. Talking gets points even though his answer is to be annoyed.

Definitely a bit tricky to romance at first until you learn what options to say. Likes being reassured, but not to a "You have done nothing wrong!" level. Also doesn't mind initiating conversations as long as it's not a dumb "So how are you doing?"

His route can seem slow burn or like not a lot is happening as opposed to other routes, but there are subtle things, and his character portrait does have tiny smiles or little ear blushes that people spam about online.

Definitely some grumbling from him if Giorno is another character you have a high relationship stat with.

Fugo

Ends up being your tutor if your intelligence stat is falling. Absolutely has a crush on you instantly if you're sweet and nice to him, but he doesn't do anything about it.

Tries to keep being the sweet, nice tutor but if your intelligence stat isn't at a certain level on a certain day (I figure this would be a dating sim that does the Day 1 through Day whatever as the ending) then you notice him losing patience and starting to be more of an ass with asking if you even give a damn.

And if your intelligence stat is what you focus on so you don't get the angry Fugo scenes then there's still a scene in his route where you see him going off just so you know how angry he can get. There's a lot of apologies from him with you seeing him that way. Honestly his route can be a bit triggering to some.

Like he'll never be the abusive romance option, but I'm not going to lie and say he immediately gets over his anger or whatever because of you. He will work on it as you advance with his route because he doesn't like the idea of upsetting or scaring you.

If you choose the wrong dialogue option, then you get a "Fugo walked away" because he thinks that's better than showing you his angry side all the time. There are so many memes about it on the internet.

Mista

I like the idea of the Player being told rumors of Mista and getting the option to say, "I can change him." and if that option is picked then the Player is instantly locked out of the relationship (flirting can happen and Player can go on one date with Mista, but nothing comes of it).

He's talked about being a playboy but he's really not. Like rumors are that he constantly dates a new girl each day or that he doesn't seem to give a damn about classes, but that's also not true.

Mista does flirt a bit when meeting the Player, but if you tell him off or seem shy then he laughs it off and tells you not to worry and that he'll try to not make you uncomfortable.

He's honestly just a dork and yeah, he's flirty, but it is mostly for fun, and he doesn't mind if nothing comes out of it. Mista does feel guilty if someone does get the wrong idea of his flirting and he does apologize.

While he seems like his route should be easy, it's also one of the more difficult ones. Very much a balance of engaging in his flirtiness but also being able to tell him to focus on other things and genuinely getting to know him.

Narancia

Kind of like Giorno, his route happens depending on your intelligence stat, but it doesn't have to be as high as it does with Giorno. Narancia just has abysmal grades, and he really has plans for the future that he wants to achieve, but learning is difficult for him.

Narancia is a sweetheart, but you need lots of patience. As you get to know Narancia, he starts bringing you sweets and stuff as thanks for tutoring him. Might ask you out to a movie as well.

He's very quick to crush on you and you do have the option to ask to slow down a bit, but he's just very sweet and does his best to make you proud.

He's the one that introduces you to Fugo, which can lead to the Love Triangle or just Fugo's route.

While Narancia can be a very easy route to complete, going with him causes you to end up in tricky situations due to your intelligence stat not increasing due to Narancia wanting to skip school with you to hang out all the time (if you're romancing Fugo too then it makes things extra tricky).

Trish

A lot of dating Sims or games with romance are a lot more inclusive now, but back in the day, Trish would be the Token Lesbian option everyone talked about (for better or worse).

Snotty rich girl, you overhear that her friends don't actually like Trish, but her dad has money.

Getting to know her, she's actually shy and sweet. She's just gone through a lot and finds it difficult to trust others. Very much enjoys relying on you as you gain her trust in the route.

Quick to jump to your defense too. There's probably a moment that other snooty girls start talking shit about her and you can step in and when they start talking crap about you then that's when Trish doesn't hold back.

Honestly at the start of her route, she figures you just want to get on her good side for her money. The first hangout causes her to snap at you at the end and throwing a wad of cash at you because that's obviously what you're really after. It ends with apologies and getting a huge stat jump in your relationship with her (you just need to make the right dialogue choices).

BONUS

Definitely some kind of Highschool/College setting (character ages would have to be messed with a bit). Giorno and Trish would be freshman; Bruno and Abbacchio would be Upperclassmen; and Mista, Fugo, and Narancia are in the same class with the Player. (Fugo is so smart he skipped a grade and that's why he's not a freshman)

Love triangle route with Bruno + Abbacchio. Abbacchio doesn't want to get in the way and watches you and Bruno interact from afar. Bruno wants Abbacchio to be happy for once in his life, but Bruno can't help being selfish too.

Love Triangle Route Fugo and Narancia. You have to be on Narancia's route and Narancia is the one that mentions Fugo having a crush on you. Fugo doesn't do anything to mess with it since he likes that Narancia is happy, but you can tell by Fugo's actions and his blushing that he's crushing.

[mephoj]

what did you think of the iii finale?

SO sorry i meant to answer asks sooner but i just kept putting it off to better word my thoughts later. so um. Well

ill be very brutally honest, i thought the iii finale was stupid as all hell. i don't have the right words right now to fully elaborate on the specific parts i hated (maybe if i remember ill add onto this in a reblog,) but everything about it felt so unnecessarily rushed and nothing like the energy of the original show that i loved so much. and im not saying this to be a hater !!! trust me, i avoided speaking on the finale for a while on purpose, in case i just needed time to process it (i was iffy on the alien plot in ii14 on the first watch too but now i LOVE it, so yknow that can happen with sudden new twists and characters sometimes)

i really really wanted to like it, but as it simmered in my head more, and the more i rewatched it, the more ridiculous and out of place it all felt. they weren't just throwing spaghetti at the wall until it stuck at this point, they threw out the whole damn pot and wasted it all. (does that even make sense?)

most of all, it just felt so deeply disappointing. it did have some interesting parts (like the reference to the s1 finale or opening more on mephone issues) but they did them all so strangely, all i can think about is all the ways it could've been better. and thats honestly way more frustrating than just being plain bad.

so many characters were filed down and reduced to clean, perfect Nice Ones by the end just so they could have a sweet feel-good ending which really doesn't fit into any of the rest of the current show's tone, especially if they plan to connect it back to s2. on top of that, it all felt so undeserved and empty. there was hardly any real conflict, emotional or otherwise lasting any longer than 5 seconds at a time throughout the entire season for the character's rest by the end to truly feel cathartic. it felt more like those shallow kids movie endings where everyone dances together and everythings fine. and sure, i know kids are the primary AE audience, but so much of iii just felt near insulting how much the the characters would talk down and overexplain every single emotion they felt and end every conflict with a hug or whatever. its like watching petty toddler fights lmao

this is more than i was expecting to write and ill admit its mostly about my issues with how they wrote mephone by the end but whatever lol i do not like most of iii . sorry 👍

[nucanitickles]

Dante Gets Got (Or Not) Drabble + Headcanons

Dante was an... interesting character. Arrogant, sure, and more than a bit boastful, but Eiden was sure something a little softer, a little sweeter, lurked beneath what could only be a cruel facade.

That being said, an attempt at attacking Dante may not really go so well...

So far, in terms of Eiden VS Clanmates, the score was 4-3. So while he was winning, his clanmates were a little too close to catching up for his liking. If he counted Morvay and Aster, it would be 6-3, but counting the familiars as clanmates just felt wrong. Even though they acted like clanmates, and enjoyed hanging out with everyone, they were very distinctly their own thing.

So 4-3 it was, and Eiden was attempting to bring a 5th victory to the table.

By attacking a literal king.

Hey, he never claimed he was smart.

"Danteeeee~" Eiden sidled up behind him, an obviously fake innocent grin plastered on his face. He draped himself over the man like an overly-affectionate cat, giggling as the man pulled a face. "How are you doooooing?~"

"Fine, until you showed up." Dante huffed, back slightly hunched in his seat as Eiden's weight pressed down upon him. "Will you release me? Or will I have to force the matter?"

"No fun." Eiden pouted, but clambered off him, allowing him to regain his impeccable posture and raise an eyebrow. "I suppose I shall go have fun elsewhere." He put on a fake accent, mimicking Dante's way of speaking and assuming a haughty stance. "As my presence is so offensive."

Dante's eyebrows creased in confusion, before realisation dawned on his face that he was being teased. His eyebrow raised yet again, a small smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. Ok, this was how it was going to be. "Very well then. Leave. I have business to attend to."

Eiden huffed, but accepted defeat willingly. Clearly Dante had more important stuff to do, and he could attack him later... As he turned to leave, still playfully haughty to show that he wasn't really upset (God forbid some of his more... protective clanmates think Dante hurt him), he yelped as a strong arm pulled him back, falling into the king's lap and looking up into a smirking face.

"No fun, eh? I'll show you fun."

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❤️ Ok with Dante I haven't actually hit his part of the storyline yet? Shocking I know. Considering I've been playing for months this should be a travesty but I did have many breaks so honestly idek.

❤️ Anyway I'm a little iffy with his personalisation (obviously) and for now with what I've got to work with I think this guy is mostly a ler? Like you can definitely get him, he can be a lee, but at the same time he prefers to ler.

❤️ As a lee I can imagine this guy is the hardest fighter. Throws kicks, punches, elbows and knees until his ler is bruised to hell and back. You need an Olivine on hand to heal you after getting Dante. I imagine his laugh would be very attractive - one of those laughs that is deep and silky smooth and it's like how tf do you not even slightly screech scream or snort tf? Literally stereotypical sexy muscle dude laugh. Minus the leg muscle lmao

❤️ Probably the kind to cuss you out between laughter. Also the kind to violently sulk after getting got.

❤️ As a ler I imagine he would be mostly the punishment tickler. You know the kind, wait for any kind of infraction before offering 'punishment'. Usually lectures his lee on why what they did was wrong and that he would graciously wait for an apology. Will then pretend he can't understand his lee when they say sorry.

❤️ I can imagine him being slightly more playful, but I think you'd have to be really close to him to do that and I think he probably has a hard time letting people in? Either way it's a while before anyone can even reach that side of Dante.

[ticklishraspberries]

SIORRY FOR SENDINGIN ANOTHER ASK BUT YOUTE PLAYING UNTIL DAWN??????????????????? IM GONNA LOSE IT (POSITIVE) LETS GOOOOOOOOO SHARE ANY THOUGHTS IF YOUD LIKE..... i know the game is very . eh . in tersm of how in incorporates /certain/ themes and ... lore but. most of the fandom rn are pretty aware of the bad side of UD ykwim? sorry for saying a lot i am just 😭😭S O HAPPY

never apologize ty for the asks!!! xo

yeah i definitely am a little iffy about the indigenous lore...i'm not educated enough to know if it's just like. culturally insensitive or downright like incorrect and offensive, but i was very surprised to see that element and had a small awkward laugh about how it's definitely not politically correct.

with that aside though, i really like the game so far!! the first time i tried to play, the controls made me so mad. i have pretty bad reflexes and motor skills, and the ps5 controller is so sensitive, i felt so out of my element. i know i can probably change some settings but i got the hang of it eventually!!

i am still pretty iffy on all the characters except sam, who i like. i kind of feel like, you guys all willingly played that cruel prank on hannah, so i already hate you. sam seems like the only one who didn't want to do the prank, and feels genuine guilt about it, at least where i am right now, which is why i like her.

i do know quite a few spoilers and have watched other people play through later parts, so i sort of know what to expect, but i'm excited to see how my own choices will influence my game!!!

[bee-the-whovian]

My thoughts on "The Artful Dodger"

1st, I haven't read Oliver Twist or know anything about the story except the very surface level.

2nd, this isn't going to be HEAVY spoilers, but also not spoiler free so if you are wary... ok

So I just finished it, 3 sittings or so to get through 8 episodes. I was *iffy* after the first but each subsequent episode I did get more invested.

The Good:

The vibes are good. Victorian Era Australia, very nice. Medical drama, Crime/heist show, bit of a romance

Thomas Brody-Sangster is a gem (he's the reason I watched it in the first place, sue me. I have a thing, ok?)

Jack and Fagin's relationship is very interesting

As is Belle and Jack's dynamic

They are actually very cute on several occasions

I thought the story issue from the first episode was going to be the entire plot and it wasn't and the show was so much better for it. TIME PASSED and that's so important for character growth

All of the characters were good or pretty good in their developedness, even/especially the side characters. I understood nearly everyone and they feel like people and I understand their motivations, which is quite the task for a show with this size supporting cast

Good through line story without feeling like "this is a very long movie." Each episode was its own story, but they did all tie together well

The foreshadowing about Belle was well done

The... something

The gore is a lot so if you have gore issues, definitely not the show for you. It didn't bother me since it was plot-relevant. Victorian surgery, yes it's a bloody mess. It wasn't slasher movie gory. But if you're messed up by any blood, period. Yeah not it fam.

I don't know much about Oliver Twist, as I said, but I do know he was the protagonist of the original book. I intend to go and read it. In any case, pretty sure this was a disservice to him. In a few ways. You can have a story that focuses on a former antagonist, and show their redemption without making their former adversary an idiot or worse.

The costuming was kinda strange. The gentleman looked really nice most of the time, but varied, (Jack was a whole vibe, and I liked Fagin too with his fun patterns) but the lasses were weirdly distracting. I liked some of Belle's dresses but a good few looked like costumes. They looked fake. Outrageous colors and patterns. The colors, ok, maybe, but a lot of the patterns were just, lol, no. Fanny... her costumes seemed relatively era-appropriate, from what I know, but them being so gaudy on purpose... thanks, I hate it. Insert the same for that one suitor and for Oliver Twist. That collar the mother always had... oof.

Its streaming on Hulu only so if you don't have Hulu, you're up a creek. I've got access through a friend, with ads, and the ads along with my initial misgivings made me almost give it up.

The music is fine. Not bad. But nothing stand out. I read something about Australian rock and... cool. The music sure is there. I'm willing to give it another go, but good music makes a name and I just didn't feel anything here

A couple episodes end in the middle or right before something crazy happens, and the next episode just cuts to later and... ok I might have liked to see that, at least a bit (notable, Red in the cemetery)

The Bad

As most television has now-a-days, quite a bit of language and innuendo. Sometimes it's tolerable, sometimes it's completely uncalled for.

2 scenes I had to skip through, one very bad (episode 3? I think)... at least the main characters waited until... no, no it was just bad, and took away some of the importance of their conversation in the previous episode. The "not just the last in a long line" thing. It felt pandering and disrespectful to Belle as a character, and to the audience... well, me. I know the creators know there is an audience for that, which is a problem in itself.

The feminism was... weird. Fanny and Belle are talking and it's just... they are not from the same century. Their dialogue is a Frankenstein of two wildly different scripts. There is nothing wrong with women who fight for things but the way they show us in ep 1 that "look Belle is a strong woman" felt so gross and hamfisted. The misogyny was pretty heavy-handed too, not that I believe it's far from realistic for that time (people are the worst and have been for a long time) it was also very weirdly implemented.

Everyone was cheating. All over the place. Not one health relationship in the whole show. Just... rough. Also, very few if any of the characters are good or nice people. They have their moments (Belle is actually not terrible past the 1st episode and Jack is pretty inconsistent, which when it comes to wibbly morality is actually a blessing rather than a curse) but in general, yeah not really any straight up role models. Is that too much to ask? Character don't need to be perfect, in fact they shouldn't. They'd be rubbish characters. But having clear cut flaws and labeling them as flaws is important. I think the best arc in the show is actually Fagin (not to say Belle's and Jack's are useless, they're just not GREAT. I actually also liked what seemed to be a bit of an arc for the governor... it had a bit of hope.)

The depiction of religion was upsetting, though not surprising par for the course. It was catholicism so... ok, understandable, but the frequency of faith being the butt of a joke irked me

So, overall....

There is enough ill in here that if I knew what I was getting into, personally, I might have skipped it. I know my triggers and issues and this isn't great. But, since I did watch it, I will acknowledge it's good parts. I am glad I watched it. I'll probably watch a 2nd season if it comes out since I'm already invested in these characters. But at the same time, I wouldn't recommend it to friends without heavy warnings. I have plenty of friends who would deal fine with this content, but personally... it's a very caveoted recommendation, if that. More of a, I watched it and it won't kill ya or anything. There is stuff to enjoy. But bad stuff up to your ankles to wade through, too.

Thanks for reading all that if ya did. Cheers.

[gaast]

Since October 2022, I've been playing only one game at a time. That might not sound like much but for something that struggles to keep its number of concurrent games even at two, it's a pretty big deal. I did it because I wanted to commit to games, and to commit to finishing them. And for the most part, I've been successful.

As part of this, I've been tracking the games I've played and want to play, and I've been marking down the days I started something (usually) and the days I've finished them.

Now that this much time has passed, I've got a year's worth of games down, and I wanna do little write-ups for everything I played in 2023.

That means that anything I played in late 2022 (Silent Hill 2, Xenosaga Episode 1, Observation, and Red Dead Redemption, among others) can only get mentioned honorably here. But I'm gonna go through everything I started in 2023, beginning with:

Outer Wilds, January 1-January 7

What a way to start the year. Outer Wilds is unique and charming. It's really fun to fly through space in the awfulest space ship ever with the worst autopilot (have fun in the sun!) and check destroyed, abandoned planets, read ancient peoples' logs of their attempts to save the universe, and to be there at the end of everything.

Unfortunately: the fucking angler fish. I hate those fucks so bad that I actually didn't finish the game. I never brought X to Y (no spoilers) because I hate dealing with those guys. So I can't class this a perfect game. Those dudes need some changes.

Still, highly recommended.

The Sims 4, January 6-the ride never ends

I'm not gonna lie. This is just a sex thing for me.

Even still, I don't quite get why people hate it so much. I played the third game, too. This one's fine. This franchise isn't amazing. It's weird and held together by Scotch tape. I like that about it.

What a weird world.

Anyway, this must be around the time my ISP sent me emails telling me to stop pirating shit or they'd kick me off their plan, which would be bad because that ISP is the only one we can get in our building! Imagine being unable to work because you wanted TS4 DLC.

Bioshock, January 14-January 28, canceled

I couldn't do it.

This was my second attempt at getting through this game and I had to just admit that it's not for me. I didn't enjoy it. It was a chore. I decided to just set it aside.

Wish I hadn't paid for a PS4 copy when I already had a Steam copy. Ah well.

The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, January 31-February 2

A very aesthetically-pleasing puzzleish platformer with a cute story and good music. I enjoyed my time with this simple little game.

Half-Life, February 3-February 5

You starting to see a pattern where I only manage to finish games, like, late at night, so I can't start a new one until later? Anyway.

This was my second attempt to get through this game. I did it this time, and I regret it. I didn't have fun.

I don't really know why I didn't have fun, I just didn't. Maybe the combat was too tedious. Maybe the jumping was too iffy. Maybe it just went on for too long. Maybe it's a case of "Seinfeld Is Unfunny." I don't know. I just know I don't like Half-Life.

So maybe I don't like the game, but I love the Headcrab Fucker 9000.

Poison Control, February 8-February 11

Sometimes you just wanna play a mid game.

Look, I like poison. I love pink. I love androgynous characters in suits. I like NIS. This game had it all. And it was perfectly. It made me want to stop playing a little while before it was over. It had a really good OST. I got the platinum trophy and I didn't feel satisfied.

I liked it. And sometimes that's enough.

This is the first on a small series of mid NIS-related games. I'll have more to say when I hit the other.

Grasping, February 15

Obviously I couldn't play this as intended, but it's not hard to imagine having shoved your hand into an awful box.

Anyway, this was good, I think. I don't really remember it.

The House in the Woods, February 15

Another horror game I absolutely do not recall playing.

Apocryphauna, February 15

I remember this one! It's good! I liked it! I wish there were more to it--like, a lot more. A lot lot more.

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, February 25-March 21

I held off on playing this for a long time because I had always heard it was "made by the B team" and "not as good as the other games." But I decided to play it. It was the gaping hole in my From résumé.

It's not as good. It has a ton of bosses and none of them are memorable except for a select few DLC bosses (Fume Knight, Sir Alonne, Sinh). It makes a lot of weird gameplay choices. It takes way too long for Estus sippies to heal you--like, in terms of the health bar going up. The Iron Keep is infuriating. So many of the runups are abominable. It runs with the clunkiness of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls despite having the svelte ambitions of Bloodborne and Dark Souls III. It has way too many sections where it just says, "okay, deal with a ton of enemies now."

And I loved it.

Honestly, this is probably my favorite of the three Dark Souls games. I think it is by far the most aesthetically complete game of the trilogy. It fulfills its own promise, you know? And I disagree with the people who call it bleak. I think it's the only game of the trilogy that actually offers hope. A real hope, too. One that says that, just because our struggle may not take us anywhere, at least our struggle itself is beautiful.

In a strange way, I think that Dark Souls II is the only Souls game that actually understands the Souls series.

"A lie will remain a lie."

Pokémon Violet, March 21-March 25

I didn't want to play this game. I didn't want to like it. I just wanted to play it. I love Pokémon. Sure, this wasn't a Pokémon game (according to me), but I wanted to play it anyway. The morning I finally decided to go for it, I had read that the professors were antagonists all along. How stupid!

And the reaction. Oh boy. All the glitches. All the performance issues. All the memes. What trash, right? Right?

I fell in love. I didn't think anything could unseat Gen 7 in terms of my love for a Pokémon generation, but honestly, this game might do it.

Did it need more time to cook? Absolutely. I'm not gonna sit here and say it should have been released as it was. No; it is in many ways a disaster, and it is certainly unacceptable.

But every inch of it oozes with love.

This game wasn't just shit out to make a buck. It feels that way at first, but no, everyone who had a hand in making the Gen 9 games absolutely loved what they were doing. You can feel it--from the sound design to the music to the character design to, fuck, everything. They did the best they could with what they had and they made one of the most charming, wonderful games I've had the pleasure of playing in far too long.

There is so much heart here. It convinced me that the future of Pokémon is still bright. Very much so.

Just... let's take a couple extra years to make the next one, all right?

Heroine Conquest, sometime in April

Look. It's actually pretty good.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, March 31-April 18

I'll get this out of the way: I didn't really have fun.

The game has aged surprisingly well. Or Skyrim is just a truly unmotivated sequel. Either way, it holds up.

The problem is that I just don't think that TES games are for me. They're just so fucking boring. And I never end up liking literally any character in them.

I have fun actually playing for a while, but the general guideline with Oblivion is "don't level up." Fun! Either way, it's just rote after a while. Nothing really feels satisfying, and you're always worried something is going to break.

Frankly, the main story quest isn't compelling, either. With hindsight, knowing it'll lead to the rise of the Dominion again, it's like, well, shit.

Anyway, I played it. And it's certainly a game that you can play. If you wanna.

FEWAR-DVD, April 23

I called it "an arcade game" in my notes and that's basically what it is. Doesn't mean it isn't fun.

(Have you noticed I'm not reviewing games yet? It's write-ups; I'm giving my thoughts and impressions. Also, it's been a while, so I don't super remember a bunch of these. Oh well!)

Bleak Sword DX (Demo), April 23

I think I liked this? Apparently it's out. I should review it and see if I wanna get it at some point.

It looks pretty cool.

The Signal State (Demo), April 23

I liked this a lot because it's so unique and it taps into a specific type of autistic urge for me but god is its price tag just too high for what I suspect that it is.

Deltarune (Chapters 1 and 2), April 22-April 23

This was a replay of Chapter 1 and a first play of Chapter 2.

I think when I first played Chapter 1 I felt... you know, I didn't want Undertale, or a sequel to Undertale, but a secret third thing. And when I first played it in... late 2019? It wasn't whatever that secret third thing was. I liked it, don't get me wrong. But I think I didn't... get it?

Not to say I wasn't excited for me. It just took me a while to convince myself to finally get to Chapter 2 and to meet the funny spambot man.

Anyway, I won't bother spending too much time on Deltarune. I'll just say that in this play, I realized that Deltarune is that secret third thing, and that I think it's better than Undertale.

I'm scared.

Pizza Tower, April 14-April 23

I think I'm guilty of wanting this game to be something it isn't.

I wanted WarioLand, and it's like that, but it isn't precisely that. It isn't trying to be precisely that. It's trying to be Pizza Tower.

I like the game, but not as much as I thought I would. Not as much as I think I should.

I'll probably reply this game in a year or two and it'll click and I'll love it the way I was always meant to love it. But for now, I'll just let the "Tombstone Arizona" guitar impregnate me.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, April 19-May 27

...It took me that long? Really? Huh.

Anyway, I love this game. I love love love it. I love the characters and the art style and the way they tell the story and the story itself and the gameplay (holy shit the gameplay!) and just. Man. I wish more games were just like this. Weird, experimental, talky, confident, cool, and unique.

This is the type of game that inspires you to write your own sci-fi. Or to write about its world. To think and to imagine.

And that's the best type of game.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, May 28-June 6

Come to think of it, how can a sky be unknown. There's just the one.

As mentioned above, I played this after Ace Combat 2. With both of those under my belt, I now know: the way I want to play these games is not the way I'm supposed to play these games.

And that's fine. I feel like "gamers" nowadays are so fixated on the idea that games should let you play them however you wanna play them, and that if they can't accommodate that then they're somehow inherently flawed. It's like everything needs the mutability of Minecraft, the problem-solving freedom of Scribblenauts, and the role-playing depth of Dungeons & Dragons. If it doesn't score highly on all those axes, it's got problems.

Obviously, I disagree. Games can and should have "supposed tos." You should be expected to play a specific diegetic role. You should be limited (and by the way, you're always limited, so don't act like you aren't).

If I ever play another Ace Combat game (and I wanna play Electrosphere), I might do it on easy. I like these games but man do I not know how they want me to engage with them.

no-one has to die, June 4

I had to replay this Flash game that I had originally played once when I was probably 14.

I'm glad I did.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, sometime in 2022-sometime in mid-2023

The strange thing about the Danganronpa games is that they're actually really good.

They shouldn't be. They shouldn't work. But they do.

This was kind of a replay. I had read most of the original orenronen LP back in... 2012, 2013? I only now have actually played it. And it's good. It's really good. I'm glad I went through it, and I'm glad I went through it with my fiancé, and I'm glad he knew nothing of any of the twists, and I'm glad I got to experience someone experiencing those twists for the first time.

SCARLET NEXUS, June 4-June 6, canceled

This was a second attempt after a first attempt in 2022 got deep into Yuito's story before I aborted it.

It's not for me. Not to say I don't like it--I do. A lot. I wish I could play this game. But I demand such fucking perfection from myself when playing it that I get too caught up by how poorly I'm playing to enjoy myself and actually let myself proceed.

I had to stop because I just wasn't having fun. I'm sad about it.

Risky Sanctuary, June 10

This is one of those games that I hope the developer comes back to, not to spruce up but to make anew. Because it's a really fun concept that basically got held back by being made in a month for a jam.

It really shouldn't take that long to clean come off of a wall.

HYPNOSCREEN, June 10

I keep forgetting I gotta play this more.

Parasite Eve, June 9-June 15

I'm still not super sure how I feel about this one.

The plot is fun but it never becomes compelling. There's an obviously evil scientist and he does obviously evil things. Never a good sign.

The gameplay is fun but it never hits nearly the level of intricacy and care that a close relative, Vagrant Story, does.

The dungeons are well-designed, though, and even if the setting is New York, it feels... fresh? It feels like NYC is always a backdrop in games and its specifics aren't important to it (see: Prototype). Parasite Eve actually cares that it's in NYC and it goes to locations there. The game feels like the developers enjoyed making it.

Also the OST is awesome. And Daniel fucking jumping out of the helicopter, getting lit on fire, throwing the bullets to Aya, landing in the water, and surviving is by far the coolest shit I've ever seen in anything ever.

This feels like a game you have to play at least once. I don't know why it feels that way; it just does.

WASTE EATER, June 17

It asks for like 20 minutes of your time and makes you cry. It's awesome.

EXPERIMENT: GROCERIES, June 17

I was more bored than spooked. It was a good try and maybe someone else will find it more fun than I did.

I'm sure if I replayed it and turned a critical eye to it I could talk at length about it. But I just don't want to.

I feel like if you're going to make uncanny the grocery store, there's other ways to do it.

Final Fantasy X: HD, sometime in 2023-sometime in 2023

We're about to see schedule issues. You'll find out why later.

This was, obviously, a replay.

I swear, this game gets better every single time I play it. I don't know what it is. It's such a smart, insightful game, with lovingly crafted characters. I love the inexorable northward journey, the feeling like you're constantly outrunning something even if you know you're running straight into the very thing you're outrunning.

Maybe it's because once you're aware of the spiral, its pull becomes that much stronger. I swear, I cry more with each playthrough, maybe because it just becomes all the more apparent how hopeless the journey is, and how much strength it takes to hope regardless. Yuna and Tidus are fantastic.

The gameplay ages like a fine wine, too. I know, it's turn-based, so it's hard to get clunky, but the game knows how it's being lenient to you and it knows just how to turn it against you. It's a system you can get better at. It's a game that rewards you in proportion to the time you're willing to put into it.

I don't need to tell you that FFX is a masterpiece, I hope. But it's worth reminding ourselves that it is. Because I think it's willing to be vulnerable in a way that most games just aren't anymore. I think the only Final Fantasy game that I've played that is more vulnerable than X is XIII. I respect the hell out of that.

(Speaking of, another honorable mention from the end of 2022 is my replay of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy--and frankly, my love and appreciation for those games grew only deeper. They rule!)

You can talk about X forever. You can live in its world. It's fantastic, and it's always worth returning to.

Even if you have to make Yuna dance again, at least you know there'll be a time when she won't have to anymore.

Succubus Academia, September?-September 16

I tend to stay away from RPG Maker games, not for any valid reason but because creators, especially of eroge, tend not to really edit much. They end up looking fairly samey, with similar gameplay. Menus don't get edited, music is pretty bland, it's a fantasy setting... Exceptions exist, like Miwashiba's games ("that's a different engine!" yeah well they're still well-crafted despite being Made Like That) and, apparently Succubus Academia.

I won't tell you what tag I searched to find it on DLSite but anyway, I found it, I got it, I played it, and I loved it.

The map graphics are standard RPG Maker fare, sure, but the battles are totally custom and they're actually really fun. The music, though, the music fucking rules. I was there to bust a move, not bust a nut, I swear.

The concept is really fun too. "The only way to proceed is to literally get killed the right way. Sorry! But hey, at least you'll save the world. Snrk." Coupled with a battle system that actually has a really fun push-pull kind of resource management/health system, it just works. It helps that the battles all have Live 2D animation work going on, too.

Give this one a shot (no pun intended) if you like eroge. Seriously.

Dohna Dohna, sometime in September?-sometime in October

All right, look. It's not the best at anything. But it's pretty good at everything.

The character designs rule. The color palettes are awesome. The gameplay is fun. The OST is actually pretty outstanding. The combat is really fun. The mechanics are interesting. The writing has a lot of care put into it.

Alicesoft wanted to celebrate its anniversary and they were welcome to do it. I enjoyed celebrating with them.

Kirakira best girl. Even if Joker is truly best girl.

Baldur's Gate 3, sometime in October-November 14

One of the first sounds you hear in this game is a Wilhelm scream. This is a subtly masterful introduction to the game, as it signals to attentive players a lot about the artistic experience they're about to embark on: It will be more or less the same as everything else they've ever experienced, just remixed so it will hopefully be less noticeable.

And that's the thing. We've seen everything that BG3 does before, over and over, and we're so used to seeing all of these signs and tropes that it's actually become difficult to tell when they're being used poorly. BG3 throws so much of the same old shit at the wall and it can only stick because the shit that's there from last time still hasn't dried.

But here's the thing: I don't even know if any of its shit sticks. It's all so bad.

For instance, the party. Each individual party member is a collection of about 3 traits, plus their own unique brand of "horny for you." They're about as complex as late-stage Tales characters, but they have way less charm because they don't have anything like skits to round them out. In fact, because there's no guarantee that you'll have X or Y party member, or that they'll be present for conversation A, your party doesn't really have conversations together so much as they just talk through you like you're a telephone. You don't really have a party. You are a guy who has friends.

So you drag along this uninteresting, blandly-designed crew of the same fucking shit you've seen a billion times (literally one dude's whole thing is "I'm a vampire and I have vampire problems") who never really engage with each other (they'll maybe trade quips here and there, and they've got some dialogue they'll run through ambiently when specific ones are in the party together, but it's clear that This Does Not Matter) through a pretty standard fantasy world that by its own popularity offers little novelty. As you do so you meet asshole upon asshole who has a quick trait or two and says things in a European accent and maybe you'll get the scummiest Narrator I've ever heard say something smarmy based on a passive roll you'll probably fail mid-conversation. Go kill some shit and come back and maybe I'll try to help you not die. Idiot.

But you can't not die. You need to keep dying, and people need to keep failing to help you not die, or people need to keep trying to kill you because you're dying the wrong way for them, or else there'd be no reason to have the game. Honestly, if you lost the tadpoles before you killed the final boss, like, two party members would probably just outright try to kill each other, and everyone else would fuck off back to their shitty little lives, except for the ones who managed to escape their shitty little lives, in which case I guess the adventure continues! I don't feel like any of these people, with maybe three exceptions, would actually keep litigating the campaign if their lives weren't on the line.

But hey, even if almost every time someone speaks it's just to either whine about how hard they have it or to criticize you for a choice you made or to give you a quest because everything in Faerûn is your fucking problem, at least you get to have the gameplay! At least you get to slog through some of the most bullshit combat encounters they can throw at you with their barely-working mess of a battle system! With the most boring bosses imaginable save one! (Why is Gortash the only fun boss? Why does he get to have those explosives systems that aren't anywhere else?)

But oh, you get to make so many choices! You can be whoever you want, so long as they're someone who'll make any of these specific choices. Fuck off.

Meanwhile the music makes you want to fucking tear your hair out because I swear to god every single track uses the exact same leitmotif and it is so boring. Oh my god this game takes absolutely no fucking risks with anything. There's no fucking reason to play this thing. It's miserable. It's miserable, it'll make you save scum, its loading times (to load saves; loading areas is quick as can be!) are atrocious, and every time you have an option to pick something cool, you get fucking despised for it. You can become a fucking mind flayer and the game makes sure to tell you you're a complete fucking scumbag for doing it.

I hate this game. I hate it so fucking much. It is so bad and it has nothing redeemable in it and it has nothing noteworthy in it and worst of all it is just not at all fun. It's awful.

Game of the Year. Play it.

Monark, November 25-December 3

Time to fulfill the promise I made back with Poison Control.

This game is good. It's not great. Maybe it's pretty good. I liked it a lot. I enjoyed playing it.

Does it have problems? Sure. Could they be easily corrected? Yep. Does that hamper my perception of it? Of course.

As I said, sometimes you just wanna play a mid game.

After I finished Monark, I checked out its TV Tropes page, and I of course linked to "So Okay, It's Average." The Quotes page on that trope all seem to imply that just being all right is somehow worse than being bad.

I can't agree with that.

First of all, I think the binary of "good" and "bad" art is a false one. There's value in literally all art. There's something to mine, to find, to take home, to use, to learn--to whatever--in everything. Meaning and worth aren't exclusive to the good.

Maybe something isn't as good as it could be, but it's certainly what it is, and nothing else is as good at being it. Monark maybe isn't a great game but it's awesome at being Monark. I doubt any other game could compare.

So many articles from game writers and journalists lament the concept that "there's so many great games out there that it's just impossible to want to make time for anything that isn't great." That's... such a sad state, to me. Imagine playing a game only because it is considered "great." Imagine needing everything you play to have an award or a green Metacritic score just so you'll make time for it.

I don't think these writers mean to do this when they say it, but they're really benefiting a capitalist mindset. Companies have to do everything they can to get your attention. They have to make "great" games, or you won't play them. They need hype machines. They need stellar reviews. They need people talking. They need public reception to manufacture their game's own greatness, so that it will be great and then be played and then make money. If the incentive to get good reviews is to make money then the game is just a product and it wasn't made to be art.

I don't think people purposely set out to make shitty games or average games. I just think they set out to make the game they make, and the question is how well they achieve that goal. And that's entirely personal. It's something that only the creators can decide.

But in the end, some of the creators are producers and directors and executives at publishing companies who look at games in terms overhead, costs, projected income, earnings statements, financial reports.

But these are the people who make great games. Because they have to money to spend to make them great, the clout they need to keep exploiting their specific workers, and the agents necessary to make sure that reviewing publications will be predisposed to helping make their game great (you know, like what Nintendo relies on pretty much exclusively). The game doesn't have to be good. People just have to be told that it is, and then when enough people believe, they'll police the narrative so much that others will be scared to voice their opinion without getting a ton of clown emojis in their inboxes.

I'm not saying that's every "great" game. I'm willing to argue it's probably most Games of the Year as determined by Big Industry Figure Geoff Keighley, though (borne out for sure with 2022's winner; Elden Ring is so mediocre, dude).

Anyway, there's no need to play all the "great" games that are out. You know what you can play instead? The games you want to play.

You don't have to agree with me that sometimes you just wanna play a mid game. But you'll probably agree that sometimes you just wanna play a specific game. Good, bad, or mid, it's what you want to play because it, in some way, speaks to you.

That's all you need.

Mediterranea Inferno, December 4-December 6

Until now, I was cautious about pandemic stories.

The problem has always been that, sure, the lockdown happened for a year (in the US, at least), but it was only a year. It was major, to be sure, and I'm not downplaying that, but in the grand scheme of human history, it was a year. There's no guarantee (or even, necessarily, reason to believe) anything like it will happen again for a long time. So, I thought, how applicable could stories that come from it be to the future?

Don't get me wrong, I always recognized that in the lockdown was stories about isolation, grief, illness, fear, loss. But those are all distinctly human things we've been writing about since we could write. They weren't unique to the pandemic. Why use the very specific imagery of the lockdown to tell a story about those things when there's definitely more universal things to use?

I'm, as always, an idiot.

Beyond just the fact that it was an event and we'll never stop needing to take stock of it, to examine it, to see who we were and became through it, the pandemic was a world-ending phenomenon, a sea change, a new way of understanding ourselves, or misunderstanding ourselves, or misunderstanding others.

Mediterranea Inferno is about having lost yourself. The lockdowns made three young Italian men lose themselves, and when they came back together in 2022 they found that they had lost each other, too. It presents continuity with their histories: their self-destruction wasn't inevitable, but the pandemic forcing them to grapple with their places in life created living nightmares of isolation, grief, powerlessness, loss of identity, and loneliness.

When you start a new game, a card informs you that the creator made it "about his generation." He seems to think that we're lost, not in the way that the Lost Generation was, but in a different way. Whereas in the 1920s we lost faith in symbols, institutions, and humanity, in the 2020s we lost faith in ourselves and each other.

It's terrifying to admit that we can't do this alone, and that the crutches we always used to get through each day were other people. Claudio relied on his family name; it lost all meaning when his father blew his inherited fortune, revealing that there isn't necessarily a continuity between past success (Nino) and the present. Mida relied on the ways he could keep people at arm's length and when he couldn't get closer to the only person he wanted to grow closer to, he decided that others were there for him to take. And Andrea was never able to identify precisely what he needed from other people to keep him going, mistaking sex and skin-deep pleasure for the validation he so desperately craved.

Of course, if one of them gets accepted to Heaven during the Assumption, one of the others kills their friends and, in one case, accidentally himself. And if none of them make it--or if all of them do--they tell themselves that they're no longer friends. They walk away. They fall to the ground. They feel, sharply, the absence. They try to feel it in the crutches they replaced each other with (the past, the prestige, the plenty). But it isn't there.

Alternatively, if they suffer enough, they can give their spiritual guide through their pain an opportunity as well, and through him learn that they went through all of it to encourage them to revolt against their fathers, against the endless history that suffuses every rock in Italy. Paraphrasing: "There's never been an Italian Revolution. We've always been satisfied with what our fathers gave us, so long as we had permission to kill our brothers." He, like so many, wanted the pandemic to become a watershed moment, one that spurred on change, made the world a better place.

And the Sun Guys reject it. Their revolt is to refuse to be told what to do.

Just give them time to figure out what to do next.

I don't think you can tell this story without the pandemic.

This game is bleak. It's harsh. The style is immaculate. The soundtrack rules. Play it.

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, June 16-ongoing

Here is why the schedule slipped.

I like this game a lot. I burned myself out on it. Over the course of months.

I'm still not done. I'm not letting myself uninstall it until I'm done.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Pokémon Fool's Gold, unknown

The new music was great and the sprites were awesome and I love Eris. But to me this was mostly a fun new way to experience Gen 2. That's not a bad thing, really. Gen 2 isn't great, but there's a lot about it to love.

Pokémon Unbound, unknown

This and the previous entry are the only two Pokémon mods or fangames or whatever that I've ever played. I'm glad I started here!

If you're into playing fangames or whatever you know about this one and you know it rules. I'm not gonna bother praising it directly, though I'll say it earns all the good things said about it.

For me, projects like these really remind me of why we're still drawn to the Pokémon series even when the people in charge of it keep making pretty drastic decisions. I've said for years that the series is for kids and that it's not only fine but right to keep its focus firmly on kids, but Black and White proved that we can actually have our cake and eat it, too. We can have a game for kids that is also just flat-out a good game.

But for some reason, even if I ended up loving Gen 7 more than I did Gen 5, I feel like it's harder to call Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon good games? It's more like I can call them good Pokémon games. But are they good games?

I want them to be.

But what I want Pokémon games to be is totally different from what anyone else wants Pokémon games to be. Fool's Gold and Unbound confirmed that to me. I mean, I always knew it was true, but they confirmed it. What surprised me about them was that they were also good. That even if they weren't my vision, I still enjoyed them as a vision for Pokémon.

But to return to what I said a few paragraphs ago: We're still drawn to Pokémon because in each new entry we find more promises. We find new things to enjoy, to marvel at, to wonder about, to fill in. Every new mainline entry, especially since Black and White, feels like a new reinterpretation of what Pokémon is and can be, and even if we as fans don't always agree, we still have the conversation and we're still often compelled enough by something in the new interpretation that we hang onto it and let it be a part of what Pokémon is to us.

For as much as it stays the same, Pokémon is very much a living franchise, one that changes and, no pun intended, evolves. Maybe it does so in different ways than we might want, but there's nothing stopping us from knowing better. Well, nothing except Nintendo, a company that is more than welcome to fucking die immediately.

Pokémon, both the franchise and its fan works, is constantly grasping toward perfection. But we all know that perfection doesn't exist. We head towards and we know that we'll fail and we also know that even if we were to attain perfection, we'd reject it. Perfection is an illusion, a cruel one; even were it not, it would still be cruel, a poison pill. Real beauty isn't in perfection, it's in striving for it knowing you'll fail. It's about being weak, bad even, useless even, and still being loved. It's about trying, hard, getting nowhere close, and smiling afterward. It's about working together to make something new, something that loves, something that brings us all together to love even harder. It's about the struggle; it's about the effort; it's about the handshake after the battle.

Wherever Pokémon goes, no matter who's propelling it along, it'll be Pokémon. And that's what I want.

[annakie]

D&D/PF2e and my Sunday Night Game

This is just me needing somewhere to ramble about D&D stuff and work some stuff out.

Honestly really feel like I'm stumbling over the finish line finally getting to the finale of a D&D campaign we've been playing 2 hours a week for about four years, maybe four and a half years.

We've missed a ton of sessions this second half of the year due to scheduling issues or illness (several of those being ME!), and I'm honestly just not as thrilled as I wish I was about how the campaign is ending but it's much too late to change it now.

The one redeeming thing about it is that we're stopping at level 18 and I have "reunion specials" mapped out for 19 and 20 that we'll do in a year and two so that'll be the real conclusion, later.

---

We're also going to be starting PF2e Beginner's Box then Abomination Vaults after we finish this campaign, and moving to Foundry. Which, one one hand, they're excited about and it'll be so easy for me to run (except for the fact that I'm way more iffy on the PF2e rules than I am on 5e.)

The problem is that I am also running that for my Wednesday group. And at first I was super excited because it will mean basically no prep for Sunday, until they catch up to where my Wednesday group is (and they will, we play more consistently in the Sunday group and God love them, my Wednesday group LOVES to stop and RP which is SO GREAT but you know, slow things down!)

But also now I'm very worried that I'm going to get bored.

My Sunday night D&D group has been run the entire time with various modules I found on the DM's guild, written by many different people, which were used as the structure around which I built an epic and I think pretty coherent story, and addressed individual player character stories pretty well.

Now I'll be running the exact same campaign twice in the same week which is supposed to be one of the best campaigns available for anything anywhere, but it's also very structured.

And the module is already completely built in Foundry which means I have so little to do but log in and click buttons and tell mainly the story the module presents. I'm well aware that I can of course change and tweak things to suit my needs, believe me I do that a LOT, but its still way more structured than how I'm used to running my Sunday game.

And I loved throwing my players into new environments and exploring an entire world that I built, then moving them into the Astral Plane and exploring the Plane of Water and an entire new world and the Radiant Citadel and a fucked-up land where stuff is crazy. Abomination vaults is one long 10-story dungeon crawl with occasional visits to town. Am I going to get DM claustrophobia?

IDK I am seriously worrying that it's going to kill my love of DMing twice a week if I move forward with this plan that is what I let my players vote on many months ago and we're still well into planning executing.

I have looked into running one of the other already-made PF2e modules for Foundry. None of them sound that appealing. I know Kingmaker is coming out but my RL DM is thinking about starting an online game running it and I would want to play in that, PLUS the size of it and amount that still needs to be filled out sounds kind of intimidating. I still might consider it.

My other big thing is like... jfc I have spent so much money on 5e shit, you should see my bookcase and my D&D Beyond account. So much really great, AMAZING stuff that I really want to run in 5e, or Tales of the Valiant when Kobold Press finally gets their 5e Clone out the door. I keep telling myself that we'll do PF2e Abomination Vaults and by then TotV should be in a playable state with hopefully a Beyond20-like way to send rolls to a VTT in like... Nexus so I can stop giving WotC money. Then we can get back to running what I'm good at.

I have about a month to make a decision, I am thinking of telling my players we're starting the new campaign with the new year. I just don't know if I should voice my concerns or not. Maybe it'll be great and I'll enjoy not having the prep to worry about! Or maybe a year from now I'll be dreading Sundays instead of having it be a highlight of my week.

Yeah I know I should say something. I just don't want to disappoint anyone and I could be wrong, and not having much prep for a good long while could be amazing.

[ineedthesons]

Headcanons!

I've said a few of these before. Feel free to add, or discuss, or. Whatever. (Also plugging I have a discord for discussion too!) @aimkatsz + whoever wants to add to it. Headcanons do not reflect the morals of their creator-- me-- nor are they anything but a silly thought exercise on a work of fiction. (It's stupid I have to put this disclaimer but here we are.)

Content warnings/information include: Mention of canon deaths. Characters identifying as a different gender identity than in canon. Obliterating the basis of the Sons. Use of the word queer. Polyships. Ron Tully.

Juice is the Snake champion of the world. You know, the old cell phone game? He gets a burner, he plays Snake to conclusion, and that's how he knows its his burner. His actual cell phone, he's got a long-running game of Words With Friends with about half the Sons. Chibs, of course. Happy. Bobby, when he remembers. Surprisingly its Jax and Opie who also really enjoy playing it with Juice. (Insert Angst: Juice doesn't close the game he had going with Opie, up until he goes into Stockton for the last time.)

Juice as a transman. It's one secret he doesn't keep from the Club. Maybe Jax met Juice when Juice was Juanita Carla Ortiz instead of Juan Carlos Ortiz. (Though I wonder if Juice would directly translate his name like that; my Spanish is iffy and I don't have the cultural knowledge to say for sure.) Anyway, Jax convinced Juice to move to Cali, thinking that he'd maybe get into Juice's pants but obviously that didn't work out and instead Juice goes to work for T-M. I'm not sure how he becomes a prospect. Certainly after top surgery. Maybe even after bottom surgery, when the Club can say he's a "real man" in their back-asswards way.

The Sons of Anarchy is a non-Outlaw, queer, sex-positive motorcycle club. Everyone sleeps with everyone else and they do charity work instead of gun-running. The charity work they do rotates regularly but it's usually something having to do with the queer community or animal rescue. Also they're involved in the town of Charming a la season one but without the criminal undercurrent, because that's their home.

Jax, Opie, and Tara are in a poly relationship where Jax gets pegged on the regular. No hate for Donna, either. Maybe she's still Opie's partner and the mother of his kids. Who now have a very strong, big-ass family and Opie doesn't palm them off on his mother. They are *so fucking happy* to get Abel and later Thomas as little brothers.

Ron Tully doesn't miss his dogs. He doesn't own any. He was just fucking with Jax. He does miss his cats. When the Sons isn't outlaw, he's the head of the county's trap-neuter-release program and they do a lot of work with the MC. He's a relentless flirt who likes to pretend he's a Kinsey six when really he's more a four or five on the scale.

[elvisabutler]

now you have me curious, how would pa! reader and austin have been if they had met earlier?

literally nothing. absolutely nothing. oh? oh. no you wanted an answer. okay fine, but know like the "we'll be together when you're 30 and i'm 40" anon, y'all have gotten me in trouble with my own throwaway lines. ( i kid, truly, this was actually a nice thing to theorize about and if i write something about it- well- we all know i'm a sucker for au's of my own au. )

okay so serious answer? it depends entirely on how we're defining earlier. because i write my pa! reader as about 9ish/10ish years younger than austin. so there is not that much earlier to play with in terms of legal age which i'm sticking to. it'd be different if the age difference was smaller, so if pa! reader was a little older but as the entire verse/world is based mildly on that age difference, yeah it doesn't necessarily work. ( this isn't true for other people's pa! reader, or like some stuff i'll write that's in my inbox but ya know ) but basically it boils down to a too young but good friend situation until the reader's late 20s?

that being said, so he's always going to end up still being with vanessa and there's a difference between meeting her at 18 vs. 20/21. because here's the thing, papi? still happens even though austin tells her it's a bad idea because he's not gonna leave his wife for you, come on now. but pa! reader will make the argument that she's a grown adult and he treats her like austin treats vanessa. to which everyone say it with me- "no honey no." eighteen year olds, not the best judges of character. run off do the dumb thing with papi, don't contact austin during it and then 2 months go by and he gets a text in the middle of the night, "know you're with nessa. i'm fine, call me later?"

and here's a thing that ends up coloring 95% of his interactions with her for almost a decade. because austin ends up seeing her as like a kid versus you know the adult she technically is because he met her at 18 so even when she's 21/22 he's still thinks "kid" not adult. so he's always thinking "oh is how I'm interacting with her hurting her." point blank she doesn’t end up getting to be priscilla because when her name is even brought up austin shoots it down because "no she's a kid I'm not gonna do that". also generally speaking you know he will still be really really aware of how elvis was with priscilla. so he won't want her to be priscilla.

it definitely causes a fight to where they go from good friends to sort of half friends from like 22 to like 28. jokes on austin though because eventually there's like a miniseries or something about priscilla's life and lo and behold yeah she still ends up being a priscilla actress.

and then you know she's older and wiser, austin's a divorced single dad to little lori butler. career trajectory wise she probably mirrors his in that you know she does the odds and ends sort of parts and then toward the tail end of her 20s it's boom she gets all these parts. but she gets cast first then he gets cast second because he's got the star power and she's still kind of iffy re: can she hold up a movie by herself. austin almost backs out when he realizes who's playing his romantic interest but his agent reminds him hey you haven't ever done like a regency thing so do it now. besides since you know her it should be fine.

pa! reader gives no fucks because whatever this could be her big break. sees austin for the first time in years at the table read and is like "hi." and austin endures the most awkward moment of "oh fuck you're hot" of his life because this is the first time he's thought of her in that light ( pa! reader always had kind of liked austin but also isn't dumb and realizes he thinks of her as a kid even pre-fight ). and then they get to know each other again, totally fall for each other, she calls him birdie he definitely subs for her on occasion and it's generally just a different dynamic with the exception of austin still being incredibly protective over her. and also the publicists/pr/agents loving them because they're not idiots like in the actual main world thing.

might this have been an excuse to just use that gif up at the top? maybe. did i also love this question? yes. will i probably write up a headcanon post for this? i've done stranger things. would austin get a wet shirt scene in this hypothetical movie? yes.

also. consider: "did it really take a decade for you to stop thinking of me as a kid who made a decision so bad you called my mother?" "yeah, but trust me, that is- the farthest thing from my mind right now." "are we just gonna be like kurt russell and goldie hawn?" "depends, you trust me enough to marry me?" "i did when i was 18, it's almost a decade after and i still do, birdie."

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Twice now I’ve bought a doll from a company and later learned the company was kinda problematic. (Legit but problematic…let’s just say the first has tons of online drama and the second is…very nationalist?) And I don’t know how to feel about it.

In the first case, I found out a couple years later (problems didn’t start immediately from what I can tell but slowly grew). Like, I owned the doll for literally two years before drama started online. And then I don’t think I realized the full extent till I read this blog, since my experiences had been positive.

The second case was more recently and I honestly didn’t know how bad they were until like a month or so after ordering. This time, drama was already there and I just hadn’t realized how bad it was, though I admit I’d heard a little and maybe was willfully blind in not researching further. That doll isn’t even here yet…

But now, still reading confessions on both companies I’m like…can I still enjoy my dolls or do I have to feel guilty about it? In the first case, once company problems started, it took me over a year before I felt like I could enjoy playing with that doll again T-T and I hated that feeling. I didn’t want to sell the doll because I’d already made her into one of my own characters, but because of the drama I felt alienated from her too. I’m worried that will happen with this incoming doll as well.

I’m not asking for absolution or anything here. The first one I know there was no way I could have predicted drama that hadn’t even started yet, or at least hadn’t openly started yet. The second is more iffy. But my main question is since the companies already have my money and I have the dolls, is it good enough to just swear off of buying further from them? :/ Do I have to feel guilty for supporting the companies every time I see those two dolls? T-T

~Anonymous

[loverscrossmp3]

hi hiiiii for the ask game 4 and 5 for cross my heart, cross the line <333

hiii my love thank you for this!!!! <333

What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

this bit of banter in cmhctl is one of my favs just cause <3

“My hair’s not orange, either, twat.”

“Isn’t it?”

She slaps his arm and he cradles it with a grin. “Idiot.”

also there’s this longer bit that’s just. it’s so silly. i love it. sirius being the worst and lily and james just having to put up with it?? never gets old. like it really is just complete nonsense and i don’t think of myself as a particularly funny person but each time i reread this little bit it never ceases to get a little giggle out of me xx

The moment persists behind the receiver, muffled, as James admonishes Sirius (‘Why are you the way that you are?’) and Sirius remains well pleased with himself (‘Remus doesn’t seem to hate it when –’ / ‘Eugh! Stop that!’). 

Some time later, after a lengthy chastisement, Sirius’ voice returns. “Right. Hello, Lily, you’re still there, aren’t you? –”

“– Unfortunately.”

“ – Seems that’s still a sensitive topic for the two of you. No worries, it’s not for everyone! We can still sort that out.” Lily can almost see the exact face Sirius makes as a slap from James echoes (‘I’m gonna kick you out of my room.’). “Alright, alright. I’m finished now. Lovely of you to check in as always, Lily. Tell the others I said hello, blah blah, boring stuff. I would say give Remus a kiss for me but don’t do that. I’ll try not to steal your boyfriend in the meanwhile.” Lily thinks he must be finished by now until he continues boldly, “Did you know I’ve been lounging all over him this whole phone call, kicking my legs and everything –”

What part was hardest to write?

oh man there were so many scenes i had to go weeks without adding anything onto because i was so stuck on where to go next. although, i think more than anything, the sequence of events where lily and james' teasing/flirting goes a bit too far (“Where’s your marker, then?”) -> james breakdown ft. sirius -> lily's frustration (with james? with herself?) -> james putting drunk lily to bed, was definitely the toughest for me. it's still a bit iffy for me reading back, but i think what made it so hard was that beforehand, i had generally just been writing as i go, seeing where it takes me, meanwhile these events set up something bigger, something to be solved. so i think that aspect as well as trying to make sure their inner thoughts and outward dialogue were still representative of their characters on top of keeping the reader engaged was just... whew. even talking about it has made me lose my breath!

fic questions! 

[pixilator]

Update, Late March 2023 [ORIGINALLY POSTED MARCH 27 2023]

This is the latest major update for the comic of Amaranth.

Crossposted to r/amaranth_comic and amaranth-comic.deviantart.com.

❦

Welcome to the fifth update! Sorry I didn’t post in a while…

–

>worldbuilding

-The military schooling system has been fleshed out somewhat. It’s still sort of iffy, but for now it works.

-The basic world history has been written, and the same goes for the history of the primary nation! Granted it’s all sort of skeletal, but all the big important stuff is in there, like the industrial revolution [known as the Golden Era in the story]

-Ok, now for the secret worldbuilding stuff or whatever I called it. #1 has been written down and I’ve got a few documents dedicated to it now. Right now I’m sort of at a wall with it, so I’ve expanded #3. #3’s previous overhaul was pretty extensive, and #2’s sort of like a parallel to it – again, I’ve expanded #2.

–

>characters

-Changed Elwood’s name to Adrian! He’s no longer English, so I had to find a good Latin name for him.

–

>MAYHEM:

Her backstory is generally finished.

Her personality is generally finished.

Her design is generally finished.

Relationships are very basic right now.

–

>HESTIA

Her backstory is generally finished.

Her personality is… half finished? I suppose. I’d like to work on it more though.

Working on her new design now. It’s not as memorable as I’d like though, so I’m not satisfied yet. I’ll continue to work on it until I’m happy.

Relationships are very basic right now.

–

>FLAVIUS

His design is generally finished.

I’ve got a skeleton backstory that I’ll be fleshing out soon.

His personality is there but still needs more work. I’m satisfied with the base version.

Relationships are very basic right now.

–

>PEPPER

His backstory is generally finished.

His personality is half-finished.

Working on his new design now. Like Hestia, his design isn’t very memorable, so I’m still not satisfied.

Relationships are very basic right now.

I was thinking if I mess with his health it’d be interesting, but I’ve decided against it.

–

>ADRIAN

Needs a design.

Currently no backstory as of yet.

I have an idea for a personality… but I’m still playing with it.

Need to create relationships.

–

>DRAGON

I said I’d put him on the backburner… well, I’ve decided to bring him back! Yes, Dragon is back in business. He’ll be for cute or comedic relief, I guess.

–

>spreadsheets

-Mayhem’s spreadsheet is generally finished.

-Hestia’s spreadsheet is generally finished, but I still have to figure out the details of her personality.

-Flavius’ spreadsheet exists in a skeletal format.

-Pepper’s spreadsheet is generally finished, but I still have to figure out the details of his personality.

-Adrian’s spreadsheet… still doesn’t exist.

-Dragon doesn’t really need a spreadsheet. He’s already perfect.

-Worldbuilding spreadsheets! I’ve got one on the history of the world, the military, and all three secret stuff. Gonna see what else I can do… –

>main plot

-Mayhem’s now got a new introduction. I think it’s pretty cool, so I’m going to keep it for now.

-Figured out when and how to introduce each character. Flavius will be introduced at the same time as Hestia. Adrian finally has an introduction too.

>side plot

-There’s a side plot for each character, though I don’t know if they’ll change later. I also want to have character arcs for all of them – it’d be so much work, but I think it’d be so fun!

>subplot

-Ok, so I’ve found some willing guinea pigs for the romantic subplot! No, Mayhem isn’t one of them! Thank me later. -I’ll be playing around with the idea of a romance between the two characters and see if I like the dynamic. With how a romance can completely hijack a story, I’ll keep it playing, I don’t know, 7th oboe to literally everything else. I’ll try to keep it realistic and not quite romance-novel-y. It’s not set in stone, so I might just throw it away later.

-One thing I’ve noticed is that the genre of romance I’ve chosen is usually very violent – slow burn/UST/will-they-won’t-they – so I’ve decided to make it fluffy and wholesome instead. But, of course, there will obviously be an inability to spit it out!

–

>actual work

-I’ve been looking at paper for comic stuff, and I don’t have any paper thick enough for my taste. So I’ll get some and practice!

-The 80’s style is still the main idea here. I’ve decided that for the more serious parts of the story it’ll be drawn realistically.

-Paint is cool and all, but I’ve got a whole bunch of coloured pencils. I’m going to try with that instead and ink over them.

❦

Blergh. I’m sorry there’s not much to report this time.

Pixilator

[dumbegglife]

long blue spring ride anime rambles

the soundtrack is so pretty and tender. so i'm thinking about it again.

i'd really like to see more stories like this, where two people befriend each other in their childhood (a period of innocence) but separate and then meet again years later. except now, they're different people, are older, have gone through hardships that change them, and have secrets to keep. but they meet each other again and want to know the other person again.

it's so simple but so poignant.

even though blue spring ride frustrates me in many ways, i think it does tell a compelling, emotional story about people who've grown apart but come back into each other's lives.

it's so bittersweet to watch kou and futaba evade, confront, close and open to each other again and again.

they know sides of the other that no one else knows at their new school. it's a connection only they have, because no one from their previous schools are present. as an adult, i realize that being friends with someone in their youth is really precious. it's really intimate knowledge of someone, regardless of who they become in the future.

i know the gap in the story is only from middle school to high school, but, i take what i can get.

both kou and futaba are unhappy when they meet again. the story shows that, in each other, they try to find the happiness and innocence they once knew. but they can't, of course. they're different people now.

it's so interesting to watch them both try to do this, kou to a lesser extent, until there's a confrontation. that confrontation is done soooo beautifully. but futaba finally understands that if she truly wants to be friends with kou, she has to want to know him as he is in the present. he's moody and abrasive, but through their conflicts, she recognizes that he is always trying to help and support her. the beloved 'jerk with a heart of gold.' as for kou, i think he accepts futaba for who she is in the present FIRST because ultimately, he comes to admire her first. this is also done really well, i think, partially because kou has surprisingy amount of depth.

kou acts like he's too cool for everything, futaba included. he seems like the more competent one ('good at everything without trying') so futaba feels inferior. BUT IT'S FLIPPED. kou sees that futaba takes action (when she volunteers to be class rep) even if she's afraid. he follows her. his dialogue where he says that whatever she does is better than doing anything 'half-baked' like him is extraordinary to me. it reveals so much about him and why he likes futaba so much, even if it appears he's 'cooler' or more skilled than she is. he's been depressed and burned out for a long time and he's inspired by futaba's optimism and drive to better herself and her circumstances.

even if their relationship can never be the cute, sweet childhood friendship/romance of the past, they come to mutually respect and admire the best parts of each other in their present friendship. they overcome their interpersonal hardships together like this...ahhhhh...

blue spring ride has weaknesses that made it difficult for me to get into at first. most of the side characters are really iffy to me (except yuuri), and i feel that the character interactions even between kou and futaba can be...idk stiff? something's a bit off at times? but i always went back to it because of what its core is about (gestures to everything above). i thought futaba and yuuri's friendship was also really sweet and adorable.

[launching-a-thousand-ships]

Some Dramas idk if I Even Rec

1 2 3

Cutie Pie: My Torment

These are some series I’ve watched that... they aren’t great? But they’re also so cheesy and over the top I can’t help but watch them anyway. I’m not reccing them but also I kind of am. Was gonna put all 3 in one post but then I ranted too much so gonna split up. First off: Cutie Pie

Spoiler free version: It has fun moments and some great music. The tertiary ship and side characters def make the show. Can rec for a wild ride and also intense frustration at the mcs being dumb. Kind of painful to watch, but also can’t look away. More details/spoilers under the cut.

Cutie Pie

I have so many thoughts on this series. I can’t actually say I hate it since it lowkey spawned a whole WIP for me where I’m writing a wangxian cutie pie au but also... the series isn’t good?

Pros: The music is great. Love it, it’s on my playlist and I will sing and dance to it even though I don’t know the words. I also love Zee in it even though I have comments about his character. His dancing is 10/10.

Also, Kuea’s friend group. They are all so supportive and hilarious and them pretending to be compsci students for him is everything. Syn is my fav out of them because all his scenes are hilarious and his side ship is actually my favourite.

I also love the premise, in theory (though set up for arranged marriage was weird and idk about the whole timeline). I’m a sucker for secret identities/dramatic reveals so I was really looking forward to it until... well, let’s get to cons.

Cons: Oh lord. The main 2 ships were just... Kind of a spoiler but also happens in first ep that you learn Hia Lian knew all about Kuea’s secret life as a motorcycle/drummer/engineer dude (who also plays soccer bc needs more rebel things idk). And then it’s just a whole bunch of manipulation and terrible communication and they did have some fun scenes, lover their dates and happy!Lian is adorable, but wow so much could be solved with a convo. And nothing is ever fixed and they don’t grow or anything so it’s just... it’s hard to watch. Though also on Kuea because Lian made it pretty obvious he knew and Kuea kept hiding.

The other ship (Yi and Khondiao) was harder to watch. Partly is I’m not a fan of the ‘bottom’ being so infantilized and that was definitely played up in this drama. It made their whole dynamic... weird. They get better later on? But very iffy.

The plot really was a bit all over, with a cycle of secrets and manipulation, but I rec watching if you don’t take it seriously and just want a chaotic time. Tbh I only watched it because I’m a fan of Perth (whose character confuses me because idk what his deal is) but the series haunts me with random details and now I’m writing this wangxian arranged marriage fic which is lowkey an excuse to rewrite the series and fix the problems.

If you want a stress-free life, just listen to the soundtrack. That I can rec.

Stay tuned for part 2: My Engineer