#and the show still works even if you havent imo

[petitprincess1]

🎶Even when I'm with my friends, I'm alone inside~🎶 *cries in recognition*

[g0dtier]

the list that makes me and @dentist-brainsurgeon mortal enemies from now on i guess

extremely lengthy explanations under the cut:

i actually think the S+A tier speak for themselves?

S tier: the goats. im aware its full of third versions but they just happen to be extremely good and added some insane shit to already solid base games (ok diamond and pearl werent solid but the foundation was there). replayability is insane for these.

A tier: the Oh Fuck Yeah games. not in any particular order actually. hgss is absolutely the best remake of all, only held back by the few inherent flaws of the Johto region and by not emulating Crystal enough. as much as i like bw, reverting back to only one region of pokemon never sat right by me, but it's been a while since ive played it, and nowadays i make much more of an effort to try out all new mons. so i could change my mind on this.

i liked usum more than sun/moon, if only for the post game. replayability isnt as high because of the cutscenes every 3 steps, and rotom dex is annoying as shit. aside from that, insanely solid story & postgame imo. red/blue and gold/silver are brimming with weird places in their regions and are chock full of in game lore and legends, which i really like. the ruins of alph & pokemon tower are some of the best locations theyve ever made imo

B tier is the "good but couldve been better" tier. lets go is insane for shiny hunting, but it stops at that imo. the new rival is garbo. sun and moon are good, but the postgame + alola in general is just lacking enough in these games that they dont reach A tier for me. loveeed the island challenges tho. alola itself has just such a good vibe. you really feel like its about community rather than competition. legends arceus couldve been insanely good, but i have never felt as ripped out of a pokemon game as i did when i walked through that cave in the coronet region and started seeing stray pixels around my character. which wasnt a one time thing btw this happens to anyones game & every time as far as ive seen. its gonna sound dramatic but this combined with other graphics glitches made it so clear i was playing a game that it just took me out of the adventure entirely. this is where the graphics glitches really started, and they havent stopped since.

C tier: yellow is just kinda there? i dont care for starter pikachu. i want to, but it gets killed when breathed at, so. idk. the gimmick doesnt work that well for me. sword and shield introduced some insane mons that i love and i want to call it solid real bad, but the story was hot garbage even for pokemon standards, and while the wild area was a great idea, the execution was lacking & because what i assume is a time crunch, the towns were boring as shit as well. diamond & pearl are mediocre to bad, with a great story and mediocre to bad execution, and i shouldve put oras in the :( tier, but the postgame is worth it.

actually im gonna rant about oras. i was so hyped for it but, just, ugh. if youre gonna turn a 2d vague not-specified-what-a-character-is-doing-or-feeling player character to 3d, at least do it correctly. 2d sprites where someone can fill in the blanks not seen on screen but hinted at in text (ie expressions, actions like handing someone something) work infinitely better than 3d sprites who show it badly. also still suffers from the desaturation curse that the 3ds games suffer from. postgame was dope, though. shame the mega latis are ugly as shit.

:( tier: garbage, im so sorry. SV's only redeeming factor is the area zero story. there is nothing else in the game that held my attention. fuck the star team, fuck the big pokemon quests, fuck the towns where you cant talk to anyone or find anything interesting or walk into a house and where every shop looks the game. fuck stores not even having an interior anymore. fuck this larger but emptier and stripped down world full of graphical glitches. fuck the weak ass gyms, fuck geeta, and fuck terrastalizing most of all. i will die for Koraidon & the professor fight fucking ruled but that's all the game had to it for me. do any of yall remember the gym leaders besides like, iono and the snowboard man? no you dont, stop lying to me. gen I put more life into lavender town by making a npc reference some ghost hand on your shoulder than SV does for any town, and they only had black and white 32mb cartridges or whatever to work with. for fucking shame gamefreak. give your devs some time to make a halfway functioning game.

firered and leafgreen do nothing new. i will not discuss the sevii islands. what the fuck even was that. boring. same with brilliant diamond and shining pearl. theyre lower than diamond and pearl because why the fuck did they not decide to remake platinum. what the hell was their damage. seriously platinum was RIGHT there. i caught a full odds shiny ghastly in that game and i still dont care about it.

X&Y suffers from. everything.

[bestworstcase]

idk if you will want to answer this, and if not i totally understand lol, but what did you think of the bmblb confession scene? i havent really seen too many people talking about it through more critical lenses and it's been bugging me. i thought it happend in a really bad moment of the narrative, and also felt a bit forced and fabricated. though i guess it makes sense if they wanted to get it done in case the show wasnt renewed. but idk. i was a bit disappointed :(

i have to asterisk this upfront by saying i haven’t sat down to rewatch v9 straight through yet, and i’m planning to do a more thorough accounting of my thoughts on the pacing once i do, so this is just roughs

going into 9.6 i wasn’t expecting the kiss to happen because i did expect ruby to start erupting, but in hindsight i do think kiss then eruption served the narrative better; it seems pretty evident to me that the reason the kiss happens when it does is firstly about facilitating ruby’s break away from the group afterward, and secondly to—as others have pointed out—give the audience something hopeful to hold onto through the dramatic low point of 9.7-9.8, and thirdly to get it out of the way so as to avoid splitting focus away from ruby’s breakdown.

hence the use of the ponderstorm to literally force the issue, in tandem with ruby and weiss being prevented from navigating their issues in the same way because of jaune’s and the cat’s interference. it needed to happen then and it needed to happen that abruptly, because ruby had to be blindsided by it right when she needed support most.

i think this is also probably partly why blake and yang were so openly flirtatious in the front half of the volume—on a character level it’s because of the giddy relief of still being alive and forever, yes, but for the narrative i think it’s also meant to build up the sense that they’re a hair’s breadth away, that it could happen at any moment, specifically so that the plot device of the ponderstorm pushing them to close that gap won’t feel contrived, even though it sort of is (in the way that all plot devices are—contrivance isn’t a pejorative here.)

and in the broadest sense i think all of that hangs together pretty well and it’s a smart way to bring the blake/yang romantic arc to fruition without distracting from the a-plot of ruby’s character development—because it makes the romantic arc coming to fruition an engine of ruby’s character development—but in the more specific sense of whether it’s executed well, i do think it wasn’t calibrated as well as it could have been. it’s tricky because the basic structure is sound and i have a tough time pinpointing exactly where the clicky noise is coming from. and frankly a big part of it imo is that v8 had damn near flawless pacing and v9 sacrificed pacing for character and lore, so there’s this noticeable contrast in quality of pacing that makes v9’s struggle feel more pronounced.

and in a way too it’s kind of a return to the issues v1 had with pacing—the writing team is much more experienced and much more skilled than they were ten years ago, but v9 posed a similar challenge of having to introduce this entirely new and fantastical world and a lot of important worldbuilding whilst focusing very minutely on character interiority, and i think we saw some clear growing pains in the course of that. like there was a lot to juggle, narratively, that rwby hadn’t ever done before. which does incline me to be generous about the pacing, especially in light of how i don’t think there’s a lot they could have done, within the limitation of the runtime that they had to work with, to improve the pacing without sacrificing something else and trading pacing for character/lore was definitely the right call imo

but yeah in an ideal world where rwby had an unlimited budget and untroubled production and v9 had eleven or twelve episodes to work with, i think there would have been more momentum-building before the big kiss, because it IS one of the two key points (alongside 9.9) where you can feel the pacing struggle coming through in the writing. i think they did the best they could with the resources and time they had and overall i think it does a fair job of what it’s supposed to do for the wider narrative—which is alienate ruby and make her feel neglected and silenced because she can’t rain on their joy—even though it falls tangibly short of what it could have been under more ideal circumstances.

[coldflasher]

Salty ask list, 9 & 16? 👀

9. Most disliked character(s)?

Dion. Fucking Dion. I hate that bastard SO MUCH. I hate the entire forces plotline and basically all of season 7 but there is something about Dion in particular that I just LOATHE. Tbf when he was first introduced in his first ep I was okay with him but the more they leaned into the all-powerful force god side of things, the more my hatred grew... if Dion has no haters, I am dead

I also HATE that snide reporter (Taylor?) who works for Iris. The ep where she tries to sacrifice that one woman to those terrorists to save her own neck and outs Allegra as a metahuman and then by the end of the ep we're supposed to be cool with her? NO. I HATE HER.

Then there's Nash wells. My least favourite Wells. I hated him sliiightly less on my last rewatch but he's still the worst Wells. He literally led to the destruction of the multiverse because of his own stupidity. Like whyyyy did we keep getting lumped with all these increasingly irritating Wells doppelgangers when we could have just had Harry. And then Harry AND HIS WHOLE UNIVERSE gets erased BECAUSE OF NASH. I HATE THAT MAN.

And you know who else I... not hate, but find highly annoying? Khione. I actually think she could have been interesting if she had been a fusion of Caitlin and Frost and we actually got to see a version of the character that had grown and embraced both sides of herself instead of having these fractured identity states, but instead they just erased them both and gave us the most boring, insipid, flavorless replacement. Khione is such a Mary Sue. She's sooo perfect and kind and powerful with her magic nature powers!! Don't you love her? NO. NO I DON'T. We had 8 seasons of Caitlin and 7 of Frost (in some form) and I found it cheap and disrespectful of both their characters to kill them both off at the last minute and replace them with some wishy-washy hippy version with no personality and expect me to care about her (bear in mind that i haven't seen the end yet and i believe there is a bit more to the storyline that i havent got to see yet but either way i find her so annoying)

I feel in the early seasons there are no characters I actually hate because most if not all of them either had redeeming features or were compelling to watch but the later seasons were rife with insufferable characters who we're meant to like but just absolutely boiled my piss. like of these, only taylor was meant to be a villain and even then she gets a "redemption arc" of sorts but it wasn't enough for me. i wasn't buying it. taylor they could never make me like you

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

I mean the obvious answer is stop Len leaving, or at least bring him back, but barring that I would make Andrew Kreisberg not be a piece of shit so that we could have stuck with his original vision for the show and had it be good forever. Like. They were setting up some seriously good and interesting shit and there were so many cool plot threads and he seemed to have planned so many things years in advance but sadly he's a diabolical person. the industry is well rid of him for that reason but if I could wave a wand and make him be a good and normal person then I would do that. why are good showrunners so often terrible people >:(

barring that... i'd redo crisis entirely. i think they totally bottled that storyline. having it tied up with oliver was a HUGE mistake, they'd been building up to crisis and barry's disappearance since day 1 of the show and the way it went down was such an unbelievable disappointment and a disservice to the show as a whole imo.

also, i love them but i would seriously cut down bart and nora's role in the show, because it made the dynamics weird and aged westallen way before their time. just give them a spinoff or something. and i would get rid of any and all plotlines related to the forces but that goes without saying

[loyalhorror]

five good things

my friends have been nice to me for my birthy... it still feels. like. the same way all birthdays do, where i wish i'd planned better and really made the day feel Special (i love my friends and i'm so glad for the gifts i've gotten etc but. you know how it is with birthdays)... but it will be ok! there's still time, too. i could make myself a little paper hat or something silly like that, just for me.

i think the Jellies are around? the system kids. they havent been around in a hot second but i guess it makes sense they'd show up for birthday stuff... which also means it makes sense that i'm a little sad/sensitive... anyway it's nice to see them. and to take care of them (and me!) for a while.

i went and did a scary thing today. i returned something to the post office which i never done before and it went completely smoothly and was ok!

my prescription sunglasses DO work ok after about a half hour of wearing them... my distance vision is still a little fucky with them on but whatcha gonna do. its a worthwhile tradeoff imo. i like having my eyes shaded even if people can unfortunately still see them.

pokemon good

[sparring-spirals]

hi! sorry to bother you with this but I don’t really know how to search for it online and I don’t know anyone else that follows cr/has seen C2, so… when they brought devexian back online I know he was very broken and couldn’t remember much, but he was… somewhat functional, right? like, his core was intact etc?

I’m asking because I’ve been having this feeling lately that they’ll get to the repair terminal in the genesis ward in the next ep or so, and for the live show they’ll somehow fix fcg through the same means the mighty nein used for D (and that’s how sam would make his appearance at the show), since they kept the pieces after the explosion…

I guess my question is… would it work? can they fix fcg there? or would the core need to be intact for that? was devexian’s? could the repair terminal give them another core or is their core intrinsically linked to their soul? (I guess the last question is more of a meta question since there’s no way we can know that😂 but I’d love to know your opinion on it)

thank you and sorry again for the ramblings🫶🏻

hello anon. I'm deeply flattered you asked me and I am also SO sorry i did not see this until way late. I'm not even sure this answer is still any use given the liveshow has already gappened. but uhm. im here now! Never apologize for asking clarifying questions to me, i dont mind, just know that I sometimes (often) won't know. Or might go AWOL! apparently. This goes quadruple-fold for when I am some million hours behind on the campaign.

Also you sent this in BEFORE the live show and since then the live show has happened and Sam has returned with a hot flirty hunk of a character so I guess that answers that part of your question? I Am. So Sorry. But imo your broader question about if they could bring back F.C.G at all remains.

so that said, knowing that I havent been properly caught up for some 30-40 episodes, I'm going to give my very handwavey opinion, then turn you over to the hands of my followers who are probably more well informed and also probably caught up on the campaign.

I think its important to consider any kind of F.C.G revival on both an out of game perspective and in game perspective, bc I think with revival the latter influences the former a LOT. I think if Sam were really interested in bringing back F.C.G the repair terminals and them keeping parts of F.C.G could factor into it. There's definitely the question of "what makes F.C.G F.C.G" that would have to factor in, which gets philosophical very quick- I think there would have to be some equivalent of a standard revival ritual where they call something back from the beyond, because IMO, putting a "new" core in wouldnt bring back FCG.

Before we even get into the nitty gritty of the philosophy, though I don't know that Sam would want to bring F.C.G back? I mean the live show ended and there's now a hot minotaur in the party so its easy for me to say that. But Sam has also always been someone to commit to the big swings for characters- including losses- and his treatment of F.C.G's death felt like he thought it was meaningful and impactful and said what he wanted it to say. So in that vein- maybe it isnt possible to bring F.C.G back, largely because I think Matt would respect if Sam wouldn't want to leave that on the table.

TL;DR: Its not that I think there's no way to viably justify an F.C.G revival using the repair terminals, but it would be tricky and I don't see them doing that, from what I know. Is there an opportunity for something similar to Molly -> Kingsley towards the end of the campaign? Shore. Maybe. but i dont count that in the bucket youre describing.

anyway. im so sorry for the delay on this anon. i hope you had a good time watching the live show and are enjoying Sam's new character and im sorry i was not present enough to see this and respond earlier 😅

[spamgyu]

Hi love,

Alright, I'll start off with this, the wonwoo fluff, girl, I hope you know that good fluff IS about the most mundane things and yeah, you got me all giggly while reading this one, so I'd say you're fucking good at writing fluff( as if your pretty boy series isn't enough proof of that).

Next, the Alex Kwon update, it's absolutely hilarious, but the way I can totally see this happening, like, alex having to pay them to stay away from Alex!yn and telling her they're all red flags. Also, Andrew, Sam and Chris not being on his close friends, loll, girl I was laughing reading them complain. The cutest thing though, the Alex or alex✨️ was so adorable and I loved the update, it felt like early compensation for the pain you're about to put us through with the hoshi idol angst.

Now, minghao with lv, god I've been wanting to see this happen for so long but oh god, ge looked so gooooood. Seeing him Jackson makes me so happy, I love seeing the members interact with their friends. You see, I have quite a weird connection, I started off as a bts and blackpink fan, got to know Jackson through namjoon and then svt through jungkook, so watching all these groups interact is like my source of happiness. When I tell you, I was over the moon seeing lisa and mingyu interact, they're absolutely hilarious, the way gyu looked so done with her while she seemed to have the time of her life annoying him. Sorry, I got distracted, the whole point is Hao looked absolutely fucking amazing in that denim on denim look.

Okay, I see people talking about how they can't afford to stan more then one group, and I totally get that, like I have serious brainrot because of stanning more than one group(can't say I regret it though). To give you an idea of how deep my brainrot runs, I stan 5 groups, 4 boy bands and 1 girl group. When I tell you that I'm rotting, I mean I genuinely am, because just one grp is enough to drive someone crazy and yet, I choose to do so with 5 groups. The fact that I started off as a cubic doesn't help my case either, because I was instantly drawn to these 13 men being unhinged. It's been years and I still haven't gotten used to this, and to be quite honest, idk if I ever will.

As for disconnected calls part 2, umm, I would actually love you even more if it was angst(just a personal opinion) but like, I can't guarantee I'll be alive to tell you how much I love it, because, well, cheol angst is one of my weaknesses, I can't say I've fully recovered from the pain from the 1st part and the apartment we don't share.

Anyway, how have you been?

hi omg – wow im so late replying buuuut

thank u i KDNWKD i think i think too much about fluff bc ??? idk ?? i hate cheesy things and i feel like people wont like what i think is cute so then i never actually go through with it but AHHH THANK U

alex kwon just dont want the boys annoying him in the gc bc lbr the guys wont ever comment or swipe up on Alex!yn bc like theyre dumb but theyre not pigs... anyways its alex's way of not wanting to show his lover boy side to the boys

i loooveeddd the denim look sm and i loooove when we get svt interactions with other idols (imo it humanizes them) anywaysss

KFNENF yeah i stan multiple groups and im mostly casual stan for all but svt (but tbh some carats may think im casual for svt bc i dont really go crazy with purchasing merch) anyways now that it's concert season my pockets are HURTING

LASTLY disconnected calls pt2 will be angst and maybe equally as painful as the apartment we wont share....... i havent fully written out ehe BUT NOTED

also i am.......... okay ish.... work is.... work and i am ....... surviving lmfaoooo

[kingdarkstalker]

If this is a safe space...How to train your dragon(Both the books AND the movies) >>>> Wings of fire(yes including all three arcs)

While WOF's first arc still remains to be the best(And take this with a grain of salt bc arc 1 sti has some issues) it's still quite 'mid' on its own imo in terms of worldbuilding(barely showing us any environments in the war or having any combatants participating in it as central characters) also the designs of Wof were always founded in such a weird way(being called "tribes" and shit) also, the humor and dialogue(even when I loved the series) always felt way too meta and human-like to me, especially near the end with the Scorpion just being a normal criminal city instead of anywhere legitimately dangerous in the animal world.

HTTYD, though? In the movies and books Dragons are very much meant to be real animals, all the while still being intelligent. In the books dragons were intelligent enough to speak, BUT were still very much animals in terms of design and execution. Also, the designs in the movies in general just have so much variety and creativity in a way WOF could never(a dragon doesn't have to be related to an entirely different subspecies just to have a Slightly Different Appearance from others of it's kind, like Sunny). I know WoF only had 7 main kinds to work with, BUT still! You have all this variation(Sun-themed, Moon-themed, possibly Star themed if Tui was brave enough to just make the shit two distinct species, Ocean-themed, Earth-themed, Sky-themed)and you still messed it up(also imo Icewings and Rainwings should've never been a main dragon tribe bc YOU ALREADY HAAAVE AN AQUATIC TRIBE TO FOCUS ON but okay Tui)

youre exactly right, WOF has the same problem that MLP does, in that it's a fantasy world of non-human, quadrupedal magical creatures and yet all the architecture around them looks exactly like anything made and used by humans. drives me nuts! i havent read the HTTYD books, but the movies have such lovely and believable worldbuilding, and i know the designs are (mostly?) based off the books, which are fantastic

[destinyc1020]

Im not gonna argue with anyone about kaia's acting b/c it isnt the best mostly b/c she comes across as lifeless and unnatural. She def benefits from the fact shes a nepo baby and white. However I will defend her in bottoms, b/c its sometimes more about casting then it is acting. Kaias character is supposed to come across as one dimensional, a sterotypical popular high school girl who everyone aspires to be with she doesnt have any substance outside of her looks which is juxtaposed with this idea that a girl like her wouldnt be interested in somethink like bare knuckle fighting. Her role doesnt require dynamic acting and I would argue someone like zendaya wouldnt work b/c shes to dynamic and would go against the one dimensionality of how character was written. Certainly could this role have gonna to a black woman like laura harrier ( who also cant act) yeah totally but I think kaia works as that character, that doesnt mean shes a great actor . She still struggles with basic things such the inability to convey emotion.

Also austin, I like austin hes very dynamic but Im also not 100 convinced. Hes a great character actor evidenced by dune part 2. He was great in elvis fantastic even. He clearly puts the work in and willing to work on his craft. But after watching bike riders early this year and two episodes masters of air, he was very underwhelming dont know if he has the longevity as a lead ( hopefully he changes my mind b/c he seems like a cool dude and I want him to succeed). Hes struggling mightily with accents and in bikeriders he was overshadowed by jodie comer and tom hardy also even mike faist (for his very small role in bikeriders but hes extremely sensitivity and empathetic in portrayal as an interviewer). His latest stuff he comes across as one note and places too much emphasis on a huskier/smoky voice that at times sound more distracting and hinders the character.

(Though for MOTA im still in wait and see mode cause I havent seen the entire series yet)

Re: Kaia...

Sooo... basically, what you're saying is that they gave her a character role that she basically already embodies (dull, lifeless, etc) because that's how her acting already is in real life? Am I understanding this correctly lol? 😅

That's fine if you liked her in the "Bottoms" movie (we all have different tastes). I didn't even see the movie (it just didn't look funny at all to me 👀), but I saw enough clips lol 😅

Re: Austin....

Interesting take on Austin. 🤔 I haven't seen him in Dune Part 2 or The Bikeriders yet, so I can't really speak to those films... yet. 🤷🏾‍♀️

But I thought he did great in Elvis. 👍🏾

Maybe he IS a character actor? Nothing wrong with that. There are PLENTY of great character actors in Hollywood, and that's where they thrive. ☺️

I honestly haven't seen much of his work post-Elvis to really judge. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I'm excited to see more of his work in this phase of his career. I've only seen clips of him in OUATIH and I thought he was great in that. He's really good at disappearing in roles, which I like. So far, his characters have been diversely DIFFERENT ever since the play he did with Denzel Washington, and I love that. Sometimes, it's hard to imagine I'm watching the same actor lol 😆 😂

Maybe you're so used to seeing Austin in character roles that when he plays someone quieter and less "out there" you are bored lol 😆

Like I said, I haven't seen him in "The Bikeriders" yet, but it's hard to imagine anyone outshining Tom Hardy, coz Tom is just.... 👌🏾

Prior to "Elvis", I'd only seen Austin in fluff TV shows like "The Carrie Diaries" or "Switched at Birth", etc. So I've seen him in various different roles PRE-Elvis.

So far, I'm enjoying MOTA, and I'm interested in seeing where his career takes him in this era. I'm just glad he's getting to do more of the type of work that he wants to do now in his career. 😊

Re: His voice....

Austin's voice has ALWAYS been deep imo. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Deep and slightly raspy.

Here are some old clips....

I think when he got older, it just got a bit huskier.

I really don't think he's putting anything on. Don't pelt me with tomatoes but I actually sort of suspect (I only said SUSPECT) that he kinda ruined his voice a little when singing for Elvis all those years. I'm a singer as well, and it can definitely happen. I had vocal nodules that changed my voice (I could barely speak at one point). I had to go through vocal therapy for many months in fact for it.

My voice is fine now, thankfully lol 😆, but if you've developed vocal nodules, they can for sure change the quality of your voice. So, he might just have vocal nodules. I don't suggest getting them surgically removed if anyone has them, but vocal rest, along with changing ways in which you vocalize can help diminish them.

[discoidal]

did you ever listen to the recent fob album? id love to hear your thoughts!

omggg i LOVED so much (for) stardust i have an abundance of thoughts!!

love from the other side is a good opening, i think it's a good song and sets the tone for the rest of the album well plus i love the sound and it gave us "what would you trade the pain for / im not sure" and other cool lyrics. one of the best choruses of the album also imo 8/10

heartbreak feels so good DOES feel pretty damn good no lie i lovee fall out boy cheesiness! 7/10

hold me like a grudge got me like i dont want heartbreak anymore i want to be loved now. the prechorus in this one is sooo addictive so good gets stuck in my head every time. patrick stump gets to sing his heart out i love it ALSO gave us "part time soulmate full time problem" 9/10

fake out understands me like every fob album has that song thats like My song and this is it . it's mine. THEE best chorus. i cant even articulate my feelings fully here. i feel a little cringe listening to it on repeat but thats my business and my business only 10/10

heaven, iowa is one i didnt rlly connect with unfortunately. ehhh 6/10 it sounds good naman and lyrics are good my heart just isn't in it

so good right now WHAT did i say about fall out boy cheese! i <3 mania the album and mania the psychiatric symptom and it shows. 7.5/10

the pink seashell i missed u fob spoken word....

i am my own muse i acc havent listened to this one that much which is a shame and i aim to rectify that immediately. 8.5/10

flu game my FAVORITE song on the entire album! i LITERALLY carved out a place in this world for two but it's empty without you..... also pretty cheesy but earnest and true last night i dreamt i still. knew. yOUUUUUUU!!! 10/10

baby annihilation I MISSED YOU FOB SPOKEN WORD...

the kintsugi kid not many thoughts abt this one actually. lol 6.5/10

what a time to be alive this song makes me soooo depressed you dont even know. 7.5/10 with the caveat that this song is the most likely to make me cry on the album

so much (for) stardust DESERVED title track what a song omfg. 9/10 we thought we had it all!!!! one of fob's best for sure like it is Up There for me. this entire album was so honest and this one is just as honest but more morose and more operatic which i think works WITH not against the rest of the album. optimism's dark underbelly. smth like that ANYWAY. loved.

thank u sm arby for asking this im sure u didnt expect this length but well. i have things i want to say and i thank you for hearing them 🥰

[literalite]

!!!NOT A WCIF!!!!

hiiii <3 big ask big answer is what i'm expecting would LOVE to know your top 5/faves across various media that are new(in release or just new to you) this year! so: shows, movies, games, books, songs/albums, new artists you've discovered etc

HI IMO 🫶 happy bday btwwww!!!!! heres my top five seven of this year in no particular order 😈

LAUREL HELL by mitski (2022)

one thing about me is that i LOVE mitski... i've been waiting for the new album ever since working for the knife dropped in 2021 and she did not disappoint literally so many of the songs were SO relatable and applicable to my life its safe to say she carried me thru early 2022... heat lightning and should've been me are my two fav songs from the album but literally the whole thing is no skips for me

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE directed by daniel kwan and daniel scheinert (2022)

no bcos i walked into this movie hearing so many good things about it i was kind of worried ab it being underwhelming to my expectations But It Was Not. it made me bawl the first time i watched it highkey 🤭 something about the specific flavour of parental... disappointment?? love??? it was beautifully crafted and stephanie hsu's performance to me was unforgettable im probably going to go watch her entire portfolio ive watched the vid below like 10 times

MOB PSYCHO 100 from one and studio bones (2016-2022)

jort recommended this show to me and i finally bit the bullet and watched it in may... ITS SO BEAUTIFUL. IT JUST. clenches fist idkkk this show just is stunning on so many levels visually its my fav anime i think??? so many frames that will live in my head forever... also the nature of the narrative about Kindness without the like framework of whether its "deserved" or you're worthy of giving or receiving it really spoke to me. hats off to jort for this i'm rlly glad i got to start it while the show was airing

SMITHEREENS by joji (2022)

unfortunately i am genuinely a joji fan so i was super hyped for this album... he's got such a melancholy(?) tone to his music that rlly speaks to me i think if i seriously made music i would probably want to emulate that if even a little. my only criticism is i wished the album was longer HDKSHSK die for you and 1am freestyle r my favourite songs from it

NOPE directed by jordan peele (2022)

what hasn't already been said about this movie. IT'S SO GOOD. i love my horror movies but i will freely admit that like 80% of the films in the entire genre are just objectively Bad especially american made horror movies 🤭 jordan peele completely sidesteps that issue and nope has to be my fav of his works so far i think. it has layers like an onion i'm still thinking about it like months after watching it... mr peele already had a fan in me for life but this solidifies it

ANDOR created by tony gilroy (2022-?)

okay hear me out i know its star wars (👎) and thus my opinion on the franchise has generally been biased but this show literally knocked my ass into the water it was so unexpectedly good? and not good in a pitying oh at least x character from x series made a cameo NO the show like knew exactly what it was trying to say and said it beautifully. diego lunas performance was genuinely so moving i highly recommend everyone even if u havent watched star wars!! u dont need like all the context just watch a new hope and rogue one after the show? maybe

ICYMI by eden (2022)

finishing off with my personal fav artist of all tiiime 🥰🥰🥰 ive been literally obsessed with his music the second i found it so i was waiting patiently for this album for ages. no skip ass album i just fucking love his music it feels like im levitating it feels like my soul is being read. if i made music and it had even a sliver of this albums energy i'd die a happy man. i literally listened to nothing but it for like a week straight i think. my fav songs from it are balling and closer 2

[alivehouse]

just wondering why you dislike Neil gaiman so much?? not trying to criticize or defend him, just curious

gghhhhh

(this is all just going to be based on good omens related stuff bc i havent really willingly interacted with any other work of his since i was like 12 he is not a great writer imo)

ok before i get into why specifically the way he uses his socials annoys me so much i just want to mention that good omens (tv show) has a serious problem with treating its characters of color poorly/as disposable (which this post goes into) and as far as i know neil has never so much as acknowledged this let alone apologize for it so theres that

but as for why i hate his social media presence specifically so much i just think the way he interacts with his fanbase is annoying & i dont want to use the term 'gaslighting' for something this stupid but i dont even know how else to describe his habit of like. pretending he wrote aziraphale and crowley in a relationship for the sake of clout?

^ he used to regularly regularly say condescending no homo shit like this but then when he realized he could get attention for pretending he wrote queer characters he pulled a 180 and started going 'ohhhh i DID write them in a relationship actually and also trans and also nonbinary i cant believe you didnt GET it just because its SUBTLE im sorry half assed vaguely subtextual scene #5 was not enough for you stupid fa- i mean people'

and he does this shit constantlyyyy and gets no flack for it. in fact a lot of his fanbase encourages it even bc were still stuck on begging for word of god scraps from rich straight men instead of engaging with work made by actual queer people i guess. (ALSO THIS TWEET SPECIFICALLY IS REALLY FUNNY bc like a month later he lied about there being a secret handholding scene in the show to send people on a wild goose chase zooming in on shit trying to find anything just to give him more streams i guess i dont know i think it was a stupid thing to even fall for honestly but it still strikes me as kind of cruel)

i mentioned this in tags before & idk if he still does this but he used to go look up his own name on here to find people talking negatively about him so he could reblog it and get them dogpiled which is why you see people talking negatively about him calling him 'neilman' so much instead of his actual searchable name. literal full grown man picking fights with random people on here bc he knows hell win since hes a famous author and will get backed up no matter what

and ok this is edging into fandom circlejerking (i think hes only said this one a few times but his fanbase brings it up constantly to shield him from any criticisms) so i wont go into this as much as i could but theres this Thing hell do where he says they cant be gay bc they technically arent men bc they arent humans (based on a bit in the book where they feel the need to specify that aziraphale is NOT ACTUALLY GAY after continuously subjecting him to homophobic language/aggression) and people will bend over backwards trying to interpret this as meaning they are canon nonbinary and Epic Trans Rep and hell vaguely encourage this instead of like acknowledging the extended man-in-a-dress evil nanny bit in the show and pointing out that it was fucked up? & honestly the whole undertone of that is like 'this character might go out of their way to look like and dress like and act like and refer to himself as a man but he cant REALLY be a man because he wasnt Created That Way' like how the fuck am i supposed to be treating this as a trans positive read of the situation lmao. not to mention the 'inhuman = nonbinary,' 'nonbinary = CANT be gay!!! there are no gay nonbinary people i guess' legwork going on here going on here i dont know its a whole mess

PLUS i just think its funny that hes said making characters gay would be disrespectful to his deceased cowriter but pulling an entire second out of his ass for that sweet amazon money apparently isnt lmao

and to finish this off just for fun heres him at the start of the pandemic when there was a crazy high rising death toll making it about his fucking book, + him answering another ask in response to that AFTER he had deleted the original post, to make the person asking him look like they were attacking him for no reason:

[kodev]

MY GOODNESS THATS SO IN DEPTH!! Love it!! Few more things sorry for putting them all in one ask

1) I have absolutely 0 previous mahoyaku knowledge so it was vaguely word salad to me like. I got the gist but if you wish to elaborate (mahoyaku for dummies)

2) Relationship chart would be awesome yes

3) I LOVE THESE GUYS. I'm shaking them around they're so well thought out and cool seriously seriously so excited to see the game!

okay first off i am so sorry for this like month late response... im currently a high school senior in the midst of college apps season haha so i havent had time to really do anything T__T my apologies again... and thank u for the questions! i will literally talk about mhyk for ages if enabled lol. word dump below

mhyk for dummies: mahoyaku is a pretty boy mobage. i am so sorry i just need to get that out there. anyways two things that *i* think that set it apart from other mobages is its not an otome so you cant date any of the characters AND its got more of a focus on non-romantic pairings i guess? idk if that makes sense but it does show and i do greatly enjoy the relationships (platonic, romantic, or whatever the fuck) between a lot of the characters since imo its very well written. even if i havent been keeping up with any of the stories. ALSO since its in a wizard universe they do some pretty cool things with gender... dont want to say they are nonbinary but the creator did confirm that gender works differently for wizards. Highly enjoyable. Also a lot of bisexuals but some of them embarass me

ANYWAYS its a wizard world... wizards are born as like um.. idk theyre pretty rare unless its hereditary i think but i would say out of 100 random human babies one of them is a wizard. this comes with neat perks like: magic! immortality as long as you dont get killed (tbf its very hard to get killed if youre magic but wtv)! trying to think of other perks but really i think thats it! it also has cons like: a lot of people fucking hate you for no reason if they find out youre a wizard! and if you make a promise and break it you lose all ur magic :(. wizards turn into mana stones when they die (pretty rocks, also the gacha currency which is really fucking funny), which other wizards can eat to gain power or humans can use to power magic tools. ppl wont find out youre a wizard unless you start using magic or youre there long enough so that ppl r like "Hey its been 50 years why is this guy not aging". (ofc u only STOP aging after u hit ur magic peak but thats only a fun bit of trivia that isnt super relevant? idk)

before i get into anything else: there are 5 countries (north, east, south, west, central, very creatively named ik ik). north is a brutal country, the idea of survival of the fittest is probably taken to the extreme there, although there are some exceptions. its "ruled" by whoever the reigning wizards are there at the time, which leads to some pretty insane northern wizards! so muchmental illness. east has probably the worst of wizard hating, very forested country and ppl there tend to be pretty isolated/keep to themselves but witch? wizard? hunts are fairly common there. probably worst place societally to live as a wizard. south is the nicest place to live out of the five sort of... i think in recent history the coal miners overthrew the feudal lords so the entirety of south is still sort of being actively developed, its kind of barren but also not? idk. wizards and humans live in harmony in south, but as a result, the wizards there are also known for being really weak and err... "softhearted" in comparison. western country is full of insane people. they also generally dont like wizards but if youre funny enough theyll enjoy you. western is sort of steampunky as a result of being like the idk tech capital of the wizard world. most western wizards are fucking insane but in a really benevolent and cute way. im skipping over an insane amount of worldbuilding btw HELP umm theres nuance to all of these places nods nods im kind of just giving the broad strokes here. anyways finally central! i love central. sort of the trading hub of the world. had a famous revolution led by wizards about 100 years ago and there was wizard jesus christ. anyways wizard jesus christ gets betrayed by his closest friend, his closest friend burns him at the stake, the revolution fails but then his closest friend rewrites history to portray wizard jesus christ as a saint and also to say that the revolution wasnt for wizards but rather against the reigning king by humans? i love central rev btw such interesting worldbuilding... sedespa and aapeli from my game aare from central rev. ANYWAYS thats probably the closest i can get to the mhyk for dummies < guy who didnt talk about the pplot or characters of mahoyaku at all.

also the moon is evil and tries to kill everyone once a year they call it the great calamity. not super relevant for my game but very relevant for mahoyaku.

RELATIONSHIP CHAAAAART:

had to make this quickly sorry lol THANK U FORASKING AGAINNN

[echoesofadream]

Hi hi! I just wanted to expand more on the post you reblogged from me ☺️ honestly there really isn’t a problem with boycotting it—I don’t have a problem anyway bc I understand that the conditions are horrible and all. My problem comes from the fact that people are only calling jungkook out and not the other artists that perform. There are other big names performing at fifa but everyone is only focusing and calling jungkook out. Imo performing at fifa or at a soccer/football game isn’t the same as condoning the actions of a country’s government. If that were the case then bts wouldn’t be able to perform at any country, especially in the US or Europe since they have done so many atrocious acts as well. For me, the hypocrisy truly bothers me and that’s the entire problem with it. Because a lot of western fans only care about calling out the non western countries and forget about the atrocities of their own/don’t boycott those either. They only care when it comes to minority countries, which we should still call them out on ofc, but the hypocrisy is truly what’s disheartening. Also, they’re not calling out any of the football players that are already there or the other performers, just jungkook. I understand wanting to boycott it and all, really, but personally I’m mad at the hypocrisy that some fans show and not the actual boycott itself.

Sorry for this long winded paragraph! I just wanted to explain my own viewpoint! I understand if you feel differently ofc! Just wanted to expand on some points more 🥰💜

Hey sorry i missed this. Thanks for responding to me i appreciate you taking the time to type this out

To be honest i havent seen any real criticism towards jungkook and honestly i have missed that kind of very valid criticism from army who in my eyes just uncritically praise anything the boys do. And then there are the antis who ofc use every chance they have to smudge the names of members who arent their favs especially popular ones like jk. I think its natural if army are disappointed in jk in particular rather than the other celebrities performing. Now if people who arent even fans of jk or the boys only criticize jungkook then thats obviously very weird and suspicious of being anti asian racism (idk what other big names are performing).

My point wasnt that performing in a country means condoning the actions of that countries government, even though i honestly dont see the problem with critisizing that either if you have valid arguments for it. Real world issues are more important than kpop.

That said, this is not that kind of situation. People have DIED when working for this particular sports event and someone in the notes of that post were talking about ”selective activism when it comes to jungkook” hello??? Even if that would be true it doesnt take away from the cause of boycotting this. If that is your reaction then you should think outside of fandom dynamics for once. Even if people are using this against jungkook that is SUCH a non issue in the context of this. I understand and appreciate being protective of my favorite kpop boy but this is just a very disrespectful and flippant response.

And I hear you, you are more mad about the hypocrisy, not the boycott. I agree and I think it is completely valid to critizice and boycott anyone who is involved with this, whether its the football players, other artists, etc etc i know nothing about football. If not boycotting means directly supporting what is essentially modern day slavery.

And yes, you can always take it one step further. While this is directly supporting it you could take stands against indirectly supporting atrocity committed by different governments etc. But i dont believe in using a variant of ”there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” (or in this case rather imperialism) argument when it comes to a migrant workers dying so that some people can kick balls into nets and artists sing and the crowds just cheer. I think that is pretty straight forward and not some ethical dilemma.

[soulofamy]

putting this under a cut bc i dont want certain fans to jump me for my opinions but after letting it sit for a few days, heres what i think of the ac.olyte

id probably give it an overall 7/10. like i had fun with it and def would want to see more from it. but there are some glaring problems with it too that im trying to wrap my head around. maybe if i give it a second watch through it will make more sense to me but for now after one playthrough of the first season, here is where my mind is:

first i will tall about the things i absolutely loved:

yo.rd and j.ecki remain my favorite characters in the show, they are just so fun and they really stand out among the innumerable je.di we have in canon right now. i tend not to like jed.i very much (with the exception of obiwan) but i am pleasantly surprised with how much i enjoy them.

THE FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY it was some of the best starw.ars weve seen in YEARS tbh. i normally find fight scenes to be boring and i just want them to be overwith so that we can get back to the actual story. but the lightsaber fights here??? i was on the edge of my seat they were SOO good.

the acting was pretty good!! some better than others but i think every character had their moments

the setting, i really really love that we are exploring a completely new (to tv/movies anyway) era with new faces. it makes the few cameos we have feel like they have the proper amount of acknowledgement, the show does not rely on them the same way that like...ahso.ka or k.enobi did. also i just feel like the high repu.blic was a more elegant time than the prequels era. the cloths, the weapons, the aesthetic was 10/10

i applaud them for doing something different with their protag. it confuses me a bit, but this outcome wasnt the one i predicted, it was my "wouldnt it be interesting if...?" outcome. also i am going to say it: qi.mir is everything sequel fans THINK kyl.o r.en is. qi.mir blows him out of the water. i couldnt understand why re.ylo happened or what their fascination was with each other (idc im not interested in it being explained to me either tbh) but while i still see storytelling flaws in osh.amir, i can still tell you why they happened the way they did and why they work. incredible, we havent gotten a compelling st.arwars couple since obi.tine, i am so excited ("but what about-" shhhhhhhhhh i said what i said)

now the parts that make me kind eh about it:

the pacing was very off. unlike other sw shows, each episode was like on average a half hour?? very short amount of time. AND there were only 8 episodes. and i feel like they didnt really use their time effectively. they spent so much time retreading old water with the flashbacks when they could have been using that time to more directly show us more about ma.e and o.shas relationship. like okay i GET that they arent sisters, theyre the same person split into two bodies....and??? why does that matter? why do we care about that? what makes them different from regular fo.rce sen.sitive twins like tipl.ee and ti.plar or l.uke and le.ia? like the last episode tries to make so.l revealing this out to be some big dramatic reveal but tbh i didnt even know we were building up to it??? and whats funny is os.ha didnt even seem phased by it? she was more concerned with her mothers death lol

can someone explain to me why the solution at the end of the series is "erase ma.es memories?" instead of qimi.r being like "you know what o.sha? since shes your sister and you care about her so much, lets bring her back to our little cortosis island too" LIKE WHY CUT THE TWO APART? AFTER ALL THIS TIME?? maybe im forgetting a crucial detail idk i just dont understand the need to do that?

yo.rd and je.cki being so unceremoniously killed and then no one ever acknowledging them again makes me angry. they shouldnt have died to begin with imo but like they did, did vernes.tra not take all their bodies back for a funeral? do their deaths mean nothing to o.sha? with the exception of the story isolating o.sha so that she feels like she has no where better to go than with qi.mir, i really truly dont understand the point of their deaths

bazi.l was really freaking annoying i hope he dies

i guess its a little too soon to speak on this part but like i really cant see any way for them to execute o.shamir in a way thats healthy. dont get me wrong, i am all for them giving us a toxic or layered ship but like with how osh.a literally has no one now and how much it honestly feels to me like qi.mir is projecting himself onto her, i really do feel like this ship deserves way more nuance than "and then they were cute and domestic on their little island until the gremlin man in the cave started making problems for them". idk. i am intrigued, i def think it works better than r.eylo but like i fear the execution will be horrible

those are my thoughts i think. i feel like i had more but i cant think of it off the top of my head now

[unfunky-and-out-of-time]

seeing a lot of reactions to ep 7 and as someone who has barely seen ep 4-6 i thought id be the perfect person to share my thoughts on it

this was more watchable than the other eps. tbh i am lowkey checked out w most of the character and seeing the ones i really liked become boring is a shame..... mm was my absolute fav and theres something about his arc this season that feels like his character is stagnating. when i thought his struggle in s3 was arguably one of the best arcs of the entire show! so yeah idk. that sucks

frenchie idgaffffffffffffff about i think he stopped being a good character after s2. tbh the show is generally at its strongest when it explores the dynamics between the characters and idk whats up but i think the writers this season got sick of it? its silly

^ adding to this. hughie and butchers dynamic is just completely gone..... kind of funny bc this is literally what its been about. imagine breaking bad but walt and jesse dont talk. the few dynamics they still remember feel like theyve been... declawed? mm and butcher fight but its whatever. annie and butcher disagree and who gaf they HAVE to work together (i strongly disagree with this and also i dont think the boys shouldve reunited at the end of s3 but thats another story)

i also really dislike that we havent brought up lenny in so long. he's so crucial to butchers character. i also just generally miss butcher and homelanders dynamic even if idgaf about him. that was the other central dynamic of the show imo. i miss when butcher would hallucinate homelander mocking him! i need kessler to start rolling his eyes at butcher or else....

a few specific thoughts:

ive known about butcher cheating on becca for months now and thought it was incredibly stupid and ruined a lot of his character. mulled over it for a few months and came to the conclusion that its not absolutely out of character. i do think butchers relationship with becca is his central moral guide and that he put much more on her than you should in any healthy relationship and that she was probably aware of it but definitely not to the total extent. like i always say he probably just spent hours staring at the wall waiting for her to come home when they were married. i also think he is a huge self-saboteur and i do believe becca made him want to be better (even if its not in a traditionally healthy way etc whateverrr) but i think especially with a guy like him it wasnt all very straight and nice. they must have had a lot of ups and downs and i think becca knew him as much as he let her (in s2 she says something along the lines with "this didnt start with me" and butcher also says "what was i before you? nothing") because that to me would show what made their relationship so special and central to butchers character. i do not think her death made him snap, i think her love made him hold back and believe he was content with a simple life even if that would never be the case. at the same time i think he fully believed he was completely undeserving of her love and that paired with his alcohol abuse would get to him.

"becca lied to both butcher and ryan so ryan saying she would want him to tell the truth doesnt make sense" this is kind of funny bc like..... she is allowed to be a hypocrite? and i think it makes her much more interesting for it? she was dealt absolutely shitty cards and the entire situation is unjust so pointing this out is kind of weird. she can absolutely preach one thing and do another this is literally every other character on this show

butcher and ryans dynamic is probably the only thing i have an unpopular opinion on but thats because my take on them is heavily painted by their pre s3-finale interactions and the writers chose to take a different route with them after that