#anyway wtf was that train plot eh

[constantvariations]

I don't think anything will ever be funnier than Banesaw's first of his only two sentences being, "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee," knocking Weiss unconscious in a single hit, then just chucking her into the next room so Blake can save her

[a-pirate-my-hearties]

Brotherhood of the Wolf (a review? Furious posting? Who knows? I know that film is 19 years old but anyway, #spoilers ahead). Buckle up for a long post!

Yesterday I watched “Brotherhood of the Wolf” for the first (and probably last) time. It definitely looked like my type of thing - period drama, XVIII century, horror elements, I knew some of the cast are good actors, so I decided to give it a try.

According to Wikipedia:

“Brotherhood of the Wolf (French: Le Pacte des loups) is a 2001 French period action horror film[3][4] directed by Christophe Gans, co-written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel, and starring Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Émilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel. The story takes place in 18th-century France, where the Chevalier de Fronsac and Mani of the Iroquois tribe are sent to investigate the mysterious slaughter of hundreds by an unknown creature in the province of Gévaudan. The plot is loosely based on a real-life series of killings that took place in France in the 18th century and the famous legend of the beast of Gévaudan; parts of the film were shot at Château de Roquetaillade. The film has several extended swashbuckling fight scenes, with martial arts performances by the cast mixed in, making it unusual for a historical drama. The special effects for the creature are a combination of computer generated imagery, as well as puppetry and animatronics designed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.”

So while the martial arts (of which I’m a big fan, everyone who knows me well knows that) and animatronics seemed atypical for such a film, I decided to watch anyway. And it was good fun while it lasted (2 and a half hour is waaay too long, by the way, at least for my taste), but then I was finished, which left me sleep deprived (now I know it wasn’t that worth it), and so it begins.

There’s too much of everything stuffed into that film. Swashbuckling fight scenes, period drama, horror, Gothic themed scenes (and a lot of them, which made my little creepy heart happy), martial arts, Native American rituals and beliefs, an animatronic beast (??? I mean, at least they could have made it CGI, for crying out loud), a dangerous religious sect, and way too much unnecessary violence towards innocent wolves (I know they weren’t innocent in the eyes of those who killed them, but the film makers could at least decide not to show it explicitly). So much going.

And I’m fuming, because it could have been so easily a wonderful Gothic horror kind of film! With better writing and less fiddling about the plot it could have been something like “Jane Eyre” or "Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", or “Crimson Peak”, but no. Nooo. They had to make it sell, hence a lot of special effects and unnecessary (in my eyes) fight scenes.

So what did we have that could have made “Brotherhood of the Wolf” a great, believable Gothic horror piece of cinema?

the protagonist (Grégoire de Fronsac) and his loyal, mysterious friend (Mani), that is much more interesting than the protagonist really (and is a Native American from the Iroquois tribe, who possesses magic powers? He’s got that powerful connection with nature and spirits. Idk how that’s supposed to fit into the Gothic, but eh, Mani was an awesome character and I’m not going to let him out of this)

the feisty heroine (Marianne de Morangias)

the disabled/disfigured antagonist with tragic past ( Jean-François de Morangias, THANK YOU VINCENT CASSEL)

the mysterious, badass courtesan (bowing down to Monica Belucci for this one)

the horror story AND the space for the horror that’s unravelling (the beast killing people in the province of Gévaudan, the province itself + the castle)

the (almost tragic) love story (de Fronsac + Marianne)

the duality of good and evil (kinda) in one character (Jean-François being all cute and easy on the eyes and more-less civil before he reveals his disfigurations to Marianne and oh boy. I’d love to say Jekyll&Hyde, but it wasn’t a thing until 1886, so let’s say a two-face kind of situation, because doppelgänger would be a stretch here.)

incest/incestous attraction -  (I know, it’s fucking horrible, but it was quite common in XIX century literature  - vide writings of François-René de Chateaubriand (for example René , 1805), and, unfortunately, in life, so you can look up Byron and his sister, and it was used in “Crimson Peak” as well

a lot of sexy banter and intellectual talk in general (one should never underestimate the tension it creates!)

Draw Me Like One Of Your French Girls™ 

So yeah, this sums up more less what could have been...

Now what went wrong.

Grégoire de Fronsac is boring. Just plain boring, at least in my eyes. I appreciate that he went straight up berserk to avenge Mani though. That was Good Shit.

Marianne de Morangias. Feisty and stubborn, yes. Intelligent, without a doubt. Sensitive, still a bit naive and putting on a shield because she’s growing up in an unfavourable environment. But I have a feeling that she wasn’t exactly written well enough and she’s ends up being at least a bit of an annoying, privileged, poutty child. So there’s that, maybe I’m nitpicking.

Jean-François de Morangias. Simply a wasted character, because Vincent Cassel’s acting was GORGEOUS. He could have been a great antagonist/villain if given a chance, and it was ruined by too much protagonist, running around aimlessly, swashbuckling and kicking through the scenes. Him being the commander of the beast wasn’t explained well enough (because the beast had a commander). And they ended up giving Jean-François the weirdest weapon in the final fight with de Fronsac, which ruined his image entirely and just. Didn’t stick, just what the fuck was that? What the fuck was that nunchaku-sword made of bones????

That beast. It was just laughable. I’m sorry, I was sympathizing the fuck with it, it was a tortured animal put into heavy armour and trained to kill, but just. Wtf was that armour?? Who made that thing and decided it was good to put that into the film???

Too much martial arts, again. What was that for?

I feel like, besides Mani, most of the Native American/POC were depicted in a racist manner, like they weren’t even talking, just fighting, drinking, partying, not talking AT ALL most of the time but growling at each other or others, laughing like maniacs, acting agressive, like animals, even the sexual behaviours shown on the screen were vulgar. I don’t know if it was supposed to show POC through the lens of the white people of that time, but it was awful anyway.

Scenes pointlessly fading one into the other. Probably made to look artistic. Didn’t make sense most of the time.

The plot was full of holes. Just wear a bullet-proof vest next time.

If I can sum this up in any way... Watch it for the beautiful pictures, music, costumes, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Mark Dacascos. And don’t  expect too much from the plot.

[sp4c3-0ddity]

cliche “what I would do differently in season 8″ post

Warning:  contains plance and some kallura bias

Disclaimer:  my memory on the season (especially some details and the order of certain events) is already rather hazy, and this is more focused on characters and relationships than on plot, with which i was mostly pleased (and it’s probably crap besides)

all right here we go:

first of all when Hunk gives Lance the run-down of the Voltron tv show and mentions that it hints at romance between Keith and Allura, Lance doesn’t react except to maybe look uncomfortable. Hunk is surprised he doesn’t have anything else to say about it and wonders why he’s unusually subdued, and Lance admits Veronica (not Hunk, who’s more aware of the dynamics within the team) is encouraging him to ask Allura out. Hunk wonders what’s stopping him and Lance, still a little cagey about it, says he doesn’t know but decides he’s gonna...so he does and Allura accepts reluctantly with Romelle’s encouragement as portrayed

Pidge still agrees to go shopping with Allura but when it comes to bartering for the dress the Unilu fixates on her glasses as a “Voltron collectible”. she’s reluctant for a good second before admitting she never needed them anyway (implied they were an emotional crutch while her family was missing more than anything else) and handing them over

Coran still puts Lance through his paces but in a less humorous and more uncomfortable fashion that implies he might be a little out of his depth

after the mall Pidge, not wanting to return to her “imprisonment” on the eve of leaving Earth again, goes off to watch the sunset. Lance finds her, and at first she’s a little stiff until he teases her about her “appreciation” for something so mundane (to her). Pidge muses it’s not so mundane if it could be the last time she ever sees it, then wonders what he’s doing with her when he should be getting ready for his date, but before he answers Keith interrupts. Pidge takes the opportunity to leave (she’s still grounded and Romelle and/or Rizavi have probably suffered for covering for her). Lance properly apologizes to Keith for his antagonism

the date isn’t awkward, Lance’s family still likes Allura and she appreciates their warmth, but something is still wrong and, when they’re off alone. Allura looks like she’s on the brink of saying something (after the tree healing incident) when Lance confesses he’d liked her for a long time and had a good time with her that night but that he realizes they’re better as friends. Allura breathes a sigh of relief that she didn’t have to break his heart because she agrees and doesn’t really have time to dabble in a romance anyway and they share an amiable hug

Krolia (because i missed her) is in “Battle Scars” and makes the realization that they’re dealing with Ranveig’s monster and communicates a warning seconds before Keith does

in the Olkarion episode Pidge’s grief bonds her more strongly to the Green Lion, which is how she connects with the planet enough to view its last moments. Lance and Hunk show a bit more concern for her and both comfort her (Allura’s still with her most of the time and insists she’ll be safe with her when they go with Keith to deter the weblum). also the Olkari refugees contact the Coalition after the fact and Pidge (and the Holts) greets them and they all mourn Ryner and the rest that didn’t survive their planet’s destruction. Pidge carries the anger with her for most of the rest of the season (so she now has another personal stake in seeing Honerva defeated)

the team splits as Lance/Pidge and Allura/Hunk. Ezor is actually dead and Acxa made the whole thing up to get Zethrid to surrender, but the Olkari guy does repent after Pidge and Keith “chat” with him about his choices (i.e. survivor’s guilt when he learns Olkarion was destroyed) so he still saves the ATLAS’ crew’s butts later

Honerva doesn’t drain the Guardian but rather takes it hostage to siphon off its quintessence. she still retrieves Lotor’s body and Sincline and they’re still on the verge of slicing the Red Lion (i.e. Lance) - made more meaningful since they’re explicitly friends and not romantically entangled - when Allura’s about to spear Honerva

rather than Lance, Keith gives Allura reassurance (and there’s no “romantic” mush but Kinkade still rebukes Rizavi for spying on a private conversation). also Krolia is interviewed alongside Kolivan, ostensibly to remind him of things he might’ve forgotten. she’s also shown reacting to Coran’s...excessiveness; there’s a brief glimpse of Pidge and Lance playing the new game while Rizavi observes they’re at it again and wonders if they’ll let her play seeing as she helped Pidge procure it, right in time for Hunk to interrupt and ask if they’ll taste something for him

Allura says that, after some rest, she’ll remove the “entities” from the other Altean colonists (she never does because...the one she removed from Tova ends up in her). all of them (especially Coran) are reluctant to leave her for the Clear Day carnival but she insists they go (Keith maybe gives her one last look before agreeing). alongside Lotor she hallucinates versions of Keith (who says he senses no hostile intent from it and that Lotor did have good intentions so maybe she should trust him), Shiro (who reminds her that he once had a direct link to Haggar’s mind, but if she knows about it she can use it to her advantage), and Coran (who tells her she’d be honoring her father’s memory experimenting with something he once did) in turn. Allura, despite her skepticism because she knows this isn’t real, sees no recourse and promises them that she’ll give it up as soon as they no longer need it

meanwhile at the carnival Hunk and Keith still get stuck on the ride (it was a Highlight). callback to “Space Mall”, Lance and Pidge go off together. when she doesn’t get enough tickets to earn the “best” prize, Lance cheers her up by challenging her to a pricey and rigged carnival game that he almost wins...which is when Pidge suffers the family portrait for more tokens. they retry, Lance wins and relinquishes his prize to Pidge, who may or may not blush only to observe he might be a good sharpshooter after all

(Pidge and Hunk both question how Shiro won at arm-wrestling without an elbow)

Coran is the most adamant about Allura not using the entity, though the others are still doubtful. Keith confronts her properly about it after the meeting, but Allura shuts his protests down by saying they need to defeat Honerva even at the cost of one of their lives (possibly alludes to his near-sacrifice at Naxzela)

Lance has a “wtf” moment when his bayard turns into the sword. he and Alfor only talk briefly about his appreciation for Allura before telling him he really should train in using that thing

Alfor to Allura about Keith:  why is the red one in the Black Lion??

(possibly he also comments on his quintessence-sense...because someone should)

Trigel lowkey chides Pidge for neglecting her connections with people outside her family while also commenting on her kinda adoption of the Olkari

when Alfor is incredulous about Allura’s use of the entity (even Zarkon reminds her of the damage it caused) she insists it was the only way (Keith, internally:  i told her so); the Paladins, horrified, stop her from tormenting a younger Zarkon with the memories of what his older/possessed self did, and she has a moment where she’s incredulous about what she’s doing/what she’s become; she promises that she’ll happily destroy the entity once they reach the end of the line

Allura admits to Coran that she saw her father while in Honerva’s mindscape. Coran begs her one last time to release the entity only for her to admit she’ll need someone else’s help

and when she’s recovering (when was that in the season?? can’t remember) everyone visits her, but it’s Lance reassuring Keith that Allura will be all right rather than the other way around...and he admits to remembering the “bonding moment”, Keith is like i knew it and rubs it in Lance’s face while still seeming troubled

Pidge still assists Slav and Sam but Trigel’s (and Slav’s hehe) reprimand sort of sticks with her and before they do battle she tells her teammates how much they all mean to her (maybe prefaces it with “i’m not good with people but you guys taught me how to be better”). there’s a group hug, but Lance lingers and they hug properly while she tells him that he’ll do great and he says that he knows (and he means it)

Battle proceeds. Maybe a little trimmed down so Lance, at some point, can “properly” bond with the Red Lion

Allura shows Honerva her work and tells her they can fix it if only she releases the Guardian. Honerva agrees, but it’s not enough and Allura reluctantly admits a life must be given too (and that the entity must be destroyed), at which point her teammates (Keith’s loudest, again bringing up his near-sacrifice at Naxzela as the wrong answer) protest...and Honerva offers something, that she started this and that she’ll finish it too and that Allura should live the life she never got to. she even uses the last of her power to take back the entity

“one year later”, Allura is shown mourning the person Honerva (and Zarkon) was by erecting a memorial to Alfor and to the Alteans that perished when Zarkon destroyed the planet and when Lotor harvested the colonists’ quintessence. she mentions to a few former colonists that they should never forget the mistakes of the past but learn from them, and she’s shown with Romelle and Coran, who begins briefing her on what Keith’s been up to with the Galra...

Pidge is with Matt, finishing up Chip (eh might as well keep it). he teases her about being late to her “date”, but Pidge insists it’s not a date (because all her other ex-teammates will be there)

the seven of them reminisce

Pidge works with her family but she’s also an ambassador spreading science ideas around the universe. Lance is an instructor at the Garrison (he basically has Iverson’s old job probably), and they’re implied to be happily in a relationship. Keith’s fate is pretty much the same but it’s mentioned he gets inspiration from Allura and her memories of old Altea. ditto Hunk

the show ends with Allura’s coronation as queen rather than Shiro’s wedding (though it can be implied he, attending wearing his black Garrison uniform, met Someone at the celebration afterward), and the Lions flying their separate ways, ostensibly to return when the universe needs Voltron again

[neverwatchedonepiece]

643-644: "Shaking Heaven and Earth! Admiral Fujitora's Power!" and "A Blow of Anger! A Giant vs Lucy!"

Brutal.... :(

Were I to sum up 643 and 644, it would be: unexpected feels and reveals.

The feels came from poor Brutal. It was all going so well! Luffy found a new pal and then, BAM.

The reveals? Well, we have the “return” of Norland from Skypeia, for one thing. Flower Field also seems to be the location for the next Big Showdown. 

The Donquixote Family have also made some moves. Diamante has put Bellamy in an uncomfortable position and an... artistic new character has been introduced. As for Doflamingo himself, he revealed a past working relationship with Trafalgar Law (I knew it! I knew there was something there!)

Oh, and we have yet another ridiculously powerful Admiral. :D

Fujitora is My New Favourite Admiral

This entire scene escalated quickly. It went from Dodgy Dealings to Dragon Ball in the blink of an eye. Not exactly an exemplary lesson in conflict resolution, but I am not complaining. 

Because it was awesome.

Law was understandably pissed off at being duped by Doflamingo. It wasn’t really Law’s fault. He’d planned the best he could with the information he had to hand. Unfortunately, it was just as Vergo had foretold: not knowing about Doflamingo’s past would be Law’s undoing.

Law refused to hand over Caesar. Doflamigo had reneged on his side of the bargain. “The deal’s off!”

Then Doflamingo said something interesting. “Is that how you talk to your boss after ten years of silence?”

Boss? Really?

I freaking knew it. I knew there was something between Doflamingo, Law and Vergo. It was the way Vergo spoke to Law back in Punk Hazard, calling him a brat, acting as if he knew everything about Law, about how he had improved but not enough. Doflamingo treats him in a similar way. Law is from North Blue, a territory in the New World. Dressrosa is in the New World. Was Law born in a territory claimed by Doflamingo?

I wonder what caused Law to go radio silence and desert Doflamingo? It must have been something horrendous. Maybe Law knows Doflamingo a bit better than he lets on.

Whatever the case, Doflamingo was adamant in retrieving Caesar. (Caesar’s starry-eyed moment was hilarious. I’d say he’s totally in love with Doflamingo, but the only thing I’d ship Caesar with is research funding).

There was a quick, “Yeah, I’ve heard all about you” exposition moment. Just to bring any viewers up to speed on Fujitora in case they missed that awesome episode when he sent an unfortunate bunch of fodders to a hole in the ground hell. “You were appointed as  Marine Admiral through the World Military Draft,” Doflamingo said. “I’ve heard a lot about you. They say you’re a monster who wields unquestionable power as well as Ryokugyu.”

First thing: World Military Draft? That’s a new one to me. Was Fujitora plucked from obscurity to become an Admiral through a military draft? Or was he retired in some capacity and they brought him back? Whatever Fujitora’s deal is, I’d be interested in finding out.

Second thing: what the hell is a Ryokugu?

Caesar’s presence at the Green Bit beach was of great interest to Fujitora and his Marines. Fujitora knew who Caesar was, which implies he has been briefed on all the Big Criminals or he does have prior experience working with the Marines. He is also familiar The Way Things Are, as he admitted they couldn’t arrest Caesar if he was working for Doflamingo (the perks of being a Shichibukai). He knows Doflamingo is a nasty bit of work but, as Doflamingo said, he has to be able to prove it. (I wonder if Fujitora is trying to do just that?)

Interestingly, it seemed like Fujitora also tried to throw Law a similar lifeline. Law is still officially a Shichibukai. His movements are crucial to the success of the Marine’s mission. If the Strawhats were working under Law, Fujitora was prepared to ignore the alliance. However, were it an alliance of equals, it would go against the Marines’ interests and Fujitora would be forced to arrest Law.

Law made some quick calculations. His original plan had failed. Even if he selected Fujitora’s Option #1, he would have to take the matter to Dressrosa and that would only make matters worse.

He chose Option #2 and fessed up to the alliance with the Strawhats.

“Welp, guess I’ll have to arrest you!” Fujitora said.

And a beautiful, big kaboom moment happened. Not only can Fujitora fire folk into holes in the ground, he can also crush them from above. A mighty meteorite came screaming down onto Green Bit. Caesar and the Fodders scarpered. Even Doflamingo was like, “FFS, is that not excessive?”

When the smoke cleared, only the three main fighters stood on conveniently preserved pillars of ground (hilarious, classic shounen trope. Love it).

Doflamingo was not pleased. “How did the Fleet Admiral train you, you damned stray dog!”

Fujitora remained supremely unfazed. “Thank you. I just wanted to test your skills. Now I’m going to arrest you, Is that okay, Law-san?” 

He’s such a polite guy. I like him.

But there’s just one thing. Doflamingo wants Law too. I don’t think he’ll let Fujitora get his hands on Law. If that happens, Law might spill the beans (I doubt he would but it’s possible). Then all Doflamingo’s secrets will be out.

The plot chickenz.

Flower Field Rendezvous Crew

Well, I think I know where the Strawhats will reconvene once all the subplots have run their course.

Flower Field is the place to be, folks!

I’m kind of relieved Sanji is back on track again. Once he realised Law was in trouble, he called Franky to update him. I love how Franky was like, “Yo, Sanji. What’s up?” and Sanji was like, “Well, I’m in love,” and Franky just said, “That’s nice. Btw, I think I can find the factory but we can’t just destroy it and get away. It’s a much bigger task than we thought! Oh yeah, and I read the newspaper. Doflamingo sure fooled us!”

Even Franky was trying to steer Sanji back to the plot, lmao.

Then Franky mentioned he was heading to Flower Field with Sol and that Sanji should meet him there to catch up.

Sanji finally caught up with Plot and mentioned the ominous fact that he couldn’t reach Nami or any of the others on Sunny. Franky replied, “You still think she’s weak? Anyway, Brook and Monster Chopper are with her. She’ll be fine!”

I kind of think Sanji had a point here. It’s not about thinking Nami’s weak. It’s the fact she’s not answering the DDM. If I were Franky, I’d be like, “Yeah, something’s not right. Let me try and see if I can get her to answer.”

Violet then exited the plot stage left. Before she ran off, she handed Sanji a very useful piece of intel: a map to the Smile Factory (it’s disguised as a Toy House). Sanji told her to take care of herself and also where the Strawhats’ final rendezvous point is (Western Harbour). I’m still a teeny bit suspicious of her because there is still time for her to be caught by Doflamingo and sell out the Strawhats.

Then Foxfire interrupted (lmao) and announced Sanji had to accompany him to a place called Toy House right away. Turns out that’s where Kanjuuro is also being held.

Am I right to be suspicious about how easily this is all working out for the Strawhats at the moment? I feel like Doflamingo knows what they’re up to and is leading them into a trap.

Norland’s Back!

Oh, how I missed your resplendent, chestnut barnet! That’s two sneaky Skypiea callbacks now (more on that later).

And why has Norland cropped up again?

Turns out he visited the Tontatta Kingdom four-hundred years ago, as a botanist. A crew of Evil Big Humans were destroying the Tontatta Kingdom and Norland, being an Absolute Lad, fought alongside them and helped them defeat the evil Big Humans. 

Usopp, being a smart guy, noticed the statue of Norland and totally took advantage. He had a chestnut-shaped helmet on and claimed to be Usoland, a descendant of Norland himself. The Tontatta people totally believed him and now they’re waiting on him hand and foot.

Robin was like, “Usopp, you are a terrible person,” and Usopp shot back with, “Well, it saved you too!” Fair point, Usopp!

It sort of backfired on him, though, because the chief arrived and announced Usopp’s presence on this most auspicious day must be fate. Why was that? Well, today was the day the Tontatta people vowed to fight the Donquixote Family! At Dressrosa, they will fight. The commander and fellow soldiers of the King Riku Army are expecting them at Flower Field. They begged Usopp to stand at the forefront of the charge and lead them. With Usoland, the Tontatta would be unbreakable!

I wish I could have seen Robin’s face at that moment.

But Flower Field, eh? I wonder if Sol the Toy and the Resistance movement have been working with the Tontatta People to muster up this rebellion? Signs point to yes, since Wicka was super keen for Zoro to take her to Flower Field.

At any rate, that’s Franky, Zoro, Usopp and Robin all headed for Flower Field. I bet they end up caught in the crossfire. So much for remaining undercover, eh?

Not the Worst Installation I’ve Ever Seen

So... Giolla’s a bit of a character, isn’t she?

It’s like meeting Miss Goldenweek’s eccentric art teacher.

To be honest, I think Nami, Brook and Chopper got the raw end of the deal being left behind on Sunny. They’re the first ones to face off against a Donquixote Family member. And one with a pretty bizarre but cool power too.

Giolla’s introduction was pretty cool. Screechy violin harmonics hinted something sinister was afoot. Nami, Brook, Chopper and Momo peered into the dorm and were like, “wtf is this lsd nonsense?”

Then came footsteps; shoes oddly similar to the ones Doflamingo wears (there must be a Donquixote Family dresscode). A cloud of colourful smoke turned the place into coloring book land.

The Strawhats reeled back, horrified. Chopper wondered if it was the work of a Devil Fruit user.

“Bad Taste Fruit?” Brook suggested. (Lmao, Brook!)

The door creaked open and Giolla appeared in all her art-teacher glory.

Nami was like, “Who the hell are you and what have you done to Sunny?”

Giolla shrieked at her to shut up. The goons she brought with her answered Nami’s question. “This is Giolla-sama of the Donquixote Family!”

Uh oh, I thought. This could be a problem.

“I don’t like people with no artistic taste!” Giolla declared. “My soul is swinging. I see an image. My mind is about to erupt! It’s going to explode! An image of liberty and beauty.”

Then she transformed Nami, Brook, Chopper and Momo into 2D versions of themselves. Nami demanded Giolla turn them back, but, interestingly, Giolla countered she would only do that if they handed over Momonosuke without a fight. What is that all about? Hmm... I’m starting to think there is something going on with Momonosuke. Why would Doflamingo want Momo? I guess he was caught up in all the Punk Hazard stuff. Maybe it’s a “no witnesses” situation. Or maybe Momo ate a really good fruit meant for Kaidou and Doflamingo wants to sell Momo to Kaidou to make up for the cool Dragon fruit disappearing?

Whatever the real reason, the Strawhats obviously refused. Negotiations broke down. Giolla attacked again. The Strawhats hatched a plan to lure her away from Sunny but for all Giolla acts like an eccentric art teacher, she is no fool when it comes to battle.

Poor Sunny looks pretty... different at the moment. 

Nami, Brook, Chopper and Momo are also surrounded by Giolla and her goons. Have no idea how they’ll escape but I love how Brook is most concerned about how mad Franky will be when he gets back.

Press F to Pay Your Respects for Brutal

F

Oh, the unexpected feels.

It was all going so well in the Colosseum. Luffy made friends with Brutal Bull when it challenged him in the ring. They had fun for a bit but once Luffy decided it was haki time, the fight was over. To my ABSOLUTE DELIGHT, Luffy did not punch out Brutal or finish him off.

No.

They teamed up! Luffy made a new bull friend! It was so adorable watching them mercilessly mow down the other fodders. They were having such a great time.

Until Hajrudin, the Giant Fun Sponge from Elbaf totally ruined it all.

Brutal accidentally got his horns stuck in Hajrudin’s boot. Hajrudin’s big hammer came down. I gasped. No! Luffy was fine but Brutal had been crushed.

“His little bull back legs. He needs them!” I wailed.

Luffy knelt down beside Brutal and touched him gently on the shoulder. Without saying a word, I knew revenge was imminent and inevitable.You know when Luffy’s eyes shift from one to two circles that shit is about to go down.

Cape blowing in the wind, he stood up, sized up Hajrudin, and executed a haki-filled beatdown worthy of Brutal’s name.

I can’t help but wonder if this scene with Brutal was a sneaky anti-bloodsports commentary from Oda? Maybe if you squint? I mean, instead of torturing an innocent bull for fun, what Luffy did was be friends with the bull; fight *with* the bull. The one who did harm the bull received a Gear 2nd Armored Haki punch right to the face.

I kind of hope Brutal is okay. I have visions of him recovering from his injuries and spending his days trampling people in Flower Field for years to come.

Things aren’t looking quite as simple for Luffy, though.

It seems everyone on Dressrosa is trying to kill him! Diamante slipped Bellamy a note in the Donquixote Family private backstage room. Said note contained orders from Doflamingo: Bellamy is to assassinate Luffy. One last chance at promotion. Obviously, Bellamy is now conflicted about this, as Luffy cheered him on in the ring and inspired him to travel to Skypiea. (I’m leaning towards Bellamy attempting, then regretting and betraying Doflamingo.)

Cavendish Banana is also on the warpath (him fending off Bartolomeo’s food-thieving hands with a fork was hilarious. “MINE. MY FOOD. NO.”) Obviously, Cavendish’s reason for wanting to kill Luffy is profoundly shallow. “Luffy stole muh limelight, wah!”

Bartolomeo said, “Well, my connection with Strawhat Luffy is much deeper.”

I gasped. 

Yes, I thought. This is the moment. 

What is the history here? Because I have watched this show since episode one. I have a goldfish memory but I’d like to think Bartolomeo would have stood out.

But do you know what?

BARTOLOMEO LEFT IT THERE. WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD.

BLUE-BALLED.

FREAKING CLIFFHANGER.

Shaking my head, man. Bartolomeo, you are so rude. Such a meta character.

And by the way, there is also something up with Ricky and Rebecca. Don’t think I missed that little scene. I bet it’s something to do with Kyros. That whole thing about everyone forgetting why the statue is there is so suspicious.

[markoftheasphodel]

Semi-blind PT#1 (Blue Lions) FE16 reactions: Chapter 4 Complete

Poor Ashe. Boy got put through the wringer.

Gameplay (Normal mode, Casual b/c I am indeed playing for PLOT) is not super bowling me over as yet. The battles for Chapters 3 and Chapter 4 both felt a lot like FE15 to me and gameplay was uh... not the strongest point of FE15. Maybe part of it was I went into battle with slightly underleveled peeps in Ch4, as only Dimitri and Dedue had passed their beginners’ certs until AFTER said battle. Now that the students are starting to diversify it might be a little more fun.

BTW, looking up a g-damn strategy question re: the Death Knight battle revealed to me in the top line of the top Google search who the Death Knight is. Mildly annoyed but eh... I didn’t like that character’s act anyway so phooey. 

So anyway, thus far I have handed out a few gifts, done a buncha fetch quests, read some Agony Aunt letters, and returned a lot of lost items. These are giving a better feel for the students’ personalities and I gotta say that Hilda (Serra 2.0), Caspar (TRAINING!!1), Raphael (I LIEK FOOD) and Bernadetta (WTF) are not making a winning case for their routes. Ferdinand, Leonie, Petra, and Claude are all making an excellent case for their routes. Can’t win ‘em all. The Blue Lions seem the least flaky but damn half these kids are miserable thanks to their families. Parent issues, brother issues, survivors’ guilt...

So one interesting thing about FE16 is how very much it feels to me like A Fire Emblem Game despite dispensing with almost every class-based archetype. Ain’t no Xmas cavs. Ain’t no squishy archer boi or village archer girl. Ain’t no wind mage BFF. Ain’t no earlygame pega-pony rider. And so on. And yet, we know Sylvain’s type. Ashe fits the squishy archer boi despite being able to use axes as well. We know what Felix is about well before we promote him to myrmidon. Etc. Interesting remix. Dunno about the other houses but in between Dimitri being a fairly traditional Lord-type on the surface[*] and the way Felix, Ashe, Sylvain, and friends slot into the typical FE personalities well enough, it feels sufficiently Fire Emblem-y to me.

Boy that C-support between Felix and Dedue was something. I do like that despite being the Noble Savage of the Blue Lions (ruined land, barbaric jewelry, animist polytheism, only recently literate, hard-edge moral code), Dedue’s one of the students poking holes in the official Church narrative after the Ch4 battle and its fallout. The lad can think as well as punch. :)

Oh yeah, the plot twist with the Creator Sword. Not much of a “twist” between FEH’s default kit for Byleth and the opening animation. Still, honestly surprised we got that reveal so damn fast.

[kitcat992]

Some honest responses from other MCU fans regarding Endgame

Because I know I’ve been one hell of a negative Nancy the past 24 hours, but wanted to show that my raw distaste for this film doesn’t go unshared.

particledamage: This entire thing sucks. I’m bitter.

SelenitaLunar: Worst ending ever. God can't believe this is the real deal. As a Tony fan they give us everything: Pepperony married and iron baby and Rescue only to kill him in the end and stab our hearts and tarnish all our memories of the MCU and this 11 years? Sure they are gonna subvert expectations, hope they enjoy it fully. As I'm not enjoying Marvel ever again. Shame on them. The Russos can go to hell, honestly.

greengirlrunning: They did Thor and Loki so dirty. The Loki thing is so obviously forced so that it ties in to his TV series, but it really undermines his entire arc in the MCU films. I'm pissed. Don't even get me started on Thor. It's perfectly believable that he would be depressed and feel hopeless, but to turn him into a joke and make him basically useless while Tony and Cap get epic (if problematic) endings? Bullshit.

_Mavericks: I’m sorry to say this, but the plot is pure shit. It’s not the case of getting disappointed because we wanted more. It is simply bad as it is. Sad ending.

sawinadream: Honestly Steve not preventing shit/suddenly acting selfishly AFTER being deemed worthy by Mjolnir/ignoring Bucky in Hydra captivity and SHIELD being infiltrated/the timeline somehow not registering these particular alterations IF he did change anything for the better.... OOC and lazy writing at its finest. Also wtf @ Sharon Carter now? Ew

priscillia28: It sounds like a bad fan theory

delta_charlie_2511: So the leaks we were sure were wrong turned out to be right. What they did to Cap is disappointing. It would have made more sense have him sacrifice himself and then wake up in a dream like sequence with Peggy where she is waiting for him to take her to the dance

valhallaorange: I'm upset with many of the main avengers stories, but I'm going to focus on Cap for this one.

It seems completely out of character for him to go back and marry Peggy, knowing in the future she HAD a husband and children, and a well-iived life of accomplishment. To me, it was a focal point of Cap's character to be unselfish and accepting of his new place in time. That included his love for Peggy and respecting that she lived her life fully.

It seems so wrong that he would go back in time to be with her and erase her family (children, possible grandchildren) in the process.

I'm so disappointed. I feel they've done his character so wrong and the only good movie of him was CA:WS. :(

Now that paired with the characterizations and situations of Tony, Thor, and Nat especially make me sad and unhappy.

ALSO, did the Russos just decide to say "Eh, screw it." With Sharon Carter? (Not a fan of her in the movies, but she also deserved way batter.)

valhallaorange: Agreed. A dance and then back to the future would've been acceptable and given more emotion to the pain and letting go Steve is known to experience. Also, Peggy deserves her own storyline and fully lived life without it being erased and her being reduced to only Cap's love interest.

captainamericasgf: This is literally my worst nightmare holy shit

RyuKenBlanka: Iron Man dying and Cap going back to the 1940's to be with Peggy is just lazy writing and closure for the characters and is the reality of Hollywood and not being able to have actors play roles forever. Both in reality should retire and take more advisory roles.

Suedeash: Also Cap's whole nightmare thing in Age of Ultron was dealing with the fact that he can't go back to Peggy, and yet here he just goes back? And knowing all of the horrible shit that happens in the future like 9/11, the Hydra infestation of SHIELD and all that he just sits back and does nothing? This sounds like a character assassination tbh, it would make far more sense for Tony to live with his family and Cap to have the heroic death as a way to bring his whole character arc to a fitting end.

Jedi_Mom: I think people began to think that it was impossible for marvel and Russos to let us down... we learned that they were capable of mistakes... the hard way.

DXGabriel: So.... when thor was becoming cool they just fuck his character? reaaly?

dracogladio1741: This is so convoluted. The ending is weird to say the least. Jeez.

inkwell84: Critics liked it. Audiences said what the eff.

itellteacherstories: This is what I get for overhyping myself: Disappointment.

lovestarkiller: Tony is gone like that?.... And Cap ending is just so...

FreeTanner17: One of the biggest disappointments is they kill off Natasha, don’t even give her a funeral and basically never mention her name again

Hawkguyism: Honestly, I'm severely disappointed

Cap's ending is a disservice to the character and his arc, Thor's ending makes no sense, he literally abandons all his people, Tony's ending is way too cruel, they could just say he went away and stuff like that, would be much better considering all the character's been through, Hulk and Nat are meeeehhhh, and seriously, how many fucking times is Hawkeye gonna retire? And like,we know he's gonna come back in the Disney+ show to train Kate and stuff

Overall, the plot seems too simple and the endings are pretty bad. Of course, in terms of action and entertainment, this movie will be a blast, but when it comes to story and narrative, it's a letdown. Especially considering we waited 11 years for this.

dumbwatercba: I feel like the writers went online and picked the worse theories out there and made a film out of it. Non of this seems right. The reviews were so positive. This seems like a steaming pile of shit. Thanus seems like the only thing missing from this.

msg53: I was hoping Endgame would be a good stopping point anyway. I would have preferred a satisfying ending, but a shitshow that turns me off of the entire genre works too, I guess.

IrishGrouch24: Man I am pissed the F off right now.

raven_rising:...Thanks Marvel, I kind of hate it.

scruk: I have no idea how they managed to fuck up this badly. No idea. It's like a bad fanfiction written by someone who's only watched Infinity War

CactusJackkkk: I feel like I just wasted 11 years of my life watching these movies with no payoff in the end.

eutears:This absolutely makes no sense. I cannot believe how the Russos thought this might be a good finale. Most of the plot crumbles if you put even a little bit of thought into it.

InlineSurfer: Keving Faige and MCU thinks,  that fans will take whatever they give us, but i cant, this so lazy and stupid script.

Griever11422: Notmycap. Notmytony

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 007: Costumes and Comforting White Rice

Previously on BnHA: Aizawa had everyone do fitness tests. Turns out superpowered children are very talented. Deku broke his finger.

Today on BnHA: COSTUMES. AND A GUY NAMED LUNCH RUSH

Notes: As always, all comments not prefaced by an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 11 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.

so the title is “costume change”, ooh I’m intrigued

All Might is helpfully rehashing the shit that just went down in the last chapter in case we missed it or weren’t paying attention

basically “Deku fucked up his finger but it was actually somehow the coolest thing ever”

right away Izuku is still crying his gritted-teeth pain!tears, so the unbroken streak continues!

aw Ocha is really happy that he did well and now won’t get expelled

I think Bakugou is broken

[waves a hand in front of his face] you okay there pal. deep breaths. it’s going to be all right

and now he’s fucking launching himself at Deku, presumably with the intent to beat the living shit out of him, oh dear

but teacher’s not having that shit

OH MY GOD AN ACTUAL EXPLANATION FOR THE MAGIC SCARF

YEEES THIS IS HOW WE DO THINGS IN GROWN-UP MANGA! WE EXPLAIN OUR PLOT HOLES LIKE ADULTS

THIS IS SUCH A FUCKING RUSH GUYS

also these panels are hilarious

voop

god bless, the logical explanations for everything just keep on coming. now EH is explaining that the reason he always looks so fucking shake-and-baked is because he has to maintain eye contact in order for his powers to work. I love this, it explains so much. the goggles, the eye drops, the creepy intense staring. and it’s such a good handicap for what would otherwise be an insanely OP quirk

just. thank you jesus. thank you oprah winfrey. thank you tom cruise

do you know, so far I haven’t had a single plot thing to complain about in this entire manga series. (except maybe the whole “surrounding community somehow doesn’t notice the beach cleanup happening right under their noses for ten entire months” thing.) can they possibly keep this up?

“is your finger okay?” “yeah.” NO

HGUMNANAA A FLASHBACKKKKKK A BAKUDEKU FLASHBACK. HOLD ME. I NEED TO SIT DOWN

they’re so cute they’re so fucking cute. Izuku following him around fanboying about quirks. Baku saying Deku’s probably won’t be as cool as his. trampsing along through the woods catching bugs. using the nicknames

and now Baku is FREAKING THE FUCK OUT because he’s been the special one all this time and now Izu finally has a quirk too. like, he seems pissed off, but also strangely threatened. like he’s really nervous that Deku might all of a sudden outshine him. once again, I am speculating if there are possibly secret self-esteem issues. I know it’s too early to be theorizing and I’m just going to look like an idiot but I CAN’T HELP IT. Deku is so good and pure and kind and smart, like he has everything going for him, but because he didn’t have a quirk, Bakugou could always rest assured that he was still better! but now DEKU HAS A FUCKING QUIRK. that’s like the ONE thing he solidly had on him and now the gap is narrowing by the minute. hmm. hmmmmmmmmm

disclaimer, he’s probably just an asshole and I’m projecting character development onto him that doesn’t exist sob I know

BUT MAYBE NOT?????

anyway we’ve apparently seen all we needed to see of these tests, because Deku sums up the rest of it in a couple of summary bubbles. “after this we finished up and I hung in there but it sucked”

yay now the results. which sad son of a bitch gets kicked out I wonder. it’s occurred to me that it might not be anyone and EH might just have been fucking with them, but you never know

HAHAHA

[SLAMS HAND ON TABLE]

NOT TO TOOT MY OWN HORN BUT I CALLED IT AND I’M A FUCKING GENIUS. [drinks a glass of water too fast and chokes]

this motherfucker is such a troll

Izuku appears to be phasing into another dimension from the shock of this news. meanwhile this smug-looking girl with a ponytail standing next to him is all like “I already fucking knew”

you know what, smug ponytail girl, ANYONE can say that AFTER the big reveal. the real MVPs are the ones who saw it coming a whole entire page before it actually happened, so you can shove it okay

and now Eraser Head is saying “we’re done here”? but I want to see the rankings, damn it

(ETA: funny how in the anime he shows the rankings first thing and THEN all the rest of this goes down. somehow he’s an even bigger troll there.)

and he finally takes pity on Izuku and sends him to the nurse’s office. you really shouldn’t need a teacher’s permission to go see the nurse, but I guess it’s the thought that counts

and there we go! rankings. so Izu’s all the way down at the bottom. and surprisingly Bakugou is not quite at the top? AND WHAT’S THIS?

THIS IS A NAME I RECOGNIZE. THAT’S DISCOUNT ZUKO BY GEORGE 8D

please be introduced soon, I’m excited to meet you

no idea who that person is at the very top. but hey good for them

hey guys. guess who ships All Might/Aizawa ever since their rivalish history was established in the previous chapter. [points to self]

so this is good stuff

look at this shade being thrown back and forth. or rather, EH throwing shade and AM struggling to throw it back but he’s too much of a straight arrow for it to really work lmao. “april fool’s day was over a week ago”

also oh shit last year he threw out the whole damn bunch. those guys must have SUCKED

oh my god now All Might is smugly confirming that EH likes Izuku too

hey guys here’s a closeup of All Might’s reaction to this:

you like krabby patties don’t you squidward

my boy Izuku out here accumulating mentors like... something... that accumulates a lot

that’s right, he has TWO whole mentors. what a legend

I got really confused for a second when the following panel said Izu was going home after the first day. even though I know it’s not a boarding school, I somehow tricked myself into thinking it was for a sec

oh hey it’s Iida. he wants to know how Deku’s finger is

lol he didn’t remember being healed last time. thank you for that, information bubble

I’m serious, it’s not essential information but it helps the series to remain consistent with itself, and it shows that the mangaka so far is remembering even minor details like this, and I’m honestly really impressed

Horikoshi Kouhei is the author. just looked it up. I gotta remember that. Good job so far Horikoshi-sensei. also he’s apparently younger than me?? nice to know that some of us millennials are out there crushing it at least

oh snap Recovery Girl cautions him that if he keeps getting hurt he’ll eventually run out of stamina and die. wtf. is “stamina” really a finite resource like that? can’t he just get a good night’s sleep and replenish that shit

I’m genuinely wondering how long him not being able to control his powers is going to be an issue then. I’m starting to think not that long. at first I thought it would be a very slow process, because if he got too strong too quickly it would be bad for the story. but on further reflection, it’s really the other way around. there’s only so many times he can be the only guy without any powers and trying to figure out what to do before that shit gets really old. basically right now he’s TOO nerfed

“I thought Iida was scary but he’s actually just super-serious.” he’s very nice for a 40-year-old trying to hang out with a bunch of teenagers. I’m sure you two will be good friends

Ochako!

Iida’s calling her “Infinity Girl” since she threw the ball so high it registered as “infinity meters” on Aizawa’s scale. I wonder if this name will stick, cuz I like it

haha Ochako doesn’t know Izuku’s actual first name and calls him Deku. he was listed as “Izuku” on the results board, though. you could hardly fail to notice that, since he was in last place. she just wants to call him by the cute nickname. fucking sly move there

hmm apparently he doesn’t like the name Deku? or he’s just trying to play it cool with the Girl He Likes

(ETA: now I know the whole sad story of “Deku” and its various meanings. I wonder just how much work Horikoshi put into selecting this name and its kanji)

like he said, he fucking loves that name

“it’s like the Copernican Revolution” hahaha what. a quick Google search confirms that this was the whole shift from people thinking the sun revolved around the earth to realizing it was the other way around. I completely fail to understand what this has to do with the situation of Deku letting Ocha call him “Deku” because she thinks it’s cute. this metaphor is beyond my fucking grasp

(ETA: I must have been tired or something because it’s obviously just that he’s done a 180 from hating the name to embracing it. still a weird analogy but whatever.)

ohhhhhh here come the feels ready or not

SHIELDS UP. IT’S THE PURE, GENTLE HAPPINESS OF A BLOSSOMING SHOUNEN FRIENDSHIP. THE PROTAGONIST’S FIRST FRIENDS EVER. NO, I MUST BE STRONG, DAMN IT. DAMN ITT

oh what the fresh hell, All Might

first the training!! ten months! grueling!! then the entrance exam!! fighting a bunch of giant robots! not having the slightest clue about how to actually use his brand new powers! then the first day of school!! you think you’re finally safe, but NO we’re going to have a trial that may possibly expel you! but he somehow makes it past that too! surely he’s in the clear NOW, right? he has to be?? but nooo, the SECOND day of school, THAT’S when tHE REAL FUCKING TEST BEGINS, FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE THIRD DAY GOING TO BE. THE END OF THE WORLD?

lmao Mic teaching them English

lmaaaaao everyone is bored out of their fucking minds except fucking Izuku, that FUCKING NERD

the school chef is a sentient humanoid vacuum cleaner named Lunch Rush

nice try with that gimmick there Lunch Rush, but you’re no Best Fucking Jeanist

“the white rice is comforting, so I go with that!” fucking damn, Deku. maybe try branching out just a little

by the way, Izu is narrating all of this like it’s already an established routine, but isn’t it still just the second day? or was All Might just talking out of his ass before about that “real test”

omg

it’s All Might’s class. don’t tell me this was what he was talking about when he was going on about the “real test” fjksj

PROFESSOR LOCKHART. PROFESSOR GILDEROY LOCKHART IS THAT YOU

yet again they talk about how differently he’s drawn sob I can’t

everyone: [turns and winks at the camera] WE KNOW WE’RE CARTOOOONS

what is this pose

gri gri gri

“today’s activity is [holds up a card that says BATTLE] BATTLE”

UNIFOOOOOOORMS

I MEAN COSTUMES

YEEEES. I’VE SEEN DEKU’S COSTUME IN TUMBLR POSTS. I WANT TO SEE HIM WEAR IT YES PLEASE

HERE WE GO

-- PFFFFFFT

Bakugou looks... I’ll let you know when I stop laughing

Ochako looks like your standard Marvel heroine really but the two little buttons on her chest give it an extra dash of cuteness

Iida looks like a fucking super sentai with that helmet

Yuri on Ice, Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, and Tall Guy with Pterodactyl Arms look fine, I guess

do not fucking tell me the chapter’s going to end before we actually see Izuku

...

the chapter ended before we actually saw Izuku

I’m going to kick you you stupid chapter

there isn’t even a bonus character bio at the end, it’s just a thing about all of Horikoshi’s assistants. good for them, I guess, I know they work fucking hard and they’re doing a good job so far

guess what I’m going to do. “read the next chapter.” yep

[asreadbydana]

The Darkest Minds Series | Reading Reactions

Hey guys! I decided that in preparation for the new book coming out at the end of July I would (finally) read The Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Bracken. I also thought, hey, why don't I post my reactions while I'm reading it? And so that's what I'm going to do! I'll be adding to this post with my thoughts as I work my way through the series. Feel free to keep up with it if you are interested 😊

The Darkest Minds

Update #1

Thrown right into the story, ok!

I can't even imagine how scary it would be to have children dying at such an extreme rate

The way the children are treated in this is just a little too real.

Alright Alexandra, the powers have intrigued me... I wonder why she chose the colors she did? And why is there never purple? Lol

So far, not too much has happened but I'm excited to see where the plot goes, although I have a good guess...

Update #2

First impression of Martin? DO. NOT. LIKE.

Well if that ain't the sketchiest memory to see when meeting a new person! Like, hi, I'm a murderer???? wtf

Ooohh, new friends!

And now it's time for some action! Finally got a glimpse of some of the powers. Yellows seem pretty scary tbh, nothing like Pikachu

Ok, yeah, definitely not Pikachu. Holy heck! If yellows can do that, I can't even imagine what oranges have done that's made the adults fear them so much (that was an odd sentence to read in my head lol fear the fruit!)

Update #3

Is it bad that I haven't read Watership Down so I don't really know what the significance is? Maybe I'll ask my brother, I know he's read it.

Also the whole sock exchange was very awkward and I'm impressed with the second hand embarrassment it gave me.

I'm glad Ruby and Chubs finally found some common ground! I mean, I understand Chubs' suspicion, but it's definitely a better group dynamic when THE CHARACTERS LIKE EACH OTHER. Just sayin'

The orange power is pretty crazy!

Okay, finally seeing what Ruby did to her parents was really sad, but also frustrating.

Hey look, they found the camp.

Yay, school! I hope if the world turns dystopian children will continue to do what they can to learn.

I was wondering when this guy was going to show up!

Tbh, not really feeling the romance. I think I'm just more interested in reading about friendships nowadays than about relationships. Maybe it will grow on me...

Update #4

This Clancy kid is kind of creepy. I definitely don't trust him.

OK wait, this better not turn into a love triangle, I swear...

Why am I not surprised that oranges are rare and oh so powerful?

Still sad about what happened to her parents

Does anyone else find Clancy's teaching sketchy? Like, yes Ruby, show him all your embarrassing memories and things you want kept private, nothing can go wrong there!

No, Zu is leaving us! Also, did we find out why she doesn't talk and I just missed it??

Fight, fight!! (But in all seriousness, calm down boys)

Give the girl a break, she hasn't had years to train and hone her skills like you, sheesh

Wow, way to bring new meaning to mind rape (p.s. I knew Clancy was a bad egg)

Ruby, sweetie, that's not gonna help

Would Liam have believed her if he didn't see/feel what happened?

Seriously?! In the last 2 chapters?? Dang, Alexandra Bracken. You really know how to play with my emotions!

Well, onto the next one...

Never Fade

Update #1

Right away we've got some new characters, alright cool

Oh, and the League is being sketchy yet again!

Were Vida's looks really that important to Ruby?

Jude seems sweet, kind of like a little brother

And we've got a lead on Liam! Knew he wouldn't be gone long 😜

Can I just say that it's so scary that in these dystopian novels the adults are always so willing to kill children? Like what the heck!?

Very unsure about Liam's brother...

I feel very unclear on what the League actually wants. Are they pro powers or against? Or are they just using the children with powers as a means to an end?

Update #2

Well they didn't stay there long!

I like that Ruby is more open to using her powers in this one. Embrace who you are!

The exchange with Andy is how I hope a lot of the adults in this world are feeling. Fear makes us do crazy things, but you can only justify it for so long.

🎶 Reunited and it feels so good 🎵

Well hello, Vida, you snake! Do I trust her? No. Am I supposed to? We'll see...

Another group of young adults abusing their power? You would think they'd want to stick together and help one another!

Update #3

Ick, do all the leaders have to use people in that way????

Whoa, finally seeing what Clancy was talking about in the last book is pretty crazy. I hope we learn more about what he did to the reds.

Ruby to the rescue! (Again)

Well they knew it would be a trap, but they went anyway

Holy heck, Jude has got some crazy skills and quick thinking! I'll say it again, yellows are not to be messed with!

That went bad fast!

Omg, is that the true power of an orange? Damn, Bracken, you know how to cause some nightmares.

Also, does anyone else get an uncomfortable feeling reading some sentences? Not even gory ones, but like, about digging nails into asphalt for example? When I read that I can picture myself doing it and let me just say, no thank you that is not a feeling I like!

Update #4

I'm curious how Internet and other connections even work when the world is so messed up. And how hackers can navigate them!

Ah, Clancy, we meet again. NOT nice to see you.

"I blew out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding" omg. Bracken has used some variation of this several times so far in this series and let me just say, I have noticed Every. Single. Time. Why is this concept/sentence so popular in YA, my gosh?

Wow that tunnel would make me claustrophobic!

Oh shit! That's the thing about oranges! When you are around them you can never really trust what you are seeing, ahhhh

"He let out the breath he'd been holding" really?? Again?? 😧

Ok, this professor has me intrigued. I can't wait to find out what Bracken set up as the reason the children have developed these powers.

Also, Cole? Didn't expect that!

Dang, who is that kid and where did he find the nerve!? So much for peace!

How was Ruby not smart enough to figure out that's what L.G. was doing as soon as she saw the research? I mean come on, that's pretty obvious.

Thanks for breaking my heart Bracken! The next book just won't be the same...

In the Afterlight

Update #1

Why is it that adults are always obsessed with money? And how come they never want to PROTECT the children who are different

Oh ok, I’m gonna be reminded of the sadness throughout this whole book, aren’t I?

I knew they were in California, but I didn’t even think about those other kids !!!!

Also, can I just say, poor Chubs and breaking his glasses. I feel you, bro.

Update #2

Why can’t Cate just accept that Ruby and the others are right?! Ugh!

I was waiting for Vida to display her true emotions. But to think that Ruby doesn’t care? She’s obviously not very observant.

Brothers, eh? Can’t live with ‘em… that’s about it lol

I wonder what the government hides from us in regards to other countries…

I don’t understand why Cole doesn’t just tell Liam? Would it really be so bad?

Truth: I’m still not feeling the romance. And I could do without the kissing scenes.

There’s that darned Watership Down again

Clancy is still such a mystery. I get why he’d want to embrace his powers, but doesn’t he also want to know why he got them?

Chubs and Vida get to spend some quality time~

Ok, no more sparring matches you two!!

Update #3

Those poor kids. Afraid even to be rescued.

Why did Liam hide this from Ruby???? Maybe she would have been a bit more open to it had he been honest.

Also, don’t like the reporter lady.

Omg! Zu!!!!

I can’t believe people think it’s fake? Why would children lie about those kinds of things?

Ah, yes, the red army.

Again, don’t like Alice.

Finally Cole! Was it really so hard?

Ok, this is sad but I totally care more about the side romantic relationship than I do the main one. I just don’t see their chemistry, honestly. It seems like it’s more a relationship of convenience than feeling.

Man, another one? Come on, Bracken, why you gotta do that to us?

I was wondering why the sleepwalking was relevant… not the answer I would have wanted, but alas

Update #4

Still going through with the plan, huh, Ruby?

I guess it makes sense that you can erase memories but not feelings. And that Sam would have images once Ruby’s influence was gone

Wow that wrapped up quickly

Tbh, even though he was horrible, it sucks Clancy had his ability to choose taken from him

Family reunion ♡ not so sad anymore!

Where do they go from here…?

[payroo]

solo reaction textpost! generally, it was fun! better than i expected (which wasn’t much), some good surprises, and some bad because what star wars fan never has anything to complain about

spoilers below the cut~

column yay!

Enfys Nest!! a blessing! and her music! even though i had no idea what her name was until the credits... i kept thinking they were saying enfa’s nest? as in nest was the name of her crew and she was enfa? this is why i wish movies usually had subtitles

Sam Witwer-voiced Darth Maul! sorry, i’m forever gonna be that fan who wants as much of the animated series in the live-action movies/greater universe as possible... I actually screamed when I heard his voice - I was this close thinking it’d be some weird Snoke reveal once I saw it wasn’t Palpatine

Qi’Ra actually not dying/being fridged for Han’s manpain! I did foresee her betrayal in the off-chance she didn’t die, but they did it in a pretty satisfying way. very evil dathomiri casablanca style

No Chewbacca life debt! yay, one of the grosser parts of the old EU is gone, rejoice! I loved the other Wookiee giving Han a pat on the head... Han is Chewbacca’s dog theory confirmed

Space train! That set piece was so good... wouldn’t surprise me if that’s a ride at Star Wars Land next year

Han was actually very earnest and sweet, which is so much better than what I was expecting. I really feared the worst of them making him some gritty, annoying, womanizing etc. etc. Aldrich was also better than I expected - he nailed that big dumb puppy (who somehow always manages to get into the fridge) feeling quite well. Guess it helps a lot to come in with low expectations...

i’m a simple-minded creature who will always love any evil fancy party scene you give me, so yacht-times were great

many of the jokes were All Right and got a chuckle out of me

column nay

 l loved Val... why fridge her so early... and beckett’s terrible non-reaction to her death.... you finally gave us a black woman character with a name in the movies and this is what you do with her... lol.... sacrifice herself for an ass who doesn’t even care that much about her

same with L3, wtf. this movie does have a woman problem, which is kind of what i expected going in :/ at least they give us enfys, for one non-evil, non-dead lady. also, was not crazy how no one else seemed to give a shit about her ideals. at least lando felt some manpain at her death :/

beckett was tiresome. at least he got to die in the end, haha.

how dare you say aurra sing was killed offscreen by this fucko beckett, anyway. i need her as a weird ex-foster mother figure in the boba fett movie........... 

the whole qi’ra/han relationship was so... well, eh. just kind of forced to accept it. i mean, it’s such a relationship that’s there for the story but doesn’t really get any establishing beyond the plot importance. their acting was definitely worst when it was them two together.

lando needed more screentime! and more han flirt... /still bitter about the annoying twitter “lando is pan but just offscreen where no one can see it” thing

column ???

i still don’t know how to feel about han being able to speak shyriiwook with his mouth. also, DISLIKE han deciding on his own to nickname chewbacca “chewie” just because he doesn’t feel like saying his whole name

wait, did chewbacca actually eat that other guy in the dungeon? :O guess he was starving, but damn...

if han got his last name from some random imperial bureaucrat, why the hell did he pass it on to his son... lol. organa is a much better name

was that a purrgil in the gravity well? or a different kind of space tentacle monster lol

well overall, while this whole thing was fun, not sure if it added that much new stuff to the star wars mythos. it really did feel more like filling in the holes or bridging gaps. i definitely feel like i got more out of it, being a fan of the animated series/some comics and books. quite curious about how it plays with people who only watch the movie releases.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 62 Rundown!

Code Geass: The Season Finale of R1 is here and shit is going CRAZY, Tokyo is falling apart, Jeremiah is in his flying pumpkin thing fucking things up, Lelouch decides to drop absolutely everything because Nunally’s been taken, Kallen decides to drop everything because Lelouch has been taken, Nina has a bomb fueled with pure lesbian yandere rage, the cat save Suzaki, Cecile’s piloting a proto-lancelot and Lelouch and Suzaki finally confront each other face to face just in time for Kallen to stop giving a fuck when she finds out Lelouch is Zero (like not saying her and Lelouch could’ve definitely taken Suzaku because his gymnastics skills are absurd, but having another gun trained on Suzaku if Kallen hadn’t gotten distracted definitely would’ve helped) like everyone likes Zero when he’s a dude in a mask but once he’s a dude without a mask everyone’s like ‘dude wtf’ V for Vendetta was right, anyone who’s trying to do anything has to wear a mask or shit just doesn’t get done. Anyway, big cliffhanger, sure this will slide into an action-packed Season 2 and won’t be a glorified reset button.

Inuyasha: The plot armor around Naraku weakens briefly and throws Koga, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru into a frenzy trying to go kill him. Except Naraku’s not actually at his castle anymore so the scent they’re actually sniffing is Kanna and Kagura at his castle while Naraku dips out to go have his time of the month, kind of a dick move but Naraku’s life is just a list of dick moves. Inuyasha’s having his time of the month too and can’t do shit while Kagura fights Koga and takes his jewel shards but Kagura’s fed up with Naraku’s shit and goes to barter with Sesshomaru, offering him the jewel shards to go kill Naraku and Sesshomaru’s just like “Bitch I am doing it for free.”

Yu Yu Hakusho: By process of elimination, Rando is either Shorin or Kuwabara, and it’s not Kuwabara. I like that Yusuke briefly entertains the idea that Rando might be hiding as Genkai or some shit because that’s a twist a different type of anime would have but yeah, Shorin fucks Kuwabara up with an OP spell that shrinks him if they give him enough prep time and because YYH learned from DBZ and they always let the bad guys do their techniques at least once Kuwabara gets shrunk and squashed. Luckily Yusuke’s Blaze ability activates just before his fight and he’s super strong and super pissed about Kuwabara getting beaten and socks Rando’s meat puppet in the face only for the real demon to come out.

Unlimited Blade Works: Kind of a regrouping episode while Gilgamesh watches the Cronenburg Shinji grail become a flesh titan thing. Everyone’s resting up and Rin thinks that if they can get Shirou to Archer’s level then they can beat Gilgamesh which just goes to show if Archer had stopped being a shitwit and waited until they took out the final boss before going after himself with his death wish then we wouldn’t have this problem. But anyway, mana jellyfish and implied sex scenes occur because they have to make metaphorical use of Rin and Shirou’s ‘romance’without going the original hentai route with things so they do some sort of Vulcan mind meld that combines their MP so Shirou has enough manga to do the Unlimited Blade Works thing to fight Gilgamesh’s Unlimited Butt Works thing and I still have no fucking clue what’s going on with the grail. Also thought Servants were supposed to be impossible levels above humans but I guess if you jam two people’s MP pools together and throw one into a fight against himself it evens out, fine, servants are a lot less powerful than I thought.

Panty and Stocking: This is definitely the “just throw whatever pieces of half-finished stuff we have into an episode” episode, it’s really hard to avoid the feeling that we’re not getting the scraps with this one. The anatomy episode is short and weird and only has like two scenes inside Brief where Panty and Stocking are fucking around for no reason and then it just kinda works itself out, everything’s really choppy and it feels like they got the beginning and end done and just didn’t flesh out the middle so they stuck it in an episode with several other shorts. The Chuck to the Future trilogy is fun enough in a Tom and Jerry kind of way, considering Chuck has no character and therefore is the only person in this series who can’t directly be an asshole but there’s really no substance to it and it ends with Chuck and Fastner’s brain demons fucking because of course it does. The D-City Rock Music video is easily the best part of this, I remember seeing this when the show first came out and it still rocks (though I’m now aware of how very out of character it is for the show itself) but it’s a nice little short. So yeah just kind of a weird mix-match of shorter vignettes this time which is okay I guess, it’s not as outright gross as the snot and puke episode but it’s rather half-baked.

FMA Brotherhood: Everyone’s dead until they aren’t, between Hoenheim using his peeps to reverse the everyone’s dead spell and Scar beating Bradley and doing another reversal on the ‘only foreign people can use alchemy’ spell, Father’s plan is fucked and he’s almost out of juice and on the backfoot. However just like in The Divine Comedy, Pride is the last deadly sin that everyone must face and Ed has to fight a weakened child which sounds a lot worse when I say it like that. Pride’s all ready to bodyhop int Ed but Kimblee’s like “Nah bro, fight on your own or don’t call yourself Pride” and Pride’s like “Wtf dude my body is literally a hellish nightmare of eternal torment” and Kimblee’s like “Eh I’ve heard worse” and Ed smashes this small child’s skull (again not as bad as it sounds) and turns him into a fetus so they can get on with the final battle.

Durarara!!: We get the conclusion of Rio’s story from last time interspersed with clips from the previous episode at a different angle so we can see what was really happening while Mikaido was watching the town from an outsider perspective. Basically Izaya’s a dick that wants to push people as much as he can and see what’ll happen and Rio learns an important lesson that people aren’t plotlines from a tv show and mistakes and secrets don’t irredeemably ruin them forever, forgiveness and acceptance are important because nobody’s perfect and the world isn’t as bad as we make it out to be.

[pariswrites-blog]

So I decided to make a large list of plots / faces / ships that I want, which you can find below the cut. It’s long. Check it out and message me/like this if you’re interested in any of them!

MOST WANTED

So I’ve got 3 ships that I want most of all: Niels Schneider x Xavier Dolan, Daniel Sharman x Frank Dillane, and Niels Schneider x Daniel Sharman. I’m completely open plot wise for any of these though for the Niels x Daniel one, I did make this post earlier and still 100% stand by it. I will love you forever if you do one of these with me.

CANONS

TEEN WOLF

I love this show too much and am so sad to see it go so why not do some 1x1s for it? 

I love playing Isaac tbh and would love to have some ships for him. Allison x Isaac is like my OTP so if someone did that with me I would scream? I’ve also always been intrigued with the idea of Lydia x Isaac so I would totally love it if someone did that one too (and I’m cool with changing Holland’s face if you’re uncomfortable with her). Scott x Isaac, Stiles x Isaac, Jackson x Isaac are all some other suggestions. I’m intrigued with Boyd x Isaac as well so that’s a suggestion there too.

Also, sorry Thiam shippers, but I’m 100% forever on the Briam train so if someone would play Liam against my Brett, I’d be in heaven.

IN THE FLESH

Okay so, fun fact, this blog was re-purposed from an rp blog for a group that sadly died. It was an ITF inspired rp and I loved the character I played there and would love to bring him back. There was also a wanted connection I had for him that never got filled but that would be really great as a 1x1. You can read about my character Apollo Bellerose (Niels Schneider fc) here but here’s also a summary of the idea.

(Muse A is Apollo, Muse B would be your character.)

M/M -- Muse A was a wild child, a feral animal of fire and rule-breaking. Hopes for him were dashed at an early age as he set himself up as the trouble-maker. Muse B was the opposite -- tempered and popular. The only reason their paths crossed was because they grew up in the same small town, in the same class. But that should’ve been it. It was a surprise to everyone when Muse B and Muse A started hanging out together, soon becoming inseparable. They were just children but they were attached at the hip, growing into adolescence and teenagers. Muse A was still wild, Muse B was still calm -- fire and water, red and blue. When they were sixteen, their friendship evolved into something more intimate. Though the relationship could be fraught at time -- Muse A to blame in almost every case -- their bond ran deep. Or it did, until Muse B died suddenly. It was an accident or heart failure or something similar, sudden and unexpected. Too soon. One might’ve expected Muse A to go off the deep-end but, rather, he was numb, going through the motions. That was until the Rising happened and the dead came back. The world ground to a halt but with the PDS sufferers in treatment centers, the world is returning to normal and Muse A is getting back on his self-destructive track. He refuses to acknowledge that overwhelming possibility that Muse B would be one of those PDS sufferers, going so far as to avoid Muse B’s grave. With the PDS sufferers returning to Roarton though, it’s only a matter of time before Muse A wouldn’t be able to deny to it. But will an apocalypse be enough to sever their bond? Probably not.

My main suggestion for B was Xavier Dolan though I also originally suggested Daniel Sharman and Keith Powers. Matt Daddario, Bob Morley, and Dominic Sherwood would also work though Xavier and Daniel would be preferred. This is, like, one I really, really want to do still.

XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS

Campy 90s shows for the win (oh, and fuck you Looper -- it’s still perfectly watchable now). Anyways. I really want a Xena x Gabrielle plot, two bad-ass women travelling through the ancient world, kicking godly asses. As much as I love Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor, I realize that they’re not really usable so I’m totally down for changing the faces. Just... Please. Badass women and a canon that totally allows for AUs in all time periods -- it’d be awesome.

THE ORIGINALS

So um... I don’t want like a really super canon 1x1 here but like, after Koleb died, I got in my head this idea of what if, when Davina brought back Kol, Kaleb hitched a ride back. Kaleb’s bitter af but he was always kind of the way in my mind. The pairing would be Davina x Kaleb and we could also make this an OT3 if there was someone who’d like to play Kol as well but that’s not necessary for me.

LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES

Uh... Indie French cinema for the win? Yeah, I know this won’t get any bites but I’m gonna try anyways. Basically a few years after the end of the movie, Francis and Nicolas meet again. There’s been some maturing, maybe Francis isn’t as close to Marie anymore (or maybe she got married or something). It’s slow-burn reconnecting and falling in love.

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

So... I know Troy’s a POS person but I think there was potential for evolution in his character. He was isolated from a young age with an abusive father and alcoholic mother which didn’t give him much of a fighting chance in becoming a better person. Off the ranch though, I think he could have evolved. He also had a ton of useful information about walkers. Anyways, I’d like to give him that arc. Also I want to explore that mad chemistry between Nick and Troy so yeah. This masterlist might be good for some general plot ideas and tbh the “Who’s baby is this?” one just screams Trick to me.

GREEK MYTH

This can be like modern or actual myth -- either’s cool. 

Zeus x Ganymede. Either historical like Zeus kidnaps him to be the wine-pourer and Zeus wants him but Ganymede is just perpetually pissed with him for KIDNAPPING him and Zeus has to win him over. Or maybe something modern that’s more sugary daddy/baby-ish?

Telemachus. I really love my baby Telemachus? Or Telemaque as the French would say. But, basically, there’s this suitor and he’s one of the younger ones, probably 25 or less, and not really in the running to win Penelope’s hand but eh. He doesn’t really care. He likes to tease Telemachus but as things get worse in Ithaca, he realizes he’s worried about Telemachus and starts teaching him how to fight and defending him and they start falling in love. He be all like ‘I’ll go with you’ when Telemachus goes to find his father (even though he doesn’t) and, when Odysseus returns, Telemachus has to defend him because he was technically one of the suitors and just... Please. (I’d play Telemachus.)

Odysseus x Penelope. Clever Odysseus and clever Penelope, dominating and tricking the world with their superior minds. A modern!AU.

HARRY POTTER

I love this universe so I’m super down for anything. I won’t do anything set at Hogwarts because I can never remain interested in that tbh but other stuff is cool. I highkey ship Remus x Sirius and would love to write them as long as the faces aren’t Andrew Garfield or Ben Barnes. I also love all the potential in the fucked up dynamic between Fenrir and Remus. I usually end up playing Fenrir but if someone wanted to let me play Remus in that, I’d adore you forever. A Regulus x Remus one would be awesome too. A Nymphadora x Remus ship would be cool too, as would a James x Lily or Lily x Marlene. Outside the Marauders era, someone needs to give me a Ginny x Cho ship. I also wrote a next gen son of Greyback (Lycus Greyback) once that I’d love to bring back. Maybe with Teddy? Or OCs -- OCs in the HP universe are totally okay with me.

PLOTS

So this tag has the plots I want but some I particularly want.

X. I’d like to be Muse B and maybe like have Tom Ellis as A? Or Jason Momoa? Idk. I’m open but I think it’d be super fun.

X. I’d be cool with playing either in this plot; I’d love to see Troye Sivan as A but again open but fun sounding.

“you’re supposed to be on a blind date with someone but you sat down at the wrong table and i haven’t been able to get a word in edgewise to tell you that and it’s been thirty minutes” from this post. I’ve no preferences on genders or faces just I think this could be cool.

Yo I’ve mentioned this multiple times not but THIS PLOT with Daniel Sharman as A and Niels Schneider as B -- let me play B and love. me.

“what is the ONE thing i asked you NOT to do tonight?” “raise the dead…” “AND WHAT DID YOU DO?!” “…raised the dead…” from this post. I really want to play a necromancer? Maybe we could do a Trick!AU where the walkers are because of necromancers and Troy has had to repress the fact he’s one his entire life and then Jeremiah and Jake are dead and yeah. But we could also do this as entirely OC. I’d still love it be necromancer-caused zombie apocalypse but I’m cool with other stuff.

“i’m a ghost and i’m trapped in the graveyard and i don’t normally talk to mortals but bro i have to ask wtf are you doing hanging around a graveyard is your life really this sad” from this post. open and fun again!

X. PLEASE. Any sort of serial killer plot would be awesome. Which is a weird fucking thing to say but okay.

“you and your friend always sit at the table a couple down from mine and gossip in [insert language here], which happens to be a language i’m currently learning. i’ve been eavesdropping to try and improve my listening comprehension and oh my god are you actually talking about how hot i am???” -- this please, from this post. maybe like a daniel sharman x tyler posey? or idk.

literally anything from this post but like i mention “who’s baby is this? au” for Trick in a canon divergent plot (ie. after they leave the ranch, before they get to the dam)

also this could also work for xavier dolan x niels schneider.

SHIPS

So how about a Xavier Dolan x Daniel Sharman? Or Jenna Thiam x Niels Schneider? Also Jack Falahee, Crystal Reed, Kat McNamara, Conrad Ricamora x Daniel Sharman. Other ones that don’t include Daniel, Xavier, or Niels: Eva Green x Caitlin Stasey (I’d also be cool with playing Eva if we used them for Xena and Gabrielle), Riz Ahmed x Fawad Khan (Fawad as a multi-billionaire playboy and Riz as a devoted grad student, maybe?), Charlie Hunnam x Jason Momoa, Marlon Teixeira x Willy Cartier, Andreja Pejic x Hari Nef, Andrew Garfield x Ben Barnes (but not as Remus and Sirius), Sofia Boutella x Charlize Theron.

FACES

It’s very clear that I love Daniel Sharman and Niels Schneider so they will always be most wanted, with Xavier Dolan as a close third. I feel most comfortable with them tbh and have the most muse for them (also I’ve made like 400 gifs of Niels). If you want to make me happy, let me play one of them and play one of the others against me. I would like to branch out at some point though so some others. There are honestly too many for me to list in their entirety so I’ll list only ones I have mentioned already. Bold are ones I want to play, italics I want used against me, plain are the ones I have no preference about (though I’d be open on most of the bold ones too).

Alycia Debnam-Carey, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Samuel Larsen, Adrianne Palicki, Laith Ashley, Elliot Fletcher, Iskra Lawrence, Lisa Teige, Iman Meskini, Hale Appleman, Tarjei Sandvik Moe, Adelaide Kane, Alexandra Daddario, Amber Heard, Josh Holloway, Angelina Jolie, Arden Cho, Barbara Palvin, Alex Saxon, Alexander Koch, Bianca Santos, Caity Lotz, Camila Quieroz, Cara Delevigne, Blake Michael, Avan Jogia, Austin Butler, Diego Barrueco, Bill Skarsgard, Booboo Stewart, Chloe Bridges, Byun Baek-Hyun, Diane Guerrero, Carlos Valdes, Josh Thomas, Dichen Lachman, Christopher Larkin, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Gaspard Ulliel, Emeraude Toubia, Emilia Clarke, Famke Janssen, Gabriella Wilde, Halston Sage, Dev Patel, Douglas Booth, Godfrey Gao, Harry Shum Jr., Karen Fukuhara, Kiowa Gordon, Landon Liboiron, Matt Hitt, Matthew Gray Gubler, Keira Knightley, Kiana Lede, Lana Condor, Liza Soberano, Maira Walsh, Jamie Blackley, Jordan Fisher, Jamie Campbell-Bower, Megan Fox, Naomi Scott, Max Irons, Reece King, Richard Harmon, Natalia Dyer, Phoebe Tonkin, Priyanka Chopra, Madelaine Petsch, Seo Kang-Joon, Steven R. McQueen, Steven Yeun, Seychelle Gabriel, Shelley Hennig, Skyler Samuels, Haruma Miura, Lee Hyun-Jae, Thomas McDonell, Toby Regbo, Tom Holland, Tyler Blackburn, Joe Manganiello, Tyler Hoechlin, Cengiz Al, Froy Gutierrez, Tanya Beatty, Victoria Moroles, Zoe Kravtiz, Yoon Jeonghan.

This is not all-encompassing. There are plenty more faces. In fact, I’d love to use model faces without any resources -- just some old-fashioned writing, maybe some static icons if we feel like it.

[zhaoly]

ok really long post ahead, sorry for mobile users since i dont think the spoiler break works on mobile iirc

i finally finished the main quest for fo4.. um.... was that it?? that was kinda my first reaction lol. ok i have SO many thoughts as i always do when i finish a game.. maybe more for this one tho

so i ended up doing both the minutemen and bos endings because they split relatively late in the story so i just made two separate saves... they were basically the same except i thought following liberty prime was kinda fun lol. i liked watching him pick up a behemoth and then just throwing it to the ground

so now that i’ve like... finished the game.... i guess i can see why people complain that fo4 is more of an fps than an rpg

like.... i’ve dumped a ton of hours into this game, but that’s mostly because i’ve spent a lot of time building settlements lol. besides that, the story does seem to be lacking a bit. i think it definitely had potential, but nothing was really fleshed out that well... like if i try to think back on what i did, i’m like.. ??

maybe part of that is because four main factions was a little ambitious? i just feel like there wasn’t much opportunity to actually get to know each faction and like actually feel like you were involved with them

1) minutemen - i mean, you got a shitton of radiant quests from preston (which drove me crazy very early on and got modded out)... and then what? you claim settlements and that’s about it. reclaiming the castle is as deep as the story gets. besides that all you have is radiant quests

also there were like... zero named characters besides preston who were actually really involved with the minutement. like there was ronnie shaw but she just ends being a merchant later, and i didn’t even get the proper armory quest from her because my game glitched out. so basically she was just a unique merchant for me

and like... who else is there?? there’s the sanctuary crew and some named settlers but none of them are really part of the “minutemen.” so like you didn’t really get to talk to members of the faction and stuff and actually feel like you were immersed in the story. like i know that the story is that you’re rebuilding the minutemen so there’s supposed to be no one but preston, but later on as you claim settlements and expand the minutement and stuff there’s still nothing... no new story, quest, npcs... you have to do some dungeon clearing quests for some of the named settlers but that’s literally it.

i liked their general “for the people” thing but like... they never really expanded on it... they did end up being one of the two factions that i sided with because of their cause but i just think the story (or lack thereof, really) with them was pretty bland

2) railroad - well i was considering joining them very early on cause i do think their cause is decent, i like deacon, and i accidentally spoiled for myself that danse is a synth (i like danse because i mean you know me and my beef)... but then i felt like they were a little too focused on the synths. like that was literally just their entire cause. and i just felt like that was just too narrow.

and you met these characters that you really just.... met and then nothing ever happened later with them! like high rise, mister tims, idk what the point of drummer boy was, etc..

and again there were just a ton of radiant quests... at least they were all finite, but like there was what? helping that one safehouse (forgot the name), mila quests, and pam’s caches. the ticonderoga quest was kinda interesting but i wish there was something more besides “here’s ticonderoga. oh whoops it gets destroyed later. haha!”

3) institute - well i disliked them right off the bat because they were the ones who not only MURDERED MY HUSBAND but also KIDNAPPED AND BRAINWASHED MY CHILD (yes i consider it brainwashing)????? like come on. i take this stuff very personally man. it’s the same reason why i joined the stormcloaks in skyrim (before realizing what a bunch of racist assholes they are but.... i digress) cause i was like WHY tf would i join a group that tried to execute me with absolutely zero cause

so i’m just like why would i join a group that murdered my husband (right in front of my eyes i might add) and kidnapped my child. hello??? like yeah i hated the fact that they gave you a goddamn baby in the first place, but since i had it i was like WELL I AM OUTRAGED THAT THEY DID THIS TO MY CHILD.

then there was the whole deal with them actually taking real people (and presumably murdering them) and replacing them with synth copies. i HATED that a lot and it was a big turnoff on top of all of my personal grievances against them. their elitist attitude towards the commonwealth was annoying as fuck as well as their manufacturing of gen 3 synths for what was basically slave labor. also there were like random conversations that would occur between scientists and synths and the scientists were such assholes.

oooooh and the part where you ask shaun why he decided to let you out of your cryo pod and he’s like “well... i suppose that i just wanted to see what would happen” and i was like BITCH WHAT?????? EXCUSE ME?????? THAT’S YOUR REASON?? 

like the shaun/father thing was an interesting twist in the story... but it def was not enough to make me want to join the institute. esp with that craphole reason that he gave me for letting me out of the cryo pod. and like the dude is basically a stranger to you, why tf would you just join the institute bc he’s “”””family””””? i suppose they tried to make it a more difficult dilemma by really trying to push your character’s story in the “i’m looking for my son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” direction before you actually find out what happened to shaun, but i didnt find that a very compelling plot point in the first place.... so it had pretty much no bearing on my decision

also. the synth shaun. he made the synth shaun which is like super weird and a little creepy. like this kid’s never gonna age.... i mean 50 years from now he’s gonna be a 60 y-o in a 10 y-o’s body!!!!!!!! who tf thought that was a good idea?? i mean i’m on the “gen 3 synths are truly sentient” train cause the game basically does nothing to show you otherwise. you have institute scientists telling you that they aren’t, but literally everything in the game shows you that they are. also danse

and then their cause... they say they’re the “best hope for humanity” and stuff but like what are they actually doing to help humanity. the only beneficial thing they did was create gmos like that huge pumpkin (while replacing roger ww in the process which as i mentioned before was something i hated). besides that, wtf are they doing besides hiding away in their blindingly white laboratories experimenting w/ synths?? 

anyway yeah i hated the institute but i guess in terms of “story” they did a little better than the railroad and minutemen. but they honestly got a helping hand from the fact that shaun was involved with them and a large part of the story early on was looking around for information about shaun and being able to ask npcs about the institute. however once you proceeded past a certain point they also fell into a very boring routine of having a handful of radiant quests available and not much else involving them

4) bos - well.... i def felt like they were super culty when i first went onto the prydwen. and i really dont like their stance on gen 3s and non-feral ghouls. but i do like that theyre out and about clearing the commonwealth of super mutants, ferals, and raiders lol. 

i really really hate the whole danse thing tho and how close-minded they are about him :( i did see that there was actually cut content where you could challenge maxson and danse would get his rank back and i kinda wish that they actually implemented that. i dont really want the elder role but i’d like the chance to do something where you could shift the bos’s opinion on gen 3s, even if only slightly... like THAT would be a good story element, come on! 

but w/e. i really didnt like them at first but i like their aesthetic compared to everyone else and their general cause (at least theyre not like opening fire on the slog, right... ?) ..

anyway i might just stick with their ending as my “main” playthrough cause afaict they’re not much diff from the minutemen ending except i get the sentinel rank, and you actually have some named people that you can interact with about your choice.

ok im actually really tired of writing this post... i actually have so many more thoughts haha but i dunno if i’ll be able to get them all out because as if on cue i’m getting tired around midnight.. anyway

yeah so the story was eh and i wish it went more in depth. like, even though i wasnt super fond of fnv’s story, i did think it was more immersive and detailed... i think fo4 had a lot of potential but sadly didn’t quite deliver. tbh i think the game couldve gone without the railroad if four factions really did just spread them too thin while in development.

like i think the part of the story with kellogg was good... the whole thing about trying to find the identity of this guy, searching his home, searching for him, looking through his memories, etc was pretty interesting. i liked how we were able to see his backstory and something about him that wasn’t just “dude who murdered my husband.” like that was all good stuff! but the story REALLY deteriorated after that... i mean you just end up having to kill the guy and then he’s just out of the story completely.

oh and like related to that--what was that whole deal with nick speaking in kellogg’s voice briefly after you finish in the memory den??? why would they just throw in a line like that and not expand on it at all???? that bugged me SO MUCH because again there was so much potential there!!! if kellogg had somehow gotten into nick’s mind you could be presented with so many new options. like how do you get him out? can you get him out? who do you go to for help? etc etc etc NOT JUST SOME THROWAWAY LINE THAT ACTUALLY DOES NOTHING AHHH

speaking of which. fo4 seems to do that a LOT. like maybe it’s recency bias bc i really dont remember all the details of fnv to be able to compare, but i feel like fo4 has a ton of little throwaway things that are interesting details but aren’t expanded on at all. like not even a little bit. i think there needs to be a certain balance between details and mini stories... like fo4 dangled SO many of these little details in your face that you just never got to expand on at all.. i love an interesting world where you can discover things that dont really have an impact on the main story or anything but these scraps just drove me crazy.

also there were like... no vaults??? i feel like fnv had a lot more... fo4 has vault 95 for cait (and a kinda boring purpose/story imo). the vault of triggermen where you find nick. the vault for refining human genes. vault 81. and that’s it.. i felt like i spent a lot more time in vaults in fnv? and they had some creepier stories/experiments too

ok like my brain... is really slowing down but i will at least get a few more thoughts down before i go to sleep

SETTLEMENTS. LORD HELP ME. again, a great concept with so much potential but poor execution. i really enjoyed settlements--with mods. vanilla settlements are just so horribly lacking. for one thing not being able to clean up your settlement is just terrible. you really would just have to leave piles of trash, garbage, debris, 200-YEAR-OLD SKELETONS, etc, lying around your settlement!!!!! where you’re supposed to have people living!!

settlers themselves also have some pretty terrible ai. theyre stupid af. their pathing is godawful. i am extremely proud of them when they actually are able to successfully navigate a structure i built because it is such a goddamn struggle for them! like they’re literally coded to take the shortest possible straight line path so i get tons of them walking into walls trying to get to their destination instead of walking around them, going through doorways, using stairs etc (yes theyre all navmeshed)... it’s actually so aggravating

also settlements themselves are incredibly and frustratingly buggy. the resources getting messed up in your pip boy bug is super annoying. there’s a shit ton of other bugs with them that i’m just too tired to list but i’m like ahhh god i feel like i’m playing a beta version of this shit! also what’s up with them spawning on top of buildings in sanctuary?

ok yeah i have a lot of crticisms for the game so it may not seem like i enjoyed it but i actually did. i think the story was decent up until after you finished kellogg’s part, cause after that it just got really boring (which is lame because seriously, the story gets boring after you can start decided which faction/s you want to join??)

but mods def contributed a lot to my enjoyment, esp my settlement mods... like most of my mods are settlement mods lol. so like... if i played vanilla fo4 i do doubt that i’d have enjoyed it as much. i do actually like the fps aspect of it, but i think there are too many places that are overloaded with enemies.. so you’re constantly fighting shit. it gets kind of annoying after a while.

OH THAT JUST REMINDED ME. GUNNERS. another thing that had potential but ended up just being... ??? raiders but fancier??? you could literally switch out all the gunners for raiders and nothing would change. when i first encountered them i was really excited cause i thought it was a new side faction but they’re literally just... raiders. but fancy. it’s disappointing af. there’s no story behind them... you can get into gunners plaza and find some holotapes from the leader and some members but then there’s nothing else! you don’t ever get to find out what the story is behind all of it! again with dangling some details in front of your face and then just never expanding on it at all. ugh gunners were seriously a big disappointment for me.

okay i’m actually done now cause i’m tired and typing this out actually took a lot of time lol. i still have a ton of thoughts but i need to sleep. lame