#anyway i started it expecting it to be awesome since i pretty much give her all the showrunning credit for s*perg*rl as it once was

[heartfeltcierra]

Reacting to you making/giving them a friendship bracelet Pt. 2 (Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, Bartolomeo, Sabo and Law

AN- I hope you enjoy part two of OP character receiving a friendship bracelet! (You can find part one that included Roger, Ace, Shanks, Marco and Doffy here)

MasterList

Characters- Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, Bartolomeo, Sabo and Law

Warnings/Contents-Fluff, All SFW, Mentions of fights, Law's is a little angsty and a bit longer.

I'll be posting a marine version tomorrow night including Koby, Garp, Smoker and Issho

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔﾉ♡ More under the cut

Zoro

 🍶 Zoro was confused at first but smirked seeing what it said “Best swordsman huh?”  “You need to make one for curly brows that says “Dumbest cook.”

🍶  Immediately took that back saying he wants to be the only one you make bracelets for 

🍶 He noticed there was some spare room on the bracelet, so he came up with a idea to fill the blank spots

 “You were pretty tough.” Zoro said, putting his swords back into their sheath. “I’ll get my girl to add you to my bracelet.” 

 “Excuse me?” Despite being half dead, the  bloody man lifted off of the ground with a rather angry expression. “What the hell does that mean?” 

 “You see this?” Zoro bends down, showing the man the many beads decorating the bracelet. “They represent my victories, and since I won against you, she’ll add a bead to it.” The man could only give Zoro a baffled look knowing he was now nothing more than a mere bracelet charm. “Anyways, nice fight and all but I gotta go. Which way is the exit?”

 “To the left.”    

 “Thanks.”

 “You fool, that's the right!”

 (To bad the bracelet doesn’t have a GPS)

 Luffy

🍗 Rubber boy was very excited when you gave it to him

🍗Would walk up to strangers to show them saying “Y/N made me this, I bet you're jealous!” 

🍗The only person that was genuinely jealous was Sanji 

🍗 Tries to take good care of it, note TRIES

 

  “Y/n…..” You look and see Luffy peeking his head into your room with an unusual gloomy look on his face. 

  “What’s wrong Luffy?” He padded over to you and laid the bracelet, or more like parts of the bracelet in front of you. 

 “It broke earlier during the fight. ” You knew from his tone he felt bad. “I’m sorry.” 

 “It’s okay!” You rummaged through the remains and smiled realizing the damage wasn’t irreversible. “I can fix it.” The frown on your captain’s face was finally replaced by that wide smile you know and love. “I’ll even make it more durable so it’s harder to break!”

  “You’re the best.” Luffy nearly sent you to the floor as he snaked his limbs around your body. “Also can you make one for my other wrist?”

“Sure what do you want it to say?”

 “Meat.”

  (I mean it’s Luffy, what did you expect?)

Sanji

 💛-You might as well have proposed to the man

 💛- Picks you up immediately and starts spinning saying “We might as well plan our wedding~”

 💛- A little bummed to hear you weren’t proposing, but is still eccentric that you made him something 

 “What kind of fighter doesn’t use his hands?” The beaten looks up at Sanji

 “Listen pal, my hands are only meant for two things. For Cooking…” His serious face scrunches up to his signature lovestruck idiot. “And for wearing bracelets made by my dear Y/N-Swan~” 

 (Please make this man more bracelets)

 Bartolomeo

💚 -His soul ascends into the clouds seeing that you made him something (Bonus points if your a straw hat pirate)

💚-Would fall to the ground and cry for a good half hour claiming he was “unworthy.” 

💚- But despite loving the bracelet, he NEVER wears it

 “Look at what was bestowed upon me.” He proudly holds up a small display case. “A friendship bracelet handcrafted by none other than Miss Y/N.” 

 The entire Strawhat lovers congregation would ooh and awe at the encased bracelet.

 “I could sit all day and bask in the sheer awesomeness.” Bart hits the floor with tears running down his face. “I just…I love her so much.”

 “Oh no boss man’s going down!”

  “What do we do?!” 

 “I don’t know, but we better figure something out. Were losing him!”

 Luckily after a cold towel and some fanning, the Barto Club was able to revive their green haired leader.

  (Please do not make this man any more bracelets , unless you want to send him into a coma.)

 Sabo

🎩- You had no idea what you were really getting yourself into

🎩-You know how people flex their engagement rings? Yeah Sabo’s going to do that… a lot

🎩-“Oh this thing? Well my beautiful Y/N hand crafted it for m-“ Would go on and on when literally no one asked 💀💀💀

 

“Y/N come quick it’s Sabo!” You follow Hack in a full blown panic as he leads you down to the RA’s infirmary.

 “Sabo!” You see him lying in one of the beds breathing heavily with a towel on his forehead. “What happened?”

 “Y/N….” You rush to his side and he takes your hand in his. “I’m sorry. But…” Tears roll down his face. “I promise I did everything in my power to save it….”

“To save what Sabo?”

 “My…..my…..MY BRACELET.”

 ….

 ….

 “I’m leaving.” 

 “Why?” 🥺

 “Sabo you literally went into shock, scared everyone half to death and ended up hospitalized , over a bracelet.”

 “But it’s not just any bracelet.” He frowns. “You made it for me.”

 “And I’ll make you another one.” You playfully roll your eyes. “So tell me what exactly happened to it?”

 “To be honest, I burned it off accidentally.” He nervously scratches the side of his head. “I’m still not quite used to my new powers.” 

  “I see.” You nod.  “I’ll see if I can somehow make one that’s fireproof.”

 “You will?” The blonde smiles and wraps his arms around you, pulling you down with him on the bed. “I love you so much!”

“I love you too.” You let yourself relax into his hold. “With that being said, can you promise me that you'll never do this again?”

 “You have my word not only as the chief of staff, but also as your overly dramatic boyfriend….. that I may do this again.”

 (Sabo is a absolute drama queen and you cannot tell me otherwise)

 Law

 🫀- And the crowd goes mild

 🫀- Literally had no initial reaction

 🫀- Law would stare at it, then back at you, then back to the bracelet, then back to you

 🫀- Poor man is not good at showing his emotions, so bear with him

 “Why?” Law gives you a confused look while staring at your labor of love. 

 “Because I wanted to.” You shrug your shoulders,  a little hurt seeing the lack of reaction.

 “I see.” Law doesn’t put the bracelet on, instead he puts it in his pocket. “Thank you.” He immediately turns his attention away from you and goes back to working.

 “Sure” You turn away with a frown. “I’ll go now, see you later.” 

 The second you leave the room Law is pulling that bracelet back out of his pocket while sporting the deepest shade of red on his cheeks. 

 He was so caught off guard and over the moon because of how cute and excited you looked while giving it to him that he completely went brain dead. 

 But he was now back to his senses and remembered the frown on your face as you left the room. 

 ~~~~

 You were laying on your bed sulking when you heard a knock on your door followed by a “It’s me.” You recognize your boyfriend's voice, but you're still hurt from earlier so you don’t reply. Instead you bury your face deeper into the pillow

 “SHAMBLES.” 

 “I didn’t say you could come in…” You spoke into the “pillow” which is now none other than Law.

 “You also didn’t say I couldn’t.” His tattooed arms pull you closer into his chest. 

 “Guess not.” Despite being angry at him, you can’t help but enjoy the closeness. “Is there something that you need, captain?”

 “Yes there is actually.” Law says in a matter of fact tone  “I have a very important task to assign you to.” You look up at him completely confused. “I need you to make me a bracelet with our jolly Roger on it.”

 “You want another bracelet?” You pull back from his hold. “I didn’t think you liked the first one I gave you.” 

 “I didn't like it, I loved it... see.”  You smile seeing the bracelet was in its rightful place on his wrist. “So do you think you can do it?”

 “Of course I can.” You jump up from the bed and run over to your desk that was covered in different colors of twine. “I’ll work on it right now!”

 Law feels relieved seeing the smile he fell in love with back on your face. Mission accomplished. He was about to leave the room to let you work, but couldn’t help but notice a huge pile of bracelets sitting in a basket on your dresser.

 “Damn Y/N you really like making these don’t you?” Law said while rummaging through the bracelets.

 “Law, wait!” It was too late, he was already holding the cheesy couples bracelets you made out of self indulgence. “I umm. I just made these for fun..”

 “Oh really?”  Law smirks while spinning the bracelet around his finger. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll take this one with me.” 

 “Are you sure?” 

 “I’m sure.” Law nods before throwing the other bracelet into your lap. “And you should wear yours too.”

 Law leaves you an embarrassed mess, but at the same time,  despite his “cool guy” act, he was just as embarrassed if not more. Why does she have to be so cute??? 

 (Won’t say it out loud, but is loving the fact he now owns a bracelet that say “I ❤️ Y/N”)

[nipuni]

We went to see Phantom Madrid last weekend!! ❤️ Geronimo Rauch was amazing!! I'm going to write my thoughts on the whole performance under a cut for those interested 😊

I am going to be comparing it to the London version for reference since it's the only one I've seen live. I think my first impression was that It was better than I expected it to be! I read opinions about the Trieste production and I was a little worried but I found that I enjoyed a lot of the things I've seen being criticized.

The stage spinning around was awesome and added so much depth to scenes and made transitions very smooth. The backdrops were very nicely done!

As for costumes I think they were pretty good with the exception of Aminta's dress and the Masquerade costumes being kind of underwhelming.

The singing was good overall, although the translated lyrics are weird sometimes. The main songs translate well but some others become very confusing in Spanish, some wording seems forced and some notes are slightly altered to fit the phrases. Raoul is very calm and soft, maybe a little too much at times, Christine is very neutral and simple. Geronimo was amazing tho no notes!

Now the acting! I have opinions 😫 This show was very Christine and Raoul centric to such an extent that it flattened the plot for me 😬 Christine seems scared and disgusted from start to finish so there is no conflict in her character. She is never torn, she recoils from the phantom's touch during Music of the Night, and during Final Lair she sings the "pitiful creature of darkness" lines looking at Raoul the whole time backing away towards the phantom and steeling herself and only turns reluctantly at the last second to kiss Erik. She comes back to return his ring and just leaves it on the organ stool as soon as he turns around because she's scared to get close to him, when he sings "I love you" she shakes her head at him 🥹 like girl please give us something!!

Geronimo's phantom is a delight tho!! He whimpers, crawls, cries, screams, pants, it's great. He's acting his butt off and is the highlight of the show for me.

A thing that I really liked was in the end when the mob comes Erik is curled up in his bed crying and Madame Giry finds him there and tells him to hide under the covers and leads the mob away from him, I thought it was sweet and transitions into LND nicely.

OH also!! I really enjoyed the Phantom swinging on a rope across the stage during the ballet and Buquet's hanging, it's so good!! the flaming chandelier scene is also good!! in Final Lair they actually hang Raoul in the air which was very nice too! (and with his shirt still on) and even the angel wings and flying that I've seen people hating on was honestly so cool. It didn't look as goofy as I expected it to, it's very smooth and the lighting makes it scary, he casts thunder and flies!! the wings are not very visible since the scene is very dark. The light work was super good in general.

Masquerade and Don Juan were a bit of a let down, much simpler but not bad. I think my main issues were about the choices for Christine really 🤔 and I think some scenes needed more movement, especially the roof one (they couldn't move because they are sitting on a ledge)

The show in general feels a bit one note compared to the West End version but it was good!! I'm just nitpicky 😂 also I want Geronimo's autograph!! I love him 😭

Anyway if you want to see/hear more let me know on discord wink wonk 😁

[its-short-for-jackalope]

THE SEARCHER IN THE SHADOWS

☆ Thoughts On Part One ☆

I have many thoughts and feelings and I am definitely not gonna be able to wrangle every last one in here, but I can do my darnedest to hit most of the big ones!

Dropped From The Clouds

The contrast of this first song compared to the start of TGOA makes me a little insane. Both songs are full of questions and uncertainty and take place after the characters have been teleported to another time and place, but When Are We? has the comfort and assurance of being with friends while Dropped From The Clouds has Rose isolated and alone without any familiar faces, and the parallel just reminds me of how much has changed and how quickly things are continuing to change. When are we going to slow down? Not now, it seems.

Dakkar's introduction, oh my god — "I'm nobody." [mildly threatening Radiance noises] "Give me the orrery." — and then he immediately goes into science mode. I need to draw him so bad. Also, side note, I already adore Jesse Bhamrah's voice.

He was/is a Traveler and a Searcher? so it seems the titles aren't mutually exclusive, then. I wonder if his unclear status as a Traveler has anything to do with whatever he's got going on that we heard in Transmission 14.

Fast Friends

CAPTAIN ADDISON ARVAD!!!!!! THE SCREAM I WANTED TO SCRUMPT!!! (also Natalie Masini sounds amazing)

"Lower your weapon, for God's sake." "The gun was your idea." I love them, your honor

So Dakkar and Addison were absolutely taking precautions in case Kal had possessed Rose, right? That's the vibe I get, anyway. Maybe they know he's capable of doing that sort of thing (maybe Sia has seen it happen? or, y'know, ✨️seen✨️ it) and that's why they wanted to check if she knew the GAD's publication date—Kal doesn't seem to automatically gain his host's knowledge, like when he didn't seem to know Morgan had already been sent away, so if he was possessing Rose then he probably wouldn't have known the date.

...Actually wait, you know what? Maybe it was Itzal they were worried about. We don't really know anything about what magic he could have at his disposal—maybe he can also possess people or change his form. and since he's a bigger, badder threat, I think it could make more sense for them to avoid saying his name rather than Kal's. 🤔

ADDISON IS A ROSE FAN???? ROSE IS PRETTY FAMOUS ON THEIR ISLAND??!? THEY HAVE A BRICK FROM TOWNSHIP NUMBER 9??!!?! Rose deserves the hype 100% of course but I have so many questions

okay I didn't expect Rose to meet Addison the very hour she arrived 2 weeks in the past, so I did not consider the fact that she and the crew would be here and they wouldn't have disappeared yet. I am now deeply afraid, because I know something happens to her. I have been so afraid of how the time travel will hurt me irt the twins that I didn't think about how many OTHER ways the time travel could hurt me.....

AND ROSE CAN'T WARN HER!!! So she just has to keep her mouth shut and let it happen and Addison must know that something happens, she and Dakkar didn't seem surprised that Rose didn't know who she was, but she's gonna go in blind anyway... 😭😭😭 okay wait, what if Addison and Sia's plan was for them to leave the Antikythera drifting for the others to find, but instead of returning to Lincoln Island Addison and her crew disappeared??

Destiny Strange and Sublime

...well now I just feel silly for not even considering that Dakkar would be the Searcher in the shadows 😂

I can't quite tell if the people he mentions he'd been unable to save is like... a personal thing, as in he actively failed to save them because of his own mistakes, or if it's more of a shared grief for the Blazing World and all its inhabitants. the first interpretation is definitely more angsty, lol.

I wish I had more coherent thoughts on this one but at this current time it mostly boils down to ohh pretty music, Dakkar is cool, Jesse Bhamrah is awesome, et cetera.

Arrival, part 1

HELLO PART 1 SONG!!!! I am excited to see how parts 2 and 3 may emotionally devastate me in the coming week!

so many people from the Blazing World! pleasantly surprised my island of refugees theory was correct. then again, I've spouted off enough theories that odds are at least some of them gotta be right, lol

Ahlaam my beloved!!! Virginia's voice is gorgeous, omfg.

The different creatures and plants from all over the world.... have the Searchers been looking for things that remind them of the Blazing World and bringing them back to the island to make it feel more like home? Crafting a facsimile of the Blazing World from pieces of Earth? (aough, and I thought "Ipomoea, just like home!" couldn't hurt any more than it already did...)

the phrasing of "OUR planet's biggest ocean" is interesting to me. Is the Blazing World connected to Earth somehow, thereby making it the same planet in some way, or is it just that this island has been home long enough for Ahlaam to feel attached? Or. Or. If the Blazing World is on the moon, then it would make sense for Ahlaam to refer to the Earth as her planet because the moon revolves around it and it's the moon's planet. (yes, hi, hello, it's a new pulp episode, we are once again in the Overthink Everything And Fire Off A Bazillion Theories era <3 )

They've been waiting for Rose for YEARS? ...would that be since 1835, or 1829? and we know they've been waiting for Margaret because, well, duh, but have they been waiting for Samuel and John, too? or are they all just Rose stans?

the crew of the Antikythera....... 😭😭😭

I love that a good portion of this song is basically just Ahlaam going "check out our sweet digs" lmao

The nights have been dark but this is the spark that will set the whole lighthouse ablaze — YELLING RIGHT NOW, oh my god. lighthouses are guides through darkness and stormy weather and they also cut through fog, I want to bite something (/pos)

this has got to be both very nice and very overwhelming for Rose, lol.

Addison & Dakkar and Ahlaam & Dakkar are both very fun dynamics

A Spell Is Just A Rule Made With Magic

THE FOG IS FROM A SPELL!!! ITZAL CAST A SPELL AND CORRUPTED HIS PEOPLE! "It saturates the heart with darkness 'till you forget life before the blight" oh my god, he convinced all of them that the fog is how they always were & were meant to be? No wonder Kal considers Sia and Margaret traitors. So when Kal says "soon the Blazing World will meet its end" he might not be talking about an actual place—in his mind he's probably talking about the traitors' movement & the ridiculous, dangerous ideas they have about replacing Itzal's world with one of light...

"A spell is just a rule made with magic, and any rule can be broken" AOUGH. CHILLS.

ooh they believe Rose is the key? aw man this adds more weight to "I was a hero and the heroes win — don't they?" in Vanishing...

"Capital." oh my god Mr. Dahan you can't do this to me. The similarities between Dakkar and AJ have to be intentional, right?? ...oh god, is Dakkar gonna make a bad deal to save lives? Is he gonna sacrifice himself in some way to save his people?

Two Weeks

I love this montage, it's such a nice way to go through this part. also I just really like how this whole first part is structured, having this entire part dedicated to Rose in this time is a great way to handle the time travel without being confusing by jumping back and forth, AND it gives us time to get to know the new characters a little bit! It's also a bit of a breather after how hectic the end of TGOA was. (I feel like part 2 is going to get super intense super quickly, lol.)

So they start with science and testing her mind, giving Rose access to all their research to see if she figures out anything there. And then they go to the volcano and scan her, starting to test her body for evidence that she might be able to help them in some magical way. (They're probably still going over the research too, ofc. Those were a lot of books, Dakkar.)

Day 9!!! Sia is here!!! I desperately want to know exactly what she and Addison were talking about. I think it might be a plan to abandon the Antikythera for Margaret and the others to find in a few days, but that's mostly speculation.

also Sia seems so much more relaxed and at ease here. maybe it's because she's at home with her people and she can be less secretive than she was on the satellite? (and because she isn't in a literal magic battle, lmao.)

Dakkar mentions phase three and they go to the lake to try doing stuff with illusion magic—do they want to try using magic on Rose to see if they can get her to activate whatever magic she may have? Or maybe how Rose reacts to the illusion magic could reveal something...?

Rose not wanting to go in the water, aoughhh 😭 and Sia helping her when she's scared 😭😭😭

Dakkar's Grotto / Mobilis In Mobili

when I saw this scene during the premiere I said "holy sci fi" and I stand by that. this environment is so cool. I wonder why the rest of the island isn't like this when they're clearly people with a lot of knowledge and technology... it's probably a matter of supplies. They fled to this island from Itzal and his spell, so they wouldn't have had time to pack a lot of stuff. I imagine whatever they did manage to bring and/or build is all dedicated to their efforts to find a cure and protect everyone.

we know they haven't found anything yet because they're still testing Rose's blood. man, that's gotta be stressful for her. (And the Radiance folks, yeah, but c'mon. so much pressure on Rose right now and she's brand new to all this. 🥺)

The Nautilus is here!!! and it's a spaceship!!! AHHHH!!! 🤩

SHIT IS GOING DOWNNNNNNN! Margaret is radiating and I am going to be Thinking about what it means that Sia can sense it—is it a part of her precognitive abilities? is it part of whatever bond they have that allows them to combine their power?

Rose blurting out a warning about the fog and Ahlaam and Sia immediately getting more concerned.... I hope that maybe since she waited until right before Sia left it won't influence anything negatively, if at all—it's only a very small part of the present that will be influenced and it's not like they totally altered their actions across two weeks to accommodate for that information so I'm sure it's fine. hopefully.

Rose is worried about Samuel almost drowning like she did (and is/will be)... she is not going to like hearing about the dangers he's actually facing. well, if anything is gonna wake up potential magic in her, learning that one of the bad guys attacked & has been harassing her baby brother will probably a good contenderrrrroh fuck I had a thought. uh, stay tuned, we'll get there.

oh god the Ellen Austin will be arriving soon and Samuel and Rose will reunite (they BETTER REUNITE ASAP) and Rose is going to be two weeks older and I am going to perish

not the little reprise of The stars appeared... that made me so sad last time.... 😭 I love how this version of it is positive. the parallels,,,,,,

Rose and the Stars

IT'S HERE AT LAST!!!!

The past stays soaked into our skin 😭

we are lit by suns that shatter through the dark.....

WE TRAVEL WITH THE SPIRITS THAT WE KEEP — ough, makes me think of the ghost of all my yesterdays in Behind Me. also the change from "Don't spend a second looking back" in ep 1 to "only looking back to see how much we've grown" has me feeling things idk how to describe rn, lol

THE CONSTELLATIONS TURN INTO A CROWN!!!!!! 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣

Rose will shine again 🥺😭❤

A Few More Thoughts

Is the day Sia arrives also the day Addison and her crew left the island? we don't hear from her after this, and her disappearance isn't mentioned in the rest of part one but Sia knows that something happened to the crew when she confronts Kal on the Ellen Austin. If they had a plan for the Searcher crew to return to Lincoln Island and leave the ship for the others to find & investigate to kickstart Margaret's memories, but then the crew just didn't show up, I would think it would be mentioned? Unless they didn't want to overwhelm Rose and distract her from her work, or maybe they avoided discussing Addison & the Antikythera with her because of time travel rules...

oh and it is gonna take me a bit to grasp the time travel rules, lol. (sorry Matt, I haven't seen any Back To The Future since I was a kid.) I am going to be pondering the timeline for a while, particularly where Sia is involved. I feel like they probably want to avoid going back into the past as much as possible just based on how they are with Rose and how they put a lot of effort into not altering the present with her information about the future, but I don't think Sia would have gone from 1835 and skipped right ahead 39 years and stayed there? Like she has people to take care of and plans to make, she probably wouldn't just disappear on them for such a long time? maybe the Travelers who are experienced in abiding by Time Travel Rules are able to navigate backwards in time with more freedom because they know what they're doing. idk, like I said it's gonna take me a bit to wrap my head around this. maybe parts 2 & 3 will make it a little clearer.

OKAY, CONTINUING MY SAMUEL THOUGHT FROM EARLIER: Sia and her bunch believe Rose is the key. What if Itzal and Kal think Samuel is the key? What if that is why Kal was interested in Samuel on the Ellen Austin and why he seemed to really delight in antagonizing him? If Kal was hanging around long enough beforehand to see how close Margaret and Samuel are, then that could have convinced him that Samuel is Important™ to the Blazing World and that Margaret knows he is important to them. And maybe both sides are only halfway there, maybe it's both twins, together, who are the key, and that's why they haven't made progress towards the cure with Rose over their 2 weeks.

okay there are probably plenty of things that I'm missing and more that i could come up with and tack on, but I've been working on this post since last night and i want to finish it and get to other things so I am calling it here, lol.

...that is a horribly long sentence but I am not editing it. hope you enjoyed. <3

[wonderful-magician]

My rewrite of starlight express except it's just a detailed song list

Disclaimer: this is just for fun! And also some mentions of the race 4 crash and the stuff surrounding it. Along with characters like greaseball and Electra in not so pretty lights. Though I believe they both improve as people and are good people after the show!

You can completely ignore this post! If I sound a bit negative at all just know that starlight express is literally my favorite thing in the world right now and I would give every character a smooch on the forehead.

Basically I have my dream song list that has no rules. No time constraints just fully compliant to my AU. Mostly inspired by Broadway, the Vegas pre-recorded races, 2015 Bochum and original London. All horribly mashed together with glitter glue. (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠) Except instead of just showing off my dream song list. I'm also going to explain how each song played out in a setting that one could call a movie or tv show. I was originally going to draw every song but that's simply an exhausting sounding idea when I've already started a project for drawing every character.. anyway, to my ranting!

No control sequence

My Starlight express doesn't take place in a child's imagination. Instead of a full control sequence. We just get AI control announcing the national race!

Rolling stock

Rolling stock takes place early in the morning. Rusty wakes up early to watch the diesels get pumped and ready in the early hours. As rusty still has some time before he needs to grab the coaches for the busy day. And he somberly watches the big strong diesels.. greaseball is mostly hidden by the shadows but looks absolutely awesome! Featuring his great shades even though it's dark out.

Call me rusty/new intro song

Rusty no longer gets mocked immediately by the diesels. Instead rusty skates off to wake up and grab the coaches. The disgruntled and unprepared coaches whine and warn rusty about the day as they know his plans to race. Call me rusty is a great intro song for rusty and it wouldn't mind the original being used. Though truly I feel like rusty just deserves a good I want song that's more clear about his desire to win the races to prove the power of steam! ( His wish is to win! Not get pearl. )

Lotta locomotion

The introduction for the girls. They sing a lotta locomotion while rusty pulls them to the main yard but keeps taking detours. Trying to show off his skills yet the girls keep mentioning that he's simply not a popular engine nor is he very attractive to most train standards. Though pearl is silent and somber whenever it's brought up ( she likes him )

Shortened he whistled at me, new lyrics

Once they reach the yard. Rusty rushes off to get the freight and leaves the coaches in the main yard alone. Pearl gets in an argument with Buffy and Ashley. As she defends rusty from their criticism. And Dinah just shakes her head. Pearl sings an improved solo about her desire for an engine to whistle at her. ( Implying it's rusty. )

Freight

Pearls solo is suddenly interrupted by a loud horn. As the freight train is pulled in by rusty. The girls mock the freight trucks and the trucks mock the coaches. Though they have a friendly relationship even if they mock each other. Insert the introductionsss. Once freight ends. They start to rally for the noon race.

National engines

Standard national introductions. Not much to say.

AC/DC

Electra and the components show up fashionably late for the races. Electra is introduced as powerful and show stopping like always. A superstar that wasn't even expected to appear. Electra's hypnotizing powers are shown more clearly. As he magnetizes and influences pearl. And she's amazed by him. To Rusty's distaste.

Pumping Iron

Electra is suddenly interrupted by greaseball. Who had been watching from afar since the nationals. greaseball attracts Dinah and pearl, all the components, and CB and flat-top. Greaseball is shown to be the leader of the diesels and the strongest in the yard.

Coda freight

Electra and greaseball start to tussle as they are both strong engines desiring attention and leadership. And they challenge each other to the race. Rusty interrupts them and they mock him. Before they start the march.

Pearl you're honored

Everybody needs a partner. Pearl is invited by Electra ( purse.. ) to race. Pearl originally refuses but purse gets Electra himself to make an appearance. And his magnetism begins.

rewrite of make up my heart

The song is remade to be both a pearl solo. And somewhat a gag song. For pearl is shown having a dilemma. Wanting to race with rusty but she is being hypnotized to race with Electra slowly as the song continues. Everytime she turns to face the two boys they are behaving. And Electra looks favorable, rusty looks rather lame. But when she turns- Electra is mocking rusty and pushing him around with purse. The other components come out and pearl decides to race with Electra. Rusty is heartbroken.

Race 1

There's me

Dinah is upset with greaseball cheating during race 1. ( Not realizing that CB was the main one actively cheating for GB. She's just mad that GB hit a national. ) she cries and takes a break from GB. And is comforted by CB who is upset to see his closest friend crying. The song is more comedy focused. Putting emphasis on the silly ways CB tries to help Dinah. Which cheers her up.

Poppas blues

CB helps Dinah back to the coaches. And we follow him and rusty return to the main yard. Where poppa has appeared to endorse rusty for wanting to race. And sings his song while the freight dance. By the end of it. He realizes that rusty is upset. And finds out that rusty is super upset and hurt from being mocked and left. Poppa decides to race in Rusty's place ( to Rusty's dismay. ) and races with Belle the sleeping car...

Belle the sleeping car

Belle is shown sleeping and poppa wakes her up. She sings her song. ( Rusty has some less than stellar words to say. Even though she's implied to be his adoptive mother of sorts. ) And she goes off with poppa to race.

Crazy and engine of love tidbit

Rusty approaches pearl again. Begging her to race with him instead so that poppa and Belle don't race. She calls him crazy and the song starts. As he tries to court her back ( with a lil bit of engine of love. ) She gets close to saying yes but is pulled away by the other coaches.

Starlight express

Rusty, defeated after being rejected and mocked so much during the day. Sings starlight express as the day ends. And he falls asleep knowing the next day will have the next race. ( And he's worried about poppa, and pearl. )

Race 2

The OLC rap/silver dollar

After poppa Is injured from the race but places first place. They debate if rusty can replace him in the lineup. As they debate. The grand prize is revealed. ( And the people who want it most. Are hinted. ) Rusty couples up with CB, who supports his ability to race throughout the rap.

Rewritten pearl twirl

Greaseball and Electra get in a tussle. GB bonks Electra on the head and his magnetism ceases. Pearl gets mad at Electra and moves to go to rusty. Before she's stopped by greaseball. He flirts with her and she's receptive ( who wouldn't be. ) Dinah is heartbroken by greaseball but he claims it's just some fun and it'll only be for the race. And pearl doesn't say anything to Dinah

Uncoupled

Dinah sings a sadder version of uncoupled. ( I hate it when she's treated like comedy relief! ) as she's upset that she feels betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend. And she sings of her feelings of low worth.

Girls rolling stock

Ashley and buffy come over to comfort Dinah after they see her crying. They're both mad that greaseball treated her in such a way. ( It's also implied that Buffy and Ashley are a couple. ) and they mention some boundaries that need to be set. Before cheering her up with a song.

Dinah you're honored

Purse collects Dinah to race with Electra. ( Who was still upset about losing pearl ) And she doesn't put up a fight.

wide smile

CB is shown alone. Before he's trailing GB. And speaking to Electra through his radio. Before assuring greaseball that he's still working with him. Before skating off to Electra. And sharing his plans to crash Rusty and steal the silver dollar to Electra. Electra is shocked and allured by the plan. And trusts CB even as CB sings of his crimes. The components are distrustful of CB.

Race 3

Right place right time

The Rockies come in to explain to rusty that the system is broken. And that he'll never win because the rich and the popular control who wins and who loses. and rusty simply has no chance in ever winning against somebody like Electra or greaseball. As rusty is still reeling from being injured and betrayed by CB.

Starlight sequence

Rusty is defeated after the Rockies finish their song. And he sits down in pain from his injuries and his mental exhaustion. He screams for the starlight express and is visited by them. They inform him that he doesn't need help. and simply needs to believe in himself and do what he needs to. As the tides are in his favor.

Dustin/Dinah's disco

Dustin also had seen the starlight express. And is found by rusty. The two confide in each other for being mocked by the others. And they partner up for the last race. / Dinah rejects and yells at Electra for being a jerk. And a whiny brat. Electra is hurt ( despite it being deserved as he won't stop talking about getting second place. And deserving to get first. ) couples with CB. ( To the components dismay )

Race 4

One rock and roll too many

After the horrific crash that occurred during race 4. CB, Electra and greaseball are utterly miserable. Nearly shutting down as their bodies are wired together somewhat and broken. CB is the weakest. But they sing their song in sadness. And the silver dollar is yanked from CB after he passed out.

Only he snippit

Back to pearl. Pearl is shown singing a few lyrics from only he as she is alone. And reflecting over what happened during the races and before.

Only you

The duet between Rusty and Pearl. Pearl declares she will try her best to not let others stop her from staying with rusty. And rusty declares he'll protect her. Smooch smooch ( I LOVE THEM )

Ending dialogue

Poppa is stern with CB. And gives the silver dollar to rusty. The components are harsh to their master and teach him a few words. And Dinah makes up with GB. Saying they need to set each other's boundaries more. But she still loves him ( and he still loves her. Smooch. ) and he apologizes for cheating and messing around.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Honestly this song gives me major during the credits so just imagine a bumping credits scroll lmao. Even better? One of those 2010 animated movie dancing credits shdhdbdb

OKKK IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ASK ME I LOVE TALKING (⁠θ⁠‿⁠θ⁠) this was fun to write. I REALLY LOVE TALKING I might make more posts like this but I'm unsure

[canonically47]

review?

guys i absolutely love disventure camp it has done nothing wrong ever and everything is perfect

or:

disventure camp all stars episode 10: all’s fair in love and paintball - review

SPOILERS!!! (but you knew that)

the jake slander was AMAZING. i am so petty LMFAO but seeing everyone just give him shit? amazing. 10/10. life-changing. here are some awesome screenshots of aiden being his biggest hater, excluding ones i have already shared:

god i love aiden.

anyways yul had one good line and was absolutely abused this episode, great to see as always!!

this episode was actually super enjoyable. this is the happiest i’ve been watching DCAS in a while. it is still their weakest season by far and like, tomjake still take the most screentime which is infuriating, but also, this episode is the best since episode 6.

the villains’ strategy is amazing and seeing alec plot and scheme behind the twinks’ backs is so satisfying. i love alec and riya’s duo so much.

i think the show was expecting tears and sadness at emily’s lay-off and us feeling hopeful for trevek, but we haven’t seen derek in like five episodes so whatever idc. i miss the queen tho. she always says what i want to. truly the aro aceflux lesbian of all time next to me

i did NOT expect that twist. i was getting ready for them to vote off aiden because god forbid they don’t keep tomjake in, but ASHLEY!!! i was just starting to like her too!! and not because she told jake to cram it of course but because uhhh because she ummm errr well she uhhh she breathes at one point i’m pretty sure and uhhh errrrmmm well you see uhhh ummm her farm burnt down

i find it so funny how tom and jake are acting like this when they are 30 and 27 respectively. grown ass men with puppy eyes and quivering voices talking about a hook-up from two years ago. men used to go to war

anyways very good episode, 9/10, we can finally see some of those season 1 vibes with the good strategy and season 2 shines through even more with the petty drama

also i’ve heard tom and aiden’s VAs are involved in the writing process so no wonder the love triangle is still here and getting so much of a focus. sneak alec’s VA into the writers room too cmon guys i need my fav to have screentime

leaving this pic of jake in despair here because i love when he realizes his actions have consequences:

[galactandro]

Y’ALL.

I GOT TO WATCH DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE.

also EPIC spoilers about the movie so here’s your warning and yes i will be ranting on for a very very long time

starting off THAT OPENING SCENE LMAOOOO

WHEN HE STARTED KILLING THE TVA AGENTS WITH LOGANS SPINE AND HEAD 😭 AND THEN HE WAS DANCING I ACTUALLY DIED.

then we got sent back in time and we met HAPPY HOGAN. I WAS TOTALLY NOT EXPECTING TO SEE HIM LIKE THAT WAS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED.

then we got all of those fourth wall jokes and the whole feige/cœcåinę jokes oml. then we got a whole tva thing (that was very inappropriate in more ways than one)

bros stapled hair falls out 😭 and we see a little fake hair stuck to his hair for the whole thing.

he wakes up in the tva and we meet Paradox (aka the worst person ever i absolutely hate him-)

ANYWAY he gives us the whole “matter and be something” spiel (AND WHY WAS THOR CRYING) but wade is like stfu imma go find another logan to be my anchor being

THEN WE GET A MONTAGE OF DIFFERENT LOGAN VARIENTS AND OMG HAHAHHAHAHAHA

first we get comic accurate wolverine BEING SO SHORT HE HAD TO JUMP OFF THE BAR CHAIR 😭

then i think we got the 80s afro wolverine (hilarious)

and then we got the wolverine hulk show down AND WADE GOT FLUNG I LAUGHED SO MUCH HAHA

and then AND THEN. WE GOT HENRY CAVILL WOLVERINE WHICH I NEVER THOUGHT ID SEE IN MY LIFE HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

then we’re finally met (i think) with our “worst logan in the multiverse” (which is total bs) but we see him wearing his outfit (which i’m pretty sure we’ve never seen hugh jackman wear)

then they get pruned and i was so dam confuzzled. cuz i was like hold up im sorry what

but then we see them appear in the void with 20 CENTURY FOX STATUE AHHAHAHAHAH. THE ANOUNT OF MARVEL, FOX, AND DISNEY JOKES WE GET IN THIS. like when deadpool says “welcome to disney, mr. pg-13 except for one movie” LMAOOOO

we get an epic deadpool vs wolverine fight and we get like a lot of those because they’re not trying to really kill each other and both of them heal super fats so it’s jsut comedy at this point

and now

WE SEE

CHRIS EVANS CAMEO. AND WE FOR SURE THINK THAT ITS A CAPTAIN AMERICA VARIANT. AND WE ALLGET READY FOR AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

and then

and then

WE GET A FLAME ON

when my movie theatre watched this basically everyone was stunned. like we started absolutely going wild.

we see sabretooth, pyro (which i’m pretty sure is the same actor from X2), and toad like hello? i already thought this was crazy. anyway sabretooth gets his head sorta sliced off by wolverine (also why isn’t there a yellow font on tumblr?) anyway

we get a fight and they end up getting captured and get driven to CASSANDRA NOVA. LIKE WHAT. SINCE WHEN WAS CASSANDRA NOVA THE VILLAIN sorta OF THIS. BROIOOOOOOO

she brutally murders our beloved johnny storm after wade said he said a bunch of very odd things about her that was hilarious.

fast forward A LOT we were basically given a bunch of plot advancements and all of that stuff but i don’t want this to be super long so imma cut this short

we get four AWESOME CAMEOS.

ELEKTRA

BLADE

GAMBIT OMG GAMBIT WHOS CHANNING TATUM

AND X-23! LAURA YIPPEEEEEEEEEE

we get these awesome cameos and my movie theatre erupted into wild cheers bc we got the same actors from the original blade and x-23. WE GOT GAMBIT WHO IS LEGIT ONE OF MY FAV MUTANTS. WE GOT ELEKTRA LIKE BRO WHAT

AND WE GOT TBHS THING WITH GAMBIT SAYING ABSOLUTE NONSENSE AND DEADPOOL SAYS, “i’m sorry gorgeous, but i feel like we’re missing some critical exposition. who’s your dialect coach, the MINIONS?” AND I ABSOLUTELY LOST IT THAT WAS SO HILARIOUS AHJHAHHAHA

after this they make some plan about how to get logan and wade back to their (sorta) timeline and go ahead to carry it out. we get an epic “final boss” like fight and cassandra shows that she has a sling ring that seems to be from a dr strange variant with pieces of the reality and time stone (i think).

next we get this whole thing with the 100 or so deadpool’s with blake lively and ryan reynolds’ kids as different variants. and they also snuck in a little stan lee cameo there (miss the legend ❤️)

THEN WE SEE PETERPOOOOL WHO ABSOLUTELY SAVED DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE A THOUSAND PERCENT.

we have that whole thing with the time ripper and how if a person goes to stop it the anti matter and matter absolutely would rip them apart. we see deadpool make the hero play after stalling for a bit but he couldn’t reach the other side. THEN WOLVERINE STEPS IN AND DOES IT TOO OML (also i’ve noticed i haven’t talked that much about wolverine BUT I PROMISE I LOVE HIM 😭) we get shirtless hugh jackman and everybody in my movie theatre went wild… again. it was SO FUNNY 🤣. we get a whole ending with b-15 as the tva leader sorta. and paradox getting reprimanded as he should and we for sure thought that they’re dead.

NO THEY ARE NOT. they walk in like the queens they are and then that’s basically the ending.

EXCEPT FOR THE EXTRA CREDIT SCENE. then we see that all the things that deadpool accused johnny of saying before he basically got his skin ripped off WERE ACTUALLY TRUE. WE ALL COLLECTIVELY SAID LANGUAGE BECAUSE OML IVE NEVER SEEN CHRIS EVANS SO DIRTY MOUTHER (not me not understanding half the things that he said-)

ANYWAY I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS MOVIE. IT WAS WORTH IT. i noticed cute little easter eggs and the cameos omg the cameos

GO WATCH IT IF YOU HAVENT

bye 👋

*hehe we saw gambit (if you can’t tell i love his character)

[v0rd1g4n]

The Thundermans Return

All right, I've finally watched the movie and just like old times, I have to give my honest opinion.

But first things first. It's been 6 years since the finale was aired and I must say I was so excited when Kira shared on her Instagram account, that they were making a movie and she was executive producer.

Since there was practically nothing filmed back then, I thought it was going to be for teenagers or adults, just like the revival of iCarly or Zoey 102, but I was wrong.

After watching the trailer I realized it was for kids, just like the original show, which wasn't that big of a deal and I watched the movie two days after the day of its release on Paramount+ and here are my thoughts.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The movie starts with the family saving Metroburg from a meteor shower, using every one of their powers, something Hank could've easily taken care of, but still, it was pretty cool though.

And I have to say, those suits were awesome. They remind me of those kind of tactical suits wore by a few characters from TV Shows like Arrow or Supergirl. It was good to see the whole cast together after one more time. Also, those who were kids back in the day, looked like different actors, after only 6 years.

But anyway. After that, the title rolls and the family gathers in the headquarters, ready to spend a family night, but all Phoebe wants is to keep saving the day and is implied that she and Max have been doing that for quite some time.

They find a crime in progres but instead of letting other supes to handle for that night, the twins force their family to go stop a villain from robbing a bank.

They all teleport to the crime scene but things don't go as they expected, and due to Pheobe's orders, they end up injuring one of the V-Team members, as the other two stop the villain and save the day.

I don't know know they lost control of the situation like that. 7 supes against 1 villain, that's just too much. This is something Max and Phoebe could've screwed up by themselves, but well.

Soon, President Kickbutt shows up to inform that due to the injuried hero, they are gonna be replaced by the V-Team as well as get kicked out of the Hero League, which brings them back to Hiddenville.

And this is when we learn that the Thunderman family have been working as the T-Force at Metroburg for solid 3 years, leaving their old lifestyle behind.

Now everyone try to fit in their old town again. Max goes to his lair and finds Dr. Colosso having a tiki party with his furry friends. They talk about what happened and then Phoebe shows up to speak to him and they both seem to agree on using their powers for good, to which Dr. Colosso just laughs at them.

Then we see that Nora has finally outgrown from wearing bows and she makes it very clear by lasering the one Barb was holding for her. Then she and Hank see that Chloe is getting ready to go to the park while carrying a skateboard. They're scared something might happen to her, but let her go anyway, which makes them feel useless parents.

See the pattern here?

In the meantime, Billy and Nora are now attending to Hiddenville High, which by the way, doesn't make Principal Bradford and his ponytail very happy.

It was refreshing to see Billy and Nora as teenagers. Just like Max and Phoebe at the beginning of season 1.

As for the twins, Phoebe meets with Cherry at Splatburger, hoping to find a job soon and Max on the other hand, meets there too with his friends from the band, for old times' sake.

It was really cool to see all these funny characters once again. I had a lot of memories from "Never Friending Story", "Parents Just Don't Thunderstand" or "Exit Stage Theft".

At the same time, we see the V-Team is visiting Metroburg Superjail and we find out that they're actually a group of supervillains posing as heroes; the children of King Crab, Strongdor, and Dark Mayhem.

Their plan is simple: create an army of supervillains with a secret object hidden by the Hero League. The old guys had a plan that only boomers would understand, but is discarted immediately.

Later, Max and Phoebe are still trying to get back in the Hero League as the Tree Force, but then realize that their family doesn't want to fight crime anymore, so they're alone with this.

And man, this is always funny. I always liked all those jokes involving Max and Phoebe wearing costumes or disguises to go unnoticed. Not to mention that dweeb thing at the end of the scene xD

So much memories!

Then, back Max's lair Dr. Colosso helps Max to find out who the V-Team members really are, as Phoebe does the same by herself. Now both of them are aware that the V-Team is a group of villains.

And this is when Pheebs finally suits up as Thundergirl to go stop the bad guys alone. I wonder why they used the old suit, instead of the one with the skirt.

Who am I fooling? She looks good with both.

Back in Hidennville High, Nora and Billy are trying their best to make new friends and they only succeed the moment they start showing off their powers in front of everyone.

Leading to a small arguing between them, that ends with a tragedy for Bradford.

Meanwhile in Metroburg, the V-Team is desperately looking for the object they need. Then we learn that Dark Mayhem Jr. has the same sadistic habit Nora has; to laser poeple willy-nilly, ever since he was a kid.

Then Phoebe shows up, trying to enter by force in their old headquarters and stop all of them, but Max surprises her from behind and drags her back to hide from the villains, while watching them closely.

However, at some point they screw it up and get caught by the V-Team.

Back in Hiddenville, Hank and Barb are still worried about Chloe hanging out at the park with some new friends, so they ask uncle Blobbin a helicopter to go take care of her from the sky.

I never was a fan of uncle Blobbin, but it was cool this character was included for a small scene.

And yeah, looks like Hank and Barb are going throught the same crisis they went, when Max and Phoebe decided to celebrate their birthday by throwing a party at Wong's Pizza Palace. Their victims back then were Billy and Nora, now is young Chloe.

Anyway, they have a little accident (thanks to Cherry) and the helicopter crashes on the park. The two of them are fine, but all this makes Chloe realize that they've been spying on her all along and gets mad at them.

At the same time, Max and Phoebe are being interrogated by the V-Team, tied up with their own capes. I wish they were shown losing a fight against the villains at least, because it is implied that's what happened off screen. Just saying.

To me, there's no way they could've lost a fight against those villains, not with their multiple powers. Frozen by freeze breath, knocked out agains a wall with telekinesis, electrically shocked with the twin power, etc. And these are only non-letal options, but anyway.

Their goal is to get the Acacía Fantasticus, a very rare plant that can give people superpowers, either good (blue) or evil (red).

They mention that people from the past known for demonstrating superpowers had eaten the seeds of this plant, which is interesting, since they're finally revealing the origin of superpowers in the Thundermans world.

However, the way is gonna be presented seems like a terrible idea, but I'll talk about it later.

Since the twins don't have any idea where the power plant is, they're taken to Mayhem café, Dark Mayhem's old lair with a special booth perfectly designed to torture every member of the Thundermans family.

They activate it, and this is when the Thundertwins die horribly ☹️

Nah, I'm joking 🤣

I'm gonna have to leave it here, since Tumblr has a new limit of 30 pictures per post, so here's the end of Part 1.

Stay tunned for Part 2.

[love-toxin]

If Nancy's an elf queen, what would everyone else dress up as? I vote (half)orc barbarian for Steve 👀 (no shirt allowed btw). and for Robin... 🤔 I'm thinking tabaxi maybe? (maybe I just wanna see her wearing cat ears...) and angelface could be anything idk <3

yessss.....YESSSSSS HEHEHE

(cws: fruity four, d&d roleplay, plugs, a little hint at some spicier roleplay)

Steve gets a heap of leather straps and fur for his half-orc barbarian costume, his body mostly exposed save for the 'x' crossed over his pecs and the fur pelt that's tied around his waist, plus a pair of striking leather boots and some wrist guards with straps that lace up to his forearms and loop around. Eddie wants to put a little body paint on him to complete the look but Steve keeps refusing, up until the rest of you hold his arms back and smile at how he swaps between being furious and giggling at the tickling sensation of the paintbrush on his skin. you all agreed to go whole hog for this, and you weren't expecting it to be perfect but damn does Steve look good with those crimson handprints all over him, along with some markings down his cheeks so it looks like he's been crying blood. metal.

Robin's look is sexy for completely different reasons--when she comes out from the bathroom, the cat ear headband tucked under her hair is plenty cute, and the simple blouse tucked into her tight skirt is adorable on her frame. but the droopy cat tail she's got with a hole cut through her bottoms to lead it through is an awesome touch, although she swipes at you when you go to touch it and yelps when Nancy's hand manages to shoot out and grab it. and it's made very clear by that deep scarlet blush heating up her face that it's not just for aesthetics, and when she awkwardly whispers to you and Nance that it's really a tail, you both get the gist and giggle with each other as you tease her and stroke her fuzzy appendage, in the hopes that the plug it's attached to will shift around a little more inside her.

Eddie and Nancy's costumes are pretty standard in comparison; his ranger outfit is mostly dark, loose fabrics stretched over his lithe frame with a scarf, a cloak, and a bit of unshaved stubble to give him a more scraggly look. Nancy's elf queen outfit is pretty much just a long, white dress with more opaque cloth beneath it to protect her dignity, along with a delicate tiara and some gold jewelry and makeup along with a pair of elf ears securely attached to her real ones, and covered partially with her hair. with all of them dressed up, you're hoping your costume will be just as cool--hell, maybe it'll be even cooler if Eddie's saving it for last!

with that expectation at the forefront of your mind, you're a little confused and a touch disappointed when Eddie hands you a plain-looking dress and apron (with a corset, at least) and tells you that your character is gonna be a barmaid. a wench. an NPC. trying to hide it just makes it more obvious that you feel left out, but Eddie reassures you that yours is the most important part! put it on so he can start the scene, and he'll show you--and put on a smile, too!

part of you wishes you hadn't joined if you're probably just gonna be watching anyways, but since you know Eddie and you know he's not one to disappoint, you go along with it and hike the dress up over your shoulders--noticing right away that the corset cinches by itself, which is handy, but also that it pushes up your boobs so they're pretty much all out in the open, you swear you can feel air gliding under them from how exposed they are. you listen closely to Eddie laying out the scene for you, describing the tavern you're in and explaining the four of their roles as adventurers and a little backstory, while offering few details about your character aside from the fact that you "always swoon over the sexy adventuring party that comes through town now and again" which you roll your eyes at as the others giggle.

but when Eddie finally sets you all up in your spots--you at the makeshift countertop of your bar, and the four of them in various spots around the "tavern" which is just the wide backroom of the Hideout with all the furniture rearranged--you finally seem to get the driving force behind this elaborate scene Eddie's concocted. the elf queen sat demurely with her tabaxi attendant obediently standing by, the barbaric half-orc prince musing on his recent kills, the reanimated ranger from unspoken lands pulling out a d4 to shake in his hand.....and when he's got everyone's attention, including yours, Eddie produces a potion from his cloak to set it on the table with a thunk. he numbers off the four of them, ensuring they know how to react depending on what he rolls, and looks across the table he's at to wink in your direction before he lets the die go.

"first one to land gets dibs on the wench."

[1941-crowley-slut]

Rant incoming

I cannot STAND how my mom talks to me about church when she wants me to go.

For context, we obviously stopped going during covid so we were away for 2-3 years and though she watched the live broadcast every Sunday, I didn't. In fact I always deliberately left the room at that time to stay away from it. At some point I told her I don't believe anymore (honestly I remember having doubts and questions (Crowley coded lmao) since I was a kid but 11-12 is where it really just set in that I don't have that kind of faith). She didn't take ir horribly bad but told me at the time she'd like it if I still joined her at church sometimes. Which, fine. Okay.

Fast forward to when she is actually going back to church and just throws on me the news that I am going too. Doesn't ask, just tells me I'm going. And I'm pissed as fuck the whole day after that, to the point that when she asks me to find my clothes for church I actually just keep looking at my closet and want to tear everything apart. I really avoid conflicts with my mother but this one had me. I was PISSED. So when she finally asked what was going on I told her "I don't want to go". And it wasn't so much that I wasn't willing to do it for her, it's that I felt she had no regard for my beliefs and just wanted her way. A

And funnily enough, she did. Because the reponse to that was: "I know, but I'd already told you I want you to come with me sometimes. Is it so terrible, you can't even make this one little sacrifice for your mother?"

Not me being guilt tripped, but anyway. I don't remember the end of that conversation but I remember other times. Once again for context, I was in 12th grade the year that passed and it was incredibly difficult study-wise. I had 6-7 hours of school every day, then anywhere from 2-5 hours of extra studies (sometimes almost immediately) and then I also had to do homework for both school and extra studies (seperate) and a lot of it was learning things by heart, plus we had tests and exams all the time like ALL the time, some weeks I'd have 5 tests in 3 days and I was going insane. Plus on extra studies we wrote exams on Saturdays. So it was all very very hectic and mom knew that and she was very awesome for the most part, but when it came to church she just didn't. Listen. To me.

She would go "You'll come this Sunday because the next weeks will be harder for you" but the matter of the fact was, she didn't know what weeks were harder for me. She thought for xyz reasons that later it'd be worse, but in reality the times she wanted me to go i was drowning in work and getting anxiety attacks and mental breakdowns cause everything was so much. Too much. And I'd say something like "Well this week's pretty bad" and expect her to get the hint but she'd go "it's just one hour in the morning, how important is it really, you probably wouldnt even be studying then"

(Not to mention it's not really 1 hour cause I need like an hour just to wake up and get ready, then 20 minute drive, the service was either 1 or 1 and a half hours, then it was however long chatting up with all the church people, another 20 minute drive home and then I was tired and we would have lunch and I just wanted to relax and sleep etc etc. So it wasnt at all just an hour. And maybe even if I hadn't gone to church that day, it'd still be afternoon and I wouldn't have gotten started on any work. But at least I would have spent some time for myself and then would force myself to work. But anyway again)

She just does this thing where she doesn't even ask or give me the illusion of a choice. Cause the truth is that church is usually not that bad, I can deal with it, it's fine. But I hate it just because she makes me feel forced to go. If she was just like "Hey, could you come with me to church this Sunday? I'd like that" I would be much happier to go. I know she doesn't want to be by herself and that she worries about what the church peoole will think (which pisses me off as well but thats another story), I don't mind keeping her company. But I mind when she suddenly springs it on me on Saturdays that "We're going to church tomorrow" and even if I show my discomfort with it she's like "Well you have to come sometimes."

And she just she has this way that I don't understand that when she says anything related to me going to church (e.g. "Find your clothes for tomorrow to see if anything needs to be ironed"), she says it in this firm tone and so suddenly that you just even subconsciously know you have no say in this. I don't get to react to this or have an opinion, it's just something I have to do. Because she said so. And if I was to try and react, she'd circle right back to guilt-tripping me (which at this point would be really funny because I have been trying lately to help her in every way I can so it's not like "You do everything for me and I'll do this small favor for you by coming with you", I have been offering to help with chores, I've been offering to learn stuff I dont know how to do so I can help her around the house, I have been helping as far as I can. But nonetheless I know this will end badly if I try to argue)

Anyway yeah it's just. I'm tired. At first I thought it was her desperate attempt to get me back into the church, to make me believe again. Now, though I still think she clings onto some hope about that, I also believe she thinks I'm too far gone for that and really just wants me there for company and for the eyes of the world, so none of the people know I'm not a believer anymore and supposedly think of her as a failed mother.

I'd just like to be counted like an equal person in here. Especially what with reaching adulthood and all. Like she actually scolded me when I said "I'd like to go out with my friends" and waited for their approval, because she said I was just making announcements and she wants me to ask next time. Even though I was still essentially waiting for them to say yes or no, I wasn't announcing anything. And she's said this before too, I'd leave for extra studies a little earlier sometimes to go get bubble tea and I'd tell her and then she'd go "I want you to ask beforehand". Why? She wasnt even home, no one was, and I would've left like 30 minutes later anyway cause I had to, what's the big deal? Or is it just about being controlled, hm? Is it that she can't watch me be an independent person? Feels like it.

Anyway my point was I have to literally ask for everything, like with a "Can I" and a question mark and all, because "We might have something else planned" (which as I said, if they had something planned for us to do would they not tell me? And either way, if something came up I'd just tell my friends I couldn't hang out after all cause something came up and it'd be fine. But no, she insisted.) but when it comes to me she just says "You're coming" and that's it and I HATE it. I HATE IT.

If she thinks she's bringing me closer to church this way someone tell her she couldn't be more wrong.

[skye-huntress]

The Witch from Mercury Finale Reaction

Episode 24: “May All Blessings Find Their Way to You, I’m Wishing It”

Title is a reference to the season 1 OP, I see.

They’re planning to fire, again? The more this drags out, the harder it will be to cover up.

I see Guel is riding shotgun with Felsi. That said, that definitely would not be very safe during a real firefight.

Is Suletta reaching her limits, now of all times? Well, it does seem to early for that so she’ll probably be fine.

Aaaaand, I just watched the rest at once without taking notes, so prepare for everything to be out of order and me forgetting things

Let’s see, Suletta and Aerial were brought in, and Suletta did eventually wake up on her own. She hadn’t quite reached her limits yet but she was definitely in the red.

Although they successfully shut down Quiet Zero, everyone else got themselves captured in the meantime. Martin, did you even do anything?!

You got to admit, that was a pretty good line from Miorine, and dead on. Taking hostages is unnecessary, Suletta will show up on her own anyway.

If I’m not mistaken, Suletta has previously chastised herself for being too greedy, but now she’s owning it. Girl knows what she wants and she’s going to make it happen.

We’ve been waiting, for this entire series, for this very moment, when Suletta stands up to her mother and openly defies her.

This is the point where shit gets a little weird. I did not much care for Number 4 and certainly wasn’t expecting his return, especially now of all times. Apparently everyone who has used the Gundams exists in the datastorm, not just Eri. Which means they were the ones who interfered last episode, and it explains how Eri knew who it was without anyone else appearing to be around.

This is the point where weird turns into awesome. We’ve seen Aerial go from red to blue to white, and now we have the Calibarn go full rainbow.

Threaten her all you won’t, Miorine doesn’t give a fuck.

So this is Miorine’s Plan B. Dissolving the Benerit Group, selling the assets to Earth like Shaddiq planned, and exposing his criminal ties to the Space Assembly League.

There is something so satisfying about seeing the Peil CEOs realise they’ve lost everything and the cherry on top being Elan quitting on them and taking a better offer. I suppose he never really did anything wrong, and he probably wasn’t to keen on having several other people walking around with his face.

The desperate, last ditch gambit of a man who is unwilling to admit he has already lost. This never works and usually is the point where hero starts to flex and show how much more badass they actually are.

Now she’s controlling other Gundams now and using them to amplify the power of the datastorm. Since everything runs on Permit, even Doomsday weapons, that’s all Suletta needs.

I see dead people.

No. 5 gets to see Norea one last time.

Meanwhile Prospera has one last talk with all the people she needs to hear from most, the family she lost and the family she still has left.

And now everything is turning into space dust for some reason. To be fair, both Quiet Zero and Gundams are very dangerous and would only ever be used for one thing, so it’s probably for the best. That said, one of them is Suletta’s current ride, so it is a bit inconvenient for her.

I didn’t know those keychains had any sort of practical function.

The silence was a bit eerie while it lasted but I wasn’t too worried. This scene was clearly a callback to their first meeting, complete with a headbutt.

Three years later…. Nika was released from prison. What a way to kick off this epilogue. Nice haircut.

Petra is better and working for Gund-Arm Inc. and her dumbass boyfriend didn’t get killed.

Guel is working with two of the sassiest people in space. Pray for him. Or not.

Seems Shaddiq took the fall in order to expose the SAL, and Miorine, the girlboss that she is, stole his harem.

The matching keychains that Miorine apparently brings around everywhere are now her sisters-in-law. Figure that one out.

Judging from the conversation, despite going through physical therapy to regain the use of her body, Suletta has already built her school on Mercury, and plans to build another on Earth. Impressive. She also seems to be settling down on Earth with her new wife, her mother and her keychain sisters. Good for her. She moved forward and gained a lot more than two.

All around, happy ending. Almost no one of importance died, and if they did, they apparently ascended to a higher form of existence, or something like that.

More importantly, we the gays win again. Sure, we didn’t get a kiss, but it’s not like there’s any ambiguity here.

[cattyanon]

OKAY. Finally the post with my thoughts on the FNaF movie.

First, non-spoiler thoughts: AUGH I LOVED IT!!! SO MANY THINGS THAT SURPRISED ME AND A FEW THAT MADE ME GO "IS THAT A REFERENCE???"

Anyways moving onto spoiler territory below the read more!

Hooooo boy how to start... I guess I'll just take it from the top.

That intro scene was really neat! Loved the thing with the mask as a reference to getting stuffed in a suit. Then of course there's the actual 8-bit intro which was *chef's kiss* and a quote-able moment.

Me, watching the kids get lured away: *dramatically* NO KIDS DON'T DO IT. DON'T TRUST HIM. NO YOU FOOL!! D:

It's not the exact stuff I said but that's the gist of it. :P

Anyways moving onto our boy Mike Schmitt... He totally went overboard with punching the guy. Like damn, just detain him.

Then there's his dau- I MEAN SISTER Abby because uh. Who was expecting that reveal? Very much caught me off guard and did me a confusion. Also autism solidarity~!

Okay, what next... The getting of a new job I suppose. One thing I wanna point out here that my mom actually noticed later on was that the guy giving the job looked like what would later be revealed as William Afton (maybe I should double check this fact but whatever). But her genius of connecting dots doesn't stop there!

So you know how the guy cuts himself off when saying Mike's full name upon getting to the last name? And how it was revealed William Afton kidnapped his little brother? Well my mom made the connection that the reason he cut himself off is cause he recognized the last name! Anyways I thought that was a really neat catch by my mom so I had to share! <3

Moving onto him actually getting the job, I first wanna say that the the restaurant looked soooooo cool! And the mini jumpscare with Balloon Boy was quite a surprise, and then followed by Mike turning it around? Hilarious. AND THEN THEY DO A SECOND TIME LATER. If it wasn't clear I found this very funny. And the first time it happened I was like "FAIR. I'd do that too."

Now the police woman being Vanessa was definitely a surprise! Tbh I haven't played or watched Security Breach cause one day I wanna play it myself so um. For future reference i'm not familiar with the lore of that game since I've actually done a really good job at avoiding any major spoilers.

As a quick side note, the quote of me saying "SOMEONE'S GONNA DIE~" happened when those idiots broke in to sabotage Mike. And since this slightly dipped into spoiler territory I didn't mention the fact a made a few variations of that. Things like "SOMEONE'S ABOUT TO DIE~" and "SOMEONE HAS DIED~".

Now for that actual sequence. First thing I wanna say is LOVED IT. Assholes kinda deserved it, although I did say stuff like "ya know, maybe you should get out of there...? That would probably be a good idea." knowing they were probably all gonna die anyways. And Bonnie in the closet? AWESOME REFERENCE TO FNAF 1. As for the final quotes for this section of the movie, it was during when the lady/final survivor was shown on screen. The moment I saw her I was like "YOU SHOULD REALLY GET OUT OF THERE." followed a few seconds later by me saying "oop- too late." once stuff happened since once the animatronics acknowledge you it seems like you're pretty much screwed unless you get lucky

Then Mike brought his d- sister Abby to the pizzaria I was like "DONT DO THAT" before shortly afterwards realizing that the animatronics weren't actually very likely to hurt her since she's a kid and not an adult. For a second I questioned this when she screamed but of course it's then revealed they were just tickling her. And speaking of that...

THE ANIMATRONICS INTERACTING WITH ABBY WAS AMAZING AND SWEET AND I AWW-ED MULTIPLE TIMES. It was also really cool to watch them move around. Like that and the scene where Bonnie fell over and then gave a thumbs up when asked if okay totally slayed me. And everyone in the fort just laying on the ground? That was adorable! Also that marionette/baby looking- hey wait a sec could that be a reference to Markiplier's FNaF 2 playthrough??- animatronic was so neat! At first I questioned if it was supposed to be the marionette but upon further inspection I was "yeah that probably is."

And then Mike ends up pissing the ghost kids off...

Poor guy gets torn apart in the dream world which we previously learned reflects onto his body in the real world. That was a big "oh shit" moment because I didn't consider that Vanessa would be there. And then, rightfully so, Mike grills her about how she knows everything she's told him so far and to my anger KEEPS DEFLECTING WITH THE SAME DAMN ANSWERS.

But eventually it's revealed thAT WILLIAM AFTON IS HER FATHER AND THAT'S HOW SHE KNOWS SO MUCH. I don't know if this is general knowledge from Security Breach that I avoided but DAMN did that catch both me and my mom by surprise! My mom even had a neat theory (albeit wrong) on why she knew so much which was that maybe Vanessa had been given to the ghost children/animatronics in an exchange in the past like how they wanted Abby, except that time it worked out. Which, again, was wrong, but I thought it was a really neat theory!

When Golden Freddy went to pick Abby up at first I was like "Freddy?? No, I'm pretty sure he doesn't look like that" but then the ghost kids represening Golden Freddy appears and it's like "YOOOOO GOLDEN FREDDY?! DANG HE LOOKS DIFFERENT."

I also wanna point out that I think it's neat how when he dropped off Abby and she looks behind her once at the entrance it reveals Golden Freddy is gone since he's always been one of the most ghostly animatronics.

And then shit goes down on a rescue mission for Abby...

Mike spilling the water to taser them was genius! For a moment I thought he was gonna get them to slip and fall first but hey. End result was the same. Then he saves Abby from Chica but UH OH they forgot about the cupcake! And to be fair, so did we. Although around that point I was like "I swear there's an animatronic I'm forgetting about..." which turned out to be Foxy which was a very "OH SHIT" moment since Foxy is by far the most lethal of the animatronics considering not only does he have a hook but he can run.

Then there's confrontation with William Afton!!! Man that was so cool!!!!!

Another "OH SHIT" moment was when he stabbed Vanessa/his own daughter. I was thinking to myself that "well she might survive!!! maybe!!!!!???" and then of course it's revealed later that she did survive but is in coma...

But anyways, back to the showdown, I loved how absolutely insane Afton was. It shocked me when he made the animatronics do what he wanted considering that he killed them but then it turns out he was manipulating them!!! D: Then it was Abby and her art skills to the rescue!

I thought it was dumb how instead of Afton being like "What, noooo, i didn't do that!" he was like "I CREATED YOU SO YOU OBEY ME." which of course didn't work out. And even if he had gone with playing dumb I think they still would've fucked Afton up anyways cuz it's clear they love and trust Abby. Then the animatronics attack and I'm sitting there going "SPRINGLOCK FAILURE, SPRINGLOCK FAILURE" and then right after that woopsie doopsie springlock failure screwed ye and I yelled "SPRINGLOCK FAILURE!!!!!!!!!" while still trying to somewhat use my inside voice. And then he started convulsing and bleeding and I'm like "FNAF 2 REFERENCE LETS GOOOO" and then when they dragged him away I was "into a backroom mayhaps??" a few times in which it is a revealed that yup. He got dragged into a back room. Then it cut to black and I say in a deep voice "I ALWAYS COME BACK."

And as anybody is obligated to when they hear the infamous song, I sang along to the credits! I didn't get tripped up by the cutoff/end credits scene with the song because I had seen a video on Youtube not long ago about the end credits (tho i did skip the cutscene) and I was like "I HAVE to know if it's that one FNaF 1 song" in which it brought me unbridled joy to know it was used! :D

As a final bit, there's 2 references I wanted to talk about. The first is a potential reference in the movie and the second is a reference i made.

When Mike was in the back room and saw all the assholes who tried to sabotage him I saw a very specific animatronic among them- a dog. And immediately my mind went "SPARKY THE DOG HOAX REFERENCE?!?!"

For the second thing, when Mike and Vanessa were talking about stuff and mentioned how they can't go back in time I said aloud something along the lines "Maybe find a ball pit?" Then there was the moment Abby hid in a ball pit and I was like "OH SHIT A BALL PIT. WASN'T ACTUALLY EXPECTING TO SEE ONE" and while it wasn't magical and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be since it was near the end of the movie it was still amusing.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 084

It’s Kriller Time.

Here’s a cute shot of Krillin doing his day job.  There’s other stills from this episode, but you can’t beat this one of him helping a cat out of a tree. 

So last time, Goku and Gohan agreed to recruit Krillin, Android 18, and Android 17 for their team.  They approach K18 and lay out the Tournament of Power, minus the whole “losing universes will get erased thing.”

Krillin’s skeptical because he just got back into martial arts, and an event like this sounds like it’d be way out of his league, but 18 tells him to do it, if only to justify the home gym he just bought.  If he’s not going to participate in wild stuff like this, then what was the point?

But 18 refuses to join the team herself, because there’s no money in it.  So Goku makes up a whole thing about the winning team getting 10 million zeni.  That’s only 1 million when you split it ten ways, though.  Oh, then it’s 10 million per person.  Honest. 

I gotta say, all these characters look gorgeous in this episode.  Awesome stuff.

I mean look at this close-up of 18!  Bellissimo!

18 is suspicious, but she can’t turn down 10 million zeni.  So they’re both in, except Gohan wants to test Krillin out first.

So they fly out to some islands that they can use as a ring, and spar there.  Meanwhile, 18 grills Goku about that prize.  He swears it’s 100 million zeni.  Wait, you said 10 million before.  Uh.... uh...

Krillin vs. Gohan goes pretty much how you’d expect, but Krillin breaks away and flies between Gohan and the sun, then busts out his new technique: 100x Solar Flare! 

It’s so intense that Gohan can’t even sense Krillin’s ki energy, allowing Krillin to slip behind him and knock him off the island. 

So Krillin passes the audition, and now Goku wants a turn, so they change venues to...

THE SATAN BUILDING

I can’t really do this fight justice, but I’ll try to describe it.  Krillin unloads on Goku, firing lots of ki blasts and Destructo Discs.  Goku can dodge them all, but it leaves him vulnerable. 

Krillin goes in for a punch, and while Goku blocks it, when he lowers his arms he finds Krillin has hidden himself.

And while he does find Krillin and manages to flush him out, he played right into Krillin’s hands.  Because not all of those Destructo Discs were aimed at Goku.  He used one to cut a hole in the helipad they’ve been fighting on, and when Goku moves into position, it gives way underneath him. 

So Goku powers up to Super Saiyan Blue...

And Krillin doesn’t back down.  Because Krillin has big brass balls. 

What’s better than this?  Guys bein’ dudes.

So Krillin holds out pretty impressively, but 18 knows he’s bitten off more than he can chew.  But in the Tournament of Power, he wouldn’t be fighting alone, so 18 jumps in to make the save, and kicks Goku’s blast away. 

They agree to double-team Goku to continue the match, or he can bring in Gohan if he wants to even things up.  But instead Goku stops it there, and admits that he learned something from this.  He hadn’t considered the teamwork angle of this, and that might have cost him dearly if he’d gone into the Tournament without that in mind.

But since he stopped the match, Marron concludes that this makes her parents the winners.  Goku’s like “Now hold on a minute!”   You’re not fooling anyone here, Goku.  You’re a loser.  The little kid said so, and they know what’s up.

Oh, right, and Goku asks 18 where he can find 17.  All she knows is that he’s working at an animal sanctuary, but he never said where it was, and she never asked. 

Anyway, this episode ruled.  I’ve said a lot of uncharitable things about this stretch between Zamasu’s death an the actual start of the Tournament of power, and I do stand by it, but there are some good episodes in all of this.  I just find many of them to be pointless, as they advertise an event I was already sold on way back in 2013, when Beerus first told Goku that there were 12 universes.  You don’t have to do a four episode saga about the search for 17.  Goku could just look him up in the Yellow Pages. 

But I am glad that they made good use of the characters in this one.  If we’re going to have a long stretch like this, at least some good stuff came out of it.

[emirrea]

My ramblings on the Genshin 4.2 Archon Quest and Furina's character story (obviously spoilers!!):

- Asjdkglsjfks the archon quest was kinda epic..!! I was feeling like it was just going to be Ei & Raiden 2.0 at first, but them actually killing the hydro archon was super cool. I can't wait to see the effects of there being no hydro archon, if there will be any. Tho going through Furina's story quest... It doesn't seem like people in Fontaine care at all that they don't have an archon now lmao

- Poor Neuvillette tho, having to basically do three jobs at once, being a chief justice, a dragon sovereign and a semi-archon

- I'm rarely this harsh, but I don't like Focalors' design at all lmao. Mainly the front of her dress and how it's showing her skin. Honestly if she had bigger booba I could probably see the appeal of the front of the dress, but with the model that Furina/Focalors has? It just looks weird imo. And I don't even like big booba normally lolllll

- Also, I am so pissed off at the Traveller asjdkslsjf. Even before the quest revealed Furina's past, I felt so bad for her. Girl was literally abt to open up to the Traveller abt everything, only to be pretty much betrayed and put on the stage because she hesitated a minute too long. Not that it was necessarily just the Traveller's fault, but STILL. I felt so horrible for the whole quest, and it was just brushed off like it didn't even matter much.

- I'm a little sad we didn't get to see a dragon form for Neuvi, but I'm so hyped up abt him anyways. He has his powers!!!! It's so cool!!!

- The OST during the new boss is awesome. I have no idea what we were actually supposed to do during the fight, especially since I had my lv40 Furina in the team who almost killed everyone, but at least the music was GREAT.

- Childe getting fcking YEETED must've been the best part of the quest tho. Skirk was RUTHLESS.

- I love the little creatures Furina summons with her skill. I just have them follow me around everywhere even if I'm just running around the Court of Fontaine. They are so cute.

- Also, at least based on Furina's test run, she's going to be super strong??? And she's technically not even the archon anymore lmao. I kinda love the idea of her being pretty much the strongest human on Teyvat bc why not. She deserves it after everything. Like technically, canon-wise, there's no reason for her to be any stronger than your average vision-user, but of course gameplay wise she's still expected to fill the role of Fontaine's archon

- I don't like Furina's story quest :/ Sure the thing with Auriel and the crew was kinda interesting (Furina is literally yelling "BOOORING!!" in the background as I'm typing this lmao, girl, it was YOUR story quest), but I wish it was more abt Furina. Like, you know, they could've touched up on the whole thing of the Traveller and co dragging Furina to a trial when she was just abt to open up to the Traveller. Have her and the Traveller build up trust towards each other again for example, while Furina is trying to find her new place in Fontaine as a normal human being. But nope, let's make the story quest mostly abt NPCs, why not.

- Also, Furina getting her vision felt so anticlimactic. I guess getting a vision is rarely treated as something super significant in genshin, but the person known as the former hydro archon getting a hydro vision in front of an audience?? And the reaction is basically "oh yeah, that happened"??? (EDIT: apparently I somehow missed the info that Neuvillette is now the one giving out visions and that Furina's vision was likely the first one he gave, so now I'm crying askdlgldjd. I still have no idea when I missed that part, but it's so cute)

- ALSO HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TRY AND MAKE ME BELIEVE THAT THE PEOPLE OF FONTAINE. DO. NOT. RECOGNIZE. FURINA. YOU KNOW, THE ARCHON LOVED BY ALL OF FONTAINE AT THE START OF THIS ALL???

- Anyways, the archon quest was great, Furina's quest not so much, but my opinion on that may have been influenced by the fact that I've somehow gotten way too attached to Furina lmao

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy XVI Part 2 - Fighting to Live On Your Own Terms

I didn't expect Mid to be Cid's daughter.. Anyway, really weird tonal change in the game to suddenly start running errands lol. I didn't expect that removing the brand runs the risk that the person might die because one wrong cut or whatever and the poison from the ink could kill them😰 Well, Torgal resembling Fenrir was what I thought when we first saw the change haha. Dion seems to be a kind prince with a heartless father and scheming stepmother lol. Olivier seems very reliant on his mother, Anabella but he is young so that's normal. Gotta say though, I still think Anabella is the hottest out of everyone haha! Anyway, Clive's uncle, Byron Rosfield is a very funny and chill guy. He's so rich but so endearing, it was so funny when he gobbled up all the food in the desert inn before Clive fought against Barnabas' men who escorted Kupka. It's just sad that Joshua was so close but Clive still missed him. Harbard is pretty hot, I will look forward to seeing more of him😆 I've read comments about the Titan fight being really good, but I didn't expect the 10/10 effort they put into it, that fight was definitely visually stunning, and Titan looked awesome!

The mystery surrounding Ultima continues, but I wonder if he's some sort of otherworldly being that's trying to get Clive to gather all the Eikon powers and then destroy the world and make a new one or something to become a true God. Anyway, Barnabas has finally appeared again! He seems to know about Mythos, so I wonder if he knows what exactly Ultima is. As for Dion, he's got death flags flying everywhere that if he survives in the end, I'd be surprised haha, he seems like such a good boy and he's pretty too. Terence and Dion! They felt like a thing with how carefully Terence was treating him but dang, definitely didn't expect the kiss to solidify my assumptions! It makes me happy though. I thought Dion was alone, fighting by himself against his father's tyranny and Anabella's scheming, but it seems like regardless of what happens in the future, knowing that he at least had the one he loves beside him gives me a bit more comfort. I'm glad Joshua made it to Dion safely! I'm excited to see how things will go!

Quinten once being a part of the judiciary in Sanbreque is interesting, but it's sad to find out that his entire family was slaughtered after finding out how disgusting the Lord Chief Justice was hunting bearers. Very interesting that Quinten created this army gathering people in Lostwing to exact revenge on him though. I really wanted to choose Otto to go along with Clive to gather stardust since I want to know more about him, but how could I reject a chance to hang out with Gav?! I mean, I've been noticing the pacing issues, but gathering stuff for Mid to build a ship?! Is that what the leader of everyone does? I mean, if it was a sidequest yeah, but this is the main quest, it's just so random, especially since there's no context for this ship and why we need to build it other than its something Cid and Mid designed together. I mean, it'll definitely be useful but I really didn't need to run around that much zzz. Anyway, I just wanted to say, imagine going all the way across the map to buy one garlic and some nuts, I died. I definitely recommend picking Jill to go with to Northreach. Seeing her so happily reminiscing about memories with Clive and Torgal in Rosalith back in the day whilst enjoying a little picnic was really cute. It felt like we were finally getting to see a bit more of the happy and innocent Jill she once was.

It's sad that Mid doesn't want to go to Cid's grave, but I'm glad we got to visit it! It's been a while and I definitely miss Cid. I really enjoyed having everyone here and reaffirm their goals of destroying all the Mothercrystals, especially considering how even more terrible the environment has become, literally death of nature everywhere. Since we only have one crystal left, I wonder if I'm nearing the end of the game? Eloise and Theodore are such a good looking pair of siblings! I guess it should have been expected that regardless of what Joshua says, Dion's priority will always be the empire and I honestly can't blame him for it (even if I do think that I agree with Joshua that we need to look at the bigger picture here), because considering all the scenes we've seen with Dion, he has always been at war trying his best to protect his people. He would never abandon his people knowing that they would perish if he's not there. However, I'm not too sure how overthrowing Anabella and the new Emperor Olivier will go. And I also kinda wish Dion gave up on his father because Sylvestre isn't any better. One thing I would have appreciated from the game is if we could have gotten more interesting side side characters? It's always the Eikon and their loyal attendant/vassal/knight lol. Anyway, Dion going out of control and destroying the kingdom and hurting his people is saddening. I was happy when Joshua set out to stop him, but I didn't realise he could still become the Phoenix.

Well, the fight against Bahamut was visually stunning (once again!)! My favourite part was definitely getting to see Joshua and Clive fight together and hug each other afterwards. It's been much too long. I didn't realise that Bahamut has a move called Zetaflare though haha! Most disappointing thing for me was how things ended for Anabella though, it just felt so pathetic considering how many people she betrayed and how scheming she was to just go like that. I honestly wanted her to live and redeem herself. Olivier being some sort of creation of Ultima's used to lead the Empire to their destruction and to probably get Clive to absorb Bahamut was sad because even though I harboured no hope for Sylvestre, Dion obviously viewed him in a good light because he used to not be like this. Since we never got to see how he was, I personally have no view towards this whole thing, but if you want me to think of it as if he was my brother, then I can understand why Dion refused to give up on trying to get him to come back to his senses, just saddening that Dion ended up accidentally killing him, which is something no one should have to ever bear, that grief, anger and pain probably made him vulnerable to being brainwashed by Ultima into going out of control, not that I think he would have been able to go against it in the end, but I guess it made it easier.

But yes, the fights were pretty and relatively fun. A gripe that I have though is that I wish the game let you save or had points where it would let you save because these cutscenes and fights are so long and I'm an old lady that needs to sleep earlier lolll. All in all, I'm glad Joshua is back with us, the brotherly love between him and Clive is just so sweet. As for Barnabas, is he brainwashed or willingly following Ultima? Either way though, he seems mentally weak or unwell. Joshua kissing Jote's forehead was adorable though, I ship it. But glad to know how Joshua survived and why Jote has been by his side the whole time. I wonder why they didn't appear until that late to protect Joshua though. I'm glad we finally got to see the ending for Lostwing because I've been curious. I'm just sad that all those people died protecting Quinten and to achieve his revenge. But I guess they might have all died if they stayed in Lostwing when it got flooded with aether, but yeah oh well, at least there are people alive and Quinten has newfound resolve in building a nation. I'm also glad they're finally going back to Eastpool and making it a home again because that's where Wade and them should be.

I was wondering why Sleipnir sounds familiar, and of course, he's the horse ridden by Odin! Really goes to show his loyalty to Barnabas. Sad that he just died like that though. It's kinda amusing to see that Barnabas is a league above Clive but is that because he's Odin or something else? Very sweet of Jill to use herself as a shield to protect Clive and let the others help him escape without any hesitation. What I'm glad about is that through Blackthorne's quest, they are starting to share Cid's inventions helping people to stop relying on crystals for furnaces etc and truly getting to a self-sustainable world without crystals driving their lives. I'm very happy for Blackthorne that he has such a good friend like August always watching over him and his mental health haha, couldn't ask for more! Ooh okay, Sleipnir is a magical creation of Odin's so there's many of him! Very happy to know because he's cool. But not very happy because he doesn't do anything haha, where's the personality?!

Anyway, pretty cool when Odin split the sea in two. But the highlight is definitely the scene at the beach! Awkward nakedness😂 Anyway, it was nice for Jill to finally get to properly convey to Clive how much she wants to share in his burden and how she's willing to entrust everything of hers to him and support him. And they finally kissed! And did more but that's not important haha, I'm actually just really excited to use Shiva, I used to think we'd be able to control Jill but I guess this will have to do. Honestly, I feel so bad for Theodore and Eloise. I really liked them, so seeing Theo turn Akashic and kill himself so he wouldn't hurt Eloise was so sad. He never got to know that Eloise was happy to live the life she did no matter how tough it was, and that just looking at him made her understand that she never regretted her choice of saving him instead of choosing the easy way out. I'm really heartbroken that they couldn't have the happy ending they deserved. I didn't expect L'ubor to be a Bearer, very terrible that no matter the status, the moment it comes out, people can only see them as a Bearer and nothing else. Dalimil doesn't deserve L'ubor. I've always liked Martha so it was nice to see her motivate the Bearers. Blackthorne and Zoldat forging a weapon together was cute.

The medicine girl saved Dion! Such a nice little girl! I'm actually kinda glad Joshua punched Clive because I guess it is true that he is now taking on the burden himself by taking Shiva from Jill. I was so worried when Joshua separated from Clive, I hope he's okay. As for the complete mural, I'm not surprised that Phoenix is technically the one that doesn't "belong" but what does he represent? Is that the wings of Ultima? Does the Phoenix recreate/rebirth this world? Well, the fight against Barnabas was certainly visually disappointing and mentally tedious. How ironic that the Dominant of Odin who commands great strength and is revered across the land as a unparalleled swordsman had the weakest will of everyone and wasn't able to go against a god. Maybe that just goes to show how strong Ultima is but honestly, I don't think so. Odin is still the best looking Eikon for me, but it's sad that his story, his mystery and his existence didn't add much to the story or to what we know of Ultima.

I was just about to say, I'm so glad Terence is alive! And then now he's gone to save the medicine girl, which is understandable since Dion will never forgive himself for what he did and the damage he caused, so all he can do is mend as much as he can and help his people in any way he could, but still, I feel bad for Terence. Dion knows that Terence could never go against his orders and having to force him to be away from him when Dion is in the most danger would break his heart. Honestly, I love the brotherly love between Joshua and Clive, seeing them exert their utmost to protect the other always warms my heart and makes me so happy. Ultima is like a kid throwing a tantrum. He set his game up for someone else (he created) to play, went to sleep and then got mad that they had to discover their own way to play the game because they were never given instructions by him, and now wants his toy to relinquish everything they've learnt and listen to him again and then he'll accept them as his toy again lol. Barnabas was naive to think that Ultima would accept them even if they had no will.

All in all, the fight against Bahamut was definitely my favourite part. Not only was it absolutely beautiful, I really like Dion and his suffering for hurting his people, it's something I could feel for. Most disappointing thing was definitely Odin because I've been so excited for him since the moment I saw Odin and fell in love, but nooo. It's funny though, because I actually thought Bahamut was ugly and I really didn't care for him when he first appeared but now it's the favourite loll. Titan was also great in that it was nicely built up but I have to say that there were too many diversions to get there that by the time we fought Titan, I kinda forgot (sorry) why we hated him so much LOL. This is what happens when you don't get to play every day and you're stuck doing random quests until the real thing lol, so yeah that sucked but it was still good. Dion and Joshua are definitely my favourite characters though!

[nickmaghighlights]

Nick Mag Highlights - #1 Summer 1993

Hello! Welcome to the very first edition of Nick Mag Highlights! What better place to start than with the very beginning, Issue #1 from Summer of 1993? 

(Well, not counting the two editions of Nickelodeon Magazine exclusive to Pizza Hut that came out before this first issue, although I’m sure we’ll get to those at some point.)

But before we begin, I should probably quickly explain what Nick Mag Highlights is and answer some questions first.

A Nick Mag Highlights post will mainly be composed of screenshots of pages from a specific Nickelodeon Magazine issue alongside my thoughts, whether they be commentary or little factoids. In a way these posts are a way to transcribe my thoughts on each issue as I’m reading it.

All images are not mine unless stated otherwise, scans of these issues come from the fantastic folks at archive.org. Special shout-out to The Nick Mag Project on Twitter and their awesome Google Spreadsheet outlining what issues have and have not been archived yet.

I’ll always include a link to a specific issue’s archive.org page when I cover it on a Nick Mag Highlights post. Read along if you’d like!

I don’t plan on covering Nick Magazine chronologically. Hopefully this will allow for more variety, plus I can cash in on all that budding 2000’s nostalgia way quicker!

I’m just a fan of these magazines who wants to share them with whoever is interested. 

No, not every post will have such a long-winded intro. I hope you enjoy this retrospective!

And without further ado, let’s dive in to issue #1! You can find this issue on archive.org here.

Surprise surprise, the issue’s cover opens right up to a lovely smattering of Nickelodeon merchandise AVAILABLE NOW*! 

Side note, I hope you like Ren & Stimpy, ‘cause they’re all over this book. Not a big surprise since it was one of the biggest cable television shows of the early ‘90’s, but seriously, not a single Rugrat in the whole first issue?

*whenever 1993 was considered “NOW!”

Y’know I never read the table of contents in these things when I was younger. I think it was because I didn’t want to spoil what was inside. 

Also, newcomers should take a good note on that wiggly R symbol in the bottom right, which the appearance of such denotes any article’s inarguable truthfulness. That's an element of these books that made its way into every single issue, and it must have made stomping-out misinformation on the elementary school playground at least a little easier. My writing isn't so beginner friendly, I don’t include R’s. So you’ll just have to believe me all the time.

Anyway, speaking of stuff that made its way into every issue…

Zelda. Van. Gutters. Good lord. 

I truthfully believe if there’s any iconography that will incite memories of Nick Magazine for anyone who’s in-the-know, it’s the image of a small Lakeland Terrier spouting a snarky non sequitur (that, or an image of Spongebob, I guess). She's certainly not as chatty in this as she will be in later issues, but feel free to say "Hi" if you see her.

For those unfamiliar, here’s a good example of your average Nickelodeon Magazine page: a couple of gags or a puzzle usually centered around an issue’s main theme. Since this issue doesn’t have a theme, expect a lot of flack thrown at unsuspecting teachers. Nerds need not apply.

I'm not sure lunch ladies will be able to come back from this one!

They must have been serious about this gag, usually they save pull-out cards solely for mail-order forms for Nick Mag subscriptions.

And the very first feature in Nickelodeon Magazine’s very first issue is all about… State fairs? I love a fair as much as the next guy, but surely there were better options, like interviewing someone who drives a big truck or something. Big trucks are pretty cool.

Never give a breakfast fan the aux they’ll just put on the honeycomb rap.

Alright time for things to get serious. Even as the type of kid who usually liked the mag's interviews and other features, it's hard to deny that The Comic Book was the real star player of Nick Magazine. This section made it into every issue, and pretty quickly built up a roster of regularly updating series. Not to mention comics based Nickelodeon shows featuring stories you couldn’t find on television. Their popularity even got to the point that Nickelodeon started selling versions of the magazine that were just compilations of the comics! So yeah, these were popular.

Of course with The Comic Book, there comes even more ads.

Also, if anyone reading wants to get into the Niche Youtube Video Essay market, may I recommend tackling the rise and fall of temporary tattoos? I hardly see these anymore. A shame, too, cause these ones seem pretty cool, and they even have the Bubby seal of approval.

This was a section The Comic Book had which seemed to fade out pretty quickly into the magazine’s run: The Cartoon Calendar. A shame too, cause I actually find these pretty funny.

Here’s my favorite section from the two calendars in this issue.

Alright, so no actual Ren & Stimpy comic, instead we get a small journal writeup from Stimpy about him and Ren becoming models. Interestingly I can't help but feel this section of The Comic Book could've used a couple more pictures. Hm, wonder why…

But alas, it's all just set dressing anyway for a cutout activity, DARING you to sacrifice the eventual resale value of your rare first issue magazine in exchange for limitless dress-up fun in the short term. A worthy trade? You decide...

And here’s another section of The Comic Book Nickelodeon stopped doing fairly quickly (to my knowledge, anyway): the reprinting of old comics from the 40’s and 50’s. This issue has two reprints. There’s two reasons I could think of why they did this. One would be that the staff behind the magazine read these comics when they were kids and wanted to share them with a new audience, which is a cause I can obviously sympathize with. The more cynical reason is that Nickelodeon had the rights to some old comics and they used them to fluff up their page count. Regardless, once they stopped doing this it made more room for original content. Content like…

Bill Beak! Yeah I’m figuring this guy did not last long. He definitely wasn’t around when I started reading Nick Magazine. I’m not surprised! He sucks! Deeply unpleasant.

But you know what doesn’t suck and was still around when I started reading Nick Magazine? 

Scene But Not Heard (which interestingly doesn’t seem to have its name yet) was definitely an iconic part of Nickelodeon Magazine. If it wasn’t in every single issue, then it certainly must have been in most of them. These were done by cartoonist Sam Henderson, who went on to work on Season 3 of Spongebob Squarepants, and that ended up landing him an Emmy nomination. Pretty cool stuff, and these comics were always worth a smile.

Embarrassing display from Nickelodeon Magazine’s local toy store… Really glad Nick saved a page in their magazine to expose those guys.

And to promote the release of the 1993 movie Super Mario Bros., Nick got Luigi’s actor John Leguizamo to say a few words straight from the Nickelodeon “Movie Couch”.

He sure does seem thrilled to be here.

Here’s his stats in case you ever must battle him.

After that there’s some insane article about chewing gum that has nothing to do with anything. And then there’s this article about a fictional professor studying the history of troll dolls. Hey, I think this magazine might be a little wacky!

OOZE News… Y’know, come to think of it, this magazine has been pretty lacking in slime, slop, and ooze. Especially for something created by Nickelodeon in the 90’s. Even here this just seems to be giving the low-down on new episodes and happenings related to Nickelodeon shows. Hardly anything I’d call slimy!

Oh, nevermind.

I’m shocked by the amount of apparently recurring features this magazine had phased out by the time I started reading in the 2000's. Had to make more room for IPHONEs and JAVASCRIPTs, I guess, so kids never got to see a lady eating not-nice things. Thanks Web 2.0!

Lots of fond memories here! I’m pretty sure most of the rides in this list aren't around anymore, which is a shame. And even if the E.T. ride was responsible for inspiring my crippling fear of that little beef-jerky-looking alien bastard, that didn’t change how awesome the park was.

Okay first off: TV Table, obviously. Second off: QZ is a little creep and I don’t like that he was given the opportunity to give children advice. He’s 500 years old and “observes Earth and knows everything about the personal lives of its inhabitants, including its letter writers”? This guy is bad news. THIRD off: How did he already get a letter addressed to him if this is his first ever appearance, hm? All very suspicious.

Rounding off our journey is one last recurring segment: Say What?. Kids from across America were urged to muster up the funniest set-up and payoff they could make with a given photo, usually either of politicians or a stock photo of some kids. I don’t mean to spoil, but as far as I can remember, most of the answers had to do with farts. You probably could have guessed that yourself, but hey, I could be wrong!

And that’s Issue #1 of Nickelodeon Magazine! Well, most of it anyway. What a humble start to a publication so near and dear to so many people.

Anyone actually reading along may have noticed I skipped over some stuff, including a Clarissa Explains It All-themed section with a quiz on driving etiquette. I know that show was popular with a lot of people but I personally know nothing about it, and I’m not gonna bring something up if I have nothing to say on it. I did get a B on the quiz though, if you’re curious.

Thanks for joining me on this trip down memory lane. If you liked it, feel free to stick around for more!

Until next time, keep reading!

[palialaina]

I did it! I saved up enough to start building myself a separate bedroom!

I had to move my hallways pieces though. That was a pain. Take it all apart without actually breaking it, move it, and then rebuild it... Ugh.

I told Jel and he said I had probably thought a little too hard on my idea of a masterpiece for my home. He said it was admirable, since he often overthinks his own clothes.

He's... he's really nice to me. I mean, everyone in the village is nice, but it feels sweeter when he says something nice? I don't know, I'm probably reading too much into it.

Then again, Zeki sent me a letter the other day saying he had Special Chocolate to give to someone you had feelings for and I'm... I'm thinking about it. I mean, I don't want to step on Tish's toes.

Ugh. Focus Berry.

Anyways, Jel needed some help finishing up Kenyatta's dress for the ball. He's so insecure about his own work, but honestly, the gown looks beautiful. I wish I could wear something like that... but it'd look silly on me, I expect. And I'm too busy running around anyways.

So I went and caught him one. I felt kind of bad killing it for the teeth, but... And he gave me an electric eel thing in return! Said out chats always leave him feeling inspired and man, I think I turned as red as one of my tomatoes!

I told him he did wonderful staying true to himself no matter what his mother thought, and he said he was happier staying true to Kenyatta's wishes for a dress. I have to admit that he's probably right; if this dress doesn't get everyone talking about her (as they should, she's pretty darn awesome! I thought she was stuck up, but she's just stuck. She's really nice!) I don't think anything will.

In less... I guess dramatic? news, I still haven't figured out the answer to Jina's second riddle. I kind of keep hoping she'll get it on her own without me, but maybe I should try helping out more? I don't really know where we could fish to find something new about knowledge. I almost wish I'd said the library, but I don't know it that's right either, and she hasn't said if she's found anything...

Mrg. I'm going to go back to building my room so I can move all the furniture in there, and then work on getting space for my kitchen and dining area next. Do I want a large room, or a medium and small room smushed together? Guess I'll find out once I finish my bedroom!