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penfullofwordsaheadfullofstories · 4 years

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Obi-Wan Kenobi NSFW Alphabet

A/N: Posted, unedited, and then I’m gonna nyooom to bed. I know these have been done before, and there are some really great ones out there! I just wanted to add my flair to the mix

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

It’s been said before and I’ll say it again: Obi-Wan Kenobi is the absolute king of aftercare. His soothing, deep voice against your ear, hands gently helping you clean up, arms pulling you into his chest.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He likes his hands. It’s a practical, logical option among a question laced with the opportunity for pride, which isn’t becoming of a Jedi. He likes what noises they bring from you, how he gets to hold you with him. He likes them because what they can do to you.

On you, he loves your eyes. He’s absolutely captivated with you, and while he certainly enjoys many areas of your body, he adores how flashes of emotion will shine through when you’re too overwhelmed to speak.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Obi-Wan loves to mark you with it, especially on the soft, tender flesh of your inner thighs. He feels coming on your face is degrading to you, and if that’s something you’re into, it’s going to take a long conversation, maybe several for him to consider it.

Now, I have to thank @maybege for this one, because this wasn’t a thought I can take credit for, but I agree that he has a bit of a breeding kink, which you can read about in detail here.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He likes the borderline sacrilegious way he uses the Force on you. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t feel unhonoring to the Force. On the contrary, it’s times like these with you he feels singular to the Light in a way that isn’t replicated anywhere else, doing anything else. So the way he holds you down with it, touches what his busy hands can’t reach? The way he melds your minds into one, your thoughts bonding in imitation to your bodies?

It’s against the Jedi code to be attached, but the longer he’s with you, the more he’s intimate with you, he begins to wonder if Love and Light aren’t sometimes one and the same.

(My trademark is beginning to be Smutty Premise but Make It Feelings, prime example above. I have too many feelings about this man. )

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

SO much debate regarding this one, and I could see it both ways. Maybe he’s adhered to the Jedi Code to the strictest degree. But if I’m real? That charming, flirtatious confidence about him? I don’t think that comes from a man who hasn’t had at least a few attachment-free lovers before. Regardless, with his ability to discern so well and quite literally read your mind if you consent to it, he knows how to get you right where you need to be.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

He’s happy to mix it up, try new things, different angles, but his favorties are anything where

He can see your face, press his lips to your mouth or neck

He can touch other parts of you: fist a hand in your hair, drag his knuckles down your stomach, play with the sensitive flesh of yours that longs for his attention

He can penetrate you as deeply as possible

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Just like in the rest of life, he’s more serious, but that dry wit is right under the surface, ready to bubble up when the moment is right. If you’re the one to be a little goofy? It depends on his mood. Sometimes, he’ll chuckle against you, fondness flooding his face. Other times, he’ll shoot you a stern look that shoots right below your stomach because. He’s not playing silly games tonight, but your body shivers in anticipation for the game he does want to play.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Well kept, trimmed, darker than the coppery tresses on his head and face. He shyly, secretly loves it when you decide to kiss down the trail of it that starts below his navel.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

He’s a romantic. One of the most authentic ones to ever grace the galaxy, kept tightly maintained under serenity and his reserved demeanor. But when he has the outlet for it, when he’s with you behind closed doors, all the affection he can’t display in public is bottled up, just waiting to pull you into his arms and show you everything you’ve both missed.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

I don’t think he’s one to do it much. The man hardly gets enough sleep and I’m pretty sure Cody is the only reason he remembers to eat half the time, and doing things for himself is hardly his forte. Seldom he’s desperate enough for the sleep, and he’ll indulge just for the release. Or when the ache of missing you is heavy in the front of his mind.

But once. You asked him to. While you watched.

Normally so put together, so in charge of himself, he flushed head to toe, but obliged you all the same, quirking an eyebrow in challenge.

Let’s just say you couldn’t help but add your hands and mouth shortly after.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Besides the slight breeding kink already discussed,

Praise Kink, both exuberantly giving and reluctantly receiving

Dom/Sub vibes, mostly for the trust element. While I agree that he has some serious switch! Energy, I think he leans heavily into being a Dom. (all under the condition of lots of conversation because: consent king!) Loves watching you squirm under his husky commands, adores the way you clench harder around him when he calls you “little one,” how you just become so open in countenance and body when he pins you against the wall or the bed, how startlingly fast you become aroused when he takes your chin between his fingers, forcing your gaze up to his.

Biting/marking. Possessiveness isn’t something he fosters nor appreciates, but when he gets to mark you, your skin carrying the discoloration of where his mouth loved you lavishly, something deep in him sparks. He felt awful, the first time he saw it, and you had to reassure him profusely that you wanted it, that you craved the proof of the love you two had to keep secret. And the scratches between his shoulders? The bites into his clavicle? Well, his body is littered in scars he couldn’t be more indifferent about, but those he will treasure

Overstimulation, see U for Unfair

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

He’s a private man, so anywhere he knows you two won’t be interrupted.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

You. Sometimes it’s as simple as the way you laugh, and he somewhat hates how his body decides to take that innocent cue. Sometimes it’s the way your clothes fit, either tightly accentuating or loosely alluding to.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Anything you say no to. Again, Consent King, and he won’t ever cross a line. For him personally, he won’t ever do anything that will seriously hurt you, even if you’d ask. He just couldn’t ever lay a hand on you that way.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Preference is definitely giving, and you were monstrously unprepared for how amply his tongue and lips deliver pleasure.

After convincing him that, yes, I want to do that, and he lets you get your mouth on him, he’s a mess. This is where you get to grate against the unwavering wall of his self-discipline, urging out the sinful noises he makes, even as he cuts them short, even as his knuckles turn white in tight fists in their fight against the sea of sensation. He has to shut his eyes. Because when he opens them? When he sees your lips stretched around him, swallowing down what you can? He’s not going to withstand that for as long as he wants.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

It again depends on his mood. Either. Both. But his unshakable patience is certainly best suited for slow and sensual. Deep thrusts. Thorough kisses. Languid movement of his hips.

Although. You will never forget the first time he bent you over the nearest surface and took you from behind.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

If a quickie is all there’s time for, he’ll concede on it, but he certainly prefers when he gets to take his time with you.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Depends on what. If it’s getting caught, he’s likely to not, since too much is at stake. He’s willing to hear you out, within reason, but he’s always the voice of reason, tending to not do anything seriously risky. Although for experimenting, he’s such an inquisitive man, loving to learn, that he’s willing to try new things as long as they’re at least somewhat grounded.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Um. Um. Jedi thrive on stamina and patience, and Obi-Wan’s chosen lightsaber form (which he’s been deemed the master of), is based on the principle of stamina and outlasting your opponent. So, take that for what it’s worth.

Hint: it’s worth a LOT.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Don’t imagine he’s much for toys, he prefers to imitate whatever sensation via the Force or with his body.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Heh.

TEASE.

THE WORST OF THEM.

THAT SMIRK? IT HAS A REASON.

It’s the only thing he’ll do in public, touch you with a tendril of energy when he’s across the room. Plant an impression of a thought against your mind.

And when he has you to himself?

Overstimulation. Teasing you to the brink and back sometimes. Sometimes letting you fall over the edge again and again, your body trembling and aching, overwhelmed at his pointed, too-knowing attentions.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Not loud, but he tries to muffle his moans when they slip, but he can’t always catch them, and he stops trying so hard when he learns how much you love his noises.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

When he learns how much his voice impacts you, he’s thinking of the next thing he can whisper to you the next time he gets you alone. It’s where his mind just lives any moment he has to spare.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Welp. I’m gonna try to be classy here.

Someone said somewhere on this website (I lost the post somewhere, please let me know if anyone finds it!) that he has the politest BDE ever, and that’s the funniest truest thing.

Maybe it’s the way he sits with his legs spread, maybe it’s the way he caries himself.

(Or maybe it’s the way we know Ewan isn’t shy in his nude scenes for a reason)

But yeah.

I can’t imagine he’s anything except just factually acknowledging of it, but the way you react to it? Well, if he feels just a little prideful at that, no one needs to know that except him.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

It’s pretty tied to you. He’s gone years without, but when he has you, it’s awakened a kind of hunger he feels barely equipped to handle.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Depends on the situation. Usually, your hours together tend to be limited, and he wants to savor it. But he also loves the feeling of resting, your body against his. The deep sleep he gets just being with you usually takes him hours of meditating to achieve.

#Obi-Wan Kenobi #obi wan kenobi #obi-wan #obi wan #obi-wan X reader #obi wan x reader #Obi-wan Kenobi X Reader #obi wan kenobi x reader #obi-wan x you #obi wan x you #obi-wan alphabet #obi-wan kenobi alphabet #obi-wan kenobi smut #obi-wan smut #star wars alphabet

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magicofthepen · 3 years

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For the character thingy, romana and leela?? ❤

ROMANA - I’m going to answer for Romana I, since I already did Romana II!

favorite thing about them: so I fell in love with Romana I instantly when I watched The Ribos Operation. I was like “wait no one told me that Romana’s basically a recent graduate who always thrived in school but has now suddenly been thrust into the Real World and is a bit of a mess” and oh my god why is she so relatable, also I love that about her. I love that she doesn’t quite know what she’s doing, and her academic brilliance doesn’t necessarily help in the situations she’s finding herself in, but she keeps trying and learning, so by the end of season 16 she’s much more confident and capable on her own than she was when she started. I just absolutely adore the premise of her character and how she develops during the key to time quest. also her banter skills are so excellent. (….this wasn’t one thing whoops. 😄)

least favorite thing about them: I feel like it’s something about how she’s portrayed in the Gallifrey audios, but I can’t quite articulate what? but I feel like somehow, some of the things I really liked about her on TV (her witty fun banter, her determination even when she’s out of her depth) aren’t represented as much when we get glimpses of Actual Romana I (not Pandora or an alternate universe version). idk if this is even fully true, it’s just….she doesn’t quite have the same vibe as the character I remember from the TV show (but this is also tricky because the Lies scene, the Matrix projection in Lies (which *isn’t* really her technically) and the remains of her consciousness in the body that Pandora’s using are the only times we get Actual Romana I - which isn’t that much time to express all the nuances of her character.)

(continuing to skip the favorite line question because it’s too hard)

brOTP: her and the Doctor!! (like I said in the Romana II ask, I used to ship them more, but lately I’ve been more into a platonic interpretation.) I just as instantly fell for their dynamic in the Ribos Operation - two people with very different personalities who don’t get along but are forced to work together and gradually become friends?? this is exactly the kind of relationship arc that I adore. Their banter and snark is So Good (I was so entertained by their interactions in Ribos Operation that my brain refused to pay attention to anything but their scenes, and I ended up having issues following the plot later oops). And I love their growing respect and care for each other - how they go from being mutually dismissive of each other to valuing each other and being a solid Team and just really genuinely liking each other! their friendship is just Very Good (…..and now I really want to rewatch season 16….I’ve only seen it like one and a half times but I loved it very much….)

OTP: I don’t think I have any ships with Romana I that I would consider an ‘otp’? (the closest would be her and the Doctor since I have sometimes shipped them and I adore their relationship in general)

nOTP: Brax/Romana again….and tbh with Romana I it’s more of an actual nOTP (rather than ‘kinda nOTP, kinda ‘it’s complicated’’) because this is the time frame when she’s actually his student and so my discomfort with student/teacher relationships really rears its head (although there’s still one fic out there that I just think is so well-written.....but it does show the relationship as very unhealthy).

random headcanon: .....so sorry to continue Sartia posting, but oops the first thing that popped into my head is my new maybe-unrealistic headcanon that Sartia was Romana’s first kiss. in a teenage “I’m curious and want to try this thing and you’re the only person I hang out with, but it doesn’t mean anything....or does it??” way. (.....this is so self-indulgent in such a terrible way rip.)

unpopular opinion: Armageddon Factor is my favorite Key to Time story! (I gather this is an unpopular opinion in Doctor Who Fandom At Large, it doesn’t seem to be liked as much as some of the earlier stories in the season.) technically I’ve only seen it once and it was a couple years ago, but I remember loving it as a Romana story, there were a lot of really interesting character bits for her!

song i associate with them: hmm I don’t really have one? my Romana playlist is specifically for Romana II in Big Finish so....yeah.

favorite picture of them: anything with her Ribos Operation outfit (with the full cloak), it’s iconic and beautiful! on a similar note, I love this Romana I art by @volucris-liga, it’s the first Romana fanart I ever reblogged and it’s so pretty!

more under the cut!

LEELA

favorite thing about them: her resilience and her kindness. Leela goes through so much grief and pain, she has her world upended again and again, she never really finds a place where she belongs. and yet she still keeps choosing to love, choosing to keep fighting for what she believes in, choosing to rebuild again and again. and sometimes it’s really hard and she doesn’t want to go on….but she does, and she finds moments of happiness again. and that strength is really powerful. and no matter how cruel the universe (and other people) are to her, she is still relentlessly kind - she listens, she protects, she wants to help, she cares.

least favorite thing about them: I mean, the “savage” stereotype that her character references is a racist/anti-indigenous trope (especially the whole dynamic of the Doctor trying to “civilize” her ugh). and I hate that characters keep calling her “savage” (even when they’re the Bad Guys, it’s still bringing up this trope again and again, and it’s even worse when it’s the Good Guys). why are they still doing this.

brOTP: see all characters listed under otp, every relationship that I ship is also an incredibly important friendship in Leela’s life and I love all of them <33 as far as relationships that I see as entirely non-romantic….I really love the version of Leela and Ace’s relationship that exists in my head (and in fandom) - they didn’t get to interact enough in the audios, but I absolutely think they were really close, because of their shared experiences and the ways their personalities mesh. (I feel like I should also say the Doctor here, but tbh I don’t remember her TV stories that well, so I don’t really have a solid memory of what their relationship was like.) and of course, Leela’s parental relationship with Rayo is very important to me!

OTP: once again, ot3 my beloved <33 and Leela/Romana first and foremost (I already rambled about them here, so I’m just going to second everything I said earlier).

and I also ship Leela/Narvin, although I’m not quite as invested in that pairing? (due to a combination of ‘Romana is my favorite character and so I’m just more interested in her relationships with other characters,’ ‘I joined the fandom when things were pretty much all Leela/Narvin all the time (I say with great respect and affection for the artists and writers putting out amazing content for that ship) so I was motivated to write fic primarily for R/L and N/R to balance out the ot3 content,’ ‘apparently I have a contrary streak with Gallifrey and the more the writers push a romantic interpretation of a relationship, the less interested I am in actually shipping it,’ and ‘I’m not really into Leela/Narvin as a pairing on its own - although I do love a lot of fic that portrays them that way bc it’s just very well-written.’) But just. how they form a grudging alliance for Romana’s sake and then develop genuine respect for each other and then build this really solid foundation of teamwork and fondness and care and really relax and feel comfortable around each other….the way they become ride-or-die for each other and just trust and love each other so much….it’s Very Good!! (And I did love writing scenes with the two of them in Call It Home - I might not focus on them, but I do genuinely love their relationship.)

And of course Leela/Veega <33….I debated if they even interacted enough in the actual audios for me to consider it an otp, but I love the idea of their relationship and the story of them in my head so much?? going to link to this post because it really captures my feelings about them - they’ve both been through so much grief and pain by the time they meet, they’ve both lost people they love before, so the idea of them choosing to love each other and build something together against the odds is just. very powerful. plus I have a whole playlist for the family they’ve built together, which is a strong indication that I really love this ship. 😊

nOTP: Leela/Andred. last time I answered an ask meme about Leela, I had this complicated response about how I hated Leela/Andred when I watched Invasion of Time (bc it’s so abrupt and arbitrary), and then Louise Jameson’s voice acting Convinced Me To Care because oh she really did love him....alas i am a Leela/Andred detractor at heart, and I have been nudged back to my default state by re-listening….I simply hate how he treats Leela in Gallifrey.

random headcanon: I really like the idea of Leela being more politically involved in her own right after they all return from the Axis. She’s just spent a lot of time leading a group of people who don’t have a voice in the government, fighting for their rights against the established injustices of Gallifreyan society. I don’t think she’d easily slip back into only being Romana’s bodyguard after experiencing more political autonomy on the other Gallifrey. What exactly this looks like in practice I’m not sure about - in my one fic ‘verse, I wrote about her being more directly involved with the Academy as a political liaison and guest tutor, and also advocating to Romana for policies that would benefit those who live outside the city on their home Gallifrey. but there’s probably a lot of options to explore here!

unpopular opinion: hmm I don’t think this is necessarily unpopular but idk and I want to talk about it: even though Leela identifies so strongly as a warrior, a “happy ending” for her would, I think, need to involve getting away from fighting. too often she throws herself into a fight to try to avoid thinking about how much she’s hurting, and it doesn’t work, it doesn’t stop the pain. and in the Time War, she’s tied her identity so strongly to war (it’s inevitable, inescapable, and she will Fight and Defend because that’s all she has left). there’s a difference between “I am a warrior” and “all I am is a warrior,” and Leela’s slid too far into the second one, and she needs to untangle her own identity from war to heal.

song i associate with them: Freedom by Karmina (it’s a song about going on defiantly in the face of heartbreak - “Tearing my room apart, I’m starting over” / “Take my pride I can still survive I’ve got my freedom” / “Hunt me down you’ll never find me now that I’ve got my freedom”)

favorite picture of them: the first one that came to mind is this gorgeous art by @laurelhach (which I didn’t realize was based on a picture until I stumbled across the original picture and was like oh my god!! it looks exactly like the art!!)

#thank you for sending these!! <33 #sircarolyn #asks #gallifrey audios #romana #leela #ramblings #gallifrey spoilers

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transsexualhamlet · 3 years

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tg anime vs manga *sighs*

i have the power of hyperfixation and anime on my side! AAAAAAAA

Ok now that we’ve gotten the sins of re post out of the way we need to discuss this. And I just feel that this needs to be covered because I can’t ever get away from constant discourse on this, mostly fueled by manga readers who feel entitled to always think they’re superior for reading the manga, that the manga is the only real canon, that it’s more complex or better, I’m so fucking tired of it. I am also a manga reader, and I tend to get like that sometimes too with many series (for example no. 6 and the promised neverland.) I get it. It can be really annoying to see something butchered on screen to what the original is, changed or represented differently or given a different message or simplified. But just. Some people like the anime and it’s not a goddamn holy war for y’all to fight. It only makes anime fans not want to read the thing even more yknow cause manga readers are pretentious assholes, and I am aware of this as one of them.

(again ok i’d like to mention i know this fandom is basically dead but a certain p*nterest is always like 4 years behind on fandoms so i keep fucking running into Discourse that’s like, still current, whenever i want old random ass content) (and youtube, why do i look at youtube comments, because I personally enjoy being offended? yeah probably)

And that brings me to the point of this anime vs manga.

This is a lot harder to compare than a lot of other series, because there are just... so many more differences not just in the style and vibe but the story itself.

Disclaimer, I’ve never watched the anime for :re and i don’t intend to, because I honestly have no earthly clue how tf you can get from the highly diverged tokyo ghoul root A to re and make it make sense, and I don’t really want A ruined for me. So you can call me biased towards the manga in the case of re, i guess (which makes my eventual conclusion even more strong I’d say) Honestly I just see them as two completely different stories, the manga’s version connecting with re and A just like... ending there. So how we’re drawing the lines is basically tokyo ghoul A versus the manga and :re. God, I know this isn’t a fair fight because I already hate re so much, but I feel like the manga’s story is much more intertwined with :re than the anime’s is, so that’s what we’re going with.

oh god also another disclaimer this opinion is coming from the biggest fucking kanehide whore, you can disregard anything i say if you ship The Straights and/or do not care for my boi hide

To be honest, if I can take my own conclusions and liberties to the story, I like both versions, each have their pros and cons and kind of a conflicting message. They can’t really coexist. Usually I’d consume all versions and then create one consistent canon in my head for what I accept as the true events (for example my main owari no seraph, first season of the anime is canon but after that we only follow the manga since those can come together and make sense.) but it’s very hard to do that in tokyo ghoul, since I must confess... I really like root A. Like of course, it’s a lot different from the manga, but tbh I think it’s super valid. (unlike most Fans TM like this Fan TM who i’m sending this post to just to spite their singular Youtube Comment Section Discourse, yes I did write this post for you and many others like you) But the ideas that make up root A conflict a lot with the ones of the manga, so I just have to accept that they’re separate things and treat them as such.

Now to break it down so people can understand where I’m coming from I guess? God this is already so long here’s a read more

The Case for The Manga (including :re manga)

More Lore + Plot Shit: One of the main reasons that manga readers are pretentious little bitches is a valid reason, namely that, as is the case with most manga, there’s simply more to it than people can fit into an anime. (Although people need to understand that’s because,,, it’s simply a different medium, so it will have different pluses and minuses, such as for example a soundtrack, color, moving pictures,,, you know, all that. Anime onlys don’t say that the anime is better by stating these things that a manga won’t have... because they’re fucking obvious. So manga readers should stop acting like an anime is inherently sub-par for being less in depth, but we digress.) I can understand that reading the manga is kind of important for wanting to understand the lore (though there are like so many other reasons ppl might want to watch it other than to get the lore) and without the explanation of how all this came to be and how it works, everything tends to be really mysterious, confusing, and seemingly random. It’s really nice to know what’s all going on, of course, and stuff like the washuus, rize’s backstory, the explanation for like, kaneki in general, all that- if you’re looking for like, plot shit, manga is definitely your go to. But like, sometimes, you like, don’t actually care about those things.

Haise: Of course one of the most important things about well, including re is that I fucking love Haise. Like he is my favorite Kaneki. He’s just so wonderful, look at him in he glasses and he floofy hair and he striped pants and he energy boxers and he s p i c e and he MOM. And I really like how they took Kaneki’s character and developed it more with Haise, you can see his turnaround from innocent--> Emo--> Trying To Be Innocent Again But Failing and I think that’s really sweet tbh. I rejected that at first because I didn’t understand it but once I actually read re I thought it made a lot of sense and was a logical thing to do with his character. (though, uh, moving forward, after his hair changes again i disagree with it, haise 1.0 is a good take and i love him and i want the best for him) I could go on I’ve already written a post of what I think is wrong with :re so if you want to hear my take on kaneki’s 37 pokemon evolutions that’s in there

Good New Characters: And of course there are my favorite bitches such as quinx squad, oh my god, there was a terminal lack of dumbass squad vibes in the original and ishida fucking gave it to us, I love them, I love them with all my heart and I think that if I wasn’t attached to them I’d probably just cancel all of :re but like this is just my personal problem. God I love them. Ishida always pulls through with characters I’m now too attached to.

Vore Lmao:Ok like hear me out. I just get a laugh out of it every time the manga has to remind me of this little fucking fact. Like ok I just. Cannot get over it. It’s so serious about it too and like I realize it’s a serious deal but o h m y g o d

Ok and now that we’ve got that little rant over I do want to say that it is like actually really important past the “lmao that’s pretty gay” bit, like??? In some ways it’s more fitting than the anime because well, ishida’s point always seems to be “what would mentally and physically hurt kaneki the most right now” and does it because that’s who this bitch is. But it just?? Kind of makes a bit more sense for the storyline if we’re being picky here, it’s so,,, painfully on point? Like the entire reason he gave in to Being A Ghoul and all was so he could save his friends and shit (i actually do not remember if this was a thing in the manga but like? when he was being tortured and he like imagined hide being really mad at him and getting killed by jason and shit?) LIKE AND THEN HE GOES AND HAS TO BASICALLY BE THE PERPETRATOR OF THAT HIMSELF, FUCK, it’s a lose/lose situation of “don’t do the bad thing and watch your friends suffer” or “do the bad thing and watch your friends suffer but like, later” ishida please

The meaning of Hide being alive: Ok this is just me crying over chapter 75 still but like. Instead of in the anime, where hide’s point seems to be that instead of letting kaneki sacrifice anything more he’d be the one to give his life up and such, and save kaneki, in the anime tbh he just really wanted to be with kaneki right then?? and like ouch but understanding that in the manga he wasn’t just planning on dying and leaving kaneki to deal with it afterward he wanted to go on and continue to try to help the guy no matter the shit he had to go through, no matter if the dude just like forgot that he existed for two years and all- LIKE UH CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW HIDE DOESN’T EVEN EXPECT ANY APOLOGY? like kaneki’s like “OH MY GOD I’M SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON” and hide’s like lmao nah it’s cool i’m thriving- that his big motto was “live” rather than “peace out motherfuckers it’s been fun”. Cause. Fucking. Ishida. Can’t kill off characters well but like at least he made keeping this one alive justified.

The D e t a i l s: Ok well I feel like this is something everyone knows but the anime is missing a lot of really,,, crunchy details that the manga throws in there, like, well, kaneki’s fucking,,, bones thing, and other assorted details, g o d like those are missable if you want to never understand half the memes but also like,,, sometimes you just gotta read that shit. It also like, makes more sense when you do but sometimes it’s just stupid things that aren’t important but are fucking hilarious.

The Flavor: In general I’d say the greatest difference between the anime and the manga is the general flavor of the thing, the vibe in the manga is a lot, to be frank, darker and grosser and bloodier than the anime, which is a lot more focused on being pretty and Tragic than “HOLY SHIT WTF” but like. That’s valid. With that comes it being a lot more, real, and although the art may not be as polished as the anime’s, sometimes that’s exactly what you need, and the really gritty sketchy shit that’s in the manga sometimes is exactly what it’s supposed to be for the manga. (in the anime, i’d say that the colored and polished style fits it better, so we’re good there.) It’s a lot more real, in the manga, when the anime hesitates to “go there” a lot (and well, sometimes that’s welcome, but sometimes it’s like y o u g u y s c o m e o n r e a l l y maybe i DID want to see that did you ever think of that)

So like, to sum it up i’d just like to say it’s more detailed, sharper and darker and is simply So Much. There is just More Content

The Case for Root A

ON THE OTHER HAND, (buckle up fuckers)

Depth of Emotion (that Ishida was too much of a pissbaby for): God like you know what I mean if you read the last post, we spent a whole episode on these gay fucks in root A, with backstory and dreams and drawn out suspense and emotion and GUYS LOOK AT THEM NO REALLY OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS whereas hide’s limelight in the manga is a whole... two pages, oh whoopee, and that’s mostly due to the fact of ishida putting himself in a spot of “oh fuck goddamn if i drew that in i’d get flagged for gay porn” but that’s his own fault, so he downplays the whole scene and really keeps it in the dark, whereas in this anime it’s understandably a lot less,,, like that, but how it plays out here is simply... really nice and makes you cry and shit, whereas in the manga I’d go “oh god oh damn oh fuck” *laughs my ass off because i really can’t take this seriously*. You get just... more here.

To elaborate on this, in the anime, as a gay fucking bastard, I can get practically an endless amount of content from episode twelve, and endlessly stew over all Those Things about it, every hard hitting line, the expressions, the music making it even sadder, the ways the VAs say the words, the cinematic beauty of the blood dripping on the floor and like how it’s supposed to make you think it’s kaneki’s, GOD I COULD FUCKING GO ON, but if we want to get that in the manga...

we get three incredibly basic lines, a blackout, and then a “QUICK LET’S MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE BEFORE ANYONE NOTICES THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT HAHA”

So if we want to have more, we need to write it. (sadly) None of it is ever played out canonically so like,,, all we can do is infer and make shit up. It’s like, I am a writer so like that’s my whole job but I really would rather have more content, and have the content that’s there get to be emotional instead of *blank face* “this is plot that is happening, sadly” but like maybe it’s just bc i’m gay

Really Fucking Beautiful (aesthetically as well as story-wise): This kind of just goes hand in hand with the depth of emotion bit, and I think it can’t really compared to the manga here because I’m gay so I see pretty colors and cry so the anime is understandably appealing for me, but I’m also talking emotionally, yeah. There’s a lot of plotlines and implications of the story that are really well played out, I always love to watch the original because it does a very good job handling a lot of the harder topics and stuff that makes the whole thing worthwhile- like the whole point you’re supposed to see that the ghouls and humans are both just as monstrous when you break it down, that there are good and bad people on both sides, everyone just wants to live and feel good in their own life and perspective, everyone has reasons that justify their behaviour in their mind, sometimes you just can’t win no matter what, all that... they’re all really important messages and make the whole story, and they were handled much more delicately and with more expertise in the anime.

It’s hard to pin down, but I feel like the manga was just based more on Fight Scenes Characters OoH Fake Science and kind of just gave kaneki infinite power ups after Trying Harder no offense, obviously those things were there and they were still very good in the manga it’s just sometimes they were cheapened a lot by ishida really not keeping track of what he’s trying to say with his story and sacrificing it a lot for “BUT WHAT IF KANEKI’S HAIR AND IDEALS CHANGED AGAIN” instead of making it a whole cohesive work. (and yes, I am VERY aware of your “well aCtuAlLy the hair represents his sanity” thing i know i know and i’m about to rip it to fucking shreds so)

Understandable Character Development And Staying True To It: Which brings me to this point, character development. This was another thing that was just... handled with more expertise in the anime, whoever was in charge of it. Mostly this has to do with Kaneki, since like, no offense but he’s the only one who ever gets much character development other than like, juuzou (asmr you only get character development if your hair color changes) oh and i guess there’s tsukiyama but he’s someone who shouldn’t have gotten character development. Touka gets character development only before re for some reason, and like tbh that’s kind of it. I do think Juuzou’s character development was valid, because well... it made sense? I complained about it before because I was like “well he just turns into spicy L” but i’ve since changed my opinion, he’s best boy. But Kaneki? They went way overboard with him in the manga, and generally? Calm tf down ishida.

Breaking it down, one of the main things that most of the tried and true manga stans seem to hate about the anime the most is Kaneki going over to Aogiri in root A. Since they’re much more acclimated to the manga, they don’t understand why he would do that (quoting a particular ‘probably made sense in the manga!’ yes i know that whole thing was poking fun at the show and i felt it lmao) and they just pin it to “ahaha he has now become Edgy for the fans ehehe time to make fun of him” and TO BE FAIR YOU’D BE COMPLETELY RIGHT. I love to make fun of Kaneki when he does his edgy bitch thing because that’s what he is. A basic edgy bitch who is just,,, such a main character. But like. He does actually have his reasons despite popular opinion and to be honest I think they’re a bit more valid than in the manga, where he’s just like “well I’ve been tortured, that was not pleasant and i kinda did a bad thing, let’s go back to anteiku but i’m just gonna Try Harder To Fight this time”. I can understand that, but like, it seems like in the manga every Character Development of kaneki is some form of “i will now be stronger” except for the singular “I will now be a different person” which, well, we’ll get to that.

In the anime though, even if it seems like more of a basic edgy bitch move, it’s like?? It makes perfect sense to me, and to be honest more than the manga does? Obviously he doesn’t wanna be best bros with Aogiri, he realizes they’re all bad people who have done really terrible things, but the fact is he now sees himself as the same thing, he now understands their motives because in his mind he is also now Bad TM. His whole character development of being tortured was that peace wasn’t an option no matter how much he wanted it, he couldn’t live being a pacifist and the world was forcing him to give the “i am the only one that understands! we need to stop fighting!” bullshit up because there was no way to achieve it. He realized if he kept himself the way he was more people he loved would be hurt like they already had because he couldn’t, so he doesn’t just Decide To Become Stronger, he gives up his humanity. And that includes basically letting himself defend his own actions and try to do “the right thing”.

Him then joining aogiri makes sense because well. They’re the people who are the strongest, who have the power, who are the same as he sees himself. He still wants to protect the people he loves, he just also realizes he can’t do it by working with them since he now understands that their more peaceful ways will by definition get them fucking killed. His understanding is flawed, of course. He’s not really right. But this is his understanding and from that it makes perfect sense for him to join up with aogiri and try to still do as much as possible from that standpoint, realizing that most likely the people he’s trying to protect will hate him for it. I think that makes sense to me, what do you not understand about it? (I also understand that may make some people mad because he’d Doing Bad Things but I point to you he’s so soft, remember when he was really nice to naki when he was literally the one who killed the guy naki was crying about? remember when he was doing a raid and he saw that guy hiding and he never mentioned it? remember like the seventy times he Cried TM, yeah he’s problematic obviously but if you want problematic I’ll point you to a certain fucking black reaper. Shironeki has nothing on that asshole.)

I think what Kaneki did in the manga was fine, but in general the anime (again) had more depth of understanding and emotion versus a steady Try Harder Get Stronger shonen deal, which, well, fair, but like, nah. Continuing why I think the anime dealt it better is the ending of A, which was a lot more well rounded then *kaneki gets stabbed and then there’s a lot of random plot shit going on in the background*. Here Kaneki then got to round out the end of his character development by realizing slowly through the second half of this season, him becoming a kakuja and then basically deciding like, not to

((kakuja kaneki was dealt with again different in the anime and manga because he basically stopped trying to use it in the anime bc he realized it was a bad fucking idea but this goes along with the ‘his character development of “i’m gonna do bad things for good reasons” --> “actually no wait that was a bad idea” was actually done in root A instead of being dragged out into :re and it’s appropriate for its own medium and the messages it’s trying to get across so manga loyalists hate it’ but we digress))

So in root A we got to see him actually develop and realize himself through the second half of the season starting with cochlea, his interactions with Amon, and ultimately through Hide, that he’d been doing the wrong thing by becoming more monstrous/fighting harder because what he did was ended up forgetting the most important thing, *smiles in gay* HIDE.(well, his humanity. yeah. i cite the terrible opening for root A with the fun ‘the hands taking off kaneki’s mask are hide’s’ bit.) He then remembered again why he wanted so bad to stop the war between humans and ghouls, he wanted to be able to live in peace and not have to be a monster- something that was not dealt with in the manga (though for understandable reasons of We Need To Fuck With Him In Re More, they then didn’t deliver on creating something like that later so I take this.)

That’s most of the difference between the original manga and anime, but I’d also like to discuss (briefly, I’ve already yelled about them) the ridiculous amount of hurdles ishida went through to fuck with kaneki in the manga, Of course there is the fact that well, the slower transition of his character does make some more sense for the manga because if you take :re into consideration, his eight billion character changes are more tolerable when they haven’t like, already happened before in the manga (just the anime). It makes more sense there for Haise to be tormented by past kaneki telling him He’s Too Weak because in the manga he hasn’t already had that development prior to “dying”, and he lost his memories still believing he had to be strong even if he did bad things, whereas in the anime it doesn’t track because at the end like i just said he kind of gives up his ghoulhood on purpose because he realizes that joining aogiri and fighting and shit was really wrong because, hide. So I can see why those character decisions were not made in the original when planning for :re, but... the fact remains that those previous decisions do not make up for how absolutely weak :re’s game ended up being with kaneki.

So tldr this entire section, All the manga’s defense of how they handled Kaneki’s development is basically void because all those choices were buildup for development in :re which ishida then COMPLETELY fell down on. So the alternative is better.

And now comes my yelling about how exactly Ishida fucked it up: hair colors and kaneki’s 80 kanekis. If black is supposed to represent sane and white is supposed to represent insane or, whatever, i dunno, who tf thought black reaper kaneki was sane? Who tf would think kaneki in the end isn’t? I haven’t looked into this really, and I’d really love it if someone explained it to me the way ishida was going for bc I do not understand it. Like that tracks with Juuzou, and with Kaneki up to Haise Original, but they don’t really make a cohesive sense seeing as after Haise’s hair color changed again that whole deal kind of goes to shit. Not to mention... I just... they completely failed to make those character changes actually part of the story, I’m mostly complaining about black reaper haise, none of him makes any sense. What’s his deal? He wants to protect who he loves? Tracks with the ghouls but fun fact he abandoned his kids? He actually cared for them? What then, he wants to be the strongest as possible? Sure but then?? Why?? I don’t understand his motives at all.

We also didn’t get to see him get his memories back either, which I was actually very much looking forward to, it just,,, like all of a sudden he’s talking with eto about yoshimura and i’m like bruh when tf did that happen? It’s bad, and although chapter 74-76 is super valid, and his change back into white hair kaneki makes sense, I also have the complaint about how haise basically disappeared just like he was worried he would. I think that was bad and I’ve said that already, it doesn’t make sense, he just literally throws those entire two years away to go back to the way he was before he was with the CCG and just forgets everything he’s wanted for the last few years? Fiction logic test fucking failed, and you’ve also broken my heart. Love Haise. You got rid of him. I love kaneki too but like. Why don’t they just. Like. Merge. He is one whole complex person, not one and an imposter, god.

This is a big negative for re and the manga, so automatically a positive for root A where I simply Do Not Have To Deal With That Bullshit and the character development actually makes sense. I can understand the decisions in the original manga could have set up for good development in :re, but they completely failed to deliver.

root a didn’t fast forward to re at the end god damn let us process this shit first before you try to connect it to something else: The thing with this point is that it’s really difficult to separate the original manga from the continuing story in :re because the thing intertwines so much and immediately moves us forward with a ton of plot points for the next part of the story before we’re done with this climax and the end of this story. Sometimes that’s ok and I can see doing that from an author’s perspective because you want people to continue reading your story instead of taking that as the end but it’s really annoying on a reader’s end, because I’m picky and I want to be able to just be able to enjoy my original canon without it like, metaphorically touching :re on a plate. It’s something that I don’t even do with my own longer stories, like for example I have like a trilogy of >100k fics that like, well i’m technically not done with them but like.

People really like the first one because it’s more focused on a more popular ship and basic elements people like about the thing, and then by the second book it moves on to talk more about the plot and lore and brings in more secondary characters. And so I knew that a lot of the readers of the first one wouldn’t want to have to deal with a lot of the “oh well stuff is happening elsewhere that will effect stuff later!!!” random plot shit that none of my readers actually cared about. So I kept it to wrapping up the points of the first book and then leaving the introduction of new characters and plot for the people who actually wanted to read it. Ishida didn’t do that, and of course it’s within his right to like?? Want to promote the next series but I’d have enjoyed it more if we ended it at kaneki’s “death” and wrapping up the deals with the rest of the characters instead of quickly shoving in the beginning of seventy more plotlines before the book ends. Like honey I simply do not have the reading comprehension for that. In the anime we get something that... makes sense.

In the anime, however, it’s quite the opposite, for example the reveals like Eto=owl=takatsuki sen were pushed before that and they saved episode twelve for, well, the end bit. Like what was actually the ending. There were detriments to this I had to say (LIKE GUYS I GET IT HE’S CARRYING HIDE HE’S CARRYING HIM I GET IT YOU’VE BEEN DOING IT FOR HALF THE EPISODE NOW OK I UNDERSTAND CAN WE MOVE ON) But like, I prefer the concept of a simple idea with as much emotion squeezed out of it as possible to a ton of confusing and contradicting ideas that are touched on for a second before moving on. So the *cries for half an hour* ending was much more appealing to me, and I can keep that separate in my head from any of the ideas that :re creates, letting me pretend it doesnt exist and imagine that’s the end and there’s nothing else to worry about. If we want to move forward and hear more, then we can, but it isn’t necessary like it is with the manga.

No Bad Takes that are hard to pry apart from good plot and characters:This is basically the downsides of the new characters, which is well, if I had to make a whole ~keep reading~ post about how problematic everything in re was that does have to count as a downside. I love the new characters, but they also come intertwined with a thousand really bad takes on like, everything, and of course I can ignore it and just act as though they were written in like, to be perfectly honest, a non transphobic way, it’s a real downside when the original anime was pretty pain-free in the way of their takes on their characters. They fucked everyone up in re and I will not elaborate, we’ve talked about this, it’s just the anime, and which i mean season 1 and root A, don’t really have any bad takes I need to try to get rid of, it’s surprisingly something I have little complaint about at all and I ALWAYS have complaints.

Hide!!!!: Obviously, you can tell that a lot of my opinions are going to be hide based because he’s the only thing I ever think about. But we have to take into account just how... hide???? This goes a lot into the depth of emotion bit but it also offers the other side of the argument for Hide’s part in the :re manga, which well. Was mostly chapter 75 if we’re going to be perfectly honest here. He doesn’t get any other limelight. Even in the chapter where Kaneki meets him again he gets a whole what, three pages? In the manga, he has an extremely valid deal about basically, living, keeping going no matter what, and that is a fitting part for the manga, considering the rest of the points there ride more on Keep Fighting instead of Think About Your Emotions And Morals, but honestly chapter 75 was really valid. So why do I still think the anime’s version where he like (ok I don’t know about the re anime we’ve discussed this, i don’t even know how they choose to explain that) he like, dies in kaneki’s arms is better overall? Again, I would have totally accepted that deal if it was made a part of the story because it made me cry, it was super valid, and if they’d continued in that way I would have agreed with it completely over that. But the fact is again that they failed to deliver, and Hide got largely ignored, suffered so much with so little outcome. There was so much buildup and it was incredibly valid, but when the time came for them to meet again and basically show... why it was important that Hide lived in the end?

They didn’t. They straight up didn’t. Kaneki’s like “oh sorry bro... glad you’re alive and all...” *goes off and fights* and like? Honestly? @everlastingspiral is right, if that’s all they’re gonna do with him what’s the point of keeping him alive? I love every single panel of him and I wouldn’t have read re if he didn’t, but hide gets absolutely NO payoff. For letting kaneki literally vore his entire mouth off, leaving him disfigured and unable to talk, then kind of disappearing for two years and doing seemingly nothing but trying to help kaneki even though he’d forgotten the guy existed, risks his life like a thousand fucking times, eventually gets back to him and the dude’s running a fucking anti-human organization, helps him like Not Be A Volitile Pile Of Flesh Anymore and then what should have been a very important moment of them meeting again gets completely overshadowed by touka and random plot shit and more fights and they barely interact, they don’t even hug or anything, they barely talk, and at the end hide is still there but to be honest he’s gotten absolutely no thanks for all he did and ishida acts at the end as though he’s done very well with hide and gives him a tiny bit at the end throwing in a tragic backstory for fun (which hot take he really didn’t fucking need on top of it all) and... there’s no real hint that Kaneki is better off with Hide there, even though there should be. In 75, in his dream, kaneki is sobbing and crying and all like i’m so lonely without you but when they actually meet each other again? “yo” “hey” “uh sorry about,,, the thing,,, you know” “nah man it’s ok” “let me talk about myself for a bit” “yes you always do do you want to hear what I’ve been up to” “not really” “that’s fine i’m only here to support you”

...So you can understand why I’ve gone a bit sour on that. If that’s all you’re going to give him? Hot take? Let him die. Hide deserves better. (and i will deliver that in writing, but for the purposes of canon.)

In the anime, however (not counting re again... although he still gets the short end of the stick just in the original manga too compared to the anime) he’s properly dealt with! he gets his proper limelight and he gets acknowledged for what he’s done thusfar in the story, which is already so much. Kaneki then realizes that, but it’s already too late (or it isn’t, and they like negotiate with the ccg and then they get to live happily ever after) either way he gets appreciated and he gets hurt, but it’s properly acknowledged. And after all that, after saving kaneki and getting him to the cafe and doing it all while bleeding the fuck out, he gets to spend that time with kaneki and die in kaneki’s arms. And frankly? That’s all I think he’s ever needed. It’s really poetic and pretty and brings kaneki’s character around full circle, and even if it’s overly sappy, cliche, drawn out... he gets the attention he’s due and he gets a fucking break. He wanted to show Kaneki he wanted to do something for him and save him instead of the other way around, but then HE GOT ACKNOWLEDGED FOR THAT, instead of just well, tirelessly working towards it forever and having to be content to be a background character with practically no value to Kaneki anymore.

Keeps The Same Vibe: The big thing about this is that with the manga and with re, shit just goes all over the place, and I feel like I’ve amply showed that already through this essay or whatever this is. Again about the consistency and the professionalism, It’s a concise story that makes more sense than the manga while also being simply neater and more deep, making sure all the points, themes and messages work together and make sense to create a cohesive deal even if it’s not as long. (the manga is like ishida had a TON of good ideas for an essay but then fleshed out the thing ten minutes before deadline and managed to completely lose what his original thesis was even if the thing was 10 pages long.) Basically. yeah. That kind of sums it up, my last point concerns the ending.

Not Cheap Ending: If you want to hear my take about how absolutely terrible re’s ending was, check out my The Many Sins Of Tokyo Ghoul :Re post, and we’ve discussed how the original’s manga ending was bad and well not really an ending, it just leaves you unfulfilled and takes you into “well I guess I have to start a whole nother sequel series ig...” but root A like? Actually ends it? If a reader didn’t know that there was any content after that, they could pretty much infer that hide’s death or almost death whatever you inferred out of that ending (again we’re ignoring re) allowed Kaneki to finish his character development and realize they needed to stop the war, which basically tracks with what’s going on in everyone else’s perspective- eto’s problem with the world because of what happened with everything, is basically like, all of aogiri, juuzou and shinohara, amon and akira and kaneki and they can realize all they have to do is just sit down and fucking stop it because none of them want to be fighting, hide is the catalyst for that because the CCG can see how Kaneki cares for him? And it’s so open ended that you could just like literally believe that and there’d be no way for that canon to tell you otherwise, or you could go onto re and whatever if you wanted to. I think that’s the best thing.

In conclusion, both have valid points, and in general I’d say that the manga goes better with :re and the anime is better as a stand alone but if I had to choose overall, this particular anime is better (taking into account only seasons 1 and 2), for mostly the reasons of favoring a simpler story taken with much more care and depth versus a more complex story with many, MANY imperfect elements, and I am aware I will get shot on sight for this opinion. So sue me.

#tokyo ghoul #hideyoshi nagachika #kaneki ken #tokyo ghoul :re #essay post #god i've been writing this for so fucking long #but i'm right #y'all fuckers asked for a fight? you're getting a fight #rowan's hyperfixation essays

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returnn-of-the-mac · 5 years

Note

I love the way you write the companions! Especially X6! Companions react to Sole giving them nicknames based on pre-war movies?

Thank you! X6 is one of my favorite characters to write (along with Ada and Danse)! Sorry this took so long, there were a few characters I struggled with (looking @u gage & preston). Also, again, I usually write a silent Sole, but I couldn’t for this one, obviously. Please enjoy!😄

Fo4 Companions React: Sole Giving Them Pre-War Movie Nicknames

Strong:

Strong and Sole where walking around Sanctuary when the super mutant heard rustling in the bushes.

“COME OUT, PUNY RADROACH! STRONG SMASH YOU INTO THE GROUND!”

Sole smirked, “Easy there, Hulk. It’s just Dogmeat.”

Strong scratched his head, “Who Hulk? He a Radroach?”

Danse:

Sole was in Danse’s quarters as the Paladin was trying on some new patriotic power armor he had designed. He stepped out in his red, white, and blue mechanical suit and twisted around a bit to show Sole.

“What do you think,” He asked, “Is it too much?”

Sole giggled, “You kinda look like Optimus Prime.”

“You mean Liberty Prime?”

“Nope. I mean Optimus Prime. He’s a Cybertronian from a pre-war movie called Transformers.” Sole explained.

“Cybertron? Is that like a synth,” Danse scoffed, “Cuz I’d be damned if I looked like a synth.”

“Well, no. Cybertron is the planet they’re from. It’s complicated, but it’s basically a fictional species of robots that can transform from ordinary objects. Like cars.”

A confused Danse gave his companion an acknowledging nod, “Ah, okay. That actually sounds pretty interesting. Maybe the Brotherhood could start crafting armor based off of these ...uh...’Cybertronians.’ You’re going to have to show me sometime, soldier.”

Nick:

“Hmm...” Nick pondered, looking over his latest case, “This Marowski fellow seems to be up to no good, yet again. His chem lab is more secure this time too...I’m thinking we’re going to have to tinker around with some scrap and invent a device to break into there undetected.”

“And what do you suggest we create, Inspector Gadget?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Ha ha. Very funny. I happen to who that is, you know.”

MacCready:

MacCready and Sole where camping out at Outpost Zimonja for the night, lying under the stars, next to a campfire.

“You know what stinks,” Macready began, “Being an adult. So much is expected of you, and all the other adults are all just a buncha bullies.”

Sole gazed at their companion and he continued, “I swear, the kids at Little Lamplight were more mature than at least half the mungos in the Commonwealth. I wish I’d never had grown up...I wish I could’ve stayed a kid forever.”

“Okay, Peter Pan,” Sole laughed, “Growing up is a part of life. Everyone goes through it. Society wouldn’t thrive if people didn’t get older.”

MacCready was still caught up on the first part of Sole’s statement. “Peter...who? Who’s that?”

“Peter Pan. He was a mythical boy who never grew up, and he lead a group called The Lost Boys in Neverland. They’d go on adventures and stuff. It was a story that got adapted into a popular pre-war movie,” Sole explained.

MacCready was captivated by the description. “That seems...awesome, actually! Can you tell me more about it?”

Ada:

Sole and Ada were trekking through the wilderness just beyond the glowing sea when a RadStrorm hit. Adamant about making it to their destination, Sole continued to their journey, despite the wind, rain, and rads.

“[Sir/Ma’am],” Ada beckoned, “Being that I am non-organic, these rads don’t have an effect on me. You, however, might get sick if we continue.”

Sole ignored Ada and continued to press forward. Ada tried again.

“[Sir/Ma’am]? It is highly likely that you will not be able to successfully complete your mission if you were to fall ill.”

Sole, once again, ignored their companion and continued forward. Ada, ardent about keeping her companion healthy, tried a third time.

“[Sir/Ma’am]? I believe I saw an abandoned barn a few miles back. We could camp there for the night.”

Sole stopped and gave Ada a stern look. “C-3PO. Please. Be quiet for just a minute. I can’t even hear myself think.”

Ada beeped a few times. “I am unfamiliar who this model C-3-P-O is. My model number A-D-4.”

Piper:

“Okay, look. I think we’re really gonna get him this time, Blue,” Piper began, peeking through her binoculars at an unsuspecting Mayor McDonough, “Oh! Oh! Look! He put the toilet paper on the holder flap-side-up. Mm-hmm. Definitely a synth.”

Sole raised an eyebrow, “And what’s your master plan here? We gonna break in there and catch him in the act of changing his toilet paper, Lucy Stevens? Kinda not a good look.”

Piper cocked her head to the side, “Lucy...Stevens? Who’s that?”

Sole giggled, “She’s a reporter from one of my favorite pre-war movies.”

Piper smirked, “And what movie would that be?”

“Detective Pikachu.”

Gage:

Sole and Gage were building a raider base when suddenly Gage stopped hammering.

“Hey, got any more nails over there? Can’t see for shit with this eyepatch.”

Sole rolled their eyes and handed the raider the container of nails, “Why don’t you just take it off then? I know you have a fully-functional eyeball under there.”

“Yeah but it’s part of the image.”

“Alright, One-eyed Willie.”

“The fuck is that?” Gage asked, “You pickin on me, boss?”

Hancock:

Hancock and Sole were hanging out in Hancock’s quarters listening to the radio, taking hits of jet, and drinking whiskey.

“This is niice,” Hancock mused, taking a long hit of jet, “Sometimes ya need a break from running the city, yanno?”

Sole nodded.

Suddenly, the song changed and Hancock grunted. “I hate this one. It kills the vibe in here.”

As he got up to change the station, drink in hand, a random Goodneighbor resident barreled into the room, nearly knocking the mayor over.

“Woah, friend, I’ve got a beverage here.” It was then the ghoul noticed he had spilled his drink all over himself and the rug. “Ah, come on, brother. That was a new rug.”

“Easy there, Lebowski,” Sole consoled, standing up and putting a hand on their companion’s shoulder, “Whiskey shouldn’t be too difficult to clean off a rug.”

“Sorry Hancock,” the resident apologized, “But your friend here is right. I mean it is practically water.”

Cait:

Cait and Sole were crouched behind a stack of boxes, fully prepared to ambush a group of raiders who were holding an innocent settler hostage.

“Can’t wait to use this new machete ye gave me,” Cait gushed, excitedly studying the weapon, “Never have had the chance to use one of these before.”

Sole smiled.

“Ready darlin?”

“Ready.”

The pair sprung out from their hiding spot and began their onslaught. Sole took cover behind an old desk, shooting at the raiders with ease and Cait decapitated them with her machete.

“I’m just gettin warmed up, ye clowns!”

The redhead suddenly ran up a side wall and did a flip, slicing two raiders heads off at the same time. Sole lowered their weapon and watched in awe as their partner singlehandedly decimated the raiders with her melee weapon. When the last raider was taken out, Cait took a little bow.

“Damn, Uma Thurman! Leave some for me next time,” Sole joked.

“Couldn’t help it. This machete is way too much fun.”

Deacon:

Deacon and Sole were hiding in an air vent, preparing to take out some synths as asked by Drummer Boy, when Deacon started fumbling around.

“What are you doing?” Sole whispered harshly, annoyed by their partner’s commotion.

“I’m due for an image change,” Deacon answered matter-of-factly, taking his shirt off, “I’ve been in my Elvis Presley Wannabe disguise for two hours now.”

Sole clenched their teeth in frustration.

“What do you think I should go for? The intelligent Bald Doc or intimidating Street Punk?”

“How about the bumbling Austin Powers?”

Deacon chuckled, “Yeah bAbY! I’m flattered you would even suggest that. Such a cool character.”

Sole rolled their eyes as Deacon began to dress as the iconic British spy.

Curie:

Curie and Sole were walking along the coast of Salem when the synth suddenly stopped. Sole turned around, concerned.

“You okay, Curie?”

The synth looked at Sole and smiled. “Oui. I was just thinking...thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to exist in human form.”

“No problem! I’m just glad you’re happy.”

Curie nodded, “It’s not like I wasn’t happy being in my old body it’s just...I can do so much more now in this new body. Do field work, collaborate, share my findings and be taken seriously. That and...this body is very flattering. Much more attractive than metal and bolts.”

Sole laughed, “Hey, I thought your EVE form was adorable.”

“Eve? Who is that?”

“She was a character— a robot— from a pre-war movie called WALL-E.”

“I see...well, that is very interesting, [Madame/Monsieur]!”

Longfellow:

“Damn snow. I hate the North. Move me to the tropics,” Longfellow complained as he and Sole walked through a light snow flurry.

“It’s not even that bad,” Sole reassured, “Besides, what would Christmas be without snow?”

“I don’t care about Christmas. Got no family to celebrate it with anyway.”

“Oh come on, Scrooge,” Sole teased, “We can celebrate Christmas together if you want.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I am old Ebenezer. Bah humbug,” Longfellow grumpily muttered, taking a shot of whiskey.

X6-88:

X6 and Sole were on a mission tag a synth with a tracking beacon when Sole suddenly stopped.

“Is something wrong, [sir/ma’am]?” the synth asked, concerned.

“No it’s just...what would you look like without your glasses? I’ve never seen you take them off. Do you even have eyes under there?”

X6 nodded, “Of course I have eyes. The glasses make me look slick. More professional, if you will.”

“You look like Morpheus from The Matrix.”

“And he was an influential individual, was he not?”

Sole remained silent.

“Case in point, [sir/ma’am].”

Preston:

Sole had just returned to Sanctuary after a lengthy fight with some gunners with Preston beckoned to them.

“Another settlement needs our help,” he began, “The settlers at Nordhagen beach are complaining about a wobbly chair and—“

Sole raised their hand in the air, “Do it yourself, Fix-it-Felix,” they mumbled before retreating to their room for a nap.

Codsworth:

Sole and Codsworth were in their old house, assembling furniture and reminiscing about the past.

“This was such a happy home before the bombs dropped. I wish we could go back to it, [sir/mum].”

Sole nodded in agreement as they discovered old photographs in cracked frames. Codsworth hovered over to examine Sole’s finding.

“Ah! That photograph! That was the first day you adopted me,” the robot gushed, “I’m so glad you chose the name Codsworth and not any of the absurd names the [hubby/wife] was suggesting.”

Sole laughed, “But Codsworth was their idea! I was going to name you BB-8.”

“Seriously? Why? Just because I’m round and I’m a robot?”

“Exactly!”

Codsworth huffed in annoyance and floated away from an amused Sole.

#fallout 4 #fallout #fo4 #danse #paladin danse #hancock #deacon #maccready #piper #curie #x6 #x6 88 #ada #strong #codsworth #nick valentine #longfellow #gage #porter gage #cait #react

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charity-h-burbage · 4 years

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Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you’re all having a lovely Christmas season! I’m super super excited to share my Secret Santa gift for this year!!!!!

Since I’m terrible at art and all other things at all times forever, I chose once again to compile a playlist dedicated to and inspired by the character played by my Secret Santa giftee -- our darling Lily, and the bewitching Narcissa Malfoy ( @forever-toujourspur ), who is one of my favorite characters both in the books and here in the RP. I’ll link it right here!

In addition to just the link, I’m also adding below a list of the songs and a short description of why I chose that song, whether it be the vibe, specific lyrics, whether that song makes me think of an event in Narcissa’s life, whatever it was that made me pick it. (I say a short description -- I really tried to make them short and I apologize for them Not Being That lol) I hope you enjoy the songs I picked, and have an amazing Christmas!!

Control - Hasley: “I’m bigger than my body, I’m colder than this home / I’m meaner than my demons, I’m bigger than these bones. . . Who is in control?” This song just has a Narcissa kind of vibe for me, and the lyrics make me think of her being so amazing and in control in spite of the well-documented “Black family madness”

you should see me in a crown - Billie Eilish: “You should see me in a crown / Your silence is my favorite sound / Watch me make ‘em bow / One by one” Again, just her being the absolute queen of everything. That’s a recurring theme so get ready lmao

I Don’t Care - Fall Out Boy: “I don’t care what you think as long as it’s about me” That’s it. That’s the whole reason. I always think of her as someone who truly doesn’t care what gossip there is about her, because if she’s being talked about then she’s already won.

The Ballad of Mona Lisa - Panic! At the Disco: “You’re guaranteed to run this town. . . I’d pay to see you frown” This one just has kind of a Narcissa feel to me. And once again, there’s that HBIC theme. She’s the one taking charge and keeping control of everything with a smile on her face, no matter how bad she actually feels.

The Way You Look Tonight - Michael Buble: “You’re lovely, with your smile so warm / And your cheeks so soft / There is nothing but for me to love you / And the way you look tonight” This one makes me think of her relationship with Lucius. I always think of them as being truly in love and this seems like a song that would fit the tone of their relationship to me.

Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Ray: “Dear lord, when I get to heaven / Please let me bring my man / When he comes, tell me that you’ll let him in. . . . Will you still love me / When I’m no longer young and beautiful?. . . I know that you will” Another about their relationship, but how strong it is, how their love will last forever and she wants to be with him even after they’ve died. *cue sigh*

Hold Me Down - Halsey: “I sold my soul to a three-piece / And he told me I was holy. . . Saying that I want more, this is what I live for” This one feels to me like her feelings when Lucius joins Voldemort and gets her involved. She sold her soul to these well-dressed men, and she’s held up as an ideal, but it’s more like she was thrown into the deep end and now she’s trying to figure out how to navigate it while staying the strong woman we know and love.

Believer - Imagine Dragons: “Don’t you tell me what you think that I can be / I’m the one at the sail, I’m the master of my sea. . . My life, my love, my drive, it came from pain. . . you made me a believer” This is more HBIC energy for me tbh, taking all the things that have happened to her over the course of her life, all the pain and nonsense, and taking control of it and doing everything she can for the people she loves.

Fake Happy - Paramore: “I been doing a good job of making ‘em think / I’m quite alright / But I hope I don’t blink. . .Please don’t ask me how I’ve been / Don’t make me play pretend. . . I bet everybody here is fake happy too” After Lucius goes to Azkaban, of course way WAY down the road, I imagine she would’ve been devastated, but has to keep her spirits up and pretend everything is okay so she doesn’t break down. So this song feels like that to me, her ability to keep everything she’s actually feeling under that carefully crafted mask and only show what she wants people to see.

Stand By Me - Florence + The Machine: There aren’t any specific lyrics with this one, the whole vibe of this version just makes me think of Narcissa. It’s very pretty and flowy and feminine, but with an undercurrent of strength, and just a little bit of a cool, melancholic sound? It’s possible that I’m crazy but I just think of her when I’m listening to it lol. To me it feels like a song that she personally would like. And then the song itself, of course, could also just be one long testament to her willingness to stand by Lucius through anything.

Cry Baby - American Avenue: “They call you cry baby, cry baby / But you don’t f***ing care / Cry baby, cry baby / So you laugh through your tears” This is another one that I feel like describes her being able to hide her emotions, but more about how she got to that point -- like maybe Bellatrix would be mean to her when she cried as a little kid, so she learned to laugh through the tears. Whatever it was, just learning how to control her emotions. This version also has a really fierce vibe that I just love for her.

If - House of Heroes: “I could be in love if you wore that dress every day / With your hair just so and your eyes of grey” This one feels like just one big love letter from Lucius to Narcissa. It’s got this whole vibe of the woman being beautiful, and a little bit scary, and a little bit unattainable, that just feels very Narcissa to me.

Take Me To Church - Hozier: “Take me to church / I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies / I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife” This one also feels like Lucius just worshipping Narcissa and how much of a goddess she is. She’s dangerous and powerful and so very Slytherin and he’s just head over heels, you know?

Sweet Dreams - Emily Browning: This one also just has a Narcissa vibe for me. This version is slow, it’s pretty but it has an almost scary kind of tone to it, it’s strong but understated and then it gets very fierce and then still has a kind of pretty, classic sound even through the harder part of the song, and the organ that comes in, like I can just see her gliding down a marble staircase in slow motion -- it just feels so, so Narcissa to me.

Wilson - Fall Out Boy: “There’s nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody. . . I always make such expensive mistakes. . . I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color” There are lyrics scattered through this song that make me think of Narcissa. It’s Fall Out Boy so it’s a little chaotic and not all of the song makes me think of her, but enough of it does that I put it on here anyway lol

The Other Side - Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron: “I quite enjoy the life you say I’m trapped in / Now I admire you, and that whole show you do / You’re onto something, really it’s something. . . Don’t you know that I’m okay with this uptown part I get to play / ‘Cause I got what I need. . . I don’t need to see the other side. . . Ain’t in a cage, so I don’t need to take the key. . . Can’t you see I’m doing fine / I don’t need to see the other side” Okay, bear with me. So this song is a conversation, right? One person trying to convince the other to join this thing that’s so great, it’s going to change their life, change their whole world. So to me it feels like a super upbeat Death Eater recruitment speech lmao. And the quoted part above feels like what Narcissa might have said at first -- belief in the cause but reluctance to be directly involved because it’s just beneath her, and the way things are isn’t so bad anyway. It just felt really fitting.

Rise - Katy Perry: “I won’t just survive / You will see me thrive . . . Don’t doubt it / Victory is in my veins / I know it, I know it / And I will not negotiate / I’ll fight it” More Queen of Everything energy. No matter what happens to her, she always gets back up and keeps going. She can’t be defeated. She’s just the best.

A Little Wicked - Valerie Broussard: “Beware the patient woman, ‘cause this much I know / No one calls you honey, when you’re sitting on a throne / One of these days a-comin’, I’m gonna take that boy’s crown / There’s a serpent in these still waters, lying deep down / To that king I will bow, at least for now” VERY Queen of Everything vibes. Like, this just Is Narcissa. Everyone underestimates her but if she’d been given half a chance, I feel very strongly that she could’ve taken over the whole thing and won.

Killer Queen - Queen: “Well versed in etiquette / Extraordinarily nice / She’s a Killer Queen. . . Perfume came naturally from Paris / For cars she couldn’t care less / Fastidious and precise / She’s a Killer Queen” A lot of the lyrics to this song actually feel really Narcissa to me. That woman who’s amazing and gorgeous but you feel like might have poisoned your tea a little bit? Narcissa.

Glory and Gore - Lorde: “Glory and gore go hand in hand / That’s why we’re making headlines. . . Delicate in every way but one / God knows we like archaic kinds of fun” This one might make a little more sense if Narcissa was an active Death Eater herself, but I feel like it’s still pretty Narcissa-y. I think in the very beginning, when Voldemort was gaining power and her husband was gaining power in their ranks, she might’ve enjoyed the whole thing, before it really started to affect her life, you know? And I think she might have a little bit of a dark streak in her -- not nearly so much as Bellatrix, but they are sisters, she could very well have some of that darkness in her. So this one song just feels like her for me, and that one little streak of darkness.

Wicked Ones - Dorothy: “This night ain’t for the faint of heart / ‘Cause the faint of heart gonna fall apart / This night ain’t for the holy man with the holy plan / For the promised land / This night we got the evil hand” This one can also be speaking to her streak of darkness if you want. Because otherwise there’s a little bit of headcanon angst coming lmao. The lyrics of this one just by themselves feel like the night Voldemort went to kill the Potters, and Narcissa trying to convince herself it was a good thing that the baby had to die, so the music behind the lyrics feels like her trying to, like, get pumped and happy and ignore the fact that a child that’s just about the same age as her own son is about to die. She can’t let herself care and be faint of heart or she’ll fall apart and that’s unacceptable, because Dumbledore’s plan is failing and they finally have the upper hand, so she has to be wicked and ignore what’s happening and just be happy, be wicked, play and celebrate and be with Lucius and keep up the mask.

I hope my interpretations of her aren’t too terrible -- I’ve just loved her for so long, like I named one of my dogs Narcissa and she’s lowkey my favorite, and I’ve read SO much fanfiction about her and the Malfoys, I have way too many feelings about Narcissa lmao. I hope you enjoy the playlist either way!!

#VIsecretsanta #forever-toujourspur #merry christmas!!!!!

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moonwolfhowl · 5 years

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Yuletide 2k19 edition

Hiyo, first off I’m moonwolfhowl on tumblr and nightmoonz on AO3. I’m really excited that you got me and I just want to thank you so much in advance and I really hope you have fun with this!!

Secondly, here are a couple things that I like and dislike, (and some prompts but you can take ‘em or leave ‘em). If you’re not 100% sure on if something is or isn’t my deal my ask box is open and the anon option is turned on.

Ratings: I prefer through T-M, but tbh I’m pretty easy so if you wanna go up to E feel free ^__^“’

Likes, Loves and DNWs:

Likes and Loves!

AUs! No, seriously, every kind of AU

Humor! Especially: sarcasm, witty banter, etc…

Angst and hurt/comfort are awesome!

Slow Burns

MUTUAL PINING and/or SEEMINGLY unrequited feels

idiots to lovers, this can either be enemies to lovers or friends to lovers. sort of related to the point straight above XD

found families

Fake relationship/dating/marriage you know for a cover/mission/(fill in the blank)

Bed Sharing

Sex Pollen

“In Vino Veritas”

Happy Endings!!

Squicks/DNWs (do not wants):

Character Bashing

Abuse of any kind

Cheating

Actual unrequited feelings

Harm to animals

Non-Con

Incest

Mpreg

Major Character Death

Scat and/or Watersports

2nd and 1st person perspective

Spiders especially Tarantulas, this is a huge trigger for me

Okay! I’m gonna put a break here because this is a long post and all prompts/ideas are below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alrighty, so these are just some silly prompts or ideas that you can take from or totally ignore altogether! It’s really just some ideas that you can look to if you’re stuck or need a jumping off point. And man, like if you already had an idea? Please feel free to go with that instead, I just want you to have fun = ^__^ =

Also again, if you have any questions the anon option is turned on for my ask box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OOctopath Traveler - Therion, Tressa Colzione, Cordelia Ravus, and Leon Bastralle

Oh boy this game. I have no words that can even describe how much I LOVE this game. The storytelling was fantastic and I got really invested in not just the main 8 but in all of the minor/side characters too. I know I have Therion, Cordelia, Tressa and Leon specifically but if you want to throw in any of the other characters in the tagset you totally can, same with any side ships (here’s looking **You don't have to include ALL the characters I selected here in your fic, you can mix them up or follow a prompt I have. I only request that you include at least one of the ones picked here <3

I’m kind of open to anything but if you do need a jumping off point (and/or want to see me gush over my favs) check out the prompts below

Therion - I love him and would die for him he is my perfect little trash bandit. It kills me how he longs to belong somewhere but is equally afraid of it for very good reasons. Because of this he’s so heavily guarded and *sobs* his reactions to people (the 8 and Cordelia) genuinely caring about his wellbeing? It just hrrk! I’m so happy I started with him, that I got to see his growth throughout the story and how his emotional wounds finally seem like they’re on their way to healing. Tressa - My adorable little gremlin, she’s such a little badass! While money may be on her mind a lot she’d never cheat anyone! She’s genuinely kind and her travel adventure is so interesting because it’s about exploring the world, experiencing new places—and while she has a certain understanding of this—she learns the true meaning of sentimental value in things. I love her so much. Leon - I love how much of his character is wrapped up in some mystery and that he seems like a tortured but mature soul (as you can see I have a type.) Cordelia - I love Cordelia and she is entirely underrated. She’s been through quite a lot and her faith in my best boy helped him come back into the world able to to trust and love people again. She’s very soft and caring and now that her stolen heirlooms have been restored to her she can come back into the world herself.

Gen ideas:

Tressa and Therion teasing TF out of each other doesn’t matter what about or who about. I just love them and they have such a brosis vibe

Tressa spear fishing and shocking Therion or everyone by it, you can add any and/or all of the characters in the tag. (Inaccurate Tressa, "What? I live in a Port Town my dudes.”)

I know this is cheesy but Therion having his first Apple Pie would destroy me ; __ ; it can be when he’s little or an adult, AU, Canonverse or Canon divergent it can be a Birthday treat to himself, it can be the first thing he pays for with money he earned on his own. If you want to include any character my sign up sheet or want to include any other octo character(s) that’s fine too!

Shippy ideas (which I’m a little more into but whatever you are comfortable with is a-okay by me):

Cordelia Ravus/Therion (Thordelia)

THEM *SWOONS* I just love them, Cordelia helps my baby boy trust in people again and brings happiness back to his world… and he has so much respect for her I’m just— ; __ ; I just love them

Actor & Author relationship: AU, Canonverse or Canon divergent you name it!

Again Tressa teasing TF out of Therion but specifically about Cordelia (esp after his chapter good god. *swoon*)

Cordelia’s POV on her Noble Thief

Anything post game like I wouldn’t mind seeing her rebuilding Bolderfall, visiting each layer of the city and helping it thrive

Fake Dating. Any Setting XD

The “I’m supposed to take out the target but I fell for them instead” is also very good

Tressa Colzione/Leon Bastralle

; w ; their relationship and care for each other—like Thordelia’s—makes my heart melt

Any kind of them traveling together and developing feels on the open seas post game

Her being his apprentice and learning from him while teaching him some new things

Does Leon have a thing for the arts? Is that why he’s particularly enamored endeared to Tressa spotting the painting?

yeah ngl anything, my thirst is real

A Very Shippy and utterly ridiculous prompt. Tressa x Leon (Treon? Lessa?) and/or Thordelia (however if you wanna include other side ships like Olberhardt or H’aanit x Ophilia for example you can go for it!)

Masquerade! Can be Canonverse, Canon Divergent or AU!

A Masquerade ball in which:

They can either know each other beforehand or not

Halloween Party, Adults, College AU

idk this is just something to have fun with and hey lol if you wanna make it more mature feel free

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Promare - Lio, Galo, Gueira, Meis

Man this movie messed me up and all the right ways. Honestly one of the most chilling things was to see all of the Burnish being used as engine fuel… I like—ngl I cried, and then when Lio gets used as the core? ; __ ;

Honestly I will be happy with anything you come up with, there are so many possibilities just know that a heavy angst fic is A-okay by me, but if you want to do a flufflier or humor fic those are also so Very VERY good. I have some ideas below but again like if you have an idea in mind or started something by viewing my likes list go for it!

**You don't have to include ALL the characters I selected here in your fic, you can mix them up or follow a prompt I have. I only request that you include at least one of the ones picked here <3

Lio - Um yes I love him. He’s just such a tortured soul and true cares about people. I like—honestly he is my favorite character. The way he used his flame to protect Galo? How hard he fights for the Burnish? How hard Gueira and Meis fight for him and stop at nothing to save him speaks volumes about the kind of person he is. I just love him and want him to have nice things

Galo - This wonderful brilliant dumbass. I also love him and despite me calling him a dumbass he’s actually pretty with it when it comes to adapting to his environment. He also takes in new information and rather than reject it out right he examines it critically. Like the way he approached Kray about the Burnish experiments was not the smartest… However, he still went to find the truth no matter how much it could have hurt him and that really defines what kind of guy he is.

Gueira & Meis - So unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of these two but what we did get to see was GOLD. I love them, I love how they fight so hard to protect their fellow burnish and how loyal they are to Lio. Like omg when the Burnish were being rounded up but they used the last of their strength to save Lio, believing—knowing that he would come back for them? *hrrk* My heart.

So okay!!! Ideas and/or prompts! Again you don’t have to use these if you don’t want to <3

Anything Shippy with Lio and Galo + hurt/comfort?? 10/10

An AU where the Promare gift the Burnish with their “fire bending” abilities permanently

Anything found family esp if it's adopting Lio's litter fam with Galo's ; w ;

I'd love to see what was going on with Gueira/Meis while they were locked up side by side. What did they talk about? Their faith in Lio? Them possibly growing up with Lio? Their feels for each other? And honestly you can go as angsty as you want to with this.

Gueira & Meis being over protective (big bros) of their boss and bestie Lio. (Poor Galo lmao)

Feel free to include any other characters you want from the tag set or canon in general ^___^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crescent Moon - Any

Ah… my poor beautiful tiny manga fandom… I love this 6 volume series so much. The storytelling can be fast paced at times but it doesn't even phase me considering how detailed and intricate the themes, lore, relationships and monsters & magic are. For this fandom anything goes, like any AUs, tropes, canon compliant or divergent is all welcome here.

Bonus points if you have your own take of the song/legend: “Princess Princess why do you cry?”

If you want to make a fic about the Princess and the Demon boy when they were kids, or have any fic at all featuring them (kid or adult) I'm all for it.

I love Mahiru Shiraishi/Mitsuru Suou they are such little disasters anything with them would be amazing but I’m a multishipper so if you have a ship that isn't them and you've been dying to write your ship? Write your ship! I'd love to read it!!!

And anything including Akira is god tier - he is the bestest boy.

I’m sorry I know this prompt is very open ended and very vague but like I’d just be happy with anything

#yuletide #promare #octopath traveler #crescent moon #yuletide letter #letter #gosh this is probably riddled with typos and grammar errors #will edit later

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boomdeyadah · 6 years

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TOS tag game wowe

@ashayamspirk was kind enough to tag me in a thing, so here we go;

1. Favorite TOS episode and why?

It has to be Journey to Babel. Close runners up are A City on the Edge of Forever and Amok Time, but Journey to Babel is my fav for many, many reasons. The most obvious being that we’re introduced to Sarek and Amanda. They are both vital pieces of world building for tons of aspects of tos, as well as incredibly important and fantastic characters in their own right. They tell us things about Vulcan culture and society, who Spock came from and his backstory, and showcase in their own right the struggles of being a biracial couple, of loving your family in different ways, of anger and forgiveness. In the episode we also get to see a bunch of other aliens (that reception scene is like early star trek’s version of the cantina scene), a peek into the democracy of the federation, McCoy is an absolute gem, Spock and Kirk are SUPER INTO each other and their ship. It’s got a bunch of what I love about Star Trek.

2. Favorite character’s (theoretical) most cherished childhood memory?

This is a really abstract question. It’s tough to try and dream up things like this and pick a favorite... in lieu of thinking of something like a story, I’m going to think of sensations. And since I love all of the trium, let me do it like this.

For Spock, his cherished childhood memories are full of warmth. The heat of Vulcan, his mother’s embrace, the steady connection to his family through his bonds. He feels hot sand under his feet, and it’s soft and crystalline and compresses under him and he sinks his toes into it, just for the feeling. I-Chaya’s fur is soft, but it conceals firm muscle and withheld strength that would only be used to protect him. He hears whistling wind through craggy rock faces, and the quiet whoosh of hovercars and trains in ShiKahr, the white noise of a thousand quiet and logically efficient conversations. He smells warm, dry air, his father’s robes (incense, paper, his hygienic products), his mother baking cookies.

Jim’s are more about the mood, I think, and vibrancy. His memories could be set anywhere, but his favorite ones would be when he brought grins onto everyone’s faces... and when he learned something new. It could be on a summer vacation, at a beach or water park, with bright yellow sun and cerulean waters, or in a vast green field, and everyone is hot and sweaty but they smile because there’s so much time to explore, so many things to see and Jim won’t rest until they’ve done everything they can and they’re bone tired and satisfied with the adventure. I bet he did the 23rd century version of boyscouts. He felt pride with each new merit badge. It could be in winter, and I hear Iowan winters are rough, and there’s stark white everywhere, and it’s freezing, but there’s no time to rest when you could be having a snowball fight, beating the pants off of someone at board games during a snowstorm, reading a book with hot cocoa. It’s quiet and warm in the kitchen, and he’s helping cook dinner. It’s 5 o’clock in the morning, and he’s helping with the cows.

Bones... his childhood was quiet, I think. I feel like there’s a lot of similarity between his childhood and that of DeForest Kelley’s. Georgia, the church, community, family. Knowing everyone in town. Grieving with them and celebrating with them. He makes it clear that at least where he’s from, Southern hospitality and culture is thriving, and I love picturing him growing up in that. Going to cotillion, having to learn how to ballroom dance at 13, nerves in his throat because he’s holding someone’s hand or touching someone else’s waist for the first time and looking at someone he’s known his whole life in a different way and also trying not to step on any toes. Sitting under a tree somewhere or in a rocking chair on a porch with a frosty lemonade (it’s a recipe that’s been in his family for generations) and snacking on peaches. Making house calls with his dad. Going to the Fall Festival and the whole town is there and it smells like hay and pumpkin pie, it’s just starting to get nippy and jack-o-lanterns flicker in every windowsill.

3. Going off the last one I was tagged in, what do YOU think happened between the end of their five year mission and Spock’s (failed) Kohlinar?

Wellllllllllll. I don’t know if I like to think that Spock and Kirk had a fight or if they just parted with shit unspoken. I think I like the fight, or at least that they parted and felt wronged by each other. Especially because of how Spock and Kirk are acting when they first see each other, and how the simple feeling scene feels like a forgiveness and a making up. It’s really hard to think of what happened. It seems like Jim wouldn’t have willingly taken the promotion, and Spock wouldn’t have willingly left Jim. A lot of people go the route of Spock not being able to take his feeling for his captain anymore and leaving, because he doesn’t want to force his unrequited love or because he can’t accept his feelings in himself or such and so, and Jim being heartbroken and allowing his wings to be clipped in the process. I think that makes sense, although it is pretty weak. I’m down for more exciting versions, as long as it doesn’t involve Jim doing something to break Spock’s heart that he fully knows would break Spock’s heart (like them being in a monogamous relationship and him cheating).

=======>o

I guess I have to make questions now? Sorry, I’m not really up to date on a lot of things!

1. When you watch TOS, do you enjoy the camp and the plot holes, or do you wish they’d had a little more foresight? What parts of TOS’s 1960′s hokie-ness annoy you or bring you joy?

2. Which TOS ‘moral lesson’ episode do you like the best and why?

3. Do you have a favorite way for Jim to loose his shirt, or a favorite profession Bones is not a part of, or a favorite sassy Spock comeback? I guess I’m asking which meme do you vibe with the most?

Anybody can answer these if they want! Sorry if I’m repeating any questions, I haven’t been keepin up. And I’m not very close with any trek bloggers (because im bad at being opinionated on the internet), so sorry if I bother you guys and you totally don’t have to do these q’s, but I guess I’ll tag people I look up to and have enjoyed trek stuff from/with before, so @greensarek @spodiddly @future-subjunctive @klmeri @tribbleclefs

#star trek #tos #st #k/s #fandom #spirk #tos tag game #thanks for tagging meeeeee

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reactingtosomething · 7 years

Text

Reacting to The Bold Type

And Yet -- Here I Am.

Justin Coit for Getty

The Setup: Previously Miri has written about her love for Freeform’s The Bold Type, a drama centered on three young women -- Katie Stevens’s Jane Sloan, a fledgling reporter; Aisha Dee’s Kat Edison, a social media director; and Meghann Fahy’s Sutton Brady, an executive assistant in fashion -- who work at a women’s magazine inspired by Cosmopolitan. Kris watches and loves it too, and so does our friend Candice, who joins us as a Guest Reactor! Assume spoilers for the entire first season throughout.

MIRI: I just really love this show, guys

CANDICE: It's been one of the most refreshing shows I've watching in the past few years.

I can't predict it, or often outthink it. I so appreciate the storytelling .

MIRI: And that is super rare, so the fact that they do it and do it well is awesome

KRIS: And yet the twists also never feel unearned

I think a lot of it is also the willingness to (at least apparently) shake up the status quo

Source

SEASON FINALE SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP

I feel like most shows would have had Jane stay at Scarlet, right?

MIRI: I'm honesty shocked they followed through on Tine Jane leaving Scarlet, but only because it's not what I've come to expect from a show

Yes, exactly!

(Kris always beats me to the punch by had a second and it drives me crazy)

KRIS: Oh Tiny Jane

I hope there’s a supercut out there of every “Tiny Jane”

MIRI: Hey call her that more than once an ep at this point and I love it every time

KRIS: (Is it always Kat?)

MIRI: *they

It might be, I don't know

CANDICE: Most shows would have Jane stay! And likely compromise the other characters' ...well, character.

MIRI: Nice

CANDICE: I feel like I've heard Sutton say it before?

MIRI: And the Sutton/Alex thing wrapped up so quickly! That could have been drawn out waaay long and painfully

KRIS: Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised Jane wasn’t much more of The Lead

I did not expect a reconciliation with Richard! Although maybe I should have?

CANDICE: I'm just gonna say it, wrong or right, Meghann Fahy had comedic chops and I love her.

KRIS: Sutton was my FAVORITE

K: To be fair, I was predisposed to like her because she’s also a minor character in Miss Sloane

MIRI: It's a nice example of the pilot belonging to one, but being a true trifecta

KRIS: The BEST reaction shots

CANDICE: Totally!

MIRI: I love them all too much to pick for more than an episode!!!

Fahy plays drunk and high amazingly, btw

CANDICE: Heard a rumor they went down to the wire with how everyone would "end up".

Unpopular opinion? I didn't like how things wrapped with Richard and Alex.

KRIS: She also squeezed in a lot of, like, emotional micro-beats, if that makes sense? Like in episode 3 or 4 when she’s giving Kat a hard time about texting with Adena

MIRI: Yes! I've heard that they shot multiple options

Candice, you don't want them together? Or just not so easily?

CANDICE: I'm not a true shipper of either, but I didn't want the Alex thread to be so quickly tied up.

KRIS: It did seem abrupt

Did we think Alex had a personality? Allison Shoemaker at the AV Club did not

MIRI: Hmmmmm

CANDICE: Yes, Kris, Sutton brings this great piece of heart that can be so often dragged along a drama or comedy to the point of making the character "flighty" or "ditzy" but Sutton is not.

Source

Alex had... drive... and was cute. He felt a little used by the plot.

Guys, love triangles are harrrrrd.

KRIS: (I hit return too soon earlier; the moment I was getting to was that when Kat is texting in the fashion closet, Sutton’s line is “Really?” but the button on the scene was Sutton immediately posing for a selfie with Kat)

MIRI: Yeah, I liked him better as a friend than as a love intersect

CANDICE: Lol

KRIS: Miri’s autocorrect hates her sometimes

MIRI: God dammit

CANDICE: Yeah, Miri! And there's nothing to say he might turn into something more later.

HAA oh no!

KRIS: I really liked Alex and Jane’s friend dynamic and that almost entirely fell off once the love triangle started

CANDICE: But on the surface, it just felt like "welp, here's another office romance, kiddies! Enjoy! They're doomed!"

MIRI: (Also I'm logged out of iMessage on my computer and I don't know how to fix it, so I'm on phone)

M: I did eventually fix it, but please feel free to continue to blame all my errors on this

CANDICE: Oh! Hadn't tuned into that, Kris! Yep

Gah~

MIRI: That is SO true

They let two cool friend dynamics go for one romance

Boo

I did like how he handled the ending of it, though

CANDICE: And look, I love that Richard says he should have done more, but their office romance was already becoming a huge risk.

MIRI: Yes! And now there's even more risk

CANDICE: Fighting for Sutton may have put him in the stairwell when Jacqueline walks in and that - does not bring about the same reaction and chill-ness she had with Alex. I don't think.

KRIS: For sure

MIRI: Definitely!

CANDICE: I could go on for days about that ^^

MIRI: And now there's no plausible deniability

About which aspect of that, Candice?

CANDICE: Balancing work relationships.

It's worth addressing because they DO happen. And treat it as a segue, if you will, bringing intimacy/sex into the workplace isn't always Richard and Sutton.

*cough* Jacqueline's story

MIRI: Her story knocked me sideways

I was pretty sure that was where it was going and it still was SO effective

KRIS: Yeah, same, it was pretty clearly telegraphed but the blocking and everything of that moment was amazing

Source

MIRI: And her FACE

Just so good

CANDICE: She never felt out of character, in pushing Jane, but I had a feeling when J seemed so emotionally involved in her encouragement that this was more than losing a writer to Incite.

MIRI: It’s really really good writing and acting

CANDICE: Maybe it was getting a story right for readers she KNEW could hold many survivors.

But then we see truly why and it's near devastating

Y'all Melora Hardin is perfect for this character.

MIRI: It’s also a version of the story we don’t see often--someone years later, thriving but definitely still impacted

CANDICE: I watch for her just as much as our trifecta. She's compelling and much more than a boss to me.

MIRI: I LOVE her

CANDICE: Certainly! And not the story, too, of going for #alloutrevenge #diebastards

MIRI: Right--it’s not about the man/men. It’s about her

KRIS: I’m a sucker for good mentor characters

MIRI: which is really consistent with the show in general

I like that she’s a good mentor without that being her entire role in the story, too

She gets to be funny and scary and have her own shit going on and also be so supportive and not a dragon lady boss

Can we jump back to Jane for a sec?

CANDICE: Yeah! Even Richard with Kat and Jane - it doesn't feel like his reactions to their lives are coming from a superior being. He genuinely cares - about them, their jobs, and the company.

Sure!

MIRI: Yes! that is why this show works for me the way it does

Ok, do we think Jane made the right choice?

CANDICE: I don't think she could have made a wrong choice.

I know, I'm being a snot.

MIRI: No, that’s a good point!

They’re both good options

which sometimes makes it harder to pick!

CANDICE: But there's a side to taking Incite, that I see in my own life.

MIRI: Oh yeah?

KRIS: I’m reflexively defensive of legacy media and critical of “disruptors” so I was rooting the tiniest bit for her to stay at Scarlet but everyone will feel differently about that

CANDICE: It's promising, you have another strong female editor taking Jane in, being encouraging, supportive, showing her what she's capable of and being open to letting her do big stories and grow into that bigger role.

As much as Scarlet is an anchor for Jane, stepping outside of your base of security can be exciting and take you to new levels of success. If she's not feeling satisfied at Scarlet, why not?

Pinstripe! One of many topics we didn’t get to in the interest of time.

MIRI: I keep going back and forth between thinking she should have stayed at Scarlet and continued to grow more and thinking that this was way too big an opportunity for her to pass up

Really, both were good options

And I think the chance was definitely the right call for the show!

CANDICE: But, to project my own experience, is she ready? Has she been at Scarlet long enough to be sure this is the right leap - regardless of pay, perks, or prestige. It's a lot to think about.

MIRI: Yeah, the readiness is my concern

Will she be mentored as effectively at Incite?

CANDICE: I don't think she will be.

KRIS: That was maybe one of the most “TV-ish” things, the idea that this few months has suddenly made Jane into The Next Big Thing

MIRI: Yeah

CANDICE: I don't get that vibe.

MIRI: Although that may be something they intend to explore if they get another season!

CANDICE: Right!

MIRI: Ok, speaking of big damn choices: Kat made one too!

CANDICE: If Incite is #theworst, does she go back to Scarlet? If she stays, how much will Jacqueline be involved in her life?

YA FOR SURE, BYE KAT ✈️

Wonder where she decided to go?

KRIS: I’m VERY curious about how Jacqueline will fit into the cast at the start of next season. I guess it’s possible she just doesn’t show up in the first episode or so?

MIRI: I totally assumed it was to be with Adena, but we don;t know that do we?

KRIS: I assumed Peru since it was the last place Adena said she was

but I didn’t look too closely at any of the signs or anything

CANDICE: Kris - totally... we'll have to see!

MIRI: We might get to see Jacqueline interact with Sutton more than we have before? That would be interesting

CANDICE: Miri - I assumed to Adena, at first, too, but Kat's finale seemed a bit vague.

MIRI: That would be very interesting

Her going to find herself/have experiences for her own sake, not tied to a whirlwind romance

I would be super into that

CANDICE: There's a story to be told about Kat doing some traveling and getting out of her Manhattan shell.

MIRI: because as much as I want them together, they have had like 1 3/4 dates and that’s not enough to build something solid on!!!

CANDICE: It's very late 90s Julia Roberts rom-com, of her.

MIRI: I love that

KRIS: Part of me expects a fast-forward to Kat coming back from her trip at the beginning of (fingers crossed) season 2

MIRI: Or she’s back by the end of 201

KRIS: Right

It’s also hard to imagine this show without gatherings in the fashion closet

CANDICE: I think Adena would be supportive, there's stories to be had, too, of Kat running a travel vertical at Scarlet either via social media or under a separate medium.

I knowww, I LOVE that closet.

That carpet is too real.

MIRI: The closet scenes are the BEST

Source

But I think they have been deliberately moving towards apartment scenes as season one progressed, so it wouldn’t be AS MUCh of a lurch to lose them for a while

KRIS: I also really liked the detail more than once in dialogue that they borrow clothes from it, whether that’s intended to explain their TV-level wardrobes or not

CANDICE: A nice justification, too, for maybe some of the more sophisticated pieces we've seen these moderately-paid ladies wear.

I see that, too, Miri.

KRIS: Yeah that definitely makes sense to keep having three-handers even if Jane’s at Incite for awhile

CANDICE: Haha, Kris, see above - it bugged me 'til I realized! On a much lower level, I borrowed things from the drama departments all.the.time.

KRIS: Maybe there will be more opportunities for Miri’s bathtub envy series

CANDICE: Yep.

MIRI: I could see an episode (or maybe like a 3-4 ep arc) of Sutton and Jane skyping Kat in, and then in person again

RICHARD’S BATHTUB IS MARVELOUS

Source

CANDICE: How very Sarah/Cosima of you, Miri.

MIRI: Exactly what I was thinking

CANDICE: Richard's aparTMENT is #goals.

MIRI: So much

CANDICE: I also enjoyed their "getting ready" in the bathroom scene.

MIRI: Honestly, Sutton could stay with him for that apartment and I would be borderline ok with it

CANDICE: I've been watching some older sitcoms and love those moments shared over a brush of the teeth.

LOL

MIRI: I love the way you just phrased that so much

CANDICE: :D

MIRI: Can we have a moment of appreciation for the fact that the trifecta are all straight up talented in their fields?

They’re not perfect at their jobs, but they are talented

And I really appreciate that

CANDICE: I'm so glad you phrased it that way!

And the trifecta being thus isn't a negative.

They have a few edges and lessons left, but their stretches and mistakes feel genuine.

MIRI: They all have shit to learn, they’re like 24 or whatever, but they have ability and drive and I love it

KRIS: Yeah I feel like talented-but-not-fully-formed is something you almost never see

CANDICE: And yet- here I am.

MIRI: ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

CANDICE: To be bold.

MIRI: Bold

CANDICE: That's really what sold this show to me.

MIRI: I see what you did there

CANDICE: They have (haha, thank you thank you)

MIRI: 😉

CANDICE: They have lessons to learn, but this is clearly not an after-school special.

MIRI: Yes!

KRIS: It’s also been an organic way to get in all the This Is How Magazine Journalism Actually Works (or Close Enough) stuff

CANDICE: They have an intense, amazing boss, but we're not gonna drag you through The Devil Wears Prada again.

MIRI: Kris, how much are you loving the (more or less) realism here?

KRIS: So much

I guess in the interest of clarity I should note that I am not actually a journalist, but did it in college and have friends who went on to do it professionally

It’s also one of the fun things about reading reviews

All these journalists who are like FINALLY SOMEONE GETS US

CANDICE: Yes! 'Cause they have got some aspects of "being in your 20s" down pat.

KRIS: in a post-Zoe Barnes era

MIRI: Who is Zoe Barnes?

CANDICE: House of Cards

Just had to look it up.

MIRI: I thought that might be it!

(Sorry, I’m cooking)

KRIS: sleeps with a source, etc etc

CANDICE: I suspect her journalist character is a bit...heightened?

OKAY then

MIRI: There’s that really great Toast piece about a day in the life of a fictional female journalist

CANDICE: Mercy. But nice to know we're getting some accurate depictions.

MIRI: I always think of her and that together

KRIS: (It’s a bad show, readers, the only reason to watch it is Robin Wright)

MIRI: (Robin Wright is such a badass. Just in general)

CANDICE: I want Robin, Melora, and Helen Hunt to play sisters in a fiery, blockbuster.

MIRI: YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

YES

CANDICE: they all are just LOADED with talent

KRIS: Oh man I hope we get to meet more people from Jacqueline’s life

CANDICE: Her support system!

MIRI: Seriously, if you want to see a completely un-Jacqueline performance, check her out in Transparent--the woman is SO talented

Yes, I want to see her friendships!!!

K: Oh, I forgot I wanted to talk about this. I felt like Jane had legitimate concerns here that were never really addressed? Which made it a little weird for Jacqueline to say in the finale “It’s one thing to write about yourself” as if that was something Jane had even wanted to to do in the first place.

CANDICE: - can we visit, at some point, Kadena's dating history, and I quote "1 3/4"??

KRIS: I also kind of want to meet Kat’s therapist parents?

MIRI: I like her husband a lot, but who are her friends??

KRIS: Sure let’s do it

MIRI: I forget the context of that??

CANDICE: I need to KNOW who raised Kat because we are missing a few facets.

Gah- so many things! Umm, i think it was your justification of Kat and Adena not ending up together post-finale.

MIRI: She is a bit of a mystery

Oooohhhh gothca

or gotcha

one of those

I meant that they had only been on like one date and maybe two partial dates

Which is not a relationship. It’s a good start! But it’s not solid

CANDICE: It's hard to get ones bearings on their relationship, with so many other storylines to address.

MIRI: I know they’ve been talking a ton, but they still only partially know each other

KRIS: I was never entirely sure how much we were supposed to assume they were in touch via text/social media

MIRI: Right!

CANDICE: Yeah! And, Kat's curiosity of Adena and lifestyle is lovely, and we're getting lots of support from Sutton and Jane

But we've yet to explore Kat alone with this. Well, other than her semi-topless photo to Adena.

MIRI: I’m honestly still in such a state of delight about how they handled Kat’s coming out arc

K: The physicality in all of these performances is so great

hahahah true

I just love that she got to be unsure without being self loathing

CANDICE: Absolutely.

She already seemed quite positive, both about her self and sex.

MIRI: I would love for them to say the word bisexual at some point

CANDICE: PLEASE?

Yes, please.

MIRI: All the fingers crossed for season 2

CANDICE: I love Adena. I want her in Kat's life. But they've now gone through two dramatic goodbyes, and I just need some of dat good domestic cuteness.

MIRI: YES

CANDICE: Their scenes together in the airport will suffice for now.

MIRI: Kat needs to have her ‘find myself’ adventure, and then get them both in NY for a while for some cute dates and shit

OMG that whole sequence was lovely

CANDICE: But then we gotta get back to whatever the hell Sutton and Jane are doing.

I feel kind of a lot of stress coming their way? Yay, Season 2?

We're gonna have hella conflict and difficulties.

MIRI: Hahahah well you gotta have stakes!

What would you guys like to see in a second season?

KRIS: I’m actually not sure if I want this or not, but I’m curious about the possibility of Jacqueline as a POV character

CANDICE: Hmm?

MIRI: Ooooh

KRIS: I maybe phrased that poorly; I haven’t seen anyone suggesting it, just started thinking about it while we were talking about her before

MIRI: I’m fascinated by the idea of that

CANDICE: I'm wondering more what you mean by POV character.

Am totally lost.

KRIS: That she’d have like a B-story of her own or something, where she’s in scenes without any of the other series regs

CANDICE: Oh!

KRIS: I guess there have been scenes between Jacqueline and Richard

CANDICE: I am pro-that

Out of necessity, really, though.

KRIS: Yeah

CANDICE: I wonder if there's a world where Sutton and Richard are "together" publicly at Steinem

KRIS: I kind of want to see more interaction with other publications? That’s super nerdy

MIRI: I mean, we’re all nerds here

CANDICE: How does that affect the way they're treated? Oliver? Alex? Etc?

MIRI: Yeah, that would be a lot of shakeup

CANDICE: I agree! Oooh, a scene with Scarlet and Incite.

MIRI: Yes! I want to see that!

CANDICE: Perhaps NOT making it an editor vs editor "thing".

MIRI: When Teen Vogue first started getting a lot of public praise for being so “woke” they very deliberately pointed to similar reporting in Marie Claire and others

I’d like to see something with that kind of camaraderie

KRIS: Yeah, I like to think it’s more likely we’d see stories about journalistic solidarity, especially since they’ve gone ahead and explicitly made Trump part of the world

CANDICE: Totally!

MIRI: While we’re on the subject of woke-ness, I’d also like to see a better/wider discussion of race in season 2

CANDICE: Could even have a line with Kat, should she be outside the US, getting reactions to our country.

MIRI: Ooh, yes to that!!

CANDICE: How every USA-centric of me, alas.

KRIS: But I could totally see that

CANDICE: Agreed, Miri. We've talked about this before - Kat's arrest...

MIRI: Yes, exactly--we talked about it last week but I think it bears repeating here

CANDICE: Not everyone's story should be one of prejudice and persecution...

MIRI: That’s very true

CANDICE: But there was a naive quality about Kat in that moment that felt...honestly untrue to Kat, in addition to what I expected to see from the writers.

KRIS: TOTALLY agree

CANDICE: I can't really sit here and demand a specific experience - because I can never fully relate, but something felt off and overlooked.

MIRI: Kat’s blackness is basically never a part of her characterization, even when stories specifically feature racism or microagressions (I believe our friend Jess pointed that out to me)

KRIS: I got what they were going for with having Adena lay out how big a deal the deportation risk was, but still

CANDICE: She has very well-off parents, and my god what a world for her to apparently have not had to deal with much...

MIRI: I also think there’s an interesting facet of privilege to be examined--Kat is a WOC, but also a wealthy, attractive one. Looking at how that has that changed her experience compared to other black women would be interesting

But a) they don’t seem to be doing that

CANDICE: However, her own experience seems "missing" rather than "minimal"

MIRI: and b) exactly what you just said

CANDICE: Yep

KRIS: Right, and on some level I also get the appeal of, I guess, “aspirational” world-building, which is generally my own preference in writing, but hard to juggle with the real-world-ness of this show

CANDICE: YEP

Yes, Kris!

MIRI: Yeah, they can’t discuss these very concepts as central themes of episodes and also never address them for one of the main characters

KRIS: (Tangential: Is this the sort of show that would have, say, Lauren Duca show up as a guest star, or would that break it in a weird way?)

MIRI: (I could totally see them doing that)

CANDICE: You can only give the excuse of -having little script real estate to work with- for so long....

It's a possibility!

Depends a little on what the showrunner/Freeform wants to say?

MIRI: I wonder if they didn’t write Kat to be black--they may have kept her ethnicity (or all three!) open and not written in any particular direction, whereas Adena was very very specifically written as a lesbian Muslim

KRIS: Yeah, that seems like a safe guess

CANDICE: Hmm... maybe in the pilot, at least.

KRIS: So I know this is not an original observation, but I do think it’s kind of funny and kind of great that the biggest suspension-of-disbelief thing the show asks of us is to accept that everyone is Emotionally Mature and conflict-averse, at least most of the time

CANDICE: I could easily hear Kat pitched as she is, too.

MIRI: And they definitely have Things to Say and write (quite well) to those things, but I think we can agree that that kind of consideration isn’t present in all of Kat’s stories. It feels like a lack of realization that those moments would be omnipresent, not just in big Story Moments

KRIS: Right, feels like an all-white-writers-room situation

(although I haven’t looked up their staff makeup!)

CANDICE: Iiiiii don't believe Kat is emotionally mature.

MIRI: I think from photos I’ve seen it’s not all white, but pretty white

No, she is not

CANDICE: Nor Sutton, in some situations.

MIRI: She is making some progress, but she is not

Also, they are all 3 damn stubborn in their own ways

(which I quite like)

KRIS: I guess I mean on the baseline of how “catfights” are never a thing, and how the storytelling isn’t driven by characters being unbelievably stupid

CANDICE: Truly! Stubbornness is grand for drama.

Oh, yes, Kris, indeed!

MIRI: Oh, Kris I totally missed the original Emotionally Mature message

KRIS: And even Richard and Alex didn’t get saddled with the worst takes on Jealous Lover tropes

MIRI: whoops!

CANDICE: Our trifecta will reason with each other, but their decisions are their own.

MIRI: Yes, I really like that people don’t immediately jump to the worst possible conclusion

CANDICE: Thankfully so!

$11,000 plane ticket? "You do you"

MIRI: They’re willing to hear each other and forgive, which is honestly rare in tv

CANDICE: Moving onto Incite? "You do you"

KRIS: My god that plane ticket

MIRI: Yeah, I don’t know if I can endorse the plane ticket

CANDICE: Was she flying first class to Narnia???

KRIS: HA

MIRI: hahahahahahah

CANDICE: Questionable decisions a la Edmund and the Turkish Delight

ANYWAY

MIRI: 😂

KRIS: A+

CANDICE: I guess Sutton's "You Do You" moment would be making the leap over to fashion

MIRI: Oh, I loved the “we’re your support safety net” of it all so much

Source

CANDICE: Or deciding to break it off with Richard

KRIS: Yeah, contrasted with Richard’s “are you sure you don’t want to do finance?” (or whatever it was)

K: Marketing? That sounds closer to being right.

CANDICE: Fhaihjeisosncyensx

Dammit I GET where he's coming from, but - Sutton would regret not exploring that avenue at the age/place she's currently at

Again, I'm projecting.

MIRI: Yeah, I think he was very well intentioned but she made the right choice

KRIS: Oh I totally get that, Sutton’s story in the first act or so of the season was Too Real for me

CANDICE: It just felt like that parental type of "this is more secure, you're qualified for this, too, and it's safer" vibe coming from his insistence.

MIRI: (We have all 3 moved out to LA to pursue TV writing, so we’re generally in favor of big leaps, readers. We’re also in favor of crying into wine bottles sometimes.)

K: Or staring glumly into whisky tumblers

CANDICE: That's what it boils down to, Kris. We are hella relating to this show.

MIRI: YUP

KRIS: Not that “philosophy PhD” has anywhere near the job stability of finance, but film school was my version of the Sutton leap

CANDICE: I'm the first person in my family to move 24 hours away and pursue a career like this.

I am lovingly encouraged every month to do the things Jane and Sutton moved away from.

MIRI: I could have done a fully funded PhD program in English lit and stayed on the east coast. We have all made questionable choices, but we would have regretted not making them

KRIS: I’m the oldest of the cousins in my family, and of the adults the one who least has their shit together, which I try not to think about

MIRI: I didn’t realize you were the oldest overall. I’m the youngest cousin and everyone is very parental towards me in how they ask about my career and love life and everything

KRIS: We have some fairly young readers, right? That’s right, folks, “humanities PhD” is safe compared to Hollywood, WHEEEEEEEEE

MIRI: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA please insert the Will and Grace “it’s funny cuz it’s true” and “it’s funny cuz it’s sad” gifs here

youtube

KRIS: OK OK sorry I’m derailing us

MIRI: No, it’s semi-on topic!

KRIS: bathtubs! closets! Tweetdecks?

I don’t actually know what a Tweetdeck is

CANDICE: Hahaha, y'all are fine- I don't know how to say - my cousins don't really care?

MIRI: Damn, me neither. I just assumed you would know

Candice, we’ll care in their stead

CANDICE: Or at least, don't let on? They're either married with 2+ kids or teenagers making...um, decisions....

Yeah, we'll go with Decisions, bless their hearts.

MIRI: I have googled “what is a tweetdeck”

CANDICE: Thanks!

I only have heard Tweetdeck from Earpers

MIRI: “TweetDeck is a social media dashboard application for management of Twitter accounts. ... Like other Twitter applications it interfaces with the Twitter API to allow users to send and receive tweets and view profiles.”

KRIS: *nods as if he understands*

Jessica King would be disappointed in me

MIRI: It was a separate app and has now been absorbed by twitter, apparently

CANDICE: Ahh, a mission control kind of situation, it seems

KRIS: oh my god

wait

MIRI: Oh noooo If she’s disappointed in you I can’t imagine what she thinks of me. This hurts

What?

KRIS: does Jacqueline remind me of Jessica King?

MIRI: HAHAHA

YES

CANDICE: All on one page, you can view a live stream of tweets, tweet on your own, and also open new frames to reply?

MIRI: Ohhh, Candice that makes sense

CANDICE: Iiiiinteresting.

MIRI: Kris: She totally does. The strength and the mysterious wisdom

CANDICE: I didn't get enough J King in my life

She just had to sit through my nightmare of a thesis.

MIRI: No such thing as enough Jessica King in anyone’s life

CANDICE: Lol :D a few bits of myself I wish I had fleshed out before having her as a prof/mentor.

MIRI: Are you calling the situation a nightmare (which i know it was) or the script (which I’m sure it wasn’t)

CANDICE: Mainly the situation.

MIRI: Good, I don’t have to bully you into saying nicer things about yourself then

CANDICE: The script made it out safe, despite being in a metaphorical full body cast around... January 2015

Har har

MIRI: WAIT sidebar how long has twitter been around for???

KRIS: I don’t think I’ve ever had a formal mentor-mentee relationship with anyone (which either explains why I like them so much in pop culture or makes it weird that I do) but JK was as close as it got

CANDICE: 2006?

MIRI: TweetDeck has been around since 2008! That is so long ago for a technology!

Kris that definitely explains it

CANDICE: Formal is always kinda... I don't know if I've had a formal one either... you really just are all of a sudden under someone's wing.

MIRI: Or at least makes sense with it

CANDICE: But I get wanting to see it fulfilled in media, too, ab-so-lutely.

KRIS: I feel like I sort of forced myself under Jessica’s

CANDICE: That works, too :)

MIRI: Kris, you were her favorite and everyone but you knows it

KRIS: Part of me understands why people would think this but a bigger, less rational part of me refuses to accept that this is possible

CANDICE: 💥

MIRI: Well you know which part is the less rational part so there’s nothing more I can say there

CANDICE: 🔥🚶🏻‍♀️

MIRI: Ok, do we have anything else to say about The Bold Type?

Source

CANDICE: I love it. Please renew it, Freeform!!!!!!!!!!!

MIRI: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Accurate

KRIS: ANYWAY I’m normally BOO NEEDLE DROPS Guy and Allison thought it was too much in the gazebo scene, but possibly because I recognized it as “Quiet” aka the Women’s March anthem (and I don’t know that she didn’t, but I feel like she would’ve made a note of it in her review), it worked for me, and I wonder if there’s a correlation between recognizing it and liking its use (assuming other people have Opinions about needle drops in the first place)

CANDICE: First non-genre show in forever I've been in love with.

MIRI: I LOVED that needle drop

Also, really love that studio version of the song

youtube

KRIS: I would like to outsource my reactions to possibly all things to Sutton’s face

CANDICE: I love a good needle drop.

MIRI: Kris, now I want to make a study of your reactions to needle drops that you know

CANDICE: #musicnerd

KRIS: I love a GOOD needle drop but I feel like they’re way overused

MIRI: Ok, that’s fair

I love the Bold Type soundtrack in general

CANDICE: Hahahaha, when Sutton dropped for that moment while schwasted in the tub, I died.

MIRI: I’ve listened to it on repeat on Spotify since I started watching the show

CANDICE: I wanna hang out with the music supervisors for The Bold Type and Wynonna Earp so bad.

MIRI: I want to go to a party they co-DJ

KRIS: Yeah, Wynonna’s smart about them too

CANDICE:

It was just. perfect.

MIRI: My god that is such good face acting

CANDICE: I'm still cackling at it.

MIRI: I really do love that they leave room for little moments like that

KRIS: I want to see the outtakes

MIRI: That’s such a stupid little friend moment

CANDICE: Oh, they'd be a RIOT

It IS

MIRI: And that’s what makes it feel lived in and wonderful

And YES to seeing those bloopers

KRIS: I’ve mostly stopped buying DVD sets but I would consider it here just for a good long outtake reel

CANDICE: Oh, Lived In

That's the phrase or idea I've been searching for- you said it!

Definitely.

MIRI: 😎

KRIS: It definitely is riiiiight there on the line between naturalistic and hypernaturalistic, in the best way

CANDICE: I mean - I want my own shows to feel alive, so having this feeling about TBT amongst relating and loving the cast is just icing on the cake.

That sums up my feelings!

KRIS: #RenewTheBoldType

MIRI: That’s really all there is to say

KRIS: Candice thanks SO much for joining us!

MIRI: Seriously!!!

❤️ Much appreciated!!! And if you have interest in doing it again we’d love to have you back

CANDICE: Thank you both for having me!!

It's been a pleasure! I love reading!

For sure.

MIRI: Ooh make Kris watch Pure Country! Let’s do that

CANDICE: HAAA a'ight

MIRI: Awww, thanks, babe! We’re glad you like it 😊

CANDICE: 😘👌🏻

MIRI: Alright, I’m going to get ready for bed because I kind of forgot that I have to be in the office again tomorrow morning

CANDICE: Night night! I'm about 13 minutes away from bed, myself

MIRI: Also last night I fell asleep with a sheet mask on my face and got super confused when I remembered that fact (5-10 minutes after I woke up) and couldn’t find it, so I think I have some sleep to catch up on or something

KRIS: *British Lady Narrator Voice* Getting a good night’s sleep is important for the bold type

While you wait for season 2, you can follow us on Twitter, where you can also bombard Freeform with the #RenewTheBoldType hashtag! Also, please note that Miri is obsessed with the British Narrator Lady and deeply regrets not remembering to bring it up during our discussion.

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davidmann95 · 7 years

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The Nightwing Problem

I mentioned this the other day in passing, but I’ve got more thoughts on the subject: I’m no longer convinced Dick Grayson as Nightwing is a good idea, damn cool as that costume may be.

I was convinced. Tim Seeley, Javier Fernandez and their collaborators really knocked it out of the park with the introductory volume of the new Nightwing book spinning out of Grayson; it combined the best of the world-trotting vibe from that with the acid-tinged death trap gimmicks of Morrison’s time with Dick as Fun Batman, and while I don’t think that’s incompatible with just making him Batman again, it’s still different enough from the regular model that it’s reasonable to distinguish it with a whole other identity. If you were able to entirely divorce him from what Nightwing has meant up to this point, and really grab by the horns what Grayson and that first arc of the new book set up for him - the dashing globetrotting super-adventurer who can journey into morally murikier territory than Batman himself, because he’s not vulnerable in the same ways Bruce is vulnerable - I think it could’ve worked. It might’ve still had some issues that I’ll get into, but it could’ve worked in spite of them.

But you can’t really do that; Nightwing had over a hundred and fifty issues to himself in that name before this came along. And as we were just reminded when Seeley journeyed into more familiar territory (I’m pretty convinced the first arc of Nightwing was at least in part really a reconfigured version of what would have been an arc of Grayson), the name doesn’t actually come with much other than baggage at this point.

To be clear: the recent Blüdhaven story by Seeley, Marcus To and company was by no means a bad set of comics. Nightwing is still one of the most underrated, purely entertaining superhero books out there right now, and I’m tremendously looking forward to the upcoming Nightwing Must Die pitting him against an army of his greatest enemies, from the Talon to Pyg to fucking Deathwing. I also know bringing him back to his iconic city was Geoff Johns’ idea that Seeley had to implement, as I expect was bringing back his old ‘rogues gallery’. But it’s still an arc - hot on the heels of an opening titled Better Than Batman - built almost entirely around reaffirming his status as a third-tier offshoot of the actual brand of importance. It’s literally him teaming up with the villains who couldn’t hack it in Gotham, and it draws a clear line between him and them as being in similar positions. I dig setting up his new haunt as the Vegas to Gotham’s New York/Chicago, but even that can’t erase the vague feeling that the characters’ had the keys to his nice shiny new car snatched out of his hands, and now he has to go back to the busted-ass old model his dad loaned him.

I get the impulse to hand him his own city - it gives a stable environment, obvious opportunities for building up a supporting cast, and a base to head back to even if he regularly goes globe-trotting - but as presented, Blüdhaven has always been Gotham-lite. Even now that it’s more pointedly distinguishing itself, it’s still a shadowy city of corrupt cops where Gotham crooks wander around. All elements that could work, but again, it’s straight-up established that the ex-villains here, the people it’s leaning into the nostalgia of Dick having once counted as arch-enemies...were the no-hopers who weren’t cool enough to be worth Batman’s time. Complete with Dick solving a stock Batman-style Whodunnit? hinging on one of the most iconically awful Batman villains in Orca the Whale Woman, and flirting with a morally ambiguous acrobatic lady supervillain. If Batman and Robin established Dick can work as an A-list superhero, and the last few years of Grayson and the beginning of Nightwing demonstrated a valid and fascinating new direction for him to be spun off into, this arc felt like it was reestablishing that whoa there son, don’t be getting too big for your britches now, you’re still Officially Worse Batman. Whatever you think of the stories themselves, that’s how Nightwing has been known for over 20 years, and that’s a narrative gravity I’m not sure he can escape as long as he has that name.

And even if he could, Nightwing isn’t his main identity anyway. The entirety of pop culture can chime in on that.

Not by a mile am I suggesting he should go back to being Robin (though Arkham Knight presenting an adult Robin working alongside Batman in Tim Drake has some interesting possibilities), but it’s more than just cultural weight that keeps that as his biggest identity, even in the comics. The thing is, Nightwing as a name doesn’t mean anything. Yes, I know Superman came up with it, and that these days there’s a connection with the Court of Owls, but those are purely abstract. There was some recent thing where he said “yeah, people think I call myself Nightwing because I’m like Batman, a flying thing at night, but really it’s because of Superman’s suggestion regarding a Kryptonian fairy tale”, but citing the nerd trivia explanation can’t change that the first explanation is clearly the actual reason he’s named that. That’s all there is to it; it’s a cool-sounding name. Robin on the other hand is an obvious pairing with Batman as a brighter flying creature, and if you think of it in the context of heroism you get the obvious connection to Robin Hood. And if you want to talk about him as an equal-but-opposite contrast to Batman’s Zorro figure, comparing him to a charming hero to the people so upbeat they called his partners his Merry Men goes a long way. Hell, Dick sure knew that, given Robin’s the title he picked as a crimefighter, Nightwing being a years-distant second choice. Robin is just plain a better name and identity, as evidenced by the fact that DC’s made at least 4 others of note to fill the void...Richard left behind. Nightwing again has a cool costume, but it can never be his iconic identity in even a best-case scenario; he’s not even Batman’s partner anymore, he’s just the off-brand. Short of showing up in a massively popular and acclaimed movie with virtually none of the elements that have established him over the years as a lesser Batman figure, I’m sincerely skeptical that any amount of momentum could change that forever. In a popular sense, it’s all he’s got.

What would I do then, unless that theoretical movie comes along? I say make him co-Batman again, and totally not just because my favorite writer did that within a year of me starting to collect comics. You can still do all the fun stuff Nightwing offers with him; he can have his own city if you really want, he can smile and go on fun adventures as Fun Batman now that Bruce doesn’t do that, you could even redesign his costume to be more in line with his sleeker Nightwing look while still being recognizably Batman. He gets A-list talent by default. DC sustained two Batmen for a year as equals, so it’s certainly possible. It’s simpler to explain too - when someone asks “Wait, what happened to the first Robin?”, “Well, now he’s Batman too, and Batman’s son is his Robin” works a lot better than “He calls himself Nightwing now and is his own minor superhero. Do you remember him as an occasional guest-star from the 90s TV show? No, he was Robin for that first part, the second part. Yes, there was a second part. No, he’s not on the Teen Titans anymore either. Anyway, he protects another city that’s basically shittier Gotham where he fights a bunch of crappy villains.”

Most of all though, Dick thrives in situations that threaten to undermine him. With his and Bruce’s relationship threatening to fall apart, wondering if he can cut it as Robin after Two-Face beats him, worrying about whether he can escape the ‘shadow of the bat’, trying to hold onto his morals as an agent of SPYRAL, struggling to reform Damian, even being trapped as Slade’s apprentice. He works when forces threaten his sense of stability, and he as a fundamentally upbeat guy naturally finds having to be Batman - plus all the attendant baggage besides - the ultimate destabilizing force, far more so than basically still comfortably being Robin into adulthood. It’s a perpetual conflict generator that still allows him to do his own thing as a fun character while also positioning him as a major player - the most major player possible. And given Anthony Mackie or Sebastian Stan are probably going to become a new Captain America onscreen in the next few years, I think the public at large is going to be primed to accept the idea of there being multiple Batmen of reasonably equal importance far more easily than they could be swayed to care about the guy whose main popular trait is not being Batman.

#Nightwing #Dick Grayson #Robin #Batman #Tim Seeley #Javier Fernandez #Marcus To #Opinion

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williamsjoan · 5 years

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DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Michael’s Top 10

As 2018 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2018 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2018 releases — can be considered.

Ah, yes. It’s that time of year once again. With 2018 coming to an end, we celebrate our love of video games with arbitrary lists naming our favorite video games of the year. Does this list matter? Probably not. But I’m here to perform my duty of telling you what’s good.

Joking aside, 2018 has had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in video games. We were graced with several “masterpieces” while also covered — excuse my language — in absolute shit. We’ve also had some unexpected duds; games we thought would be, at the very least, good but just ended up being another disappointment. It has been a mixed bag in 2018, which made creating this list the most difficult it has ever been for me.

With all that said, here are my favorite games of the year. No, WWE 2K19 is not on this list, I just like the picture a lot.

10. Rainbow Six Siege

I know what you’re thinking: “why is a game from 2015 on a list dedicated to games released in 2018?” Rainbow Six Siege is obviously not the best game of the year, but it certainly made a huge impact on me and how I will play games moving forward.

You may recall an editorial featured on DualShockers I wrote earlier in the year titled “Red Dead Redemption 2 Made Me Realize That Long Games Aren’t For Me.” While RDR2 was the catalyst to this realization, there are tons of games this year, like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Monster Hunter: World, that I just couldn’t get through primarily due to its length. I enjoyed everything that I played, but there were just other games out there that felt more rewarding after just a few minutes with them.

Let me also iterate on something that I may not have touched on in that editorial: I’ve also completed some longer titles this year. God of War and Lost Sphear are, by no means, the longest games to complete, but they do take at least 20 hours of your time. Even with games like Monster Hunter: World or RDR2, I spent at least 20 to 30 hours playing those games. It became more about player satisfaction rather than that they’re “too long.” Although, RDR2 is too long…

Anyways, this brings me to Rainbow Six Siege: the 2015 game that made it on a “top 10 games of 2018” list. This game is pure satisfaction: whether I win or lose, every minute never feels wasted, and I feel like I am constantly improving and learning after every match. It also helps that each match is very short, allowing me to get a few rounds in even if I just have 30 minutes to game.

This “short but sweet” direction is something I’ve appreciated for a while now. But as I’ve grown to the ripe old age of 27, that appreciation has grown exponentially and playing Rainbow Six Siege, especially with my friends, has been one of my most satisfying gaming experiences in years. In some ways, this game symbolizes all the quality shorter experiences, like Gris or Florence, than just saying “Rainbow Six Siege is my number 10 game of the year because it’s a good shooter from three years ago.”

9. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

This was a late entry. Releasing earlier this month, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden thoroughly entertained me more than any tactics game in recent memory. Yes, even more so than Into the Breach, which would be occupying this spot if I had not played this.

What really impresses me with Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is its world. Set in an alternate timeline where nuclear warfare ended humanity as we know it, you follow a talking duck and pig who are tasked to help out the Ark, one of the last beacons of civilization left on Earth. I’m not too far into its story — hence why it is so far up my list — but it is a tale that I find intriguing and I’m constantly thinking of it almost every hour. The synth-laden soundtrack, along with snarky dialogue from some talking animals, gives the game a cheesy vibe that I absolutely adore.

While its world is at the forefront, its gameplay shines just as bright. As engaging as the tactics games before it, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden manages to stand out with what I’ll call its “exploration phase.” Instead of just dropping you into the fray, you can move around the world freely. You can explore any area at your leisure to pick up scraps or new equipment to improve your arsenal.

This exploration phase also allows you to perform some reconnaissance before you rush into battle. Instead of going in guns blazing, you can get the lay of the land and identify where are your enemies are before you proceed. A major part of succeeding in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is stealth: if you can stealthily pick off enemies, the higher the chance that you have of defeating the opposition, even if you’re outnumbered.

Although my time has been limited with Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, its challenging gameplay and the appealing world has got its hooks in me and I can’t wait to jump back in.

8. Starlink: Battle for Atlas

Before my recent obsession with Super Mario Sunshine‘s Il Piantissimo, there was Fox McCloud and his Star Fox fleet. Star Fox remains my favorite Nintendo franchise to ever grace the many television screens throughout my life. The original Star Fox, along with DOOM, Mortal Kombat, and Galaga, makes up the foundation of my video game interests; Fox has played an integral role in my life, in more ways than an anthropomorphic fox probably should.

When I saw the Star Fox fleet show up in Starlink: Battle for Atlas during Ubisoft’s E3 press conference this year, it was like my childhood dreams came true. Not only will I be able to fly around an open galaxy in the Arwing, but I’ll also get an awesome toy I can display on a shelf. Ubisoft certainly got my attention as a Star Fox fanboy, but the toys-to-life genre has, for all intents and purposes, died. I wasn’t quite sure how much I would actually enjoy this game beyond playing as Fox.

Fortunately, Starlink: Battle for Atlas made me believe there is still room for the toys-to-life genre to thrive. Although its story and characters are paper thin, its gameplay is a blast. Is this the Star Fox game I’ve been wanting since the disappointment known as Star Fox Zero? Yes actually, it is.

Check out the DualShockers review of Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

7. Quarantine Circular

Last year Mike Bithell’s first short, Subsurface Circular, made it onto my top ten for 2017. Like previously pointed out with Rainbow Six Siege, it was a game that respected my time. Only lasting roughly two hours, I was able to play it in one sitting and get that feeling of satisfaction I always look for when playing video games. Subsurface Circular‘s spiritual successor, Quarantine Circular, is another short that still hits the same satisfying notes as its predecessor but in a slightly different way.

While it does bring back the text-based gameplay from Subsurface Circular, the puzzle elements are mostly non-existent in Quarantine Circular, instead favoring storytelling and player choice. It was a bit of a bummer that the word puzzles were very sparse, but thanks to its exceptional and thought-provoking tale, I was just as captivated by it.

Check out the DualShockers review of Quarantine Circular.

6. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Yes, Call of Duty Black Ops 4 (or IIII) is on this list. It isn’t perfect, but BLOPS 4 is the most fun I have had with a multiplayer game since Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Yes, you read that correctly.

I have a ton of problems with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4: the Zombies mode is hot trash, Blackout is a ripoff of a better battle royale, and some of the technical aspects of its gameplay are pretty awful. Even with all of those problems, I love its multiplayer. The map selection is pretty strong, the gameplay is still tight despite some of its terrible technicalities, and the newly-introduced systems makes it stand out from its predecessors. It may not be perfect, but it’s the Call of Duty that really just clicked with me more than any entry from the past three years.

Check out the DualShockers review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

5. Dragon Ball FighterZ

Last year, a fighting game was my favorite game of the year, as Tekken 7 opened my eyes to competitive gaming. Sure, I watched EVO and other tournaments from time-to-time, but I never tried to play competitively. That changed with Tekken 7 and continued with this year’s best fighting game, Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is the epitome of the expression “easy to learn, hard to master.” This is the perfect game for someone not familiar with fighting games: the simplest combos are legitimately done by mashing the punch button. Just knowing the basics of the attack and countering will actually see you triumph over your opponent more than not. The complexities of the game come from stringing together those simple combos and special moves in effective ways. When you do inevitably get to that level, Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the most satisfying fighting games you’ll ever play.

Check out the DualShockers review of Dragon Ball FighterZ.

4. Forza Horizon 4

It’s impressive what Playground Games, Turn 10, and Microsoft Studios have done with the Forza Horizon franchise. With every entry, they somehow find a way to improve upon it in awesome and creative ways. Forza Horizon 4 is no different. This entry proves that this series is not just some Forza Motorsport spin-off: Forza Horizon stands on its own, and truly is the best racing series any console has to offer.

Check out the DualShockers review of Forza Horizon 4.

3. Beat Saber

During Black Friday, I bought one of those PSVR bundles that included the Move controllers, SUPERHOT VR, and Creed: Rise to Glory for the low price of $250. For that price, it was absolutely worth it. Not because of the pack-ins — although I’m super excited to try SUPERHOT VR at some point — but because of Beat Saber.

This rhythmic masterpiece isn’t just a game, it’s a lifestyle. Although I’ve fallen off a bit recently, I was playing Beat Saber every day as a way to exercise. Just after four or five songs, a generous amount of sweat would cover my headset as I took quick, tired breaths from being so exhausted. It really does test your physicality just as much as your reflexes.

Beat Saber also shows that VR doesn’t have to be limited to short, on-rails experiences: they can be full-fledged games that you can play for hours on end. Tapping into the addictive rhythmic nature of Guitar Hero or Rock Band, I found myself playing Beat Saber for hours, constantly trying to top my last high score. It may not be the game that made me a believer of VR — that accolade goes to Thumper — but it certainly reinforced that belief.

Check out the DualShockers review of Beat Saber review here.

2. God of War

Growing up, I was primarily a Nintendo kid. I had only known the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, the Lylat System, and all the other worlds the Nintendo family of consoles had to offer. It wasn’t until the Xbox 360 launched where I truly ventured away from the familiar and comfortable places of the past and looked towards the future.

With that being said, I scarcely played a PlayStation console; it wasn’t until the PS4 launched when I delved into the franchises exclusive to that platform. So, when a new God of War was announced for PS4 – one that you did not need to play the other six to understand what was going on – I was intrigued. It was not the violent and monotonous action game I had once seen, but a more grounded take set in the realm of the Norse gods.

I’ll admit, I was lukewarm in the first few moments of God of War. I thought the story seemed great and the characters aside from Kratos were interesting, but I really was not into the gameplay. Heck, I still have problems with some of the mechanics. It wasn’t until the dragon boss fight where everything clicked for me. The gameplay, the story, the world… everything was just more enjoyable from that point on. It was this weird “voila” moment that I haven’t had since I played Mass Effect.

God of War is a very special game. It is the one from this year that transcends into “greatest of all time” terrain. I’m sure this is the new litmus test for great video games moving forward.

Check out the DualShockers review of God of War.

1. The Messenger

Alright, ladies and gentleman: I present to you the best game of 2018. Actually, scratch that. I present to you one of the best games this generation: The Messenger.

Before I gush about how amazing this game is, let me tell you a story first. During PAX East this year, I sat down with the game’s director, Thierry Boulanger, where he showed me the first few moments of the game. If you’ve played, you know that the first level is like any other Ninja Gaiden-inspired platformer. Sure, it had its own unique take on it, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary. Then, he spoiled one of the main plot points for me…

So, that seems pretty crappy, right? But after he told me that the scroll I was carrying to the top of that mountain was actually a map and that once the Messenger opens that map, the game becomes a Metroidvania, my brain melted. It was, far and away, my favorite game I saw at PAX East, and one I was eagerly anticipating.

Once I finally got my hands on it in August, I thought I knew what I was getting into. I already knew the big twist, right? What other surprises could this game have?

A lot. The answer is a lot.

It turns out there was at least one thing in each stage that surprised or delighted me. Whether it was some ridiculous commentary from the Shopkeeper — the actual best character of the year — or a time-traveling boss fight, there was always something that made me verbally question just what mind-blowing thing happened.

The Messenger is the most clever amalgamation of storytelling and game design I have ever had the pleasure to play. With such a killer soundtrack by Rainbowdragoneyes, fun gameplay, and an engaging story, Sabotage Studio’s first outing is the interactive definition of why I play video games.

Check out the DualShockers review of The Messenger.

Check out the other DualShockers’ staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 17: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2018 December 18: Lou Contaldi, Editor in Chief // Logan Moore, Reviews Editor December 19: Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor // Tomas Franzese, News Editor December 20: Reinhold Hoffmann, Community Manager December 21: Scott Meaney, Community Director // Ben Bayliss, Staff Writer December 22: Ben Walker, Staff Writer // Chris Compendio, Staff Writer December 23: Grant Huff, Staff Writer December 26: Iyane Agossah, Staff Writer // Jordan Boyd, Staff Writer December 27: Max Roberts, Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Staff Writer December 28: Noah Buttner, Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Staff Writer December 29: Steven Santana, Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer December 30: Travis Verbil, Staff Writer // Zack Potter, Staff Writer

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