#but at least there's priest db

[deepdwellingsteamboat]

DANIEL BRÜHL as Father Antonio INTRUDERS (2011)

[jrat226]

Ok so I'm making a new fighter pass for db fighterz cause I feel like some missed opportunities were made

So first spot goes to

1. Of course it's raditz, you're gonna have 10 Goku's, his dad, and his son's but not his brother, there's easily something they could've done with him, it feels so weird he ain't in it

Next character is

Bergamo, I feel like having only 1 god of destruction is kinda weird and I know champa is the obvious choice but we don't need another cat... So imma chose the wolf, I know some people would opt for the bear but I like Bergamo, he's badass

Next up

Honestly one of the best recent villains and he definitely deserves a spot in the next game if they make one, there's so much potential here, he's up there with Frieza, cell and buu (imo)

Ok this next one makes me sad

Where tf is she?? I know toriyama (r.i.p) forgot about her but like come on a gun slinger in a dragon ball game would be cool as hell and there's definitely fun moveset potential also it's another girl besides 21, 18, and videl

Ok this one is debatable if he deserves a spot but I think he'd be a neat edition

I like dabura and he was a cool villain for his little time, he gave Gohan a good fight and he has a lot of potential for an amazing moveset

And last but not least

WHERE TF IS WHIS??? All he gets is a beerus intro?? That's it? Give this man a move set damn it, he's a grand priest and you give him nothing, this one is honestly just insulting!

[kookaburra1701]

1, 8, and 12 for the Violence asks?

The same still goes - I LOVE TO HAVE MY MIND CHANGED! If anyone reads these and thinks of a counter example or a fic/bit of meta that will change my mind, let me have it.

the character everyone gets wrong OK, so this is going to be the one that gets me run out of town, chased by a mob of people with pitchforks, but I'm going to answer the custom follower Kaidan. I get why - he's a fluffy romance mod at heart, and while I have no idea whether he was made in response to the SR mod he is often held as the alternative to Bishop's rapey vibe, and thus ends up being mostly written as an endlessly nurturing, supportive love interest for the DB in fics. But Kaidan dealt with his pain by drowning it in alcohol and moon-sugar, and decided to become a bandit. Only to find out the group he joined weren't bandits they were a DAGON CULT. And it was only AFTER he stood by while the cult tortured and murdered an entire family that he had second thoughts about being a part of it. THEN when he escapes and goes back to Skyrim to sober up, he gets black-bagged and tortured for who knows how long. Dude's f'd in the head and obviously has some incredibly maladaptive coping mechanisms, is what I'm saying, and has some SERIOUS SHIT in his past that any good-to-neutral alignment love interest would have to come to terms with. I LOVE him for it, but it's not a side of him that I see explored much. It's what I'm aiming to explore in Wives of Shor, if I ever manage to finish the damn thing. And ALLLL of this is one of the reasons why I went so feral over @gilgamish 's fic, Tides to Carry Us Home when I came across it - the look at Kaidan through Felix's eyes (someone who is also very mixed up in the head) is DELICIOUS.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about Please allow me to paraphrase something I tend to see quite a bit. I'm not thinking of any one person, and honestly, mostly it's a take on r/skyrim lol:

"The Nords are prejudiced against Khajiit because they won't let the caravans in the city." Khajiit caravans aren't excluded from the cities because of racism, they're excluded because of a) protectionist economic practices and b) THE CARAVANS ARE DOING AND ENABLING SO MUCH CRIME OH MY GOD don't get me wrong I love them for the "poor us, the Nords are so mean" act they put on very successfully (at least it worked Ysolda) but Ri'saad literally came to Skyrim with a bunch of people in debt-bondage to be a war profiteer. It is totally justified that all of the jarls took one look at that whole situation and said, "OK we don't have enough guards to keep you out of the province as a whole, but you are NOT doing that shit in my city."

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

HEIMSKR. He has no chill. He has no fear. He has no orthodoxy (if you listen to his speech all the way through he says things that I'm very certain NONE of the other priests of Talos would endorse, like Talos being the head of the pantheon, or Alduin being sent by Talos to punish unbelievers.)

He just stands in the square, all day every day, and yells at the Gildergreen, which is Kyne's sacred tree. Combined with his insistence that Talos is the head of the pantheon (the place of Kyne in that Old Time Nord Religion) I feel like there's actually something going on there. And then if you side with the Imperials even being arrested doesn't stop him yelling about his crackpot theology. We stan a stan.

[manynarrators]

You should tell me about your Hazbin oc. Smiles.

@coronaryqueer | Please understand this is A Can Of Worms, and all can be poked and prodded @singthesongsofsin

Hellaina: She’s my scary snake lady! She’s Vox’s PA (though in truth more akin to a COO). Technically he owns her soul, but she thinks she got the much better deal out of it. She died in the early 1980s of a heart attack induced, in large part, but the whole… 1980s work culture. She is, all things considered, quite happy down in Hell! (She also despises Valentino).

Dia: Hellaina’s wife, and regular in cannibal town. She runs a butcher shop, because her actual skills in pathology aren’t… super useful here. In life she sold organs on the black market, and is a special sort beloved freak. Definitely some vibes of pastel whimsi-goth in that girl.

Jayden: Velvette’s PA. He was created to fulfill a joke originally. Vox has a snake PA, and one of my writing partners hc that Val also had a snake PA, co clearly Vel needed one too. He’s very young, like, died in the last five years and was an influencer in life (and still is in hell) sort of young.

Adelard: OLD. He was in the seminary until he had a bit of a crisis of faith, left to become a healer during the early 1300s, and then a plague doctor when that all broke out. He killed a lot of his patients because it was kinder for that than to die slowly of the plague. In Hell he’s the closest thing to a librarian, and definitely a bit of an eccentric! He collects a lot of the newly fallen.

Belphegor: lord of Sloth, narcoleptic, and an idealist. Probably going to quit at some point to create purgatory, or just… somewhere for the vast majority of the dead to go who weren’t great people but don’t deserve Hell either.

Astaroth: Bel’s best friend, another fallen Angel. Tara spends most of her time on Earth, acting as the classic deal demon. She has a fwb deal with Mephistopheles (yes the one from Faust), and also as Bel’s inter-ring liaison a lot of the time.

Metatron: the Voice of God! (And heretical on my part). He was the first thing ever created, before the universe itself was, and he, God, and Asherah were the primordial polycule… at least until she went to sleep. God did too, some 1400 years ago, so Metatron has been keeping Heaven and Earth from realizing God is MIA by acting in his stead.

As for the wtnv OCs!!!

The new one is Nezha. They’re a glassblower from DB, they’re tiers of punk, they created and then destroyed the stained glass of the Smiling God in DB’s Joyous Congregation. (I have more hc about that, but shhh, the fic will be released in a few days). Their Double was Theseus’s best friend until her death— weird magical inter-city coven they were all a part of.

Speaking of Theseus! He’s the NV weatherman. He’s quite chill, all things considered. He was part of the magical intercity coven (where he met Ted the Weatherman (mentioned! And therefore canon!) from DB. He’s known about the weird effect of the towns for aaaages, but as no one ever asks the weatherman anything, he’s never volunteered any information. After the coven fell apart, he went to uni for meteorology. In an as yet unfinished fic, he becomes Maddy’s (Kevin’s sister) best friend.

Mikhail and Matvei: a set of doubles who hate one anotber. They both went to school outside the Desert. But whereas Mikhail is a relatively good person, he studies time, Matvei is EVIL. Matvei was a StrexCorp enforcer, Matvei is now working on the Sandstorm project. Matvei carved out one of his own eyes in a show of devotion to the Smiling God, and is a hardcore loyalist even without drugs.

Speaking of! Helios is the Smiling God! …sort of. Helios created DB and then just sort of… forgot about it. He came back to find Strex and is now masquerading a priest to figure out how to fix it. He’s also the Greek pantheon Helios, same dude. In the same unfinished fic, he’s Jocelin’s (Kevin’s nibling) biological father.

Maddy and Jocelin! Kevin’s sister and no king respectively. They would be Abby and Janice’s doubles. Maddy wanted to be a botanist, as after their mother took off, ended up raising Kevin. They’re still quite close in large part because of Jo, and because there is no double of Steve. Jocelin, as a child, has a sun allergy Strex ‘fixed’. They’re like… 13 right now, but getting into acting! After Strex was defeated, they were some of the first to move to NV.

How many more do I have??? I think I’ll leave it here for now! (I need to be better at actually messaging you, I promise I’ll try!)

[gruvu]

Please please please tell us your Miraak thoughts

Anon I think I have all my notes now, if not. I will add it in some kind of Miraak masterpost if I get more ideas. So let us begin on a brief summary of who this guy is.

Basically for those who do NOT know who this guy is, he is the main villain in the dragonborn DLC for skyrim. It was the last DLC (the anniversary does not count) that was released. Miraak is the FIRST dragonborn and your character is the most recent/last dragonborn so there is that. Basically he worked for the dragons when they were running things till he found out he was a DB and decided he wanted to rule over everything. It backfired and he ran away like a lil coward to Hermaeus Mora, Hermaeus Mora saved him by transporting him to the realm of Apocrypha where he stays until you show up and he steals dragon souls from you and it sucks. There is more but wanted to get the basics down. Now I will put a read more to not make a long post so I can get to my thoughts.

I think I will start with his appearance, which you see above is just the mask and whatever. However he does NOT have a canon appearance under the mask. if you somehow use commands you can spawn him in and so far two randomly models for him will be generated.

One is a commonly used bandit male model that spawns and the other is a balding older man with black eyes which some use in their designs. But it leaves a lot of room for us to play with what he looks like. Now I personally have seen a lot of the dragon scales, black veins, black eyes with green irises and a hunky looking face. And it is a great look. Very good, I love it. Make him hot guys, I support that. I however went another way. I wanted to stir away from that look because I found out some interesting things, which some may have missed on their play through. Now the book Doors of Oblivion is a commonly found book, that describes a guy named Morian Zenas who is jumping around in different realms. His assistant is the narrator and writes this book. To not make this longer basically what happens it, Morian ends up in Apocrypha and instead of staying in there for a couple days, he stays for MONTHS. His communications with his assistant via by telepathic emails become more deranged and unable to be understood when it becomes a garbled mess of sounds. It is IMPLIED that what happened to Morian is he became a seeker.

One of these, which can be found in Apocrypha. These seekers are hinted to have once been human that Hermie mora has trapped inside this realm due to their thirst for knowledge.. Kind of what has happened with Miraak. Hermie gave Miraak knowledge and yeah. I began running with the idea that Miraak is becoming a seeker. Perhaps in a slower pace due to his dragonbornness.

- Not to mention in creative kit his "race" is simply called Miraak so he is his own race?

He obviously is keeping a humanoid form but it does not mean he is human underneath the armor. He is fighting Hermie, he knows herm is just playing with him for some reason. He even says the line to you "Hermaeus Mora is laughing at us, you know" So obviously he knows Herm is not on his side, not fully at least and that is why he has to leave. And Herm realizes that Miraak is not some mind he can take. And MAYBE that's why in the ending battle (SPOILERS BY THE WAY) Hermie kills him. This leaves you as the new champion and you can actually leave.

But this is not about how he dies, this is how he is as a living being. So in my mind, he is turning into a seeker, he knows he is. And Herm who lets you go in the end is keeping him trapped. He is the LAST LIVING dragon priest btw, it's cool cause he is the only one listed in the files as a CHARACTER rather than a creature like the undead ones we meet. So he is alive, which leads us to think how.. is he alive? What is he eating? Is time different in the realm he is in? Lots of questions which give me the idea Miraak.. As powerful as he is as a mage, and he is pretty powerful with enslaving people outside his physical reach. But physically I believe he is decaying, his body is fighting him. And as much big talk as he does, claiming he is the best, he is desperate under all that. He is a selfish man, a selfish proud, BAD EVIL man but there is something more. There has been a lot of cut lines from him and I wish that was restored. Man I had a lot of thoughts and I am not sure what else to dive into besides his physical looks without going into an au where we drag his flat butt out of there and make him a follower. So note this

- In creation kit he is listed as a character and not a creature like other dragon priests

- In creation kit he is called "miraak race", making him his own thing.

- Read the Doors to Oblivian because it.. Makes me sad. If ya'll have any questions, or want to hit me up with your thoughts PLEASE DO. I am always open to discussing skyrim.

[period-dramallama]

Betrayal at the Tudor Court: the Silly

It wouldn’t be a DB novel without some silliness, let’s be real.

* Fitzgerald a fancy name for a serving woman

* Speaking of names. There are some odd choices: Peregrine, Aubrey, Mirabella, Kristina. Christina might work, but not with a K.

* Vaulted ceiling described as cathedral ceiling

* “The beds were dressed in sumptuous white lace with cornflower blue velvet curtains”. This sounds more like a bed from Gone with the Wind.

* A room is described as a ballroom

* DB loves her soft innocent cinnamon roll heroines who just want to bring joy into the lives of others. Cecily can come across as a bit schmaltzy.

* Show don’t tell, DB. My favourite instance of this is the author stating “they shared an unspoken bond” because... it’s not really all that unspoken, DB. You’re... speaking about it.

* Father Alec described as having a “well muscled build”. As a priest to a large household, when does he have time? Is it all from riding? Is he lifting weights off page?

* characters “clapped and hooted” which is a very American way to describe it.

* The word ‘tummy’. Stop making adult characters sound like they’re 5.

* Cecily marries Hal and becomes “Mrs Harold Pierce.”

* characters talking about their ‘debut’. Are we Bridgerton now?

* the word blooming is used as an expletive. Did we just become My Fair Lady?

* Cecily hosts dinners called “audition suppers”. How does she know what an audition is?

* Aske in this book is clearly not missing an eye. Come on. At least read his wikipedia page!

* 1536 described as ‘36.

* What’s the author’s deal with circlets? Circlets in Secrets and now circlets here, when Cecily would wear a hood instead. 

* Mirabella borrows the snow shoes belonging to Harry, Cecily’s son. She is a grown woman. Harry is 10. How the hell do they fit her?? She doesn’t even seem to adjust them.

[divineb3auty-archived]

Alright, as stated before.. I have been tossing the idea around in my head on writing Vados where she isn’t an Angel. It would be a little easier in some cases but I guess I should iron out a little bit of what I’m trying to accomplish with this AU Verse. Buckle up, boys.. It’s about to be a wild ride.

So at some point during her Angel duties.. Vados starts to really think about if she wants to continue to be a divine being. That being said, she also starts to wonder what her life would be like outside of being so powerful. Obviously she pushes those thoughts to the side and thinks these thoughts are temporary since this is the first time she’s ever had them but some time goes by and she starts thinking the same thoughts but they are flooding her mind at this point so who does she go to? Her father, the Grand Priest.

He can already tell something is troubling her because her face has it written all over it. Vados talks to her father, explains the thoughts she’s had and how it wasn’t the first time and he gets upset but more of the passive aggressive type of upset and dismisses her for a good while and then ends up summoning her again.

THIS IS WHERE THINGS WILL GET INTERESTING.

The Grand Priest ends up making a decision to give Vados a test run on being a mortal. This test run spans out for.. some time. I’d say maybe about 6 months. He just wanted to see if she really had what it took and if it was something that she really wanted.

Within that time span, she spent her temporary mortal life on U6’s Earth. Of course, her brother Whis was able to help her out as far as having a place to stay (benefits of being Bulma’s dear friend). Bulma gave Whis a little capsule that would turn into a little capsule home, all for herself. Whis had actually brought Bulma with him a few times to see Vados and for them to really discuss what the plan really was whenever the 6 month trial period of her being a mortal was over and she told her father that she wanted to officially stop being an Angel.

Now I will throw this in here and say that Grand Priest was… kind enough to let Vados keep some of her powers. Obviously, she is no longer immortal. She doesn’t have her staff anymore, nor does she have that blue ring around her neck. I haven’t quite decided what I want to do as far as.. you know, the Autonomous Ultra Instinct.. Changing her hair color and such would just be odd because it is Vados. I am thinking of keeping her skin color blue.. It would make sense. Maybe she could just have white hair naturally and have blue skin because let’s be real, with all the weird ass species in DB.. being blue is the least of anybody’s worries lmao.

6 MONTHS GO BY and Vados has that meeting with her father, they talk about it.. Vados is now mortal. Now this is another generous thing that the Grand Priest does.. he asks if she wants to stay in U6 or go to a different Universe. With previous talks with Bulma and Bulma being so dear to Whis, she also wants to form a friendship with Vados as well. And we all know the kind of persuader Bulma is... so she convinced Vados to come over to U7 and live.

She thought that’d bother pops but it didn’t because he knew that Whis visits quite frequently so he was able to have eyes on her regardless and yeeeeeeah.

That’s what I got so far. I’m going to keep her love of flowers, CLEARLY BECAUSE IT’S CUTE. So she’ll have a little garden she keeps up with and all to keep her busy.

[duhragonball]

Frieza for the character ask, please. I want to know if there's something you like!

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them: I tend to divide all of Dragon Ball canon into two sections: the part that’s about Dragon Balls, and the part that’s about Super Saiyans, with DBZ Episode 66 as the dividing line.   And Frieza’s original run as the main villain (Episodes 44-120) straddles that line.  

He’s basically a bridge between those two themes.    He starts off as a villain gathering the Dragon Balls to extend his rule, much like Emperor Pilaf or Commander Red, but he’s so insanely powerful that it almost doesn’t matter if he makes his wish or not.    The only thing that gives him pause is the possibility of a Saiyan uprising, except there’s only a handful of them left in the universe, which means the only way they could threaten him would be if one of them suddenly became the strongest Saiyan in a millennium.

My favorite aspect of Dragon Ball is that it keeps raising the stakes.   Vegeta was presented as the ultimate threat, and then it turned out that his boss is the strongest guy in the universe.   And he’s treated accordingly.    It takes forever to defeat him, mostly because it’s a lot safer to sneak around and avoid the guy, and when a final confrontation happens, no one has the necessary power to finish him off.  

Somewhat understandably, a lot of fans think of him as the Final Boss of the Dragon Ball mythos.  Goku becomes a legendary warrior to defeat the strongest guy in the universe.   How do you top that?    A lot of fans think that it was a mistake to try, and I’m pretty sure that’s where a lot of this “Toiryama wanted to quit after the Frieza Saga” mythology came from.  What they’re really saying is: “I think Toriyama should have quit after the Frieza Saga, and I assume he agrees with me, because I respect him so much, which must mean someone forced him to continue.”

But I think that’s bunk, because Toriyama’s best work was built on Frieza’s vaporized corpse.    How can you keep a martial arts epic going when the hero is stronger than the strongest person in the universe?   Toriyama took that as a challenge.    The androids could be stronger than Frieza because they hadn’t been built yet when Frieza was riding high.   Cell and Trunks could be stronger than Frieza because they’re from the future.  The Supreme Kai and Dabura were stronger than Frieza, but they don’t count because they’re from other realms beyond the “normal” universe.   Majin Buu could be stronger than Frieza because he’s from the distant past.   He’s been hidden away in storage for so long that no one remembers him.    Same deal with Beerus literally sleeping through all of Dragon Ball and DBZ.    And guys like Jiren and Hit are from whole separate universes.   All Toriyama had to do was avoid introducing some ultra-powerful character who had been active during Frieza’s lifetime.     The only one that springs to mind if Cooler, although he admits in Movie 5 that Frieza had an edge over him throughout their rivalry.   

So I like Frieza for being that big milestone character.   Guys like Cell and Majin Buu wouldn’t work as well without a Frieza to set them up as extraordinary challengers.  

Why I don’t: The problem with Frieza is that his importance to the franchise has led to him becoming overrated.  He’s got this 70-episode run as the main villain, but he spends most of it sitting in that goofy chair and literally refusing to do anything, even while his soldiers keep messing up.   When he finally does take matters into his own hands, he holds back, apparently because he wants to torture his opponents as much as possible before finishing them.  

People give Goku a lot of shit for showing mercy to his enemies, but no one ever seems to notice how Frieza could have wiped out Goku a hundred times over and just... didn’t.    At least when Goku does it, you can say it’s because he’s too nice, but what’s Frieza’s excuse?  There’s a lot of big long chunks of the Frieza Saga where literally nothing happens because the good guys are too weak and Frieza’s in no particular hurry to end it.  

By contrast, you have villains like Buu, who really don’t waste time like that.    He started killing people and while he wasn’t in any particular hurry, he didn’t drag it out either.   In less than 48 hours, he destroyed the whole planet.   That’s service.   

I cannot stress enough how Cell is the superior villain compared to Frieza.  The only lull in his run was when he declared a truce to allow his enemies to prepare for the Cell Games, and they were free to attack him during that time if they wanted.    And there was a point to that.   Cell had no particular agenda, so he decided to arrange a rematch with the Earth’s fighters.  

But when Frieza wastes time, it’s for plot reasons.   He’s just really lazy and unmotivated, or maybe he’s just incompetent.    But the wider fandom sees this jackass and goes “RARRR BEST VILLIN 5EVAR!”  Nah, he sucks. 

Favorite episode (scene if movie):   For my money, the coolest thing Frieza did was when he came back as a cyborg.    He kept trying to declare victory in his fight with Goku on Namek, even after cutting himself in half, and then Namek explodes on him and he still won’t let it go.   His dad finds him and after a long convalescence he decides to go to Earth and fight Goku all over again.   

What makes it so awesome is that the cyborg parts are a silent testament to how monumentally stupid that idea is.   All this guy had going for him was his top spot on all the power level charts, and now he’s lost that and he has no idea how to get along without it.  

And this is why I hate the idea of bringing him back from the dead, because there’s nowhere left to take this character.    He lost on Namek, and Episode 119-120 was just his last-ditch effort to defy reality.    He doesn’t know how to survive in a world where he’s not the top dog, and he doesn’t survive, that’s the end of that story.    Bringing him back just repeats the lesson, only without the cool cyborg parts to remind us that this never works.

Favorite season/movie: I guess Frieza Saga by default.  It’s got some great moments in it, but it gets really thin in places. 

Favorite line: “Peace?  I... will... never... know peaaaace!”  Or words to that effect.   Whatever bluster he shouted at Goku when he tried to take that last shot at him before Namek exploded.

Favorite outfit: The cyborg look.

OTP: I guess he has the hots for Yamcha, so let’s go with that.

Brotp: Yeah, right.

Head Canon: Between the lore in the Bardock TV special and “Dragon Ball Minus”, I get the impression that Frieza is concerned with legends in general, not just the one about the Super Saiyan.    I say this because in “Father of Goku”, he sent Bardock’s crew to conquer Kanassa, and the only apparent reason for this was because of the rumors of their psychic abilities.   Frieza was likewise intrigued by the Namekian regeneration ability.    I think in at least one translation he expresses some envy of Nail’s power, implying that he would want to find some way to acquire it for himself. 

What I’m getting at is that Frieza’s so powerful that the only things he has to worry about are things that may not even exist.    The Kanassans were probably no threat to him, but he may have considered that they could be, so he wiped them out before it could come to that.   Or maybe his staff discovered a tale of the Kanassan planet being the source of their powers, so he decided he needed to control that planet before his enemies could use it against him.   

Same deal with the Saiyans.   in DB Minus, I got the impression that he’s got a whole team of researchers who check up on local folklore.   Maybe they do this everywhere he goes, and he uses this intel to decide which planets live or die.  

Unpopular opinion: Frieza’s main contribution to the Dragon Ball franchise was to provide useful genetic material for the creation of Cell, the true best villain.  

A wish:  Hit and Majin Buu kill his ass and Grand Zeno, Great Priest, and Shaggy Blanco all hold a press conference announcing that he’s dead forever and can never come back, no matter what.    He gets sent to the same turbo super hell they have in Supernatural.   

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen:  Please don’t do any team ups with old villains and have Cell take orders from Frieza.   That sucks and it shouldn’t happen.  

5 words to best describe them: Final form is a corpse.

My nickname for them: LOWARD FUREEZA.

[kevinstansanonymous]

DB Wedding Headcanons

So we were thinking up truly cursed stuff last night

Consider this: veils made out of intestines

Desert Bluffs is nasty like this, so everyone probably wears bloody clothes

Considering Kevin is head Horny Prophet, he probably has officiated weddings and all I’m saying is imagine your local city’s weird centipede priest man having to pronounce you wife and wife

“Imagine your wedding. Your wife walks up the aisle. She’s stunning. You are ready to devote your whole life to her. When she faces you, you want to kiss her already, but you go through the vows, read to you by a homophobe. At the end, when you can finally kiss her, you reach up and brush the intestines from her face to make out with her”

“A centipede crawls out of your wife’s ear and you just gotta deal with it because sometimes your wife’s town is a little weird but you can deal, it’s fine, gay rights you say as you see someone pick a bug off the ground and eat it in the audience”

Also considering this is DB, you can rest safe knowing that your wedding was blessed by the giant fucking centipede the town formed a cult around

Bloody wedding crocs are in high fashion and high demand

“You have sand in your shoes, sand in your hair, sand between your teeth and you don’t want to think about that one. But at least your wife looks stunning across from you......in her......wedding crocs.”

[sweetescapeartist]

DBS MANGA CHAPTER 66 REVIEW

[SPOILERS]

Alright! So here's how imma do this. There will be a 3 sections:

"Good"

"Bad"

"How I would've written it"

So here we go...!

"THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE REWRITE"

---

GOOD

When Vegeta tells everyone to get off the ground so Moro doesn't absorb their energy, 17 & 18 don't move. Smart attention to detail.

The way UI Goku effortlessly fights Moro is cool.

Earth-Moro was a fun idea & all his arms to fight Goku was interesting.

Interesting that Beerus was gonna join in. But smart how they were summoned by the Grand Priest so now mortals have to fend for themselves.

Whis effortlessly blocking Moro's attack with his finger was great. Good way to show off his power. Whis' confidence in Goku was nice.

So there is Otherworld/Heaven after a character dies & now we know that where the Grand Priest & 2 Zeno are is part of the Angel Realm. Good to know.

Vegeta using Forced Spirit Fusion was expected but still good.

Goku rushing at Moro & dodging & going through Moro's fists was a good visual.

Piccolo had a smart idea then the Z Warriors started giving Goku energy.

Loved seeing the Z Warriors working together. Roshi has been absent tho. Could it be he isn't strong enough to contribute? And some ppl were actually saying Roshi was the strongest Earthling. Smh.

Smart that Bulma & others were on Kami's Lookout. Moro can't drain their ki.

Goten & Trunks help out a little. At least they're involved a bit.

Vegeta sends the ki to Goku & it gave him enough energy to go SSB & push forwards. Looked cool. (It was just ki, not genki)

Goku's SSB is powered up & he inches closer. Makes sense because its just Goku getting an energy boost like he did in the BoG movie when SS Goku had power transfered to him before Piccolo pointed out it wasn't god ki.

Goku admits his mistake. So that's a good start.

The Z Warriors discussing what to do was great interaction. I'd like more of that.

Moro has lost his mind. Lucky he did or he could've absorbed the energy that was meant for Goku.

Krillin, out of all the characters, decided to go help Goku. He can't let his best friend die in such a way. & Gohan says he will help. Then Tien & Yamcha want to help too. Really good stuff.

Yamcha is sad he's never gotten married. He's a good dude that just wants a family. Some will see it as making fun of him but I liked it.

Uub having divine power can be smart (I hope). It could help make sense of the final 3 episodes of DBZ when DBS is taken into consideration. But that also means other characters like Piccolo, Krillin, & Yamcha could attain god ki too. No excuse not to level them up now.

Goku recieves the energy & creates a giant Goku body made of energy. Awesome idea and looked pretty darn cool.

Goku pops out and destroys Moro's crystal. Moro is destroyed.

Goku's son & Goku's best friend are ecstatic for him. Goku turns around & give a thumbs up. Chapter ends.

---

BAD

Vegeta say "Dammit, Kakarrot. You've managed to screw up again!" But Vegeta also failed to kill Moro because Vegeta wanted to gloat. Both have made dumb decisions & big mistakes this arc.

I'm confused if Beerus is being written as stronger than Goku or if Beerus has special techniques that gives him the advantage. Moro later stops UI Goku, so if UI Goku is stronger than Beerus, then Beerus would add nothing. Beerus having Hakai isn't special because manga Goku can use Hakai too.

Moro is absorbing energy from everyone in contact with the ground, so why are Krillin & Jaco on the ground? Why is Goku fighting on the ground? They can fly.

Why does Vegeta rush in & tell Goku to move just to punch the ground? Couldn't he punch the Earth from anywhere & have the same effect? Maybe the effect is stronger the closer he is? Idk

How does Vegeta know Moro's weakness if Whis didn't tell him? Just a question.

Goku's fist is about 7 feet away from Moro's crystal when he is captured by Moro. Why not shoot some sort of energy blast? Why not a Destructo Disk? Or a Spirit Sword like Vegito has & that Vegeta used in the manga ToP? It's like Goku forgot about using ki.

Goku says "Darn... Merus did it so why can't I? I guess I still don't have enough god power!" Is this implying Merus' power is still above Goku' UI power? Or is it's just saying Merus did it & now Goku is stronger than Merus, so why can't Goku defeat Moro.

UI powers down just like any other transformation. I get Moro is sucking his energy so it makes sense here. But what happens later adds to UI changing from state of mind to transformation.

Vegeta was written to learn Forced Spirit Fission just so that he could do what Goku has done. Sad that he's written to play catch up to Goku.

This is a criticism to Vegeta fans. Piccolo is the hero in helping Goku win against Moro. It was Piccolo's idea to give Goku energy. Vegeta was the middle man. If DB fans say Vegeta played a crucial role in defeating Moro, Piccolo contributed just as much. They won because of Piccolo's thinking, Vegeta's technique, everyone's energy, & Goku being the vessel.

If they're sending energy to Vegeta so he can give it to Goku, why are they still on the ground? Moro can steal their energy that way. Would it not be smarter to just gather energy in the sky?

Wait... Dende can gather energy from ppl too? So Dende has something similar to Forced Spirit Fission? It's cool I guess BUT that also means there is no excuse for Piccolo to not learn such abilities since he is a Namekian & has godly knowledge. Actually why doesn't Piccolo know those abilities? Kami would.

Sucks that this is the only appearance of Goten & Trunks contributing since BoG.

Doesn't make any sense how Goten & Trunks could not sense the energy of everyone fighting. They would know there was a battle going on. And if Moro is stealing energy from all the the ppl on the planet, wouldn't Goten & Trunks feel their energy being drained? The dialogue makes zero sense when we take into account what we know & have been told in DB.

Forced Spirit Fission was just a way to give Vegeta a "Goku moment." On Namek when Piccolo was about to die, Gohan transfered Piccolo energy to keep him alive. Goku gave Freeza energy that kept him alive and regain strength. In the first Broly movie, Piccolo, Gohan, Trunks, & Vegeta gave Goku energy to defeat Broly. In the BoG movie when they did the SSG ritual wrong the first time with only 5 Saiyans, they transfered their power to Goku. "Reverse" Forced Spirit Fission isn't truly necessary to give Goku energy.

Vegeta remembers the first time he saw a Spirit Bomb & copies Saiyan saga Krillin when Krillin threw the small Spirit Bomb at Vegeta.

Somehow Moro doesn't absorb the energy as you'd think he would. I guess he stopped absorbing energy now?

Goku is powered up again but still doesn't shoot an energy blast or beam at Moro's crystal.

Piccolo: "Why won't he use Ultra Instinct?" Vegeta: "Not 'wont'... he can't. Not even with ki from all of us!" Giving more power is not how Merus explained how UI works. Goku isn't in the the right state of mind to activate UI.

Dende is the new Kami of Earth so he is granted divine knowledge & abilities. But Piccolo having fused with Kami would mean he would have divine knowledge too. And yet no development for Piccolo. Missed opportunity for anime & manga.

Goku: "Sorry... guys... this is all... my fault..." Mostly your fault. Vegeta's at fault too.

Another non-criticism. Why not use the Earth Dragon Balls to freeze time on the planet but don't freeze time for the Z Warriors? I wonder if that could work.

Uub sent energy even though Vegeta wasn't using Forced Spirit Fission. That just shows that the ability wasn't necessary to send energy. But it would suck if Moro suddenly absorbed it before Goku. Got lucky there.

I don't understand how all the Grand Supreme Kai's power went to evil Buu & not good Buu when they split apart. Does that mean Kid Buu had god ki & Goku defeated a character with massive divine energy before Goku learned god ki? But the Grand Supreme Kai in good Buu's body was using divine energy to fight Moro earlier. Would it not make more sense that half the power went to Uub & the Grand Supreme Kai/good Buu had the other half? Then when together (like Kami & Piccolo) they were able to send the full amount of the great divine energy. That would make more sense.

Then Vegeta remembers watching Goku throw a Spirit Bomb & copies that. I mean... Anyone can grab hold of energy and throw it. This makes sense tho because only Vegeta & Goku know how to control divine energy, he only he is capable of throwing it. But Vegeta gathering energy like a knockoff Spirit Bomb is simply fanservice.

Moro could have absorbed the divine energy from Buu but didn't for plot reasons. It litterally hit his giant hands.

Okay... So either 1 of 2 things.

Goku regained UI from being hit with divine energy. And if divine energy was needed, wouldn't SSB Vegeta contribute enough? Isnt SSB Goku in a divine form? But the bigger question is this... Is it Ultra Instinct at this moment or is it a completely different form? We never saw UI like this so maybe it's something different.

UI is not written as state of mind anymore. It seems anyone can get it if they train their body & get injected with enough divine energy. You just need tons of god ki to attain UI. Which contradicts DBS CHAPTER 52 when Merus explained to Goku that Ultra Instinct activates when the user achieves self-control in the face of a jarring shock to their emotions. Now I guess Merus was wrong & its just "Get a buncha god ki & boom! You got UI."

Giant Goku looks cool but comes out of nowhere without explanation. It might be explained in a later chapter. But if not, it just came out of nowhere just to look cool without any explanation. Not a bad thing right now but could be bad or good depending on wether & how it gets explained.

Goku really wanted to punch that crystal, didn't he? I guess he did forget about ki blasts.

When Merus cracked Moro's crystals, Moro lost the power but didn't die. But when Goku punches the crystal, it kills Moro. Why did Moro not just lose the power & pop out from the Earth? Where did all of that angelic power inside the planet go to? If we get an explanation next chapter then great. If not then this criticism remains.

Not a criticism but too bad 17 & 18 didn't contribute. They were written out of this chapter.

---

HOW I WOULD'VE WRITTEN THE CHAPTER

Their energy is being drained by Moro so Vegeta tells everyone to fly off the ground. (17 & 18 stay since their energy cant be drained. Or at least thats how chapters before were written)

Moro keeps draining energy as Goku battles him. Goku flies off the ground so Moro can't absorb his energy.

Beerus decides to join the fight. He says he will finish it quickly. Krillin asks what is Beerus going to do. Beerus smirks & has a sweat drop. (Let's the reader wonder if Beerus is unsure of himself & just wants to help. Or maybe Beerus has power or a technique we don't know bout yet. Keep it mysterious)

Whis tells Beerus they are being summoned by the Grand Priest about Merus' erasure. Beerus panicks a bit.

Goku keeps getting pushed back & Whis chimes in to tell Goku how to defeat Moro as Whis blocks Moro's punch with 1 finger.

Before Beerus leaves he tells Krillin & Jaco that the Earth is their problem now. Beerus yells at Goku "I'm expecting a feast after my business is done. Y'hear me?!", showing he has confidence in Goku. Then Beerus & Whis leave.

Krillin tells Jaco that he might want to get somewhere safe to which Jaco agrees & flies to the Lookout.

Goku goes for the crystal but Moro grabs Goku & drains his power causing Goku to go back to his base form. Moro's crystal has disappeared & Goku thinks its too late. SSB Vegeta rushes in & destroys Moro's hands to release Goku. They fly up to the sky as Moro laughs & smiles at them in amuzement, confident of victory.

Vegeta asks "So... How do we defeat him, Kakarrot?" Goku informs him that they need to destroy the crystal to finish off Moro but... The crystal is deep inside the planet now.

Vegeta sweats & tell Goku that he will pull the crystal out. Then when its out, Goku destroys it. Vegeta dashes at Moro & dodges his giant hands.

Vegeta closes his eyes, uses the gigantification technique he learned & creates a giant semi-transparent version of himself with a monkey tail (Heck! Just make it an Oozaru projection because, why not?). He shoves his hands into the Earth & begins pulling Moro up by the neck.

Piccolo, Gohan, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha & Krillin meet up with Goku to help. Goku says he knows 1 sure fire way to defeat Moro & it's the Genki Dama. Piccolo says it might kill the ppl Moro already took energy from. Goku is silent for a moment. He doesn't know what to do next & they're running out of time.

Krillin tells Goku to recharge with their energy. Everyone agrees. Gohan says they need to give all they have just as Vegeta is doing right now. They form a circle around Goku & transfers energy to him. Piccolo telepathically tells Dende to have the Dragon Balls ready to save themselves if this plan fails. (17 & 18 are up there now). Jaco arrives & asks where is Buu so that he can go help Goku & the others. Bulma tells him Buu is sleeping in the ship (but the ship appears to be empty). Then Piccolo contacts Goten & Trunks (who are flying off the ground) and tells the boys to send energy for Goku.

Vegeta has pulled a giant Moro up from the earth. Moro's hands grab Vegeta and begin draining him of his energy. Vegeta sweats but remains calm and focused as he continues to use Forced Spirit Fission against Moro, weakening him & causing the crystal to slowly resurface on his forehead.

Vegeta suddenly gets hit with energy & gets a burst of strength. He looks in the direction of the energy & smiles "...Trunks." Trunks is giving all his energy to Vegeta in hopes of him staying strong.

Vegeta begins breaking Moro's arms off of him & uses everything he's got. The crystal is almost all the way out as Moro panics.

Goku is recharged. He closes his eyes, breathes & activates UI again. The Z Warriors express their confidence in Goku. Goku says "Guys... letting things get this far... It's my fault..." Then Goku looks at Krillin. "I acted selfishly when I took the senzu... Krillin, I'm..." Krillin responds "Worry about it later, Goku. Go finish that creep off!"

Goku & Krillin give each other dap. Then a giant amount of energy appears above the Z Warriors. They're astonished & surprised by how much energy is there.

Grand Supreme Kai is beside a confused Uub. Being the reincarnation of Buu, Uub has great potential but hasn't been taught how to use it yet. But together, Grand Supreme Kai is able to draw out the power from Buu's other half. With his divine energy & Uub's potential being pulled out & sent by Grand Supreme Kai, they send a great amount of energy to Goku.

Dende is excited and says "Grand Supreme Kai must be pulling out Uub's latent power, merging it with Majin Buu's magical energy & Grand Supreme Kai's own divine energy! And now that they're together, their great power is being used to help Goku!" (Kinda like how Kami & Piccolo achieved their true power once they fused again.)

Vegeta yells for Goku to finish him now. The crystal is fully out & Vegeta is running out of energy to keep two techniques going at once.

Goku absorbs the divine energy and is astonished by the great power. Then he grips his hand and makes a fist. He looks at everyone over his shoulder. He smiles, puts 2 fingers to his forehead & disappears.

Vegeta loses the gigantification form. Instantly Goku reappears between Vegeta & Moro's face. He punches with everything he's got to destroy the crystal, but an invisible shield is stopping Goku. Then Vegeta joins in beside Goku & uses Forced Spirit Fission to destroy the barrier as Goku pushes forwards to crush the crystal.

The crystal cracks. Whis smiles, knowing they pulled it off.

Vegeta & Goku go back down to their base forms after they punch through Moro's head & Moro breaks apart. The old goat man appears and looks badly damaged. Goku & Vegeta are exhausted & turn around ready to fight. Moro yells "I... I still have enough power to kill you where you stan-!" Then all the energy Moro stored in the Earth erupts & lava from the crater below him. He was killed by the power he stole. The falling debris covers the Z Warriors. They push the rubble away and rush to the giant crater where Goku & Vegeta are.

The Z Warriors surround them & shout "Yes!" "You did it!" "We won!"

Vegeta & Goku are back in their base forms. They are exhausted & sitting down. Both look back at their friends, Vegeta smirks while Goku smiles & gives a thumbs up.

CHAPTER END

Alternate version

Before Beerus leaves, he puts unknown ki in Krillin's hand and orders him to give it to Goku. When they power up Goku, Krillin delivers the energy from Beerus. (Reverse moment when Goku gave Krillin energy for the Spirit Bomb) Goku recieve the power in his hand. The fate of everyone is in Goku's fist. Goku flies at Moro, Moro grabs & stops Goku from moving, then Goku uses the unknown power gifted from Beerus. Goku turns into a dragon and bursts through Moro's crystal and wraps him up then completely destroys Moro. (So Beerus' godly technique that he gifted Goku was the Super Dragon Fist)

[sanoiro]

Lucifer 5x08 - Spoiler Alert - Spoilers & Speculation (Midseason Finale)

Warning! There is always the possibility that certain scenes might have been mixed up under their non-respective episodes.

Written By: Chris Rafferty

Directed By: Kevin Alejandro

Chris Rafferty has written/co-written the episodes:

1x09 - A Priest Walks into a Bar 2x06 - Monster 2x13 - A Good Day to Die 3x05 - Welcome Back, Charlotte Richards 3x07 - Off the Record 3x15 - High School Poppycock 4x04 - All About Eve 5x08 - Spoiler Alert

Cast: Tom Ellis as Lucifer, Lauren German as Chloe, DB Woodside as Amenadiel, Lesley-Ann Brandt as Maze, Kevin Alejandro as Dan, Scarlett Estevez as Trixie, Rachael Harris as Linda Martin and Aimee Garcia as Ella.

Season 5 Recurring Characters: None Officially Announced Guest Cast:

David Figlioli…Les Klumpsky

Behind The Scenes

The midseason finale…

In order to go through the S&S of the Midseason Finale, we will have in many points to go back to the rest of the S5P1 episodes, especially the 5x07, but also explore a part of 5x09 which up to this day remains untitled due to the spoiler it seems to give away.

This episode can be better explained as the action and effect pattern. Whatever you do in due time it will catch up with you and that seems to be the theme here. We are not talking just about consequences although there will be plenty however the fact that in this episode we will probably realize that Lucifer’s decisions brought him to this point and the same applies for Chloe’s existence in his life and perhaps her entity as well. But I get ahead of myself…

Okay so as you have noticed throughout the season we have several subplots going and most of them will give way to 5x08 which in turn will lead us to the second part of S5.

First, we need to talk about the bracelets. I have mentioned many times that 5x08 will provide a permanent solution to whatever is going on with them and active seekers of that solution seem to be mainly Amenadiel and Maze. That is because most probably little Charlie provides part of that solution. If I’m correct then Charlie exhibits something that aids Lucifer and Daniel to a point but the real answer lies on 5x04. Additionally do remember that Dan seemed to be able to battle the influence of Azrael’s blade so keep that to the back of your head as well.  

As promised to many I will not reveal nothing of the script but I’ll provide you with a prop that laid in plain sight yet only the people who knew what it was about could decode it. That will be mentioned at the end of the episode as it is also connected to 5x09 so be sure that the bracelet issue will be out of the picture in this episode but we have so many things to cover still.

Second, comes the Serial Killer who appears in the episodes 5x07 and 5x08. It is true that on Twitter we were informed that Chloe and an Officer are in a very small freshly painted room and they had to act distresses and shaken. (I contemplated on hiding the name but then I decided against it mainly because she has already tagged Lauren in her posts. I’m still a bit uneasy about this to be honest).

Many believe that Chloe gets kidnapped and that would be a good explanation yet as I have mentioned before do not expect her to die or at least to have a conventional ‘death’ believe the writers will not take that route. In this story we either get Lucifer to act impulsively and reclaim Chloe from death or in a very uncommon fashion we get that Chloe is more than a Miracle but do not go again to this poignant discussion she is an angel etc. Let’s speculate that Chloe is something more connected to Lucifer’s past and we will get how only at the end of 5x08 perhaps even in 5x09…

So enough with the small S&S of the two main subplots and let’s gate to what is happening during the episode!

Let’s talk locations something that I didn’t do in 5x07 because I wanted to focus more on the ones in 5x08.

- Precinct

- LUX

- WB lot house

- Bronson Caves

- Linda’s house

- Freshly painted room

In order to break down the locations we need to see who is working with whom in this episode.

First, let’s start with Amenadiel and Maze. For the past episodes they have come very close and in this episode, they once again aim to deliver. There is a dedication there a need to protect their newfound family. Charlie, Lucifer, Dan and of course the rest of the not so much affected parties from the multiple threats they face in S1P1.

We know that there is something like a fight breaking in at the precinct. A crowd gathers quickly I believe from the interrogation room to the main area. I believe it is mainly related to Chloe and the Officer being stuck in the small room (notice here she said room not cave) but that remains to be seen. 

Lucifer and Maze seem to be rather pissed at least Maze that is and leads to probably the photo where Lucifer is behind an officer (the actor is a friend of Kevin Alejandro) where Lucifer shows him something (a photo? a number? a location?) and threatens to have some results. You can see that Maze is at the left side of that photo.

Of course, the above scene might be happening somewhere else but my gut at the moment tells me that Lucifer has had enough and wants answers. I do not believe he ever recovered completely from 2x13 so that opens the proverbial can of worms…

If I’m correct about this then Lucifer is wearing blue at the beginning of the episode and then purple. The reason for that speculation is because in one of Lesley-Ann’s videos Ellis’ stunt wears a purple shirt while Lucifer when he demands answers from that officer/security he wears the dark blue so I guess that the purple shirt is what we will see at the second half of the episode. PS I love the silver cufflinks on the blue shirt arrangement. That is also supported by Ella’s t-shirt in the precinct and then the car meaning Lucifer and Maze go in the precinct and then he leaves with Ella. 

So perhaps that’s when Ella finds out? I’m not sure but it\s nice to suppose she does in 5x08. 

Btw Alejandro here reminds me so much of James Marsters aka Spike in Buffy :P 

Maybe today Satan... :D Rafferty was always a great tease... 

In this episode, we have also seen Lucifer with some bullet halls but his shirts in 5x08 do not seem to fully support that incident in that episode as he wears deep purple and midnight blue shirts. Of course, that scene might be happening early on the episode but I could be cautious here.

Now probably after the precinct scene, we had Amenadiel and Maze patterning up and of course Lucifer and Ella. Amenadiel and Maze seem to be again preoccupied with the bracelet mystery but also we have a scene where Maze is at Linda’s house with the same clothes and we also have Charlie in a beautiful onesie in light blue with moons and stars.

^The baby proofed ceiling... 

At the same time, Lucifer and Ella with his car pay a visit to a house at the suburbs which we know it’s at the lot and might or might not be connected to previous episodes of S5 yet I’m not certain about that one. In order for that to happen

Okay so! We know that at some point Lucifer and Maze end up at the Bronson caves. Now here is a not so secret secret. Lucifer this season has three stages and many sets are constructed in order for the cast to not leave the lot often and for the requests of the writers' room to be easier to be full field. Of course, that has happened before with the country bar that was constructed in 4x04, or the hospital in 3x16 where Lucifer gets Abel’s soul back from Hell but in S5 they are doing some spectacular things with the props. Actually, one of the parts of the cave has been built in the stages so Lesley-Ann’s photo at the cave is in reality at the stages not on location.

So we have Lucifer and Maze and also their stunts there (Well at least Lucifer’s that is). I do not know if the small room is supposed to be in the caves or somewhere completely different but for the most part of the episode our leads are trying to resolve the issue of the bracelet combined with Chloe and the Serial Killer.

You can see that on location they changed the arrangement of the rocks a bit adding some bigger rocks to look perhaps like a planetary system. Also in Lesley-Ann’s photo, you can see at the right some stairs. I wished it was part of the prohibition tunnel Lucifer claimed LUX to be full with but only time will tell if that is true or it’s simply part of the cave system of the Bronson Caves.

Notice the difference between the rocks that were placed from the production and down how the arrangement was a day before the shot on location. 

A small trivia here. The Bronson Caves is mainly known as the Batcave as it was used as the Batcave for the Batman series back in the 1960s. Originally a quarry it remained unused in the 10th century and use for series and films have earned it a spot as an L.A. landmark from the state f California.

Moving on!

The last acts of this episode will be interesting to see… We do have some unbelievable revelations and consequences in my opinion and in Lucifer series fashion we should be ready to perhaps welcome a hard to swallow, truth.

Lucifer in this season had an unparalleled growth. If you seek for Deckerstar romance I’m not sure we will get to have them in a relationship just yet and although that saddens me, in 5x09 it’s promised to finally move on towards that. Yes, they are in love and they appear to be also committed to each other but I do not think we have enough evidence to claim they are in a relationship but then again what happens in the stages between Ellis and Lauren as Lucifer and Chloe almost never gets out.

Concluding the 5x08 episode we should expect the following. Sure the serial will be killed or arrested with the probability laying on being killed but when have the writers ever played fair? I do not think that the officer who was with Chloe will make it either but here is into hoping! Usually, the reoccurring character that is mentioned or has few lines goes unsung into the light or fire…

We expect that Charlie will manifest an interesting side we were expecting since S4 but will become more prominent in S5 and even though it is expected it will probably catch us by surprise.

As I have said to expect Dan to be now aware of what is going on and who Lucifer actually is.

There is a young girl in the cast which I have no idea what her role is. Also, there is a small LUX scene in this episode for which we know next to nothing I’m afraid as it must be something really quick.

Another information is that there was a bts with a flying harness. The bts says for floating only and I’ll believe that but I cannot swear to you it will be used for Lucifer. Sometimes stunts are employed in different jobs or have different routines so although I’m positive about it I cannot guarantee it’s for our show. Plus, we know that there is a lot of CGI happening in this episode.

Now the last part I want to talk about before adding a small mention to 5x09. I have said many times that everything in this season is connected. When I saw that prop I wondered whether to not mention it or to do so with the minimal effect possible. So I did the second. I covered the extra spoilers around it and I left two things. Lucifer’s suit jacket and the engraved ankh on that prop. When the season drops you will get the whole thing but for now it.

Borrowing some lines from Wikipedia you will probably realize where this is going:

This sequence was found in several Egyptian words, including the words meaning "mirror", "floral bouquet", and "life". In art, the symbol often appeared as a physical object representing either life or substances such as air or water that are related to it. It was especially commonly held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife.

Early versions bear a resemblance to the tyet symbol, a sign that represented the concept of "protection". In many respects the tyet resembles an ankh, except that its arms curve down. Its meaning is also reminiscent of the ankh, as it is often translated to mean "welfare" or "life" it’s also a symbol that came to be connected with the goddess Isis. In some decorative friezes in temples, all three signs, or the ankh and was alone, were positioned above the hieroglyph for a basket that represented the word "all": "all life and power" or "all life, power, and stability”.

For the ones who fear I have gone too far, fear not. Even with the above the actual plot is still well concealed but two things are exposed.

1) Everything at some point backfires.

2) AGN might have been into something.

That’s, of course, a spoiler based speculation but the spoiler is still there. The supernatural aspect of S5 rearranges things and views on people, reals and even entities. When they ask me - no idea with what authority I can answer those question as I’m but a fan - whether one will live more or they will both die or even if they will grow old etc the reality lies on a very simple truth. 

Most fans envision of Deckerstar and the series finale is based to what we know not what S5 introduces us to. New episodes mean new information and new facts to take into consideration. Above all? Lucifer as a series is not a regular show that abides to human rules meaning time, life, death and procreation. It goes beyond that and that is why we can rarely speculate about where it leads us as that damn Lightbringer shines too bright for any of us to see clearly where that path leads us.

Finally, I would like to add an observation from 5x09 but without bts. In one bts we saw that Lauren had certain marks but none noticed the deathly pale make up. 5x09 does not support Chloe’s death as you know but Deckerstar moving forward with also a romantic scene on location at Grand Park of L.A. So why should we so worried about?

Nothing really aside from the fact that Chloe was probably wrong as was Lucifer. Past and Present seem to be merged and new realizations arise thus giving our leads an equal footing but the consequences have most probably hit Chloe at the beginning of 5x09 not in a bad way necessarily yet enough for the whole mess of Dan, Charlie, Lucifer and Chloe to bring forward God’s appearance in 5x10 for some answers to be finally given as new problems once again plague the main storyline of the series. Nothing drastic ever brings forward only good or evil. Sometimes it makes you Fall, sometimes it makes you Rise Sometimes both happen and sometimes, sometimes everything is reinstated to the preconceived era of everything.

Spoiler Alert indeed…

^That photo is placed chronologically at the time Lesley-Ann posted her stage ‘cave’photo. 

[ongoingaccident-deleted]

hi i want to hear about your characters!!! Anything about anyone whatever you want to tell!!! :)

ahhhhhhh (´•̥̥̥-•̥̥̥`)  arsy have i ever said how much i love you because it’s a Lot

i’m very sorry this has taken me so long it’s been a busy few days orz

got carried away so here’s the obligatory cut

okay so the first thing that comes to mind (cause it’s part of something i’m working on rn wink wink) is Evelyne and her brothers + sister would send each other coded letters (maybe coded is the wrong word, but they were at least to some degree not spelling out everything that happened) with information that the others could use to get a leg up in their job. they’d also help get rid of people (non-lethally! …at least mostly) who were threatening the others or obstructing the Empire in any way. it very quickly became well-known that you did not fuck with the Antonius family unless you wanted to probably end up in jail or socially ruined.

this is part of the reason that she fakes her own death when she leaves the Irregulars, cause she knows that if her siblings find out, they might understand her motives but definitely wouldn’t let her join up with the dominion and would also try to keep tabs on her which she doesn’t want at that point in time. they eventually reunite and have fun wholesome family time together again! :D so yeah they’re basically the fantasy mob. i actually like to think that imperial society is pretty cutthroat wrt people trying to vie for power, and they just have the advantage of having all five of them on a team.

aeliana (the oldest and i guess technically the matriarch of the family after their parents die) is actually one of the best of them at playing imperial politics, in large part because she seems very unassuming and a lot of people are willing to open up to her. she inevitably will betray their trust in the worst way, but most of the time she’s not the one taking advantage of the information so a lot of people don’t put two and two together. (and the ones that do are already ruined, so.) since i started writing this i decided i love her and made her in the pts. so. here’s she.

:D (relatedly, the pts letting me use every single dye and outfit style in the game is ahhhhh and also the red from scalebreaker is just… i love, going to learn vet dungeons just to get it)

two of her brothers (Augustine and Gaius) are in the military, and the third one (Junius) is a priest of the eight. between the five of them, they have a pretty good idea of what’s going on all over the empire (what’s left of it anyway) and are just. Power Siblings. the more i write about them the more excited i get!!! i like them and they’re starting to develop as characters and it makes me happy :D

okay and now for something completely different

aralyn is my altmer oblivion db assassin! she’s baby, and by that i mean she’s just as likely to stab you as she is to say hello. more likely, probably. i’ve touched on the her past but i’m gonna elaborate on it some more :) SO aralyn is the youngest of two daughters to a pair of worm cult parents. her older sister’s name is Elanoviel, and they’re very close for a long time. their parents never do anything to them specifically, but they’re both definitely some degree of afraid of them. and neither one of them has any idea how to like… interact with other people because they’ve only ever been around their parents who kill people and then perform experiments with

and then Ela disappears, and Ara has a really hard time with it because she’s now alone and her parents think she has some knowledge of what happened to Ela, but she doesn’t :( she stops speaking entirely, which frustrates them to no end and only furthers their belief that she’s hiding something. this goes on for a while, and she’s just kind of… breaking. eventually this leads to her stealing one of her parents’ knives when they’re distracted with a, uh, patient and killing both of them because she can’t stand the thought of being trapped alone with them any longer. she actually does break down after that and weeps until she falls asleep because she’s just… overcome with emotion.

lucien is the first person who isn’t either her family or a corpse that she ever meets, and she greets him by attempting to bite him and then, when that fails, claw his eyes out. she is both a. untrained and b. not particularly strong, so he has no issues pinning her until she calms down. she respects him for that b/c she respects strength even if she doesn’t quite like and/or trust him. he realizes that she might not be a good killer yet, but she is good at hiding and probably could be a good assassin with the right training.

so he sends her to kill rufioh and decides to train her some if she can manage the kill without being arrested because this is my canon and i am in charge of how it goes. she manages and he brings her back to the sanctuary, where she finds (gasp!) her sister, who a. knew how to read and b. found one of their parents books that mentioned something about the dark brotherhood coming for you if you killed an innocent. so she ran away, killed the first person she saw, and used the brotherhood to escape. ara is definitely bitter for a while, but they eventually become friends again. meanwhile, she’s become very fond of lucien, who she spends a decent amount of time with as he teaches her to be like… a person, which she’s never had the chance to do. so it’s kind of wholesome in between the indiscriminate murder. :)

asdghfj i got a little lot carried away but i hope you enjoyed and thank you for the ask and

[itsclydebitches]

Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z Dragon Ball Super. Which is your favorite?

Oh, anon. You poor soul. You’ve activated my current obsession. Okay. I preface this by saying that DBZ, imo, is the CLASSIC. Frieza, Cell, and Buu? Iconic. DBZ is what I think of as the core of the DB franchise and I adore it accordingly. That being said… I’m really, really loving Dragon Ball Super. 

(And I’m totally gonna tell you why because you made the mistake of starting this conversation in the first place :D)

I’m just? A sucker for lore filled with fallible gods?? This is my long-lived love of Greek mythology rearing its head. Even back in DBZ the Supreme Kai was instantly a favorite of mine. Yeah, yeah, the whole fandom rags on him for supposedly being “useless,” but that’s precisely why I love him? He starts out as this mysterious, incredibly powerful figure–powerful enough to scare the crap out of Piccolo–and then very quickly falls off that pedestal, making him relatable and humanized. Shin clearly has a shit ton of trauma from, you know, watching Buu kill and/or absorb his entire family. He’s been forced to take on a job meant for five and he definitely hasn’t been trained (or at least fully trained) for this particular position. He comes to Earth expecting to use mortals as a tool, as one would expect from a high-ranking god, and is just totally blindsided by how powerful they are. It’s an instant double-edged sword. On the one hand hell yeah defeating Buu just got a whole lot more likely. On the other hand, existential crisis much? Who am I–who are all the gods–if we’re not intrinsically more powerful, knowledgeable, or spiritually sturdier than the mortals we watch over? Goku, Vegeta, and especially Gohan upset the presumed hierarchy. It’s why we get such a good dichotomy between Shin and Kibito. Shin rolls with this new information and embraces it fully. Okay. Mortals are stronger than us in so many ways, how wonderful! We can learn from them and rely on them, forming equal partnerships to achieve our goals. Kibito is stuck in his assumptions. How dare you set foot on this world? How dare you think you can pull out the Z Sword? How dare you think yourself equal to a god? 

It’s a familiar theme for DB: humanizing the latest, all-powerful entity. And each new introduction becomes more extreme.

Kami was our original god… who got some awkward moments. Then King Kai is the top guy…who loves lame jokes and lets Goku tear up his sacred planet in the name of training. Then Shin, Supreme Kai of the whole damn universe… who is also an anxious bean Just Trying His Best. It’s a theme I love because it upholds humanity (or in this case Saiyans adopted by humanity) as beings of endless potential. DB is all about pushing past your limits, but that doesn’t just apply to physical power. It also ties into upending the status quo; showing those who think themselves arrogantly better–in this case the gods–that no, we all have worth here. When the chips fall it’s mortals who consistently manage what the gods cannot, reaching a point where, ki-wise at least, they’re indistinguishable from gods, raising the question of why they were ever above them in the first place. They’re not. We’re all on equal footing once those assumptions are acknowledged and done away with. Ancient Kais can like dirty magazines. Supreme Kais can have panic attacks. Destroyers can love pizza as much as the next, average anime watcher.

Indeed, we see in the Tournament of Power that these rules now apply to Goku in his god state. He might have reached incredible power that everyone else thought impossible… but that doesn’t make the rest of the cast “below” him. It’s only because of his friends–presumably “useless” friends like Krillin and Tien–that allow him to enter the tournament and get as far as he did. It’s his old mentors who he has far outpaced that remind him he still has much to learn and who help Goku tap into Ultra Instinct in the first place. It’s a simple android we haven’t seen in years who manages to win the whole damn thing. The story consistently applies that same message of equality and worth to everyone, including our original paragon who has now reached the status of the very beings he’s worked to outpace. Rather than turning Goku into the hypocrite, DB keeps reminding him that no amount of power is going to change his or anyone else’s worth. He’s still BFFs with Krillin. Still married to Chi-Chi. Still needs other “weak” people like Bulma to help him when things get tough. No time machine, money, or strategic smarts? Sorry, no win.

In short, Dragon Ball Super takes that fantastic message and dials it up to 11. Now suddenly we’ve got a scary Destroyer God… who is easily swayed by tasty Earth food and a good nap spot. Angels who are equally humanized in their humor and love of mortal creations. An omnipotent ruler who is recognizably child-like. It both makes Zeno lovable and downright terrifying. He’s human enough to form friendships and use his power inappropriately. Zeno has the capacity to fall in love with a simple handshake as well as destroy an entire universe with the same detachment that we might, say, walk through an ant hill. Why did I do it? Because I could and no one has taught me yet that this might be something I shouldn’t do. Everyone has the capacity for growth.

And it’s so goddamn funny? Literally this scene is everything to me because it slams godly assumptions together with simplistic, mortal friendships, then lets that contrast play out. The most powerful being ever, creator of it all, the god that makes every other god shake in their boots wants… a friend? Okay! Our equally intimidating Grand Priest cracking up at this development? Whis losing his shit in the background? Shin straight up fainting? Goku pressing his shiny new god button because who DOESN’T press a button when you’re suddenly presented with one? All of it slays me. Forget stories where you endlessly bow before your supposed betters, knowing that you will never be able to even fathom their power. I want more stories like this, where the hero introduces enough kindness and brazen communication that it upends everyones’ expectations and fun, crazy new relationships form. Goku moved from utter shock at learning the Supreme Kai even existed to hoisting him over his shoulder like a drunk friend who is still refusing to head home. I love this weird-ass family.

All of which of course introduces the opposite as well. What if we’re given Zamasu, a fallible god whose imperfections don’t result in him becoming another quirky family member, but lead him down a path that endangers the entire multiverse? Though Super hasn’t commented on it explicitly yet, we’re also starting to toy with the idea of exactly how “human” the top gods are and how much growth they are capable of. For example, I’m fascinated by the Grand Priest. The anime makes him out to be far darker than he is in the manga, and I know there’s a disconnect between the two, so I’m not currently inclined to think that he’s the end Big Bad. Rather, he seems to actually have a stronger moral sense than Zeno–he comments on how awful it is that mortals riot and kill one another after learning about the Tournament–but as Zeno’s subordinate, and being well aware of how easy it can be to displease him, he’s not in a good position to sway him. We see him introducing tiny bits of logic to the Zenos (like stopping the fight between Goku and Toppo in the anime), but that’s a far safer thing to suggest then, say, “How about we don’t erase a ton of universes at once, hmm?”

Like his angel children, the Grand Priest ultimately exists to serve his Lord… but Goku and his friends are in no such position. Not as overtly, anyway. Created through evolution and developing their own ideals, they have the freedom to challenge and ultimately teach all those high-level gods, including Zeno. He says it himself in that clip: “No one will try. You can do what no one else can do!” Goku, both as a mortal and a very straight forward one, has the capacity to charge past those expectations and hit on something grand.

However, we see with Whis that, wow… maybe angels really are so far removed from us that they don’t care in any meaningful way. Whis seems like a friend, but when push came to shove he wasn’t very upset about his entire universe–and a Destroyer he’s known for who knows how many thousands of years–getting destroyed. We can attribute this apathy to him assuming it will all turn out alright (if anyone would realize that whoever wins can just use their wish to revert everything back to normal, it’s Whis), but even if he actually doesn’t care much right now… he’s learning too. Whis went from shrugging about Beerus destroying the Earth (at least he has his leftovers!) to telling Trunks and Mai how to break more time rules–rules Whis originally thought were more important than anything else–just so they could get a happy ending. We’ve seen him form a legitimate friendship with Bulma. He does little things like waving a Universe 7 flag and having them hold hands that demonstrate care, outside of practicalities (like delivering Bulla so Vegeta can fight). He seems more invested in challenging the status quo than his brother and even his brother, notably, slips up and uses “Father” instead of “Grand Priest,” demonstrating a certain level of familial love that can sometimes override pure duty.

Vados copies Whis and sits with the Universe 7 team, shrugging off the other gods’ disgust. Whis then shows legit pride in Goku managing Ultra Instinct. It’s GREAT watching these beings move from seeing mortals as inconsequential specs in the multiverse to individuals worthy of their time, attention, and respect. We’re seeing that development with Whis most of all, slowly but surely.

And it helps that our protagonist is really worthy of that respect this arc. Beyond his innate capacity for kindness, Goku is wonderfully smart in Super. I myself have mentioned that being naive and battle obsessed to the point of endangering others is kind of his thing, but Super hits a wonderful middle ground. Goku is the one who thinks to use the future Zeno to destroy Zamasu. He figures out a good portion of Zamasu’s plan. He thought up the idea of using dead warriors in the Tournament of Power and instantly has a way of negating the danger Frieza would pose: let’s use Baba so he can only come back for 24 hours. The anime (strangely…) emphasizes how the Tournament is supposedly Goku’s fault, but Vados reminds everyone that Zeno planned to erase the universes regardless. Though he didn’t intend the outcome, Goku’s suggestion of a tournament gave all universes a fighting chance. Much more importantly, it introduced the reward that would ultimately save them all. Goku’s got a good head on his shoulders this time around and the story emphasizes that it’s his capacity to care that saves far more than his brute power. Sparing enemies leads to them turning over a new leaf. Cultivating a diverse family results in a team with the strength and strategy to win. The ability to look at anyone–even Zeno–and smile as you shake their hand results in allies who can save the day when your own strength fails. IT’S ABOUT LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP AND I’M A WEAK GOODY-GOODY.

I just… fucking love DBS. It takes all of the best underdog themes of the DB franchise–Can a low-class warrior become the best? Can a normal human woman gain the love of a prince? Can mortals ever stand side-by-side with gods?–and homes in on those questions, emphasizing them to an almost meta extent. I could give you another hundred reasons of exactly how much I’ve enjoyed these new stories… but I should stop now lol

Last note though Ultra Instinct is AWESOME

[imjustheretosharelinks]

Dragon Ball Super is only good due to nostalgia.

The anime has way to many issues to just ignore them all. Even though I’m glad 17 is alive. How did Grand Priest not know? Why did all of U7, U11 and all the God’s act as if Frieza has been eliminated. It’s one thing to think 17 was dead. but how am I expected to believe that in tournament where there’s seconds left they just forget U7 is about to win by numbers. Belmod was talking all that shit, it just makes Jiren look stupid asf.

Which leads me to how badly this arc was executed. Had Jiren not of stood around or meditated for 40 minutes he could of knocked them off. Especially Frieza there was no reason he shouldn’t of knocked him off when their were only 2 minutes left. They wasted months on fodder fighters challenging U7 instead of like the manga where EVERYONE is fighting for survival. Shit was so garbage. This arc took up half of Supers entire run and they still couldn’t get the shit right.

Which leads me to the writing. Goku gaining stamina while fighting makes no fucking sense. People will make up excuse and say he was suppressed yet went blue even on fodder. Nigga if you ain’t got stamina why the fuck you using SSB to fight trash. They made every single transformation look weak asf. SSB is supposed to be God Tier.

Which brings me to how mastered ultra instinct could have been so much better had it not been another fucking color swap. Just like SSG and Blue just were in the same series. If you gone give Goku all these forms at least put more effort at this point. And how the fuck is MASTERED ultra instinct not mastered.

They also put out trash animation from day one then had the nerve to recycle the shit. They really ruined every opportunity with thier execution. The manga is better. Goodbye DBS.

[tigerlover16-uk]

So, what do you think is going to happen in the next few chapters of the DBS manga?

God only knows at this point.

Like, we know Toriyama’s draft outlined the order in which the universe 7 characters were going to go out and the “Major events” of the story, whatever that accounts for. 

As of the latest chapter, universe 9 is erased and Krillin, Frost and Tien are already eliminated, along with a bunch of other minor characters including fan favourite Katopesla.

So, if we assume that the manga will follow a similar direction until at least the halfway point of the tournament, I think the next few major events to take place will include Kale going berserk, the last stand of universe 10, Roshi’s elimination, the first fight between Goku and Jiren and Goku going incomplete Ultra Instinct, and then Jiren vs Hit.

Depending on how things go, Toyotaro could theoretically have all that take place in 5 or 6 chapters. One or two chapters of Kale hulking out, really it depends on whether Toyotaro wants to include a fight with Khaseral’s squadron of Pride Troopers, he could just have Kale and Caulifla disappear after Kale gets knocked out until later on in the tournament.

Then I assume we’ll get a chapter involving the last fight with universe 10, for all I know Toyotaro might have Roshi get eliminated here. If the character’s lucky Toyotaro might do a chapter dedicated to Roshi fighting Ganos and some other characters, but considering his shafting of Krillin, Tien and several other characters who were more prominent in the anime, I don’t expect a lot.

We could have two chapters of Goku fighting Jiren, both being similar to how things went down in the anime and then a chapter with Jiren fighting Hit. Or, who knows, Toyotaro might forego the first fight between Goku and Jiren completely and have Goku first tap into Ultra Instinct a different way.

I would be surprised if Ribrianne got to do much of anything in the first half of the tournament, I kind of get the feeling Toyotaro’s not going to do much with her until the chapter where she fights Android 18. 

Heck, I kind of expect Toyotaro to have universe 2 eliminated as a result of her defeat and not have Zirloin’s trio be the last one’s standing. Both because Toyotaro seems dedicated to getting all of the minor characters out of the arena as fast as possible with absolutely zero fanfare, and also given how he refuses to do anything with Goku and Gohan together I doubt we’ll see the double Kamehameha where Gohan and Goku simultaneously take down the last fighters of universes 6 and 2. Nah, he’ll probably just keep the focus on Gohan working with Piccolo, his “Real” dad. (Grumbles).

Of course, who even knows if any of this will play out like I expect. For all I know, Toyotaro could just have everyone from universe 10 plus all the pride Troopers that aren’t Jiren, Dyspo and Toppo get eliminated in the crossfire of Kale attacking everything in the next chapter and have the Grand Priest go “Oh, hey look, universe 10′s fighters are all out. Bye bye time!” And they get erased as an afterthought. Frankly, after this latest chapter it wouldn’t even surprise me.

Also, expect Kefla to not be a thing as Toyotaro’s effort to pander to the power scalers and people who think lore is the only important thing that matters in dragon ball, and to have both Kale and Caulifla get shafted and put on a much less impressive showing than the anime, because as his handling of Bulma and Future Mai demonstrates, Toyotaro can not write proactive and competent female characters. Or he’d just rather have them be extras while he focuses on shilling Vegeta.

Then again, Toriyama said recently that we can expect to see some things play out differently in the manga than they did in the anime, so everything from here on out could be a wildly different story. All I can say for sure is that’s it’s bound to be just as rushed as the build up to the tournament in this version.

I apologise if I’m being overly cynical and whiny here, I don’t like to be and I’m usually one of the most forgiving and optimistic people when it comes to the Super anime. I WANT to like the manga and I want to believe Toyotaro can improve and do a great job, he’s the guy tasked with writing the officially licensed manga adaption of DBS and he’ll probably work on more Dragon Ball stories in the future, he designed some of the characters for this saga after all.

I want to have faith in Toyotaro and see him put out a good product. But honestly, I’ve been burned by his writing too many times.

I feel more forgiving to the anime writers and animators for their occasionally shaky output because they’re trying to cope with a rushed production that hasn’t fully stabilised due to Super being a weekly series that rarely takes breaks, and they’re working with a vague manuscript that they have to struggle to form into a cohesive and satisfying narrative while balancing a lot of characters and elements. And clearly having different priorities from Toriyama, and in some cases each other. And despite the various things working against them, they still usually put out a product that’s at least mostly enjoyable and feels like they were trying.

Toyotaro has the benefit of his manga being a monthly output, and being well behind the anime at this point so he can see how they did things, what worked and didn’t and naturally would have more time to plan out how he was going to handle this current saga, or at least revise his ideas after seeing how Toei handled things. And yet the manga version of this saga feels so ridiculously rushed and lazy at this point.

I feel like a nag for complaining as much as I do, but it’s only because I do care and I feel disappointed that Toyotaro’s not only not improving at a reasonable level, but he keeps coming out with more stupid stuff and chapters that feel more like a breezy check list of plot points with some action bits sprinkled in more than anything. And it sincerely weirds me out how there are still people insisting that his handling of this saga has been significantly better than the anime.

[prismatranslates-cue]

Aya [Forever Friends] Part 2

Previously: Part 1.

Manager: Thank you all for gathering here at such a busy time.

Aya: Manager...what’s going on here?

Manager: To get your face muscles warmed up, we’re gonna get you smiling and laughing.

Aya: Get me smiling and laughing?

Manager: To that end, I’ve recruited these five who think they’re up to the challenge.

Maika: How do you do! I’m Maika, a variety act!

Shiho: An envoy of unscrupulous laughter, I am Shiho.

Yuzuha: An international, perfect comedienne, it’s Yuzuha!

Rio: Yay! Like a carnival full of excitement, it’s me, Rio~!

Miharu: I’m Miharu...and I'm starting to feel a little out of place here...

Manager: Thank you for coming, everyone.

Aya: Why these five?

Manager: They’re the only people I could get a hold of, since it’s right before the live and all...

Maika: No need to worry. I’m more than enough on my own. We won’t need anyone else.

Manager: You’re rather confident.

Maika: Leave it to me. I’ll have Aya-san roaring with laughter. Rolling on the floor with tears running down her face and everything.

Manager: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now...

Maika: I’ve prepared a party joke for Aya-san today.

Manager: A party joke?

Maika: That’s right. A cheeky little party joke! For people with a little more grown-up sense of humour.

Aya: Well then, let’s hear it.

Maika: A man said to his friend, “I’m about to have a baby.”

Maika: His friend says, “Congratulations!” But then, the man’s face grows dark.

Maika: “What’s the matter?” “The thing is, there’s a bit of a problem.” “A problem?” “Yeah...”

Maika: “I haven’t told my wife yet.”

Aya: ...

Maika: Huh?

Manager: Got anything else?

Maika: Nope. I was sure that was gonna be a one-hit KO.

Manager: Then, thank you very much... Next up, Shiho.

Shiho: Right.

Maika: She’s a tougher nut to crack than I thought, hey.

Maika steps off.

Shiho: I think this should get you laughing...

Aya: What do you have in store, Shiho?

Shiho: This is a true story, about a funeral I was at the other day.

Manager: A true story, huh...

Shiho: There was a transfer student from a small country in Africa, and it was their first time attending a funeral here in Japan.

Manager: Sounds interesting.

Shiho: So that fellow didn’t know how to burn the incense for the offering. So they thought, why not watch the person in front and see how they do it. [1]

Shiho: However, that fellow couldn’t see much over the person’s back. So when it was their turn, they still didn’t really know what to do.

Manager: So what happened?

Shiho: So they did what they thought they saw the other person do...and put the incense in their mouth.

Manager: Ehh?!

Shiho: And then they choked and coughed out the ashes. The ashes landed right on the back of the monk’s head while he was chanting the sutra.

Manager: Wow!

Aya: ...

Manager: But no reaction from Aya...

Shiho: And then...

Manager: There’s more?

Shiho: The ashes on the priest’s head, they happened to land...in the shape of Africa.

Manager: ...

Aya: You just made that part up, right?

Shiho: Yeah...

Manager: Eh, it was a lie?

Aya: Of course it was.

Shiho: It was worth a shot.

Manager: Thank you. Okay, next.

Shiho steps off, and Yuzuha steps up.

Yuzuha: My turn. I’ve got a special technique planned.

Manager: A special technique?

Yuzuha: I call it... Thunder! Lightning! Tempest Technique!

Aya: Those are all the same thing.

Yuzuha: Prepare yourself, heeheehee~.

Manager: Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got.

Yuzuha comes in close.

Yuzuha: Tickle tickle tickle tickle!

Aya: Uh...

Yuzuha: Huh?

Manager: Your technique was...tickling...?

Yuzuha: Yeah. If it were me, it’d definitely have me laughing.

Rio comes in.

Rio: Tickle tickle tickle tickle!

Yuzuha: Ahahahahahahahaha!

Manager: Huh, so it does.

Yuzuha: Right? This is weird~.

Rio: Because she’s not a child. That kind of thing won’t work.

Yuzuha steps off.

Manager: You seem confident, Rio-san.

Rio: Of course! I’ll show you humour befitting a mature adult!

Aya: Okay then, please go ahead.

Rio: Give me a second. Just gotta do a bit of setup...

Rio steps closer.

Manager: Rio-san’s putting a banana peel on the floor...

Rio: Okay, all set!

Rio slides back over to the right.

Manager: And now she’s taking a running start...

Manager: Don’t tell me...

Rio runs back over and falls.

Rio: Oww~! Who left this banana peel here?!

Aya: Uh...

Rio gets up.

Rio: No reaction!

Manager: Isn’t that a little cliche...?

Rio: I put my body on the line here, so the least you could do is laugh!

Manager: Please don’t extort the girl.

Aya: If it actually happened naturally I’d probably laugh but...

Manager: When it’s so clearly and painfully staged like that...

Rio steps off, and Miharu steps up.

Miharu: Well then, that leaves me.

Manager: I wonder what Miharu’s got in store for us...?

Aya: I’m counting on you...

To be continued...in Part 3.

[1]: Here's a video to give you an idea of what the incense offering looks like, if you're interested. The thing to note is that the incense is loose particles here, not the incense sticks you might see more often. At the funeral, the guests all do this offering while the monk chants a sutra.