#but if you ever watch reboot with me i will love you forever. one of my dearest shows and very crucial to who i became as a person

[lathrine]

when i say hexadecimal would be a smash hit with the queer crowd, this is what im talking about

[nereisi]

You want a non-cliché male (shounen) protagonist? I got it!

Something that I literally can’t get out of my head recently is how I constantly see discourse about the staleness of male MCs - especially shounen manga protagonists - always so ready and accepting of being the Chosen One. Always so ready to discard their “mundane” life and embark on some dangerous mission. Outspoken, fiery and with unbeatable charisma.

And while we are beginning to see (minimal) change with recent books/manga, do you know who was literally the antithesis of this a lot of years ago?

Tsuna.

Tsuna who was literally the last choice for everything, whose nickname was Loser-Tsuna, constantly bullied and harassed and whom nobody thought he would ever amount to anything. 0 friends, 0 abilities, 0 accomplishments. 

And when some guy to tell him “You can become the head of a mafia family. You’re gonna be respected, sought after.”, when Reborn serves him POWER on a silver platter... Tsuna says “oh hell no, fOck all that”, turns tail and RUNS. 

He won’t manage to escape forever, but that’s beside the point. Tsuna is a coward, a plain nobody, so boringly normal that in any other anime he would be for sure one of the background filler characters. He isn’t cut to be a protagonist. He’s wimpy, weak and whiny, sometimes to the point of being annoying ever for me - and I love KHR.

But what fascinates me is this. A character so weak and bullied, usually would be elated to have that much power offered to him. I knew that he was the protagonist, so the first time I watched the series I was expecting him to accept the power and better himself, become a different person, a hero. (Or, if he was in another manga, a villain.) 

Instead, not only Tsuna refuses - again and again, until the very end - to become who he was destined to be, who everyone around him wants him to be; but the only time he uses the power he was gifted with is strictly to protect himself, his friends and family. And then he quickly steps away immediately after, like when you move a scalding pot without mittens. 

His guardians have become... his guardians, in order, because: 1) he saved his life, so he thinks he’s cool 2) mostly head empty, only vibes (also he saved his life) 3) a literal child bribed with candy 4) somebody else asked him and he just went with the flow 5) one crumb of kindness got them hooked (actually 2 psycopaths in one body and it’s not a metaphor) 6) doesn’t give a shit as long as you give him a good fight. 

Sure, at some point they all recognize his strenght, but apart from Gokudera’s blind idolization, for everybody Tsuna is just A Guy. He might be their “boss”, and they might come to respect him, but he gets treated nothing like a cliché male MC. 

It’s really a shame that Katekyo Hitman Reborn, as a series, was managed badly as it did. Even though it’s one of my favorite shows, it’s weakened by a lot of factors... but an uninteresting MC? It ain’t one!

I smell a reboot in the air. I really hope they will to the series justice.

[about-faces]

Hi, I want to read some DC comics about how Harvey transformed from former DA to the criminal mastermind who ruled half of Gotham's Underworld (against the Penguin). I've already read/seen: Two-Face: A Celebration of 75 Years Batman: The Long Halloween Batman: Dark Victory (1999) Batman '89 Batman: The Animated Series Batman: The Audio Adventures

Any other reading recommendations? Thanks a lot for your help. :)

So you're looking for origin stories, or at least ones that shed more light on Two-Face's origin? Well first off, I'm glad you read the 75th Anniversary collection, because that has three of my very favorites: the original Harvey Kent trilogy from 1942-43, the Grace Dent story from Secret Origins Special (1989), and "Eye of the Beholder" from Batman Annual #14 (1990).

Besides those, and the ones you've listed, here are a few others to check out. Some are great, some are mixed bags, and some are downright lousy.

First and foremost, I STRONGLY recommend the 1989 Batman newspaper comic strip, which I loved so much that I posted the whole two-year saga on its own tumblr account. You can start from the very beginning right here, but keep in mind that Harvey's storyline--which runs all the way to the very last strip--doesn't really start until the second arc.

Next, Batman: Dual to the Death by Geary Gravel is a YA novelization of the BTAS origin, seamlessly combined with the two-part Batgirl origin episodes. It improves on both the animated versions in small but crucial ways, and it's highly recommended for BTAS fans. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to find.

On a similar note, Peter David's movie novelization of Batman Forever can be found more easily, either in used book form or on the Internet Archive, and it's absolutely worth reading. I love the movie of Batman Forever, but it's objectively a terrible take on Harvey. The novelization adds SO MUCH, including an original prequel scene with D.A. Harvey Dent, and his ending is far more satisfying.

Cartoon Network's CGI animated series Beware the Batman (2013) also features a series-long origin arc for Harvey Dent, but it's one of the worst takes I've ever seen on the character. He's a petty, selfish, ambitious little prick, an absolute scumbag, completely devoid of depth or tragedy. Thankfully, few have seen this arc, since the majority of Harvey's episodes were never aired after the series was cancelled, but they're all available to watch for those morbidly curious to see just how badly someone can screw up Harvey as a character.

"The Big Burn" from Batman and Robin, vol 2 #24-28 (2014), also collected in B&R volume 5. After the huge DC reboot, this was Harvey new origin, which tried some very different things with him. A VERY mixed bag, but one that ended in a hugely exciting way that makes the whole thing worth reading. Follow it up with its sequel, "Ugly Heart," from Detective Comics #1020-1024, collected in Detective Comics Vol 5: Joker War.

Finally, watch the entirety of the recently-released/cancelled CW series Gotham Knights, with Misha Collins performing a surprisingly rich, interesting, and flawed Harvey Dent origin arc. The show got a lot of shit, some of it undeserved, but Collins' Harvey was an intriguing surprise, and I fear nothing we see from Harvey in any Reevesverse media will bring half as much care and interest to Harvey as GK did, for better or worse. All 13 episodes can be watched for free on CW Seed, region permitting.

EDIT: Oh right also the Telltale Batman video game! I haven't actually played that yet because I know enough about what happens and the illusion of meaningful choice indicative of Telltale games that I just don't feel like putting myself through that. People seem to like it a lot, though! I just... don't put me in a position of choosing to save either Harvey or Selina if you're just going to cheat and have him go evil anyway.

[brookiidookiii]

what are your favorite and least favorite ships? 👀

Oh boy do I have a lot of opinions

- tbh I like a lot of Jo ships. Jock joeather jomaria,, ngl lately I’ve been in a joeather mood. Her x any girl is always a classic. The only guy I can ship her with is brick really 😭 I think they have really good chemistry. And I am a sucker for rivalries + it’s been a childhood OTP. I low key thought they were gonna end up together when I first watched s4.

Now I could write essays on joeather forever. Their rivalry could’ve been something great but the writers were awful. I think Jo should kiss her enemies

- yeah sorry I’m a duncney enjoyer and I do not care how toxic they were. Adds flavor. Heathney is excellent too. Courtney just needs someone who will enable her bad behavior (also sorry I prefer heathney over gwourtney). The TikTok fandom is really annoying about duncney tho because I’ll see videos about how “why does no one ever talk about how toxic duncney is :(“ while all the tumblr fandom does is talk about how they can make them worse lmaooo

- samkota is my favorite canon couple

- MKulia duhhhh I’ve been a shipper since I watched the reboot, which I started watching probably a month before s2 got released. Toxic yuri

- Chemma in the sense that it’s ironic and I can just make memes about them I don’t actually like them

- gwoey ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

- Trent x Lindsay is a secret rarepair of mine. They can be cute

- SKYELLLAA as much as I love toxic yuri I love wholesome stuff too. I think they are neat

- sanders x MacArthur. Idek how to explain what kind of relationship they’d have but I think they are both butch lesbians. MacArthur you are my lord and savior

Okay least favorites let’s go. Also heads up I don’t really care for any of the m/m ships 😭 mostly because I don’t care for many of the male characters lol

- zoke. They didn’t even do anything wrong like I LIKE them but they’re just so boring and unentertaining that what’s even the point yk. And when Zoey got superpowers after Mike left. Stop. Secondhand embarrassment. Like in s4 they were obnoxious at best but in all stars that made me truly pray on their downfall. I like fanon zoke.

In my mind they had a sweet romance that lasted a few years until they got a bigger divorce and left on good terms

- any and all Noah ships sorryyyy he’s overrated and I don’t like Noah at all. I don’t get the hype around alenoah it’s not that good. Everytime someone calls MKulia yuri alenoah an evil politician gets another year added to their life. I don’t like you. Like I get why people like noco. Just pure fluff, which isn’t for me, and they did have that ear kiss which was something, but I still hate it

I saw someone say alenoah was basically just aleheather without heather and yeah. Everytime I see someone list out the reasons Alejandro would be into Noah it’s just the same reasons Alejandro’s into heather.

Also MKulia is more like joeather anyway but whateva,,

- I don’t even make that many sexuality headcanons bc I guess I just don’t think about it but I can tell you who’s straight. Damien is straight. He is the most heterosexual person the series has ever made. I don’t think he should be shipped to with men. Also Wayne is straight

- sugella because as much as I love toxic yuri, that doesn’t even sound like fun toxicity just misery. It’s not for me 😭 I still stan sugar tho

- ripaxel. I tried to like it SORRRYYYY ripper is annoying and he needs the death penalty. Everytime they’re compared to jock I lose a year off my life. Ripaxel is what jock haters think jock shippers like. You are all wrong.

Axel is my queen and lord and savior. It’s okay babygirl we can ride off into the sunset together

- prileb. Why did it exist. I hate this. But seeing priya in love was pretty cute I gotta admit

- gwuncan. Self explanatory

- Scottney cause wtf 😭😭😭 once again I like them in the sense that I can make memes about it but bro SCOTT???? Courtney you can do better than that thing. Scott has skidmarks

- fanon brott 💀💀💀 I don’t like fanon brick in general. Y’all do him dirty. Ong Scott would not let brick use him as his Barbie doll for clothes. Scott would make fun of brick for liking fashion. Do you know nothing about Scott? Saw someone once say that they would watch legally blonde together HELL NO.

Also I really really hate that when I go out looking for jomaria fanfics, they’re only ever tagged as side couples in brott fics. Are you kidding me.

- bro the malejandro fanfics 😭 who is writing these things. Some of those titles make me lose it. I think we all should stop acknowledging mal and all stars existences

- gwody. Once again that big ass chin motherfucker doesn’t deserve Gwen.

- Jo x any other guy. Sorry. She doesn’t deserve any of those fuckers. Jock is the exception because at least he’d treat her right but even then he’s just a guy

- I don’t like Scott x anyone in general. Even Dott I’m hesitant because it would never work out and that’s what makes it soooo fun to explore because in the end she always ends up killing him

bruh most of these yaoi ships piss me off idk I don’t get the appeal for any of them. But I draw whatever people ask from me idrc it’s not a big deal LOLLL

Also this fandom is so goddamn cringe for calling straight couples yuri/yaoi. YOU LOOK EMBARRASSING OKAY

There’s a lot more couples I dislike than like tbh. I don’t think this fandom or its opinions sorry guys

[freuleinanna]

Halloween Ends proudly takes place as the shittiest franchise finale prolly ever made 🥰🥰🥰🥰 the whole thing looked like a self-insert fanfiction from that corey bitch as he jumps the plot out of nowhere and writes himself the cheesiest "misunderstood white boy with trauma" arc and a love story just as dumb, featuring tropes like "you are I are outcasts and therefore must be together forever" and "I've known you for exactly 5 minutes but you are the only one who understands me, now let's ditch this shithole together".

the film can't decide what it wants the plot to be. the writers all but finger us with the idea of evil being an infection, and then oops, it's not, it's a catalyst for the evil already inside. which is also weird but ok. I thought Halloween Kills was bad, but they actually went for the urban legend vibe that time, and it was actually interesting. I liked the idea of Michael being tied to the town and ultimately existing because of people's fear of him. I'm not sure I liked the idea of Michael being instead a fucking covid prototype and spreading evil (tm).

I certainly didn't fucking like the idea of Laurie and Michael doing their final stand off by a fucking chance? listen, it's THEIR story. you can explore the nature of evil in your spare screen time, but a generic basic no-name bitch corey had no place in the story. it did not perpetuate the plot, it did not explain Michael, it did not explore the possibilities of evil. it was fucking useless.

I guess I'm bitter, because the whole point of reboot was to finish the story of Laurie and Michael. The tremble I got from the trailer where Laurie unlocks the door on a Halloween night? AMAZING. In reality, they literally met by chance and I wasn't sure either of them wanted to fight. Michael just popped by to take his mask and kindly fuck off to his sewers like a tired grandpaw.

the 2018 film got us the neverending circles and unfinished business between Laurie and Michael, that neither of them could let go of, while structuring the idea of the Strode legacy through generations. the 2022 film fucked us over and showed nada. I'd rather watch Laurie kill Michael in the 5 mins of the film and then going on a killing spree the next Halloween because her trauma became her darkness.

all in all, I'm pissed cause the whole franchise came down to both main characters becoming utterly irrelevant to their own story,

[thesoftboiledegg]

After a season full of topical episodes, "All the Way Down" showed Futurama at its best: an episode explaining scientific ideas in a fun, entertaining way. This episode would be a great introduction to quantum mechanics and simulation theory.

Generally, I'm not a fan of simulation theory because people tend to get smug about it. "Nothing is real! Existence is meaningless! We're all just a bunch of ones and zeroes!" But if you're experiencing life, why does it matter if it's "real" or not?

If existence isn't real, then why don't you stop eating? Why don't you sleep on the floor instead of a bed? That sounds uncomfortable? Sounds like your experiences mean something after all!

I was happy that Futurama came to the same conclusion. Instead of feeling depressed because nothing matters, the characters realized that everyone's lives matter. One of the pre-commercial jump cuts implied that "our" Planet Express crew is in a simulation of their own, but what difference does it make? They're still people.

Additionally, I loved watching Amy show off her smarts. I think her ditziness makes people, including the writers, forget that she holds a doctorate. She held her own against the professor and challenged his thinking.

That being said...I didn't necessarily enjoy this episode. I had a blast watching "The Impossible Stream," "I Know What You Did Last Xmas," "Rage Against the Vaccine" (yeah, I know that's an unpopular opinion) and others. TV doesn't have to be fun to be great--I'm a Sopranos fan, and some of the best episodes are brutal--but I felt like I was watching an animated lecture.

It's a great episode, but I wouldn't say that I'll look forward to it when I eventually rewatch the whole series. Still, personal opinion doesn't reflect the quality.

However, that brings me to my biggest issue with the episode: the implication that a Bender from a higher dimension replaced "our" Bender. Some have said that our Bender came back, proving that the crew is in a simulation because the professor said it's a one-way trip--or maybe it's just a plot hole.

But I think the writing implies that our Bender is gone and another took his place. He reboots out of nowhere and tells the crew that he has a solution, just like our Bender did when he jumped down a level. Additionally, as previously mentioned, one of the jump cuts implies that our crew is also in a simulation. It's simulations all the way down!

I have the same issue with "The Late Phillip J. Fry" from the Comedy Central run. Fry, Bender and the professor jump two universes ahead, leaving the rest of the crew to die trillions of years ago. I also raised an eyebrow at the professor going back in time in "I Know What You Did Last Xmas." He probably came back to the same universe because if he didn't, he would've run into another professor--but you can't be totally sure.

Yeah, we're still watching the Planet Express crew, and it doesn't matter from a storytelling perspective. And it's debatable how canon this is since Futurama famously resets at the end of nearly every episode. But it's still unsettling.

If someone with an identical twin dies, and their twin takes their place, their twin isn't them. The original consciousness--the person that we knew--is gone forever.

This is also why "Jurassic Bark" doesn't hit as hard for me because Fry wasn't bringing Seymour back to life. He was making a clone. That clone isn't Seymour.

Maybe I'm taking a TV show too seriously, but if everyone's replaceable, then maybe "All the Way Down" isn't implying that every life is important after all. One simulated person is as good as another.

In any case, I can't deny that the ending was fantastic--probably one of the best endings that I've ever seen. The crew watches the world pixelate around them, but instead of having an existentialist crisis, Fry and Leela slowly lean in for a kiss. I almost cried, which is no easy feat! Very few movies and TV shows move me to tears.

The writers minimized Fry's role in season eight, implying that he's no longer the main character, but maybe Futurama said everything it had to say about his story. He can't be the "fish out of water" forever; at a certain point, he's going to adjust to the future.

I had some issues with this episode, and I disliked a few others (what the hell was going on with "The Prince and the Product"?), but overall, season eight had great gags, funny topical references, sweet moments between the characters--the Comedy Central run was pretty mean-spirited--and fresh takes on scientific concepts.

Ultimately, and I'm saying this as someone who's been watching Futurama since 1999, this revival was worth it. Futurama just won't die, and maybe it's a cash grab, but it's also because the fans love it so much.

[frecklystars]

I'm curious, what's the werewolf driver AU about? I mean I can kinda guess, but like, what's the lore? Is there any lore? Curious minds are inquiring Keri (the minds are me).

(Also, I don't mind if you write like paragraphs about it, I want to see you gush about your werewolf bf like a dam is breaking)

OMG HI HONEY!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍

You have given me permission to explode? I SHALL EXPLODE:

I’ll be honest... I.... don’t have any actual information on the AU yet... 😳 [insert Plankton "I don't know, I didn't think I'd get this far" meme here] I don’t have a story or anything, but I DO know I wanna draw Driver as a werewolf at some point and I’m gonna be so real with you as to why:

OKAY SO;;; some time ago, I don't know if it has been a year or maybe even a couple of years ago, but it was confirmed Ryan Gosling was going to play the main character in the upcoming movie The Wolf Man (scheduled to release January 2025) as... uh, the wolf...man. It is a reboot of The Wolf Man 1941 (not The Wolfman 2010)

The details here are totally mixed for me bc every article says something different about the directing details, but I believe Derek Cianfrance (who directed a few of Ryan's other films such as Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines) was going to direct it at some point. I don't know if he was originally the chosen director... or if someone else stepped down and then Derek took their place? Either way, the monsterfucker in me was so excited for a werewolf Ryan F/O. Could you imagine the smut fics… the fanart… the video edits… I was SO READY. I have ALWAYS wanted a new werewolf F/O, always always always!!! I used to have one, but that was from [redacted source material] so now I was REALLY excited to add a brand new werewolf to the F/O list ❤

WELL. Flash forward, SOMETHING HAPPENS? We don’t have the details as to why, but in December 2023, it was revealed Derek pulled out of the movie, and so did Ryan. No more Wolfman. THE MONSTERFUCKER IN ME WAS CRUSHED........ WE ALL MOURNED.........

Not even one week later, I thought, "Well, whatever, I can still make my own OC, right?? Ryan Gosling as the wolf man can be real in my heart and in my art!!!" alas, I am not creative so I can't come up with a story... or a design... and I can't watch horror, so there's no way in hell I can watch the original wolfman movie for reference, unless if someone wants to watch it with me to give me some emotional support I guess 😅 so my plan to draw an OC who looks like Ryan Gosling, But A Wolf™ was thrown out the window.

Eventually, I find a very old post where someone clipped 30 seconds from a Drive interview where he talks about the main character from Drive (whose name is listed in the credits as... Driver... yeah don't worry about it) is a "metaphorical werewolf". In a separate article, Ryan brought up that Driver “is a regular guy during the day and then turns into a killer at night” which, yeah I guess he is, when you think about it! I won't spoil the events of Drive, but any kind of violence that Driver had to do in that movie was completely against his will. The dude just wants to drive his cars!!! But no. Shenanigans have to ensue? 😔 smh…

It was when I watched that video that I realized “hey??? you can do whatever you want forever???? I wanna make an AU where Driver turns into a werewolf to protect his girl :]” so now I have a tag for it! Do I have a story?? Not yet! Will I ever make one?? Haha... probably not :) BUT at some point I do want to make drawings of Driver with glowing golden eyes, or maybe hot pink glowing eyes (the font of the movie is a neon pinkish-purple and it's GORGEOUS and I love associating him with that). I'd love to doodle some really subtle stuff like his human form is standing in front of a garage door and his shadow silhouette is a wolf,,, or something. Maybe him snarling with sharp teeth. I don’t know if I’m skilled enough to draw an actual werewolf form, but hey, maybe with practice I can pull something off!! Or when I find another job and make a bit more money I can commission someone else to draw a werewolf form as a reference for me to work with LOL

And like. ok. ok. not to get TMI but listen. listen. the whole entire reason why I want this AU in the first place -- yes, I love my bodyguard F/Os, and I grip onto the idea of a fictional character being protective over me with the force of a thousand suns, and that's definitely a part of why I wanted to make an AU of a canonically violently protective character being even more violently protective than he already is -- but also. but also. BUT ALSO... [deep inhale]... I just... really, really, really... need some werewolf F/O smut. ok. I'm severely lacking in the monster F/O department 😤😤 all of us monsterfuckers were ROBBED of a Ryan Gosling Wolf, and by god, someone's gotta FIX THAT!!!!! 🔨✨

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK. [drops mic] [immediately picks it back up because holy smokes mics are expensive why did I do that]

[shysheeperz]

love ur blog!! I check it out before starting an anime/manga 💞

just wondering do u have any recommendations for complete anime/mangas?

thank u either way!!!

Completed??????

Manga:

Fullmetal Alchemist- the gold standard

Silver Spoon- by the same person who did FMA. Agricultural school stuff. Cute.

Agravity Boys- space sci-fi gag comedy, a wild ride to say the least, I miss my stupid boys

Magu-chan: God of Destruction- cute digimon/pokemon-shaped gods get woken up and mingle with a bunch of middle schoolers. Cute fluff mostly, will occasionally pull at your heartstrings (including the ending)

High School Family: Kokosei Kazoku- comedy/ slice of life, about an entire family attending high school. Has a volleyball arc that rivals the likes in haikyuu!!

Haikyuu!!-sports manga, if you want to cry over boys and their love for the game then this is for you, Boys x Volleyball is the tru otp of the show

Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku- dark historical fantasy, so very, very good. Don't get attached.

Dr. STONE- sci fi, technically the main story is complete. We still have been getting the occasional side chapter or three that continue where the main story left off tho. A very solid shonen jump series. includes one of the best shonen jump dads in the history of ever. Will make u emotional over lightbulbs and stuff. hard not to root for the main cast.

Dr. STONE Reboot: Byakuya- a non-canon little one volume spin-off about byakuya and mainly about a funky lil robot that will make you sob uncontrollably I'd personally say to read up to the end of the Treasure Island arc in the main story first before tackling this one (about ch 140ish)

Dr. STONE 4D Science- a continuation of the main story, only a couple chapters, the ending is a really cruel tease imo and if Inagaki/Boichi don't give us more may they be cursed to lose all their left shoes forever

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sanji- spin-off of sanji side stories by the duo who did food Wars. ONE PIECE related ofc. Tasty looking food. Sanji too cool for school. One volume.

Astra Lost in Space- space sci fi survival, solid story that deserves more appreciation, the ending is just a tad lackluster in actually showing what a lot of readers would have liked to physically see. By no means ruins the story tho.

Blue Flag (Ao no Flag)- high school, romance, slice of life, boys and gals just trying to figure out life and relationships. Solid.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles- gag comedy that leans a little too much into the shonen battle-esque stuff towards the end imo, but a decently enjoyable time. A mash up of Harry Potter and other various manga like mob, opm, etc.

Mitama Security: Spirit Busters- comedy, axed but I enjoyed it. Goofy fun. nothing spectacular but reading it won't hurt anyone.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes- spin-off of mha obviously, average joe Koichi >>> deku FIGHT ME, the goodest of boys, world building u don't get in the main series, Aizawa's backstory, Knuckleduster is the man the myth the legend.

Chihayafuru- screaming crying throwing up, it's niche it's technically a sports manga, romance, female MC, growth™, love triangle but at the end of the day that's not what's important

My Love Mix-Up!- comedy romance, big big mix-up on who loves who and lots of shenanigans ensue.

Noragami- TECHNICALLY not complete until like 2 days from now when the final chapter releases. my emotions! MY EMOTIONS!!!! 😭

Gintama- comedy/gag with dashes of really good drama

I have no idea what your tastes are, anon, so here's a mix that I've personally enjoyed. Some of them were axed, but technically that makes them complete so I included them :P yes I cheated.

Anime:

There's a lot less of them bc I haven't actually watched a lot of completed series.

Run with the Wind- more boys x sports but this time it's about running. Also the boys are in college. Will trick u into wanting to run.

91 days- ol timey story about VENGEANCE. Set during the prohibition.

Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann- makes you emotional and feel all fuzzy inside, sci fi, mecha

Cowboy Bebop- a classic

Samurai Champloo- also a classic and I actually prefer this one over cowboy bebop tbh, god tier baseball episode

Astra Lost in Space-the anime version, if you'd prefer watching over reading, but I always prefer manga > anime just cause.

FMA 03/FMA BROTHERHOOD- the gold standard. I appreciate both versions. 03 goes the anime original ending root bc obviously the manga wasn't completed yet no biggie.

Mob Psycho 100- MOB!MOB!MOB! and tumblr sexy man reigen arataka

Gintama- animated version alternative lol. The voice actors bring the characters to life.

Obv there are the old school classics like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Gundam and all that jazz if you haven't already checked out some of those. Oldies but goodies.

[cf56]

1/ What sucks for me is that I literally JUST got into Animaniacs right after Season 3 aired. It was a complete coincidence that I got into it when I did -- I didn't even know Season 3 had just dropped. (I knew Animaniacs had been rebooted of course! I'd seen memes, and I knew several people who loved the Reboot.) I hadn't been a HUGE fan of Animaniacs when I was a kid, but I'd known it, liked a lot from it, so I came into it really interested and having a great time! I thought it was ongoing!

I feel for you. What you're feeling is very natural, and, even though I've been here a couple of years longer, I feel it too. Not all of us were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I started actively participating in the fandom around two years ago now, and that was several months after its peak of activity. Of course, even the level of activity in April 2021 was orders of magnitude higher than now.

It feels like a golden heyday you can't reach. You can look at it, but you can never go back in time and be a part of it. It's easy to dwell on. "If only I had discovered Animaniacs sooner, I could've been one of the OGs. I could've been here since 2014." I'm sure you feel similarly. But, things work out how they work out. I wouldn't have discovered Animaniacs at all if I hadn't happened to have the reboot's trailer recommended to me on YouTube, or if I hadn't happened to be a softie for revivals of old shows I didn't even watch. Who knows where I'd be then? Who knows where you'd be if you hadn't decided to watch season 3 at all? It just as easily could've been worse.

There will always be new people trickling into the fandom, discovering it for the first time. You've given me perspective, because while I feel like I joined the fandom much too late, here you are doing it two years later. Two years from now, someone new will join the fandom, and they'll look at you the same way. "If only I could've joined the fandom back in 2023, seen how it was right after a new season released..."

It does feel like mourning. It feels very similar to grief. I have had moments where I've thought of the characters, and it felt like I've actually lost someone close to me. Of course, it doesn't actually come close to matching the feeling of grief I'd have to lose someone close in real life, but the emotion is just as real. If Animaniacs has touched you inside, no matter exactly how, that love is real. It becomes a part of you. Sometimes, what you really need is time. You may feel like you'll never recover. "It's been two months, and I'm still just as sad as I was before. Will I ever get over it?" I have often had that exact same thought. But, maybe two months isn't enough. Maybe you need six. Maybe you need a year. Eventually, our brains will adjust to the new normal, and we can go back to just being fans. The show may have ended (hopefully not forever), but Animaniacs is just starting for you.

There are positives to being in a fandom like this. No corporate influence, no promotional tactics, just us fans trying to keep the memory alive. You're right. There's still so much more to do. When I joined the fandom, I had a vision of the things I wanted to do just to get started, just in my first few months. I haven't even finished those yet. What's important is that we support each other and allow that creativity to flourish. Remember that anything you contribute, anything at all, is an incredible gift to everyone else who cares just as much as you. Even if it's just a random funny thought you have, or if it's a ten page thesis you doubt anyone else will care to read. Putting yourself out there is brave, it's selfless, and it's incredibly rewarding in the end.

In short? It may be hard, but it's important to cherish the memories you have, not the memories you could have had. Those aren't real. These are, and you just as easily could've been without them. Don't be sad that you could've been here earlier. Be happy that you're here now. I'm happy to have you!

[cartoonemotion]

sofa. I'm trying to think of another question but im not sure. would you list some of your top 10 favorite cartoons of all time

DAMN ANOTHER TOUGHIE.. ive watched a lot of cartoons... i feel like its easy just to list more current ones/cartoons ive very recently watched but im gonna try real hard not to do that. so in no particular order:

adventure time: probably an obvious choice to ppl who know me personally. im pretty sure ive said this before but i quite literally grew up with this show, like i watched the pilot on nicktoons when i was like 9 and freaked out when the first episode of the actual show aired, and ive still regularly and enthusiastically kept up with it ever since, even to this day. i have to be honest and say the inclusions of distant lands and fionna and cake had me worried in a very cynical way about wringing the franchise dry or it succumbing to nostalgia bait but ive been happy to have had those fears handily dispelled every time. it makes me really happy to see that the cast and crew that have stuck with it just seem so genuinely excited to continue to tell new stories in the expanded universe and explore the land of ooo and new characters who live there, i think thats a good way to keep an ongoing series with spinoffs or limited series or what have you to keep from getting stale

ducktales 2017: once again anybody who knows me personally or follows this blog knows why this is on the list. i. fucking. love. ducktales 2017. ive said a million times before that i think its like a perfect encapsulation of what a reboot should be, something that obviously has a lot of love and respect for the original that its rebooting, but isn't afraid to incorporate entirely new ideas or deviate from pre-established "rules" or roles of the previous installments/versions of the characters and story, so on and so forth. i think it blends the family sitcom and action adventure elements really well together, its got a great ensemble of charming characters, i think most of the over-arching storylines it sets up are executed really well and it has a lot of fun one-off stories. its not perfect but its damn near close, in my opinion. also as much as i hate disney the corporate i do still love donald duck hes the best legacy disney character ok american moment over

the secret saturdays: i was a HUGE fan of the show as it was coming out but didnt remember much of it as i got older until i rewatched it, whereupon i found out just how much it fucking holds up, oh my g0d. i genuinely cannot believe its not more popular considering its premise, and again i think the story and character writing really hold up !!!!!! it has fantastic twists, you are immediately endeared not just to the saturday family but a lot of the other supporting characters, its overreaching storyline is executed so so well especially when you consider it was unfortunately gutted and prematurely cancelled by CN. some parts of it may be a little dated but again i think for the years it was developed and coming out there are some elements that were kind of ahead of the curve. if you havent watched the secret saturdays PLEEEASE please do !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im fucking begging you. its good

ben 10: i think ben 10 might be my white whale. for important context i was scared to death of the original series as it was actively coming out when i was like, 6 years old, only to get extremely invested in it and the "original universe" franchise in like late middle school/early high school, and then they fucking got my ass AGAIN as a current twenty-something. every time i think im out they fucking pull me right back in. i know its a dumb meat headed action cartoon for little children but the wasted potential in this franchise is nothing short of insane, i wouldnt be saying this if they didnt literally bring up certain threads and ideas in the show only to be like, actually who gives a fuck ! that being said its a premise that sticks with you forever. to quote that one post

justice league unlimited: i dont post much about superhero cartoons on here but make no mistake they were hugely influential to me when i was a kid, my dad was and still is a huge marvel nerd but unfortunately for marvel (and my dad) their cartoon game was (and honestly, still kind of is) just aaaaabsolute trash, except for the ones about the x-men, but thats a ramble for another day. it wont surprise you to know a lot of the writing staff for the justice league and justice league unlimited cartoons would go on to work on the original ben 10 continuity so they have a lot of the same issues, but i would be lying if i didnt say jlu had a huge effect on my little baby brain, arguably maybe more than ben 10. why unlimited and not the original justice league cartoon of the aughts you ask ? well because jlu is hornier, and also booster gold is there

discovery kids favorites: this is technically cheating cuz its 3 cartoons, BUT ! i dont remember them enough on their own to put any one above the other. as a kid my mom hated cartoons (and honestly most tv programming aimed at children) and hated me and my sisters watching them in the room with her, or in general, for more than like 15 minutes a day, unless they were educational, and so i felt extremely clever for exploiting the discovery kids loophole bc they were cartoons made to teach you stuff. the ones i remember the most vividly and fondly were tutenstein, grossology, and growing up creepie, which i feel like honestly. says a lot about me. i should rewatch those sometime.

samurai jack: i will not argue against the fact that genndy tartakovsky is a tremendously talented individual, and a lot of his work has been extremely inspirational to me, that being said, if given the chance, i would drop an anvil on his head. i probably shouldnt say that but i cant express to you how much a lot of his work frustrates me and samurai jack really takes the cake. i cant even talk about season 5 but a lot of stuff in seasons 1-4 has problems that i feel like should be addressed, THAT BEING SAID, in spite of it all, i still fucking love samurai jack. i have fond memories of it from when i was a kid and during the collective resurgence it had as the 5th season was coming out, i cant argue that it doesnt have a lot going for it or pretend that again it isnt responsible for a lot of my own personal artistic inspirations.

class of 3000: I KNOW IVE BEEN POSTING ABOUT THIS A LOT LATELY BUT ITS NOT JUST CUZ OF THAT ! this last rewatch hasnt been my first, ive genuinely brought up this show to a lot of people both online and irl in the desperate hope other people remembered it because it was one of my absolute favorites as a kid and i remember the visceral feeling of how unfair it felt when i found out at like age 9 that it had been cancelled and there would never be another episode of it again. i think it just came into my life at the right place at the same time, i was both getting really into drawing and coming up with little stories myself and so the art and the cast really drew me in, and i had a music teacher at the time who was really into jazz and blues music and seeing that reflected in a cartoon i was watching was so cool :v] and again i just think so much of it holds up. its a gem i dont think should be hidden

spongebob (but only the first four seasons and the movie): im almost 25 so this is supremely unoriginal. its not that i think the newer/newest stuff is all bad its just that everybody gets one thing to be unreasonably blinded by nostalgia about and for me its early spongebob. the userbase on here is aging you all know what im talking about i dont need to explain this pick

the owl house: i really like the owl house for what it is ! its not for everybody, i know people tend to think it kind of skews towards "children's cartoon that is targeted for adults who still watch that stuff" but i think thats kind of cynical and not very generous to the cast and crew, i know the show got pitched around a bit before disney picked up on it but i dont think its fair to exclude the care and thought that went into re-adapting it for a broader and therefore younger audience, and the care that went into it in general ! i like its take on the fantasy setting, both the main and minor cast clearly have a lot of love and thought put into them, genuinely i think luz is maybe one of my favorite cartoon protagonists ever, the messaging it tries to get across i think comes from a personal place and is thus very earnest and sweet, and much like the secret saturdays i think its able to accomplish a lot in the limited time it was given. the whole show just feels like a labor of love to me and i just like the way that comes through !

since this was hard here are some honorable mentions:

batman the brave and the bold: wouldnt be fair to bring up a superhero cartoon and not mention this. i was pretty obsessed with this rendition of batman as a kid, unsurprising since i unironically loved the joel schumacher batman & robin movie and liked to catch the adam west batman re-runs they would play at the wee hours of the morning when i couldnt sleep, i think brave and the bold channels both of those a lot, its deeply stupid and kind of sucks in a lot of areas but thats also kind of part of the charm

3below: so i watched the first season of this before ever watching trollhunters, and while i recognize trollhunters is on a lot of levels the superior tales of arcadia cartoon i just like 3below the best. the stakes of trollhunters can get a little exhausting and i think 3below lets itself get a bit more goofy, plus its about a little group of "fish out of water" aliens !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love fish out of water stories AND aliens, what do you want me to do

fangbone!: real sofa fans remember my fangbone phase. ongoing actually cuz hes still my icon. its one of those cheaply produced flash canadian cartoons but from my perspective i think it was made by people who actually put more effort than was expected of them, which i like, and again its another fish out of water story, and the graphic novel its based on is also very cute

dwampyverse cartoons: phineas and ferb and milo murphy's law mostly ! pnf was very impactful on me as a kid and i loved the first season of mml. i think theyve reached a kind of oversaturation maybe ? that has made me juuust a little bit jaded about them, but i cant pretend like i still dont hold plenty of fondness for em in my heart

unicorn warriors eternal: see the above points about genndy tartakovsky in the samurai jack bulletpoint. the premise is a really cool one and the first season managed to be really good in ways i didnt think it would be but theres still the second season, so im scared. i hope its good. ive got the clown make up ready to go just in case though.

lastman: don't watch lastman. we all have our own cross to bear, alright, and this one's mine. i watched lastman, so you don't even have to worry about it, i mean i haven't finished the second season yet so i will, so don't watch lastman, please. im telling you as your friend, don't watch lastman. we all make mistakes sometimes, like for example, i watched lastman, both in french and english. if you watch lastman than my sacrifices will have been for nothing. don't watch it, and don't look up the comic either. im completely serious.

big city greens: im very picky about sitcoms and sitcom-type faire, but big city greens takes i think a very flat and tbh cynical gimmick and explores it with a lot of heartfelt earnestness, its hard not to be charmed by it. just pure comfort food tv to me.

danger & eggs: fun fact !!!!!! the cartoon that made me decide to make this sideblog !!! i keep meaning to revisit it, i would recommend checking it out if you havent before, both its premise and humor is very idiosyncratic and sweet to me, again its just another show that feels like it came very a place very near and dear to the creator's heart and i just always love to see that. if i had kids of my own which i never will i would definitely show it to them

[absolutebloodychaos]

Introductory Post

Hello dear people!

My nickname is Mae, I am sixteen and I am from south-east Australia. I am not that sure about my gender identity, I use he/she/they pronouns and I am omnisexual and asexual.

I have always been a very big classic Broadway and Golden Age of Hollywood fan, and I have been adoring the likes of Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Ann Miller for as long as I can remember.

I am and will forever be a very passionate reader, I currently have so many books on the go that they are threatening to fall on me at any moment.

I have recently gotten into tennis (specifically Jannik Sinner and Casper Ruud but like other players too) and I don't know much about it yet but I am learning more every day.

I am a vegetarian and have been my whole life and I hate it when people just assume that I am either a vegan or a pescatarian, like dudes, it's a completely different thing.

I have no pets but I love cats and am fully going to turn into a crazy cat lady one day.

I love Måneskin, and have loved them since mid 2021, I just got to see them perform 9 days ago and it was AMAZING. I wrote about the gig here.

I am obsessed with Eurovision, like hyper-obsessed, and watch it religiously (I get up at 5am to watch the final every year) but I try not to watch any of the contestants before the competition as I like it all to be a surprise. My favourite contestants are here.

I am a baby boo and a Kris girlie to the end. This blog is about 99.5% Joker Out, mostly reblogs as I am too far away to go to any of their gigs, and I did create this Tumblr account because of them. I have many opinions about them and I love them all very much, I am a Bokris and Jance believer wholeheartedly and Bojere occasionally when I am in the mood.

I write fanfiction sometimes and I know that it is not very good but I mostly use it as a stress-reliever and a way to practise my skills for when I have to write in school (it is working as I got 100% on my creative writing assessment the other day so woo!) and I am trying to improve.

That being said, feel free to request any JO fics that you want to be written as school has just ended for the year and I now have 2 whole months of holidays that I will get very bored during and will need things to do.

I love playing music and have had violin and piano lessons as a child, I have taught myself bass and guitar and am currently attempting to learn the piano-accordion.

I love Doctor Who, my favourite doctor is the eleventh (Matt Smith, controversial, I know) and the fifth and sixth season of the reboot is my favourite TARDIS interior. My favourite companions are Amy, Rory, River, Bill, Donna, K9 and Martha.

I love it to the point that I can recite entire episodes that I have only seen once (I recited the entirety of Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead to my friend once in maths class and I've only ever seen those episodes once, two years ago).

I love languages and although I am not very good at it, I am trying to learn a few, primarily now Slovene but in the past Spanish, German, Italian and Swedish.

I love Maths and Sciences and am planning to do either Engineering or Biomedicine at University.

I have just realised that I have made this way too long so byeeeee babes, love youse❤️

[gaykarstaagforever]

This is a list of scripted ABC shows from the last season. I haven't heard of most of them because I'm not 63 so I'm going to guess what they are about from the titles and then check and see how right I was. Or if my idea is better.

1. The Conners was that reboot / sequel of Roseanne. But then Roseanne was insane and racist in real life so they kicked her off of it. I assume it was retooled to now be about the family becoming private eyes and traveling from town to town in a gadget-loaded super RV, solving mysteries.

You should all note before I go on that most of what I know about network television comes from the 70s and 80s. Back when it was also cheap and lame, but at least fun.

2. Abbott Elementary. Probably just Community / The Office, but in an elementary school filled with a diverse cast of quirky characters who only seem to date each-other. I bet they do a lot of jokes about helicopter parents and people getting offended by seemingly innocuous things. There is probably a sassy brown person whose culture is played for light-hearted comic relief.

3. Station 19. Firefighter show, where all the firefighters look like soap opera actors. Most of the show is people having arguments and making out, then like 3 times a season stunt people in face-hiding fire gear fight a big fire inspired by some thing that happened in the news around the time they were filming the show. I bet the tag line is "And you thought the hottest action would be the fires!" Occasionally old actors from 80s movies will cameo as someone's parents. I am falling asleep just typing about it.

4. Grey's Anatomy. Oh my god. In real life these people would have retired from being bad doctors by now. Or be in jail.

5. The Rookie. I looked this one up due to the last post. Nathan Fillion plays a 50 year old rookie LAPD officer. Because they wanted to do a cop show with him but he's too old for that, without the premise. He probably has to learn about diversity and drugs or something. No one ever gets shot and they don't show LAPD white supremacist cop-gangs doing dog fights or anything. Wasted potential.

6. The Goldbergs. I've heard of this. It was some writer's Everybody Hates Chris about his 80s secular Jewish family. Obnoxious old people watched it to be reminded about how they just don't make good rock music like that anymore, man, because they are too old and lazy to go find new music they might like via streaming platforms. It has been cancelled. Good, if only to spare me that recurring conversation with people I don't like.

7. Home Economics. A rich white homemaker lady gets divorced and has to get a job as a home ec teacher at a public junior high to make ends meet? And she slowly learns to laugh and love again, while also coming to realize that poorer people are good for more than just mowing your lawn. There are hijinks about her wearing $600 shoes that get covered in cake batter. She has to rent part of her house out to an Indian immigrant family. Starring Delta Burke from 1995.

8. The Good Doctor. Ha ha ha. That show about an autistic doctor, except Hollywood doesn't know what autism actually is so he's just a deranged lunatic who gets away with shitty behavior because he's good at hearts.

But not in the fun, House MD, way.

9. The Rookie: Feds. This got cancelled so that means it was bad, even by low network TV cop show standards. I don't even know how to do that. Uh...some 50 year old TV actress I probably wouldn't recognize quits being a crime professor to become an FBI agent, after her son FBI agent goes missing under mysterious circumstances? And it ended in a cliffhanger when she got attacked by a polar bear in the middle of the jungle.

10. Not Dead Yet. My Name is Earl, but if Earl was a nice zombie. He has a best friend guardian angel played by Jaleel White.

...This actually just sounds like Highway to Heaven, if Michael Landon had been a zombie. And instead of brains he eats Jell-O, and he can take his limbs off and send them into air ducts and up drain pipes to help people, like trained rats.

...I'd watch a couple episodes of that, I guess.

11. Will Trent. Oh give me a break.

Okay. There is guy named Will Trent, who is on the run from the...CIA, because he was with them but then someone framed him for killing the Speaker of the House with a poisoned lapel pin. He now travels from town to town, helping average people and their sexy sisters out of jams, while also trying to figure out who framed him and what their master plan is, to clear his name.

The last season ended with it looking like the real villain is the First Lady, who belongs to some ill-defined anti-America cult.

It's probably based on a book series from the early 2000s that only the loudest uncles read.

12. Big Sky. Some cowboy thing, probably. Where all the cowboys are hunky stoic white men who are millionaire ranch owners. But you are still supposed to sympathize with all their "we gotta keep a-hold of this land at any cost" violent toxic male shit, because you are a postmenopausal my mother and want to have sex with these men.

It's one of those shows that just "accidentally" has zero POC cast members, who aren't one-shot drug-runners or coyotes or thugs hired by rival ranch owners.

One-shot because that is how all of their characters are killed.

It probably got cancelled when some writer got smart and tried to do a thinly-veiled anti-Trump allegory and all the Evangelicals turned on it. Tucker Carlson probably got mad about it for 3 minutes, before he interviewed some Russian politician about how the Ukrainians hate Jesus.

13. The Company You Keep. Black women try starting and running a bakery. It quickly devolved into a romantic melodrama. Black audiences never cared and white audiences wanted more sexy rich cowboys.

I don't know. It's ABC. Every seasonal lineup has at least a couple token shows starring POCs that get immediately cancelled after one season, because they aren't serious attempts at anything outside of the politics and so never connect with an audience.

Also all of them are still written by white men, so what chance could any of them have, really?

14. Alaska Daily. Northern Exposure, but the protagonist edits a news blog when not busy solving quirky small-town mysteries. The Janitor from Scrubs might be in it.

...Well. WAS in it.

This Twin Peaks thing is hard to pull off in a compelling way unless you are willing to go kookoo-bananas with it.

15. A Million Little Things. This one "ended," which means the cast wanted too much money after so many seasons, so "the producers had always planned from the beginning to wrap things up after 5 seasons."

It was probably one of those shows that just follows a "typical American family," which happens to have soap opera problems every week based on things the writers heard CNN say people in the Midwest are mad enough over to vote for Trump again.

It probably had a regular cast of like 16 people, and was on the giant TV in the showroom of every US car dealership at least once. Until someone changed it to that show which is just Kitchen Nightmares, but Gordon Ramsey has been replaced by a balding round man who lacks his charm and good heart and is just an asshole to struggling restaurateurs.

You know the one.

Or, at least, your parents do.

Update: The Conclusion

[selfindulgentfandomstuff]

Stolen

An excerpt from the lives of Emmett Becker and Murdoc

----------

Fandom: MacGyver (2016 reboot)

Pairing: Murdoc x Emmett Becker (self insert)

CW: house break-in, federal agents, general angst

----------

The sun filtered in through the blinds of Emmett and Murdoc’s shared bedroom. The couple lay in bed, just barely awake enough to register each other’s presence. Emmett opened their eyes, taking in Murdoc’s sun lit features, admiring the way the light hit his aquiline nose, the wisps of dark hair that lay across his face as he slept. Then they noticed his eyes fluttering open and as they did, they closed their eyes again, afraid that if he saw they were both awake the day would have to begin and so too would the bliss of the morning, end. 

“I know you’re awake, Emmett” came the voice of Murdoc, slightly raspy from lack of use through the night. 

Emmett lay there wordlessly.

Murdoc chuckled and stroked their hair gently, “I could feel you watching me”. 

Emmett opened their eyes slowly, still waking up a bit, “Alright, you got me. But you’re just too pretty to not watch, ‘specially in the morning like this…”

Murdoc smiled softly, “you’re one to be talking.. pretty eyes.. . I love you so much, Emmett, I hope you know that…”

Emmett smiled back, “I know, Murdoc. You know that I love you the same, right?”

Murdoc nodded and then went quiet for a moment before speaking again, “I think I could live here” he said. 

Emmett made a small confused noise. After all, the two had been living together for some time already. 

“No, no, I mean, I could live in this moment, here, forever, with you.”

“NSA!! HANDS IN THE AIR! NOW! GET YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!!” 

Then came the smoke bombs. And the panic. And yelling. 

Before Emmett knew it, Murdoc had taken out four of the unknown number of intruders. But there were more and soon enough they had him pinned on his stomach, to the ground. 

With the threat of Murdoc now temporarily neutralized, a higher level NSA agent- apparently- stepped into the room. 

“Murdoc, otherwise known as Suspect 218, you are now under arrest, by the authority of the National Security Agency. Dr. Emmett Becker, we apologize for the inconvenience and we will now be leaving. 

As their higher up spoke coolly, the soldiers roughly handcuffed and brought Murdoc to his feet again. 

‘Even like this, he had an undeniably powerful aura’, Emmett thought to themself, vaguely. 

But then, something in Emmett clicked, and they realized that this meant they would never see him again. 

Emmett lunged for the top agent’s gun, holstered at his hip. Two other agents grabbed them, each holding an arm. 

“NO!!” they screamed, fighting against the two guards restraining them on either side. Emmett fought. They fought so fucking hard. 

The world blurred a bit through their teary eyes and the placating voice of some official or other echoed vaguely in Emmett’s ears, “Doctor Becker, we’re going to need you to please calm down. We understand that you were assigned to Suspect 218’s case initially, but seeing as the Phoenix Foundation is being dissolved, you no longer have any authority over him-”

“CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN?!!” Emmett shrieked at the man trying to mollify them, “Y-you- you break into our HOME and you say you’re TAKING him?! You think you’re taking the love of my life away from me? Over my dead fucking body-” 

“Emmett”

Through the hurricane of emotions pounding in Emmett’s head, came Murdoc’s voice, clean, clear, crystal clear. 

“You need to let me go.”

Emmett sobbed as they sank to the floor, helpless. “...no”

“Let me go, Emmett.”

Looking up, pleading at Murdoc, Emmett felt hot tears run down their cheeks. 

“I love you, Emmett. I love you so much.”

And then they marched him out their broken down door, as though nothing had ever happened. As if they weren’t ripping out Emmett’s heart and shooting it.

Emmett sat there, in the center, with the wreckage left behind by the invasion of their home surrounding them and tears running down their cheeks, neverendingly. 

-----

Not a day went by where Emmett didn’t think of what they’d lost nearly two years ago. Who they’d lost. He wasn’t dead. They were fairly sure of that much. But he might as well have died 18 months ago. That was when they’d taken him back into federal custody, locked up in some prison who knows where til the end of his days. 

The days blurred into each other now and there was little distinction between the weeks. Months too seemed to fade into each other. Very little seemed real anymore, or rather, everything seemed muted, as though the color that Murdoc had brought into Emmett’s life had faded with his incarceration. 

Days were routine, in and out. Get up. Shower. Eat some semblance of breakfast, go to the university to teach some introductory class to students who will ultimately never use the knowledge shared with them. Go home. Grade papers. Eat a semblance of dinner. Sleep. Repeat. 

Until one day the routine was broken. 

“Oh, hey Mac” Emmett said. It wasn’t entirely unusual to see MacGyver on campus, seeing as they’d invited him to work there after their jobs at the Phoenix Foundation were lost. Sometimes they even met up for lunch. But something was different today. Emmett could tell. Mac was tense, with something to say, something important. Important like the days of the Phoenix Foundation; that level of importance. 

And there was someone with him today. An unfamiliar face. How strange. 

“Emmett, meet Russ Taylor, Russ, meet Dr. Emmett Becker.” MacGyver said hurriedly before explaining with great urgency the situation they were in. Russ, as the man had been introduced, was the owner of a private intelligence company known as Spearhead Operations and was recruiting Mac and the other former members of the Phoenix Foundation for a mission of great importance. 

Everyone else was back on board already, they’d said, already having talked to them. It was all up to them at this point. Would Emmett complete the team? There was some part of Emmett that didn’t want to. They knew logically it wasn’t any of their faults’ that the Phoenix Foundation was defunded and shut down. But there was blame to go around and Emmett wanted somewhere to put it. Blame for taking away Murdoc. They wanted somewhere to put that blame. But more than that, they wanted him back. And they saw this as a chance to get him back. For the first time in a long time, they had a chance. 

“Mr. Taylor-”

“Russ works just fine”

“Russ, if I join this mission, I need assurance of something.”

“Yes, yes, anything.”

“I want Murdoc back.”

“Done.”

“Really? Just like that? And you know who I’m talking about? His history. Our history?”

“Truly. And yes. I know. I can make that happen. Just come with us. We need you, now. You’ll see him soon, I promise.”

“Okay. I’ll come with you.”

[not-another-parable]

"Hello, darling." Rex came up to Reboot, covered in blood and smiling. One of his hands were especially bloody but he kept it behind his back, stopping Reboot if he tried to inspect it.

"I got somethin I wanna ask you. Something I've been wondering for a while…and I think today is a good day as any to finally go ahead and ask."

His other hand, also lightly speckled with blood, rested on Reboot's shoulder as he gave him the kind of smile he only reserved for him, gentle, warm, loving.

"Reboot, you're the best partner in crime I could ever ask for. Partially it's cause I trained ya to be like that but I can't deny how much you've grown on your own these past months. There's bloodlust in your eyes that I know I'm not solely responsible for and it makes you so beautiful. I couldn't ask for a better pet to obey my every whim, to spoil with my attention, to maim and kill alongside of. I want to keep terrorizing the Office with you by my side."

He got down on one knee and finally revealed what he was hiding behind his back. A bloody, severed finger which looked remarkably like Reboot's own perfectly intact fingers, proudly holding a shiny diamond ring.

"Be mine forever, Reboot."

For only a moment, Reboot was afraid as to whether or not any of the blood on his partner was Rex's own, a fear that melted away as his calm, confident voice graced his ears once again. He leaned to the side ever so slightly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the surprise Rex had in store for him, but he regained his patience when Rex continued speaking.

Reboot watched his hand trail up and come to rest on his shoulder, slowly leaning into it and closing his eyes when his head laid itself upon his hand. A blissful smile spread across his face as Rex began praising him, reminding him of when he first fell in love with his dear, darling Rex. Of that fateful day, when he finally freed him from that damn Narrator's strange spell and took Reboot as his own, and changed the course of his life in ways he never would have dreamed of. He felt Rex's hand leave him as he sunk down to the floor, and Reboot's heart practically stopped when he opened his eyes.

He couldn't believe it. Everything around them slowed, Reboot's breathing halted, and there was only the sight of the gift Rex finally presented to him. Once Reboot felt he was able to move again, a sharp scream shot out from his lips- but not at all like the ones that had left Charlie's earlier. His vision was almost immediately blurred by tears, and he fell to the ground to swaddle Rex tightly in his arms.

"Yes! Oh, yes, yes!! I love you, I love you, Rex, I love you so much!" He cried out between ecstatic sobs, "I-I want nothing more than to be yours, forever and always, I, I..." He drew in a deep breath and laid his head on Rex's shoulder, his tears dripping down onto his clothes as his trembling hands cradled Rex's. He stared down at the ring as he continued. "If we were to spend eternity together, I would never find the words to tell you how happy you've made me."

[rewind-reviews]

So I’ve Been Playing... Wolfenstein: The New Order

Shooters are the genre I play the most, one of the first PC games I ever played was DOOM 2 and I have been hooked ever since. Be it trying one of the classics like Blood or something a little more recent like Postal Brain Damaged I will play them all but there is one franchise I always come back to, Wolfenstein.

Wolfenstein 3D captivated me when I was a kid even if I had games like Quake to play I would always gravitate to Wolfenstein, something was amazing about the early 3D to me so was the way the game managed to tell its story with no words just get up, kill some nazis and escape against unspeakable odds. Growing up I was always excited when a new game would come out the 2009 "remake" got me so excited I would watch the trailer almost daily hoping to one day get my hands on it. But those games aren't what we are talking about, I want to talk about the 2014 reboot Wolfenstein: The New Order.

Wolfenstein: The New Order was developed by MachineGames and is a soft reboot of the franchise. Unlike previous instalments focuses entirely on a single-player experience with no multiplayer component. Because of this the story needed to be top notch and man does it deliver.

(spoilers ahead)

The story begins in 1846 with our protagonist captain William "B.J." Blazkowicz flying into Deathshead's compound to put an end to the mad scientist who is creating not only super soldiers and advanced weaponry but also mechanical monsters prolonging the war and leading towards a Nazi victory. BJ is joined but two notable soldiers. Commander Fergus Reid BJ's right-hand man and a very headstrong, capable and overall brilliant tactician and private Probst Wyatt III, who unlike Fergus is overwhelmed by the horrors of the war that he is forced to witness at the young age of 18. After fighting your way up the shore, scaling the walls of the compound and losing countless men in the prosses you gain entry to Deathshead's lab only to be ambushed.

This moment is when I fell in love with this game. You are forced to make a choice, who will die Wyatt or Fergus? This choice breaks me every single time I play this game, the weight of this choice is so hard to put into words. By the time you get to this choice which is only about an hour into the game, you have spent so much time around these two people that you love them both. Do you save the kid who barely had a chance to live his life before war changed it forever or do you save BJ's best friend?

No matter who you save you escape but are wounded leaving a chunk of metal in BJ's brain. Luckily you are found by a polish doctor who along with his wife and daughter Anya care for you for fourteen years until asylum is shut down, everyone inside is executed by the hand of the Nazis and Anya is taken. After fighting your way out, saving Anya and stealing a car you flee to a safe place. Your mission is to find the resistance and to finish what you started 14 years ago, Kill Deathshead and put an end to Nazi reign.

Okay, enough story I don't wait to spoil all of it for you. So how does the game play? Its a modern take on a classic shooter, nearly every room you walk into in MOST missions is full of enemies for you to blast your way through however you see fit maybe, you want to hide behind cover and take them out one at a time, maybe you want to charge forward with a fully automatic shotgun in both hands or (and here is how I played most of the game) you sneak through prioritising which enemies you take out first, who can raise the alarm? who is strongest? if I get seen can I recover? will I survive? However you choose to play you will have an arsenal to back you up everything from the previously mentioned fully automatic shotguns, to assault rifles even a bulky metal monstrosity that can take down most enemies in one hit. You can also unlock different perks by completing challenges which is where I have an issue. The perks are extremely useful in this game letting you hold more ammo or grenades healing on stealth takedowns things along those lines. However unlocking these can be a nightmare. At the start of most missions, you lose all of your weapons leaving you with your laser gun and a knife sometimes a pistol if you are lucky, plus there are no guarantees you will get the gun you need to unlock that perk you so desperately want making the unlocks harder than they need to be.

During the later stages of the game as the locations and battles get more and more insane some of the enemies become way too hard to kill, and yes it makes sense in the context of the game but fighting them becomes less exciting and more of a chore or hell sometimes its straight up unfair. starting a level with next to no ammo and having to fight two heavily armoured shotgun-wielding nazis is a terrible experience that I honestly never want to slog through again. However, the story really is when this game shines the most, every location and character this game shows you is perfect they all show you how war affects different people. Wyatt or Fergus resent the fact they are alive and the war has cost them a life they never got to live, BJ is desperately holding on to a dream of the future with the woman he loves where he can one day be happy. Max learns that he needs to fight after the death of his father. Even Deathshead shows his own goals and has his reasons to keep fighting, there were moments in this game that crushed me making me feel like fighting this war is pointless, like I have no reason to carry on and there were others where I felt I had to fight to save the character I love so much or to crush the oppressive force that took someone from me pushing me forward to end this seemingly endless fight.

Does Wolfenstein: The New Order have its issues? yes, Is it a perfect game? no. There are a few minor things I didn't mention here like constantly taking fall damage or needing to be super precise while cutting paths leading to pointless deaths, but would I recommend you play this game? absolutely. I haven't been this quickly attached to characters in a long time. There are moments this game makes you feel you are fighting a battle you can't possibly win but you need to keep fighting, you need to be the bastion of hope.

Anyway, I gotta go I think I need to rest before a new colossus shows up.

[hetagrammy]

8 Shows to Know You

I was tagged by @apersonwholikeslotus! Thank you <3

I'm assuming these are like comfort shows?? Or ones we like. Also, I won't put Hetalia up here because let's be real, if you're here you already know I'm down the rabbit hole so it's a given. These are in no particular order

Avatar: The Last Airbender, there's quite literally nothing I can say about this show that hasn't already been said. It's amazing, do go watch it.

2. I love Outlander. I fell off around the middle of season 4, but the first two seasons are my favorites. I should probably go back and catch up at some point.

3. The Borgias is a guilty pleasure for me. There's plenty of inaccuracies, but I don't really mind them too much because the character writing is off the charts. If you're into the Renaissance, intrigue, and/or fucked up family dynamics I'd definitely recommend.

4. As crazy as the costume inaccuracies drive me, I also love The Tudors and I'm forever mourning that they took it off of Netflix. It unironically has one of the best depictions of Mary I (at least in her youth) I've ever seen. It did slip up a bit with Katherine Howard, but that's unfortunately not uncommon in Tudor media so I just have to take the L on that one.

5. Like everyone else I love this family, and I am anxiously waiting for season two of Spy x Family. Big rec for the found family fans.

6. If I could go back and watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood again for the first time, I would. Like Avatar, very little I can say about it that hasn't already been praised to death.

7. This was one of my first anime, and it still holds a special place in my heart. I really do hope it gets the Fruits Basket treatment someday with a proper reboot that covers the whole manga.

8. Over the Garden Wall. This show shaped me, I love the narrative and characters so much. The aesthetic is also great. I also felt very seen by Wirt as a kid (and dressed up as him last Halloween haha)

I think I'll tag @the-phoenix-heart @moderngamebantam and @maelerie but obviously y'all aren't beholden to!