#but overall just like. as a general concept. so goddamn annoying

[mamawasatesttube]

one other thing that really makes me roll my eyes in dc fics is the insistence that the bats can take down anyone, even their most op teammates. like... you guys know a character doesn't have to be the most physically capable one in the room in order to be interesting or strong in their own right, right? look me in the eye. cass had to save tim from shrike. bane broke bruce's back. mind-controlled kon snapped tim's arm like a twig. trying to make them ~always~ able to counter even the most powerful opponents is so boring im sorry like they can and do lose fights sometimes, and that's interesting actually. they are all incredibly competent martial artists, yes! that doesn't mean they can win every single matchup. that's simply neither the point of nor the strength in their characters.

[peacerisendove]

Big Ethel Energy S2 Episode 25 and 26

The best thing this comic has done so far is focus on Veronica and her blooming love life because I love to see it. It's interesting , it gets away from our annoying protagonist, it gives this comic life that doesn't seem insular.

And honestly that's what you want in a comic that is about life! You want to see the surrounding environment and what's going on because when the focus is solely on your protagonist and their problems it does get tedious especially when that protagonist appears self centered, never recognizes their own faults/wrongs, and bad mouths the people around her amongst other things.

For once something that feels extraneous and separate to Ethel and her main character life! And that is a good thing as I've mentioned!

I love something that has absolutely nothing to do with her. Ronnie is out living her life and getting interested in another man. It's very cute and wholesome how she's very into this guy without him even realizing. They're very different and it's super cute. Especially with how she genuinely wants to learn more about being more eco-friendly and not wasting.

I feel like these bit are trying to maker Veronica come off as rude, but I don't see it that way. She feels professional and focused, even though she really wants to get to know more about Gilbert.

Aaaaaand back to Big Ethel Drama we are.

Honestly, Betty's reaction is exaggerated. Someone else has a crush on the guy you like and said guy said no to you before? You deal with that kind of thing.

You don't own Seth.

Ethel is in a relationship and isn't going after Seth. She has a crush, but she's not going to currently act on it.

The only person Betty can be reasonably upset with is either Seth for rejecting (because it always hurts when the guy you like doesn't like you back) or herself. It's unreasonably to be mad at Ethel for something she can't control, but also isn't even a thing. She's making a mountain out of molehill and her response is exaggerated.

Though honestly, lets look at the comic, Betty has had a lot of time to be upset over Seth not liking her back, so her being mad even now is ridiculous in my opinion. She is rejected by Seth in S1 Episode Episode 50. I'm assuming it is around fall because Ethel states she was away on Holiday at the start of Season 2, so I think Betty's had more than a few months to process. The last time we heard about her opinion of Seth was S2 Episode 15, where she said: "I'm not angry at him anymore for not wanting to date me, but I'm still hurting a bit from his rejection".

Above Image: Season 2 Episode 15

SO which is it Betty? Why do you feel so goddamn attached and possessive of a man who has no interest in dating you and who we barely see you interacting with??

And even if it's just the rejection hurting her, that gives you not right or reason to bite your friend's head off for JUST HAVING A CRUSH when she is ALREADY IN A RELATIONSHIP AND PROBABLY WON'T ACT ON IT. Betty is fueling her own fears and anxieties and that's her own fault. It's honestly just ridiculous to watch as well.

This little reaction makes her seem really entitled and childish overall, which are aspects I don't associate with the general idea of Betty's character in the Archie Universe (essentially the concept of Betty over all as someone who's read the old comics).

-sigh- Man, I know this misunderstanding is going to blow up in Ethel's face and I genuinely feel bad for her in this instance.

Episode 26

OKAY NOW I CAN GET INTO THIS.

GIRL NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU. YOU'VE HAD SO LONG TO PROCESS YOUR FEELINGS. This is only your issue no one else's. It's truly so embarrassing and ridiculous to watch this go down.

Why is almost everyone in in this comic is so terrible? It's not even a reasonable sort of terrible you know? Yeah people get angry but it feels like drama for drama's sake.

NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T DUMBASS. I HAVE THE RECEIPTS. FUCKING SETH POINTED THAT OUT TO YOU, YOU CALLED IT MANSPLAINING AFTER HE REJECTED YOU.

Above: Season 1 Episode 50 (read left to right)

Betty: "I'm sure he knew."

GIRL. Do not put the blame on him. Even if he knew. He also clearly knew it was inappropriate, so he politely ignored or dissuaded you from it. This is not about feelings. It's about what is proper. He didn't want to take advantage of you and so he didn't.

UGH SHE'S BEING BITCHY AND SHALLOW AND POKING AT ETHEL'S RELATIONSHIP, WHICH SHE KNOWS AS HE FRIEND IS A GENERAL SORE POINT, BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HAVE ONE. How shallow can you get? Even as a friend I wouldn't do that.

I'm rolling my eyes ya'll. The pettiness. The idiocy of her reaction. Please go read a better comic than this.

Why do we keep blaming people who don't deserve it? First it's Jughead now it's Seth. When and where will it end? Also crying? Seriously? How are you not pissed the fuck off? I'm pissed the fuck off and I barely like you as a protagonist. Where are the actual fights in these friendships??? All it is is crying and yelling.

Seth didn't drive a wedge between you two. You continue to not want to take responsibility or accountability, and honestly neither does Betty now that I think about it. That and what drove a wedge between you two is Betty's stupid reaction to something should have dealt with months ago. It's probably been a whole season! It's spring right now I think! Get over it! He doesn't like you!

Goddammit. We almost have a voice of reason. He's right on the first part. It's not her fault, but we really need to stop propping up Ethel on a goddam pedestal. It's infuriating.

She's not right!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD.

YOU CAN SETH'S NAME A THOUSAND TIMES BUT IT'S LITERALLY NOT HIS FAULT. I am begging the author to get an editor or something. I'm begging. This is ridiculous.

(I am so upset that I hit the image limit of 30 I want you guys to see my upset Jughead reactions.)

Me too Seth. Me too. I know she's over correcting and being so FUCKING STUPID.

...

WHAT THE UTTER FUCK!!!!! YOU'RE SO FUCKING STUPID. I HATE YOU. YOU LITERALLY DID THIS WITH JUGHEAD!

GROW THE FUCK UP.

TAKE SOME GODDAMN ACCOUNTABILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS IN YOU GODDAMN LIFE.

YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE ON A PEDESTAL. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE A FUCKING PROTAGONIST OF A SERIES WITH THIS KIND OF WRITING.

SETH DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG. YOU'RE MAD!!!

[hamspamandjamsandwich]

ugggh sort of slogging through an artwork right now and I’m getting sooooooo in my head and self conscious about the way I make art

like. idk. i use strong language a lot because im melodramatic bitch, but generally i would consider my overall opinion of my art to be…harsh but fair. I could definitely cut myself some slack, but I’m also not *making shit up* just to hurt myself either. It’s critique that I’d give anyone, albeit harsher since it’s myself and not someone else.

I really think i have a complex because i have a graphic design background and…if you’ve seen my art…you can probably see why I found it very difficult to mesh my illustrations with my designs. Or maybe you can’t because you’re a better designer than me and would know what to do with it lmao. But i was doing that stuff when The Height Of Graphic Design™️ was Swiss typography and minimalism. So I pretty much never made anything that was on trend—aka marketable, which is sort of the entire point of graphic design—and it killed my confidence.

my skills stagnated because i was burnt out and couldn’t make anything, especially since i believed that the only stuff i was good at was literally unusable. And I did try, but it went pretty poorly. Looking back some of this was just imposter syndrome and me being a horrible inner critic. A lot of it looks better to me than it did then when i was making it. But i still see the exact same issues with my illustrative style in that space.

the never-ending complaint i have against my own art is also the thing that makes it good at all: it’s an absolute fucking mess of lines. Don’t get me wrong, i ADORE messy art. I love impressionist painting. I think gesture drawings and sketches are beautiful, and i like making mess art. But goddamn if it doesn’t feel like it’s the only thing i can make.

There’s so much i want to do but I feel extremely limited. I know the answer is that i should just practice and deal with stuff…sucking and looking ugly for a while. But it’s hard to throw all that time into making something that i know is subpar or even just bad.

And it’s just annoying to feel like the reason i can’t do something isn’t a materials or a money or even an inspiration or concept thing. It’s purely a skill issue. I literally just…can’t do it. It reminds me of when i went ice skating the first time and couldn’t make any progress despite my brain knowing what to do. My body couldn’t execute it. And it’s the same thing with this stuff.

I hate having to give up on something, not because i want to or am not enjoying it or don’t have time or anything, but because i simply can’t. I can’t ice skate, and I can’t make beautiful, clean art either, and for weirdly the exact same reason.

There’s also something to be said for the fact that any artist worth their salt regardless of their style can do what i do, really. It’s like i stopped after step 2 of sketching and never finished or learned anything past it lol. Every great artist out there doing great portraits or figure drawings can do gesture, can do sorta messy, etc. But i can’t clean my shit up to save my life lmao

idk this isn’t supposed to be a pity post or fishing. if i didn’t like the art i make i wouldn’t post it, you know? And i didn’t for a long time but i like everything I’ve put on here. I don’t think they’re bad, obviously. But when I see all the stuff I wish I could do…a wistful envy follows.

[acephysicskarkat]

Adora’s arc is such a goddamn mess in the end.

Adora, as a character, never seems particularly motivated by a desire for romantic love. Like, she’s capable of crushes, as witnessed with Huntara, but “I want to be loved” doesn’t seem to show up on her radar at any point. Friendships, yes, she seems to value those a lot. She wants to understand herself and her place in the universe. She wants to find her family, which is generally portrayed as an extension of the previous two points: a place she belongs, and which helps her understand who she is.

Romantic love, though? Never seems particularly significant. Never really shows up on her radar. There’s no Fantasy Valentine’s Day episode where she seems lonely or haunted. She never seems either confused about or jealous of the known romantic couples she encounters, like Bow’s dads or Spinnerella and Netossa. She’s unaware of terms built on blood relationships, like “aunt”, but never seems to question the concept of a husband or wife.

This is why her arc in S5 ends up so weird, because it decides to concentrate on how Adora deserves to focus on her own wants sometimes at a point in the narrative when the show does not care what Adora wants.

Her desire to find her family turns out to be totally irrelevant. We get confirmation that they’re probably dead and Adora barely reacts. She showed more emotion when confronted with a cake that looked like her the previous season than when she discovers that Horde Prime has taken away something she previously valued so much she was willing to leave the Horde for a chance of finding it.

Her friendships are mostly just used for cheap Drama Points as part of the overall sidelining of the Princess Alliance. (Because, you know, a show called She-Ra and the Princesses of Power should spend its entire final season vaguely annoyed that it has to have Princesses of Power and mostly treat She-Ra as a Save The Day button that’s activated by filling out the showrunner’s shipping chart.) Significant friendship breaches like the breaking of the BFS in the previous season or Catra’s history of treating her like shit, which we received confirmation in season 5 dates back to about the age of nine, are breezed past in like twenty seconds. And that’s a really wild shift given that the power of her friendships within the Princess Alliance blasted away an entire army and healed Glimmer’s glitching back in season 1.

As a result, the final resolution feels weird. Adora gets the thing the show decided, like a third of the way into the final season, she had always wanted, and that makes it okay that the things that she literally has always wanted per the actual episodes they put on Netflix were bluntly shoved into the background or forgotten about entirely.

I’m not saying that you can’t or shouldn’t do a show where The Power Of Love saves the day. I’m just saying that, even overlooking the whole “Catra's entire personality is made of red flags and the script keeps undermining any attempt to develop or redeem her” issue, it’s an awkward pivot when the show had previously seemed to be focused more on friendship than romance.

You have a character who wants to find a family, you have the best candidates for her found family literally in the name of the show, and then you go for “the day is saved by Toxic, Badly Written Romantic Love (TM)!”

The disconnect between what the show had previously seemed to be going for and what we’re told was the plan all along is wild.

[shilo-bathory]

FNAF: SECURITY BREACH SPOILERS!!!!

Spoilers for FNAF: SB. I finished watching a playthrough all the endings and I really wanted to talk about it all and editor brain go brrrr. ALSO. i’d like to preface that I watched sneegsnag, who spent 95% of the game complaining and the other 5% rocking to the music.

First off. the game looks AMAZING, and the concept is SO GOOD. I adored so much, from how big the map was to all the little things and the ideas they had. All beautiful.

That being said. I really didn’t like the endings. They all seemed...cheap? The comic book style didn’t make sense and the only really good one that fell in line was the Springtrap ending, but that one seemed very hard to access and overall didn’t feels like the natrual progression. But the rest and the comic book style I really disliked because it came out of nowhere and just seemed like they ran out of money or something. It didn’t make a lot of sense and was very scatterbrained, and didn’t even explain some of the things (and i know fnaf has been known to be squirrelly with its lore, but also :|)

My other problem was for being a ten hour game, it felt cut short. there was no “big boss battle” or even “big win” in general, and all the endings are rushed as hell. The only boos or problem at the end is moondrop, and he’s annoying at most. It’s not satisfying in any way and it left me wanting more.

Sure you “got through the night” but if you really had to do that, why go on all these tasks? why not just hide in a corner until 6am? there was no real driving force or explanation (like maybe you want to unlock the doors and you can’t do you have to do this task? or Vanny is chasing you and you have to get to these diffrent places to hide? Or there’s another exit? Other than the “to play the game” stuff there’s no driving force and that made me feel like it lacked. The reason he was doing all this was to supposedly find the disappearances, but it wasn’t even hinted at through the game and instead was thrown in at the end.

Other than those (and the security bots, and the fact it felt like we were leading up to a betrayal, either by freddy finding out gregory hurt his friends and being like “:(((( not cool” or something taking over him and using all the things we used to connect to him against, and the way freddy got all these upgrades only to. not. use them?) it was a really fun looking game!!! the concept was very nice and I loved the designs and how big it was. The way you had to decommission each one was very very sick, and I loved all the callbacks. the music man ESPECIALLY was so cool, the way he crawled through the holes in the walls. the music is also SICK AS HELL and i hope it gets released on spotify goddamn

[thecrazyanimegirl]

Winter anime 2020

And it’s time for another one of these lists. They kinda keep growing in number and it’s scary, but here it is! This season there were some continuation and some anime that got new seasons (ahiru no sora, chihayafuru, isekai quartet,  kaibukichou sherlock, iruma-kun, radiant, nnt) but here are the new anime we started ^^

{ Winter ‘18 }  { Spring ‘18 }  { Summer ‘18 }  { Fall ‘18 }  { Winter ‘19 } { Spring ‘19 }  { Summer ‘19 }  { Fall ‘19 }

BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.

This is a typical isekai with a game-like action and plot. It doesn’t have any deeper meaning, but okay for relaxing. Basically, if you want to take your brain out for a walk - watch this!

Darwin’s game

The manga is better. It always is, but here especially so. It has a really good concept - a battle to the death game in real life, but not as good execution with the anime adaptation, they skipped some of the really important parts. Don’t let that discourage you tho! It has a good character development and nice action scenes, which makes it quite good! And move on to the manga later ^^

Dorohedoro

A very interesting anime! Weird, but good! Not surprising tho, it’s mappa. The world in which the story is placed is, although very dark, refreshing and unusually good. The characters are unique, lovable, but weird... like really weird. The animation is a bit different, but it has it’s charm. Also, it has it’s fair share of blood and gruesome scenes, so skip it if you don’t like that. We loved it though! One of the favorites ^^

Hands off the motion pictures club! 

Soft. Just goddamn soft. The animation is a bit different and simplistic, but it fits the characters so well. This slice of life pulls you into the imaginative and colorful world of three high school girls who share the love for animation, and the viewer follows their process of getting inspired for plots for their anime and working on creating it. There is not much action going on, but it always leaves you with a positive feeling after watching it.

ID:Invaded

Yes. Watch it please. Awesome detective/ mystery story. The idea of entering a criminal subconscious (aka the id) is a unique and it gives new possibilities for detectives to find clues. The plot is very intriguing and keeps you on your toes. Its confusing at the beginning, but the story connects better after a few episodes and it makes you want to watch more. The characters are intriguing and their conversations well paced. (also great voice actors and music *-*) It has some darker scenes, murder and suicide mention, just thought I should mention that, but it’s an extremely good anime, so would definitely recommend!

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die  

As you can see from the title, this is about a girl fangirling over her favorite idol and that’s it, that’s the plot. But, it’s somehow soft, nicely animated and the story is just enough for an episode a week. It shows both the idol and the fan side of the idol culture, especially the less famous groups. Overall, it’s not an anime that will knock you off your feet, but it’s a solid comedy with relatable characters ^^

Infinite Dendogram  

Generic entering-a-game anime. The point of the anime is that every persons possibilities are endless and everyone has the potential to develop into a strong person. Like we said, nothing new. It’s old, but cute concept. 

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun 

And we’re pretty sure most people already know about this one! It’s playful, colorful, cute as heck, the main girl gets a bit annoying, but it’s hella good! The story balances comedy with a school setting and a darker side involving yokai and evil things that lurk in the shadows, making it interesting to watch. The animation is pleasant to the eyes and the characters are great, what’s more to want ^^

Kyokou Suiri

The plot of this anime is more focused on logical and critical thinking rather than on action, though it may seem otherwise from the synopsis. The relationships between the main characters are kind of weird, but in a good way and their interactions are always interesting. We were pleasantly surprised to see the main female character to have a crush on a guy and still maintain her IQ level. Overall, it’s a good anime, it has good voice actors (Mamo-chan <3), but don’t expect to be kept on the edge of your seat.

Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Gaiden  

If you watched Madoka, I’m sure you’ve heard about this release. We were happy that they kept the same dementia animation style, especially of witches. It kinda has a more positive vibe than the original but it still keeps some of the original darkness. There are a lot of new magical girls and more plot and action. It’s pretty good, but the original is better (we love them darkness).

Natsunagu! 

A very cute five minute anime about a girl searching for her friend who suddenly stopped answering her texts. The animation is cute and you have nothing to lose if you watch it.

Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga 

It’s about japanese warlords and historical figures, who are resurrected as dogs. Even though they’ve kept their personalities, they can’t say no to dogs drives (pet me hooman!). It’s cute, but not a lot of plot.

Pet

It has a very interesting idea of entering peoples subconscious and changing it, manipulating their memories in order to control them. But the executions of that idea is... meh, at best. The characters aren’t lovable or memorable, you don’t feel a connection to them. It’s one of those anime that at the end you say ‘It could have been so good’. But yeah, it wasn’t.

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It 

The title says it all. Comedy, slice of life (but not really, the sample is not representable). You really start rooting for the main couple and they are funny at proving their love. It’s also educational, it does mention and explain some principles. It’s quite funny ngl. 

Smile Down the Runway

A heartwarming anime about a guy who wants to be a designer and a girl who is too short, but still wants to be a model. It’s a story about perseverance, hard work and pushing towards your dreams. Positive and emotional, and you find yourself cheering for the main characters. Perfect if you want a slow paced anime that includes character development. 

Somali and the Forest Spirit 

It’s heartwarming, has very clear animation and great voices. The concept is really interesting, the accent is on understanding others different than you and showing love and support. Basically, lots of emotions, it doesn’t have action or a complicated plot, but as a soft story, it’s pretty good. 

The Case Files of Jewler Richard

This show is so filled with emotions and softness, it’s amazing! It’s mostly peoples stories - problems and difficulties they overcome on their own or with help of the people close to them, which also have some connection to a jewel. The plot focuses more on the main characters in the later episodes. But the art is very pleasing and the main characters have good chemistry. Of course, it’s not for those who don’t like a bit more of a slow paced story, mostly based on storytelling and human interactions. But it’s still good ^^

Watched but got to lazy to properly review: Ishuzoku Reviewers (sometimes you just have to admire that someone had the imagination to come up with some of the episodes), Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (not terrible, not that good either)

[lostmousemaid]

WAIT DO U THINK REDWALL IS FURRY CAUSE I DONT THINK IT IS! MY FRIENDS MEME ON ME ALL THE TIME BY CALLING ME A SECRET FURRY. shit goddamn it I hate this. Also if you read warrior cats do you think that is furry as well thank you for your time.

Alright so this is a loaded question (I say that respectfully) and I don't know all the details of all furry subcategories so I'm going to be general in this response.

I understand being offended by being called a furry, or things you like being referred to as furry. I used to be bothered by it but couldn't pinpoint why. I overheard someone saying something once along the lines of, "Furries are so fucking weird. Like why be sexually attracted to animals?"

That's when it hit me why I'd been SO annoyed by the use of the term. Many people use it in a sexual way and/or other completely derogatory manner.

Being a furry is not about being sexually attracted to animals. Full stop.

What helped me get over the distaste of the term was this entry in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

A rising usage of furry refers to people who have a keen interest in....anthropomorphic animal characters.

"Furry" in its broadest sense is an interest in animal characters with human characteristics. That's it. That's furry.

There are subsets all over the place which are just as varied as the people who are interested in the overall concept. Of course, there will be people who make furry a sexual thing (I'm not one of those).

Going by this, I fully fit in the broad sense of the term. I am totally interested in anthropomorphic animals. The use of them in books, etc. is frankly more enjoyable to me than human characters in many cases.

I haven't read Warrior Cats so I'm afraid I have no real opinion there. However, if they are animals with human characteristics, then they are anthro and can be categorized as furry.

In sum: "Furry" just means "likes anthro characters."

Anthromorphization is an element that's been used in story telling from the beginning of human history and nothing to be ashamed of if you love it. If you don't like the term, I understand--people use it to bully others and I admit that absolutely sucks (and more).

I've got no beef with the term anymore. :)

[welcometomy20s]

February 6, 2021

February 8th is the 3rd anniversary of Nijisanji, and to celebrate I want to give you a quip about every single extant member of Nijisanji... since there are over 130, that’s including ID, IN, and KR... but not VirtuaReal, because they are not on Youtube and also.... China... it’s split into three parts. Part 1 covers everything up to the merger that happened on the beginning of 2019.

First Wave

Tsukino Mito - The iinchou. One of the original seiso gone wrong. Mito is something else, a term I used for Haato, but Mito’s degeneracy feels very different. Mito is much more cynical, definitely likes gore like Korone, and definitely one who calculates things. Haato is just beginning to figure out how to play out her degeneracy, to great effect, but Mito knew the future. In that sense, she fits the Student Representative nature.

Remember that Mito is kind of like Sora in Hololive. This comes as the major source tension, for Hololive, it’s the tension of being an idol and being oneself. Here, it’s more like how to best express oneself within the limitation of the medium. It seems similar, but the feeling is quite different, and that’s what makes Nijisanji so different from Hololive.

Higuchi Kaede - I heard she plays the trumpet. Hmm, that’s all you need to know about this person. If you were in band, you know the instrument determines your personality. Trumpet people are outgoing, brash, but ultimately a nice group of people. The girls, in particular, have a cool side to them, even if they present feminine. They are going to be good friends, with no worries of love blossoming. Usually referred to as Deron, which roughly translates to a slobbering napper... and part of JK Gumi with Mito and Rin.

Shizuka Rin - The functional leader of the group. She’s the competent one, pretty good at gaming, pretty good at hosting, good at being both boke and tsukkomi, also good at drawing apparently. Also good at language as well.

Yuki Chihiro - A soft spoken loli who plays a lot of shooters, and is pretty good at them. Also quite pervy at times. So, just your typical salty gamer, who happens to be a magical girl, apparently... so in another word, a brat.

Elu - Full name, Snow White Paradise El Santo Flow Wasurena Pure Princess Livre Love Heidern Dokodoko Yattaze Valkyria Passion Alfr Noel Chakoboshi Eluaria Frosia Made-in Bloom Elu. Shares the illustrator with Hal Shibuya, Toya, Sister Claire and so on. Started out as a talk streamer, known for her wide range of voice, she shifted to playing Minecraft as you usually do. A bit lacking at top, but tries her best.

Shibuya Hajime - Not to be confused with Shibuya Hal, who was affiliated with upd8. One of the more proficient players in Nijisanji, from his start as pro Getting Over It player, to giving tech advice, and eventually establishing himself as a pro PUBG and Apex player. Apparently did some odd tweets that got him under fire, but he’s better now, apparently. Probably why he did so good at the imagination tournament.

Moira - A goddess, you know with ara ara and everything. Apparently seems to have her head above her clouds... which makes sense considering she’s a goddess.

Suzuya Aki - We have a cross-dresser, everyone. According to TVTropes, he’s affably evil, you know the type. Apparently the most normal of the first wave... and as you have might have guessed Toya really likes this kid. It figures.

Second Wave

Morinaka Kazaki - Another loli character, but has an adult form. Formed a duo with Gibara for some goddamn reason... childhood friends with Emma August, and strangely seen as mother-like, although she looks ten half the time. It’s odd.

Mononobe Alice - Not a loli, despite the appearance... and some of her acts. Has a decent grasp in English, which is really pretty cool. Not much other than that.

Suzuka Utako - The shotacon of the group, and just the most perverted person. Usually has a deep voice, but actually has a pretty wide range, and therefore a really good singer. First Nijisanji member to get banned, apparently.

Fumiko Tamaki - Very much Nijisanji’s own Okayu, including the bad live streaming environment, and having a cat of her own, who is just the most bad of kitties... but even more like a cat in how her schedule is what she feels like... apparently got 250 grand by sleeping. Well, sleeping cat is a staple. Also has a tendency to get her jaw taken out... you know those people. As you might garner, very clueless with technology.

Yuhi Riri - She’s from the future... She has a nice boyish voice, but usually is the butt of the joke due to her lore, so no one comments about it. She seems nice.

Ienaga Mugi - Shares the illustrator with Rin, a shut-in who loves video games and her onii-chan, one of the few who actually grows in age. Pretty good musician, likes to flirt with Riri... which is interesting. Had her identity revealed at school... yikes.

Ushimi Ichigo - She’s a strawberry milk sea slug, which is just the coolest thing. Has a father-daughter relationship with Belmond, and good at drawing. Got some cool advice from Matsuri... which actually, uh, isn’t really a good idea, isn’t it?

Kenmochi Toya - Speaking of not being a good idea to be next to lolis... many people point to the double standard about female vtubers being creepy as kind of a quirk, compared to men, who would go straight to jail... and I point to Kenmochi Toya.

He’s a good host, strangely like Matsuri or Marine, apparently the son of Mito, which Mito likes but Toya doesn’t... go figure. Has that v-line chin that is parodied a lot, and likes to rap... which also feels like a Marine thing. Sorry... he’s pretty good on his own.

Fushimi Gaku - Cheerful man who does a morning show and plays horror games. Kind of plays the father figure for the second wave... but also has a dark side, which makes sense considering the children above. Also fit with the horror games above.

Gilzaren III - Rarely streams, but hangs around in the chat a lot, like he’s some kind of an official lurker of Nijisanji. Also speaks with a pretty high tone, which doesn’t quite fit, although this might be a ruse... it’s unsure.

Nijisanji Gamers

Kanae - Kind of have his head in the clouds, which fits the lore of having amnesia. Kind of the leader of the Gamers, and one of the best at gaming. Does long streams and everything, likes PUBG but venturing to Apex and the likes. Good at Minecraft, too. Usually works with Kuzuha, leading to that famous clip... such a good classic.

Overall, a really solid streamer and personality in general. A real gem for the crew.

Akabane Youko - Rarely streams, but she is good at gaming. Has a wild laugh and so people still like her... huh, in some sense she’s the female Gilzaren.

Himawari Honma - Gamers 2nd Generation is an absolute goldmine. There were three, one of them retired, but you still know her (wink wink), and all three are just fantastic. Probably the best is Hima... one of those empty-head people that is really good at gaming... you know, Aqua, but somehow better, least to me.

Like Aqua, she's a pretty good singer and she likes vocaloids. But Hima-chan is like a sunflower while Aqua is an... onion. I mean onion could be sweet, but it always gives off a bad taste at the end, while a sunflower is a pure delight. Just look at her, her emptiness is a light, while Aqua’s emptiness is dark. (You can tell my bias here.)

I never like the dumb sterotypes, but Hima is so warm and comforting in her emptiness that you cannot help but smile at the airhead. She’s just such a good vtuber.

Sasaki Saku - She’s the hot-headed of the three, well two. She picks fights with everyone, including people like Belmond or Yashiro, and they fight back because she’s just an entertaining fighter. She’s entertaining, period.

Kuzuha - Probably one of more well-known male Nijisanji members. Went on the Suisei route, as in, he was independent before joining Nijisanji. Plays FPS with Kanae as mentioned before. Pretty good player, but better at banter. Kind of a mischievous person who is actually quite shy... a little of Pekora in the person, except Kuzuha is more annoying than truly like a villain that is Pekora.

One of the people who says cannot sing, but can actually sing very well. Just overall, a great talent to have and just fun to watch, especially in collabs.

Shiina Yuika - Likes Nintendo, and also does a radio show on YouTube. Actually did a radio show as well once. One of the brutally honest people, and a trouble-maker.

As you kind of expect, Sasaki Saku was the one who really got her into the groove, and during her what-turned out to be an absence, Shiina did feel a bit down. Likes to sleep, which makes sense in the context. Not the best at gaming, but still a fun player.

Aqua really likes her, which is interesting since she shares the illustrator with Okayu, and therefore the two are close friends... and they would go after the poor onion.

Makaino Ririmu - Supposedly a succubus. Definitely headstrong and kind of a loli, so there’s a pretty wide fanbase for her... but she’s honestly a good-hearted person. Just look at her collabs with Kou or Lize... she did calculus for a stream?

SEED 1st Gen

Ryushen - Real name, Sengawa Midori. Singer of uncertain gender, so I’ll use ‘they’. Known to be the planner, and a good one at that. Friends with Sister Claire, and their junior, Kakeru and Hayato. Is part of the group, ‘Rain Drops’ with five other members. Originally stated to be part of VOIZ, a male pop group, but as stated... ‘they’.

As for personality, they are a cool kid, friendly with others. Not a bad person to watch.

Hanabatake Chaika - Muscular Okama Elf who wears a maid dress. Very cool personality, a rough and tumble kind of person. As with the description earlier, the concept is odd, but the person is odd in a more palatable way. Honestly, one of people I would try to seek to watch in Nijisanji. Apparently the cross-dressing thing was enforced, rather than a personal choice. Got turned into a robot once.

As for an example, his 3D debut was actually months after he has gotten them and actually used them in collabs and TV interviews, so Chaika skipped right to the shenanigans instead. Perhaps this spontaneity is what makes Nijisanji 3D better.

Yashiro Kizuku - Concept is a systems engineer, likes rhythm and retro games. Friendly with a lot of people, especially with Sasaki Saku, which they host a gaming show. It’s really fun! They are a good bickering couple. The show is kind of a good gateway for Nijisanji as a whole, I believe. Oh, right the intellectual test with Hima...

Yeah, the blandest concept, but one of the most likable members in Nijisanji.

Dola - She’s a fire dragon. Act as an elder to the SEED group, kind of an admin at the minecraft server, so she’s treated like a god here. Good singer, great dancer.

She’s in a group with Yashiro, Hima, and Kuzuha, where the concept is that they are a family, with Dola and Yashiro being parents, and Hima and Kuzuha being their children, and they are one of the best groups to come out of Nijisanji. You can’t miss them.

Sister Claire - Usually does really short talk streams, which was reformatted to a radio format. One of the last seiso people, but strangely gets along with many of the members, mostly because she wants to be funny, and honestly... succeeds for me.

Also a great singer... who would have guessed? Sometimes treated as a cult leader.

Todoroki Kyoko - A 19 year old gyaru. Self proclaimed normie, but obviously not the case anymore. Great at drawing, but only in 2D. As with gyarus, really nice!

Suzuki Masaru - A chunni cross-dresser. Wants to be cool, but obviously cute. Actually doesn’t really like cross-dressing, but it does get the views. Honestly, he looks cool.

Uzuki Kou - A rich teenage boy, well liked by other people. Great singer but doesn’t show often... he does have a rap about hot pot ingredients that is well-covered by others. Friends with Ririmu, I believe. He’s a nice person to watch.

Azuchi Momo - A 14-year old illustrator who did her own design, and one of the most dangerous members of Nijisanji. Yep, known for her curses and drinking cocktails... and yes, she’s supposed to be 14. But even she recognizes that she’s an adult woman...

SEED 2nd Gen

Takamiya Rion - A student at a magic school. Supposed to be a lass, but in reality becomes like that sketch where two beautiful women are dubbed by kids? Yeah, she becomes like that. Just the least intelligent person... good for moron-sexuals, I guess.

Apparently this is more a debuff, as she can act smart and lady-like in late night streams. She was the one who hosted the imagination event. Also really likes SAO, and therefore fell into Genshin pretty hard last year, and who can blame her?

Asuka Hina - Is sometimes called a succubus, kind of works a producer and did a special producing session as a result. Can be calm and outgoing at once.

Maimoto Keisuke - Originally a farmer, but got tired of it. Does gaming and sport commentary, usually wrestling or baseball. Became someone who always gets tortured by his female peers... strange but not a bad character. Oh, this harassment leads to a lot of anger and there’s a tradition where they burn people virtually... and he always gets lumped in as a person to be burned. Friends with Subaru and Ui, and forms the Oozora family, believes to be a middle-aged man, but others don’t treat him like that.

Amemori Sayo - Typical high school student, but we’re sure she’s a ghost. Does a lot of special effects, leading to tech problems. Kind of a quiet speaker.

Kanda Shoichi - typical college student, has a buddy relationship with Gundou Mirei. Good at gaming, singing and hosting, which means he got his due even though it was a little late. Doesn’t really like Korea, though, which is a problem.

Rindou Mikoto - An oni queen, likes girls and booze. Can hold down a liquor, and hold down a girl... a quick learner in everything, therefore excellent at everything.

I knew her as Marine’s coach at Mario Kart... and now I know the reason.

Joe Rikiichi - He’s a joker, a real comedian. Good at improv. Pretty poor. Does late-night radio with Maimoto as well. He’s always a fun person to watch.

Debidebi Debiru - Demon koala who dabble in the occult. He’s the kid in the family, with all the stubbornness and gumption included. Likes to make nicknames, good in collabs. And as with kids, ultimately a good person at heart, which is why he does collabs.

Probably one of my favorites... I’m kind of miffed his section is so short, honestly.

Sakura Ritsuki - A fairy from another world. Basically only plays minecraft as the resident builder in the area. Got a new outfit, and suddenly got a ship going on with Kuzuha, which is good for her, I guess. Yeah, she does what she does.

Machita Chima - A great singer and bit of a psychopath. Went dark to study for exams, but soon returned to herself. Kind of a younger Suisei is what I’m getting at.

Belmond Banderas - The Corpse of Nijisanji. Low voice, and very kind to everyone. But he can be funny too. If he’s drunk, he’s just your average guy who agrees on everything. Also incredibly lucky, apparently, enough to make a religion with Lize as worshipper.

Yumeoi Kakeru - Singer-songwriter who got calling as a host. Really likes Ryushen to a psychopathic degree, but they are good friends as well. Seriously, he’s one of those well-adjusted psychopaths. Apparently he was a biochemist before singing. Sara calls him papa... which, okay, I guess. Did some shady stuff like catfishing in the past...

Overall, he’s that person who came from a rough background, and that means there’s some edges and some of his strength. Definitely an important asset.

Kuroi Shiba - She’s a four year old dog, but acts like an old lady and eventually earned the suffering characteristic and works at a shady company. But what’s the most fascinating thing is her deep lore. Seriously, it might be one of the most interesting lore before Haachama/Haato became a thing.

Yaguruma Rine - A eleven-year old girl who says the first thing on her mind. Also went dark during exam season, but returned after the summer exams. Practices English a bit during her streams, so there’s that going for her. Also her phone disappeared for a bit.

Harusaki Air - Air here meaning ‘spring’ in Greek. Kind of interpreted as a cleaner version of Toya. He’s a prince, so he’s usually busy... unlike a certain princess.

Naruse Naru - Remember has a different look! Although now he can switch it back and forth... apparently it was management issues? Whatever, won the current mario kart tournament (Mikoto was second) and that’s pretty much it, honestly.

[felixnation]

THE TOP 10 WORST KPOP SONGS OF 2020

(WARNING: I DON’T LIKE THESE SONGS AND WILL BE MEAN AT THEM. I DO NOT HAVE ANY PERSONAL BEEF WITH ANY OF THESE GROUPS OR ARTISTS SO DON’T COME FOR ME IF YOUR FAVE MADE A STINKER TRACK THIS YEAR.)

Ah, 2020. The year where disco came back, the 80s came back, and everyone was titling their songs after nonsense words. It was a good year for k-pop overall, with a lot of new trends entering the game towards the end of summer. However, there were some real clunkers that refused to get out of my head this quarantine and pissed me off to varying degrees each time I heard them. This list is an attempt to chronicle all of those.

So without further ado, let’s get this shit done.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

NCT 127 - PUNCH This isn't actually a bad song, hence it only making it to the honorable mentions section. In fact, I think this could've easily made the best list had it not been for one thing, and that's the presence of NCT 127, namely their rap line. The instrumental on this thing is absolutely killer and one of the best productions to come out of SM in a long time. The entire thing is bizarrely structured and incredibly gutsy, and therefore I think it's a travesty that an instrumental this incredible was drowned in ASMR-esque whispers and EYYYY WE BALLINs. There are a few salvageable sections, namely the first post-chorus, and we see glimmers of NCT 127's true potential, should they choose to explore this sound further.

CIGNATURE - NUN NU NAN NA Similar to Punch, I admire the production choices here - there are a few sections that blast you with 100gecs-esque womps, and that's always something I enjoy. The vast majority of the song rarely dips below decent territory, but since the entire thing hinges on the titular hook, it ends up falling apart right when it needs to bring the hype the most. I mean, building a hook around those notes was...an interesting choice, I guess. It reminds me a lot of fromis_9's FUN!, which also constructed the entire song around a terrible set of notes. Listen to them yell that hook at you and tell me it doesn't sound off. Most frustrating song of 2020.

ONG SEONG WU - GRAVITY Have you ever heard a drop this weak? I sure haven't. I hate the way he says DIVING INTO YOUR LOVE, the over-enunciation kills me and there's one syllable too many. Also, thanks Ong Seong Wu for giving CRAVITY the promo they deserve.

BTS - FLY TO MY ROOM I can't relax while listening to this, the beat is so sparse and has this nauseous sway to it that really makes me feel like I'm reliving these past 9 months of quarantine all over again. And just like quarantine, it really feels like this goddamn thing never ends. That final set of choruses is really a chore to get through, and I'm not the only one who thinks so - shout out to Taehyung for serving taste and I'm sorry Jimin convinced you to sing out of your natural range yet again.

TREASURE - MMM Ew.

I*ZONE - FIESTA It's a pretty standard girl group song up until that chorus hits and oh my god, who on earth produced this? Are they actively trying to trigger my psychosis? There are so many sounds happening that it feels like three or four demo tracks laid on top of each other, it makes me confused even trying to figure out what's going on here. And that post-chorus drop is horrendous, it's like the instrumental is literally screaming into my ear STREAM BLOOM*IZ!!! STREAM BLOOM*IZ YOU DUMB CUCK!!! YOU LOVE IT!!!

NOW FOR THE REAL LIST.

#10: TAEYEON - HAPPY

I do not like this. Taeyeon has one of the most powerful voices in the industry and instead of putting it to good use, she decided to put out the musical equivalent of eating a stick of butter. Bland, horrible texture, seems to go on forever and ever, you know you shouldn't be consuming it and you don't know why you're doing this to yourself, etc.

The MV contributed to my dislike, with Taeyeon whitewashed all the way into uncanny valley as she lounges around her beautiful apartment. Well of course you'd be happy if you lived in a place like that, I know I would. The sad thing is that there's some really nice vocal work here and there, but for the majority of the song, Taeyeon decides to serenade us in the most nasal tone that she can muster. I know she can sing better than this, and I'm disappointed in her for creating this and unleashing it on the world.

#9: WEKI MEKI - OOPSY

Whereas Picky Picky was annoying in the best way possible, Oopsy is annoying in the worst way possible. The instrumental legitimately sounds cheap, the drums sound so tinny and artificial that it's hard on the ears. Not to mention the hook, wherein the girls force their voices as high as they can go as they proclaim OOPSY! 

I'm a huge fan of cute concepts, but when it comes to putting out a high-energy sugary track like this, you're walking a fine line between adorable and irritating. Weki Meki didn't even try to walk the line, they just dove headfirst into irritating territory without a care in the world. It literally feels like the audio equivalent of having to hold a whiny toddler and then it pisses itself and the mom is just cooing about how her little darling made an oopsy.

#8: VICTON - MAYDAY

It feels like for most of the year, the vast majority of boy groups were stuck in a rut, knee-deep in sludgy EDM and leather harnesses. You know the songs I'm talking about, and I could've put any one of them here, but I chose this one purely because that chorus makes me feel like I have a concussion. I don't like this song nor the trend it's representative of - I spent most of quarantine having the same dark BG concepts thrown at me over and over and I'm glad things are starting to take a bit of a turn.

The bridge on this is actually pretty great, and the guys in VICTON do know how to sing, as can be seen in the final post-chorus. But man, there's just nothing fresh being brought to the table here, just the same stale trends in their worst form yet. The hook is so slow and drowsy, the same few notes just repeated over and over. I have not seen the MV because I feel like I can picture it well enough in my head just by listening. Are there harnesses? Don't forget those, boys.

#7: MCND - SPRING

Only Pentagon are allowed to do these concepts.

#6: HYO, LOOPY, SOYEON - DESSERT

This is genuinely unlistenable as soon as the drop hits, with a vocal stitching job that might be a horn synth, I'm not sure. That's how annoying it is. The producer is clearly incompetent and the performers are oozing with personality, though not the pleasant sort. The hook is  bratty and the raps here are beyond generic. After the halfway point, there are a couple interesting sounds thrown into the mix, but it's not enough to save things.   

Soyeon in particular sounds awful here, with her iconic nasally tone morphing into something genuinely irritating and borderline spiteful. Age up the toddler from the Oopsy comparison to around 7 or 8 and that's basically what you've got here. All I can hope is that this song is not influential in any way, shape or form, because I just had a vision of Blackpink imitating this production style and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

#5: SECRET NUMBER - WHO DIS?

I'm not sure how many Secret Number fans are out there, but I'm about to make all of em real mad at me right about now. However, it must be said.

This is basically Your Turn by Kaachi again.

I don't think I need to explain that hot take, just listen to the song. It's surprisingly amateurish, to the point where I feel like the vocals aren't in sync and they just used the first take they got from each girl. The raps in particular are awful, and I swear they even sound like they go off-key a couple of times. How this blew up in any aspect is bizarre to me. Anyways, stream Photo Magic and stan Kaachi.

#4: BAEKHYUN - CANDY

Did you want a k-pop version of Yummy by Justin Bieber? No? Well, Baekhyun decided to make it anyways! At least Yummy was sort of funny in how bad it is, this is just...a somber affair. Inexplicably, he manages to oversing the final third of the song, which I don't get the point of, but okay. Lazy, underproduced and overproduced at the same time, bland, boring, annoying...

Wait, did he just say...

Okay, I changed my mind, this is hysterical. Like Pop rocks, strawberry, bubble gum...

#3: (G)-IDLE - DUMDI DUMDI

I'm so sick of this group's 'ethnic' schtick, it's like they never learn. They just don't give a fuck - after a string of genuinely great tracks like Hann, Lion, and Oh My God, they just decide to put out this shit and expect me to listen to it? They're a group with a lot of potential, with some brilliant vocalists and the talent that is Soyeon (who really loves being on this list, apparently) but if they continue down the path of using different cultures as concepts I can't support them any further.

The song itself has salvageable parts, a recurring theme on this list, but the over-the-top tribal influences are so obvious and tropey that even listening to it feels gross. (G)-Idle have more creative control than most groups, and the fact that they're capable of creating works of art like Lion is what makes me harsh on them. Instead of moving forward, they continue to regress into their comfort zone of cultural appropriation.

#2 YOOA - BON VOYAGE

Speaking of cultural appropriation...are we gonna address this? Nah? Okay.

Oh My Girl, YooA's parent group, has a history of blatant cultural appropriation (and arguably some legit racist moments depending on how you look at it) and they seem like they're not changing anytime soon. That's why this particular song stings even more than it probably should. If you thought Dumdi Dumdi's tribal influences were a little too on the nose, take a listen to this chorus.

YooA has a bad voice, is wearing tribal face paint, and is running around the wilderness whitewashed into oblivion while a choir of nameless voices chant vaguely tribal things behind her. Even in an industry like k-pop, this sticks out as something in bafflingly poor taste, and I can't see how she got away with this in 2020.

#1 BLACKPINK & SELENA GOMEZ - ICE CREAM

Well, this is a predictable pick. 

I don't know why or how Blackpink thought they could get away with drip-feeding blinks content for 4 goddamn years in the lead-up to their first album, only to drop this big fat clunker on them. I honestly felt insulted by the song, from its cheap, tinny production to the god-awful lyrics. I don't know how anyone could find any value in a piece of music this soulless and hollow.

Lisa's raps are by far the worst part of it, with FIRE BARS such as "you're the one been chosen, play the part like moses" and "mona lisa kinda lisa". Unfortunately, these raps take up a good portion of the song, and there's nothing going on in the instrumental to distract you from them, save for that little ice cream truck jingle. (or at least I think that's what the producer was going for)

Selena is a non-presence and essentially blends in with the girls, who WAIL that awful hook like their lives depend on it. Also, there's some really cheesy innuendos here that're sung with all the sex appeal of the actual ice cream truck driver from literally your neighborhood. 

I loathe what this song represents - the only good thing about it is that the girls look stunning in the MV. And that's exactly the thing - this song represents the exact moment in time wherein Blackpink admitted to their audience that music is no longer their main focus. This is the peak of their influencer-ization, and only time will tell if they'll redeem themselves. (Spoiler: They sort of did, goddammit.)

[evonymus]

Deadly Premonition 2

Everything I write here is just my opinion. I don't try to represent someone else's  thoughts and feelings. I fully understand that tastes differ and things I dislike may be enjoyed by others and vice versa. By writing this I don't try to attack anyone who has different opinion about the game. This text will have spoilers, so don’t read it if you haven’t beaten the game yet. It’s a lot of rambling that is not really structurized or anything, just a big collection of thoughts. Strong language is used.

Gameplay-wise the game seemed pretty meh. I fully realize it may feel very different if you actually play it instead of watching, the feeling of completion, getting stuff done and all that sorta thing. Still, the majority of game seems like a shit-ton of donkey work. Side missions are a very mixed bag. Sometimes they feel like the ones in the 1st game when you need to talk to someone or get an item for them, those ones are ok. However, there's a lot of grinding which you'd expect from an mmorpg, nor a murder mystery. As for the main missions, this is where one of my biggest problems with the game comes in. The first game was all about investigation. Go to the case-related place and investigate it, examine the corpse, talk to witnesses, follow your new lead and so on. It felt like a real investigation. Sure, York did rely on supernatural to solve it, but it was like twice in the entire game (fishing the docs from the waterfall thanks to the cup and going to Harry because the newspaper told him to. I don't count FK in the coffee since it's not much of a clue, just foreshadowing). He only used it because with Nick getting arrested he had no other clues what to do next. It sure felt a bit weird but...understandable? In the 2nd game, however, there's no real investigation going on. All York does is just blindly following oracles and hope that something good will come out of it and there will be progress. And there is because MAGIC! We used to be a competent FBI agent, now it turns out we're only successful because MAGIC! Zach even blatantly admits he has left FBI because he doesn’t get MAGIC HINTS anymore. For me it's a massive let-down. Also, since there's little logical reasoning behind many main missions, they feel super-meh as well. Oh, hey, it's an important person, can't wait to meet and question them! Waaaait-wait-wait-wait, you've got a collectathon in front of you that makes no sense in general but still will move your investigation forward because MAGIC! (Yes, I'm stil bitter and angry as fuck at those stupid drums that do nothing). The thing is, I totally understand why the developers felt it was perfectly normal to make the game this way. The reason behind it is called LOL WACKY. DP gained fame as being a bizarre and wacky game, which to my mind is pretty unfair. It had its moments, sure, but that's what's made it special - just the right balance of "sane" and "insane". Unfortunately, due to its reputation the developers got the wrong message and stopped bothering to make things coherent. "Who cares if something doesn't make sense, it's WACKY and that's exactly what fans want!" Big fat nope. I don't mind a bit of silliness in games, however this game goes far beyond "a bit". The same goes for the characters. Sorry, LOL ZANY characters, another DP1 (not really) staple. DP2 doesn't have as many really quirky people as the 1st game does but man they felt forced and annoying, from their overall shticks to speech patterns. There are characters from DP1 I dislike, but I dislike them for being dicks in general. DP2 characters though I hate from the bottom of my heart for how goddamn irritating they are. I'm sorry, maybe I got old or something, but I really don't think that a concept of a guy refusing to wear clothes is funny. He feels forced as fuck. Just as the guy who has adopted several personas just for lulz (I might be wrong on David, perhaps it is stated in the game that he really has split personality. It won't change anything much though). People in DP1 felt like real people, someone you could meet in real life. Sure, you can meet a guy wearing nothing but his boots, briefs and a hat irl as well, but somehow I doubt it'll be a pleasant acquaintance or, at least, won’t make you question his mental state. Also, don't even get me started on Simon. I literally hated every second of him on the screen. Cartoonish characters were my biggest concern after D4 and boy I was right to worry about that. Also, you don't get to really know people, especially the important ones, so when stuff happens, it barely has any effect on you. Remember how DP1 made you stick with all the main cast for pretty much the entirety of the game, so they felt like family and the end-game literally torn your soul apart? DP2 doesn't even try to get close to that, except for Patricia, but the emotional impact of the ending is nowhere near. The way people talk in the game is atrocious. It often feels like an amateur play written by someone overestimating their writing abilities way too often (talk with Lena in the bar is a good example of what I mean here). Which is a darn shame since there's nothing like that in the 1st game where pretty much all the dialogues were coherent. When thoughts like "That sounds dumb", "That makes no sense" and “That’s not how people talk” are swirling in your mind almost non-stop, that's not a good sign. The directing also seemed to degrade a bit. While there were some scenes in the original, that raised eyebrows and concerns, this game feels more like something of Spy Fiction era. Someone please inform Swery that making someone to look at the rotating screen for too long doesn't make them think "Oh, that's neat!", it makes them wanna puke. There are two little parts that I remember really well: 1) the shot of Patti's mouth when she's tempted to touch a red tree that goes for like 15 seconds while she's making strange noises; 2) That moment when Zach is dreaming about Kaysen, specifically, when he starts screaming and shooting. That frame starts with Zach already screaming and honestly it made me giggle with how silly it looks. Certainly that was not the intended player's reaction. This whole part might seem like nit-picking, but it really rubbed me the wrong way.

As for the plot, Le Carre part felt so-so and rushed with main missions mostly being a flop and major characters dropping like flies. Rest in peace, *character_name, we hardly knew ye. (Also, what the fucking FUCK was that part with an alligator tearing off Danny's hand? If that was a red herring, that was the dumbest fucking red herring I've seen in my entire goddamn life).  Also, as a side-note, let me make a little confession here: I'm fucking dumb. I'm dumb as a rock. I can never guess anything, being oblivious to obvious things. Still, I suspected Avery from the very beginning due to his heights and as soon as Lena said the drug changes people's physical properties I was convinced he had been involved. Welp, guess what. Sadly, solving this little riddle has brought me no joy. The ending though... Honestly, I don't even want to give any sort of analysis to it. Just thinking about it makes me mad. All I can say is that it was one of the dumbest, most melodramatic, crappy anime-esque endings I've ever seen. And trust me, I've seen some shit, I've beaten MGS4. I could never expect that someone who has wrote DP1 could write something as ridiculous as that. It was so dumb it wasn’t even funny. "Everything was very bad but then FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC happened and everyone lived happily ever after BECAUSE MAGIC!" That's how fanfiction is written. That’s some AU shit a desperate fan could cobble together. I am fully aware there's a lot of people who are really into this exact sort of stuff. As for me, it makes my skin crawl so fucking much it has probably reached Spain by now.  All in all, DP2 is a terrible disappointment. The only real up-side of it is that it has reminded me how good the first game was.

[welllpthisishappening]

Ice Time

Hello, hi, yes, hey there internet. You know what today is? In this mess of a world, today is an exceptional day because today is @optomisticgirl​ ‘s birthday. B is one of the kindest and most wonderful and talented people on this whole wide web, and you should all make sure to tell her that. Right now. Because it is B’s birthday, and because I love few things more than her love of Will Scarlet, here are about two-thousand words which include the following things:

An AU of an already massive AU, Will Scarlet dad-mode activated, snarky Killian, Will Scarlet best uncle in the universe-mode activated, babies, hockey legacy and the number thirteen. 

----

“She’s too small.” “Too small?” “Yeah, I thought there’d be—I don’t know...more of her or something.” Will tilted his head, something that probably would have been a laugh if he weren’t so goddamn exhausted bubbling in the back of his throat. And Peggy didn’t blink. She kept staring straight at the kid in his arms, an appraising look, like she was taking stock of an infant and not all together impressed with what she’d found. 

“More?” he echoed. “You want to expand on that?” Peggy shrugged. “I don’t know. Just something. Like she could do something.’ “She’s a baby, Jonesy. I’m fairly certain sleeping and laying here, while being almost questionably small, is more or less her prerogative.” “What?” “Haven’t got that far in vocab, huh? Don’t tell Mary Margaret that, she’ll start instructing you out of pure teacher-like need.” Peggy stuck her tongue out, Will’s laugh finally working its way out of him and he could still dimly make out Killian talking to Belle in the kitchen. They’d arrived at the apartment a few minutes before — laden down with team-branded merchandise and another tiny stick, Killian’s grin looking almost abnormally large when he held it out. 

As if it was payment in kind for unwanted gifts of yore. 

“When’s the last time you blinked?” Will asked Peggy, widening his eyes when she flinched at the question. “You’re going to do damage to your eyes that way and then how will we get on the ice?” “We can get on the ice?” “Is that not why you’re disappointed in the overall size and weight of Evie?” “I didn’t say anything about her weight,” Peggy argued, tugging her legs closer to her chest so she could rest her chin on her knees. And Will nearly cackled at that — even through the lack of sleep — Peggy’s expression turning so Emma-like that it was almost like being smacked in the face with family-type feelings and something about the future being now. 

“No?” “No,” Peggy echoed. “I just—I mean, when’s she going to be able to skate?” “There’s not really a scouting report out on her yet, kid.” Peggy seemed to consider that for a moment, mouth twisting in thought and eyes going thin enough that they were barely more than slits. Will had to bite his lip. He was fairly certain his kid had fallen asleep and he wasn’t willing to chance that with even more outbursts of vaguely familial humor. 

“Do you think she’ll want to skate?” “With you?” Will prompted knowingly. 

“I don’t like when you do the mind-reading thing.” “Ah, but you make it very easy.” She stuck her tongue out again. “You’re getting predictable, Jonesy. Got to keep your opponent on his toes.” “How long does it take for babies to skate?” “Probably when they have some upper-body strength.” She huffed, wholly and obviously dissatisfied with the answer. Will bit the side of his tongue. 

“Well, that’s dumb,” Peggy grumbled. “You think she can hold a stick?” “Absolutely not.” “But we brought her a stick.” “That’s because your dad thinks he’s way funnier than he actually is.”

“That’s not fair,” Killian objected, walking back into the living room with an arm slung around Belle’s shoulders and an equally knowing look on his face. “This is just tradition or something.” “Don’t be bitter,” Belle chided.

“Am I being bitter or am I presenting real and true facts?” “Having to add the precursor of real and true before your facts is not helping your cause.” “God, babe,” Will said, “the fact that you can even think the word precursor right now is stupid impressive.” Belle laughed softly, head falling to Killian’s arm. She might not have been capable of supporting much of her own weight either. And that probably shouldn’t have made something warm and wonderful explode in the general vicinity of Will’s heart, but he still was having a difficult time wrapping his head around the concept of a kid and a family and Peggy was doing that staring thing again. 

“When did I start skating?” she asked. 

“Not during infancy,” Will muttered. 

Killian clicked his tongue. “Fairly close though.” “Stop presenting my kid with unreachable expectations, Cap.” “Should we be offended that we don’t think Evie can reach Jones Line level expectations?” Belle asked lightly, tugging on Killian’s shirt until he moved with her. So she could sit down. “Or that they aren’t higher?”

“Legacy and all that,” Killian added. 

Will stuck his tongue out. 

And Peggy didn’t laugh, so much as she exploded with nearly eight-year-old noise, a pointed finger and impossibly wide eyes and—

A crying baby. 

Belle jumped up, reaching a hand out, like she’d be able to help from the other side of the living room, and Will wasn’t sure what he was saying, just mumbled syllables and quiet encouragements, back on his feet before he’d entirely realized he’d decided to stand. He swayed on the spot, Killian shifting back into Peggy’s space when her lower lip started to tremble. 

“It’s ok, Jonesey,” Will said, eyes flitting her direction. 

She sniffled. 

“Evie doesn’t even have any hair.” “Yeah, well you’ve got enough for all of us combined. So, you win on that front.” “Don’t tell Emma that,” Killian warned. “She’ll take personal offense to the state of Peg’s braid.”

Peggy’s hand flew to her hand, more than a few strands already coming loose by virtue of her constantly flailing limbs. Belle’s head dropped, resting on the top of Killian’s, even as her shoulders started to shake. None of them were apparently good at controlling their laughter, it seemed. 

That was kind of nice. 

Super nice, even. 

Maybe Will was the one who needed to work on his vocabulary. 

“I bet she can skate,” Peggy announced. “She’s got to, right?”

There was enough conviction in her voice that Will stopped swaying immediately, tilting his head when he met Peggy’s gaze. Steady. Even. Decidedly Jones-esque. With a stubborn streak that ran several miles wide, on and off the ice, and Will didn't bother mentioning that. 

Killian would probably bring them another stick if he did. 

“Maybe you’ll be able to teach her some better trash talk than just sticking your tongue out, huh?” Will asked, careful not to let his voice shake. Belle sniffled that time. 

He lifted his eyebrows when he didn’t get an immediate answer, the muscles in his neck starting to protest the angle he was keeping them in, but then—

“I’m a way better trash talker than MD is,” Peggy said. “Yeah, I can do that.” Will hummed. “I know you can. And maybe when she can lift her head on her own, we’ll get her on the ice with you, ok?” “Yeah, ok.” It took a little longer than that. 

After more family skates and another Winter Classic, photos on a variety of websites and hanging in frames on more than one wall of Belle and Will’s apartment. But then there were tiny skates being bought and Emma offering to braid Evie’s hair because “seriously, I’m so good at it, it’s absurd,” and Will didn’t hold his breath when his kid got on the ice with Killian’s kid. He wasn’t really sure he was breathing at all, so he couldn’t possibly hoard any sort of air. 

“You’ll pass out if you don’t get consistent oxygen to your brain,” Killian pointed out, dousing Will’s skates with snow when he stopped next to him.

“You suck at that.” “Breathing?” “Stopping.” “Eh, yeah, well, that might be true. But, uh—you don’t.” “Suck at stopping?” Will quipped.

“Don’t be an idiot. This is—” “—Honestly, if you tell me that you’re proud of me right now Cap, I’ll find a stick and check you.” Killian chuckled, bumping his shoulder against Will’s and neither one of them seemed all that inclined to skate. There was a deeper meaning to that. If Will thought about that too long he might cry and he couldn’t possibly cry before Belle did. 

And she was way too busy holding Evie up, while Peggy skated backwards in front of them and both Ruby and Mary Margaret took a rather large album’s worth of pictures. Emma might have been recording it. Or sending video to Matt. 

The specifics of it didn’t matter. It was all nice. 

Super nice, even. 

The best kind of nice possible. 

“I won’t do that then,” Killian promised. “I don’t think I could hold up against a check at this point, honestly.” “Because you’re old.” “Exactly.” Will scoffed, not entirely prepared for such a quick agreement or the overall width of Killian’s smile, pride in every inch. Even without saying it out loud. “So who do you think scores more goals overall in their career? My kid or yours?” “I’ve got more kids to choose from.” “Well, that’s not fair.” “Isn’t it just?” Killian asked. 

“You’re annoying, you know that?” “How come you didn’t bring one of our sticks out here?” “I didn’t think annoying would be a confusing word for you, but—” Will cut himself off, finally taking that deep breath his lungs desperately wanted. “Thanks for being here, Cap. For all of it.” “And I thought we agreed you weren’t going to be an idiot.”

His whole body slumped when he laughed again, blinking quickly so he didn’t do something totally embarrassing. And Killian’s smile didn’t change, but the hand that landed on Will’s shoulder was heavy in a comforting sort of way, like years and experiences and hockey sticks none of their kids were ever going to use. 

There simply weren’t enough hours in the day.

“You think she’ll take your number when she makes it pro?” Killian asked. “Or, like at the Olympics?” “Olympics, huh?” “That legacy, Scarlet.” Will scoffed, not entirely surprised when Peggy slammed into his side. HIs hand fell to the top of her helmet automatically. “Something like that,” he agreed. “You want to bet?” “Obviously.” They came up with terms later, shaking on it with photographic evidence and several future NHL stars watching on FaceTime. And none of it really mattered, even more years later, both Killian and Will pacing in a suite, while Emma eyed them with an obvious air of amusement. 

And Margaret Jones made her professional hockey debut with the number thirteen on her back. 

“Tough luck, Cap,” Will muttered. “Guess you can only have so much legacy.” “Is that a verb in this situation?” Emma asked. 

“I have no idea. Ask Mary Margaret.” “She’s taking pictures.” “There are professional people who do that,” Killian said, grunting softly when Evie crowded into his space. Her hair was in a braid. 

Emma shrugged. “It’s important to her and she said she was going to text Rol updates. But in even more important news, I guess this means neither one of you guys get to win your weird bet because—oh, my God, wait a second.” “What?” She opened her mouth. And closed it. And—

“Oh,” Belle whispered, a few feet away. 

“Took you guys long enough,” Evie muttered, tilting her head up when Killian glanced at her. 

“What do you know?” “How to do math.”

If asked, Will would promise it did not take him another few seconds to understand. That would have been a lie. It took a few seconds and another round of not breathing, but then he was adding and gaping at the ice and it all clicked. 

“Thirteen,” he said softly. “Like—” “—Seven and six,” Evie nodded. “It was my idea, so.” “So?” “So I think that means you won, right, Dad?” She rapped her knuckles on Killian’s shirt. “Right Uncle Killian?” 

“Eh, I don’t know, kid,” Killian objected. “This is a new number and—” “—I’m willing to concede on overall niceness,” Will finished. 

Killian’s lips twitched. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Deal.” Emma mumbled something that sounded a lot like idiots under her breath, a kiss to Killian’s cheek and the top of Evie's hair before she moved back to the front of the suite and Peggy was far better at stopping than any of them. She scored in the second period. 

And Will wasn’t entirely surprised when he opened the door the next morning to find a box sitting outside. With a hockey stick inside. 

From Peggy. 

[unproduciblesmackdown]

ok-yikes replied to your post: diefordarkseid replied to your post: ...

ok but like thank u sm for the link i’ve been vaguely following your winston/billions content and ive been trying to find the context without having to watch the whole thing lmao so now i can fully understand ur analysis and art that i already enjoy!!

oh first of aw!!!! that’s such a compliment lol ty and yes s/o to @winstonthequant for posting that compilation for 5.5k+ people to partake in, it’s super useful

yeah we Jest that all anyone needs to know to understand the Spirit Of Wynnstanning is to have seen those scenes with winston and taylor from kompenso, ep 3x11 lol.....i mean it’s partially a joke but it’s also partially true, that’s pretty much the Cause of the group of us going “oh my god” and becoming Invested in all of this. winnie n tay baby.......their Dynamique...they are way too good Ugh

and yeah the Broadest Of Strokes of this series overall is that the Central Theme is "insufferable bastard hedge fund ceo damian lewis [aka axe] man Versus insufferable bastard attorney general paul giamatti man [aka chuck],” just these corrupt assholes having a back and forth slapfight power struggle every season. nobody cares what happens in season 1 but taylor is introduced at the start of season 2 as a just-out-of-undergrad intern at axe’s hedge fund. turns out they’re amazing at hedge funding (they have some goddamn sense and strategy and awareness, whereas axe is 100% beholden to the whims of his own Delicate Temper and Ego and is a continually self-sabotaging idiot, nbd) and by season 3, while axe is doing a bit of jail time over insider trading (see: previous parenthetical) taylor is left effectively in charge of axe’s hedge fund, which btw is called axe capital

Our Beloved Quant Winston enters the picture 3 eps into this situation, where taylor is attempting to start a quant team at axe cap, hence interviewing him, then only known as “quant kid 2″ in the credits. [not-that-informed explanation of What Is A Quant: where the Traditional Financial Analysts in a hedge fund try to make profitable stonk trades just via like, reacting to The News and other publically available info / whipping up Strategies / intuiting shit and making judgment calls or whatever the hell they do, a Quantitative Analyst (a more recent development in the high finance world) is taking a more mathematical approach to the whole legal gambling operation which is The Stock Market and might, as winston does, use An Algorithm to analyze finance info and make trades in response. is the vague idea here] Quant Kid 2 was not Originally meant to ever reappear, hence him just messing up the interview and getting sent off after like 30 seconds, but they wrote him in further when William Roland showed up and actually filmed the scene. 

when “i’m a shitty bastard driven by my shitty ego and will self-sabotage if my Pride asks for it on a whim” axe shows back up, tl;dr, he spends the rest of s3 being terrible and unappreciative to taylor, who you might imagine is Threatening That Delicate Ego of his by capably taking care of his hedge fund while he was indisposed. for example, he needlessly wrecks taylor’s relationship with a guy they were having a nice time dating (and will, we’re pretty sure, talk to again in s5ep2!! hoorayy) and does basically the opposite of apologizing, sweeps taylor’s Quant Project into the trash, gets mad at them for failing to land a certain investor which he said they did on purpose which idk they May Have lol i think this was later in the season, and won’t give them the raise they want, and that’s just A Few of the bullet points in this topic. but oops, turns out that taylor has been secretly taking steps to put together their own entirely separate hedge fund! which is where winston comes back in, aka their meeting him in that empty classroom only to summon him to a random basement. that algorithm he ends up creating for them (which he’d Assumed was for axe cap purposes) was used by taylor to entice a Big Investor at axe cap to invest in their own hedge fund, taylor mason capital, which exists by the end of season 3, which obviously axe is not happy about and of course it’s a whole ~betrayal~ even though he did it to himself but no, he decides taylor is his Nemesis, b/c in so many ways he is a dumbass. god

season 4 has winston as taylor’s Main Quant (the one time we hear his name spoken aloud is taylor saying “winston and the quant team). taylor spends the season dealing with all the problems of having a Brand New Hedge Fund and having a Well Established Hedge Fund With An Asshole At The Helm constantly trying to sabotage their fund, which we also call tmc / mase cap for short, just for reference lmao, the latter being how they shorten it in the show’s actual dialogue. the Front Running mentioned in that one clip was an instance of such sabotage. and by the time winston shows up 5 eps later, that Fracking Subplot (lmao...this fucking show) was about taylor being reeeeal sick of axe cap’s sabotage b/c they kinda made it personal, and thus spending the whole episode Completely playing axe for a fool, which was kinda fun, b/c it’s not that hard and he has it coming. it gets a little involved with what’s going on in ep 4x11 with the bonuses lmfao but it's nbd, just know that winston was right, we went frantic about him being Bullied and are still indignant about it, and taylor talking to Everyone in that 4x12 clip does seem to address what winston had said, compare and contrast 4 yourselves, even if this apparently went totally over the heads of any Regular Billions Viewers lmao. and then in 4x12 A Lot Happens b/c it’s the finale but axe manages to self-sabotage himself in a way that does a lot of damage for mase cap though, and axe thinks that he’s successfully blackmailed taylor into returning to axe cap with mase cap as a Supposedly Temporary subsidiary of axe cap, which sucks, but taylor is not as blackmailed as he thinks, which is a secret, Drama and Twists and Shifting / Dubious Loyalties and Stonks are just constant themes here and who cares. we are here for the quant, who is there with taylor

We Have Many Ideas / wise concepts and headcanons, seeing as canon is a nightmare and there’s not That much material re: winston and precious few details about him / he spends sooo much time offscreen and unmentioned and it leaves us plenty of blanks to fill in. for example, maybe u noticed we think he should kiss taylor and also get railed by them, there are extensive ideas about that relationship wherein we happily ignore Finance. also, there is an unusually kind and reasonable analyst over at axe cap named ben kim who we also think should kiss winston, so yeah That idea is sure around as well lol, they have enough Parallels and complementary Similarities and Contrasts and also just like, a normal nice person is a rarity on this show, so ben does Not have a world of competition in our [list of people who’d be Okay to kiss winston, b/c someone should, b/c he deserves that cuz we love him]

yeah that’s my Quick Basic Context summary lmao we hate it here but also we have fun, and really at any time (extending this to anyone lol) feel free to Send An Ask about anything at all b/c i am Not annoyed by random / unprompted asks from anybody, i love interaction! who knows if i’ll answer promptly (for example: sorry @ the person who’s asked for deh/bmc hcs who i havent answered yet lol) but yeah. it’s totally nice that you were already interested even without any Context lmao like. i mean yeah basically the joke still stands that the only context u truly need is that one scene from Kompenso but. yeah #Stonks

[baebeyza]

Wait, did I actually make a Beast Wars II rant??? Well, that’s what’s under the cut! ~ Though it aint even a rant, just my thoughts, a little review. 

Plot: This is the show I call aimed at kids more than any other show I’ve seen. And with kids I mean toddlers. And it’s not just the lighthearted tone, it’s also in the story structure:  If you wanted to tell the plot of Beast Wars II, you could prolly tell it in 10 episodes. But the show has 44 episodes. Meaning there is a lot of stuff that does not further the plot. In fact, the actual plot doesn’t even start until half way through the show.  The first half introduced a few character groups, which are important to the plot later on. But each of these groups had multiple episodes for them, which didn’t even matter at the end, even when the episodes themselves had some decent story.  So looking at the show as a whole, I’d say it has a...decent plot. Compact, makes sense, has some nice things. But there was barely any real sense of escalation, no real excitment most of the time and the stakes were never framed as high, So as an adult, this show was a little hard to get through, but it’s not the fault of the show, it’s simply a show for toddlers who just wanna watch some robots do funny stuff. 6/10, but not the show’s fault 

Characters: Heroes: Lio Convoy and Lio Junior: Good characters, had an arc, had a nice dynamic, cute scenes towards the end. Lio Junior craved a parent figure, which Lio Convoy wasn’t ready to serve as, prefering to be seen as Junior’s commander. But at the end he finally called Junior his son, so SWEET! <3  Lio Convoy was a really nice Optimus Prime, team dad and all, and Lio Junior, while I can see him being frustrating, has some nice development. So those I really like, that worked for me :D (Also I really liked Lio Junior’s voice actress, she did a really good job!) Apache: One episode exploration of his deal. Thinking he’s too weak and incompetent for Lio Convoy, but I guess he gets over that. Reminded me of G1 Ironhide. Bighorn: Sentimental hothead. Diver: Careful guy, had one episode beef with Bighorn which never got touched upon again. Tasmanian Kid: The annoying teen. Had more to do in the movie, where he related to Lio Junior and begged the others to show some sympathy for the young boi.  Scuba: The cool one who saves the day Skywarp: Doesn’t like elephant puns Santon: Makes elephant puns Yeah that’s all. Most them are utterly boring and have no interesting dynamics or scenes whatsoever, which is a damn shame. The heroes of a show being the worst part of it. Don’t hate any of them either, which makes it worse - hating them would mean they actually DID something meaningful to make me hate them. (PS: Lio Junior, Skywarp and Santon combine to Magnaboss) Insectrons: First seen as villains, these bots were simply peeps living on Gaia and wanted the heroes to be gone and not disturb their peace, but lately joined them against the Destrons.  I can’t remember them all, but I liked Scissor Boy, he was adorable ~ Jointrons: Characters I HATED and LOATHED when it was about them, but somehow, SOMEHOW, they grew on me. They are totally obnoxious, annoying, have a weird speech pattern, are prolly offensive mexican stereotypes, cause problems all the time and don’t learn shit.  And YET...I couldnt hate them much, because they had some sincerity, they had fun being themselves and they had some goddamn FRIENDSHIP! (which cannot be said about the heroes). I even grew to like their annoying speech and was delighted whenever they showed up again ~ They can also combine, but I can’t spell the name of the combiner. Destrons, bad guys: Galvatron: Awesome, best guy, good boss, prolly hugs his soldiers off-screen, gives credit, dynamic with Megastorm could have been done better, but the end of their arc was actually really damn cute <3 He’s evil in a way where he thinks it’s all for the better, which works for the toddlers this show is aimed at I guess. Also we need more pink dragons!  Megastorm (later Gigastorm): Galvatron’s younger brother and The Starscream, tries multiple times to get rid of Galvatron, but they eventually get some good brotherly moments at the end, which I digged.  The general idea was that he’s a bratty, brown-nosed loud-mouth younger brother with Galvatron around, but shows his true, cruel colours without him. And while the concept worked at first, I found it sad that he became more pathetic as the show went on, without ever being a real threat again. I can deal with lil shit characters, but I don’t like pathetic you know. Also a disappointment for me - I wasnt a fan of his Gigastorm form! I like FACES! Starscream and BB: Best couple, true friendship, the babes. Starscream was also The Starscream, but towards Megastorm, which was hilarious. Starscream was the flamboyant, vain dude and BB his ever-loyal bodyguard, maybe even lover. They were a highlight, I have to say ~ Their upgrades as Hellscream and Max-B were a little ugly though. Dirge and Thrust: More annoying for the most part, but even they got an episode for themselves that shows a good friendship, and a good relationship to Megastorm. Which is always nice, they got more depth than the heroes at least ~ Later they became Dirgegun and Thrustor. The Autorollers: They had a few episodes for themselves, but I like with the Insectrons, I can’t really recall them. They were the building force of the Destrons. The Seacons: Space pirates who were almost always in beast mode, which I found sad. (again, I like faces). They were nice though as they had a really sweet dynamic - their boss, Half Shell, was really a good leader and always  apologized for any mistake, while his crew comforted him. This group also has the only female transformer of the show, and what do they do? Add a love triangle with her loving Scuba and Bighorn loving her. It was as obnoxious and annoying as it sounds.  They can combine into God Neptune. Others: Artemis and Moon: These characters who appear in every episode are androids built to guard Gaia after the humans left it. And of course they designed the guardians to be a waifu and a kawaii bunny. One might think they are totally needless to the plot, but especially towards the end their help was needed for the heroes to win, so overall I aint gonna complain about them ~ Artemis is a treasure alone for her love on Starscream (and Scuba) and I will not complain about Starscream thirst :D

[culebratia]

Honest opinions on horror villains

Okay so I love horror villains and horror in general. Most of them are really interesting and have a sort of grotesque charm to them that I can’t really describe, it draws you to them and pulls you into wanting more. But there are some horror villains that are either overrated and underrated, and today I’m here to discuss some of them! (I’d like to reiterate that I don’t hate any of these characters, I actually like them all! But I’m just talking in a general perspective and my view on their popularity and the actual movie they come from.)

LESLIE VERNON

* overrated.

* okay, I know, people are going to get upset at me over this. This was an amazing movie, they said. It’s so new and different from the others, they said. And I completely understand that! It’s unique and inventive and I love the whole premise of the movie, but goddamn did it bore me..

* I like Leslie Vernon as a character, but I don’t love him like I do with other characters. He’s cool! I adore his slasher design, but his personality bores me a little bit at times. There are some points where my emotions and feelings on the guy are a little bit like a rollercoaster — up and down, up and down, up and down. It’s crazy.

* once again, I like the concept of his movie, but the way it was presented in a filmmaking point of view is underwhelming.

ART THE CLOWN

* underrated.

* there are three movies I know of with Art in them: The 9th Circle, All Hallow’s Eve and Terrifer. And all of them are equally shit, which is to be expected since it was written and directed by a young guy who specialises in special effects. But damn was Art interesting to watch.

* there are some points in the movies where I think “why couldn’t he have starred in a better made film?” because if that were so, he’d get so much more publicity! Art is an absolutely terrifying demon clown creature, way more scary than Pennywise, and people from around the world should know his name! He’s the only character in all the movies who actually has good actors.

* shitty movie, fantastic character. I hope to see more of him.

MICHAEL MYERS

* overrated by a milestone.

* look, I’m all for Michael Myers. He’s hot, lemme tell you that. But he’s a really boring character. It’s all the same (apart from the 3rd movie)! Michael returns to his hometown to find and kill Laurie, killing a whole other group of people who she happens to be involved with at some time during the movie.

* when I watch a horror movie, I want to have the villain to have some sort of character. At least with Jason, you can see some emotion in him which defines him as a whole! But with Michael? He’s a clean slate, and that is soo uninteresting.

* first two movies were great, others were unneeded honestly.

BILLY LENZ

* underrateeeeed.

* stinky attic boy needs some love. He is what started the slasher genre for peats sake and yet everyone overlooks him as a horror villain. Let me tell you, that phone scene in the beginning was absolutely fucking terrifying when I first watched it, and it’s still unsettling to this day even after I’ve watched it a million fucking times.

* we never even got to see Billy’s face properly throughout the whole movie and yet he made such an impact on everyone who ever watched Black Christmas! And that ending scene? Perfect cliffhanger. (The remake was shit compared to the original)

* great movie, great character, needs more credit.

BRAHMS HEELSHIRE

* overrated.

* bet y’all are shocked at this aren’t you? He’s the character I most often write for. But that’s really because he’s heavily requested. I actually don’t really like him all that much, too much exposure I guess. I mean I have nothing against his character as a whole, he’s attractive to me and interesting but I don’t actually know.

* now the movie is something I do know about though: bullshit. Absolutely terrible. A basic plot line (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing sometimes, it just needs to be played out right) and a director which results to cheap jump scares because apparently that’s ‘scary’. The movie as a whole is so predictable and it never scared me once when I went to watch it at the cinema. I can understand why people like it though.

* decent(?) character, bad movie.

OTIS DRIFTWOOD + family

* underrated.

* okay this might have something to do with my weakness for Bill Moseley, scarily cute women and clowns, but man do I love the Firefly family. Each and every character, even the ones we barely see, within the family is so perfectly polished and unique, and I love Rob Zombie for it. He can’t write dialogue for shit but man do I love his horror villains.

* although the first movie was very confusing at some points. Like, what?? What was with that ending? It was a very good movie in my opinion and was actually pretty horrifying. It used things that disgust us and manipulated that to terrify every single one of its viewers and that’s perfect. Hated the protagonists though.

* fantastic movie, great villains, shitty protagonists,

FREDDY KRUEGER

* overrated.

* now don’t get me wrong, I love Freddy, I grew up loving Freddy. He’s witty and fun to watch, maybe not like Chucky, but after a while he gets so repetitive that it gets really really annoying. Couldn’t they think of something unique and interesting for him to say instead of him just calling everyone a bitch??

* the writing becomes boring after a while, the directors add so many unnecessary features, weaknesses and powers we had no clue even existed up until this very point, and it’s overall not a very good franchise when you get into it. I enjoyed the first and seventh movie a lot, but all of the other ones didn’t really excite me all that much.

* okay character, okay movie, but isn’t worth all the attention.

NUBBINS SAWYER, DRAYTON SAWYER, CHOP-TOP SAWYER + GRANDPA SAWYER

* un👏🏽der👏🏽ra👏🏽ted

* these boys deserve just the same amount of attention that Leatherface does. I know that Bubba is a really cool character, and he deserves attention too! But that doesn’t mean that his family get to be left out. Each and every single one of them helped shape the Texas Chainsaw franchise to what it is today, and honestly it wouldn’t have been as amazing without them in it.

* Texas Chainsaw has so many metaphors within it nobody really goes into. When we first meet Nubbins and he’s kicked out of the van, Franklin very obviously points out “would you be able to do that?” referring to Nubbins slicing his hand up, and later on we see Franklin blowing raspberries at his friends due to the fact that he couldn’t go upstairs because of his disability, which is exactly what Nubbins was doing when he couldn’t get into the van. This area is the director exploring the ways that people could so easily turn into madness without people realising it.

* Drayton Sawyer is your average looking fellow who runs the Sawyer household, but he is not average at all. He’s sadistic, witty, hypocritical, and surprisingly still a Christian. He claims that he “doesn’t like to do the killing” and yet he’s shown constantly poking and prodding at the final girls like they’re some caged animals, living only for the pleasure of himself. The fact that he’s an elderly man basically screams “wolf in sheeps clothing”, because usually when you see an elderly person, you assume them to be kind and wise, whereas, Drayton can’t even spell ‘sex’ correctly.

* Chop-Top wasn’t present in the first movie sadly, but it’s explained why, which is understandable in a filmmaking perspective. He is probably the most terrifying character out of the bunch. He’s impulsive, disgusting, and absolutely fucking insane. Whether or not this is due to his time in Vietnam I don’t know, but man does it make a great affect. And that time in the movie where he was introduced? It was absolutely heavenly. No one in today’s horror industry would build up suspense like that and cause so much raw fear from a petty jump scare. The fact that he carries around his damn brothers corpse like he’s puppet, treating him like he’s still a living being adds onto the scare factor as well.

* great villains, good movies, everything after TCSM2 wasn’t really very good though.

Okay, now that’s over and done with! Let me show you my top ten favourite horror villains (from actual horror movies), you’ll either be completely shocked or completely not! :)

Pinhead — love the creature design. Fantastic personality and concept. Annoyed he’s not a woman.

Bubba Sawyer — baby boy needs love. And affection. And kisses. And basically anything positive. We must protect him.

Chop-Top Sawyer — terrified me when I first saw him as a kid. I wanna fuck Bill Moseley. I love his personality. Wish his movie came out.

Captain Spaulding — funny ass motherfucker. Always cracks me up. I want him to be my daddy.

Hannibal Lecter — interesting in a psychological perspective. Has a way to make your skin crawl without doing much.

Art the Clown — scarier than Pennywise. I wish his movies were better. Why didn’t Terrifier make it obvious he was a demon?

Otis Driftwood — boy’s a hottie. But please stop fucking corpses. Once again, Bill Moseley.

Stu Macher — first fictional crush. He’s my irl type of guy. I dated a guy like him once.

Jennifer Check — movie was ahead of its time. Legit was about having a succubus gf. Lesbian scene was hot. I’m gay for Meagan Fox.

Billy Lenz — terrifying phone calls. Nasty boi. The remakes will never be as great as the OG Black Christmas.

Anyways, so that’s it! It’s past midnight currently so I might just go to bed lol but whatever. I’ve wanted to write this out for a whiiile but decided to just get it over with now. I’ll say it all again: every character I write for, I like, I just have different levels of like, so please no hate over this. Thanks!

[crystalelemental]

Before I shift into my game playing for the day, I have been going through Thracia.  Thoughts under the cut.

Full disclosure: I am cheating at this point.  I have the codes on and do not give a fuck.  I hit Chapter 4 and was pretty much done the instant I opened the north gate.  For anyone who likes a bit of karma, though, it turns out the cheat codes I’m using also affect the enemies.  If I turn on “100% re-move,” then enemies also get to go again.  If I turn on max movement range, the enemies get that too.  Though that one was funny, because it gave it to the children in 4X, who then booked it in one turn.  If I add stat modifying codes, the enemies are all that strong too.  I did find a workaround by applying them only at the end of chapters when the enemies are all dead, but guess what.  Sometimes the codes stop working and your stats return.  Which led to Leif having the stats he had back in Chapter 4, and getting immediately hit by a Sleep staff from all the way across the map.  I did not find out until after beating it that Sleep, and all status conditions, do not wear off at all.  So the map was impossible to complete.  Because Leif was fucking asleep, and no power in earth or heaven would wake this sleepy bitch.

I think this is the best indicator of why I’m not enjoying Thracia.  Even while cheating just to blitz the game, it’s still a pain in the ass.  There’s still all manner of nonsense that can just throw off your entire progression.  And what’s worse?  If it weren’t for the fact the game is just too finicky and obnoxious to want to play fairly, it would have nothing holding it back from being one of the best in the series.

Story?  Excellent.  I love this.  I think it stems from my general love of side stories.  Blazing Blade is still my favorite after all.  Leif’s progression just within Thracia is great to follow, and it’s really engaging to see him work through this rebellion.  It’s also great to have the game focused on other antagonists.  The major ones, like Travant and Ishtar, have made brief (and great) appearances, but there are new antagonists to focus on because again, you’re not the main story.  I love that shit.

Characters?  Fantastic.  Like, granted, it suffers in the same way as every game that pre-dates support conversations, in that a lot of the cast is pretty one-note and then doesn’t do anything.  But there are more prominent faces in general, and they’re all really good.  Leif is a great protagonist.  He’s got the right amount of fire in him, and I’m actually stunned he’s not more popular.  I know it’s because Thracia isn’t popular, but I feel like he’s the same general personality type as Hector, who people love.  Driven, intense, ready to throw down at a moment’s notice, and honest to a fault.  Also it’s really, really funny to me how your advisor (who I don’t trust for shit) tells you about the child hunts, and Leif is like “Shut the fuck up, that’s not real.”  Olwen does it too, which is also funny.  She’s fighting on this side, sees the children in cages, and is like “I just thought this was some kind of liberal propaganda.”  Although man, I really love Olwen.  She’s great.  Trying to stab Kempf is absolutely the correct move, and her decision to defect as soon as she learns the truth is the correct course.  I can’t wait to hate Reinhardt because he won’t defect despite knowing the truth.

Eyvel is the best.  I adore her, what an absolutely fantastic early-game pre-promote unit.  Granted, she’s basically gone forever now that she’s turned to stone, but she’s so good while she’s conscious.  Mareeeta’s just as good.  Everything surrounding her and the Shadow Sword is super compelling, and her conversation with the Bishop was incredibly powerful.  Dagdar is really interesting, not just in what’s good about him, but also in his faults.  He’s trying to live an honest life, like Eyvel showed him to, but at the same time he’s so caught up in this lifestyle that people are dying under his care because there’s no food.  I love how that whole arc was another instance of where the hardship stems from and the why of a situation, blurring those lines between who’s good and who’s evil until it all seems like a matter of circumstance.  That’s my favorite.  Even the minor freeblades have some great dynamics, and while they don’t get much past that point, your recruits in Chapter 4 all get really funny dialogue that makes them feel a lot more fleshed out.  This is probably the best job you can do with character development in a game that pre-dates support conversations.

If there are any characters I don’t like...Lithis?  I don’t care for him.  He’s stuck around, so he’s not a complete flake, but he doesn’t seem to really stand for anything, he just goes along with you to not die, and his only motivation seems to be attempting to get into Safiya’s pants.  Not happening, my friend.  Not while I’m playing.  Also not a big fan of Dalsin, who only joins when you save his sibling who was taken for the child hunts.  Entirely because he works for the enemy, and when you recruit him, he says that he joined because they said his family would be spared.  So you’re willing to toss everyone else’s families into complete disarray and sorrow, as long as you’re unscathed.  Okay, Dorcas.  I also don’t know how to feel about Pan.  He seems alright?  Like, he’s one of the honorable thief types, and his talk with Lara does suggest he’s decent, considering “I used to love watching you dance until I realized you were still a kid” implies that, once he found out she’s underage, he stuck it back in his pants and was like “hell nah.”  I just can’t get a good read on whether he’s actually good or mostly a shitheel trying to pretend he’s doing good, so like...to be determined.  Also, hate to say it, but Nanna isn’t that interesting.  I don’t dislike her, but I’m also not as invested in her as I want to be.  So far, she’s been kidnapped, protected by Eyvel, saved by Leif, and has kinda been silent since.  Maybe more modern games have spoiled me, but I expected the protagonist’s love interest to have more to say and do.  But I guess we are still in the Kaga era, so...

The maps themselves do remind me a lot of the GBA era, and retroactively, I can really see Thracia’s influence on them.  I got up to Chapter 14, and the map layout is identical to the one on the Sacae route in Binding Blade.  If I have any serious complaints, aside from general enemy difficulty and my dislike of the capture mechanic, it’s that enemy formations are a bit too genealogy.  “What does that mean? “ Everything is a goddamn block of the same enemy type.  Like here’s your block of 10 armor knights.  Here’s your block of a bunch of cavalry units.  Maybe it’s bias, because a block formation like this is probably more accurate to general warfare tactics, but I like when things are spaced out instead of placing things in a massive blob.  Oh, also the Escape mechanic is hilariously dumb.  They spell it out, thankfully, because if they hadn’t I would’ve killed myself.  Apparently, if Leif escapes before any of his allies, those allies are lost forever.  For some reason.  Now, if they hadn’t explained that?  My solution would’ve been to open the door and fucking book it with Leif to end the chapter.  And I would have lost everyone.  That’s such an annoying mechanic, especially since it still happens even if there are no enemies left on the map.

I’m also not the biggest fan of some recruitment procedures.  “Capture this boss to recruit them when you go to Chapter 12x!”  Okay.  My best unit is dealing 3 damage with the capture command.  Also his tome can poison, and if it does, there’s no way to remove that status during the chapter.  He’s on a fort that gives +10 defense and heals most of that damage.  I’m supposed to do this how?  Like I actually can’t figure out how some of these conditions are supposed to be met without cheating.  I really, truly cannot.  It’s overall very similar to the GBA era, but just a lot more ridiculous and obtuse.  I’m sorry, like...who would have thought to capture a boss and hold them until the end of the chapter?  And you’re expected to do that twice!  I just...I dunno, man.  Sometimes Thracia feels super obtuse.

Overall it’s...really not fun to play, but is fun to experience.  This really feels like a game that I would adore if it were given a remake that make it less stressful to play.  Instead, it’s another to add to the pile of “Fantastic concept and I love it in general, but can’t stand playing it without cheating.”

[skywalkersapprentice]

mdzs novel review

Now that we’re in quarantine and I have an infinite amount of time on my hands, why not read a novel that’s 500k, right?

(Spoilers ahead.)

I totally fucked up my sleeping schedule by staying up for three nights in a row and sleeping four hours in the afternoon while reading it. worth it, though. Despite a few flaws that tripped me up close to the end, Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) was a gorgeous story. Kudos to the translators for giving it to us in English.

I’ll start off by saying that this story is not for the faint of heart. The main character has very grey morals. There is self-cannibalism, gore, period-typical homophobia, corpses come to life, mentions of rape, incest, sexual content, straight up dubcon and disturbing themes all the way through. If I’d seen this tagged as such on Ao3, I definitely would have left it alone. Despite all this, there’s also some truly wonderful characters, a plot unlike anything I’ve ever read before, subtle pining, fantastic worldbuilding, magical music, found families, and!! canonly lgbt characters that get to experience all of this things in the one hundred goddamn chapters it takes for them to get together.

The Good:

Wei Wuxian. One of the most interesting characters I’ve ever encountered. How can one be so good, so happy, so giving, yet so incredibly fucking annoying? He’s so clever, but also a moron. He’s selfless, but only in regards to things and people he cares about. He has an absolutely terrible memory (god me too) and knows how to get under everyone’s skin and has killed literal thousands of people and also. He is my son. If I knew him in real life I think he wouldn’t have survived long enough to become the Yiling Patriarch but in fiction he is wonderful.

The plot: Look. This novel is longer than the first four Harry Potter books combined. You can almost think of it as two books- one set in the past, one set sixteen years later. But although it’s the longest book I’ve ever read, it never really felt boring. It was definitely confusing at times (I’ve never had to take notes on a novel before to keep everything straight in my head) but I wasn’t bored. Things just keep happening- Wei Wuxian is back from the dead!! Now there’s a creepy hand!! Now there’s a statue that can move!! Now we’re in the past!! Now we’re back in the present and there’s a castle that eats people!! Now we’re in a ghost city and there’s some freaky stuff going down!! Time for the saddest flashback of all time, and now we’re starting to put the puzzle of this dismembered person together!! All of this is interspersed with worldbuilding and character dynamics and creating a full picture of the past and- whew. It was so hard to tear myself away to sleep or eat because I just wanted to know- what’s going to happen next? 

The love story: Hello, slowest of burns in the entire fucking world. I live for the enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-what-are-we-to-lovers love story that this book gave me. Lan Wangji, you poor emotionally repressed disaster gay. Wei Wuxian, you blind oblivious moronic disaster bi. Somehow, they’re perfect for each other. I was really, really hesitant to read this book because I know it has roots in that specific straight-girl-writes-gay-men type of culture that is often terrible and fetishistic. There were definitely things that I disagreed with that that I’ll talk about later, but largely, stereotypes were avoided and I have to give the author credit for this relationship that managed to be so many things. I relate heavily to the type of person Lan Wangji is, and I adored watching him fall for Wei Wuxian, through Wei Wuxian’s eyes, without either of them really even realizing it. They’re the definition of what I like to call a “Red and Blue couple”- the opposites, the fire and ice, the calm and the wild, the dark and the light, the red and the blue, who complement one another so well despite being so different. They balanced each other out wonderfully. Don’t talk to me about the WangXian song or the fact that they have a child or I will start crying.

Lan Wangji: Though I love Wei Wuxian, annoying traits and all, Lan Wangji is who I heavily resonated with. He kind of reminds me of Else from Frozen?? Anyone else?? Like, his whole thing is basically “conceal don’t feel”, except what he’s concealing is the fact that he feels things so deeply. He just wants to help people, to be essentially perfect at what he does (scooby doo villian voice: and he would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for wei wuxian) His character development from the past to present was lovely. I silently cheered for him whenever he broke the rules, or let the strict facade down for a bit. 

The side characters: Literally how are there so many characters in this book who are so fleshed out that they feel like real people? Xiao XingChen, Lan SiZhui, Wen Ning, Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng and Jiang LanYi all especially stood out to me, but even beyond them, everyone had a fully explained reason and motivation for like, everything they did. Even if I hated the villains, they weren’t needlessly evil. We love a grey story.

But there were some things I didn’t like.

The Bad

The R rated stuff: Well. This is probably the weirdest critique I’ve ever had to make about a book, and maybe some of it was partly due to translation, but... the sex was out of character. I thought the general dynamic made no sense for the two of them as people and it just.... wasn’t super well written? Thankfully I was warned beforehand that the Incense Burner chapters contained content I wasn’t prepared to read, but yikes, I felt like I was reading about two different characters the second clothes started coming off. I haven’t finished the bonus chapters for this reason. The second I read the word “rape”, I had to stop. Consent is a pretty hard line for me, and I can’t do a dubcon kink. Obviously the author can do whatever the hell she wants with her characters, but I felt like she threw away their personalities for the sake of trying to write something hot (which- it wasn’t.) This is why straight people have no rights and also why I will be pretending those scenes don’t exist. 

The Hatred Chapters: I do feel like all of the tension and action was sort of- let down at what was supposed to be the climactic showdown in the temple. It dragged on for so many chapters that I didn’t feel on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next.That could also be due to translation. I’m not sure. Maybe I need to read the Hatred chapters again. But I did feel sort of let down in the final 20 chapters of this novel. It wasn’t enough to seriously impact how much I love the general concept, but it was disappointing.

Semi related but after 100 chapter build up, that confession could have been better. Again- maybe a translation thing.

The Nie MingJue backstory flashback: just- honestly wasn’t interesting to me. It was the only part of the novel that I really had to slog through. 

Lastly - this isn’t the novel’s fault, and I am certainly grateful to the translators for all of their work translating this gigantic novel, but there were some consistent grammatical issues surrounding the dialogue tags that bugged me. I’m not sure how it is in Chinese, but in English, writing “Wei WuXian, “Nothing.””  just- isn’t correct. At the very least, you need a verb like “said”. I usually read fast enough that my brain tends to insert the word even if it’s not there, but when reading slowly, this did frequently jar me out of the story. I’d be willing to edit the entire novel just to fix these errors. But it says a lot about how good this novel is that I continued reading despite errors like this because something like that in a fic would have me closing the tab immediately.

Alright, that’s all. 

Overall:

There are so many small things, little moments and lines that I loved about this story, it would take me days to list them all. The dialogue patterns from character to character were distinct. Things like the forehead ribbon were endlessly entertaining. Side plots like the A-Qing one had me in tears and I was laughing a few chapters late from drunk LWJ. The novel was just fun to read. There were errors, yes, there were disappointments, sure. But it made me feel so much. I’ve been through the entire range of human emotion while reading it, and it’s so rare to find a book that just yanks you into the universe like this one did to me. I really needed an escape this week, and this was absolutely a welcome one. If I go read it again, I’m sure I’ll find a hundred more things I like about it. Heed the warnings I’ve given, if you read it, but I absolutely adored most of this book and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

9/10.