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petruchio · 4 months

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i was lowkey tumblr stalking asks you’ve answered before (i apologize i just love how in depth u answer) and now i wanna know your tierlist (A/B/C/D/F) for the songs on GUTS. include deluxe pls bc imo the deluxe tracks are better than many main album tracks hehe

well first off you can ALWAYS stalk me and never apologize for it, i love answering stuff and i love that people actually read it HAHA! so please <3 stalk away <3 i love it

i LOVE this question. i was going to make one of those images like the youtubers do for tier lists but then i realized i would have to explain myself anyway so im just going to give each song a letter grade and a little blurb about why i think this... so here goes 🤓

i actually have to put this under a cut because it got so long that i am not going to clog up people's dash with my long and way too detailed thoughts on GUTS but please read this if it is of interest bc i would love to continue discussing haha

so first i'm going to say to me overall guts is like a solid A-/A for a sophomore album. i don't think it's perfect but i think as far as showing growth from the first album, expanding on themes and sounds that were explored in sour, and just maturing while still feeling like a natural progression -- i think it does all of that really nicely while also managing to carve out a unique niche for olivia in the industry. so like. YES! great. (i have been saying that while i see olivia compared to taylor swift a lot, i think it's actually a much better comparison to compare her to avril lavigne in the early 2000s -- avril was originally "discovered" via performing with shania twain (which in some ways we could argue for being a taylor/olivia situation but in the 90s) and a lot of her early work and songwriting is influenced by the country music scene, but, just like olivia, her first album smashed onto the scene and captured the teenage zeitgeist in a really unique and special that was really of the moment it was released and dug into rock inspired hooks and sounds that resonated with the audience of young teens. if "driver's license" is olivia's "complicated," i think we can easily argue that "good 4 u" is her sk8r boi. (and deja vu is her i'm with you, the best single and best song in both of their discographies I SAID WHAT I SAID!) anyway all that is to say i think that GUTS and under my skin ALSO share a lot of parallels both in how they were marketed and the way they dive deeper into darker themes while expanding on a lot of what made the first album great, if perhaps not spawning the level of radio hits as the first album. anyway it's just something i think about that i don't see talked about all that much and i find it really interesting. i could keep going but i know that was an insane digression so let's get to the grades.)

all american bitch - B+ i think this song is a great opener and it has some really great lines in it -- the sarcasm makes it so fun and tongue in cheek and i actually like the scream, my reason for not being able to give it an A is just that i do feel like it's very much "putting on a persona" of being a rock punk chick, which is absolutely cool and is extremely well done, it just doesn't feel 100% authentic to me. like, i like the scream but it feels more like an acting performance than a genuine scream of anguish, but olivia is such an appealing actress that i'm like, yeah girl go off

bad idea right? - A+ this is the deja vu of the album for me. it is SUCH A GOOD SONG and it has the best video by far of any of the singles, it's so clever and creative and i actually really love her vocal delivery, it's bratty and obnoxious but for some reason it DOES feel authentic to me in a way AAB doesn't, i think it takes its influences and manages to reinterpret and transform them into something totally unique and personal to olivia and it's just GREAT. (i think a great example of how good this song is is honestly the kelly clarkson cover she did, it was a really fun cover but you could just tell that olivia's version works better, it's a song that feels like it could only be done by her and i love it for that.)

vampire - B i actually thought i'd rate this lower bc it is my least favorite song on the album but like, okay it's FINE. my issue with vampire is that 1) it feels like the label said "write another ballad that sounds like drivers license and we'll use that as the lead single" which i don't like, and 2) i've written before that my main issue with vampire is that it DOES NOT COMMIT to the genuinely cool metaphor that it attempts. i actually love the line "you only come out at night" because i think it's really clever and creative to extend the "sucking me dry" metaphor of a vampire. i think following that up with "i used to think i was smart but you made me look so naive" is such a let down and so cliche that it annoys me every time i hear the song. like, if the song instead was like "i should have known it was strange, you only come out at night/you said i tasted so sweet til nothing was left in my veins" or something i would think it was a great song. but instead we get that clunky cliche of a line and it irritates me. the song has potential but it just doesn't deliver.

lacy - A- (tw: ed) so i think that this song is about struggling with an ed and i think it is really amazing if you read it through that lens. i don't even really want to say that much more about it because when i saw someone say that on twitter and i listened to the song thinking about that, it hit me really hard and i think it's brilliantly done but it's intense. i think olivia said that it came out of a poem she wrote and i think that lacy is the personification of that really personal struggle and i think it's a beautiful and deeply sad metaphor and the song actually does it really well. i also really love her vocal delivery on the recording and i think it's beautifully produced, the layered vocals at the end are really gorgeous.

ballad of a homeschooled girl - A- honestly i have the same comments as i do about all american bitch except i just think this song is slightly better and feels a little more authentic. i think the lyrics on this one are really clever as well and i love the little production quirks like "how to flirt" and the outro is SO FUN and i love the sort of fourth wall break of "can't think of a third line" and the la la la that just kind of smashes into the end of the song, i think it works so well with the concept of the song so yeah. great.

making the bed - B+ this is a song where i'm like, there's nothing WRONG with it i just don't think it's particularly special, like it's a good song and it has some really great lyrics i just think it's a decent song that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. it's good. no real notes. my favorite lyric is "they tell me that they love me like i'm some tourist attraction" -- i love when the pop girls talk about the complexities of fame, and olivia seems strikingly self aware in a lot of her lyrics and that one is really a hard hitter. (it reminds me of billie's getting older song, "the things i once enjoyed just keep me employed now" and "another thing i ruined i used to do for fun" which are both lines that i feel like really do a nice job of exploring how it feels when your art and artistic expression becomes a job and a persona. i think billie and olivia are doing so much cool stuff and they both just seem like such cool and interesting girls. they just give the vibe that it would be so fun to get dinner with them and talk about their experience of teenage fame because they both seem to have some really interesting and complex insights about it.)

logical - B- tbh this song is kinda boring to me. it's fine but i just think it's a theme that is explored better in other songs. the one line i really like is "if rain don't pour and sun don't shine" because i like to imagine that it's a reference to taming of the shrew act iv scene v.

get him back! - A+ SO GOOD COME ON GET HIM BACK IS SO GOOD AHHHHHH i get mad thinking about the music video bc the iphone lens makes it so weird and i think this could've had an even better video without the iphone gimmick but holy cow this song is so good. it's so clever, it's so fun, it ROCKS. (though this is the point on the album where i start to get annoyed by all the production quirks, i think they are fun on a couple songs but we don't need the "is this the song with drums" thing, just play the song. there's only so much studio chatter that makes a song fun before it gets a little grating to listen to every time i want to play the song.) but this is a brilliant song. I WANNA MEET HIS MOM AND TELL HER HER SON SUCKS. has anyone ever more perfectly captured how it feels to be nineteen. ugh this song is so good.

love is embarrassing - A i actually really like this song and i think it's a really nice spiritual closer to sour. it does such a nice job of reflecting but in a funny, tongue-in-cheek, self aware way that i think is so appealing and cute. i love "you found a new version of me and i damn near started world war three" as a callback to "another actress i hate to think that i was just your type" and i LOOOVE the outro with "i'm planning out my wedding with some guy i'm never marrying" which i think is a fantastic line. i love the vocal delivery on the outro as well. (also this is an example for me of a song with no studio chatter or production gimmicks, and it's GOOD bc it's like, it doesn't need that! it's just a fun song! and i like it for that!!)

the grudge - A- honestly a beautiful song that captures a very specific feeling. i love the melody and the way she delivers "how could anybody do the things you did so easily?" the second verse is an absolute gut punch of what it feels like to come away from a toxic love. it has a couple clunkers (i'm not a fan of "trust that you betrayed, confusion that still lingers" which i think is just a bit awkward) but overall it's a lovely song and so raw.

pretty isn't pretty - A again just a really solid work. i love the guitar sound on it. and i think it does a really nice job of capturing another specific teenage emotion. one thing i love on GUTS is that it feels legitimately balanced between songs about heartbreak and songs about personal feelings and this song is one that i think does that second part very well. i really love the second prechorus line "it's in my phone it's in my head it's in the boys i bring to bed" and i think this song is really insightful and personal.

teenage dream - B my issue with this song is my same issue with hope ur ok which is that it just feels so aware of itself as AN ALBUM CLOSER and i find it a bit cloying. i think the theme is interesting and has potential but the song just annoys me because it feels kind of overdone. idk. i just don't love it. i get it and i get why it's there but i think there was a better way of closing the album in a more genuine way.

BONUS TRACKS RANKING LINK (i have to link a new post here since i hit the character limit on this post. geez lol)

#answered #anonymous #olivia rodrigo #long thoughts

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lilliths-httyd-blog · 11 months

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So I just watched Princess and the Popstar as part of my mega Barbie movie watch/rewatch. For reference, here's where it sits on my current personal tier list (I've seen more of them I promise, just not in a very long time). I feel that it's placement on my tier list is justified considering I feel the same way about it as I do Island Princess: two very good movies with just a few aspects which make me apprehensive about watching it twice (Tika. If Tika wasn't in Island Princess it would've been in yellow tier at least). I also didn't enjoy it as much as Diamond Castle or Three Musketeers, which are both films that came out in a similar timeframe to Princess and the Popstar. So, cyan-soon-to-be-green-tier-why-the-fuck-is-it-not-green-hold-on seems fitting.

I think y'all can tell that I like the Barbie movies.

Princess and the Popstar started off a banger (despite Princesses Wanna Have Fun being the bad kind of earworm - I hadn't watched the film in well over five years until today but that song was still getting stuck in my head every other week up until as of literally a few days ago probably). A nice little homage to Princess and the Pauper without totally ripping it off. Nice throwback to To Be a Princess there too, as a kid I hadn't seen Princess and the Pauper so I had no idea where the song came from or anything (literally I used to forget that the song was even in the movie) but as of today the original is literally my favourite Barbie movie ever so when I heard the opening lyrics I got... way too excited over this Barbie movie than I really should've. But yeah no the music in this damn movie is fantastic aside from the one song.

Tori and Keira were absolutely fantastic characters. They were VERY flawed but like can you blame them??? They're not even eighteen yet, they've both grown up in heavily restrictive environments (Keira having been performing since she was six and Tori acting out all the time as a result of the way she was brought up), have had such limited social interaction and have been taught to "never act your age" (act older than you really are) so it's totally reasonable that these girls are gonna fuck up and make mistakes and do stupid things (and hey they might be faking their identities but at least they're not committing identity theft pfffft). They don't have the wisdom of an average 17 year old yet but they're treated by everyone around them like they're so much older ESPECIALLY KEIRA (and yet she's the least impulsive one out of the two). Overall, I support womens wrongs. Genuinely listen to this movie's version of To Be a Princess, you'll absolutely get what I mean.

I still think that Serafina is superior to Vanessa but... Vanessa my beloved <3 Riff was not as fun but I love his name referring to a guitar riff while also being. Ya know. Dog.

My biggest complained about this movie is Crider's whole thing with the Diamond Gardenia like. If that whole plot hadn't been in the movie then it would've been so much better. Keep the whole drought thing for Tori's character development and whatnot, and make Amelia's whole thing about keeping Tori in line be about Amelia's Material Girl lifestyle and her not wanting Tori to find out about what kinda state the kingdom is in because "Vanessa, I'm a Material Girl" (make her an homage to best Barbie villain the Original Material Girl Preminger). Like girl does not want to give up her riches in order to help the populace. Do that instead of having an unrealistic magical diamond-growing plant and Basically Uncle Ian from Alvin and the Chipmunks having an unhealthy obsession with it... (the way he broke into the castle too like- those guards DESERVED to have their heads bonked with vases if that's how shit they are at their job).

To sum my thoughts up, I reckon this movie started off really strong but as soon as the Gardenia and Crider became a thing it began to very slowly fall off. A few changes could've made it so much better. Anyway it's nice to see that it wasn't as shit as I thought it would be, considering it was my childhood favourite :D

Also I stan Prince Liam. Dude was barely present, asked next to no questions and rolled with whatever out-of-left-field shenanigans were thrown at him and I support that. Also no forced romance or hinted feelings or anything, as far as I'm concerned he and Keira were just bros causing chaos together. Good for them.

#barbie #barbie movies #barbie princess and the popstar #barbie princess and the pauper #barbie review

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bellmo15-blog · 1 month

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Dante outfits based of how much I'd wear them.

Been a while since I've done one of them silly little things hasn't it? Well I'm back with a new one of these that's a lot simpler than the Batsuit or Spider-Man suit ones. Mostly because there aren't that many of these costumes in game lol!

As I'm sure a lot of you have seen already, last month I got a pic of my self insert sona dressed in Dante's outfit from the original Devil May Cry. And there were very good reasons for that. Aside from Devil May Cry just being one of my favourite franchises of all time Dante's outfit in the original game just really, really appealed to me a lot that I had to get my sona dressed in it one day. I mean most of Dante's main outfits are great anyway. And while I likely won't be getting another pic of my sona dressed in his drip for a while given the amount of other ideas I want to get drawn for me I thought I might as well resurrect this kind of tier list I made a few years ago but for Dante's drip! I was also considering every other character as well, or at the very least every playable character, but decided to limit it to Dante just cause. I feel like I've wasted enough time so let's get into...

Good luck trying to convince me to take these off: It literally speaks for itself! My favourites of the funny demon mans outfits. From his original design from the first game plus the coatless version from 3 and his outfit from 2. Then again, who doesn't love his outfit from 2? It's commonly referred to as one of the only good parts of Devil May Cry 2 for a reason!

Would still love to wear: Then we get to the ones that I would pretty much still love wearing as a backup if his 1 and 2 costumes were not available to me. And yes, you are seeing that right, the Desile branded costume from DMC 2 is on this tier for me. Yeah, I know it's pretty much just one big product placement for a real life fashion brand but I also don't really care because I kind of really like it. And beyond that is pretty much every other main Dante costume in this series from 3 to 5 because they still look just as good to me. And also this one funny beach themed costume from Peak of Combat. Enjoy seeing it in this tier because pretty much every other outfit from PoC beyond this is downhill for me. Oh and also Dante's look from the upcoming Netflix anime. (PLEASE don't be cancelled 2 seasons in!)

Ehh, maybe: The ones I pretty much have very conflicted thoughts on to be honest. First there's the Sparda costume which I've never really known how to feel in general and it looks like it'd be WAY to expensive and hard to maintain for me. And then you got the EX colours for Dante's 4 and 5 outfits. I don't know, these colour swaps for the outfits just look fine. And then there's some of the other Peak of Combat costumes which I have no idea how to feel about them. They feel, how do I put this, over designed? I don't know, they feel like they got two much going on in them to me.

The amount of beer I'd have to consume to even consider wearing these would also kill me: Yeah, don't act like you didn't see the placement of these costumes coming. Even as someone who actually does like the 2013 reboot because I really don't think it's as bad as everyone makes it out to be I would not pick these outfits to wear casually in any capacity. They don't have the same "cool factor" I'd argue the other Dante costumes do. Which really sucks when you look into the development history of the reboot and see that they did originally try to make it look somewhat more like classic Dante. And spoiler alert, the remaining 2 Peak of Combat costumes aren't any better either. The former has the same issue as the reboot costumes and the later... yeah I'm not a fan.

Oh and then you got the coatless version of his DMC 3 outfit with is literally just him in pants. I have no real strong feelings towards this costume one way or the other.

And... that's pretty much it!

#Devil May Cry #Opinion

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riddlerosehearts · 8 months

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still not gonna fully come back on tumblr yet but i just wanna say that i... finished my dreamworks tier list... i have now seen all 46 of this studio's movies--well, i guess technically not all, since i'm including the direct-to-video release joseph: king of dreams (which, despite only being at the top of the B tier on my list, i do think is pretty underrated and idk why nobody seems to give it a chance), but excluding the trollhunters movie because i've never seen the trollhunters show. maybe someday i will, but right now i'm just not interested.

so, this all just confirmed for me what i've thought for a long time already, which is that dreamworks is an incredibly weird and incredibly inconsistent studio. they've created some of the most beautiful and magical animated films of all time with releases like how to train your dragon, rise of the guardians, and prince of egypt, and some of the most absolute bottom of the barrel trash i've ever had to experience with things like antz, shark tale, and boss baby. and then they've also made a handful of very middle of the road movies, that i wouldn't really say i enjoy all that much, but which i don't think are necessarily bad either--this is the C tier on my list and i will be honest, the first shrek movie was originally in this tier for me because i'm just not that into it. i only moved it up a little because i felt like i had to admit that it is objectively a pretty good movie that was groundbreaking for its time and paved the way for shrek 2 and the puss in boots movies, all of which i love, to exist.

i guess i should share my final ranking, huh? before i do that i will also say that this ranking is absolutely not objective at all and is almost entirely based on my own personal enjoyment. like i said, i originally had shrek 1 in C tier lol. and i have trolls world tour in A tier because i just genuinely love a lot of things about it and very thoroughly have a fun time watching it. the trolls franchise as a whole is so much better than most dreamworks stuff and i will die on this hill. i also tried to rank things from best to worst within the tiers, but i'm very indecisive and some of these movies were hard to rank simply because i couldn't decide if they were closer to "okay" or "bad", or "bad" or "awful"... i could see some of my rankings maybe changing slightly if i thought about it a little more. for now i'm fine with where everything is, though.

anyway, here's my list that is sure to make at least one person want to yell at me lol:

so, to break it down, my top 5 favorite dreamworks movies are:

Prince of Egypt

Rise of the Guardians

How to Train Your Dragon

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

How To Train Your Dragon 2

(i feel so bad that spirit: stallion of the cimarron got pushed out of the top 5... puss in boots: the last wish just existing + me rewatching HTTYD 2 and remembering how much i love it made that inevitable. but hey, it's still top tier.) and my top 5 least favorite dreamworks movies, starting with the least terrible one, are:

The Boss Baby

Turbo

Shark Tale

Antz

Spirit Untamed

(i watched these movies all out of order and for the longest time i thought nothing would dethrone shark tale as the worst of the worst, but i really did hate antz and spirit untamed that much, which surprised me lmao)

again, if i called your favorite movie bad, that really just means it's not enjoyable to me personally--i'm no professional film critic. also, i feel like the tiers came out sort of weirdly even, and i ended up with 21 movies in S-B tiers and 25 movies in C-F tiers, which really speaks to the inconsistency of dreamworks as a studio. i plan to try and keep up with their releases from now on, so i do hope that kung fu panda 4 & orion and the dark turn out well... but dreamworks keeps doing shit like releasing prince of egypt right after antz or putting out ruby gillman right after puss in boots: the last wish, so i guess we'll see! i'm just glad that i can currently say i've seen basically every movie from this ridiculous studio.

#tbh right after posting this i already thought maybe i should adjust the B tier a bit #like wallace and gromit and maaaybe captain underpants could probably go above the trolls movies #and KFP 1 could possibly go above PIB 1 #but idk. i'm not messing with it anymore.#also i'm sorry about el dorado's placement. it's just really not my thing.

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everythingtoony · 1 year

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MADE A TIRE LIST WITH LION KING CHARACTERS FROM THE ORIGINAL MOVIE AND THE SEQUEL LETS GO OVER MY CHOICES!!

S tier: Timon, Pumbaa, Nuka, Rafiki, Scar

Timon and Pumbaa- I feel like this one is an obvious choice tbh, at least for me! I adore these two, they are extremely gay, and I just love the contrast between their two personalities. Timon is impulsive, reckless, and can be loud and rude at times. Meanwhile, Pumbaa is the literal definition of a sweetheart. He's kind, loving, and although he may be oblivious at times he can actually be quite smart in his own way.

Nuka- Ah, where to start with this loopy boi... he is such a dummy, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. He's got a few screws loose in his brain, and he can be very jealous of his younger brother Kovu. And while his selfishness ends up being the thing that kills him, he's got a very endearing personality, and I just adore how dumb he is!!

Rafiki- I'm just going to start by saying rest in peace to Rafiki's voice actor, he brought this character to life in the best way possible, and I am so glad he gave this monkey as much personality as he did. He is very wise, yet can come off as confusing to others. She can actually be quiet sarcastic when he wants to be, and he has outbursts that I find quite funny. I also love it when he just casually hit Simba on the head with a stick with no warning. And in the second movie, when Mufasa's spirit talks to Rafiki, suggesting that Kovu and Kiara should get together, Rafiki loses his mind, it is the funniest thing ever. I also quote him on a daily basis, he's actually one of my favorite characters!

Scar- he was actually my favorite character before I realized that I may like Timon and Pumbaa a little more... but! That does not mean I still don't love him. Scar is my favorite Disney villain ever! I just love his menacing personality, and I think Disney knew what they were doing with his design and voice, because come on, you can see it in the animation. Jeremy Irons voices Scar and I think he did an excellent job on the character. And at one point Jim Cummings had to take his place in the end of Be Prepared, and you can barely notice the difference. The only noticeable thing is that Scar's voice sounds more vicious and chaotic. I really love this character, and he is the last one to go in S tier.

A tier: Ed, Banzai, Shenzi, adult Simba, Zira, adult Nala, young Simba

The hyenas- I don't think I need to say too much about these guys, they pretty much speak for themselves. I think I tend to lean towards chaotic trios and Duos. The hyenas are actually extremely hilarious, and I find their Antics quite funny.. in fact, these hyenas are probably the reason why Timon and Pumbaa exist. Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella originally auditioned for the hyenas, but they loved their dynamic so much that they created two characters just for them, Timon and Pumbaa! I adore the way the hyenas talk to one another, and I think that their dynamic is so cool to watch

Adult Simba- Okay, bear with me here. This list gave me young and adult versions of a lot of the characters, including Simba, Nala, Kiara, Vitani and Kovu. I mainly placed them on the list based on their personalities, because they have two very different personalities... I might like an adult version more than a younger version, or vice versa. With that out of the way, I'm going to talk about adult Simba. I actually really like the way his character was evolved in the first movie, and while he's kind of a jackass in the second movie, he gets better in the end. I think it might also have something to do with his voice, both speaking and singing. I just really like Simba.

Zira- Her obsession with Scar is actually so important to this movie, it's not even funny. In the deleted scene of her death, she says and does a little more than she does in the final scene. Either way, she chose death, because the only thing she wanted was to be with Scar. She would've rather died than be helped out by those she thought she had been hurt by. I think her whole motive is a little strange, but I understand where she's coming from. I think the only thing I don't like about her is how she treats Nuka. She only cared about him in the end when he died. My stupid baby boy did not deserve any of the treatment that came from that woman. Either way, I still think she's a great villain. Scar is way better, but Zira is second place

Adult Nala- This lioness is one of the best moms I've ever seen. I was unsure about where to place her at first, because of the way she reacted with Simba in the first movie...I don't like how pushy she was with her. But like Adult Simba in the 2nd movie, Adult Nala got better by the end of the first movie, and I think she was great in the 2nd one. She saw Kiara, and knee she wanted freedom. She understood that, and tried to help Simba understand as well.

Young Simba- Finally, this little shit is the last to be on the A tier. He's absolutely adorable, but he's constantly getting himself in trouble. He's energetic and just wants to be like his father, but JEEZ, SIMBA WHEN HE SAYS DONT GO TO THE SHADOWY PLACE IT MEANS DONT GO! I think his voice is adorable, and he was super close with Mufasa, which made Mufasa's death so much sadder. Either way, Young Simba is great. Not my favorite, but he's cute.

B tier: Adult Kovu, Zazu, Adult Kiara, young Nala, Mufasa

Adult Kovu- He's pretty nic

e looking, and I love how he's eventually taught how to let go and have fun. I also love how he decided to go against Zira's plan in the end, although he was going to do it at first. And of course, Scar was a heavy influence that he was taught to look up to as a cub, he didnt know about the blackness in his soul. Other than that...yeah, I think he's a meh character. I certainly don't hate him, but he's definitely nit my favorite.

Zazu- He's so snooty and I love him, but he played such a small role in the 2nd movie, and it made me sad when I didn't hear Mr. Beans voice. I think he's kinda in the middle because he's not really anything special. Yes, he's smart, witty, and can be rude at times, but he's also extremely overbearing and it kinda annoys me sometimes. Either way, he's a good character, just not my favorite.

Adult Kiara- Ehh...I like her voice, and the way she stops the war at the end of the 2nd movie by making Simba eat his own words was pretty good...but she's kinda meh. She was quite annoying sometimes, and Imma be honest, her laughing is fake as he'll. But I do like how she has the same energetic spark in her soul that Simba once had. I think that's cool.

Young Nala- Again...nothing really special...yeah, she's sassy and witty, but other than that...she doesn't really do a whole lot. Her adult self does way more than her younger self.

Mufasa- He's a really good dad, but he did let Simba go off on his own constantly. And I think he definitely deserved more screen time, because he's such a good father. But now he's dead, so oh well.

C tier: Sarabi, Adult Vitani, young Kiara, young Kovu

Sarabi- Okay, getting to the ones I'm really kinda "meh" about. Sarabi didn't do much...I do like jer personality, but the only thing exciting on screen was when Scar hit her across the cave. I don't really have a lot to say about her.

Adult Vitani- ehhh...she joined Simba's side in the end, but other than that, dhr really didn't do much, either. I do like her personality, and her and Nuka's dynamic was funny, but other than that, she's mid.

Young Kovu and Kiara- dislike these two but not enough to put it in D tier..they're just...there for story, I guess. They're eh.

D tier: Young Vitani

Don't come at me but I don't like Vitani that much. She's just there to be the "voice of reason" between her and Nuka. I don't have much to say on her.

Well, that's it, there's everything. I'm gonna take a nap.

#disney #the liom king #the lion king 2 #simba #nala #kovu #kiara #nuka #vitani #mufasa #sarabi #Timon #pumbaa #rafiki #zazu

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 2 years

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I did a TWDG character tier list because it’s been a while

Back in July 2019, I posted a tier list ranking TWDG characters from all four seasons with explanations for why I placed each character where I did. It’s now 2023, and I’ve mostly stepped away from TWDG and the fandom. I pop in occasionally to answer asks or give updates about the Clementine comics. Sometimes I get the itch to do an analysis post. Or something like this.

Distancing myself and then revisiting the series has changed a lot of my opinions of these characters and my ranking is quite different, so I thought it’d be interesting to discuss.

Just a note about how I’m ranking this: This ranking is solely based on my feelings about the characters. Last time I ranked some characters higher than I wanted to because I acknowledged their good writing and popularity. I’m not doing that this time. Well-written/popular or not, if I don’t like them, they’re ranking low. If I like them, then that’s the only reason I need to rank them high. That’s probably going to cause disagreements and that’s fine. Agree to disagree, y’know?

Each character is limited to a 3-4 sentence explanation. I can’t write a heavy analysis for every character, otherwise we’ll be here forever.

Also, I didn’t include characters from the Michonne mini-series since they weren’t included in my original and the mini-series is separate from the main series. All you really need to know is Michonne and Pete would’ve made A-tier.

Starting from F-tier and working our way up to S-tier:

F-tier

Troy Surprise, Troy’s my least favorite character in the entire series. He’s an asshole and I find nothing compelling about him other than his death scene. He’s insignificant, I hate him, and he can suck an egg.

Vernon Vernon has some sympathetic qualities to his character but as far as characters in S1 go, I can’t say he’s all that great. Sure, he patched Omid up but that doesn’t mean he gets to fuck us over in the end. Screw him, y’know?

The Stranger I feel like I like the idea around The Stranger more than the Stranger himself. I get it, he’s supposed to be just some dude and it’s a neat reveal that he’s the guy we stole food from, but I liked him better when he was just a voice over a walkie. He’s just kinda here to guilt you over your choices no matter what you did and use it as an excuse for kidnapping Clementine, but I need a little bit more from my antagonists.

Joan Joan has one of the coolest villain moments in TWDG when she asks you who you want to save, then orders who you picked to be executed, and honestly? I respect that. It just sucks that Joan as a character is boring as sin. I can’t forgive boring antagonists, she sucks.

Larry Not going to lie—Larry is the biggest asshole and I kinda live for it. I still absolutely hate him, but I can respect him as a character for being such a piece of shit. He has some depth to him when you bother to try out different choices, and his death is so ingrained in my brain, but he’s in F-tier for a reason. I hate him, but he’s a damn good antagonist within the group.

Abel I think Abel is a great antagonist and he’s well-written, but I also think he’s garbage and I hate him. They really captured how crusty, creepy, and cruel he can be while also giving him a moment of vulnerability when he realizes he’s dying.

D-tier

Kenny Yes, I’m ranking Kenny this low. He’s one of my least favorite characters in all of TWDG, but at least he’s an interesting character study despite just being such a piece of shit. I’m sorry, I know he’s a fan favorite and he’s a broken man with a sad backstory, I understand that he’s a complex and well-written character. But I can’t stand him; he’s manipulative, violent, possessive, you can’t disagree with him without him throwing a tantrum, and I just don’t like him.

Andy, Danny, Brenda I’m clumping these three together because I might as well, my opinion of them individually doesn’t differ much. These guys are cannibals who lead people to their farm to butcher, eat, and trade the meat with bandits. They fed Mark’s leg meat to the group like…. It’s so fucked. They’re great antagonists, the best in S1 for sure, but fuck these guys.

Walter I’m kinda meh on Walter. He’s where he is on this tier list not because I hate him or anything, he’s mostly just here to guilt Nick and then be executed by Carver, and eh.

Arvo I don’t like Arvo. I don’t think that’s an unpopular opinion. I feel bad about everything he went through and Kenny was absolutely in the wrong for abusing him the way he did, but I can’t say Arvo himself is compelling. I think that’s a common theme with me—boring is usually worse than bad, and Arvo isn’t all that interesting. Then he shoots Clementine and we never hear from him again sooo…. Cool.

Omar Oh no, poor Omar ranking so low. But again, for me boring is worse than bad, and Omar is boring. I’m sorry, I know that’s wild coming from me given my past with TFS but it’s true. Omar is a character who exists, he cooks, he gets shot, he survives, and that’s about it.

Mark The only cool thing about Mark is how he died. But as an actual character? Meh.

Sarita Sarita is barely her own character. She exists to serve Kenny’s character development, and I hate that for her. She’s nice, and unfortunately that’s it.

Willy Willy is okay. He definitely has the most depth in this tier, save Kenny. But he’s still a minor character who I can’t justify putting any higher when I don’t love him.

Mari Oh, poor Mari. She’s sweet, but her death is more impactful than her actual character.

C-tier

Carver Carver’s a pretty good antagonist. I like him well enough. He’s a piece of shit, he’s intimidating, and he’s dangerous. Not the best, not the worst antagonist.

Carlos Carlos is hilarious, which I don’t think was the intention behind his character but if not, then they shouldn’t have made him so funny. I’m not saying funny as in “haha,” I’m saying it in a “you are an incompetent man, why are you doing this” way.

Duck I feel kinda bad for putting Duck so low, but he has the same problems as Sarita and Mari, though he does have a bit more personality going for him. His character serves Kenny’s character development, and his death is more impactful than he actually is.

Bonnie Bonnie’s fine. I liked her more in 400 Days. In S2, she’s just kinda meh.

Rebecca I like Rebecca well enough. Her going from being a complete asshole to wanting to be friends with Clementine between episodes kind of gives me whiplash but I can’t help but sympathize with her. She’s a pregnant woman in the zombie apocalypse who lost her husband because Carver’s a piece of shit and then she dies shortly after giving birth... it’s sad.

Shel and Becca I like Shel and Becca a lot more than I did before. Their situation in 400 Days is rough, and I feel a lot for Shel wanting to give Becca a good life despite the state of the world. Becca’s also just a kid who tries to act tough and like she has a thick skin but c’mon, she’s still just a kid.

Mike Mike was super chill until he betrayed us at the end. I would’ve ranked him higher but frankly, I’m still a bit bitter about him wanting to run off with Bonnie and Arvo, completely fine with taking all the food and resources so that Clementine and baby AJ starve. We were bros, Mike, then you had to go a do that.

Brody Once again: Her death is more memorable than her character. But, in this case, I will say Brody stands out given the fact that she’s lying to everyone about the twins and dealing with the guilt gnawing at her in ep1. I find her interesting within the context of “who is telling the truth? what really happened?” because unfortunately, both she and Marlon end up dead so we’ll never know the full story from either perspective.

Mitch Oh, my boy, there was a time where you ranked waaaay higher, but I can’t do it. Mitch is a good character and serves his purpose, and his death is still pretty bullshit. I still like him, just not nearly as much as I used to.

Eleanor I’m still pissy about Eleanor snitching on us to Joan which results in either Ava or Tripp being executed, and then having the balls to yell at us about it. But prior to that, Eleanor’s a character with great medical knowledge and skills who wanted to help people. She just ends up being a victim to ANF’s less than stellar writing.

Kate I still have a lot of issues with Kate, like I still hate the romance between her and Javi and how bitter she becomes after being rejected, but I don’t hate her. She’s a flawed character but I understand her perspective on things when it comes to David and Richmond. She’s also resourceful and charming at times, I like her well enough.

Violet Yeeeeeah, remember how I said this is 100% my biased opinion on all of these characters? Violet is a mid C-tier character for me, she’s just okay. I don’t hate Violet, I don’t love her. She has some really endearing moments just as she has infuriating ones. I talked a bunch about her in my revisiting TFS post, if you want a full explanation on my feelings about her, then you can read that.

Chuck I like Chuck, he’s chill. I appreciate the reality check he gave Lee about Clementine and their plan, and I’m sad that he died. Not much else to say.

Vince I really like Vince. I talked a lot more about his character in my 400 Days post, so to summarize, he’s another interesting protagonist in that dlc and I liked his story a lot.

Molly Might be an unpopular opinion to put Molly this low, but even though I like her, I can’t justify putting her higher. Molly’s story is heartbreaking though, and incredibly traumatic when you sit with it... like, she traded sex for medicine so her sister wouldn’t be thrown out, and given that we don’t meet her sister and dipshit doctor said he couldn’t keep helping her out... yeah. Molly brings a lot of charm and humor while she’s around but she’s also just so sad, y’know?

Jesus Jesus is cool. I don’t really have much else to say about him other than that.

Christa I feel like a lot of these C-tier characters can be summed up with, “I like them, they’re cool... yeah.” because that’s how I feel about Christa. She shines more as a character when paired with Omid, and like with Rebecca, I really feel for her as a pregnant woman in the apocalypse who then lost both Omid and their baby and had to remain strong to care for Clementine... even though her resentment and bitterness are clearly present.

Conrad My boy Conrad... I still really like him, though my love has definitely toned down. I enjoy his story and still stand by keeping him alive to the end, even though he makes it difficult sometimes. He’s hurting and that makes him stupid, and if you keep him alive long enough, he genuinely apologizes then tries to be better and I respect that.

Ben Ben didn’t quite make it to B-tier, but know that he was close. Ben is such a screw up and he does so much damage, but I can’t bring myself to hate him. Most of us don’t wanna admit that if the apocalypse actually happened, we wouldn’t be a Lee or a Clementine, we’d be a Ben.

B-tier

Aasim Aasim is definitely one of my favorite side characters in TFS and I’m always going to be bitter that he wasn’t used to his full potential. He’s the perfect middle ground between Louis and Violet, I love that he keeps a journal to record everything that happens, and that he’s the only one willing to push back at Marlon. Aasim’s great.

Ruby I adore Ruby, she’s great. She’s small and fiery yet she’s the group nurse and takes pride in patching people up. Again, one of my favorite side characters in TFS.

Alvin I have a lot of feelings about Alvin. Most are sad. This man loves his wife and their baby. I love the exchange between him and Clementine where she tells him he’s nice, she can tell, and Alvin’s just like, “I ain’t nice!” and Clementine goes, “...Yes, you are.” with a smile, it’s great. He didn’t deserve his fate, I’m still hurt by it.

Nick Speaking of not deserving their fate: Nick. I like Nick a lot and will never be over his off screen death and how no one really cared.

Eddie and Wyatt Lumping these two together since I couldn’t decide who I liked more. The two are amazing, their story in 400 Days is so damn enjoyable, and the chemistry between them is off the charts. Both interesting characters with great personalities.

Katjaa I’ll never not be sad about Katjaa. Woman deserved the world and yet that’s what she got. She’s so interesting given her career as a vet which made her the group doctor, the fact that she married Kenny, and how she straight up tells you that she has her limits and she would’ve left Lilly behind if it was her choice.

Doug Doug’s pretty great, but there just wasn’t enough time devoted to him in S1, especially if you don’t save him in ep1. When you do save him, though, he’s one of the more enjoyable characters to be around and I appreciate the efforts he makes to help the group despite his talents lying else where.

Luke Luke is great for two episodes, then his character slowly went down the shitter. He had the makings to be great, to be an A-tier character, no questions asked... but honestly, putting him in B due to my personal feelings is being generous. When you’re only great for 2/5 episodes, then maybe you’re not an overall great character, hmm? But I’m biased and I like him.

Minerva Okay look, I love Minerva as a tragic antagonist. I take back every mean thing I’ve ever said about her.

Tripp Man, I love Tripp. He’s my bro, y’know?

Gabe Gabe is a brat and I love him. I understand the criticism, but I also understand a lot of that criticism is rooted in “any child character who isn’t exactly like Clementine is deemed annoying.” He's one of the better parts of ANF in my opinion.

Tenn I’ve done a lot of thinking about Tenn since I wrote my retrospective on TFS and like... Tenn is a great character. He’s interesting to have within the story of TFS, and I know, it’s so easy to just hate him because he keeps making the same mistakes. It’s when you look at the full picture that you understand why he keeps doing it and it’s just... sad. He always dies in my playthroughs, it’s heartbreaking.

Sarah Sarah should get a shirt that says “I was wasted potential in S2 and all I got was this lousy shirt.” Because yeah, the set up for Sarah is executed so damn well, then the game fumbled, and then she was killed off. My girl deserved better than that.

Carley I adore Carley. That’s my girl, I love her. Just.... I love her. Not much else to say.

Ava Ava is so fucking cool, why is it that ANF killed her off in the most comical way possible when she survives execution? How could you do that to one of the most badass characters in TWDG? She fucking knocked TRIPP on his ass. I love her so much.

Marlon Marlon is the perfect antagonist for ep1 of TFS. I have an entire character analysis about him, and again, I covered his character again in my retrospective of the game.

Lilly Yeah, yeah, laugh it up-- I love Lilly, she’s an asshole and she’s great in both S1 and TFS. She’s a woman under so much damn pressure in S1 due to looking after her abusive father as he’s all the family she has left, she’s leading the group which Kenny continually gives her hell for, and she just wants to survive. Then she comes back in TFS as a great antagonist and we see just how far she’s fallen due to everything that’s happened to her. I talked more in-depth about her in my TFS retrospective post so if you want more details, you can go there.

David Okay listen, this is my tier list and I say David is on the verge of being A tier for being such an interesting bitch. David is such a bitch, a real bastard, I could punch him in his damn nose, but damn it, he’s fascinating and I won’t apologize for being invested in the Garcia brother dynamic. I hate him but also I think he’s great.

A-tier

Pete I feel like Pete being this high is just purely my bias showing. He has no business being this high and above so many other characters, but I don’t care. I love this man. He’s only in two episodes [assuming you ran to him instead of Nick] and he’s still one of my favorite characters in S2.

Russell Russell is my favorite protagonist in 400 Days and I will be forever salty that he wasn’t more important in S2.

James I could talk and talk about James until I’m blue in the face. I adore James, he’s such a compelling and often misunderstood character.

Omid I mean, c’mon.... who here doesn’t think Omid is an A-tier character? He’s just so charismatic and charming, it’s hard to dislike him even a little. All these years later, and I’m still hurt that he died the way he did.

Jane Yeah that’s right, Jane ranks this high. Jane is a fucking great character and I’m tired of pretending she’s not. I want to give you an in-depth analysis that elaborates on that, but unfortunately, I’ve limited myself on this post. That’s what asks are for, I suppose.

Javier Javier Garcia is the best thing about ANF. Listen, ANF is the worst installment in the series, I feel like I can confidently say that, but Javi makes it all worth it. That, and his dynamics with Gabe and David, and Clementine, too. I love this man.

AJ I debated on if I should put AJ here or S-tier, but ultimately, S-tier is for my absolutely favorites. While I love AJ and his development over TFS, he just barely misses the mark. But I think his spot here is well-deserved, love that little goofball.

S-tier

Rosie Rosie is best girl. That’s it. She’s best girl.

Lee It’s been how many years and I’m still not over Lee. He deserved the world. I love him so much.

Clementine What’s there to even say about Clementine throughout all four seasons? She’s S-tier. She’s incredibly well written throughout the series, her growth is amazing, and her ending in TFS is definitely deserved. I love her so much.

Louis Coming as a shock to literally no one, Louis is my favorite character in all of TWDG and he deserves the top spot in the top tier. What can I possibly say? I have written countless posts about how much I love him. He’s my favorite and I fucking love him.

And for a fun comparison, my 2019 tier list:

#twdg #twdg character tier list #i'm not tagging every character #too many characters #it was interesting to look back at my old list #because like... i added more tiers and had the four clementines two kennys and two lillys #i didn't do that this time #also the previous tier list i can definitely tell some characters were ranked the way they were to appease others #and like... piss on that sksksks i don't care anymore #if someone gets butt hurt over a random tier ranking then that's their problem #they can make their own tier list and 'fix the wrongs' if it makes them feel better #like i'm fine with character *discussion* about things like this #but if you just wanna yell at me for putting kenny in d-tier then i've lost interest

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callsignbaphomet · 7 months

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Been sitting on this all day and I wanna word vomit about it for a bit. Might put a read more if I think it gets too long.

I wanna move forward in Oracle. What do I mean by that? I mean, in a lot of posts you'll often read phrases like "when he (Jelani) finally gets his memory back" or "when Jericho unlocks his (again Jelani) memories" or when I phrase things that pertain to his "old self" in the future tense. I wanna get that part over with and carry it forward from now on.

EDIT: Yeah, this is long as fuck lol but there is/was a lot of information that goes into this and honestly I tend to overexplain stuff and suck at summarizing stuff. So if anyone actually bothers to read any of this, let alone the whole thing, just know that I love you and you now own my soul.

I have a lot to say about Jela and this entire ordeal honestly speaking. There's a lot to him that was done from the get go, some that developed over time (hell, I'm still developing this as I go) and some that was brought over from other AUs believe it or not. Some was on purpose and some that was completely unintentional. Anyway, if anyone's been keeping up, Jelani is actually what in the setting of Oracle is known as a Maker. To recap a Maker is a god to the gods, the god to a pantheon and so on. If there was a tier list from most powerful to least powerful in a deity sort of way it'd have to be:

1. Maker

2. God

3. Demigod

4. and everything else under demigods.

Like I said in a post like a month or two ago, there is nothing higher than a Maker...except for Concepts (we're not gonna get into those at the moment, those are way too difficult to get into and this subject matter is already difficult enough as it is). However, Jelani falls into a weird category. Originally, back when he was known only as Eldest One, he only answered to the Concept of Existence. The pecking order goes as:

1. Concept of Existence

2. Eldest One aka Jelani

3. All the thousands of thousands of Concepts.

4. Every other Maker.

5. Gods

6. Demigods

7. Everything else

Why the hell is he, a Maker, above other Concepts if they are these uber powerful ideas that answer to nothing? Because Eldest One was the very first thing to be created. Not the universe, not the stars, not planets, dark matter, antimatter, matter or anything else. It was Eldest One. So from Eldest One everything else was made. Eldest One is the foundation for literally everything.

But then why is he born to two berserkers? Because he was "killed off" and was reincarnated and this reincarnation stripped him of his memories, powers and abilities. Whatever he knows before Jericho was slowly unlocked on his own and even then he's still operating at 1% of that power.

As Eldest One he was instructed to create a patheon, it would be the very first pantheon--the Primordial Pantheon. From this patheon came Jericho, Iain and several other unnamed gods. As life kept creating itself and evolving each god fell into a role. Death, life, afterlife, creation so on and so on. Concept of Existence took a backseat and just monitored everything. The only thing They had to do was make sure existence kept going, no matter what. As long as there was existence They really didn't care how it was. They would also task Makers with this job: keep existence existing and if there was a threat to existence it was any and all Makers's job to snuff out that problem no matter who or what it was.

CoE sat back and relaxed, made Eldest One an Arch-Maker and for millions of years shit just happened. Some few millions of years later, if you wanna put a timeline to it I guess you could say a little before the Big Bang, Eldest One needed some help managing shit and who better than Jericho. She was trustworthy, reliable, loyal to a fault and capable so Eldest made Her a Maker.

*Makers aren't born, they are ascended by other Makers.

Iain was sort of put off by this because She felt She could do the job better than Jericho could. Could She? No, She was always busy handling Her own thing and was about as helpful as a dick on an elbow but She still felt some type of way. So instead of proving Herself useful or you know, doing Her damn job She instead started spreading the rumor that Jericho bribed Her way to that position. Iain legit thought Jericho was a total yes man just to get rewarded but that was not the case. The rumor spread between the pantheon and other pantheons were starting to lose control of their ranks so to speak and this in turn caused some turmoil and creation as a whole halted. CoE was summoned but all They said was that it was in the hands of the Arch-Maker (Eldest One). Long story short an uneasy agreement was reached but Iain being Iain She kept inciting others behind Eldest One's back which culminated in a coup because Iain managed to convince many gods and Makers that Eldest One operated by favoratism and only those They were fond of could rise to power and before you know it the vast majority of these deities were against Eldest One and Jericho along with a handful were on Eldest One's side. Unfortunately with time Eldest One grew paranoid and trusted no one, not even Jericho. Time passes and the paranoia grows more and more, unrest gets worse, bickering gets worse and creation suffers. The realm being created is almost at a standstill with nothing progressing and a war is almost fully developed until it blew up. An old god of death wanted an audience with Eldest One to see if something could be done to ease tentions but an argument broke and Eldest One killed the old god of death. This was the first ever recorded death to take place. Their corpse was tossed into the half-baked realm to be displayed for all to see and when another Primordial god came forward Eldest One killed that one in a way that caused a massive explosion and from the body and soul came the Big Bang and put everything into motion. However, Eldest One was sort of in a state so a war broke out and They intended to go for everyone since everyone had turned Their backs on Them. Not true but They were so deep in Their paranoia and hurt by it all that They couldn't see reason. Jericho tried to stop Them but They saw it as an attempt to kill Them so Eldest One attacked and injured Her and before They could kill Her CoE finally stepped in and restrained the Arch-Maker but millions of years of paranoia had kind of taken their toll on Them and They were deep in a sort of psychosis. Given that They were immensely powerful and currently a threat to existence CoE had no choice but to kill Them. Sort of.

CoE killed Them physically but Their essence was very much alive and floating in the aether trapped in complete silence and darkness for actual eons. Everyone and everything else thought They were dead and the surviving gods of the Primordial pantheon disbanded though none were ever the same again and no one knew it all started because of Iain's bitch ass.

Here's the thing. CoE could've killed Eldest One but They were the foundation for creation and if They die everything else dies with Them and CoE would have to start all over again. So CoE decided that freezing the prince of existence away until They calmed down was the best choice. They could and should've left Them trapped but CoE had placed a timer on Their prison and when it ran out Eldest One was released but instead of just coming back They decided to move on. Basically the equivalent of changing your name, changing your look a little and moving to a different country to get away from your toxic and bullshit family only a little more complicated.

Memories? Scrubbed clean. Powers? Locked away. Essence? Killed off and passed onto a new self. For all intents and purposes Eldest One is dead and the new owner of the title of prince of existence and the new Arch-Maker is Jelani. Neither of them are the same person. At all. However, Jelani inhereted several things from Eldest One and you can argue that it's not fair since he wasn't responsible for any of it nor did he ask to be the new Arch-Maker and prince. It is what it is though.

So instead of being born a Dreadstar berserker as he would've been had Eldest One not passed on Their role to Jelani he was born as the new Arch-Maker. So what does that mean for him? A lot of things actually. He inherited the powers, abilities, privileges, status and all the negativity as well. When word got out that Eldest One was now this person born from mortals (using that term loosely here, what I really mean is not of divinity) and raised as one all eyes were instantly on him. Both Iain and Jericho knew CoE couldn't just kill Eldest One and they waited eagerly to find Them again and exact revenge in their own way. However, through the years She had Her suspicions about Jelani but She had no tangable proof. She'd get close and observe and even tried to test him in ways to see if what She suspected was right. She even went so far as to try to kill him (managed to injure him though) but She knew better and this inkling of a feeling in Her chest wouldn't let Her do it. She still absolutely hated him, hated him so much She would torment him with hallucinations, night terrors and even made his sleeping disorder worse at times. Speaking of, yeah, the constant migraine attacks he gets are because of Eldest One. CoE crushed part of Their crown and stabbed a bunch of the shards into the right side of Their head and face, which is where the migraine attacks always hit Jelani. Jela's phobia of the dark is the result of Eldest One being trapped in darkness for millions of years. Like I said, Jelani inherited all the negativity from and because of Eldest One. Along with that Jericho and Iain's hate as well as the hatred from thousands of gods and Makers. So when Jericho fully confronted him She saw he couldn't remember anything, hell, he didn't know Her at all and that's when She put two and two together and honestly felt disgusted that Eldest One would just place the burden of it all on him without his consent. She saw how confused by it all Jelani was and to be frank he's had an identity crisis his entire life so in an act of "kindness" She placed Eldest One's memories on him and unlocked all the powers and abilities. No, She shouldn't have done that because She set in motion a lot of bullshit.

Now Jelani was aware of a lot of crap he honestly was not prepared for, was pretty much outted to a ton of other powerful forces that hated him for shit he didn't do and wasn't even aware of, exposed him to Iain and severely pissed off CoE. No one aside from CoE and Jericho knew the truth and as much as Jericho wanted to clear his name She was silenced by CoE so Jelani bore the brunt of it all. Jela wasn't quiet about it though, he was adamant that he wasn't Eldest One but it mostly fell on deaf ears, no one (I'm talking in a cosmic divine level, not his family, friends or non-divine) trusted him and like I keep repeating a lot of them hate him for what Eldest One did. The stress of it all was crazy, he was constantly attacked and/or threatened not just by Iain but by other divinities. He barely slept, barely ate, barely got out of bed and for the second time in his life he actually tried to kill himself but Jericho stopped him. She managed to calm him down enough to get him to see reason mostly in the form of convincing him that he couldn't do that to his husband, his brother, his family and friends. She was basically his one and only (divine) ally.

So after begrudgingly accepting that that was how shit was gonna be from now on he and Jericho went after Iain. Took a while but in the end he managed to kill Her but not before getting Her to confess that She was the one that initiated that whole mess. So what happened after that? Even after all that trouble and hard work a lot of them still didn't trust him but they didn't full on hate him especially when Jericho vouched for him. In the end Jelani wants absolutely NOTHING to do with being an Arch-Maker or anything to do with outer and cosmic gods and the Concepts. He finally got his answers, for better or worse, and unknowingly carried out Eldest One's revenge. Jericho volunteered to take his burden as prince of existence and as a secondary Arch-Maker to carry out all of his duties. Where does that leave Jelani? Self exile. He gave up his duties as prince of existence but he is STILL an Arch-Maker and his place in the pecking order hasn't budged. All the perks and privileges are at his disposal and all that good shit that would make anyone lesser than go power hungry are his but he doesn't acknowledge it and doesn't use it UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY (read: some world ending catastrophy). Yeah, he was bitter for a while and a little lost to be honest but eventually he went back to his old self. CoE tries to steer him back but Jelani pretty much ignores Them and doesn't talk to Them unless it is the absolute last option. Think of it as him going no contact with CoE. Jericho shows up every once in a while to check in. Both he and Jericho were fucked over and a sort of weird friendship formed between 'em.

With this sort of parallel to Angelus it made both his and Angelus's love all the stronger. They both saw themselves in each other, born as something unexplainable, often ostracized by others (Angelus for being a Crossedbreed and Jelani for being the son of two berserkers but not being one himself, feeling like he was a complete disappointment to his family given the rich history of his family from his mother's side), never having the chance to fully understand who they really were because of outside circumstances, being hated for being born something that was completely outside of their control, being completely misunderstood and often times the subject of jealousy from others coveting their power and abilities. Both actually got to a point where they thought of themselves as dangerous monsters and were so afraid of hurting other people but the truth is both are extremely caring, loving and protective people who would rather hurt themselves than to hurt someone else especially loved ones.

With this development a lot of other story-arcs open up especially one of my favorite ones that I'll sit down and write someday lol. Some older enemies become a little more threatening, others become lesser than and other ideas can be explored. I just thought it was about time I moved this forward. I wanna move a lot of things forward but this is already long enough. If you read this to the very end you officially own my soul and I love you.

#Jelani tag #<- goddamn it i love them so much like i put them through hell and dragged them through the mud and all but he comes out of it #bruised battered and scarred for life but they make it out #the parallels between him and Angelus are pretty obvious for anyone that's been paying attention but i feel like it draws them to each other #and makes their bond and love all the stronger 'cause they just get what each goes through even if it's a different kind of messed up #i'm so fucking serious when i say i'm so proud of this oc i just think they're neat and i love them so much #they're my little baby #pretty much on the same level as Angelus is #Oracle tag #Oracle Corp tag

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fueledby3racha · 11 months

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SO, rock-star came out...

I still have to decide my final tier list tho, the album is so good as a whole piece!!!

when I gave it the first listen it was 2 a.m. btw. words cannot describe how much I tried not to scream from excitement when I first listened to megaverse. I feel like it's one of those songs that give so much stray kids vibes. I'm still obsessed over felix counting in french - since I'm an old stay and I've been since clé 1 miroh, I can't help but always wait for that good as hell intro for every album they make. megaverse makes one of the best intros yet, cuz it in globes in such a good way the rest of the album. regarding the melody, I really like how they've embraced the noise as part of the structure of the music they make. this structure appears in most of the songs except for "leave" ofc.

now about the title track (and the rock version). I've told this to a friend and I still believe that if it were for the kids they would have introduced the rock version as the title track per se, but the the kpop industry isn't ready for that yet - they can make all the noise music you want but there are still some limitations. both versions really convey the lyrics of the song and the energy is very powerful, which is something you'd rather expect from the kids. even when the melody is so loud like the Rock version, the harmony within the song is still very present! also the video is astonishing, but that's for another whole post lmao.a

next song! blind spot is... a very special song LOL. the contrast between the lyrics and the melody is very present and that makes up for a very good song, cuz it's not as angsty as cover me. the whole song gives more of a hopeful vibe, still maintaining the profile of pop rock. this one is for the nightcore fans btw, iykyk. the lyrics are very personal too and they're still so relatable - that's one of the powers stray kids have.

about comflex - every time I listen to it I feel like the most powerful person on Earth. it's really encouraging and I feel like many queer (and non queer) people feel like that too every time they listen to it. personally as a queer person it makes me feel like I can wreck every stereotype and role out there. so needless to say, I'm claiming it for the queers :) I'm obsessed with the vocal performance of chan, lee know and seungmin - Felix also really knows how to accentuate the feeling of songs that make you feel powerful (even sexy, like charmer).

NEXT! cover me... when I tell you I entered in a state of Nirvana when this song came next in queue... with this song I kind of started realizing how much English they've been including in the songs lately. when Chris sings in English he has such a different approach and you can feel it right inside ur chest - it really shattered my heart into pieces.

speaking of angsty songs, leave. when I gave a first listen to the album I didn't really like this song. my first thought even when the unveil came out was "oh, this song doesn't belong in this album". but talking to a friend about it he made me realize it's kind of necessary to have a breath of fresh air among all the rough songs that rock-star has (cover me included). I still feel like the melody doesn't do much justice to the lyrics (it's a bit too cheesy for my like), and since I'm not that into this kind of pop I know this song just isn't for me. and that's okay sometimes. cuz many fans are way more into this vibe and most definitely love this song even over cover me.

last song - the korean version of social path. this will be kind of controversial to say but since the song has so many lyrics in English more than Korean (or Japanese in the original version), I still haven't decided which version sounds better. apart from that, I feel like the Korean version sounds way better in masterization - I'm not sure why though.

so that's it! remember to keep streaming the album in all the digital platforms you can, and since we are wrapping up another year things can get a bit stressful - it's okay if you can't dedicate it as much time as you'd like to. also remember to vote for skz in MAMA!!!!!

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total-fandom-tr45h · 2 years

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Ghosti's Plexverse Character Guide (so far)

This is a list of human employees exclusive to my Plexverse, along with Gacha Club references for them. Feel free to ask questions about them if you want to know more!

Aria ~ My self-insert | Female | Pansexual | 23

Initially works at the Lucky Stars gift shop as a cashier, and is supposed to occasionally help the Daycare attendant when they need assistance

Ends up getting a huge crush on both Sun and Moon, and has trouble hiding it so the two find out rather quickly. Luckily, they like her too.

Moves in with Sun and Moon, living with them in the Plex.

Is present for the night of Security Breach, and helps Gregory throughout the night (already started writing it)

Eventually is promoted to full-time Daycare Attendant Assistant once the Pizzaplex is reopened

Even though I could change her to be ideal to what I wish I could be, she has a lot of my quirks; Trichotillomania, ADHD, anxiety, PTSD, and so on. She just has better control over some of them than I truly do. She even still has my general body type, just more fit and not so out of shape.

Todd ~ Male | Demisexual | 25

The creator of Luna Moth

He was a child prodigy and is a mechanical and technological genius

He saw the Daycare Attendants and witnessed their flexibility and said ‘I wanna build something like that’ so he did- thus Luna was made. Fazbear Entertainment felt like he was too close to their technology even though he had 0 access to their blueprints so Fazbear bought the rights to Luna and made her an attraction at the Pizzaplex as well as hired Todd as her personal mechanic

Todd later on became the sole mechanic to work on Sun and Moon, since their system was so similar to Luna’s

He knows all the animatronics are sentient, and is incredibly respectful towards them

Sarah ~ Female | Straight | 46

One of the lower tier managers at the ‘plex, she is in charge of all the human employees stationed at the various gift shops

She’s a total bitch that nobody likes, and is extremely homophobic and abusive towards the animatronics

She rarely appears, she mostly exists just for angsty moments

Molly ~ Female | Lesbian | 23

Works backstage for the Glamrocks and is Luna’s costume designer

Has a side business making and selling jewelry and piercings online

Hasn’t appeared much, but is good friends with Luna

General personality is kind, but don’t fuck with her or someone she cares about or you will regret all your life choices

Jake ~ Male | Straight | 37

Dayshift security guard

originally appeared in a little offshoot i wrote where characters from a different video game appeared in the plex, but i decided to keep his character around

Has chronic insomnia and is always drinking coffee

Not a fan of kids

POC

Has a wife and 2 kids (he only likes his children lmao)

Angela ~ Female | Bisexual | 32

The only on-site Nurse at the Pizzaplex

had to get hired after a S.T.A.F.F. bot was unable to help get someone to the first aid station and they customer sued

Always hopped up on caffeine

Loves working with kids, and is good at her job

Has her degree and is an RN

She always carries little lollipops with her for good little patients

Craig ~ Male | Gay | 25

Todd’s childhood friend

Operates the sound equipment for the main stage

Is totally gay for Todd

Very flamboyant and really nice to everyone

Hasn’t really shown up in a story yet

Comes from an Italian family, and is actually a really good Chef - but sucks at baking

Alex ~ Non-binary (DMAB) | AroAce | 28

The main mechanic for the Glamrocks

A quick learner with a photographic memory, so it’s easy for them to do their job

Reserved and soft-spoken, they prefer the company of S.T.A.F.F. and the little wet floor bots to that of humans

The easiest way to get on their nerves is to be in the area when they’re working

No interest in any workplace drama, they would rather go to work, do their job, and go home

They were selectively mute for a time, so they know ASL

Esperanza ~ Female | Transgender & Bisexual | 23

A cashier and Waitress at El Chip’s

Yes, she’s a Latina - and Bilingual

Male to Female - has had the surgeries thanks to a rich and supportive family

Has a huge crush on Aria and even asks her out on a date, only to be told when on said date that Aria isn’t interested but would like to be friends

Melissa ~ Female | Lesbian | 24

Roxy’s Handler

Also, she’s Molly’s girlfriend - they met at the plex and just clicked

Melissa is fun loving and hard working, but also knows when it’s time for fun and time for work

Roxy actually likes Melissa, who constantly compliments the wolf animatronic and keeps her looking her best

Hasn’t actually appeared in a story yet, I just made her in Gacha club and she came to be

Trilingual - English, German, and French

#Ghostis Plexverse #ghostis aus #Plexverse #Character guide

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liugeaux · 5 months

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The Best Games of 2006 | The 7th Gen is Here

In 2006, with the release of the Wii and PS3, the 7th console generation was officially in full swing. This list ended up having a nice mixture of all the consoles on the market, but 2006 began one of the most pivotal era of video games, and this top 10 is a vivid snapshot of the industry at the time.

As always this will be written as if it was written in December of '06 so any later commentary about these series will not be mentioned. Here we go!

#10 - Tomb Raider: Legend

The Tomb Raider franchise has always had a reputation of being a fun, yet arduous series. The puzzles were obtuse and frustrating and controlling Lara was a bit of a chore. This year, the team at Crystal Dynamics has finally gotten the formula right. With the transition from generation to generation it's hard to know which franchises will successfully make the jump to new hardware, and Tomb Raider proves Lara Croft has legs (no pun intended).

#9 - Tetris DS

Tetris is the best puzzle game ever made. It's the puzzle game on which dozens of other puzzle games are built. Tetris has seen a consistent flow of releases over the years and the quality has been shaky, but Tetris DS gets it right in nearly every way. The controls are tight, the gameplay is true, and like its Game Boy predecessors, the DS makes for a great pick-up-and-play Tetris machine. Even the touch-specific game modes are a welcomed detour, but the real star here is the presentation. Most Tetris games have a reverence for the Tetris method, but Tetris DS has a reverence specifically for the original Nintendo-published Tetris titles and that makes all the difference.

#8 - Resistance: Fall of Man

Ratchet and Clank developers Insomniac tried their hand at an FPS this year and for the most part, hit the jackpot. They created lore and a world engaging enough to explore and sprinkled in just enough Ratchet and Clank gun chaos to make the experience a unique one. Sure it has many of the issues you see with console launch games, but it lays the groundwork for both future Resistance games, and other hard-hitting shooters on PS3.

#7 - Gears of War

Last year's Resident Evil 4 turned out to be much more influential than I thought. Where RE4 established the over-the-shoulder camera as a viable 3rd person game mechanic, Gears of War has perfected it. Borrowing the fast-paced nature of the best FPSs, the over-the-top gore of a Mortal Kombat, and revolutionizing the cover-based shooter, Gears is a new franchise for a new generation. Sure, it's a bit repetitive at times and by the end, the chest-high-walls gimmick begins to feel flimsy, but like Resistance, this world is hungry for my action.

#6 - Marvel Ultimate Alliance

As the spiritual successor to the solid X-Men Legends games, Ultimate Alliance didn't have to be amazing to stick the landing. After being handed the keys to nearly the entire Marvel kingdom, Raven Software built an adventure that successfully translates the enormity of the Marvel universe, while still being an engaging Action-RPG. It even acts as a shortcut through the deep lore of the source material. I learned more about B-tier characters like Thor, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, and Captain America than any other medium has been able to teach me thus far.

#5 - New Super Mario Bros.

Mario has been bouncing around 3D environments since '96's Super Mario 64. Outside of weird esoteric one-offs here and there, Mario hasn't had a proper major 2D adventure since Super Mario World. I don't count Yoshi's Island, that's a Yoshi game. New Super Mario Bros. is a glorious return to form. The simple idea of, let's make one of those old 2D Mario games, but with up-to-date graphics, seems like a no-brainer, and it turns out to be a winning formula.

#4 - Guitar Hero II

Better in every way, Guitar Hero II improves on its predecessor and proves the fad from last year is still in vogue. The only downside to Guitar Hero II is that it's a PS2 release. Moving the series into the new generation would have unlocked a lot of potential. Luckily Activision has announced it will be hitting Xbox 360 in the Spring, so maybe putting this game on the 2006 list might be a bit premature, but few other games have soaked up as much of my time this year as Guitar Hero II.

#3 - Okami

When a team takes an established formula (The Legend of Zelda) and attempts to make a stand-out game, they need to come up with something fresh and brilliant to garner respect and attention. With Okami, Clover Studio did just that. Like Shadow of the Colossus last year, Okami is squeezing every bit of power out of the PS2 that it can. Enough like a Zelda game to feel familiar, yet beautifully animated with stunning watercolors to make it stand out, Okami puts an exclamation point on a tried and true formula whose days might be numbered.

#2 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Ever since Space World 2000 Nintendo has been on the hook to give us a more mature and realistic Legend of Zelda game. Windwaker, arguably the best game in the series, had its detractors, so Twilight Princess had a lot to live up to. Full of polish, and style, this game is the perfection of the formula established by Ocarina of Time. Its dungeons are the best the series has seen and while the wolf transformation mechanic may seem lazy at first, it pays off in both gameplay and story. Twilight Princess is what we've wanted from the Zelda series for a long time and it definitely lives up to the hype.

#1 - Wii Sports

Swooping in out of nowhere, Wii Sports is not only the game of the year, it could go down as the most important game of the generation. With the launch of the Wii, Nintendo has reset the market on what it means to be a gamer. It's hands down the most accessible game ever released and is far more than a proof of concept for the Wii platform. Bowling and Tennis alone are worth the price of admission, even if that admission is the cost of a Wii. Nintendo has successfully predicted the market and given us what we didn't know we wanted: motion controls. As with any new tech and launch there's a layer of jank here, but it's worth it to experience the action that has gotten millions of gamers off the couch and swinging their Wii-motes.

Notable Omissions

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - There are a lot of things about Oblivion that make it not a game for me. It's a heavy RPG, with a fantasy setting. Everything about that turns me off.

Bully - I might have enjoyed Bully, but since I hate playing GTA games, I stayed away from it.

Final Fantasy XII - This series has never been on my radar as it is WAY too anime for my liking. It being a heavy RPG doesn't help my interest either.

That's it! Next time we dive into 2007.

Cheers

#wii sports #tob raider legend #okami #the legend of zelda twilight princess #guitar hero ii #new super mario bros #resistance fall of man #gears of wear #Marvel Ultimate Alliance #Tetris DS

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glapplebloom · 8 months

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Man, this year is so much different from the previous...

TIER - Actually Dislike

13 - Velma

I gave it a one shot and have not seen an episode since. But I have been following it via second hand sources and I do not like the direction it is going. Especially how crammed in the Scooby Doo references get. Basically, this is the bottom of the barrel of things I’ve seen this year.

TIER - Still only saw one episode

12 - Clone High

Eh, the Series didn’t really catch on with me. So I had no intention of seeing the rest of the original nor the continuation. Eh, just not for everyone.

11 - Shaggy and Scooby Get a Clue

With the Scooby/Courage episode, I really should have watched more of this series since it helped with that match. Sadly, I never got the drive to look at the rest like the others in the top tier.

10 - Kiff

I did enjoy what I saw. I enjoyed the clips I’ve seen of her and in Chibiverse. Sadly, never really saw a full episode again. Maybe one day in 2024.

TIER - Saw more than one episode

9 - Smurfs

You know how I said I was interested in seeing if Grouchy had a love interest. Well I saw the episode where that scene is from and it's basically your “we want to make a guy who does not smile smile and he totally did that one time but won’t again”. Not enough to put it below the Saw One Tier but DISAPPOINTED!!!

8 - Wacky Racers

Like the one above, I technically saw more than one episode. Granted, it was part of the One Shot review but it is still a technicality. Despite that, and seeing random clips and enjoying it, just never got around to see the rest.

7 - Fionna and Cake

Again, technically I saw more than one episode. But never got to see more of it outside clips. So I know what happens and I know Gary and Marshall are a thing and I’m so happy for them, but never got around to watching the rest.

6 - Hello Kitty Super Cute Adventures

The sad part is this was on the way to being in the Saw them all tier. The problem is new episodes came out and they were two partners. Them also coming out with Kuromi Solo Animations made it hard to follow the rest. Kind of sad when you think about it.

TIER - Saw them all at the time!

5 - Tiny Toons Looniversity

I enjoyed the reboot and saw all the episodes on the first day. It was definitely a fun experience and I do hope it gets the same treatment or better than the Animaniacs Reboot got. Looking forward to seeing my favorite Rabbit Twins in more action.

4 - Twisted Metal

Loved the game lore and I enjoyed what the TV Show producers did to make it their own thing. It seems to touch upon every aspect of the series including the terrible ones people don’t like and made them great. Rest in Peace Granny Dread.

3 - Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Originally it was not supposed to be here. I thought “there’s nothing I’m going to watch this year that would trump this.” Then a show came out that I also thought would have no competition. So I quickly added it. Then another show proved there was. So sadly Moon Girl gets third place. But still, I highly recommend it.

2 - Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

All this because of a song. While it took me a while to watch the rest, I did and thankfully I did before the next episode comes out in December. I doubt the series will continue after that, but still, it's definitely one I am so glad I gave it a shot.

1 - My Adventures with Superman

I did not want this to be in the only saw one episode tier. This needed to be in the Seen All Tier. So I did and I am so glad I have. This is the Superman we need and I look forward to seeing what the next season brings. As long as Warner Brothers keeps its ship together.

#one shot

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incorrectbatfam · 3 years

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Stepmom!Selina?

She sees what she's getting into from a mile away, but she welcomes it because Bruce's kids are a part of him, and she loves all of Bruce.

The kids all see it coming too, and while some (Damian) take longer to warm up to her, she's welcomed into the fold with open arms.

Selina's got a heart as big as her partner and while she's not always perfect, you can see how much she cares.

As a former foster child herself, Selina understands Duke's unique experiences and traumas from the foster care system, so whenever he needs to talk, she's the first one he goes to. Sometimes he doesn't want to (or need to) talk, so they'll watch boxing matches or she'll teach him little bits of Mandarin. If the kitchen isn't busy, they'll try their hand at new TikTok recipes, and film themselves either succeeding or debunking the original poster.

Being raised in isolation to be a human weapon meant Cass missed out on a lot of the things daughters typically learn as children/teens. The evening of Cass's first gala, she didn't know the first thing about doing her own hair and makeup. She's braved assassin armies, but her self-made disaster of bobby pins and eyeshadow nearly drives her to tears. Selina swoops in, wipes Cass's face with gentle reassurances, and walks her through step-by-step.

Selina considers it a privilege to have watched Dick grow from the spunky little Robin to the man he is today. Even though he's taller than her, she still ruffled his hair when he does a good job. She also keeps the first ever birthday card he gave her, which includes a pop-up bat signal and scented stickers, and remembers all of his favorite radio stations. Also, when Bruce does something, Dick goes tattling to Selina.

For a while, Carrie mooched off of her siblings' Netflix profiles, but everyone got tired of her messing up their algorithm and she was forced to make her own. She soon realized how much freedom she had because no one could see what she was watching. Selina caught on to the power trip and started researching and watching snippets whenever a new show comes out. That's how she stopped a bunch of preteen girls from watching Squid Game.

Tim often gets overlooked as not just the middle child, but the child who appears put-together and regularly takes on adult responsibilities. Selina, however, remembers that he's still a teenager. She regularly checks in and gradually teaches him that it's okay to let go and act his age. Selina encourages him to call his Young Justice friends outside of missions and take small acts of rebellion against Bruce. When Tim and his boyfriend snuck out to a famous lover's lookout, Selina gave them the car keys and covered for them.

She noticed that Jason really enjoys hanging out with Harley Quinn, bonding over not just Joker trauma but other shared interests like music taste. After Harley turns to the antihero side, Selina discusses with Bruce and they start inviting Aunt Harley and Aunt Ivy to dinner. The first time they do that, Harley is so excited that she baked a three-layer cake just for Jason. Literally, in strawberry frosting, it said, "THIS CAKE IS FOR JASON ONLY." Finding someone that Jason can relate to remains one of Selina's proudest accomplishments.

She's trying her best, but she makes mistakes too. For instance, although Wayne Manor has plenty of kitchen space, Selina does her cooking at Harley and Ivy's because Ivy can offer her fresh plant-based ingredients that suited Damian's needs. When Alfred's not available, she sends Damian to school with healthy, flavorful vegan lunches shaped into Cheese Viking characters. One time, she was tasked with bringing brownies to a PTA meeting. Incidentally, Harley was simultaneously baking a... different kind of brownie for a block party (you can see where this is heading). When an angry superintendent demanded to know who was responsible, Selina wisely kept her mouth shut and thankfully, so did Damian.

Cullen loves concerts, but he's a huge introvert who gets anxiety when he's left alone in a crowd. Selina becomes his concert buddy, and she'll go as all-out as he does. Sometimes that's showing up to a garage band dressed-down in hoodies and sunglasses. Other times it's painting their faces and looking like they just came out of a Hot Topic blowout sale. She even listens to the discography beforehand so she can blend in. Selina learns a lot about Cullen through this, because nothing says more about a person than the music they listen to.

Harper, though looking rough around the edges, turns into a giddy little kid at interactive science museums. During one of these trips, Harper got distracted by the giant Newton's Cradle so she didn't notice a fourth grade field trip sweeping up Selina. When they reunited at the gift shop, a chaperone had given Selina a school t-shirt and she was put in charge of grading ten kids' assignments. Harper laughed so hard that she spewed lemonade on the museum owner. Neither of them will let the other live that day down.

Selina and Barbara openly talk about guy stuff, and Selina is more than happy to offer advice in times of need. They're both pretty liberal talking about that stuff, and one time they did a tier ranking of all the Gotham Rogues based on how effective their gimmick is (Joker was the only S-tier). They then proceeded to get into a debate on whether or not Man-Bat and Killer Croc should qualify for the list, which led to them staring each other down at dinner while the other family members sat around them confused.

Steph's school offered a Mother's Day breakfast. Although Crystal Brown was doing her best and wanted to make it, she was scheduled a double-shift that the breakfast fell right in the middle of. Selina reached out to Crystal and with permission, went in her place. Afraid that Steph would publicly reject her, Selina sat in the parking lot for ten minutes as Bruce amped her up over the phone. Steph, thinking that no one would no up, was ecstatic and said that she couldn't have thought of anyone better. They enjoyed stacking up waffles and making the girls who bully Steph envious.

Long before she and Bruce got married, Selina made it clear that she would not be relegated to the gender-typical role of a homemaker, and Bruce happily concurred because it's 2021. They knew that to give Alfred a break, they'd have to take on some chores themselves. Instead of dividing up a boring old chore chart, they find ways to make cleaning fun and collaborative. They'll dance around the halls in mop slippers, play "guess the stain", and race their roombas. The kids see this and start modeling the behavior in their own ways—Dick swings from high places to dust them, Damian trains his pets to pick up garbage, and Cass and Duke compete to see who can clean the most bathtubs.

Some parts of the Manor are due for redecorating, so Selina and Alfred make a day trip out of interior design sketches, flipping through furniture catalogues, and looking at paint swatches. It sounds boring at first, but the menial tasks meant they had plenty of time for conversation, and she finally understood why everyone respects him. They also made room in the afternoon for a stroll through the park and afternoon tea, where he told her and her only the secret to a perfect scone.

The other Justice League partners welcome her into the group too. Whenever Selina's in Metropolis, she joins Lois and Ma and Pa for Sunday brunch where they share what their kids have been up to. Iris shows her life hacks to cooking large batches of food in a short time. Selina and Dinah discover an online store dedicated to selling vigilante gear and go on a Cyber Monday spree for their whole families. Steve Trevor, Diana's partner, teaches Selina how to fly with the invisible jet so she can surprise Bruce with the batplane.

After overcoming their initial conflicts, Selina and Talia hold a high amount of respect for each other. Talia sees Selina as not just a capable combatant, but a worthy partner to her former beloved and stepmother to her son. Selina, after spending all that time with the kids, understands the motherly love that Talia holds for Damian and makes it abundantly clear that she would never try to replace Talia in the boy's life. Regardless, looking after all those kids is hard, so they are very much open to the idea of co-parenting.

(Selina doesn't know it, but all this makes Bruce fall in love with her all over again.)

#ask #anonymous #selina kyle #catwoman #gotham city sirens #gotham rogues #batfamily #batfam #batkids #batsibings #batclan #batman family #dc comics #headcanon #tw food mention #tw mental health mention #tw drug mention

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recurring-polynya · 2 years

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Friends, it is time. After a three year hiatus, I present to you:

Renji Fashion Round-up, Part 4a

What, you say? You don’t remember the original Renji Fashion Round-Up posts? They are here: (Part 1: Canon) (Part 2: Filler) (3: OPs and EDs)

This edition will cover Colorspreads and Promotional Materials, and it’s so long that I am spreading it out over two posts. (Yes, I realize I could have further filtered it into Colorspreads AND Promotional Materials, but I found a big folder of these on Reddit and it’s too much work to further sort them. Also, I think it makes more sense to do it this way). I’m going from worst to best, so this post will be covering #20-#10. You may see a few outfits from previous editions, because the openings and endings sometimes used some of these looks, but they didn’t always do them justice, so they are getting a re-rating. I have also grouped outfits that I felt went together thematically, to keep this from getting even longer than it already is. I also left out a handful of ones that just weren’t that interesting/I didn’t have much to say about.

Additionally, I just want to say that I didn’t even know these existed when I made the original posts, and I have since learned that Kubo actually hated the outfits that the anime put Renji in, because he felt like Renji was a great dresser. So even though these is the bottom half of the list, this whole section is a tier above the other ones, and there’s some real gold here.

Anyway, let’s get into it!!!

20. Vampires!

I’m just not into vampires generally, and you can barely even see his outfit. Also he definitely looks like he’s only pretending to drink that...blood alcohol, whatever it’s supposed to be, but, like, the cap is actually still on. (There’s also a fake ad for Pigeon Ruby in Color+ Bleach? Stop trying to make Pigeon Blood happen, Kubo!!)

19. Big Pimpin’

I will admit that he’s got major drip and is very slutty overall, which I normally love, but this is just not my preferred aesthetic. If you love this one, I support you, but I just do not care for it. Also, the fit itself is just not that interesting. I do like his lil braid, tho.

18. Mummy, again

I rated it low in the Filler Round-up and I am rating it low here. I do like the way he’s smoldering at the viewer, and as sexy mummy costumes go, he’s really working it, even without showing skin. That being said: it’s bandages.

17. Cravats, I guess

These two outfits seem sort of fundamentally similarly to me-- low-saturation palate, bit of a slouchy, grungy texture, cravats. I don’t love it, friends. The second one is definitely far superior to the first (the fedora! why??), especially because I loooooove that hairstyle for him and the scarf is tied a little more like a scarf, but he can do better than this.

16. Vampires, again.

I initially rated this one very low, but the more I stare at it, the more I am charmed by it. I mean, this outfit is legit awful. The fedora. The shorts (ft leg stubble). The one pulled-up sock. Ichigo has gone for a more classy all-white vampire look and he can’t even bear to get out of his coffin to be seen with this man. The boots are good, actually and I know I have criticized Renji for wearing white shoes after Labor Day in the past, but it’s working for him here.

15. Oversized sweats

Kubo sure loves to put some dudes in matching sweats!! I have to admit, it’s not my favorite, but maybe I just prefer a more put-together look. I mean, that third one, in particular, is iconic, but it’s because he’s manspreading and his abs and tits are out, but it’s not because of the outfit. The red-and-white tracksuits are notably a step up from the plain gray hoodies, although that scorpion brooch is, uh, something.

14. Military uniforms

So, to be fair, Renji looks really good in a uniform! Even in an anime about career soldiers, the guy is a career soldier to the bone. I think the problem I have with these is that he looks so natural in this sort of thing that it’s just not all that remarkable, in the way that, say, Rukia in a military uniform is just...phew!! Anyway, the fact that this is #15 says more about this list than it says about this look.

13. Workout-gear

See, I like this sort of form-fitting workout gear much more than I like the sweats from earlier. This gets a lot of bonus points for being sleeveless: Renji’s arms are incredible and it shows off the tatts. He should just be sleeveless a lot more often, imo!! Anyway, I wish we could see this better and also, is he wearing gloves? I do really like this bandana, although I am distinctly not sure how I feel about the braids.

12. Men in Black

This is a classic look, and I love whenever how whenever Kubo draws Renji in a group of people with very similar outfits, he always manages to look the best (it’s because he’s tall). Anyway, he’s working it, but unfortunately this look is irrevocably linked to Reservoir Dogs to me, and I am done with Tarantino, so this only makes #12.

11. Beach breeze

Speaking of movies from my formative years, he’s got big Pierce Brosnan-as-James Bond-when-he-has-to-go-to-a-tropical-island energy to me. I wish we could see this from the front. I feel in my heart that he looks very handsome in it, but to me, the vibes are wrong. Renji is just not a man who puts on linen to go to the beach. It’s good, but just slightly off to me. I like his WIlliams-Sonoma $300 watermelon carrier, though.

10. Lamp Society, but make it classy

This outfit appeared, briefly and out-of-context during the very end of OP4: Tonight, Tonight, Tonight. I liked it then and I like it now! It’s tight, even though it probably shouldn’t be and it’s got sort of a modest tit-window. I’d probably rate it higher if we could see more of it. It looks like he’s wearing black pants, which doesn’t seem very practical for the desert. It’s worth noting that everyone looks 1000x times better than when the anime recycled these outfits for the Lamp Society episode.

That’s part a! Read part b here!

#renji abarai #renji fashion round-up #it's renji's birthday but i had a very draining august and i wasn't up to doing anything creative #so you get this instead #i know i should have put 10 in the b part but this just felt like a more natural breakpoint #happy birthday renji!

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luvdsc · 4 years

Text

mark lee sucks at technology.

tap the heart if you have a big, fat, embarrassing crush on your best friend!

pairing :: lee mark x reader genre :: fluff / best friend + social influencer au word count :: 5,883 words warnings :: none playlist :: dumb stuff (lany) ⋆ feeling (coin) ⋆ so far so good (gabrielle aplin) ⋆ electric love (børns) ⋆ love by mistake (bad suns) author’s note :: i was debating if i should post it on his bday instead, but i decided to drop it earlier, so uh, happy (approx. one week early) bday to mister absolutely fully capable (except when it comes to tech stuff) !!!! thank you for blessing us with your god tier raps ♡ ↳ part of the not clickbait series.

In your required upper division business course aptly titled “Essential Marketing Strategies,” you had learned about a concept called personal brands. A personal brand is explained as the first impression a person wishes to perceive based on their own experiences, qualifications, and achievements. Your professor had told you and your classmates to pick three words to define your own brand. For instance, you chose to label yourself as charismatic, fun, and creative.

Your best friend’s brand would be awkward, endearing, and technologically challenged.

Okay, so that is definitely more than three words, but who’s counting? You might as well tack on “Y/N’s big fat crush” at this rate because everyone and their mother knows that you carry a torch—or more accurately, a blazing wildfire that can easily be spotted from Pluto—for your best friend.

Well, to be more precise, you should probably say everyone, except Mark, knows. And that’s not for lack of trying either. You completely dropped the art of delicate subtlety months ago already. Maybe you should add “hopelessly oblivious” instead.

The rolling end credits to the sixth Harry Potter film are playing on the screen in front of you, signaling the nearing end of your magical movie marathon. You’re seated on the worn down couch in Mark and Donghyuck’s shared apartment, watching the former make his drink with the fancy, gently used Keurig newly settled on the scratched countertop. Johnny dropped it off a few days ago because he had splurged on a better coffee machine (“It even makes Instagram worthy whipped frappuccinos!”) and didn’t want his old, but still perfectly functioning caffeine provider going to waste.

“What’s wrong with this thing?” Mark slaps the side of the machine, and it starts to emit a low whirring noise. “Oh, that’s good, right? That sound is good, you think?”

His question is immediately answered by the sad squirt of hot water speckled with coffee grinds falling into his mug for a few seconds before the machine shuts off.

“What the hell?” he mutters angrily, carding his hand through his hair in frustration, and you finally decide to take pity on your best friend. Getting up from the comfy spot you know you sadly won’t be able to recreate perfectly again later, you stride over to where your best friend stands and flip open the top of the Keurig.

“Hyuck didn’t take out his used coffee pod,” you say, pulling out the incriminating evidence of your best friend’s roommate and disposing it in the trash can next to the refrigerator. “Where’s the espresso one you’re gonna use? Why didn’t you put that in?”

His jaw slackens, and he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, avoiding your gaze and mumbling, “I thought I’d just open it later and pour it into my hot water.”

“Mark,” you start, placing your hands on his shoulders firmly and staring into his eyes with a serious look on your face. “Please know that I’m saying this in the most loving way possible, but you are an absolute idiot.”

You release your grip on his shoulders and grab the espresso pod dangling from his fingertips before slotting it into the Keurig. You remove the mug he placed underneath the spout and wash out the accidental coffee water before placing it back in its original position and pressing the start button on the machine. With a sigh, you lean against the side of the counter, glancing at your friend who looks like a child being scolded for stealing from the cookie jar.

“If you pour the pod into your mug, are you just going to chug all the loose coffee grinds, too?”

“... I didn’t think that far ahead.” His lips start to unintentionally form a tiny pout, and your eyes (and your heart, too) soften.

You’re very relieved that Donghyuck is off filming with your friend because he definitely would be making fun of your heart eyes that frequently make an appearance around a certain Mark Lee. Which you always deny. Because you certainly do not have a gigantic crush on your technologically inept best friend.

You glance over at him again and have to physically fight yourself to resist the urge to kiss his cute pout away. Okay, so maybe you harbor a very respectable, medium sized crush. But it's no big deal. It’s completely under control. Unless you’re counting the fact that your best friend is still unaware, and you’re running out of ideas to try and see if he likes you back before you actually shoot your shot. Then it’s very much not under control because you’re losing sleep over it and you don’t know what to do to be any more obvious without stating the, well, obvious.

“Well, now you know. If you forget, you can FaceTime me and I’ll give you instructions on how it works.” You pat his shoulder reassuringly before pausing. “Wait, you do know how to FaceTime, right?”

“Yes!” he exclaims, sulking even more before confessing in a quieter, defeated tone, “Hyuck showed me last month.”

Mark grabs his finished drink and follows behind you, settling back onto the couch next to you. The streaming service already has Deathly Hallows Part 1 in the queue and ready to go, and your best friend is ready to click play until he notices your attention being focused on the smaller screen in your hands. He wonders if you’re about to post another one of your popular cooking videos on that app that shares a name with the most iconic song of the 2000s (hint: the name of the song’s singer is made up of four letters and a dollar sign).

“Are you uploading one of your videos?” he implores before taking a sip of his drink with a satisfied smile. Somehow, it always tastes better when you make it, and he can’t figure out why for the life of him. When he went to Johnny’s place, his older friend uses the exact same pod and water ratio for his espresso, and yet, it’s never as good as yours.

“Nah, I’m ordering my grocery delivery before I forget. Do you want anything?” You select the option to load your usual grocery items into your cart before debating on whether or not you should splurge on buying several packages of those seasonal Pillsbury sugar cookies that only come in stock during certain holidays. It seems like such an insult to the entire premise of your Tiktok account based on baking and cooking, but you’re an absolute sucker for those soft pastries.

“Yeah, can you get me a Shin Ramyun ten pack? Hyuck ate the last one two days ago and didn’t tell me.”

“You sure you don’t want ten boxes again?” You decide to get those Pillsbury sugary delights, happily adding three boxes to your cart. Everybody has a weakness, and yours just so happens to be a premade one way ticket to diabetes. You’re here for a good, delicious time, not a long time.

“No! That was an accident!” He objects, flailing his hands around, before falling back against the couch cushions in defeat. “But Hyuck does all the online grocery shopping now.”

“Thank god. You guys finally have quality toilet paper again.”

The past month of bathroom occurrences was plagued with scratchy tissue that felt more like goddamn sandpaper from the horrible depths of hell. To be honest, you probably would have rather used actual sandpaper, given the choice. You even made sure not to drink too much water any time you came over, but today, you decided to splurge on a venti passion fruit iced tea with sweetener from that very popular franchise sporting a mermaid logo and fiscally cosmic name. To your pleasant surprise, your trip to the toilet this time was wonderfully padded with Charmin Ultra Soft, not that absolutely awful off brand one with the gross texture of a dried pinecone from inferno.

“Hey, that toilet paper was a good steal! It was a three for one deal,” Mark protests, and you narrow your eyes at him.

“Wow, I wonder why it was priced so low.” You deadpan, and Mark blanches, recalling all those restroom incidents that were rather rough. Literally.

“Anyway, do you think my viewers wanna see me make chocolate crinkle cookies or mochi doughnuts?” You bring up the two recipes you managed to perfect and add your own spin to on your phone, eyes scanning the ingredient lists.

“Both. And tell me when you’re making them, so I can come over and eat them.” He gives you a wide grin, and you let out a snort at that. His smile only grows as he says happily, “I love your job.”

“You only love it because you can freeload off of me,” you jest, but nevertheless begin to start to add all the ingredients for both recipes to your shopping cart. You always film cooking videos on Tuesdays, edit on Wednesdays, keep Thursdays free for last minute touch ups and emergencies, and post one every week on Fridays with other various random videos uploaded whenever in between. With that in mind, you schedule your upcoming grocery delivery for Monday.

“Hey, you need me. I’m the best taste tester.” He puffs up his chest proudly before hastily tacking on a more genuine reason. “And because I’d starve without you. I can’t live off of instant ramen and frozen chicken nuggets forever. Gordon Ramsay already confirmed my shitty cooking skills. I need you to survive.”

“Oh my god, when I uploaded those pics of your scrambled eggs on Twitter, I lost like a hundred followers in less than a minute.” You confirm the delivery and place your phone on the coffee table, picking up the opened bag of Cheeto puffs before settling back in your seat. “My cooking credibility was completely shot. I had to explain to my fans that I didn’t make those.”

“Yeah, but now everyone calls me Eggy Boi online!” he whines, and you laugh. You have to admit, it’s quite a funny play on the whole “edgy boi” terminology. You wonder if Mark will find it amusing if he discovers his roommate is the culprit behind his new online persona (He probably won’t, and you reckon Donghyuck enjoys living in a safe space where he doesn’t have to sleep with one eye open, so you stay quiet about it. You’ll use it as leverage some other time).

“Okay, Eggy Boi, come by on Tuesday because I’ll be baking in the afternoon,” you say casually, grabbing the remote control from your best friend and pressing play.

You very narrowly avoid a green gummy bear to the face. It lands somewhere behind the couch, lost forever to the dust bunnies and other snacks that missed its target. You know for a fact that it’ll stay there until the boys decide to move to a new apartment. Mark grumbles at the miss, biting off the head of a red cherry flavored gummy bear perhaps a little harder than necessary.

“I hate you. But I’m still coming over next week because I want a doughnut.”

“No cookie?”

“... and a cookie. Maybe two.”

Wednesday comes faster than you expected, and you’re currently holed up in your apartment’s second bedroom—which you had transformed into a snazzy office space—completing the edits to your second video on mochi doughnuts. You already finished polishing the one about the cookies earlier, thank goodness. If you had to stare at your computer screen for another three hours, you would rather eat those pastries Mark tried to make two months ago, but had mistaken salt for sugar. Adding a cup of salt to any baked good is an extremely effective way to make anyone who tasted your best friend’s brownies experience a trip to the beach. Because they essentially just swallowed a mouthful of sand and ocean water. Because it’s salty as heck. Just like Mark was when you told him.

Speaking of your best friend, he’s currently puttering around in your kitchen doing god knows what. He knows better than to try another recipe and possibly blow up your number one moneymaker—your prized oven—in the process. Your heart nearly drops when your ears pick up the faint chopping sounds of a knife against your wooden cutting board. Is he going to try to temper chocolate again? He nearly burned through your entire stock of dark, milk, and white chocolate last time.

After much contemplation and deciding that you deserve a good procrastination break and a fully intact kitchen, you’re about to go out and see what he’s up to when Mark timidly appears in your doorway, clutching onto a white bowl of watermelon cubes with a fork tucked neatly in it. He shuffles in, dropping the snack on your desk before turning to walk out without a word, not wanting to disturb your work mode.

Your heart warms up at the sight, and you speak up, a small smile slipping into your face. “What’s this for?”

“Knowing you, you probably haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.” He pauses in the doorway and adds on sheepishly, “And I can't cook anything, so this is what you get.”

Your heart swells tenfold, and your smile widens even more as you spear a piece of fruit with the fork and quickly pop it into your mouth. “Thanks, Marky.”

His cheeks flush with a pretty shade of carmine, and he fails to suppress the little giddy smile that appears on his face at your nickname for him. He walks out of your office, reddened cheeks still rising up higher than ever. “Y-Yeah, of course. No problem.”

By the time you finish adding the final few touches to your edited video, the bowl of watermelon has been picked clean. You save your video and transfer both of your completed projects to your phone, making a mental note to schedule their uploads and add them to your account’s posting queue later. Shoving your phone in the pocket of your sweats after ensuring the successful transfer of your videos, you pick up the empty dish and walk out towards the kitchen, the silver fork clinking against the side of the bowl with every step.

As you wash the dish and utensil, Mark wanders over from his spot on the couch, leaning forward and casually placing his chin on your shoulder. Almost instantaneously, you feel the heat rising to your cheeks as you briefly fantasize about your best friend wrapping his arms around your waist and how domestic and sweet the two of you would look, like one of those cheesy couples the two of you always made fun of.

“What’s up?” you ask, making a conscious effort to hold your voice steady and not waver over the fact that Mark is basically draped over you. After you place the dish on the drying rack, you turn around to face your best friend, sorely miscalculating the distance as mere inches separate your face from his now.

“I—” Puberty decides to make an ugly appearance in the form of an ill timed voice crack, and he internally curses as he takes a step back, willing the incoming blush to go away. Letting out a small cough, he tries again, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

“I, um, Jisung sent me some kind of dance video. He said it’s a challenge? I kinda don’t know what to do with it? Like do I make a new dance, record myself, and send it back? Actually, isn't it easier to just do a dance battle face to face?”

“Can I see the video?” You already have a good idea on what the video will be, but you want to confirm it. Mark fumbles with his phone, pulling up the video in his text messages. He angles the phone towards you for you to see, and you grab his hand, bringing the device a little closer to you for a better look and clicking play.

“Oh, it’s a Tiktok challenge! He’s doing the Say So dance!” you exclaim, recognizing the song almost immediately as your eyes follow the fluid dance moves, completely enthralled. “So a challenge isn’t going up against someone, like a battle. It’s just some kind of trend or concept that you try to copy yourself. You’re supposed to learn the same dance and record yourself for this one. I can show you some other challenges and help you practice and record this one tomorrow if you wanna drop by after work!”

“O-Oh, okay, sounds good.” Mark stumbles over his words, attempting to focus on what you’re saying and the dance Jisung is doing, but all he can think about is the way your body is pressed against his side, hand comfortably wrapped around his. He freezes up as the tips of his ears grow redder and redder with every passing second, and his face sports a similar color. He silently prays for the telltale crimson to go away by the time the dance is over.

When the video ends, you once again realize the close proximity between you and your best friend. Your face burns at this revelation, and you awkwardly take a step back. Clearing your throat, you hastily release Mark’s hand (He inaudibly lets out the breath he’s been holding in this entire time, yet he also already misses the way your hand felt grasping his).

“Uh, anyway, I’m gonna make a latte. Do you want a drink, too?” You walk towards the other side of your kitchen with Mark trailing behind you. You take out a floral, peachy colored mug from your cupboards before pausing and looking at your best friend. “Wait, do you remember how to use a Keurig?”

“Yes!” He says, slightly exasperated as he picks out his own cup from your cabinet. He always uses the same one—a cerulean blue mug with squiggles all over it—and all of your friends and guests know not to use it because it’s unofficially officially Mark’s mug (And perhaps, you did indeed buy it from that overpriced kitschy tableware shop down the street two years ago with your best friend in mind).

“Really?” You select the latte option and press start after you had already positioned the mug beneath the spout and inserted a green tea matcha pod. He finally relents, shoulders sagging and a defeated expression on his face.

“... No.”

You chuckle, taking the mug from him and carefully putting it on the counter. You grab the espresso pod you know he likes from the drawer below and place it next to the cup. “It’s okay, I’ll teach you again.”

Mark tries. He really does. He tries very hard to concentrate on memorizing the simple process, but he keeps getting distracted. His eyes are focused on the correct button to push before they start to trail up to your fingertips. And then, they go from your hand to your arm, then up to the elegant curve of your neck, and finally, to the way your lashes frame your pretty eyes and how the tip of your tongue sticks out slightly as you concentrate until all he can focus on is you, you, you.

Suddenly, in what feels like a blink of an eye, you’re done and handing him his finished drink, complete with a perfectly whipped milk foam on top. You ask him if he knows how to make it now, and all he can do is lie and nod with a barely convincing smile.

After all, how can Mark tell his best friend that the reason he never remembers is because you’re the biggest distraction?

Mark should be here in five minutes, according to his most recent text message. And in the text message below that, your friend had sent you a challenge. More specifically, it’s the one she completed with Donghyuck a few weeks ago. When you said you wanted bold suggestions on how to figure out if your best friend feels the same way about you as you do about him, you didn’t want one this bold.

Yet, the video link to your friend’s “today I kissed my best friend” challenge along with a winky face from her is staring mockingly at you. While you aren’t one to back down from a challenge, the mere thought of kissing your best friend causes vast colonies of butterflies to erupt in your stomach and your ears to feel as if they have caught on fire. You’re already tongue tied with your head in the clouds, and he isn’t even here yet. How utterly fantastic.

However, your mother definitely did not raise a quitter, so you spring into action when you hear the faint jingling of a key being inserted into your apartment’s door (You had given Mark a copy of your key almost immediately after you had moved in). You move the pretty indoor fern given to you by Jaemin as a housewarming gift last year closer to the edge of your towering bookcase, leaning your phone against it. You quickly position the device to capture a good view of the couch area in your living room and press the record button, arranging a few of the leaves to hide as much of your phone as you possibly can without obstructing the lens.

You run full speed to your bedroom, letting out a sigh of relief when you’re safely inside and hear Mark finally unlocking the door successfully and shuffling in. When he calls out to you, you try to even out your breathing, walking out of your room with your tripod and laptop in hand.

“Hey,” you greet him in the most casual tone you can muster. You place the tripod down and sit before opening your laptop and setting it on the coffee table. “I thought we could watch a few challenges for fun before trying the Say So one. Have you watched Jisung’s videos before?”

“Um, well, no, not really,” he confesses sheepishly, taking a seat next to you on the couch, leg pressing against yours. He squints at the YouTube video you pulled up earlier before he had arrived, reading the title before clicking the space button to start it. “Savage Tiktok dance compilation part two?”

“Wait, hold up.” You pause the video and then turn to face him with an incredulous expression on your face. “You’ve never watched any of Jisung’s dance Tiktoks?”

“No… I don’t even have an account.” His cheeks are dusted with the lightest shade of pink as he quietly admits, “I watch all of yours though.”

Your eyes widen at his confession, face heating up as you stammer out, “O-Oh, well, I can help you make an account later to upload your video.”

“Sounds good.” There’s a few seconds of silence as you mull over his previous words before he speaks up again awkwardly, “Should I, uh, play the video?”

“Oh! Yes, right! Of course, hit play,” you laugh nervously, twisting and playing with the hair tie around your wrist. He starts the video again, and the two of you watch the compilation, slowly relaxing once more as you tap your fingers to the rhythm of the song and he bobs his head to the beat.

“Do I have to change outfits like that?” he questions a few minutes later, eyes growing round as he sees the girl on the screen switch between four different outfits throughout the dance. His closet basically consists of the same five black shirts that he stole from Jaehyun. Even if he did do an outfit swap, there would literally be no difference at all.

“You don’t have to,” you assure him, clicking the enter key to play the next video that’s recommended: another Tiktok dance challenge compilation. “All you have to do is copy the dance.”

Mark nods, taking a glance at the laptop screen before his hand shoots out and he pauses the video, leaning forward to take a closer look at the little recommended video title banner at the top. “Wait! What’s that one?”

He clicks on it, the new video now loading up. The two of you wait patiently for it to begin, waiting for the spinning disc to stop. But it doesn’t. In fact, the whole chrome page goes blank and then, the little pixelated Google Chrome dinosaur pops up on your monitor, announcing that you have no internet connection. Furrowing your eyebrows, you try to reload the page before trying to re-establish your laptop connection to your wifi. Unfortunately, you cannot find your appropriately named “drop it like it’s hotspot” wifi anywhere to connect to.

And that’s when it hits you. Your landlord had sent out a notice to the entire apartment complex last week about the electricity being powered down today from 4 to 6 p.m. for a maintenance check, and a quick glance at the digital clock on your laptop shows that it’s a little past four.

You groan, closing your laptop and flopping back against the couch cushions dramatically. Mark cocks his head, slightly confused, before he pokes you in the arm. “What’s wrong?”

“I completely forgot about the scheduled electricity shutdown for the entire building. We won’t have any wifi for the next two hours.” You pout, your bottom lip jutting out in the slightest, and Mark doesn’t think it’s fair that you get to be this cute and have this much of an effect on his racing heart rate.

“That’s okay, we can… play some board games?” he suggests offhandedly, pushing away the embarrassing thought and nudging your leg with his, and you smile before a sudden idea occurs to you.

“Or we can still do some Tiktok challenges! What was the challenge you clicked on?” You quickly sit upright, turning to face your best friend, eyes sparkling in excitement. “I memorized a few of the dance ones already! Was it Renegade? I can teach you that one. Jisung showed me how to do it.”

“Um,” he starts, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. His eyes dart everywhere, except you, as he lets out a feigned cough. “It wasn’t a dance one. It was about, uh, going up to your boyfriend… and um, hugging him... when he’s playing video games.”

“Oh.” You answer lamely, not knowing what to say. You unsuccessfully try to push away the image of you attempting that challenge with your best friend. “Those are really cute.”

“Really?” He says doubtfully, wrinkling his eyebrows and fiddling with the frayed sleeve of his sweater. “Wouldn’t the dude get mad?”

You don’t know what suddenly possessed you to do this (you’ll have to ask Renjun and his paranormal loving ass later), but you thank whatever demon did for that split second because you find yourself gently grabbing Mark’s arm and slipping your head underneath it. You swing one leg over his lap and settle down until you’re securely sitting in his lap, bent legs on either side of his hips, hands curled around the soft fabric of his sweater on both sides and resting on top of your thighs. His arms instinctively go around your waist, wrapping around you securely.

You tilt your head to the side slightly, studying the flustered boy in front of you with a teasing, albeit a little anxious, smile on your lips. “Are you feeling mad?”

Splotches of red litter his cheeks and decorate the tips of his ears, but your best friend furiously shakes his head at your question, bashfully ducking his head afterwards and muttering a soft “No.”

You swallow hard, heart pounding erratically in your chest as you timidly ask, “Would you be mad if I do this?”

Mark looks up at that, confusion written all over his face. His arms start to loosen around your figure, hands now resting on your waist. “If you do what?”

You take a deep breath. “This.”

You lean in and gently press your lips against his. Mark freezes in shock, and you quickly retreat soon after, gnawing at the inside of your cheek as you wait anxiously for his reaction. Your heart feels like it’s about to fall out of your chest and be buried six feet under.

A tiny noise of surprise belatedly escapes from him and crimson spreads across his cheeks like wildfire. His doe eyes are wide and sparkling, staring at you in bewilderment. Your best friend lets out a small laugh of disbelief before a full blown smile breaks out across his face. He gazes at you adoringly, breathing out softly, “I’m not mad at that.”

You perk up at that, draping your arms around his neck as you lean forward, beaming. “Really? You’re not?”

“Definitely not.”

This time, Mark meets you halfway, his lips slotting against yours perfectly and making you feel tingles up and down your spine. Your eyes are closed, and you are so hyper aware of the way his hands grip your hips, how he tugs you closer, and how his lips chase after yours. The number of butterflies from earlier multiply in your stomach, and you have ascended past cloud nine by now.

When the two of you break apart, your eyes flutter open, and you nudge your nose against his affectionately. The brightest grin blooms on his face once again, and he buries his face in the crook of your neck, muffling his little giggles and hiding the awfully vibrant cerise that rapidly blossoms on his face.

“Is this a good time to tell you congrats for completing your first challenge?” you say, resting your cheek against the crown of his head. You pull away when he lifts his head up, surprised.

“I wasn’t playing video games though,” he says slowly, processing your words and thinking back to the challenge that started this all.

“It was a different challenge. It’s the one that Hyuck did a few weeks ago,” you confess, and realization dawns on him, his face lighting up for a split second before a look of horror takes over.

“Oh, no. Is that why you had your phone recording on the bookshelf?” Mark asks, dread beginning to cloud his mind.

“Yes…” you say slowly, a little perplexed. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Oh my god, I ruined your video,” he moans, dropping his forehead onto your shoulder. “I saw your phone when I walked in and thought you were filming earlier and forgot to turn it off, so I turned it off for you.”

When the words finally register in your mind, you can’t stop the laughter from bubbling out of your throat, and he raises his head up to look at you with wide doe eyes at the pretty sound. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

You can’t stop laughing at the situation, and he looks at you worriedly, gnawing on his bottom lip slightly. You force yourself to calm down, a soft chuckle leaving your lips before you beam at him, leaning in and placing the softest kiss on the tip of his nose. “It’s okay, Mark. I’m not mad. That video wasn’t important anyway.”

“But still,” he whines before letting out a groan and slapping his hand against his forehead when the realization sinks in even further. “I’m such an idiot.”

“But you’re my idiot now, right?” you say teasingly, albeit a little shyly as well, as you reach over to tug his hand away from his face and lace your fingers with his.

“I mean, I kinda thought I was always your idiot,” Mark laughs softly and a little embarrassedly, eyes averted and cheeks turning pinker than ever. The largest grin spreads across your face at that, and you turn away slightly to hide it. You didn’t think your best friend can possibly be any more endearing, but he manages to prove you wrong every time.

“Well, then now you can add ‘Y/N’s boyfriend’ to your resume,” you say, and he fails to suppress the pleased smile appearing on his face at your remark, his rosy cheeks rising even taller than skyscrapers.

“So, uh, what sort of job description does that have?” He gazes at your intertwined hands in wonder, still completely giddy at the reality of you being his best friend and something more.

“Sharing hoodies, giving me attention, kissing, holding my hand, going on dates, you know, the basics,” you answer, squeezing his hand tenderly, and his doe eyes instantly light up. Mark feels a little bolder than before, and it shows when he grins widely and says:

“Can we do number three again?”

“Yes, we can, Eggy Boi.”

He wrinkles his nose at the name, disgruntled and unimpressed, as he crosses his arms over his chest, sulking. You let out a laugh before leaning in and crashing your lips against his. He immediately relents at that, enthusiastically responding and hugging you closer to him, and you can’t help but smile into the kiss as you feel his own smile appear as well.

At that moment, you decide that you want to change Mark’s personal brand. Because his should be “absolutely wonderful, positively amazing, a cute kisser, your boyfriend, and your bestest friend.” And yes, that is most definitely more than the allotted three words, but again, who’s really counting?

Certainly not you when you’re too preoccupied with kissing your best friend. Correction: best friend and new boyfriend.

One new notification: donutkillmyvibe uploaded a new video!

moominjun commented:

so you’re saying the reason why we didn’t get the highly anticipated best friend challenge video is because @ marklyrawr turned the camera off?

donutkillmyvibe replied: yes 😔 I’m sorry to disappoint everyone 🤧

nanaislove replied: omg no bby it’s ok 🥺🥺💞💓💓💝💗 you didn’t have to make an apology video for that 🥺💗💓💘💖

goofys.chuckle replied: yeah it’s mark’s fault. he’s the disappointment here 🥴

morklyrawr replied: hahahahaha stfu hyuck

tytrack commented:

mark is going through puberty. I apologize

dobunny replied: @.@

goofys.chuckle commented:

are we getting whip(ped)lash pt 2 by eggy boi?

morklyrawr replied: YOU’RE THE ONE WHO STARTED THAT NAME?????

goofys.chuckle replied: uh gotta blast 🚀

showmethemonet replied: @ goofys.chuckle does this mean you’re staying over again?

goofys.chuckle replied: @ showmethemonet yes if you want your super cute, mega talented, very handsome boyfriend to still be alive 🥺

showmethemonet replied: @ goofys.chuckle oh my god I didn’t know I was dating bts jin???

moominjun replied: LMFAOOOOO

goofys.chuckle replied: heart 💔 been broke 📉 so many times ⏰ i don’t know 🤔 what to believe 💯 mama 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 said 🗣 it’s my fault 😢 it’s my fault 🤦🏻‍♂️i wear my heart ❤️ on my sleeve 💪 i think it’s best 👍🏻 I put my heart ❤️ on ice 🧊

jenojam commented:

why am I not surprised……

itsmebetch replied: just mark thingz 🍉

suhprisemf commented:

mark your head looks flat af

jungjaeprince replied: 😂😂😂

10vely replied: @ jungjaeprince be quiet don’t cry

letswonwon commented:

whoop whoop

junguwu commented:

OMG CONGRATS ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP SWEETIE 😍😍

takoyaki_prince commented:

MARK!!!!! you look handsome !! 😘

jisungpwark commented:

rip to @ donutkillmyvibe ’s future videos that mark will ruin. press f in the chat to pay respects 🙏🏻

bigheadking replied: F ✊🏻😔

peachyangel replied: f 🥺🥺

yoitslucas replied: F 🤪🤪🤪 but glad you’re happy, man ❤️

donutkillmyvibe replied: F 💔

morklyrawr replied: @ donutkillmyvibe wtf babe????

officialgordonramsay commented:

didn’t i tell you to get back on tinder ?

apado_god commented:

nice 😎👍🏻

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