#except number 4: don't force interactions

[classicintp]

Can't stand it when professionals have objectively bad takes but they're legitmately professionals and you're just some guy. You recognize this, you acknowledge it, you even appreciate it in the appropriate context, but it's so fucking infuriating. Even if the professional is humble and concedes to your point, which is usually not going to happen to even the humble in general unless it's a correction directly being witnessed, you still have their diehard fans demonizing you because you proved their idol wrong (even if you weren't pompous or obnoxious about it, just the idea that their beloved expert was human and made an error drives them mad). So I white-knuckle it and say nothing and then log into Tumblr and blurt it out in the tags.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Well that was...something. Haha.

When I got to the almost kiss scene, I honestly just burst out laughing? Is this supposed to be working for us or Aaron? Cause it's...not. Aaron was right when he said John needed to work on his routine because again that was straight out of Nate's least sexy ever affair with Moira playbook.

Just..."because you know why we're both still here" is somehow a lot better than "I know what you want" which feels like Nate's "you know you want me".

Like if I were Aaron, I would have laughed in his face at that embarrassment of flirting. I would have been like "mate, does that ever actually work for you?" Except that I guess it did in their forced first meeting.

Besides the obvious, I'm just really struggling with the convoluted, contrived way they've set this all up.

It reminds me of the Ben thing too, just automatically putting this weird romantic/sexual framing on it before it has a chance to reach that place on its own.

Just like, imagine instead of his hook up app, Aaron decided to go to whatever gay bar is in Hotten these days and try and meet someone and John showed up looking to get a drink while in town for his mother's funeral. We see them meet, chat a little, maybe actually see some natural banter/chemistry and then they leave and sure, hook up in his dumb van. And then Eric's car is still in the shop because I don't know, Mack went out as Aaron's wing man, per Vic's request, and got into work too late to fix it, so he encourages Vic to drive Eric to the funeral.

Then at least they met without the explicit trappings of a hook up where it was pretty anonymous and barely had an exchange before it was like "oh well we were supposed to have sex so let's have sex".

Could also have had Aaron just run into him on the side of the road and generously helped him fix his car enough to get it to the nearest garage where oh look, he meets Vic. But they could have been flirting while he was fixing the van and then kissed and ended up having sex in the van.

Just like...anything other than this nonsense where they have this super contrived hostility based on such a nonsensical plot point of John driving off with Aaron's stuff for no reason.

And then I might buy that Aaron would actually still have some attraction to him despite everything and a scene like today might have worked better for me??

I just don't know how believable it is that Aaron is attracted enough to John that he would go there based on that kind of pitiful flirting after all of this other nonsense, after he knows this is Robert's secret gay half brother and all of those feelings came up.

Sigh...

The Mack and Aaron friendship stuff is still fun, aside from the fact that this little war they have with John is so baseless and yes, their actions are super immature. But I still like the trio of the two of them and Vic interacting. Tiny slivers of silver lining.

Also...John is just an asshole. I just don't know what issue they have with bringing in likable characters. At least Robert was a smooth talking charmer to mask his inner turmoil. John could be making the village fall in love with him with his charisma while hiding secret pain. I'd like that kind of character a lot more than angry guy.

I feel like the only people that like John so far fall into five categories: 1. Robert antis who will like any non Robert Aaron ship 2. People who just hate Aaron and/or Mack and enjoy a character who also hates them 3. Sugden fans desperate for scraps 4. People who find the actor attractive 5. And people who think this is all leading to a Robert return

I'm only really approaching number 3 and he's too annoying for me to care yet and I'd like 5 to be true but I refuse to get my hopes up because I still feel like this is all happening because Ryan said no. I think it's just going to be a terrible, flat enemies to lovers story where John's sad sad military past will come out and Aaron will end up comforting him and getting him to open up and then they'll suddenly be couple with very little relationship development. Even with Robert mentions, I don't feel like this is leading to a return or to any kind of Aaron revelation that he still loves Robert and therefore doesn't want to be with his secret gay half brother.

I'd love to be wrong but...

[kookie-doughs]

Again And Again

Portgas D Ace X Reader

-Amatsuki Y/N decided to stay in the future without her sister upon meeting a friend’s son.

Chapter 4: How Do I Love Thee?

The first day after Ace's confession, everyone was shocked as to the way he was.

Setting aside the fact he didn't try killing Edward. He was also eating with the crew and having fun. He quickly became the light or the crew.

Not that the crew was boring beforehand, but Ace's addition definitely gave more life to the ship. Not only that, his contribution in battles were also immense.

With your help, Ace's development within the crew of the Whitebeard Pirates took on a transformative path. Your presence and support played a crucial role in shaping Ace's growth as both a person and a member of the crew.

As the days went by, your relationship with Ace grew stronger, deepening into something more personal and intimate. Your stories of adventures and heartfelt conversations about your previous adventures brought you closer, and you found solace in each other's company.

Late nights on the deck of the ship became moments you cherished, as you stargazed and shared your dreams and aspirations. Your presence became a calming force for Ace, and he found himself opening up to them more, sharing his hopes, fears, and vulnerabilities.

As you laughed and teased each other during meals and downtime, the crew noticed the subtle changes in your interactions. You and Ace seemed to share a deeper understanding, your eyes lighting up whenever they caught each other's gaze.

The crew, be it the former Spades or Whitebeard, could sense the growing connection between you two. They saw how Ace's smile seemed brighter whenever you were around, and how your eyes softened whenever you looked at him.

It was evident. You two had a bond, that not even anyone in the past comes close to. One that neither of you were aware as for the cause of it.

One evening while Ace helped you pack for a mission you two were taking, he paused.

"Hey Y/N, tell me... What do you think of Roger?" He says. "Many consider him a monster... a criminal... but as someone who travelled with him." He turned to you. "What are your thoughts on him?"

"He was an incredible man. I've always looked up to him." You laughed, "Don't tell the old man but Roger was my favorite between them."

"Why..?"

"Edward... he was my first taste of adventure. He was the one who gave me a change. But Roger, he was the real adventure. He was a great man, great pirate and an even greater friend. It surprised me when I came to this time and find out he was convicted to such level. He was similar to Edward... except he was stupider. His first mate, Rayleigh, he was the one that kept our captain from being rash."

Ace kept quiet and looked at your pile of clothes.

"You remind me of him." You smile, he froze and looked at you unsure. "He's always stupid prioritizing lives of his family over his. The number of times he almost died was too much for me too count. I kept going back again and again to keep him from dying until we had reached our final destination. He was careless, but that was because he knew he would win. He's never lost."

"He was my father..." He bit his lip trying to keep his emotions in.

"I know." You sit down in front of him, "But you know, you don't have to regard him as your father. I want you to know that you don't have to call him that if it makes you uncomfortable."

Ace blinked in surprise, not expecting the conversation to take this turn. "He's my father," he repeats.

Placing your hand on his head, "You've been comparing yourself to him. Your disregarding yourself thinking you're here for his crimes. From stories you've told me... Ace, you're not your father. And you have a family here in the Whitebeard Pirates, and we care about you deeply. You don't need to carry the weight of that title if it doesn't feel right to you."

Ace looked into your eyes, finding comfort in your understanding and acceptance, "Can I?

"You're an important part of this family," You replied, a warm smile gracing your lips. "You don't have to carry the burden of being related to him. Your identity and worth aren't defined by your lineage; they're shaped by the person you've become. And I think you're a fine man yourself."

"Do you think... pops would react the same as you did?" He mumbles resting his head against your lap.

Combing through his hair, "He probably will... If he doesn't then I'll be your family."

"How did you guess I was his son...?"

Looking up and thinking to yourself, "There wasn't a time I wasn't watching Roger in awe." You laughed and looked at him. "I don't know what exactly it was about you. But I just knew. Just like with Roger, there wasn't a time I didn'twatch you in awe."

~

As the crew gathered on the deck to celebrate your triumphant return, the crew approached you both with a warm smile. "You both did a fine job on that mission," they praised.

The crew erupted into cheers, clapping and congratulating Ace and you.

"You know we've offered Y/N the position before but she's declined it numerous times, but what about Ace becoming the 2nd division commander?" Marco asks.

The crowd cheered louder, agreeing with what Marco had suggested. Ace was momentarily stunned, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. Becoming the Second Division Commander was a tremendous honor.

He leaves your side and went on asking around if people were in fact okay with the suggestion.

Marco comes beside you, "So? Are you going to get married?"

You punch his arm causing him to laugh.

"2nd division commanders tend to fall for a time travelling Amatsuki. They also tend to marry on the ship."

"Haha you're funny." You bump him and walk away.

"C'mon!" He laughed running after you. "I remember back when your sister got married, I told you I was marrying you." He laughed.

"Not happening. " You roll your eyes and walk again only to bump into Ace.

"Hey Ace-" Before Marco can finish Ace drag you away.

"I'm going to talk to pops." He said with a frown.

"Oh- do you want me inside with you?"

Ace looks at you. "I don't know."

"I can be outside and wait for you if you want privacy..."

He wraps his arms around you and puts his face against your neck. You rub circles on his back.

"I can go in if you want."

"Y/N I really like you."

You chuckle, "I know that."

"You don't have to like me back yet but," He lifts his head not letting you go from his hug. "Can you keep your attention to me?"

You blink, "What-?"

His face blushed, "I mean," he pouts. "I wanna be your favorite boy."

Your heart skipped at the unexpectedness from him. Your face flushed and containing your smile was hard. You cover your face with your hand embarrassed by your giddy expression.

"I don't like you with Marco..." He says and buries his face on your neck again.

You bite your lip suppressing a grin. "You overheard him?"

He nods in response not lifting his head embarrassed by what he had just said.

"Dummy, you misunderstood him. He meant to say that he's marrying me, as in officiating the ceremony. He was teasing me because I'm following my sister's steps, she married the 2nd division commander." You laughed.

Ace immediately raised his head showing his face turned slightly red. He felt a pang of embarrassment for misinterpreting their conversation and letting his emotions get the better of him.

"I-I..."

"You don't have to be jealous or worried about anyone okay? All my attention is yours. Now are you gonna talk to the old man?"

He lets you go and takes a deep breath, "You'll wait for me here?"

You nod with a smile. He then head inside the Edward's room.

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Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @nykie-love-anime @cinnamonrollscafe @sol-d15

[yakool-foolio]

what if. alternate universe where the other detectives in the NDA were actually around in chapter 5. because what the fuck Writers.

I have my whole chapter 5 fix-it post, but rather than just leaving it at that, I don't mind going into more detail about my reasons behind some of my changes.

Having the NDA detectives interact and work together post-chapter 4 was a huge missed opportunity. I assume that while Yuma is on the rooftop with Kurumi as she talks about Yakou's motive, Vivia is with the other detectives telling them the same thing. It's why Desuhiko says that Number One doesn't really know anything about what happened and Fubuki wishes the WDO sent in support sooner so they could've been there before Yakou received Yomi's letter. And yet, that's really all we get to see of the other detectives processing the aftermath of the truth behind Yakou's murder and death.

I still wish to keep Yuma as the one who does the investigation on his own (cause let's be real Kurumi isn't much of a help until she explains the Blank Week) because he's used to relying on others for their powers to aid him. But without that, he's back to square one like he was on the train, except this time he has the experience he's gained from his time with his allies to guide him. I also feel like the fake corpses were a very easy to see through lie as soon as the initial shock dies down. So I did what I could to remedy that by having the detectives leave their 'field research' notes and one of their accessories behind as a trail for Yuma to follow in hopes they'll all find each other and reunite. It still gives that shock of 'oh shit they might be dead' cause why would they leave behind one of their belongings (along with Makoto rolling with it and lying that they died with his announcements), but it's not as forced as the fake corpses.

Can't continue without saying that while it's definitely self-indulgent, much like Vivia himself, having the phantom detective and Yakou meet again after chapter 4 would be a heartbreaker. Yuma has to stand and watch as Vivia tells the zombified chief he wishes he'd spoken up sooner. Knowing what he knows now, he'd give up his peace and quiet to save Yakou, and he's ashamed for turning his back on what he witnessed as a ghost. But seeing Yakou again, as much as he wished it wasn't like this, gives Vivia a spark of hope to continue on with his investigation and save the city. He wants to fulfil Yakou's request more than ever, and Yuma couldn't agree more.

And finally, I think we can all agree that the NDA detectives deserve one big found family group hug. When they never thought they'd see each other again after their lives were put in danger in the abandoned village, a tearful wave of relief cascades down upon them. They confront Makoto together as a group, upholding their promises to themselves and their chief. And when the Mystery Labyrinth is over, all the detectives are there for Yuma, the real Number One, as he explains himself to them. Despite everything he says, they embrace him, not as the leader of the WDO, but as their friend who helped them bring the truth to light.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch: season 2 recap

Voyager's second season was a real mixed bag. Numbers wise, I actually ended up liking more episodes than I disliked, but the ones I disliked, I really hated. In fact, some of my most hated stories in the whole series were this season. But it says a lot about how strong the show's concept and characters are that all the bad apples in this bunch couldn't put me off the show. In fact, despite only liking half the episodes, I still finished this season loving this show just as much, if not more, than last season. I have to give so much credit to the actors for that- the writers don't seem to have thought very hard about these characters in a lot of places, but the actors held some of these stories together seemingly through sheer force of will. Their charisma and chemistry with eachother in the little moments made the bad stories worth watching, and I'm very grateful for that.

Interestingly, appparently episodes 1-10 were actually filmed during season one, and meant to be the end of that season, but for some reason were held back and aired as the beginning of season 2. The original order is included on the DVDs:

Projections ep 17

Elogium ep 18

Twisted ep 19

The 37s ep 20

Initiations ep 21

Non Sequitur ep 22

Parturition ep 23

Persistence of Vision ep 24

Tattoo: ep 25

Cold Fire: ep26

Since five of my most hated episodes are on that list, I know it would have lowered my esteem for s1 if they had aired then, so in hindsight, I'm glad they were held back until the audience had time to build up more goodwill for the characters and the show.

Things I liked this season:

B'Elanna at her little engineering station on the bridge- I love that she had this during early seasons, why did they do away with it later?? it was nice to get everybody on the bridge together during important scenes.

Tom Paris getting a more heroic plotline and some respect at the conclusion of the Kazon spy arc. There's been a lot of disconnect on the show so far between how everyone talks about Tom versus how he actually behaves, and it's nice that he actually got some recognition from other characters for his many good qualities. Everyone needs to appreciate Tom more tbh!

Captain Janeway's bun hair continues to be a delight; keep slaying, Queen!

While the Kazon are not my favorite antagonists, and I don't like where Seska's storyline went, I do actually kind of appreciate that they tried an ongoing story arc this season. The way it was woven as a subplot through otherwise standalone episodes and then picked up on as the main plot in later episodes was a nice way to do it. It found a nice balance between standalone and serialized formats that gave us the benefits of each.

Things I disliked this season:

We still can't manage to have a story where B'Elanna and Kes interact beyond two or three words?? I think every character has been in at least a scene or two one on one with all the other characters, except for them. On a show with only three women in the main cast, not having two of them even talk to each other, let alone develop a friendship, is an egregious omission. They could have had at least one episode where they went on an away mission together or something. It would have been way better than all the episodes where men treat Kes like an object to possess, which leads into my next point of dislike:

Way too many romantic subplots. It felt way too high-school with all the secret crushes and jealousy and rivalry nonsense. Kes was the writers favorite target, with a grand total of 4 romantic subplots, including Neelix, plus another guy who was just straight up obessesed with her kinda counting as 5? At any rate, she had the most romances, and she's clearly older mens vision of a manic pixie dream Ocampa, which is super gross. Watching Kes get treated like crap by almost every male character she comes in contact with, and yelled at by Neelix, wasn't pleasant either, and kind of ruined Neelix for me. I'm glad that they decided to finally give it a rest this season, but the way they attempted to resolve it wasn't believable, and actually very misogynist, and thus not a satisfying conclusion. Neelix was nice to Kes in a few eps here at last, and it would have been fine if he'd been like that from the start, but the memory of him yelling at her, and her crying over it, is kind of in my head now, and I can't shrug it away. It makes me sad how they saddled these characters, and consequently, us as the audience, with all this unnecessary baggage.

Janeway and the Doctor both clock in at number two in the romance derby, with three romantic subplots each this season. The character with the most on screen kisses is the Doctor though, with three this season. (Giving the middle aged bald guy all the chicks sure makes it feel like there's some wish fulfilment going on in that writers room lmao)

Season stats:

They started the season with 154 crew in 'The 37s'

Crewmembers killed: 6

Crewman Kurt Bandera and 2 more unnamed (Alliances)

Lt. Darwin (Meld)

Crewman Michael Jonas (Investigations)

Ensign Bennet (Innocence)

Romantic subplots:

The Doctor: 3 with kiss (Projections) (Twisted) (Lifesigns)

Kes: 1 with kiss (Projections) 1 without kiss (Parturition) 1 with cheek kiss (Tuvix) [I'm not counting her ongoing romantic subplot with Neelix since it's been a main part of her plot since the beginning of the show]

Harry: 1 with kiss (Non Sequitur)

Tom: 1 without kiss (Parturition)

Captain Janeway: 2 with kiss (Persistance of Vision) 1 without kiss (Resolutions)

B'Elanna: 1 with kiss (Persistance of Vision)

Chakotay: 1 without kiss (Resolutions) [I'm not counting Persistance of Vision on Chakotay's list, since it was a hallucination of him and not the real Chakotay that kissed B'Elanna]

Number of shuttles destroyed/lost: 3 (1 for sure, 2 probable)

1 (Initiations) [destroyed]

1 (Non Sequitur) [presumably destroyed, since Harry is beamed off shuttlecraft Drake before imminent hull breach, though whether the shuttle actually exploded and/or was unsalvageable isn't made clear]

1 (Parturition) [again, presumably destroyed, since it crashed and was damaged, and recovering the shuttle was never mentioned]

[shuttlecraft Cochrane was presumably recovered intact from the planet of lizard babies in Threshold, though we never saw it]

Number of episodes I liked/disliked/mixed reaction:

Liked: 13

Disliked: 9

Mixed: 4

[moononmyfloor]

New Life Begins ep 1-14 Review!

Before even a minute could pass I immediately loved the intro, and worldbuilding of nine regions. I straightaway made a list so I can keep track of the backdrop.

On to the actual episode, I did like some parts about it but mostly I thought this is too much character introduction for a drama opening. Too many things to keep track of. But it was funny and cute so I kept watching.

By ep 4 I started feeling like...

This drama felt like something written by me (I have ocd and am extremely detail-oriented)

Except that's not a praise. It felt like written by a delulu me out of control 😂

▪︎There are 9 provinces in this universe. You need to remember facts and points about all of them whenever the drama name drops them.

▪︎ There are girls from these different provinces and about 5 princes. You need to remember all their characteristics.

▪︎One Prince has 24 consorts, I kid you not, that he named based on 24 solar terms

A me 10 yrs ago would write something like this, I thought. (Now I have better control 🤭) It was highly amusing to watch in the sense you are reading your childhood diary rambles lol.

I have no idea how the drama makers kept track of who is who. Viewers can watch it with no problem if they don't think too hard, but for someone like me who had to hog on every detail, this was simply overload. It looks like a detail oriented person's catnip on surface, but is actually nightmare.

And once I stopped being pulled in all 8 directions by the various character flocks in this drama, I started noticing tiny loose-plot things about it. Once again, it felt like the scriptwriter/author was too focused on the number-game-nerding with as much as characters possible and making them interact in this wild network, so they didn't have time to work on finer details that would make a story sensible.

I thought I was gonna drop and was like "maybe let's watch today's eps too".

And boy, am I glad that I did.

Like a switch turned on, I suddenly started liking it from ep 6. And I only became more enamoured onwards! I have no idea what caused this, maybe I got used to the numerous background details of the story. Maybe the story *itself* chilled down a bit with its worldbuilding and started on with what it came to accomplish.

It is incredibly feminist! 😍 I realised this by ep 7, which delivered ABOVE and BEYOND and woah, I was suddenly in love.

I was supremely impressed with the portrayal of feminism in Danchuan. When I first saw the summary of the 9 regions, I liked Jichuan the best (obviously) and was hesitant about Danchuan because it sounded like just another stereotypical attempt at toxic feminism where it is not at all different from patriarchy except with genders reversed. Aka what a lot of people imagine feminism to be as shown in Romance of Tiger and Rose.

But Danchuan.... their logic, their values..all so sensible, considerate and extremely progressive. They do not seem like a group of women who terrorised a province and took men for slaves, rather they are a bunch of chill ladies minding their own business and if the men are humbled and mature enough to not be offended by that, they get to stay! There was no unnecessary belittlement to men. Rather they just cared very much (as they should) about equality, consent and self respect and would not settle for anything less.

(The following two lines by Madam Danchuan stuck with me. It really spoke for their core belief: that they would never force a woman to do anything against her will and choice.)

And from that moment it became THE feminist Chinese costume drama of the year! What is it about November? Last year it was Marvelous Women 💕.

*eyeing 2023's November. You better plan on your game starting now on, if you already haven't.

.

And it did not stop at the Danchuan arc!

I already was liking how New Life Begins touches on various ideologies (patriarchy, polygamy, monogamy, matriarchy) all at once. But I didn't expect a 100% satisfying outcome as that is simply too much deep topics for a single simple Web drama.

A complaint I always had about historical dramas' typical portrayal of women is that they always make it look like the ladies had no other use of their time than scheming how to bring the other ladies down so they can have the man's affection to themselves.

And I was like... surely in a society where polygamy was the norm there was at least one or two examples of functional and peaceful families where the ladies were smart, knew their worth and didn't care for a man who didn't care for them in return?

.

Last year's Marvelous Women was a gem that set the bar high on this front, where the women joined forces instead of torturing each other pointlessly. When such nuanced portrayals are a rarity even in the "serious historical" genre, I did not expect any at all in a simple fluffy costume drama like New Life Begins.

But it has already blown my mind with how nicely the ladies are written! How they value themselves first and foremost, how mature and intelligent they are with independent personalities that do not revolve around a man. They are capable of thinking for themselves and change the world and its expectations of them by their own will. Even if there were one or two characters that started too narrow-mindedly, they also eventually flipped a new page by working their own brains!

It is not even halfway aired, but New Life Begins has already set a new high bar, because it is showing how to write cool women in all family dynamic genres, all at once!

Be it an ideal monogamy, or a fantastical matriachy, or even a traditional polygamous society, smart and sensible women can exist in all these genres! If they don't then it is laziness of noone's but the writer.

Good job, New Life Begins writer!

.

What is feminism? For me, it means treating women as the intelligent creatures they are. Accepting that even in the most patriarchal and oppressive societies, women did have their own agency and are not unnecessarily victimised. Letting them own up their decisions and choices. That they did not fall over each other at men's feet all the time and were in need to be rescued and "educated" by a "modern-thinker". This is the narrative a lot of "feminist" dramas/movies push, which is actually disguised savior complex that feeds male supremacy more than they'd like to think.

It is sad just how much viewers are used to crappy female charcter designs in period dramas to the point if we see a woman behaving progressively we start thinking it's unrealistic.

I always wanted a period drama where marriages of convenience happen, but instead of raising a mess of unnecessary misunderstanding and drama galore about it, the characters are level headed and respectful to each other while they use the situation to their benefit. I am not at all mad about the addition of Yuanying's role, because honestly in the overall picture of C costume drama land we have too little of sensible non-toxic AND powerful main wife characters.

This has so far been a VERY satisfying experience because this is everything I dreamed of, and you know how exhilarating it is when you get this very specific headcanon for a fanfiction and then you actually DO manage to find a one that is already written? Yeah, exactly like that.

It is so funny that at the beginning I thought "this feels like something I have written, except 10 years ago and more delulu" because my now revised opinion means I can praise myself! 😂 Now I really want to meet and chat with this writer over tea about our shared delulu and also quite good tastes! 🤭😌

Oh and I forgot to add, I really like that Li Wei hesitates a lot about whether to stay or leave, despite her loving Yin Zheng.

This indecisiveness of her wasn't frustrating to me. I completely get it. She respects other people's lifestyles, but she also has boundaries about what works for her. Also she's homesick, she loves her parents and brother and wants to be with them too!

On the other hand I find it unrealistic when a character falls in love they are suddenly willing to leave everything behind just so they can be with this new person. I never understand this (except in cases where that character's past life sucked and family members were toxic so they wanted to leave).

I'm someone who'd be like: If you want me, you'll have to come live at my place🤣

.

Last but not least, New Life Begins did wobble on its feet a lot as there are too many eggs in the bucket from the get go, but no matter how not 100% strong the writing may be, the drama's heart is in the right place and it will not dissapoint you. At first it might feel like it is quite touch-and-go on various worldviews and ideologies, but it is actually very thorough and raises a number of "Why not?" questions. Quite unexpectedly so for a fluffy costume rom-com. I have literally zero complaints about any character. Do give it a chance!

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[historynerdj2]

A Noob’s guide to Day of Infamy

This is Day of Infamy.

*ding*

This 2017 game made and published by New World Interactive using the Source engine, is a game that I am sad about. Not because it is sad, but because it is an interesting gem. It’s like finding a brownie shaped like a piece of turd, but it is made with the most exquisite of fudge and chocolate. It is a good game, even with a few flaws (we’ll get to those, don’t worry). In fact, I dare say that this had to be both one of my favorite first person shooters and my favorite World War 2 games. So here is a quick introduction and tutorial of how to survive this game.

First thing to know is that Day of Infamy is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter, set in the European theatre of the Second World War. With different game mods, with most of them being some variant of finding a point on the map, and politely telling the enemy already there, to shod off. This gentle persuasion is achieved with the liberal application of both high explosives, and small automatic firearms. The maps range from The beaches of Normandy in 1944, the Streets Salerno in 1943, all the way to Crete in 1941. With such a breadth of time (6 calendar years), and a vast swath of maps (mostly France, Italy, and one Greek map), factions are vast, at the number of 3. The different factions play on certain maps, so don’t expect to see Americans at Dunkirk. Each faction has unique weapons, and units. These units don't affect gameplay all that much admittedly, as it is mostly cosmetic, but they are still nice. You can earn them through leveling up, or alternatively, you can just buy them.

First is the Americans, because of course there is.

With all the classic American WW2 weaponry, like M1 Garand, and Thompson, they will be familiar for many. As for units, once again, many of them will be familiar for those that dabble in WW2 history and/or media, such as the 101st Airborne, or the 1st Infantry Division (better known by the nickname “The Big Red One”). I also want to give a shout out, because I’m pretty sure that this is one of the only games that actually remembered that African Americans actually fought in WW2, in the form of including the 92nd Infantry Division, and the 761st Tank Battalion.

Next is everyone's favorite member of the second world war, the Wehrmacht (Germany).

I say Wehrmacht, because the vast majority of their units are Wehrmacht, such as the 272nd Volksgrenadier Division, or the 29th Panzergrenadier Division. The only exception is the 17th Panzer division, who while listed as Wehrmacht, were historically Waffen SS, so now you guys know which unit not to get. Again, most of the weaponry will be familiar for those who play WW2 shooters, such as the MP40, and MG42.

The last faction are the British… or should I say Commonwealth.

This is another reason why I like this game. You see, NWI remembered that the Brits in the second world war, had an empire, and they are willing to bring said empire into their scuffles. This means that while they do have British units like the famous/infamous Black Watch, they also have many units of Canada, such as the Princes’s Patricia’s Canadian Light infantry, as well as Australians (2/17th Battalion, who also happen to be my favorite) and Indians (12th Frontier Force Regiment). As for weaponry, most will be familiar… provided you are familiar with the British in WW2, such as the Bren, or the Lee-Enfield No. 4. They also have the one exception of where units do affect load out (we’ll get to that) with only the 2/17th Battalion being allowed to use the Owen Mk. 1.

Now that you have been familiarized with the factions, one must remember that as this is a team based game, it becomes like medieval Europe, where class matters. There are 9 classes, each with unique load outs, and purposes. Most of them also have limited slots.

Firstly, we have the basic class, the rifleman. The only class to not have a limit for slots, they are armed with a rifle. It should be noted that just because you are using a bolt action for the most part, you’re still deadly. With extra stamina, and access to rifle grenades, it is a very solid class.

Next is the assault class, who solves your issues at close range with the liberal application of an smg. Following that, is Support, who provides support by using a light machine gun, like a Bren or BAR. After that is the trifecta of basic shooter classes of Engineer (use explosives), Machinegunner (MOAR DAKKA!), and Sniper (one shot, one kill). Now the unique classes for the game starts now. After that, is Flamethrower, who decides that turning people into a barbeque is only a war crime the first time.

Now, here is the interesting part. You get one Officer, who has the ability to call support of any sort, from the innocent supply drop and smoke screens, to less innocent ones, such as artillery barrages, aerial strafings, and bombing runs. However, they can’t actually call these in, without a radio, which is accomplished with the last class, radioman. With a radio on their back, all they do is stand next to the officer, while they call in an artillery strike that will wipe the enemy team, and half of your team who were caught in the blast. (rule of thumb, you should always have both an officer and a radioman).

After choosing game mod, faction and units, and class, you have your loadout. Everyone has a primary weapon, secondary weapon, access of up to two different types of grenade, and a melee weapon. Furthermore, attachments to your weapon such as slings, bayonets, or scopes. Furthermore, you also have access to vests that can increase the amount of ammo you have. So what’s the catch? Well, weight is a factor, as in the more stuff you carry, the slower you are. Furthermore, your access to this is determined by supply points. You gain more supply points by playing the objective, so play. The. BLOODY. OBJECTIVE!!!

Anyway, items cost certain amounts of supply points, so this means you have to compromise about what you bring in. For example, if you play an American assault, an M3 Grease Gun with a sling, costs 5 supplies, while a Thompson M1A1 by itself costs 6 supplies. So, with this knowledge, prepare to compromise, especially with your first rounds.

After all that has been said, many of you might remember what I have said earlier about their flaws. Well, here they are. Map designs can be kind of poor, and lack of content update. They still support the game, but don’t hold your breath for new content that isn’t fan made (remember, this is the source engine. It’s super easy to mod… so I’ve been told), considering that the last update was back in December of 2017. This ties into the big elephant in the room… lack of players. Because of the lack of long term support, due to it being released just before another major NWI release, Sandstorm Insurgency (also a really good shooter), player counts can be pretty low. This is in spite of the fact that the vast majority of reviewers like the game. Many players often complain that the game is dead, but that isn’t quite the truth. A lot of the players for some reason seem to be on European servers. Of course, this is also the reason why I’m talking about this game.

So in summary, if you want to try a good team-based fps, or a good WWII game, I strongly recommend giving Day of Infamy a try. It comes cheaply too, being 15 USD for the base game, and 20 USD for the deluxe edition, and it can be cheaper during sales. Also, final note, this game also has amazing voice acting, of various types for the various American, German, and Commonwealth units, using a mixture of your typical fps voices, but also many witty, and genuinely funny lines (in that regards, shout out to the commonwealth voice actors, with my favorites being the Scottish and Australian voice) Many of these voices can be found on Youtube.

So take a dive into Day of Infamy, and this has been a Noob’s guide to Day of Infamy, which can be found on Steam. Enjoy the rest of your day.

[frenchgremlim1808]

How to spot a toxic ship community in somes steps

I have been apart of many toxic ship community before and after a certain time of interacting with them I started seeing a pattern. It's not like a scientific research or something's, I'm just a bored idiot but I thought it could be helpful

Before i start i just wanna clarify some point, being a fan of a ship who is sadly in a toxic community doesn't make you toxic (ex: you can ship komahina without being a toxic person). Any ships that i used as a reference in the post is not meant to be Taken as an insult towards you okay, it's just my opinion. No hate

Let's start :

1.They act like their ship is the only one who's important and better than the others

For exemple: -They seems to only care for their ship. -They would be able to sacrifice any characters or any ships for theirs to thrive. - They commit slander against other ships fan for no particular reason except being mean and acting like their ship is either a joke or not as interesting as theirs

2.They harass/dox people with differing opinions to them about the ship/characters

It can come in different ways, like for example doxxing address, bullying shippers who ships the character with somebody else, forcing their own opinions on others about the character/ship, harrass the actor/ actress for shipping a different ship or not shipping the ship in general ( wow that make me think of something, but what...,🧐)

3.They tend to make make problematic content for their characters

Okay, when I talk about problematic content, I don't really talk about sex. If both characters are consenting adults then everything's fine. I'm mostly referencing sex with minors characters. A lot of fandom tend to forget that the characters are under the legal age of either consent or maturity. That means they are children, which means it child porn. An example .... Bakudeku I don't need to explain myself.

Then we can see other problematic things like for example shits like abuse, yandere,torture ,obssesion which aren't the characters real personality but are implented in fics for being "sexy". But I think you get my point

Also just because some people did problematic things doesn't mean that the whole community is filled with psycho p*do, it's mostly about the numbers of people who do it.

4. THE +

This are the things that don't really make the community toxic in itself but combined with the other point can show you that's it's pretty toxic, in itself it's just cringe or annoying or just normal. No community is perfect so it's normal to have some of the trait I have mentioned and some I'm gonna mention now. Let's start:

They sexualize a lot the characters,they use one off the characters as a self insert for themself cause they just want to ship themself with them,the idolise the characters and put them on a pedestal, they act like the characters are perfect and did nothing wrong, if the characters are m/m or w/w they fetishize the relationship just because they're gay ( like treating all the gay character like uwus boy in skirt who always talk about sex, the mostly feminize them)/ they don't seem to accept other interpretation of the characters, they always tryies to bend the story for their own enjoyment and don't seem to accept the reality of what happened in the show / They seem to like the characters only for the fanon interpretation and not the canon one , etc

They're is probably more things so comment what you think I missed.

CONCLUSION:

If the ship in question check some af the dots doesn't mean that your ship community is toxic, I'm a byler and I know even tough my community is welcoming that were not perfect and we check some of these dots. But's that normal. Every community is kinda cringe. But like if the ship in question check all the dots I consider running. Don't interact to much with the community and stays with the sanes one.

Anyway I'm tired, for once I did an analysis, but the memes are coming back soon, I don't have my computer so you have to wait. ( You can use this in an argument just credit me)

-a french gremlim

[thisloveforyourmom]

review of acotar: solid 4/10, read it all and DNF'd the second book because i got off the plane and had better things to do LMAO. it's not very good but its also not so hilariously awful or off the wall that it becomes entertaining in its badness.

feyre as a main character is really not very inspired. everything before her going to fairy land is basically katniss everdeen with sisters who suck more - hunting in the woods, starving, one useless parent one dead parent, sibling who won't/can't help them survive, etc etc etc. and her name isn't pronounce 'fairy' but come on. she doesn't really shine until very late in the book, but she's a mildly interesting POV so whatever 5/10 for her.

tamlin is a complete nothing burger of a love interest. there's literally nothing about him and feyre's interactions that is at all compelling. at one point he goes feral and bites her and it's supposed to be all erotic and i don't know who that scene is for, considering if you want a dark romance this aint your book and tamlin never does anything like that again. all of feyre's attraction to him is explained by that bullshit romance authors sometimes do where it's like "and i didn't know why....but i wanted to see him again" girl i don't know why either

the entire setup for the curse is so. contrived. like wdym it's a lengthy and complicated curse but feyre JUST SO HAPPENS to have met every single weird requirement EXCEPT.....she doesn't do the last thing needed to break the curse! and even by her own admission she didn't know why!

the worldbuilding is...a Problem. the high fae aren't fairies they're elves. idgaf. they can lie no problem, they can touch iron, eating their food is totally safe, time passes the same way in the fairy land, etc etc etc. there are seven courts because SJM wanted to bring up the whole seven is a magic number, but she does that by making them autumn, winter, spring, summer, day, night, and...dawn? why not twilight? twilight applies to dawn and dusk, why have we just totally punted the dusk court into oblivion? the main villain does that whole "i said i'd free your love, but i didnt say WHEN!! i'll free him LATER!! he can be freed by DYING!! -evil laugh-" thing except we already established she CAN JUST LIE, so there's no reason to play word games

rhysand and lucien are by far the most compelling people feyre talks to. i think SJM is good at writing enemies-to-lovers because it forces her to actually give them scenes where they find common ground and have meaningful interactions to overcome their hatred.

i do appreciate how she takes the risk of actually getting into some dark stuff in the end of acotar and the beginning of the second book - i thought feyre wasn't going to go through with that, but then she did, and it actually eats her up from the inside out instead of just becoming a woe-is-me-pity-party situation, so props for that. i also don't think many authors would have been willing to toss out the whole LI of the first book, but she committed to that too, so good on u SJM taking risks.

THAT SAID she did him dirty. i would have liked it better if feyre and tamlin truly just became incompatible after their trauma and were forced to admit that loving each other wasn't enough, but it seems like they're full sending tamlin being some kind of villain, which i really hate. in general i think his and feyre's relationship should have been done better - i could absolutely see feyre not loving him, but feeling as though she SHOULD love him because of what he did for her, which solves the whole 'i didnt say i love you' thing AND gives her a reason to go save him and then break up with him as well. overall he is just. really a nothing character until the second book.

acotar as a whole feels like the drudgery SJM had to get through before she could write the second book. it really picks up there. but not enough for me to keep reading lmao see yall

[ultimatetrashgoblin]

Everything I hate about every lovestruck series because voltage needs to get their shit together <3

Quick disclaimer cause some of y'all seem very keen on attacking people rn: My words are not the law of the land and you do not have to agree with anything I say here. This is just me ranting. I'm open to having a civil discussion about any of these opinions in my inbox, dms, or comments, but rude anons will be ignored.

TL;DR: Lovestruck is shit, go read Villainous Nights and Speakeasy Tonight and stop romanticizing toxic behaviors please.

Gangsters In Love

Chance Valentine

People who still believe Chance Valentine and MC's relationship was healthy (I'm also genuinely concerned for you please seek help because honey that is a very toxic relationship)

The fact that Chance Valentine was brought back when Irving, Yoyo, and Ash are right there

The fact that Aurora's original route was abandoned for so long (I know they said they're finishing it in 2022 but it should not have taken this long)

The fact that Irving only got 3 seasons (and fucking Chance Valentine got 9)

The original MC dressing like a toddler (I'm all for badass ultra fems but come on she looks like a child)

The "streetsmart" MC immediately trusting the gang and overall not being very street smart

Seymour not being in the new routes (I know he's the old MC's dog and it wouldn't make sense but I miss him and his interactions with the group and especially Ash were so cute)

Love & Legends

I'm sorry, but as cool as the concept of the Witch Queen was, it was dragged out for way too long in almost every route

Except for Alain's which deserved more seasons

Just like how he deserved to live in other routes other than his own

And how we should've gotten more interactions between him and Helena when they were on the same side in his route

Basically Alain just deserved better

Also will forever be bitter than we didn't get an Ishara route

Havenfall Is For Lovers

The number of gorgeous women who could've been lis but weren't is a CRIME

Also what was Mothman's design?

Like I love Mothman but when you think of the cool cryptic that is NOT it

Look at JD's cool design and how it fits with them being the Jersey Devil, (or Dracula, his design was in some way what you'd imagine him to look like) Mothman deserved something like that

Also kind of wish Grace would have a route where she wasn't playing some sort of damsel in distress role because that got kinda old after a while (Edit: I’ve been looking at the replies and y’all have pointed out that she doesn’t get kidnapped in Antonio’s route and is able to become an agent in Mac’s route and a hunter in Vanessa’s. Thank you for correcting me.)

Starship Promise

Despite having plenty of side characters who many would love to romance, you decide to recycle old lis

But I'll give a pass for Nova so long as they don't fuck up her ending again (because literally what the fuck?)

Also Nav deserved better

Sweet Enchantments

Runa Amberthorne literally forced a woman into a relationship against her will, taking away her right to consent to it, and yet there are still people sympathizing with her because "aw she feels bad" and "she didn't sleep with her" like BITCH THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY WHAT MADE LOVESTRUCK THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA???

Roman deserved better

Also rip Milo I thought he was kinda boring but he didn't deserve to get dropped like that

Queen of Thieves

Jett and Remy only getting 4 seasons

Lovestruck not giving us a poly route with Jett and Remy

Lovestruck not giving us a poly route with Zoe and Vivienne

Lovestruck not giving us a route with Jace

The fact that if Lovestruck decided to reboot this series the recycled routes would be Nikolai and Vivienne instead of Jett and Zoe

Sin With Me

People simping for Vinca despite her being emotionally abusive to her twin sister and still begging for her route (I can semi sympathize with the people who just want routes for all seven sins but like that doesn't mean it should happen Vinca is still a piece of shit)

Ripley still not having a route despite being the most attractive woman on the entire app

Reigning Passions

Galen only getting 4 seasons (while Xenia is going on 10)

The fact that there isn't a Piama X Ruelle short

Lovestruck STILL NOT FUCKING ANNOUNCING THE NEW LI

Wicked Lawless Love

Once again, plenty of gorgeous women being abandoned as potential lis

Also I know I'm not the only one who found the MC to be annoying

And like the way she was so willing to trust this random ass stranger in Cecelia's route and has the audacity to be surprised when she's evil

Tales Of The Wild

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE WRITING?

LIKE IT IS INSULTING

Also the cgs?

No <3

Lovestruck should've just stopped at the Wild Vixens short

Nobody asked for this to be a full series, and nobody wanted it

I'm not sad to see it go

Ever After Academy

Only 4 seasons per route (and I'm not just saying that cause I love the series, EAA's story has so much potential)

I feel like the memory spell is sort of rushed in the new routes (especially Lavinia's)

Or maybe that's just cause Lovestruck was figuring out shit as they went along when the og 3 were being written

I hate how they made Abel so unlikable in his route

Sure, he was kind of rude when we first met him in Lucas's route, but when his own route premiered he was such a dick (which sucks cause I really liked his character and I was excited when his route was announced)

Also, are we ever actually getting a full route for Jo X Darla? It's been a while (knowing Lovestruck probably not)

Also Mouse and Jackie deserve routes (but it's Lovestruck so I wouldn't hold my breath)

Immortal Heart Society

Most negative opinions I have about the series can be found here, but regardless:

Alanna Mckenna.

The pacing felt super off in Cash and Alanna's routes (it got better when Emilio's route came out, as most things in the series did)

The way Cash's route got dropped right as his route was actually becoming pretty good

Rafe's route being with MMC (while I am upset that this means MMC is likely only getting 1 li, my main issue is that they showed Rafe having more chemistry with MMC which felt kind of like Lovestruck was queerbaiting us)

Kiran not having a route yet

Also some of the cgs are ugly ngl

Plus the historical inaccuracies bother me cause like you can't just say "homophobia? never knew her" and expect everyone to go along with it for the sake of your story (take it from a better series of yours that's able to incorporate these issues into the story to make it both realistic and heartwrenching)

My Siren Crush

This is an issue across the board but I tend to notice it more in this series so I'm putting it here: SPELLING CHECKS PEOPLE. SPELLING. CHECKS. (they say as they continue writing a post full of poor grammar)

MC's magic thing seems lowkey unnecessary but I'm willing to see how Lovestruck handles it

I'm sorry but Arianna is kind of boring

Dawn route when?

Edge Case Love's Pursuit

Thought it was dumb that they just recycled the one series from their new app that they never promoted but like I guess I get it?

This shouldn't need to be said but like let's ✨not✨ promote romancing a child

Overall not much of an opinion on it yet but that may change as it continues so stay tuned cause I might make a part 2 for this series

But seriously Lovestruck, please reconsider making Eko a love interest. Just don't. She's 14. Please.

Villainous Nights

Most of these routes deserved better

Zeke deserves his own route

Lovestruck if you're gonna reboot another series, I highly suggest this one

Astoria Fate's Kiss/Lost Kisses

Once again, most of these routes deserved better

Especially Astraeus because he was one of the best and he got did so dirty

Once again, plenty of wasted route potential (*cough cough* Persephone *cough cough*)

Castaway! Love's Adventure

Why the fuck is this series still listed as contemporary?

You know, the series with magical island spirits?

That one?

Anyway, TK and Joaquin are dicks

And the MC is annoying as fuck

But she's also stunning and I wish we saw her sprite more

To Love And Protect

Everything but the cat.

Speakeasy Tonight

The most underrated series on the app

Justice for Julius that man deserved more than 1 season

And basically all of them did

We need more ST content

If you haven't checked out this series yet I highly recommend you do it deserves more love

[voidstain]

Proper Pinned Post

Anonymous blog that started as a writing blog. Now it's a bit of a mishmash. Self expression, often unedited and done on mobile. Maybe discourse, maybe rambly posts, who really knows.

Quick rundown: Pro-ship, pro-endogenic systems, pro-kink, pro-sex work, pro being radically inclusive generally. Disabled (physically and mentally, though the distinction is not one we feel needs to be made), queer, tired. 25+ body. We block liberally but do try to be understanding and own up to mistakes.

Feel free to block for any reason. We try to respect DNIs, if they exist/are accessible for us, but don't really think stating one ourselves is worth it. If you want to interact, you will, a DNI isn't going to do much to stop people. If you don't want to interact because of our stances, you aren't going to anyway.

Info on us and what you may expect to find on this blog below the cut.

We are a plural system that prefers using headmate/fictive terms over parts/alters/introjects. Voices will not be given names, and are numbered in order of choosing to use this blog, not by how many are actually here.

Currently:

Voice 1 (They/It)

Voice 2 (She/Her)

Voice 3 (They/It)

Voice: undisclosed (could be anyone, or a mix! Not necessarily a voice given a number.)

Voice 4 (They/Them)

Voice 5 (He/Him, & any)

Topics you may find:

Queer themes

Neurodiverse themes (Autism, ADHD, plurality, trauma, & more)

Cripplepunk/Madpunk/Punk in general

The woes of chronic pain

Lots of identity stuff

Self harm/Suicide/Death

Religious trauma

Unreality/Things of an otherworldly nature as if literal and as if really had happened

Dealing with reality, usually with hopepunk, but like, yikes

Fandomish stuff, maybe. Headmates/fictives being vague probably.

& more!

Any identifying info is not happening. If you think you know us no you don't. NDA this shit. Redirect your brain cells away from suspicion. If you browse thats fine but leave no trace, nature trail visit this place. Coincidences are just that, not even correlation. Or else.

(We'd probably just be embarrassed about being Known(tm) and kinda upset about some stuff being seen thats private but pretend I have a gun for the meme)

Thanks for coming to our ted talk, except psych, bonus ted talk of thoughts will be randomly added below

Anti-psychiatry. Yes we have a psychologist headmate, yes we are in therapy with a therapist who knows about us. Tear down the medical field and rebuild it brick by fucking brick without any brick not being seen to by someone it impacts. No one should be forced to have medical choices and bodily autonomy stripped like that.

As such, obviously, pro self-dx, because dx labels are like. a horrible mess. Half of it is different brands of slightly varied symptoms lining stuff up to see which eye glass you see through best at the eye doctor. Whatever's comfy yall. It's like trauma all the way down anyway. Yes for like, almost everything. Even the biological stuff is exacerbated by trauma. Life in our society is inherently traumatizing for 99.9% of people.

So like. Drugs. Relatedly. Addiction is a societal problem. Free supervised substance use sites is a public health issue. Stop jailing people (disproportionately BIPOC who are often then exploited as prison labor) for drugs. Stop villainizing them. Addicts should be supported, and you know what? If someone wants to do drugs sometimes, let em. They aren't a crime that forever marrs your immortal soul or some shit.

Opiod crisis. Pain relief seeking behavior being classified as drug seeking is costing lives, just give them the prescription. Also on this topic free healthcare. Abortion is an inherent right to bodily autonomy. Let someone trans their gender as much as they please so long as consent is informed. Also palliative care over life-prolonging care any day if the person wishes. Also physician's assisted suicide.

For the love of the vast void or whatever you believe in stop letting cops kill people. Stop letting cops. That's it end of sentence. Redirect funds to better serve the community. Cheer when the station goes up in flames. Also just because you're European doesn't mean you're free of the racism of the US.

More to be added when we feel like it. Also posts may get made abt these separately

[luvlyrv]

Duel | Seulgi x F!Reader | Knight!AU

Request: Okay so I have a request 👀 you don’t have to write it if you want want to, but the idea came to my head and I thought why not request it from one of my favourite writers! 🥺

SO, knight!seulgi. Or basically Seulgi with a sword and being bad ass 🥴 maybe a small bit of enemies to lovers, who knows? But just Seulgi. With a sword. 😳🥵

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: i hope you like it! i'm not big on action scenes so they were kind of rushed, sorry :( also sorry that it took so long my dear!! hope you're doing well <3

Date: 4/11/21

You uncomfortably roll your shoulders back, a phantom pain gradually enveloping your body. Somehow the mere sight of Seulgi was enough to send shudders down your spine as your body recounts the sensations of the many fights you've had with her. Maybe defeat has already etched itself into your muscle memory.

You let out a quiet breath as you observe her sparring session with a fellow damoiseau, a knight-in-training. Your mind feels a bit torn by the sight in front of you. On one hand you are entranced by the fluid motions and contortions that Seulgi managed to make her body do. On the other hand you struggle to not make an obviously unsettled face. Your mood sours at the disappointment you feel when reminded of the fact that despite how much you try to observe and study her, you have never bested her in a duel.

Besting the people around you had always come easy. You've enjoyed the pain of your training, knowing that it would be proven a worthy investment of your time when you see a pitiful body laying on the floor in front of you. When you get to see the face of defeat, hear the admittance of it. For all you know you are the perfect warrior. A noble knight worthy to serve the monarch.

You're better than everyone. You know it. Except for her.

What was it? What did you she have that you didn't? Every time she bested you in a duel it dealt a bastardly blow to your ego. The words 'second best' would make your eye want to twitch. For all your strength and endurance, your familiarity with the motions of battle, Seulgi just seemed to understand it more.

You recount the many times your body would strain itself after being dealt with many sharp thwacks. The throbbing pains from falling and rolling, again and again. The sense of hope and excitement as you pushed yourself to take on a stance and seemingly deal a final blow, only for Seulgi to easily and gracefully step away, just to kick you back to the ground.

You hate her. You hate the weaklings underneath you too. You swear you can hear them snicker when you lose to her, that treacherous woman.

You stop your thoughts when you suddenly hear the booming voice of your master calling for you. Your grip strengthens around your training sword as you slowly make way towards Seulgi. It's time for the two of you to repeat the process. This time though, you are determined to win. Certain of it. Seulgi, the best apprentice in your regiment, would not longer make a mockery of you.

Your jaw hurts as clench, barely containing your anger. You try to calm down and refocus on the situation at hand. You look at Seulgi as she stands in her own battle-ready stance in front of you. You wonder how her blows deal so much power when her frame looks so delicate.

Focusing on calming down your breathing, you slowly advance forward. Your opponent does the same and soon enough you're circling around each other. It's the same story again. The same beginnings.

You want to end things quickly and dive in for the first blow. One blow should be all you need, you think to yourself. You force yourself to go as quickly as possible, everything around you a blur except for your target herself. All of a sudden though, she disappears and suddenly you feel your training sword facing resistance, threatening to escape your grasp.

You grunt in frustration and reorient yourself to find Seulgi. You spot her and balance yourself waiting for another opening. She is always on the defensive it seems, but you are never one to wait. As the seconds go by you deem it the right time to go for a slash. It feels as if your body is moving through molasses as you watch Seulgi glide out of your weapon's way in horror. You see her sword and a painful thwack is given.

It's the same story again. The same middle.

You repeat and repeat these motions. You going in for a hit only to be countered. Sometimes you'd get one in, but like you your opponent is hardy and gets back up. After a brutal pummeling you must resign yourself to defeat, as much as your heart hates it. The same ending as always.

This time though you can't seem to hold your tongue back.

You storm up closer to Seulgi and roughly hold onto the collar of her training attire. "What the hell is it? What's your secret?" You shake the woman a bit until her hands come up to your wrist. She pushes them down and you decide to let go. "Rematch tonight. I'll prove my worth." The words come out viciously but quietly. They were a promise both to her and yourself.

The crowd of spectators around you stay quiet after your outburst, and Seulgi doesn't say anything either. Not bothering to look at anyone's faces you leave the grounds to change clothes. They stuck to you with sweat and the gritty dirt that covered it bothered you

You can't think much for the rest of the day. The thoughts of your failure prevents you from enjoying training or beating other people. Soon enough you find yourself looking at a bowl of measly soup and bread in the mess hall all by yourself.

The warm soup makes you feel marginally better, but you don't pay much attention to it. Instead you take in your surroundings. This scenario is routine. You sit by yourself somewhere among the crowds of people interacting and enjoying their meal together. Even if people were nearby you simply would not speak. Why waste your breath on them?

In contrast to you though, you notice how hordes of people flock around the number one apprentice. Vying for her attention. Are you jealous? You can't tell. You just wonder if people would act that way towards you if you were the best.

Soon enough you hear the familiar yelling of a commander telling you all to return to your bunks. You quickly put away your bowl and utensils before hanging back from the line of people walking back towards the measly barracks that housed you all. Through the large body of people you see the crowd finally thin out as people their respective barracks. As you get closer to yours you finally spot Seulgi towards the entrance of the building. Coming up behind her you speak out.

"You didn't forget, did you?" She takes a moment to think before huffing.

"I suppose I should humor you after all."

You turn without letting her speak further. There's a silence between the two of you as you go to retrieve your training swords. You'd expect to hear loud padded footsteps behind you, but surprisingly Seulgi's footsteps sound faint. Nearly nonexistent.

The night sky of course makes it hard to see things, but your years of training has ingrained the layout of the entire area into your heart. It also helps that the moonlight allows you to see just enough as well. You make it to your destination with ease, picking up your weapon you watch as Seulgi grabs hers too.

"Where are we going to fight?" She questions you tiredly.

"Out in the field." Your answer is curt as you once again lead Seulgi, this time to the middle of the field you had fought in earlier in the day. When you arrive you distance yourself farther away from her and take your stance.

"You ready?" You ask her as you plant your feet into the ground and focus on your breathing.

"Mhm." Seulgi, unlike you, decides to stand there. She seems uncommitted, like she doesn't care about the fight. How dare she do that when your pride is on the line? When you're taking this so seriously?

Frustration builds up inside of you as you take her attitude as disrespect. You move in to give her a quick jab. Extending your arm, you feel your weapon graze her before she moves out of the way. A popping noise fills the air as she strikes down near the hilt of your weapon, trying to make you loosen your grip. It almost works but you quickly readjust your hands. You force up your sword in retaliation, breaking away the contact between your two swords.

With your sword so high up you decide to go for a horizontal swing towards Seulgi's body. In the early moments of your swing though, Seulgi ducks down and gives you an upwards jab towards your chest.

You heave as air forcefully leaves your lungs, a pain exploding around your chest.

"God!" You wheeze out loudly. Seulgi stands in front of you while she lowers her sword. You get down to your knees and look at the ground. Your breathing normalizes quickly but you try to get your bearings before rising again.

"I still... don't get it." As quickly as your breathing returned to its normal state, your voice quivered as your eyes felt hot. The disappointment that you seemingly always felt around Seulgi had made its reappearance. This time it hit harder than normal. Hard enough to make you start crying.

As your breathing began to become more uneven you finally raise your head and stand up. The form of your opponent gets closer to you. The only sounds between the two of you is the noises escaping your throat as you broke down again.

"How can you manage to fight like that?" You notice Seulgi has put both of her hands out to you. Your hesitance to take them spurs her to speak.

"I'll show you." Her voice touches you somehow. How have you never noticed how angelic she sounded? How gentle she was being with you right now? "Just take them."

You allow her to take your hands. She carefully clasps her similarly calloused hands around yours and begins to move. Her body sways, you don't quite understand why but you try to follow suit.

"I don't get it." You say as you try to mirror her movements. You fumble in embarrassment as Seulgi moves with confidence and grace. You're like a fawn who hasn't learned how to walk next to her.

"I'm a dancer, don't you see?" She momentarily lets go of your hands and walks backwards. You miss the feeling of her hands but you're entranced by the short show she puts on.

She performs for you, the dance itself was beautiful as she created curves and angles with her body. The moonlight enhances it, bouncing off her body and allowing her to glow.

Why have you never noticed how delicate her features looked? How it looked as if she was hand sculpted by the gods?

She returns back to you, taking your hands in hers and leads you back to dancing. You focus harder on trying to mimic her correctly. Eventually the both of you are gracefully dancing across the vast field. You're calmer now, happy even.

"See?" Seulgi says after a while of silent dancing. "The battlefield is my dancefloor, and I'm simply dancing around your blade."

"You're an incredible dancer, Seulgi." Seulgi has brought the two of you closer now. You notice how her lips tug up a bit as you pay her a compliment. That was the first time you've complimented her, perhaps even anyone here. It was the first time you said something without malice to her.

"I try." She laughs a bit. "I wanted to be a professional dancer at first actually. My family wanted me to go into a more noble field though, for the sake of our reputation. I protested at first of course. As I thought more though I decided I wouldn't mind protecting people. I still try to dance everyday though."

"Oh." Shock is laced through your voice. Listening to Seulgi was a humbling experience to say the least. You had wanted to become a knight for your own honor, to attain glory and recognition. You hadn't paid much thought towards protecting other people.

It was also strange to see Seulgi treat you like this. Her kindness was unprecedented. Was your hatred and spite one-sided all along?

"Hm?" Seulgi is curious to your shock as she quirks her eyebrow.

"Sorry."

"For what?"

"I've..." It hurts you a bit to say sorry, let alone apologize correctly. You force yourself to do it though. Maybe, just maybe, you need to change. "I've certainly acted coldly towards you and others. My actions have been... conceited." You here a soft giggle before Seulgi speaks again.

"You're cuter when you're not being awful, you know?" You're glad that the sun has set and that Seulgi can't see the embarrassment on your face. Seulgi hums a tune as you continue dancing together.

"Try smiling more and scowling less. You'd be more approachable that way, along with some attitude changes of course. Aren't you lonely?" She tries to advise you, and normally you'd lash out if anyone made comments about your behavior, but you can't help but to listen to the soothing voice of Seulgi.

"...I can try." You whisper. "I think, if I may speak frankly, I would be okay with being second best under you." Seulgi laughs again.

"Oh? Was dancing with you all it took to make you earn some humility?"

"Maybe... can we dance again another time?" You ask with hesitance before you quickly elaborate. "To get better at fighting, like you! Of course. Only if you want to."

"If this would effectively make you learn your lesson, then sure."

This was the first time you could talk to someone like this, and you like it.

"Thank you, Seulgi, for your patience."

You understand why she's the best apprentice out of all of you. Why people flock around her. Who wouldn't want to be near the giving soul of Seulgi?

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[nerdythebard]

#4: Ah Puch, Horrific God of Decay

Welcome back, gods and goddesses!

Today, we take a quick peek into the domain of death with Ah Puch (pronounced either ah-POOCH or ah-puh-ASH), one of many Maya gods of death residing in the cold and dark afterlife called Xibalba. We know very little of Ah Puch (as is the case with a lot of Maya and other Mesoamerican gods), but from several texts we do have, we can learn he was known as "Ruler of the North" and that he was later banished for breaking his promise to the Maya king. But let's see what SMITE tells us about him!

Next time: Here comes the Sun... Is it a dog? Is it black ninja fire? No, it's...

As always, let's see what we need for Ah Puch to sow decay and death around:

Corpses: We need to do all kinds of freaky stuff with corpses of our enemies (including but not limited to: animating them, exploding them, making them heal us).

Decay: Related to the previous one. Area damage from miasma is another technique we need to implement.

High Area Damage: Ah Puch's Ultimate skill is a large AoE that summons the dead to rush the enemies. We need to find a way to empty the crypts en masse.

--- Once again, we're gonna play around a little bit. None of the established races fits Ah Puch... we could've picked Fallen Aasimar for that spark of divinity and a smell of the underworld, but let's follow the previous build's example and turn to the Wizards' Unearthed Arcana playtest material. This time, Gothic Lineages from 2021!

Ah Puch is a Reborn creature. This gives us a double creature - it lets us force a Wisdom saving throw on a target and paralyse them if they fail. Remember, it only works on humanoids; it will not stop animals, monsters, dragons, etc.g speed, 60 feet of Darkvision, and two languages – Common and one of our choosing. We also get to add a +2 and +1 to any of our ability scores. Let's get +2 Wisdom and +1 Intelligence.

There are two key features Reborn creatures get. First is Deathless Nature, which gives us several benefits:

Resistance to poison damage;

Advantage on saving throws and being poisoned;

We don't need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe;

Magic cannot put us to sleep. Similar to elves, we can finish our long rest in 4 hours instead of 8 by remaining in a motionless state.

We also get Knowledge from the Past, which doesn't necessarily fit Ah Puch's lore, but it's too good to pass on. We get a pool of d6 dice equal to our proficiency bonus. When we make an ability check that uses a skill, we can roll a d6 and add the number to the result. We get all of the dice back when finishing a long rest.

Ah Puch walks the world of the living far and wide, so making him an Outlander seems like a good choice. We get proficiency in Athletics and Survival skills, proficiency with one musical instrument, and we get to learn one more language. We also get the Wanderer feature, which gives us photographic memory when it comes to geographical features and nearby terrain.

ABILITY SCORES

We start with Intelligence and Wisdom for our two best scores. Then follow it with Constitution, because spellcasters need those Hit Points, then Charisma for when we need to scare somebody into the afterlife, and we're gonna finish it with Dexterity and Strength.

CLASS

Level 1 - Druid: Some of you probably can see where this is going. Yes, I am that predictable. OR AM I!?

Ekhm... Our Hit Dice is a d8, we start with Hit Points of 8 + CON mod. We get proficiencies with light armour, medium armour and shields (with a note that druids will not wear armour or use shields made of metal), as well as clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces, quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings, spears and Herbalism kit. Our saving throws are Wisdom and Intelligence and we get to choose two class skills; let's get Insight and Medicine.

At the first level, we learn yet another language – Druidic – which is unreadable for anybody but other druids, unless by means of magic. We also get Spellcasting from the very start. For our two cantrips, Shillelagh transforms our staff (we got one from our Wanderer background) into a magical weapon for 1 minute and lets us use our Wisdom modifier instead of Strength when attacking with it. Poison Spray creates a puff of toxic gas within 10 feet range. The target must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer 1d12 poison damage.

At the first level, we get two 1st-level spell slots and we can have four 1st-level spells prepared:

Charm Person targets a single creature; if it fails a Wisdom saving throw, it is charmed for 1 hour (no concentration needed). A "charmed" creature cannot directly or indirectly attack us, and we get an advantage on any ability checks while interacting with it. Remember, it's not a mindless control, and the creature realizes it was charmed when the spell ends.

Earth Tremor forces targets in 10 feet range to make a Dexterity saving throw, or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and fall prone from the ground shaking.

Fog Cloud creates a 20-foot-radius sphere of fog centred on a point within 120 feet from us. It lasts for 1 hour (concentration) and is a great way to either obscure our movement or to sneak up to the enemy.

Detect Poison and Disease lasts for 10 minutes (concentration) and shows us any and all poisonous things and diseased creatures within 30 feet from us. It also lets us identify the kind of poison and disease.

Level 2 - Druid: Next level of Druid gives us their signature ability – Wild Shape. This lets us assume the form of an animal and the CR of the animals we can turn into increases at the 4th and 8th level. This doesn't necessarily work for us, who make Ah Puch, but there is another option: Wild Companion from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything lets us burn one usage of our Wild Shape to summon a creature to our side as per the Find Familiar spell.

We get another 1-st level spell: Faerie Fire summons colourful flames in 20-foot-cube that stick to all inanimate objects and creatures that fail their Dexterity saving throw. For 1 minute (concentration) any attacks against creatures and objects affected by the fire get an advantage, and the targets cannot benefit from concealing effects, such as invisibility.

At the second druid level, we get to pick our Druid Circle and for Ah Puch, there is nothing better than the Circle of Spores. Those who find beauty in fungi and moulds are perfect subjects for the Lord of Decay. When we pick this Circle, we learn the Chill Touch cantrip, with more spells coming to us at later levels.

Our first Circle feature is Halo of Spores. We are surrounded by microscopic necrotic spores that are harmless unless we activate them. When a creature moves within 10 feet of us, we can use a reaction to deal 1d4 necrotic damage to it, unless it makes a Constitution saving throw.

We also get the Symbiotic Entity feature, which lets us channel some more magic into our Spores. As an action, we can sacrifice one Wild Shape use to gain 4 Temporary Hit Points for every Druid level. We also get an additional dice roll for our Halo of Spores and if we have a melee weapon, it deals additional 1d6 necrotic damage to any target it hits. Those benefits last for 10 minutes, until we lose all Temporary Hit Points, or until we use Wild Shape again.

Level 3 - Druid: At this stage, we don't get any new class features. It's focused mostly on spells:

From our subclass, we get two spells - Blindness/Deafness, which does exactly what it says if the target fails their Constitution saving throw, and Gentle Repose, which prevents the target from decaying and becoming undead.

We unlock 2nd-spell slots, which means we can get Hold Person - it lets us force a Wisdom saving throw on a target and paralyze them if they fail. Remember, it only works on humanoids; it will not stop animals, monsters, dragons, etc.

Level 4 - Druid: Our Wild Shape improves, we can now assume a form of a 1/2 CR creature (such as a crocodile, a shark, an ape, etc.) without flying speed. We also get our first Ability Score Improvement of the build! Let's raise our Wisdom by 2.

We get two more spells, since raising our Wisdom puts us at 18.

Locate Animals and Plants lets us name a specific kind of plant or animal and notifies us of its position within 5 miles of us.

Healing Spirit summons a small nature spirit to soothe the wounds of an ally who walks into its range.

Level 5 - Druid: We don't get new class features, but we get to unlock 3rd-level spell slots. For this, Revivify brings back to life a creature that died within 1 minute of casting the spell. It consumes a diamond worth at least 300 gold pieces, so remember to hit up a jeweller whenever stopping at a town.

Feign Death lets us touch a willing creature (or ourselves) and put it into a state indistinguishable from death. The target is blinded, incapacitated and its speed is 0. It has resistance to all damage except psychic.

Our subclass gives us two extra spells: Animate Dead lets us bring a pile of bones or a corpse for our temporary service as a skeleton or a zombie for 24 hours. Gaseous Form transforms us (or a willing creature) into smoke. For 1 hour (concentration), we get a flying speed of 10 feet, we have resistance to non-magical damage, and we can slip through openings even 1 inch in diameter.

Level 6 - Druid: We get another subclass feature. Fungal Infestation lets us infest a Small or Medium corpse with our necrotic spores and animate it. The animated creature comes back to life with 1 Hit Point and obeys us for 1 hour after which it crumbles away and dies again. We can use this feature a number of times equal to our Wisdom modifier and we regain the uses when finishing a long rest.

We get another spell - Barkskin turns our skin into rigid, rough, and tree-like. For the duration (1 hour, concentration), our AC cannot be lower than 16.

Level 7 - Wizard

Come on, be honest, who saw that coming? :D

Time to play with some magic bois! Picking the first level in Wizard gives us 4 + our CON modifier of Hit Points, no extra proficiencies, but we do get Arcane Recovery, which lets us regain some spell slots the combined level of which is equal to half of our Wizard level (rounded up) and they cannot be 6th level or higher. For now, it will let us recover 1st-level slots, but we'll make it useful later.

We also get three more cantrips from the Wizard (yes, they stack when you multiclass!):

Fire Bolt hurls a mote of fire, which deals 1d10 fire damage on a successful hit.

Ray of Frost deals 1d8 cold damage on a successful hit and reduces the target's speed by 10 feet.

Toll the Dead forces a Wisdom saving throw on one target and deals 1d8 necrotic damage on a failed save. If the target misses any Hit Points, they instead receive 1d12 necrotic damage.

1st level Wizards get to pick six 1st-level spells at the very beginning. I'm not gonna describe all of them because it would take forever, so let me just list the ones we should get:

Ray of Sickness

Tasha's Caustic Brew

False Life

Cause Fear

Feather Fall

Mage Armour

Level 8 - Wizard: At this level, we get to pick our Arcane Tradition and to nobody's surprise we pick School of Necromancy. We get Necromancy Savant, which halves the cost and time of writing spells in our spellbook, and we double down on death magic with Grim Harvest - whenever we kill a target with a spell of 1st level or higher, we regain Hit Points equal to 2x that spell's level (or 3x if it's a Necromancy type spell).

Every time we gain a Wizard level, we can learn two new spells. For this one, let's get Shield for some extra AC in a clutch, and Witch Bolt.

Level 9 - Wizard: Since we get access to Wizard's 2nd-level spells here, let's pick Ray of Enfeeblement which lowers the target's damage dealing by half, and Spider Climb for some better mobility.

Level 10 - Wizard: For our halfway point, we get our next Ability Score Improvement. Let's bump up Constitution for better Hit Points and put the second point in Intelligence.

We get another cantrip, so let's get Infestation, to conjure some nasty creepy crawlies on those who fail their Constitution saving throw.

We also get two more 2nd-level spells: See Invisibility lets us detect all invisible creatures within our field of view for 1 hour (no concentration required). Phantasmal Force is a personalized illusion, which creates a creature, object or another phenomenon, perceivable only by a target that fails their Intelligence saving throw. Flavour it as threatening the target with being dragged to Hell, or their hands shrivelling up and decaying, etc.

Level 11 - Wizard: No new class features, but we do get 3rd-level spell slots unlocked. For this one, we can get Bestow Curse - which affects a target who fails their Wisdom saving throw. The curse produces several effects:

We pick one ability score. For 1 minute (concentration), the target has a disadvantage on all checks and saving throws using that ability;

Their attack rolls against us gain disadvantage;

At the start of each turn they have to make a Wisdom saving throw, or completely lose their turn doing nothing;

While the target is cursed, our attacks against them deal extra 1d8 necrotic damage

For our second spell, Spirit Shroud uses a bonus action to summon a horde of ghosts circling around us for 1 minute (concentration). Until the spell ends, every attack we make within 10 feet of us deals extra 1d8 radiant, cold, or necrotic damage (our choice). Additionally, any creature hit by this extra damage cannot heal until the start of our next turn AND any creature that starts its turn within 10 feet of us has its speed reduced by 10, until the start of our next turn.

Level 12 - Wizard: At this level, we get the subclass upgrade - Undead Thralls. Normally, it would give us the Animate Dead spell for free, but we already know that one because of our Druid subclass spells; therefore, I would just give that spell the upgrade mentioned here. When we cast Animate Dead henceforth:

We can target one additional pile of bones, or a corpse, for two thralls to control at the same time;

Our thralls' Hit Points are increased by our Wizard level;

The thralls can add our proficiency bonus to their weapon attacks

We also get two more spells: Summon Shadowspawn calls forth a shadowy wraith in an unoccupied space within 90 feet from us. We get to choose between three types of shadows (Fury, Despair, and Fear). To further enhance our Army of the Dead, Summon Undead works in a similar way, except it summons an Undead Spirit, also with three types (Ghostly, Putrid, or Skeletal). Both spells come from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

Level 13 - Wizard: No class features, but we do unlock 4th-level spells here, so let's add two of those: Blight causes a wave of necromantic energy to strike one target; they have to make a Constitution saving throw or take 8d8 necrotic damage (half damage on a successful save). If we target a plant creature or a magical plant, it takes maximum damage. If we target a regular non-magical plant, it withers automatically.

Sickening Radiance creates a 30-foot-radius sphere of necrotic energy within 120 feet of us. When a creature enters the sphere starts its turn there, it must make a Concentration saving throw or take 4d10 points of necrotic damage, suffer one level of exhaustion (i.e. disadvantage on ability check) AND glow like the fresh rivers of Chernobyl, which also prevents them from becoming invisible, for 10 minutes (concentration).

Level 14 - Wizard: We get another ASI at this level. Let's go for Intelligence and Constitution for some better casting ability and HP.

For our spells, Banishment forces a creature to disappear from the Plane of Existence it currently resides in, provided it fails a Charisma saving throw. If the creature is native to the Plane we're banishing it from (e.g. a bugbear in the Material Plane), it is transported to a pocket dimension for the spell's duration (1 minute, concentration) and reappears in the space it left. If the creature is not native to the Plane we're banishing it from (e.g. a fire elemental in the Material Plane), it returns to its home plane and doesn't return, provided we manage to hold the spell without breaking the concentration for 1 minute.

Phantasmal Killer is similar in mechanics to Phantasmal Force, except here if the target fails its Wisdom saving throw, it is frightened for the duration (1 minute, concentration) and it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw every turn or take 4d10 psychic damage.

Level 15 - Wizard: No new class features, just spells. We unlock 5th-level spell slots, which gives us a few new delicious death-themed magicks:

Danse Macabre lets us animated up to five corpses to raise as either a skeleton or a zombie. They obey our command for 1 hour (concentration) and as a bonus action, we can issue a command that all five of them will execute.

Negative Energy Flood sends out lashes of necrotic energy at a single target. It must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer 5d12 necrotic damage (half damage on a successful save). If the creature is killed with that spell, it comes back as a zombie albeit not under our control. If we target an undead creature with this spell, it gets half of 5d12 Temporary Hit Points.

Level 16 - Wizard: This level gives us our second-to-last subclass feature - Inured to Undeath. We now gain resistance to necrotic damage and our maximum Hit Points cannot be reduced.

We get our final cantrip - Mind Sliver, which forces an Intelligence saving throw on one target. On an unsuccessful save, the target suffers 1d6 psychic damage (3d6 in our case, because of lv. 16) and must subtract 1d4 on its next saving throw made before the start of our next turn.

For this level's spells, we take Enervation, which deals 4d8 necrotic damage on an unsuccessful save, and it lets us trigger 4d8 necrotic damage every turn for the spell's duration (1 minute, concentration). It takes an action to activate the automatic damage, and the spell ends if the target leaves its range (60 feet) or is behind a full cover.

Hold Monster is the same as Hold Person but can be used to paralyse beasts, monstrosities, aberrations, etc. It cannot be used against the undead, but we've got those under control.

Level 17 - Wizard: Once again, no new class features, but we do unlock 6th-level spell slots. For this, let's take Create Undead which does exactly what it says on the packaging; up to three corpses become ghouls under our control for 24 hours. We can extend the control over them indefinitely if we continue to re-cast the spell before the current 24 hours end.

Magic Jar is the closest thing D&D players have to become a lich and let's be honest - Ah Puch is the closest SMITE players have to a lich. The spell rips our soul from our body and stores it in a pre-prepared container for as long as we desire. We cannot do anything while we're stored inside a container, except attempting to possess a humanoid body within 100 feet of us. We can jump bodies as many times as we desire but if we decide to jump back to our own body and we're 100 feet or further away from it, we die.

Level 18 - Wizard: For our last ASI, we'll max our Intelligence to 20.

For this level's spells, we'll grab Contingency, which acts as a sort of failsafe program; we can pick a 5th-level or lower spell and select conditions for its activation (e.g. "cast water breathing as soon as the head is submerged in water or similar liquid").

Soul Cage allows us to use a reaction to snatch the recently deceased humanoid's soul and store it in a tiny silver cage. It is another "lich" spell, as it allows us to utilize the captured soul in several ways: we can regain Hit Points, ask a question, etc.

Level 19 - Wizard: Here is where we receive our 7th-level spell slots. However, there isn't that many 7th-level spells we need. Instead, let's pick two more 6th-level spells:

Disintegrate is a concentrated ray of green energy that strikes one target within 60 feet from us. If the target is a living creature, they must make a Dexterity saving throw, or take 10d6+40 points of necrotic damage. If the target is reduced to 0 HP with this spell, it turns to dust immediately and can be only brought back via True Resurrection or Wish spells. The spell can be also used to destroy inanimate objects and magic constructs, such as barriers.

Guards and Wards is a powerful protection spell that transforms our resting place into a secured fortress (after all, we're the Death God of Xibalba, we need to have our own stronghold). We create a ward that protects an area up to 2.500 square feet of floor space, up to 20 feet tall. Within the protected area, all corridors are filled with dense fog, all doors and windows are sealed and locked, and all stairs are covered in sticky webs. The protection lasts for 24 hours (no concentration), but if the spell is cast on the same area every day for a year, it becomes permanent.

Level 20 - Wizard: For our capstone, we get another subclass feature. With Command Undead we can now bind all undead to our control, even those created by other wizards. As an action, we can choose one undead within 60 feet of us; it has to fail a Charisma saving throw against our Spell Save DC, or be friendly towards us and obey our commands until we use the feature again.

For our final two spells, let's move to 7th-level:

Finger of Death causes a blast of necromantic energy to pierce a single target. The target must make a Constitution saving throw or take 7d8+30 necrotic damage (half damage on a successful save). A humanoid killed by this spell rises back as a zombie permanently under our control.

Power Word: Pain targets every creature within 60 feet of us. If they have 100 Hit Points or less, they feel immense pain throughout their bodies. While affected, the creature's speed cannot be higher than 10, it has a disadvantage on all rolls (skill checks, attacks, saving throws) except Constitution, and it prevents any spellcasting unless the target succeeds on a Consitution saving throw. At the end of its turn, a creature can make a Constitution saving throw to shake off the spell's effect.

---

Now, let's see what we got from making the Death God of Decay.

First off, we've got cantrips for days, 20 Intelligence and 18 Wisdom, various types of corpses on our beck and call, and enough death-related spells to put a few liches to shame.

Unfortunately, we barely scratch the surface of 100 Hit Points, and we gotta manage two casting classes with two casting abilities. Our Charisma score is also not that good, so those saving throws might be difficult for us.

Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time!

Edit: WOW, that took way longer than I expected. I'm really sorry, I guess this was a difficult build and I worked pretty slowly on it. I'll do better from now on!

- Nerdy out!

[thegayhimbo]

I saw your reblog about Alcide, if you don't mind answering what are your personal thoughts on him?

Hi there. Sorry for the wait on this. I actually thought this was going to be a simple answer, but I realize there's a lot I wanted to say about the character in relation to how the fandom perceives him as opposed to how he actually comes off onscreen.

When I first saw the show, my feelings about Alcide ranged from okay at best to indifferent at worst. I didn't hate him, but I didn't care for him. He wasn't my favorite character on the show, and I found most of his story (and the werewolf plots) to be boring. I was actually surprised when I came online and found out he had a following with certain fans.

Upon rewatch, I'm still mostly indifferent to Alcide, but I lean a little more towards mildly disliking him now. And a lot of that has to do with how the fandom (especially people on Reddit) treat him vs how he actually comes across in the books and on the show.

I’ll start off by saying that I never liked Alcide in the books. He was an asshole, and most of the time he used Sookie to advance his position in the werewolf pack. What little relationship he had with Sookie felt one-sided on his part. It also doesn’t help that he unfairly blamed Sookie for stuff that was out of her control (like the death of Debbie in the books or the death of his father.) His attraction to Debbie in the books is also something that doesn’t reflect well on him. Contrary to the show’s portrayal, Debbie in the books was written as a one-dimensional psychopath with a jealous streak and no redeeming qualities. She’s basically a cartoon villain with no depth to her. The result is it’s hard to understand why Alcide got into a relationship with her in the first place, and it makes it look like he was just thinking with his dick. In other words, Book Alcide was nothing to brag about.

As for the show, like I said, I’m mostly apathetic to Alcide’s character (with a few exceptions that I will talk about in a minute) and I thought he was pointless. I know he was suppose to be a vehicle to introduce Sookie to the world of werewolves, but the way that was executed didn’t work. Common consensus in the fandom seems to be that the werewolf plots in both the books and the show were tedious and forgettable. It’s ironic because I know there are Alcide fans out there, but whenever I’ve asked them about what they thought of the werewolf stories, their responses range from “I don’t remember them” to “They were bad.” A lot of fans didn’t care for them. They could have been cut from the show without affecting the main story. That’s a problem because Alcide was usually involved in those stories, and the result is it was hard to care about him because of how non-compelling they were.

As for the character himself, I wasn’t impressed with him for a number of reasons.

First, there’s his relationship with women. I didn’t pick up on this the first time, but a rewatch has shown me how sexist Alcide came off during certain moments on the show. Case in point: His relationship with Debbie. One of the big conflicts between Alcide and Debbie on the show is that they both wanted different things. Alcide didn’t want kids and was fine not being in a werewolf pack. Debbie was the opposite where she did want kids and wanted to be a part of a community. Nothing wrong with that, but it was pretty clear from the get-go that this relationship was never going to work out. The problem though is that Alcide never seemed to recognize that, and kept trying to force Debbie to be something she didn’t want to be: A housewife who didn’t have kids, who was isolated except for her and Alcide, and who spoke softly and cooked meals for him. Basically the opposite of what Debbie was. And yes, I get that Debbie had a lot of problems and made really poor choices, but Alcide’s method of imposing his idea of what she should be was not the way to have handled that. It doesn’t help that he didn’t really seem to care about what she wanted because he thought he knew what was best for her. Like I said, that’s pretty sexist on his part.

And then there’s Sookie and how she factored into Alcide’s relationship with Debbie in seasons 3-4. I find it telling that when it comes to how this situation was handled, fans are eager to blame Sookie and Debbie for the whole mess that resulted in Alcide abjuring Debbie and Debbie getting killed by Sookie, but people rarely call out Alcide for his part in all of this. Personally though, I think Alcide bears some of the blame here for what happened.

Something that’s been pointed out is that during seasons 3-4, Alcide has only known Sookie for a brief period of time. Season 3 for instance takes place over the course of 9-10 days whereas season 4 takes place over 10 days (October 21st-October 31st). That’s about 2-3 weeks at best. And yet, despite only knowing Sookie for about a week in season 3, and despite having been in love with Debbie for a number of years, he’s already pining for Sookie:

Now maybe you could argue that he saw Sookie as a replacement in season 3 because his relationship with Debbie deteriorated and he was heartbroken. However, that excuse doesn’t hold up in season 4 when he’s supposed to have repaired his relationship with Debbie during the year Sookie was gone in faerie-land, and yet he’s still lusting for Sookie despite only knowing her for a short period of time.

It’s so telling to me that only a few days after Debbie’s death in season 5, Alcide tries to have sex with Sookie when they’re both drunk, and he tells Sookie “I’ve waited so long for this.” It really puts his relationship with Debbie in a negative light, and calls into question whether he actually loved her at all.

I’m not saying that Debbie was blameless in this, and it doesn’t excuse her cheating on Alcide with Marcus or trying to kill Sookie, but it’s not like she didn’t notice Alcide was eyeing Sookie for some time. This was a woman who had hitched her sobriety onto Alcide and felt isolated and alone, and the man she was depending on was emotionally cheating on her. And rather than owning up to that, Alcide tries to gaslight Debbie into thinking she’s crazy and it’s all in her head. He literally says that to her when they’re in bed together, and it’s nasty.

What’s frustrating is this usually gets overlooked in the fandom when people talk about Alcide’s character, and he’s usually referred to in a sympathetic light whereas Debbie is blamed for being an unstable, violent whack-job whereas Sookie is blamed for being a house-wrecker, even though she was in a relationship with Eric at the time.

This is also one of the reasons I never liked Sookie/Alcide as a pairing, and why them getting together at the end of season 6 felt forced: Putting aside how their only sexual interaction up to that point was Alcide trying to have sex with Sookie one night when they were drunk and Sookie vomiting all over him, it was basically Sookie getting pigeon-hold into the role of domestic housewife for Alcide. And I’m sorry, but I find it unbelievable that they were together for 6 months and Sookie never once picked up on any unkind or dirty thoughts from Alcide during the time they were together until the season 7 premiere when that suddenly was a problem.

But even putting aside his relationships with Sookie and Debbie, the biggest problem I have with Alcide is he’s not a compelling character. He’s a character whose motivations and personality change when the plot demands it, and most of the time the writers didn’t know what to do with him and just stuck him in different stories with no rhyme or reason. It doesn’t help that he has no character development during his time on the show. There is no difference between the Alcide we meet in season 3 and the one we end up with in season 7. The result is I don’t care about him.

It’s funny because I’ve seen plenty of fans project these kind of criticisms onto Jason, but I actually think they apply more to Alcide than they do to Jason.

Jason actually had character development. He learned to become more responsible and be someone others could depend on. He began to move away from his womanizing behavior in the later seasons and eventually settled down and had a family. He re-evaluated his stance on supernaturals, and actually became an ally for them in several ways. There is a big difference between the person he was in season 1 and the man he became by season 7. If people missed that, or chose to ignore it, that’s on them, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Alcide on the other hand..............what was his character development? How did he grow as a person? What did he learn from his relationships with Debbie or Sookie or Rikki? Or even from the whole werewolf pack nonsense? Cause I’m drawing a blank here. Was it suppose to be that pack life wasn’t for Alcide because it would turn him into a power-hungry asshole? I never got the impression that was a problem for him in the early seasons, and it was a contrived conflict that was manufactured for season 6. The show never did a good job fleshing out what his arc was suppose to be.

Also, say what you will about Jason’s stories, but at least they were memorable: Amy and Jason’s relationship. The Fellowship of the Sun. The werepanthers. Becoming a cop with Andy. His relationship with Jessica. His hunt for Warlow. I would also argue that each of these stories added something to Jason’s character, and helped him grow as a person. Alcide’s arc on the other hand.......................not so much. When I was rewatching, I had to take notes just to remember what was going on with the werewolves, and even when I was rewatching, I felt the overwhelming urge to hit the fast-forward button. That is how boring those scenes were. It says something that even Alcide wasn’t able to carry them.

TL;DR: I’m apathetic to Alcide (with a few moments where I find him unlikable), and I don’t think he was a good character. The werewolf plots were tedious at best and irritating at worst, and Alcide’s arc on the show wasn’t compelling or interesting. I don’t hate him the same way I hate characters like Bill, Hoyt, and Violet, but I don’t like him either.

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 2 for the first time. Random thoughts.

Huh. Only 7 episodes. Not complaining necessarily. For series with an ongoing plot I've definitely become more in favor with their seasons only having as many episodes as they need rather than them having to stretch themselves out to full up a certain number of episodes, which can lead to padding and just bad character moments.

Episode 1: Jeez. Catra visiting Shadow Weaver's cell just to rub her success in her face and verbally abuse her back for once. It's like a twisted version of Zuko and Ozai from ATLA. Catra's upbringing under her was abusive but this is far from a healthy way for her to deal with it. She's basically deliberately swimming in her resentment.

Episode 2: It's not that I'm rooting for her but by-golly was it fun to watch Catra act like just the absolute worst she could while she was Glimmer and Bow's captive.

I touched on this in season 1 but part of the drama of the heroes feeling guilt over leaving Entrapta behind is kind of lost on me a bit simply because it was her own fault it happened. She deliberately went back into the purge room because of her machine obsession, which then closed on her and erupted in flames. It was more than reasonable to assume she was dead and no one but her was to blame, so I'm not really able to be invested in their guilt over it.

That said, weirdly enough I do like that her "abandonment" doesn't seem to be even a blip on the radar for Entrapta herself. She hasn't joined the horde because she resents the heroes or felt left behind, she simply is so obsessed with machines and experimentation that she'll be on the side of whoever lets her do the most of that. Like, it's selfish and irresponsible but it's very in-character and I'd far rather have a traitor motivation be based in that over something stupid like a misunderstanding.

Episode 3: I love the mental image of Shadow Weaver thinking up princess-themed ghost stories to tell Adora as a child.

So, if the previous She-Ra Mara separated Eternia from the other realms/planets/whatever she did and that's what cut off the She-Ra line for 1000 years, I'm guessing Hordak may be from the time before that happened, thus his drive to create portals and calling Eternia a backwards world. Either he's naturally long-lived or his technology is extending his life.

Episode 4: You know, you could maybe argue it was vague enough that it could be taken other ways but I'm definitely getting some vibes here that Scorpia is crushing on Catra. She literally refers to the two of them as soulmates at one point. I know she says she's trying to be friends but this feels a level beyond that.

Fun little reference to the original She-Ra cartoon thrown in there (and maybe Cowboy Bebop...? James Bond...? What was Glimmer's art style supposed to be?). I like how it is more like just playful ribbing than anything outright dumping on the original. Again, I've never seen original She-Ra but whenever remakes/adaptations go out of their way to trash to the original I always kind of wonder why they bothered doing an adaptation if the original is just that bad? Also, I was having trouble sleeping so it was about 2am when I watched this episode and the very Eartha Kitt Catwoman Catra made it very difficult for me not to lose my **** and stay quiet. With how much of a contrast that version is from the one in this series, that was hilarious. Bonus note, it's a nice touch that Frosta's version of Catra is a pretty crasher in that sweet suit, since that's the only impression of Catra she's ever had.

Adora being a chosen one is definitely elevated up simply by how much the pressure of what she's supposed to be is getting to her. I'm likely going to keep making Avatar The Last Airbender comparisons throughout the series but that's partly because I went into this series figuring it'd be at least structured similar to ATLA (season 1 being more episodic and a little more kid-friendly as it builds up the world before getting more serious later). Adora and Aang are interesting to compare here. Aang's worries early on were less apparent because he was more in-denial/choosing not to think about his problems that much, which fit with his character as a free-spirited Air Nomad. While Adora is much more military-minded. She can't keep herself from thinking about her problems and trying to prepare for the worst-case scenario. And jeez, that idea of who/how Catra is in her mind. Not only beating her but making her watch as she takes everything she cares about away. Not Shadow Weaver, not Lord Hordak, but Catra. That whole Lion King Mufasa/Scar moment between them in episode 11 and their fight in the S1 finale really did a number on her mental image of her old friend. Not reasonably so.

Minor note: I'm sure I'm the only one who got this impression but by the look of it, the way the robot's eye moved, and the music, after getting the soda spilled on it that little spybot gained sentience for half a second and then immediately died. It was so darkly comedic I had to laugh.

Episode 5: So that red disc is basically She-Ra's Red Kryptonite, having an effect on the mind rather than the body. The drunk Adora joke doesn't really do it for me but it did get some nice interactions going between Scorpia and Sea Hawk, two characters I certainly wasn't expecting to bond. I did really like Catra's panic when berserker She-Ra nearly beheads her. The implication is that is Adora really wanted to kill her Catra would already probably be dead. It's a thing I like about powerhouse characters like Superman or Aang, who could just demolish everything around them and don't simply because they're a good person...which in turn makes them the scariest person on the planet when they're well and truly ticked off. I'm not going to lie, I do kind of want to see a She-Ra version of Aang when Appa was stolen or when Superman fought The Elite.

Also, Catra's line of "I have control over Adora. I'm not giving that up for anything.". There's a lot to read into there.

Episode 6: I guess my prediction was sort of right. Shadow Weaver became basically a magic parasite and while it did increase the power she's capable of the implication seems to be that she needs a constant fix of magic to keep herself going, thus her attachment to the Black Garnet.

Have we seen Micah before? Given how long ago the flashback seems set, the fact that Shadow Weaver didn't kill him and thus he probably becomes someone important later in life, I'm guessing he's Glimmer's dad and the queen's late husband, since I think he's the only important male character whose face we haven't seen yet. Also, he's voice by Ezra from Star Wars Rebels and that cracks me up for some reason. It's the exact same voice and a relatively similar character.

I compared Catra and Shadow Weaver with a kind of twisted version of Zuko and Ozai and that definitely still fits here. Both Catra and Zuko confront their parent and call them out for the inexcusable abuse they put them through but while that moment was the start of Zuko's upwards journey this and SW's betrayal seems like it's going to cause Catra to spiral even further. Makes sense why Adora leaving affected her so much. She's probably the only one Catra's ever had that she could consistently trust and rely on, even if she did somewhat resent her.

Not surprised Hordak is getting along with Entrapta. She's not socially aware enough to be scared or intimidated by him, so she'll speak frankly, and since all she wants to talk about is the machines, experiments, and how they could get them to work Hordak probably doesn't take much issue with that. She's producing results, which is what he cares about, thus also why Shadow Weaver and Catra started losing favor with him. I wonder if Catra is going through imposter syndrome? Shadow Weaver had that line that Entrapta earned her place next to Hordak and, if you think about it, Catra hasn't really "earned" anything. We saw that she didn't really take her training or studies that seriously, showing up late to combat practice and even getting partial credit for what Adora beat. She wasn't promoted to Force Captain because of her own abilities but because Adora had defected when she was supposed to get that title. She's come close to a few victories but never really had any except for Glimmer and Bow's kidnapping...whom she then basically let escape when she returned Adora's sword to her. She doesn't have the slightest clue how the horde's bureaucracy works when trying to get things done, like simply getting troops armor. Given how much better than her Adora always was and how little she herself has to her name, I wonder is subconsciously Catra believes she doesn't deserve her current position and thus why she's fretting so much over trying to prove herself.

Episode 7: Am I mistaken or did Bow's parents say that he's the youngest of TWELVE siblings? I was going to ask whether Bow was adopted or if his dad's used a surrogate or if maybe there's even just simply magic in She-Ra's world that allows two people of the same sex to have a child together but now I'm just focused on the 12 kids thing. I get nervous just imagining myself having more than one. You should see me when I'm with two cats. I have to pet both of them because I'd feel like I'd be making one feel left out and like the other is the favorite. I'm a mess with kids.

The dad with dreadlocks (Lance?), his design looked familiar to me and I finally realized it reminded me a of a fanart design for a human Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Very different voices between those two characters though.

I wonder if there's any significance to the robot protecting the crystal having the same design as those in the artic in episode 5? Obviously both have the connection to the First Ones but the robot in the forest who was also protecting First Ones' tech had a more insect-like design over these more worm/Graboid ones.

I'm kind of curious what Hordak would have done if Catra had told the truth. Given his interactions with her and Shadow Weaver he doesn't seem like the time to tolerate failure but I suppose the implication here is that he at least would respect those who own up to their failures. Or I suppose more simply he was just testing to see if she would lie to him and since she did there's little merit in keeping her in a position of authority anymore where she could lie about important things again.

Season 2 verdict: Still enjoying it. Another person on this reddit recommended I view seasons 2 and 3 as one since they are basically just one season split in two. I was going to do that but this ended up longer than I thought I would, so I'll just do 2 and 3 separate to keep them semi-organized and easier to read.

I think overall Catra is my favorite character since she has the most interesting backstory, interactions, and just general path through the story out of everyone. She's like Pearl from Steven Universe or, well, Zuko. There's just so much baggage there that she's trying and kind of failing to deal with. I'm always invested in whatever's happening when she's onscreen. Hordak so far is a good big boss villain for Adora to face but Catra is a good archenemy for her.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/o027y3/going_in_blind_watching_season_2_for_the_first/