#fishman makes me insane

[n0anix]

just realised that all ttrpg podcasts I'm listening to rn have a paladin that's struggling with figuring out who he really is

either because their path in life has changed, they realised they've been lied to their whole life or they just have amnesia and literally don't know who they really are/were

[deimosatellite]

drawing sabosan someone needs to take me out

[melonteee]

I am still pretty early in one piece, but I know a lot about future arcs, (don’t really care about spoilers) I’m just wondering, since you are a Sanji fan, how did you feel about him pre-whole cake? Since he seemed to get super pervified post time skip in general.

LMAO I loved him a lot 😭😭 Fishman Island didn't bother me to the extent it did others because we were TOLD he was not his normal self and there was something wrong with him. Like, yes, it was a bad gag, but the gag is literally that he ISN'T himself. People left that little piece of info out when talking about Fishman Island Sanji, so when I watched it and Sanji HIMSELF went "wtf is wrong with me??" I was like ?? IS this so bad??? LMAO

The WORST he did during Fishman Island (in terms of perv gags) was sniff Perona, but apart from that ....what did he do?? Nosebleed everywhere?? Turn to....stone?? The mermaids all loved him and cooed at him, he got a nosebleed because he was being flirted with, maybe it's because I was expecting it to be TERRIBLE due to ppl telling me to be careful, but I was like ???? This is truly not that bad am I just insane DJFHGKD

Either way, after Fishman, his perv gags really are few and far between. Punk Hazard had him going boioioing with Nami's oobies while he was in her body, but to me they didn't...feel all that terrible? Maybe I'm not disgusted by his nosebleeds I don't know lol but people acted like he was just an irredeemable deviant when it didn't feel like that at all to me. Because even with his pervy jokes, he still did things like help save Kinemon, protect Nami's body to his best extent and cry in joy because HE took on all the pain that Nami didn't have to. He believed in and saved Viola to the point she fell for him, he protected the crew and saved the minks in Zou and much more that I've left out.

I'm of the opinion that, yes, his gags are more THERE now, but they still only take up like ?? 15% of his character?? Honestly not even that. People act like he can't be normal around women now when it's like ?? he can be and he does??? He's had plenty of very normal interactions with Nami, Robin, and other women he's come across. Sometimes he gets funny but it's just a straight up lie to say he's ALWAYS like that and it peeves me so greatly hhhhhh

His time before WCI still had him be sweet and kind and caring the majority of the time we see him, and people just hyper lock in on a gag he has once out of like, 10-15 chapters for some reason. As always, I'm not saying people can't be uncomfortable with it, but it is blatantly untrue to say that's ALL he became after the timeskip? I genuinely think it's a fandom misconception because I was so confused when I got to the timeskip and he wasn't this HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE perverted deviant everyone was making him out to be LMAO

Tldr I still loved him VERY much in the timeskip, and I loved him MORE after WCI <333

[blacklegsanjiii]

Y'know what's funny? That some of the Sanji AU's can exist in a same ASL+S childhood friends universe- (with Acesan or even Sabosan - Ace or Sabo having a childhood crush on the boy and just years later starting to date him, just to discover WHO is boyfriend parent's are)

Like, Warlord!Sanji who starts to "work" at Baratie to know how to cook a little early but from time to time go to Amazon Lily, Alabasta, Dressrosa, Kuraigana or Fishman Island. But meets the ASL while going at Foosha and ends up becoming friends with him. (Would be funny if, like-

Or Croc!Sanji when he is with Zeff, or even Golden!Sanji with Mihawk (even a little worried) let his son be in Baratie sometimes, even if Sanji is most of the time in Kuraigana until he's 15/16.

That is so fucking funny. I'm answering in a few parts because you gave me brain worms so thanks. Also there's a few different scenarios here. Croc and Golden!Sanji above the cut and rather short but sabosan warlord!Sanji below the cut!

Croc!Sanji with guardians Zeff and Sir Crocodile who fucking hate each other. Sanji tells Crocodile about his friends in Foosha who Zeff doesn't let them see anymore because of how often he's gone in Alabasta and he needs the experience and the work so Crocodile after picking him up sails to Foosha with him and Daz. Sanji being scooped up in a big hug when he finds Ace and Luffy and they're all yelling at each other happily. Crocodile and Daz watch because Sanji is mostly used to adults both in Alabasta and Baratie so to see him with kids around his age is strange. Crocodile gets them all dinner and watches his kid bolt off into the woods after as he and Daz look at each other.

Crocodile fucking knew it because that kid with the scar under his eye beat his fucking ass with his son and while he is proud he's ready to strangle his son's childhood friend.

Mihawk takes Golden!Sanji to eat and eventually work every few weeks if he's not on a job when Baratie is open. At some point their in Foosha for a few days when Ace accidentally bumps into him and Sabo starts laying into Ace because that's Dracule Mihawk you idiot and Sanji is looking at them from behind Mihawk and Makino is telling ASL off and to go sit and be quiet. Mihawk tells her and them it's okay, they're children and it was an accident.

Luffy points at Sanji and asks why there's a baby with him and Ace and Sabo immediately thump Luffy on the head but Luffy says Shanks doesn't let kids go with him why would any pirate? So Mihawk asks how Luffy knows Shanks and invites the three of them to join them to try to get Sanji socialized a little bit with kids his own age. Makino is staring at them with worry the entire meal but Mihawk easily guides them and answers most of the questions Luffy has about Shanks. Mihawk follows them into the jungle with Sanji and watches Sanji actually play with them.

He calls Shanks from the Baratie and tells him about Sanji and ASL playing which makes Shanks question because Luffy doesn't have brothers and Mihawk laugh that he does, and they're all insane.

Warlord!Sanji being taken to Baratie every time it's in port but for some fucking reason it's always in Foosha when they go. Sanji works the prep and lunch shifts and then during the evenings is sent out to the town with whichever parent is there with him.

He meets ASL and looks at them with his head tilted in confusion. Sanji asks where their guardians are and they say they don't have any. They live by themselves in the jungle and Sanji looks between them and the jungle and they convince Sanji to go with them for a bit and Sanji watches in curious horror at the fire they build and how they cook meat. When it starts getting dark Sanji apologizes that he has to leave so they take him back to the edge of the woods and Sanji promises to see them again next time he's in Foosha and runs off to where ever his parent

Sanji doesn't come by often, every couple of months but he teaches them how to kind of cook and leaves Sabo books on the importance of nutrition and some cookbooks. Ace might be good at building fires but Sanji shows him how to build them for cooking more easily. He leaves whenever it starts getting dark with waves and promises to come back soon. ASL think Sanji is weird because sometimes there's a man waiting for him in the road near the woods, sometimes a woman, but they think the guy is weird because he always looks different.

When Sanji comes after Sabo "dies" he cooks a bunch of food for Ace and Luffy. He doesn't cry in front of them, he doesn't want to show weakness to the toughest kids he knows. So when it's time for him to go and he meets with the woman who is there sometimes and she crouches down to talk to Sanji and look at them. They know Sanji is telling her they don't like adults, they live with mountain bandits sometimes but like the jungle more. She looks between them and waves at them with Sanji before they leave.

It continues that way for a few years until Sanji stops having an adult wait for him. He stays out longer than he used to. Ace and Luffy don't ask him about the adults. Everything stays the same until after Ace is saved from the execution and suddenly Sabo is staying with the crew as much as possible to make up for lost time. He confesses to Sanji and they start dating, Sabo is wooed from how knowledgeable Sanji is about food and nutrition and then a seeming too wide net of subjects that don't really make sense to anyone. Sure finances go well with cooking, his dream is a restaurant but why does he know that much about poisons and how to make them in various forms?

Why does he know how to synthesize so many drugs? Sanji knows a lot about body decomposition and weapons and so many forms of combat and a few languages which make Sabo and everyone look at him in puzzlement. Ace is constantly asking why he knows that shit and Luffy is just saying he's smart.

For some reason or another their meeting up with the other four warlords from Ace's botched execution and Sabo is asking why Sanji looks so pale and Sanji is apologizing to him as the warlords are looking at the hand of Sanji he is holding then to him, and then to Sanji. He feels a pooling sense of dread as all of a sudden Jinbei steps forward.

"This Sabo, from when Sanji was a child. Luffy and Ace's brother we thought to be dead." Jinbei says.

"So the dead kid is now the Chief of Staff for the Revolutionary Army and dating our son?" Boa asks to which Jinbei nods at.

"You're parents are the Warlords who helped at my execution?" Ace asks Sanji.

"They were the ones waiting on the road?" Luffy asks after.

"You guys never went to meet them?!" Nami yells at them.

"It's complicated!" Sabo exclaims.

"I want to hear this." Zoro grins.

"We hated adults!" Sabo defends.

"They did. They used to try to convince to me to stay." Sanji nods.

"They lived in a jungle. I heard about several incidents where they almost burned down the jungle." Crocodile nods.

"I'm sure we don't need to talk about what will happen to you if you hurt our son?" Mihawk asks Sabo who nods soberly as Robin giggles.

[monstersmashorpass]

I have an unhealthy obsession with fish/alien men, I’d like to ask if you know of any ✨sexy✨ alien/fish daddies that do not include but are similar to the following- Jaal ama Darav (ME:A), Thane Krios (ME:2), Sidon (Zelda), Kit Fisto (Star Wars) aaaaaannnndddd that would be it that I know of so far, but I need more, so much more. Plz send more (I’m insanity incarnate, I know)

I got three who popped in off the top of my head anon! If anyone's got other options for anon, please reply to this post or reblog with em!

Putting this under a cut but also here's a tl;dr

Abe Sapien, from Hellboy

Fishman, from The Shape of Water

Creature from the Black Lagoon, from the movie of the same name

Just wanna say, since this is a first for us; it's gonna be hit or miss if we know other options for yall - we might have to often turns these over to followers for yall to chime in for peeps!

~ Ghoul ☢

I mean there's our Lord and Savior Abe Sapien from Hellboy. We can't have this list without him. (Got a poll for him somewhere in the queue as of posting this. He'll show up at some point!)

[Official Comic Art from one of the verses (the Abe Sapien specfic comics] [Abe as played by Doug Jones in the Del Toro Hellboy movies]

And can't forgot the Fishman from The Shape of Water (another Del Toro movie, with Doug Jones our beloved actor of creatures) (we've already done a poll for this guy!)

Honestly Im sure this exists because Del Toro saw what the Hellboy fandom did to Babe- (cough) I mean Abe Sapien.

Let's go old-school for a moment and hit up classic movie monsters! 1954's Creature from the Black Lagoon, anyone!? (Gonna make a poll for this guy, don't worry.)

[Original poster from back in the 1950s)

[monkey-d-ezekiel]

Ranking my favorite One Piece theories:

1. Evil Shanks. There's a very strong case to be made for Shanks being evil, most of which revolve around his acquaintance with the Gorosei and role as the self proclaimed balance-maintainer of the world.

2. Rocks D. Xebec being the Old Generation version of Buggy. I can definitely see it happening, as we know almost nothing of Rocks' strength, not even through repute. All the repute in terms of strength goes to the pirates under him, like Whitebeard, Kaido and Big Mom. You can see the same pattern with modern day Buggy and his Cross Guild.

3. Buggy will be the Pirate King before Luffy. This appeals to me on a lot of fronts, but mostly on the gag front. It would be hilarious and totally in line with Buggy's trend of failing upwards.

4. Usopp's lies eventually all being true. I mean, are there any examples to contradict this? Every single lie this man has told became a truth, from goldfish poop to the Island of Dwarves. What else might be true? 8000 men being under Usopp?

5. Blackbeard has three souls. He has three skulls on the Jolly Roger, something which seems very deliberate. He already has two devil fruits, and I definitely feel like Moria's devil fruit is one that would very neatly complete Blackbeard's devil fruit collection. He also never sleeps, which is very strange.

6. Croco-mom. I mean. Yeah. It's pretty unlikely but Ivankov having the genderbending power makes anything possible. Plus she did specifically say that she can "fix" Crocodile and that she "knows his weakness" so.. maybe? It would be insane and absolutely pointless if it turned out to be true, but why not? Oda has done wackier things before.

7. Luffy breaks the Red Line. It's totally in line with the themes of unity and liberation in the story. Marie Jois is also located there. So is Laboon, who's been bashing his head tryna bring it down. Not to mention Fishman Island, which was prophesied to be destroyed by Luffy someday. Not at all an unlikely occurrence.

8. Shanks will lose to Blackbeard. It's barely even a theory at this point. There's been an indirect tension between Shanks and Blackbeard all throughout the story, as Shanks is the one most wary of Blackbeard. He's been warning people about the dude ever since Water 7. Not to mention, he's the only one known to have scarred Shanks while he was on guard, a feat which we still can't explain.

9. Luffy will travel back in time/Has already traveled back in time/Joyboy traveled to the future and became Luffy. These are all different theories but since they're all about time I put them as one. I genuinely have no basis for any of these and they would kinda ruin the inherited will concept of the story but yeah. It would be cool to see Luffy travel forward/backward in time.

10. Brook and Laboon reuniting is the key to the One Piece. I saw this theory on Merphy's channel, and she discusses it a lot better than I could in this post. Here's a link: https://youtu.be/xfLO4NEvEss

What are some of y'all's favorite theories from OP? I wanna hear any obscure and wacky crackhead theories anybody has to share!

[shichidikai]

so(u)l »

Do you think if you ran fast enough, you could catch the sunrise?  He still remembered her words, even after a decade, the dawn's light turning Wado crimson for a moment as she held it up, silhouetted in front of the dojo. What kind of stupid question is that? he had responded. Of course you couldn't.  She had laughed, and the sound echoed in his head long after he woke up.

second installment of the zolu ficlet/drabble collection

-- relationship: roronoa zoro/monkey d. luffy, roronoa zoro & monkey d. luffy rating: gen word count: 931 chapters: 1/1 tags: sun luffy and moon zoro will never not make me absolutely insane, canon compliant spoilers through fishman island (very mild)

[luffyvace]

rant about Brook’s time skip powers from fish man island arc 🤩😱🦴

(uh before we start fishman island ⚠️spoilers⚠️ ahead)

Now I haven’t finished the anime/manga and I’m almost done with the fish man island arc rn, so if there’s another one of his powers revealed during this arc that is don’t mention that’s why.

but I just gotta talk about how absolutely COLD. 🥶 brooks new powers are!! Like da boyzzz 🥶🔥 typa cold 😂😂😂

no FR!! I find it so cool how he can bring the COLD of the UNDERWORLD into this realm?! Dude. WHAT ANIME CHARACTER YOU KNOW CAN ACTUALLY DO THAT?? Like?? Oda genius? Everyone always says “ohh I’m hotter than the underworld or I’m as cold as the underworld” but brook can ACTUALLY bring the cold HERE!!

cuz like!! He’s in the in between! He’s half dead half alive! He’s closer to zombies then gecko moria’s minions 😱 which brings me to my next topic! The only way to kill this dude is to completely shatter his bones or drown him!! Like? Think how op that is for a sec- every devil fruit user can be drowned right? Well known fact. But there are also many other ways to kill them! Obv luffy got some insane durability and plot armor but at the end of the day he almost died multiple times due to various things like swords/cuts and poison!! But brook? Not a problem! None of that matters as long as he’s not in the ocean or completely crushed!

Another thing I absolutely had to talk about was his soul coming out of his body!! Before all brook had was his sword and the fact that he practically won’t die again. But now!! He’s gotten so much stronger! His soul leaving his body is so op (no pun lol) because even if you trace it back, if you hit him awake it 1) won’t do any damage and 2) his soul shoots back so he can fight you! Therefore crosses out the option for a sneak attack! The only down slide is if you move his body to the water I’d believed…then that’d be a L for brook 😞🦴.

the last honorary mention is the fact that he can make you see the spiritual world with music!! It’s so funny cause it looks like your hallucinationating but all the time what your seeing is real just not in your dimension. 😭 taste of heaven type stuff 😜 I remember the fishman pirate underlings literally started dancing and shooting the “fire works” (canons) up in the air n stuff 😂😂

this is why I love brook man! 💥💥

I don’t talk abt my fav enough tbh and I haven’t even gotten to write any hcs for him :P I probably will some time in the future 🦴🏴‍☠️

YOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO - Brook 💀

[a11sunday]

🎰? This definitely could be very interesting.

send me 🎰 and i’ll randomise our muse lists and give the first five as possible connections ! / @onepiecc

usopp & sedna : awww i think this could be a sweet duo :')) maybe a lil friendship sparks after he nearly drowns or something? usopp is a good swimmer but those new world waters can be treacherous so !! but either way, i love the idea of these two !!

robin & stella : not sure if stella would ever want to work with the revo army but she could give them information on the inner workings of mary geoise? also i have a verse where robin is found by the revo army much earlier so she works with them instead of baroque works :')) so a connection there too maybe!

viola & leigh : hmm nothing too solid for an idea other than maybe he's one of the marines that helped with the aftermath of dressrosa? i have yet to explore more options for viola but i do want to expand her horizons within the op world and i do picture her as an excellent diplomat and regaining her bearings post-dressrosa. she would be active in her kingdom and i wouldn't think it impossible that they would cross paths.

sanji & nyssa : worry not, while sanji will think she's beautiful, he's not going to be as insane as he was in canon on fishman island. but, of course, meeting a mermaid would be one of his dreams! her distrust is understandable uvu maybe he prepares a nice meal for her one day. i think maybe even them meeting when he's still with baratie would be cool !!

akai & raion : akai is admittedly not the most trustworthy dude. he's looking out for himself and his crew only. so an antagonistic relationship could be interesting ! though what exactly they would have beef about, not sure! while i'm not opposed to them having a friendlier relationship, akai is fickle and cold and hard to get along with. not impossible, but he's not looking to really make friends.

[idreaminmugiwara]

Major Spoilers for Whole Cake Island Arc

Turn back if you haven't gotten into the 800s!!! I'm about to give a TED talk about episode 808, which is arguably one of the most emotional episodes of One Piece.

I FINALLY have my computer back!! Which means I can finally get to the myriad of posts I've been wanting to make over the past few days. I've been able to go from Zou to the beginning of Wano in record time and I have SO MANY THOUGHTS.

Starting with this episode right here.

I had heard some hype about Sanji v Luffy but until I actually watched the episode, I hadn't been terribly excited. I (like many others) have very complicated feelings about Sanji. I loved him before Thriller Bark, after which his predatory nature became impossible to overlook and made the majority of scenes with him uncomfortable to sit through. I've had relationships with guys that seemed amazing save for the fact that they refused to acknowledge and appreciate boundaries around women and femmes, and I've watched those guys get away with their bullshit over and over because no one takes it fucking seriously. Sanji can be borderline triggering for me with the kind of abuse history that I have. With that out of the way....

Whole Cake Island Sanji feels almost like a different person than he did in Thriller Bark and Fishman Island. He ceases to be the token perv and becomes an extremely emotionally complex character in a way we haven't seen up until this point. Normally incredibly sarcastic and stoic in the face of drama and tension, he begins to crack at the seams. Being around his abusers brings out a side of him that I hadn't even imagined up until now. His fight with Luffy is EXTREMELY challenging to watch because this isn't about someone flexing their strength or winning a contest, it's about fucking trauma.

It was difficult enough watching Luffy get the absolute shit kicked out of him by one of his dear friends. Then Sanji had to go and shatter Nami's heart. We've seen Nami (rightfully) slap the shit out of him before when he acts a fool towards women, but this literally hit different. The tears started falling for me after that "Sayonara." It felt so definite, so devastatingly conclusive. I don't think we've ever seen Nami angry like this before, not towards a crew member. As a viewer, I hadn't felt this uncomfortable since Luffy's falling out with Usopp.

I could be wrong, but I think the only other time we've seen Sanji cry was when he was saying goodbye to Zeff at Baratie. One of the things I've always loved about One Piece is how little Oda holds back when it comes to allowing his characters to FEEL. Crying is normalized in this world, no matter what one's gender is. But Sanji is typically presented (much like Zoro) as the stoic butch, the cool as a cucumber James Bond type who doesn't seem nearly as affected as the rest of his compatriots by the crazy shit they go through. Seeing him break down as Luffy cried after him, reminding him of how much he cared about him and how he wouldn't give up on him was fucking powerful and gave Sanji some much needed development after over 800 episodes.

Lastly, I just have to commend all the voice actors in this episode, particularly Hioraki Hirata and Mayumi Tanaka. The amount of nuance that went into these performances gives me goosebumps and cemented this as one of the most powerful episodes of One Piece for me. I wish this was the Sanji that could have stayed with us in Wano, but alas and alack. Watching this arc play out in Live Action is going to be absolutely insane.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[thenorthblues]

Shachi Headcanons

ADHD extraordinaire. Unmedicated probably, which is wild on a medical ship. (Possible bad reaction to drugs at some point? Or bad experience? Not sure yet, he won’t tell me.)

Sharp ass teeth. Probably like to chew on things. Has a chewing necklace under his parka.

Light sensitive. Like very.

He/They? They/He? Gender sure is a concept that he really doesn’t think about. He just kinda shrugs at me about it.

Physically affectionate in the way a needy puppy is.

Quite attached to Penguin for obvious reasons. Does not like being separated for long, kinda gets anxious about it. (Should get that checked out but ehhh it’s fiiiine.)

Impulse control is at like a 4/10 by default. Fluctuations may vary.

Penguin was his training partner over the 2 year skip. Fighting the pacifistas and nearly passing out from Reyligh’s attack was a little bit of a wake up call.

Species unknown. Questionable really if he even knows. Edit: Half(?) Fishman. Orca Tail, sharp teeth, patches of lighter scales that resemble vitiligo. Based off this art.

May or may not have attachment issues and real bad anxiety but keeps it locked in real tight.

Tail is quite expressive!

Expert knife thrower. Insane accuracy. flips knives for fun probably.

Boatswain!! Has extensive knowledge of the PT, having been on it the longest with Law, Bepo and Penguin. Also his exceptional abilities underwater make the job a lot easier.

(subject to updates/changes)

[roronoasrighteye]

one piece brain rot pt. 2

plot twist! its me rating their arcs. (MY OPINIONS!!) ((some are in order?)

romance dawn: 6/10. Solid intro for the show though! Zoro'a episode was sad + funny

orange town: 7/10. a bit slow paced, but it was great overrall. Shushu's backstory and buggy make it up though, a plus one.

syrup village: 5/10. MY BAD YALL. i remember being sleepy most of the time, captain kuro was a meh for me though.

baratie: 8/10. introduced sanji here and i fell in LOVE. the scene where mihawk appeared and sparred with zoro was great. it got very interesting + a bit of sanji's backstory.

arlong park: 8/10. i remember for always being pissed off at arlong so bad. an amazing opponent, nami's backstory was so fucking sad and i have to give it a plus one. the so felt relief when luffy defeated arlong was so fucking great.

lougetown: 6/10. i forgot 90% on what happened at lougetown tbh. but i did remember dragons appearance!

whiskey peak: 7.8/10. vivi mostly made me so pissed off at this arc (i love vivi now btw), zoro and luffy was awesome at this arc. they carried.

drum island: 9.8/10/ FUCKKK i cried so much during choppers backstory and on how luffy doesnt see him as a monster. it was so heartwarming and SO SAD??????????????????? LIKE WHO COULD EVER HURT CHOPPER?? VERY UNDERRATED.

alabasta: 9.5/10. shiitttttt dont get me STARTED. robins entrance was so fucking surprising? sanji's "mr prince" was so (redacted)). crocodile vs luffy was so ... THRILLING? if thats the right word

jaya: 6/10. i gave this a 6/10 cuz blackbeard pisses me off tbh

skypiea: 1000000/10. LOVE THIS ARC. very slow-paced but it was worth it. cried lots during this arc, eneru ON TOP

long ring island: 4/10. sorry all but i slept majority of the episode cause foxy and his crew pisses me off so much (esp the girl) + VERY slow-paced. but aokiji introduction was goated though

water 7: 9/10. loved it, the world building was SO GOOD??? villains were great tho, but mostly pisses me off too.

enies lobby: 1000/10. FUCL THIS ARC WAS SO FUCKING GOOD AND FOR WHAT??? PEAK fiction. the fights, robins backstory, luffy was INSANE.

post enies lobby: 8/10. cute, coby and luffy interaction and garp too

thriller bark: 8/10. the villains were fun BUT GECKO MORIA WAS SO PISSY? i love perona though. that one scene of nami made me uncomfortable.

sabaody island: 9.8/10. PEAKKKKKK!! kidd and law was introduced and i LOVED it. the celestial dragons pisses me off though. was relieved that luffy punched the shit out of that one (heart eyes)

amazon liy: 9/10. I??LOVE??BOA HANCOCK?? her backstory made me feel sad. BUT RAYLEIGHHH// HEYYYY...

impel down: 9/10. BONCLAY?>?>?>?>?>?> buggy was super helpful here. but it was so intense

marineford: 10/10. aha...aha... (insert opinions) (i love ace)

post war arc: 9/10. it was so suprising when luffy did the "3D2Y" thing. i didnt get it at first until someone pointed it out LOL

reutrn to sabaody: 10/10, FUCK ALL OF YOU!! kuma was si fucking sweet??? cried a bit though

fishman island: 100000000000/10. I LOVED THIS ARC SO MUCH I CRIED FOR THREE FUCKING DAYS AND IT WAS SO SAD :(( I LOVE SHIRAHOSHI AND HER BROTHERS SM

punk hazard: 9/10. I LOVE THIS ARC SO MUCH? theres a lot of funny scenes which i love, (that one law and chopper scene) and monet is pretty cute. LOVED caesar as the villain

dressrosa (current arc): 1000/10. favorite rn. doflamingos backstory and his usage of devil fruit was so fucking good? the introduction to luffy's gear 4 was amazing. the world building was GORGEOUS. and the backstory of kyros/rebecca, and king rikuo. that one booger villain pisses me off ??

(more coming soon hihi)

[strangefellows]

Congrats on catching up! What do you think Luffy's dream is?

:D!! thank you!! you can blame OPLA for it, I watched it and immediately went "welp yall got me, you win" and binged the manga.

anyway damn what a question!!

honestly, i saw some discussion on it, and i think, honestly, that it has something to do with making the whole world free. i've seen people talking about a theory that it's going to come down to destroying the red line/marijoa in some way, so that all four seas are united - and thus fulfilling sharley's prophecy abt fishman island - since there's all that stuff tied to joyboy and the weapons and the will of D

but i think it just, for luffy, boils down to he wants everyone to have that same freedom he dreams about, no matter what, and it just so happens that the way towards that dream is something that'll shake the whole world up.

i think the reactions are just. that it's so SIMPLE. it's so childishly simple - my dream is to give everyone in the world the freedom to do whatever they want - but at the same time so insane due to the implications of what that'd mean, to give the whole world freedom.

i just really like that theory.

[tragcdysewn]

below the cut is a lil update for all my muses and how they’re doing with all this, which also doubles as a starter call! by default, i will be keeping all pre plot drop threads chill and taking any new starter requests as we’ll just do two threads, but if you want to transition anything feel free to dm me! i’m feeling feral so no caps, just tell me who you want the starters for and from!

abigail mckinnon

girl is Stressed™️ lmao. she’s working on finding a way out and is shooting off any spell she can think of. another random attack with her family involved? nope girl is throwing fists **open to injury/death/etc

adora

thank god she smuggled in the she-ra sword, bam bam we’re chopping heads and she’s having a bit of a fun time though she’s absolutely freaking out

ahsoka tano

she! is! tired! she wants to rest let her know PEACE lmao. she’s fighting and protecting anyone she can but she is not fucking happy about it **open to injury/death/etc

allana solo

allana is way too drunk to be dealing with this shit, they were already struggling with her dad being around and now this? fuck no

alphonse elric

look can he do alchemy without needing the circle? yes. is it his first instinct at this point? no not at all he’s been body slamming every problem for years give him a gun **open to injury/death/etc

ariana dumbledore

nope. absolutely not she is not a fighter she is doing the bare minimum to keep her ass alive and that is it

bela dimitrescu

umm.... she’s having fun. will probably eat some people alongside dracula this is literally her ideal night especially with both her sisters here now? perfect

bellatrix black

she’ll be protecting herself and voldemort and rhiannon and that’s about it why would she??? help the muggles??? hard pass lmao

beru lars

give her a gun!! she deserves it and will blow wolfman’s head off no hesitation!!! but until she gets one she is hiding

cassie lang

is absolutely in full hero mode doing what she can to help people, though this is so not what she’s used to so we’ll see how she does

darcy lewis

hiding under a table. she’s a normal person who does not bring weapons to formal events someone help her please

davina claire

fighting vampires and werewolves is p normal for her and magic makes it v easy she’s doing fine

elphaba thropp

she is not good at combat magic but will absolutely try to hit someone with a chair if she thinks it might manage to help **open to injury/death/etc

feng xin

...is a bow good against the fishman?? we’ll find out lmao i’m thinking he will be physically pulled from after his own ascension even if he doesn’t remember it but he doesn’t know all that so he’s just shooting

feyre archeron

this isn’t really that bad by her standards and she will be just looking for her kids and taking out anything that gets in her way lmao

hallie parker

should be hiding, is definitely filming all the insanity because she has negative levels of self preservation

howl jenkins pendragon

*insert ‘has anyone seen my son’ gif here* howl is full panic mode where the fuck are their wife and child???? 

james potter

man JUST got his memories back and wanted one nice night come on bro he deserves better than this shit but unfortunately will be protecting people because he’s incapable of not doing that

james witherdale

he is back to being fully aware so um good luck to anyone who runs into him and victoria tonight lol

jeyne westerling

she can throw a punch and that is about it she’s just gonna be helping get people into safe rooms and looking for a way out

jin zixuan

he definitely brought a bow man doesn’t trust anything to be cool and chill especially now he doesn’t have his sword? he is doing his best

korra

she’s not happy about this but she’s good at it so like she’ll do it ig?? would love one night where she doesn’t have to be the avatar thank you

lan wangji

...yeah he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, he’ll be protecting people and panicking wondering where the hell his family is at **open to injury/death/etc

lumine 

when in doubt, blame childe. i’m kidding. maybe. she will be doing her best to keep people safe though

lyanna stark

like... she wants to be fighting but this is so out of her wheelhouse that she is going to leave it to people who know what they’re doing lmao

marinette dupain-cheng

she literally can not leave to transform so she’s fully stuck with no powers and i honestly do not know how she’ll deal with that

mj jones 

when in doubt, start swinging at shit until you get somewhere safe. that is her whole plan got help her

mobei-jun 

absolutely tried to portal out and ditch pretty much everyone but like... the demons and qinghua and was pissed when it didn’t work but like he’ll commit murders i guess

mya stone 

nope. hard no she didn’t sign up for this she is hiding in the bathroom immediately 

nie mingjue

...i don’t wanna say he’s happy about this but like... he’s kind of hype he gets to fight shit again to be totally honest **open to injury/death/etc

renesmee cullen

yikes this is not their speed at all! she’ll do what she can to get people to safety but they’re not going to be out here swooping in to save the day

rose weasley

might do a bit of fighting but she really just does not enjoy it and is not good at it as she should be to manage this kind of scenario

sheev palpatine

will be playing the part of good guy politician to a t, helping out where he can to get people to safety and reassure everyone that they’re figuring out a solution

shen qingqiu

this man is so so drunk please help him. he is armed. he will attempt to fight. he will absolutely not do well honestly he’s so lucky he’s got people protecting him he’d be so dead otherwise

thanatos

they canonically turn situations like this into a dumbass game so catch them floating around laughing as they kill shit

ty lee

will try to fight but realize very quickly she is out of her depth and just focus on getting people out

wanda maximoff

she figured something was gonna go wrong, it’s like half the reason she showed up and she will be in scarlet witch mode protecting anyone she can

wen qing 

she has her sword, and can use it, but ultimately they are a doctor and this is not at all their area of expertise catch her swinging blindly **open to injury/death/etc

xiao lanhua

girl is RUNNING she is canonically terrible in a dangerous situation she will just be screaming and getting the hell out **open to injury/death/etc

yor forger

officially she is a mild mannered sweet little house wife but also um don’t threaten her husband and her kid thorn princess mode is on lmao

[theghostpinesmusic]

I've done all of these posts about Phish jams lately, and somehow I haven't yet written about a version of "Down With Disease"? What?!

"Disease" has been one of the band's most consistent and consistently varied jam vehicles since the mid-90s. The composed part of the song itself is a pretty straight-ahead rock and roll number (by Phish's standards, at least) but for whatever reason seems to almost always inspire the band to take a journey into deep improvisational territory. The only version I can think of off hand that doesn't do this (though I'm sure there are some more) is the version from 8/7/09, but that was the first live Phish song I ever heard, opening their '09 stand at the Gorge, and I was having so much fun just being there and taking everything in that to this day it's still one of my favorite versions, despite the lack of jamming.

I'm really glad the band semi-belatedly posted this version from their recent Sphere run, because in a run that was characterized by both monster jams and monster Sphere visuals (if you aren't yet convinced, maybe the literally billions of words I've already written about it will convince you) this was hands-down my favorite jam. The visuals are great, though I think you could easily make the case that a lot of the other songs throughout the run had even better visuals. But I'm not here to talk about those, I'm here to talk about the music. And this music is, as the guy in front of me at every Phish show I've ever been to would say, "fucking sick, bro."

It all starts off in the lot

It all starts off, insanely enough, out of a fantastic version of "Oblivion," which opened 4/21's second set. The weird loops and ambient noise you hear at the beginning of the video is a transition out of the end of "Oblivion" and into the...weird loops and ambient noise that normally characterize the beginning of "Disease." When Mike starts his bass riff, he's starting the song proper.

Trey then proceeds to forget the very first lyric of the song, which is hysterical. He was probably looking at the screen behind him as it is doing some wild Gates of Heaven/Hell thing right away.

Anyway, up through 4:10 the song is played basically as usual (though nobody told Fishman that, apparently, because he's playing for his life from the very beginning), and then we move into a Trey solo based on the song's chorus chords. There's some great Trey/Mike interplay during this section. Also the visuals start to diversify a bit. They looked a bit too much like a huge insect face to me in my altered state during the livestream, which my brain did not like. YMMV.

At 6:05 or so, Trey moves from playing a solo to playing a series of cascading notes a few times in a row, which pushes the whole band's intensity level up a bit. Page in particular starts driving the jam a bit more noticeably here, leading to a section around 7:00 or so when he, Trey, and Mike all land on the same drone-ing idea together for a few seconds. From here the jam slowly dissolves away from the "Disease" chords into something more ethereal.

By 7:30, Fishman has moved from a rock and roll beat to more of a backbeat, and everyone else is layering reverb-y melodies over top of each other. I'm a huge sucker for this kind of stuff, especially when it happens while Fishman is keeping the momentum going. Page adds a siren at 8:30, which the first of many signs that this is going to be the jam that ends up on the top of my list for this run.

This wonderful synth-y madness continues for a bit, with the visuals changing (maybe?) in response to the spaciness of the music.

At about 10:05, Trey locks onto this sinister-sounding tone and starts repeating a descending riff that takes us firmly into Evil Phish territory. The combo of the lights and music here probably would have killed me if I'd been there in person.

By 11:00, Page and Trey are bouncing ideas back and forth, but to be honest I'm not clear on who's doing what. I choose to be blissfully ignorant!

At 11:34, there's a subtle but important change from Trey that sends the jam turning in a more uplifting/major key direction. They've already built the foundation to just absolutely crush this more blissful space into atoms, but instead they take the patient route. Trey's playing here, for some reason, reminds me of Round Room. Maybe it's the guitar tone?

The obvious highlight through this section is Trey's light, fluttery playing, but I can't say enough about Mike's bass tone, which is lurking slightly behind the bliss jamming like the villain from an Atari 2600 game, chomping away at all your pellets and turning you into a ghost...or something. It's been a long time since I've played anything on an Atari 2600.

This particular jam rolls on for a few more minutes and then Fishman switches up the beat at 15:26, but Trey stops playing, and for a second it seems like they might wrap things up/move to a new song here...but then at 15:40, Trey jumps back in with some super-funky chording and the rest of the band picks up where they left off. Pretty quickly, there's a move into blues territory at 16:16, and a great section where everyone else is basically just playing fairly pedestrian stuff while Fishman is absolutely losing his goddamn mind.

We segue out of that into a more full-band blues improvisation, which starts to build momentum almost immediately. There's a few bits from Page here that seem like almost-but-not-quite "Bathtub Gin" teases, then at 18:00 we reach a big, high-energy peak that has everyone firing on all cylinders. Again, the visuals appear to adjust according to this, but I'm not sure if that's something that can actually happen technologically. This peak lasts for a few minutes, but, to my ears at least, it never really loses momentum and always, somehow, seems to be building in intensity, so it doesn't feel like overkill or overindulgence: Trey somehow keeps finding higher and higher frets on his guitar, and I'm here for it.

Things finally start winding back down a bit at 21:30, and if the band went back into the outro to "Disease" here and called it a day, this would still be one of the best jams of the run. Instead, we still have twelve minutes left.

The next section of the jam leans a bit on Trey's guitar loops, and in some places (I assume unintentionally) they overlap initially in ways that remind me of "Crosseyed and Painless." Then things get a little grungier and the loops go away as the band heads into a groove that has a bit of a "Manteca" feel. In fact, I remember waiting with bated breath for a "Crab in my shoemouth!" lyric when watching this live. Alas!

What we get instead is a pretty fantastic blues-rock jam. I love the part where Fishman essentially drops out at 24:30 and comes back with a John Bonham-like tree-trunks-for-sticks beat immediately.

There's a bit of reconfiguring happening at 25:10, and what emerges is something a little goofier, with Page on either electric piano or synth and Trey adding some loops. Tonally, this section is pretty cool in a weird way: a mix of the grungy darkness of Trey's guitar and an almost circus-like feel from what Mike and Page are playing.

Things start to go almost-ambient at 27:00, feeling almost like a return to or reprise of the space that started around the 11:00 mark. The combination of Mike's mantra-like playing and Trey's use of his octave shifter here is just ridiculously cool. It's one of the many, many pieces of music from this run that I feel like I could listen to on loop for hours.

It feels like things get a little too weird for their own good, though, at 28:30, so the band is like "Why not get even weirder?!" There's another quick transition and suddenly we're getting both Stones-esque rock and roll and "Flight of the Bumblebee" at the same time. What is happening? Presumably someone knows, but it's not me.

The insect mask is back, and I'm trying to avert my eyes so He doesn't take over my mind with His eldritch powers.

BUT I CAN'T LOOK AWAY!

This jam space sounds like "Llama" if Led Zeppelin had written it. Holy crap. There's something for everyone in this "Disease" jam, unless you're me, in which case all of it is for you.

The totally bonkers visuals are just the icing on the cake. And so is Fishman's suddenly loud, violent, and commanding drumming.

The whole thing builds to another peak here, but one made of chaos and madness rather than bliss and happiness, and then...and THEN at 32:17 the band moves back into whatever key "Disease" is in. If you're a huge nerd like me you know what's coming next, it's just a question of how long they're going to make us wait for it.

Not long.

At 32:44, Trey flawlessly jumps back into the "Disease" riff twenty-eight minutes after he left it and the crowd loses it so loudly you can hear it on the video.

These guys could have just played the Sphere, thrown up some cool videos during the songs, and called it a day. But instead, forty years into their tenure as a band, they're there throwing down probably the best "Down With Disease" I've ever heard them play.

What in the absolute fu

[bigsusreview]

LONG SEASON - Review #7

🎵 drugs drugs 🎵

song-wise, the word "long" can be a bit ambiguous. to some people, a "long" song is 6 minutes or more. to others, maybe 10 minutes is a good mark. for Fishmans, 35 minutes is where they decide to draw the line. what the fuck. to be fair, it's split up into 5 distinct sections, but it still comes together as a piece to be heard in one sitting. personally, i suggest turning all your lights off and listening with headphones at night for the best experience. that advice would be awfully convenient if i was a serial killer. unfortunately, i am not a serial killer. so, like, go fuck yourself or something.

structuring this like one of my other reviews isn't really possible here so i think i'm just gonna kinda ramble for a while. hopefully that's not too annoying.

psychedelic music has been a recent interest of mine, with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard being my main introduction along with a couple bits and pieces from Radiohead and Car Seat Headrest. so at this point, i'd already warmed up to the idea of incredibly long epics as well as listening to something for a distinct vibe instead of just a jam i can toss into a playlist. i decided to listen to LONG SEASON because i want to eventually listen to 98.12.28 all the way through. just kind of a pep-talk track, right? right????? it's not like it would completely change my perception of certain kinds of music overnight, right???????

well, i don't think it was that insane, but it was still very impactful. my only regret is not listening to it sooner. i really could've used it more a couple weeks ago, honestly. sorta been in a rough spot mentally since the last review, but i've been feeling better as of this week, so that's good.

anyway, back to the song. it's extremely hard to describe any of it due to just how... magical it feels? it's like a piece of music like this shouldn't exist, yet it does. it's able to make you remember every good and even not-so-good time you've had with those you love or just by yourself. i wish i could explain the way i feel about this in a better way, but i really can't. all i can say is to please give this a listen even if you're intimidated by it. if you still don't feel like giving it a shot, i've got another piece of advice, sort of. it's more like an observation, but i think it may help anyway.

LONG SEASON has made me realize something. music can be art, yes. i've known that. music has no bounds, yes. i've known that, too. but now i know that music can test you. this song tests your endurance. it's not a difficult test, really, but it is a test. if you pass it, you're rewarded. however, passing doesn't mean just "getting through" it. you have to pay attention and really give the track a chance. and the reward for doing so in this case is something i think can only be described as bliss. this one is blissful. yeah, that works.

if you still don't get it, fair enough, everyone has their preferences, but i really do just want people to hear this one. i don't think what i've written has done it justice, exactly, but it's how i feel right now. at this rate, i really can't wait to hear the live version.

favorite tracks:

LONG SEASON

overall score: i'm still not putting a number on this, but it's really really amazing out of 10

again, sorry for the sporadic nature of this one. i listened to this track just the other day for the first time and have already listened another two times since. i'm not sure what i'm gonna do next, as these reviews are kinda getting harder and harder to write, so i might just do something a bit easy and potentially short.