#fun fact there is like a whole interaction in my head i just cannot be bothered to write a fic about it. but stress

[eyelessfog]

Hey there, darlin'

[pico-farad]

I finished season 1 of Vrains and it was cool but I thought it needed about 2 billion more secret identity shenanigans

extended thoughts below

So I went into a deep dive in my last two posts (1, 2) about all the problems I had with Vrains, and you'd think I didn't enjoy it, but in fact as I was watching, there was a separate, parallel version of Vrains that was playing in my head, a Yugioh I think we were robbed of and which fixes every problem I had with the first season, and that is Secret Identities AU.

Yusaku needs FRIENDS

This is YUGIOH.

This dynamic is everything I wanted from Vrains. Yusaku developing unexpected fondness for these bozos who think he needs a defense squad. I want Miraculous Ladybug levels of secret identity shenanigans. I want Yusaku slapping his duel disk every time Ai tries to blow their cover.

This AU sprung forth from the scene in the duel club where he shows Naoki his decoy deck. Having Yusaku passing as a bad duelist is 1) so funny, but 2) Yusaku needing to maintain his low profile is a useful contrivance for other characters to get more duels, and 3) I think it would be a really fun one-off episode where Yusaku has to duel using his bad deck. When he wins, Naoki is so proud he cries.

Having Yusaku actually have to interact with the other characters in the real world opens up Greek play levels of dramatic irony. The crux of a secret identity story is that every single interaction builds up anticipation, because you the viewer know that the other party is being deceived, and that the tension will snap when the secret is revealed.

I have zero anticipation about Playmaker's identity being revealed, because Aoi would be like "oh.... I guess he goes to my school" and Go would be like "have I seen that guy before?" But SIAU Playmaker? My guy is making friends just so he can betray them. Insane.

Go needs A ROLE IN THE STORY.

I said in my first post that Go isn't a rival or a best friend character. SIAU fixes this by making him both simultaneously.

Having him be the ace of the duel club is a natural replacement for his whole hero of the orphans schtick, while placing him directly the circle of relevance with the other characters. Instead of being disgruntled that the orphans suddenly like Playmaker more than him, he's disgruntled that Naoki and the duel club mooks are fawning over Playmaker -- which is actually just Naoki's character anyway.

I would kill for a big dramatic moment where Go learns that Playmaker and Yusaku are the same person, and even though Go feels betrayed that Yusaku has been deceiving him, he stands by Yusaku anyway because they're friends.

With a secret identity story, every conversation is working on multiple levels because each character is working with asymmetric information. You get these fascinating, layered scenes of two characters talking past each other because they cannot give up their secret.

Which would go especially hard with Go and Yusaku, because Go has legitimate criticisms of Playmaker in canon and Yusaku has legitimate reasoning behind the things he does, and as Go Onizuka and Playmaker they could never come to an understanding on them, but as Go and Yusaku, two friends in duel club, that door becomes open to them.

Aoi needs WRITING THAT ISN'T A TRAINWRECK

I made a whole post on this. Basically every problem would be solved if Akira doesn't know that she's Blue Angel. There's no reason for her to lose grotesquely against Yusaku, or have her basic autonomy called into question constantly. 

Having her actively deceive her brother is delicious. Like I said in my last post, it's so obvious how Akira's overprotectiveness has taken its toll on Aoi, and pushed her into developing this other persona, Blue Angel. I want this absolutely dysfunctional sibling relationship so badly. The Blue Angel vs. Zaizen duel would make me lose my mind.

And a secret identities setting works so well with the potential themes of VRAINS as a stand-in for the internet and Blue Angel as an idol. Give me that Perfect Blue Satoshi Kon good stuff. Give me those themes about identity, and the different lives we live, outward and inward, online and offline.

This also helps Akira's character, because I think he would be much more interesting and relevantly positioned in the story if he stayed a SOL Technologies baddie. SOL Technologies has very little presence in season 1 despite being critical to the story. After Zaizen is replaced by an irrelevant clown, they don't do anything but send out mook AIs to get destroyed. By having a three-way standoff between Yusaku's squad, the Knights of Hanoi, and SOL Technologies, both Hanoi and SOL Technologies become more compelling. They've both got all the reason in the world to want to take down the other. Zaizen vs. Revolver or Spectre? That's good shit.

And don't get me started on how I would turn Revolver into a Secret Identities character.

[valsdelulucorner]

obey me luke head cannons please

of course! just note that this will be strictly sfw and platonic. I wont be hearing any of the "oh, but he's like 1000 years old" stuff, he was the mentality, looks and attitude of a minor so this will be in no way a romantic

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He absolutely sees you as a older sibling and a parental figure, he trusts you alot. You don't call him chihuahua, you are interested in his interests, you give him genuine life advice and not just tell him to get someone else to do it for him. He deeply appreciates that you are nice to him and don't just treat him like that one kid brought along to a friends dinner party, you actually talk to him about his interests and make sure he has fun.

I feel like the reason people started calling him Chihuahua is because he growled at a demon one time to scare them off, he's not a big fan of demons and is quite scared to be without someone he trusts so when a demon came up to him, he started growling to try and show them that he isn't just a small angel. Lucifer found him doing this and scared the demons away for him, calling him a chihuahua while walking him back to Simeon

Luke is protective over you, he sees you as family and he doesn't like the idea that you just walk around scary demons all the time on your own. If he is out with simeon and sees you alone, he will invite you to come along with them both by saying that he just wants hang out with you, hiding the fact that he's scared you'll be attacked by a demon. He will insist he and Simeon walk you home, scolding the brothers for not keeping you company. How dare they not protect his older sibling, its insulting!

My boy is absolutely petrified after finding out you were killed by belphie, my poor boy will probably cry into your chest and beg you not to scare him like that again. Please give him a hug and say you'll stay with him, he will be absolutely heartbroken if you don't promise to be more careful. He will give you a enchanted bracelet or a pair of enchanted earrings that will protect you from attackers, the brothers will still be able to interact with you but if anyone tries to attack you again, the magic in the jewlery will protect you

Oh my lord the glares he gives belphie after he finds out he hurt you, he may be scared shitless of the avatar of sloth but he will make sure to pull you away from him for the first week or two after he killed you. As I said in my previous belphie fic, I hate the fact that we were so forgiving of him after he literally killed us. If you are scared of belphie or get tense whenever belphie gets close to you, Luke will probably try and help by bringing your attention elsewhere or just straight up leading you away from him

Loves cooking with and for you, baking is one of his favourite things to do so if he gets to do it with you, he is extremely happy! Baking competitions are a must with him, he gets competitive and tries his best to impress you. Let him win alot of the time, he gets so happy when he wins and he gets to share his treats with you!

Ok hear me out, if you have tattoos he would 100% want to colour them in. If you and the whole gang are having a nice dinner up in the human world, the waiters will see luke and probably give him some markers and a colouring in sheet. Your going to have to explain to him that kids in the human world get these stuff in restaurants to keep them entertained, he will be a tad bit annoyed but he wont complain. If you sit next to him and have a tattoo along your arm or hand, he will probably ask you if he could see what it looks like in colour. If you say yes, he is going to absolutely make sure he does a amazing job at making it look so pretty

He watches those gacha reaction and music videos, you cannot change my mind about this. He will even try to make one and show you afterwards, he would be so happy with himself

Thrown a cross at a lower demon once, i just feel like he's done that before

If you come down to the devildom as someone that makes little crochet creations, he will absolutely be over the moon if you make him a little beanie or a little plushie. He really wants you to teach him how to knit/crochet so you let him use your needles/hook and show him how to do it. He cant get his head around crocheting for the life of him but he is slowly learning how to knit, tell him he's doing a good job please! He will trade you his cooking for your little creations, making you the best sweets you've ever had while you give him a life size swan creation. If he makes you a little crochet buddy and it comes out really wonky, you better treasure that for the rest of your life!

If feel like when he gets too tired, he will just rest his head against your side and not say anything (my sister used to do this to my mum all the time when she was little). If you pick him up and carry him around, he will probably just fall asleep on your shoulder. He feels safe with you so its easy for him to just fall asleep against you. He gets to experience the out body experience of falling asleep in the car and then waking up in bed

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Luke is so adorable, he is my son and I love him. Sorry if i wrote him alittle younger then i expected, but i love the idea that sometimes he has that childish excitement and amazement to the world. Thank you for requesting this Anon, this was alot of fun!

Who should i do next?

[junkiimach]

I’ve sat on this for a while and I think it’s finally time to put my thoughts down and out to the public. I’m taking a hiatus from the Creepypasta fandom.

I’m unsure of how long this’ll be, but for a while I’ve just found- little to no motivation to work with it. I feel like my AU is too “problematic” and “risqué” for a fandom that waters down characters and will publicly execute you for not agreeing with a common HEADCANON. My AU has had zero work done on it outside of my head, I simply cannot put it down onto paper without feeling scared that the content and story it follows will offend someone and that my career would end. On top of this my AU is a reflection of traumatic events that has happened to me between the years of 2020-23, and I really REALLY do not want to remember that time and the people involved as they exposed to me some disgusting things, and how some have even managed to manipulate people into blacklisting me from big servers all because of some bullshit that went down when I was unmedicated and close to ending it all. I feel as if my name shouldn’t even be uttered as a big content creator, I do not want to become a big content creator. I do not want my characters to be watered down like every other character in this fandom, I want to be at peace and to think things through before continuing.

I’ve also recently just not been into CRP, especially with how this community handles drama and sensitive topics. Romanticizing mental illness is not fucking cute, calling out drama thats either been solved or happened ages ago is annoying, and as a fictive seeing posts of me shipped with characters I had NO interaction with in source, being on the AroAce spectrum and being feminized because “oh they look female!” Makes me feel absolutely fucking disgusting. I swear fictives in this fandom get no proper care and are expected to ‘roleplay’ as their source, when, source memories, at least in experience, are created to simply help me cope and to make me feel better about trauma, almost an escape from reality. This fandom also doesn’t handle sensitive topics well, joking about past dramas, making fun of other creators just because you don’t like their oc, jesting at how someone acts or what they believe in, it’s tiring to see.

This fandom has been a huge part of my life since 5-6th grade, I just started college. I miss how the fandom was back in the day, being truly cringe and carefree, posting slender posters in the local playground to fuck around and scare kids, creating Jeff the Killer ripoffs for a good laugh. Where’s all of that today? I check in and only see people either making headcanon posts that completely ignore the characters story or just people whining about so and so’s ship post.

News flash, it’s not real. You will forget that someone’s shipping something you don’t like within 10 minutes. I don’t care what people do as long as they keep it legal and not romanticizing rough topics, and the fact that I’ve been labeled disgusting things for ideal is insanely stupid. I live by ‘Live and Let Live’, if its not hurting me or affecting other people or beyond disgusting such as pdf-phillia or incest, I do not care. If it’s toxic, so what. Don’t write it as a cute thing write it as it should be, distressing, stressful and scary.

On top of ALL this I’ve just been more interested in my own OCs, speculative evolution, and other fandoms. I still care about this fandom and will probably check in just to see what’s happening but don’t expect posts from me for a while, only expect reblogs and ETC. I also have really been getting into a better headspace, the internet can really ruin a person, make them sensitive to everything, make them ignore reality and expect everything to have a label or warning about what it contains. I really recommend taking a break from fandom spaces and the internet as a whole sometimes, it does wonders. I’ve felt more confident in my identity, I’ve been more friendly compared to how I used to be snappy and have a short temper, I’ve been.. myself. I’ve been a functioning human being, my current goal is to find a Part Time job so that’ll also probably impact my posting and what not..

Forgot to add before posting but tumblr will NOT stop putting pornographic shit into my feed so its making me EUGHHHHHHH I don’t wanna see ur OC oiled up with their tits n cheeks out please 🙏 so ya also that!

Until next time,

- Junk/Skib

[fayeandknight]

I'm still working through the near miss from agility practice. It's been taking a big toll on me and as much as I am loath to admit it - it's because of my disability.

My rambling is going under the cut but that's what this post is. Me trying to sort through why it's shaken me so badly.

There's a few factors all stemming from the same source so I'm going to try to parse them out.

First is the fact that my disability sometimes causes me to lose the ability to move independently and/or speak. I'm lucky that the incident only caused me to be unable to speak. If I'd been unable to move I strongly believe that other dog would have seriously hurt Forte. And it's frightening to know that I can't count on myself to always have the ability to advocate for mine and his safety. It makes me feel incredibly helpless and frustrated in a useless way.

The second is that it dead on hits the mindset I deeply struggle with. This persistent and deep seeded belief that the world is dangerous and I must always keep my head on a swivel and my guard up. That when shit goes down, no one will help me. Logically I know that's not true. I've had plenty of good interactions with others and the vast majority of people are not out to get me. And I have had scenarios where things go sideways and someone does step in to help. But a situation like this preys on my fears that help cannot be counted on. It sends me into a tailspin of feeling like the world is dangerous and the only way to remain safe is to retreat entirely.

The last is that Forte is my big investment into combating that feeling of needing to hide from the world. He's tasks are centered around helping me safely navigate those moments where my disability renders me helpless. So on top of the normal devastation anyone would feel if something bad happened to their beloved dog - I would be losing a big part of my ability to be out in the world at all.

The whole thing sucks and I hate that I'm often pulled to conclusions by twisted reasoning based on fear. But I also can't deny that there is a real basis for said fears when things like this happen. I don't want to give up agility. Both Forte and I enjoy it so much for a multitude of reasons. But part of my brain is screaming that I'm being reckless and shortsighted if I continue. That everything he and I have worked so hard for will end up ruined.

To be clear, I don't think anyone acted maliciously towards me. I think that because the dog was quiet in it's aggression that no one, the handler included, was paying attention. But lack of malicious intent doesn't change that the consequences of my being unable to advocate for myself/dog would have far reaching consequences.

Can I really keep taking the risk in pursuit of something that is, at the end of the day, just for fun? Am I letting my trauma wired brain steer me into a small, isolated life if I quit based on this incident?

I really don't know. And it sucks.

[catgirljaneway]

For the character ask game: Kes + 1, 12, 20

Thank you so much for the ask!! (Ask game in question)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Ok! So I'm a huge Kes fan, and I was initially drawn to her because she's got this little aura of joy, and you can't help but love her, which you can see in other character's interactions with her on the show. Any room she walks into instantly gets a little brighter and she's just so fundamentally kind and gentle and full of love.

So that's what initially drew me to her, but what hooked me, was that fact that the longer you watch, the more we learn about her, the more deeply strange she gets. We've got that fantastic scene in elogium where she eats all those fucking bugs with that deranged expression, and of course, my all time favorite, this one scene where the doctor tells Kes he has some autopsy reports for her to read because he knows she loves autopsies. This by the way, is NEVER brought up again which I think is a terrible loss, because what thing to say about a character and then never mention! What a fact!

So you've got this little elfish looking girl, who's still fundamentally kind and gentle, but now we also know "oh she's a bit of a freak!" and she's wicked smart, and then she learn, oh, she's got these terrifying powers at her core and actually she might not be as fundamentally gentle as we (the audience) or kes herself thought. And now Kes has to grapple with this, and she's still a deeply good and loving person at heart, but now she has to try a little harder to suppress these urges and that makes her fundamentally more interesting.

Also her relationships with Janeway and Tuvok and The Doctor all bring me so much joy. Janeway's love for her, and the way she smiles when Kes is around, the way she hugs her when she leaves just!! Rip me to pieces. And Tuvok's mentorship and quiet protection of her?? And that scene when the Doctor holds her in Twisted. Kes has 3 parents, and honestly all three of them think they're taking care of her, but they need her more than she needs them.

And what's kept me loving her, is in a way her missed potential. So much about Kes wasn't explored, so much was left unanswered, and getting to rotate her around in my head and think about all the things she could have been is so fun. I deeply wish she had been used more, because on paper she's such a fascinating, deeply weird character. And she was just starting to come into her own when we leave her. She's broken up with Neelix, she's making her own choices, and I want to imagine where that would have gone. (I have further thoughts on this, but this is already ridiculously long, so I will continue this in a different post)

Long story short, she's a lovable little weird girl, and I like weird little girls. She'd crawl around on all fours and make up weird stories at recess in fourth grade and I like that about her.

Also she reminds me of the "a little guy!" > "oh they're actually fucked up" meme.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Well I LOVE the art where people make her look a little more bug like. With weird pupils and antennae and such. I love that, I definitely headcanon her looking a bit creepier like that.

I also headcanon her as a lesbian. Her whole relationship with Neelix baffles me. I honestly LOVE them as friends, they're so great when they're just silly best friends, but I cannot stand them as a couple. She's a gay girlie.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

SEVEN!! Seven!!! GAH! The missed potential! Pretty much a weirdgirls club with Seven, B'elanna, and Kes. Kes would have been the perfect person to help Seven reintegrate into society, because she's patient and kind, and she'd get a huge kick out of Seven's deadpan humor. I mean, the EMH is her best friend, she's very good at dealing with people who others consider hard to get along with.

Kes wouldn't make Seven feel bad about the way she is, or try to pressure her to conform to what she wants from Seven. She'd take her how she was and love her for her whole being, not for what she could be. Also Seven would be Kes's scary dog ❤️ Because people meet Kes and think she's an easy target or a pushover (even though she could probably obliterate anyone if she so felt like it) but then Seven is standing behind her looking menacing and they hurry away as quick as they can, completely unaware they were scared of the wrong blonde.

[sneezyonmain]

OC Post- Araneus Cinderfang

vbrit part two: emo twink edition DISCLAIMER: All of my OCs are actually my friend's and I's DnD characters, used with permission. Some details may be a little confusing as I've taken their standard backstories and modified them to fit a modern fantasy setting. I'll list the class for anyone curious, but it won't come into much use unless they're a spellcaster. CW: Mention(s) of parental abuse, PTSD, anxiety, forced mutation/experimentation, homelessness, nsft themes

(Picrew credit to Brightgoat's Bright's Picrew Hell and Baydews' [BAYDEWS' avatar maker!!] V2)

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Name: Araneus CInderfang

Race: Half-elf (Shifter)

Age: 22

Sex: Male

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Sexuality: Bisexual (In denial) (this is a common theme with vbrit OCs, I think he's protecting tbh)

Class: Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter

Height: 6'0

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Red

Basic Description: Araneus is built like a string bean, standing at a decent height while also being relatively underweight. He has perpetual bags under his eyes that he cannot seem to rid himself of, and dark hair that stays messy regardless of how much he tries to tidy it. He stands with a slouch, and keeps his head down. He's got scars and spots on his pale skin, and unnaturally red eyes. He has pointed ears, and spider-like fangs that are only visible when he lifts his lip to reveal them. He looks far more arachnid-like when transformed, which he doesn't do unless necessary and frankly I don't feel like describing it.

Background: Araneus grew up primarily with his father, who was a prominent professor at a university. Through a series of gruesome experiments throughout the course of his childhood, (which I will not elaborate on due to their upsetting nature), Araneus developed a form of lycanthropy. Specifically, his body mutated to include many spider-like qualities, including fangs and extra insectoid limbs that emerge from his body when transformed. He eventually escaped that situation, and spent a long time homeless and in shelters before moving in with a woman named Aria, who later became his girlfriend. He has severe PTSD and anxiety from the event, and since he was already relatively introverted before he became a "monster", he now rarely ever leaves the house.

Personality: He is very introverted, and much prefers to stay inside all day than to talk to people. He is slow to trust people due to his past, but when he does, he is loyal to a fault. Aside from various comics and watching anime, he loves literature, but doesn't have too many hobbies as he either couldn't do them or didn't have the funds until very recently. He's anxious and closed off but longs for friends and companionship. He doesn't think much about romance, since he has other things to worry about, (that is, before he met his girlfriend). When he does attempt social interaction, he has a very dry sense of humor he uses to compensate for how nervous he is.

Snz Info: He hardly ever gets sick, which is one of the few benefits of his lycanthropy. When he does get sick, however, it hits him like a truck, since the virus has to be quite strong in order to impact him at all. He tries very hard to be self-sufficient when it happens, since he's not used to being able to rely on people, but he really just wants comfort and soup. His heightened sense of smell means his nose is very sensitive to perfume and physical touch. He has a lot of rapid-fire, stifled fits that he can't hold back, but they're breathy and quiet.

Fun Facts:

He loves dogs a whole lot

He's Australian

Would call a woman "Mommy" probably

Has a blood kink

Will gladly explain every sex joke in Hamlet to you

Used to have asthma before he was mutated

Has ear piercings

Dresses emo simply because they were the first clothes he saw at the thrift store once he got out of his bad situation

Has a nipple piercing that he got for his girlfriend, Aria

Ironically, he is severely arachnophobic due to trauma.

Still owns a stuffed spider to help him cope

Needs like four weighted blankets to sleep

[girlbossblackbeard]

s2 brain thoughts: the squeakuel (ep 2)

as a reminder, if u see me posting any of these points as their own posts mind ur business:

-i'm sending my hospital bills to david jenkins for weaponizing thef cuking "you wear fine things well" scene WITHOUT ANY KIND OF WARNING i literally almost choked to death from shock

-hey so what the whole actual fuck is up with transitioning directly from the very painful "you wear fine things well" scene which, as we've already established, has REAL HUMAN CASUALTIES DUE TO THIS USE-CASE, into the "run from me darling" lyric overlayed on top of the god damn shot of ed pAINTING THE BRIDE CAKE TOPPER TO LOOK LIKE HIM AND BASICALLY PLAYING OUT HIS FANTASY OF MARRYING STEDE. david jenkins you have committed crimes

-also!!!!!!!!!! that cake topper has kohl smudged all over it so you KNOW our boy ed has been caressing it against his cheek and sighing longingly

-i know we've all talked about how insane the "ed plays with the wedding cake toppers pretending they're him and stede" scene is but i don't think we've really comprehended how GENUINELY INSANE it is like??? edward teach, blackbeard, the kraken, the scourge of the seven seas, the most fearsome pirate the caribbean has ever known that has recently been on a non-stop slaughtering spree, painted a bride wedding cake topper to look like himself which he then scoots next to a wedding cake topper that looks like stede so he can imagine that he's marrying him. this man carefully rubbed kohl on a cake topper to give it darker skin and darker hair and a BEARD. to make it look more like himself. so he could then. put it next to a cake topper that looked like stede. and pretend. they were getting married. i've written that 3 times now and my brain STILL refuses to fully process those sentences.

-i said it in my first brain thoughts post for ep 1 and i'll say it again: every time im reminded that ed has been crying NON-STOP. EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. for MONTHS. over stede. my wall gains another hole

-the way ed is so delirious in his sadness as he pushes the cake toppers out the window. i don't even have any thoughts on that i feel like all i can do is just note it and let y'all deal with the rest

>>actually I lied, he literally watches them sink into the sea after he pushes them out the window that's so fucked up whomever made that decision to make him do that is so fucked up

-"the sea is restorative isn't it" "YYYYEEESSS QUEEN!!!!!!!!!! I'VE ALWAYS SAID SO!!!!!!!!!!!!" "ohh that guy knows" IS THE MOST UNDERRATED EXCHANGE IN THE ENTIRE SERIES IT LITERALLY HAD ME SHAKING WITH LAUGHTER

-would looooooooooooooove to know what went through stede's head as soon as roach mentioned "some place called China??" like did he immediately think of the kiss or getting sent to the naval academy or the kiss or ed's excitement at the prospect of running away together or the kiss or getting kidnapped by chauncey or the kiss or watching chauncey shoot himself in the dome or the kiss or his flop behavior of running back to his family that doesn't even want him or the kiss or

-the crew of the red flag being so immediately kind and welcoming to stede and his crew <3

-i genuinely cannot wait to watch buttons fully immerse himself in the red flag traditions like he was made to be on that crew

-"how should I put this, your energy is..." can't believe they got hatecrimed like that

-RAT BOY

-HE'S HERE

-OUR BOY IS HERE

-fun fact: i recorded my live reaction to episodes 1 - 3 and posted the clip of my friends and i reacting to lucius coming back because we were quite literally jumping for joy and crying over the reunion and THE illustrious Nathan Foad himself told me it was literally the cutest thing he's ever seen (his words, not mine!!) so we're basically best friends forever now and the rest of my life will be spent chasing the high of the happiness i felt during that interaction

-i am also crying once again over his reappearance and i think that's just gonna happen every time i watch this scene :')

-roach's shocked face when lucius appears is something that can actually be so personal

-the way they all dogpile on top of him because they're so happy to see him bitch what the FCUK

-also stede's STUPID LITTLE "huh!" LIKE??????????? THAT WAS YOUR SCRIBE AND RELATIONSHIP GURU YOU HEARTLESS MONSTER WHERE IS THE ENERGY AND EXCITEMENT AT KNOWING HE ISN'T FUCKING DEAD??????????????

-"i love it" *BIG SMOOCH* "i love all of it" *BIGGER SMOOCH* oh so they're trying to kill me by smothering me in the syrupy sweetness of their love. okay

-okay sorry but lucius's absolutely microscopic furrowing of his brow right before black pete kisses him again. for a split second he had a slight look of sadness which lines up with the very real trauma he's endured and how even in extremely happy moments they can be tinged with sadness - maybe a sadness for the past and the way things could've been if he hadn't been pushed off the boat - and all i can say is nathan foad. ur big powerful acting mind

-we gotta talk about lucius choosing not to reveal that ed had pushed him off the ship in front of the whole crew. i'm still trying to figure out if that was him trying to spare stede's feelings (unlikely considering he lets it all out later), spare black pete's feelings (possible, since he knows black pete idolizes blackbeard), prevent himself from having to relive that trauma in front of his friends when he's not prepared to confront those memories, or a combination of all of the above

-"i fell. off the ship." "that doesn't sound like you. you have impeccable balance, babe" i literally love black pete so much i may legally have to change my name to lucius spriggs

-"toouwelss? what is this? are these jobs?" stede i love you so very much to the moon and back but for the love of god you gotta shut it my guy

-I AM LITERALLY SO EXCITED FOR THE BUTTONS SEA WITCH STORY ARC LIKE IT MAY ACTUALLY BE ON PAR WITH MY EXCITEMENT TO SEE ED AND STEDE PROPERLY REUNITE AND OPENLY LOVE EACH OTHER AGAIN

-ed just. washing the door handle. i dont have any other thoughts

-GODDDDDDD HE'S SERVING SOOOOOO MUCH GENDER WITH HIS LIL HAIR BUN AND MOSTLY CLEANED UP WAR PAINT AND DANGLY EARRINGS AKEFJAPWHFA OPERGJAER

-the way frenchie looks genuinely happy for ed when he says he thinks he got all the poison out of his system and it's a new day :((

-idk much about piracy but i really don't think there's a rule about the new first mate traditionally having to kill the old first mate, i think ed just made that up so someone else would have to kill izzy instead of him. despite everything, despite how low he's sunken into the very dark parts of his mind due to the heartbreak, ed still can't bring himself to deal the killing blow

-"i expect great things from you" might be one of the more chilling lines in that interaction because for THE blackbeard to have not just any expectations from you, but GREAT expectations? that's not a compliment, that's a threat. measure up to what blackbeard thinks you should be or else

-can't comment on the amputation scene too yucky sorry

-stede trying to triangulate ed's coordinates based off of his string of crimes on a map HE drew is me trying to triangulate where tf this season is going based off of buckwild theories i've made up and used as the foundation for even more buckwild theories

-yeah idk what the mushy ass lyrics stede wrote on that map mean but i know they're frighteningly homosexual

-"FUCK YOU. that's how i am" I am SO glad lucius gets to be openly bitchy towards stede it feels like a cathartic release for me personally

-ed's fuckin "heyyyy" to frenchie in the kitchen is both hilarious and unbelievably unsettling

-absolutely obsessed with the writers for once again showing just how scarily observant and intelligent ed is when he calls frenchie out for using his right hand to mime killing izzy even though he's actually left handed

-i really admire how david chose to use a low camera angle that looks up at ed as he reveals to frenchie that he's well aware he hasn't killed izzy yet because taika's performance was already unsettling enough but that specific angle adds so much to his overall menacing presence in that scene

-joel fry's performance in the kitchen scene with ed literally makes me want to bite something he's so good at acting quietly terrified

-this is almost certainly an unpopular opinion but i really would've loved to see more buildup to jim and archie kissing. i just feel like we know NOTHING about her let alone her relationship with jim prior to the two days we've seen them interacting and i feel like that kiss would've felt like a much more satisfying payoff if we had seen more interactions between them before they got to that point. i would've taken delaying that kiss by a few episodes if it meant feeling fully invested in it once it did happen, but i also know the show already has so much material to get through (which is why we should've gotten 10 eps but i digress)

-"hey no one told me this room existed" is giving "i didn't even realize there was piracy happening"

-"take the fuckin leg" is such a perfect line delivery

-love the foreshadowing of olu explaining how the little ships on the war table were all over the place and "some of them were over land"

-roach waxing poetic about the noodles is so relatable

-"jesus christ stede keep your pants on" hands down one of the funniest fucking lucius moments of all time

-sorry but we gotta give a shout out to lucius modifying the chinese fleet uniform so it's sleeveless. the edges are cleanly done so either he was put on tailoring duty at some point and picked it up there or someone on the ship wanted to enable the slayage

-there's something to be said about the fact that the only other man who has lasted being on board the red flag ship is another member of the revenge who was picked up and welcomed into the fold well before stede and the rest of the crew wound up there. something about how stede attracts and retains other people who he can tell are gentle at heart, even if they're putting up a tough front. something about how lucius had bounced from ship to ship until he finally wound up on Zheng Yi Sao's ship where he was allowed to be himself

-"ya don't know............if ya picked up....smokin....." nathaniel buttons my beloved

-OOOOF stede's guilty face after lucius talks about how he must've picked up smoking somewhere. after the crushing guilt he already feels about the ed situation this definitely would've weighed extremely heavy on him

-MY SPICY LIL RAT BOY IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME

-"what the hell is going on in towels" wee john my beloved

-look i know izzy is on the brink of death but he genuinely looks kinda beautiful before ed wakes him up from his shock induced coma and i won't apologize for that

-"my leg" izzy is so fred rechid coded

-"it's up in leg heaven now" i need to know if ed said that as a way of metaphorically digging the knife into izzy and getting back at him for trying to force ed to send stede to doggy heaven in season 1

-i dont have the emotional capacity to dive into the ed and izzy shooting scene rn but just know it destroyed me on a metaphysical level

-"too scared to do it yourself" no because unfortunately now im thinking about ed thinking through taking his own life but coming to the realization that he can't do it. whether it's because of childhood christianity trauma and thinking he'll be sent to hell for doing so or because he knows he can't follow through with it himself if there's still a tiny shred of hope that he'll reunite with stede and everything will be okay again, he always has to outsource the big job

-also, very interesting choice to have almost jovial classical music playing in the background of the ed/izzy scene. it definitely undercut a lot of the tension compared to how supremely uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing the scene would've been if it were dead silent behind the dialogue

-"i loved you...best i could"

-"i've got an ex-wife, two messed up kids probably" LMAO stede acknowledging he would have no way of knowing how fucked up his kids are because of him

-"sounds like you're quite the fuck-up pal" "yeah, i am! and im alone! talk to pete. don't be like me" ohhhhh my god stede is in just as much agony as ed is over this breakup he's just been using his polite society social skills of saving face and never showing how truly devastated you are to others to cover up how supremely messed up he is over all of it. he is BEGGING lucius to talk to pete and NOT make the same mistakes he did because maybe if he can prevent lucius from bottling it up and actually deal with this in a healthy way he can make up for a fraction of all the hurt he's caused not only ed but lucius as well. maybe if he can get lucius to talk to pete he can absolve himself of some of the soul-crushing guilt he feels over how his actions have irreparably damaged the people he cares about the most. maybe if lucius and pete are able to work through this trauma and still come out the other side loving each other just as much or even more than they did before, he can believe that there's still hope for him and ed.

-ed choosing to put on the cravat for what he believes is going to be his last action on earth before dying because he's resigned himself to his fate but is still scared shitless by it and wants that modicum of comfort that stede will always be able to provide him no matter how badly he hurt ed is giving me the urge to find the nearest cast iron skillet and loony toons my skull

-"some people are just broken no matter what you do" noooo why do i feel like lucius was talking about himself when he said that to stede about ed ://

-oof i know they were an unnamed character but fang tried to save someone who went overboard during the storm and wasn't able to :(

-GGGOOOODDDDDDD izzy looks so fucking hot and badass all soaking wet and leaning up against the rigging after shooting ed jesus christ

-"finally" ed was so relieved to have his pain finally end. even after his journey of self discovery in the next episode im really curious how he's going to deal with having to confront the pain he thought he escaped in addition to the pain he inflicted on others while failing to cope with that pain and stopping at nothing, including nearly killing the rest of the crew, to end it

[mfdragon]

Well now I'm curious: what are your feelings on Lugnut?

Hhhmmmmmmm weeeelll….

Listen. I DO like him, I really do. Always thought he was a great addition to the decepticon roster; someone who’s SO loyal and obsessed with Megatron that it even annoys the big bad man himself. The whole “voice in his head bit” was hilarious and did lead to good interactions with Blitzwing and Starscream. The episode with him and Shockwave was the funniest scene in the whole show, and I do really like his design and fights. So overall, really enjoyed him and I think he’s one of the funniest characters!

However, and I admit this is a very personal however for several reasons, upon rewatching I started to get annoyed with one behavior he has. He would just keep. Hitting. Blitzwing. Unprovoked! Blitzwing NEVER properly initiated their little squabbles, even in the comics, Lugnut always destroyed his statue or pushes him into a monitor screen or hits him in the back of the head for simply asking a question or kicks him into a hole. This is a behavior I cannot stand in real life and the fact it was directed at my fave tripled my frustration. I know it’s for laughs and sometimes it was fine but it’s the constant repetition and the fact that sometimes Blitzwing didn’t even fight back that makes me sad.

I love people’s aus where they are true partners or we see these two in fun scenarios, so it hurts when I watch the canon and realise that if Megatron ordered it, Lugnut would not fucking hesitate to hurt Blitzwing. True Loyalty only to the leader; not your fellow soldiers.

[highfiveheroes]

HELLO HELLO HELLO! some ch2 spoilers in here, so answer at any pace you choose, but: the entire buddy-with-a-knife scene (starting with "ee're out of rice") for the fic commentary ask. that WILL be living in my head and heart and soul forever, and it's CHILLING. please tell me all about it.

I LOVE THIS SCENEEEEEE this is going under the cut because it's gonna be LONG but!!! could not be more pleased to yell about this whole interaction

"We’re out of rice," Oisin announces. Ivy, who’s sitting at the bar sketching out their map, sighs.

"I thought Jace was getting us some?"

"Nope," Ruben says. He’s on the windowsill, his guitar draped across his lap as he picks a few chords over and over. "I didn’t tell him to. Nobody told me we were out."

this little intro scene is just. i LOVE writing everyone as a crew. they could all be somewhere else, if they really wanted, but why would they? i've talked before (and plenty of other people have made posts about it as well) regarding the sunk-cost fallacy of "we're in this together, we might as well stick around and see it through, we can't get away from it even if we wanted". ruben doesn't NEED to be playing his guitar around everyone, but he does, because he likes the company. oisin and ivy are always together. mary ann just likes having a place to sit. buddy and oisin are cooking together—they're probably the competent ones, the ones that have family recipes, etc. so it's like no, they don't NEED to all be together, but they do it anyway—and kipperlilly specifically needs to feel important, so she hangs around them, "supervising". also of note—ruben has to be Very Responsible. at this point porter and jace have pseudo-moved in, but the entire rest of the year there's been NO adult supervision, so he's had to be in charge of groceries and maintenance which is,,,, an issue. now that he has someone else he gives them all the things to worry about and takes a backseat, so he's missed way more. (plus, with him and buddy...yeah <3)

Buddy is by the stove, chopping meat or something. Kipperlilly happens to notice him stiffening, but she doesn’t think much of it for a moment.

"I didn’t even think we went through that much rice," Ivy mumbles, going back to her map.

"I made soup yesterday," Mary Ann reminds them, her game making a little cheering noise. "I told Oisin."

Kipperlilly doesn’t know where Jace is. She doesn’t think it’s important. It’s not. Right?

the little bits interspersed are so important to me as one of those "build the tension" choices. tell the action, have mundane thoughts, but the thoughts CANNOT give into the concern. if you don't think about it, it isn't happening! buddy's starting to look angry—i wonder where jace is. we're out of rice—buddy is just cutting meat. that's all. y'know? LOVED this trick it was very fun to write

"Well, fuck that, then. I guess we’re having pizza or something if there’s any in the fridge," Oisin mumbles.

Nobody’s left the house in days. Kipperlilly is standing by the doorway to the living room, surveying everyone like she always does. There’s something in the air, and it starts to get thicker when she sees Buddy slowly turn to Oisin.

another foreshadowing moment right? kipperlilly sees the writing on the wall, and she could probably say something, but she chooses not to. why would she? it's not going to affect her really. right? they're all in this together whether they want to be or not. but also, her judgement is so skewed now that there's a genuine chance that she doesn't see how severe the issue is until it's too late.

(and then maybe there's a sick part of her that likes seeing someone else's perfect façade crack. but that's subject to analysis at a different time. in fact, i could write a whole essay about my takes on buddy and kipperlilly as foils and why they'd be the perfect partners for ruben in a different life i mean what)

"No rice?" he asks. His voice is tight.

Oisin doesn’t turn around. He doesn’t seem worried. Kipperlilly wonders if he’s just stupid to have not felt the energy change.

"No rice," he confirms, shutting the cabinet. "So no fried rice for dinner."

"And no one thought to check for the ingredients beforehand?" Buddy asks. His voice is too calm. Kipperlilly’s hackles are raised.

He hasn’t put the knife down. It’s shaking in Buddy’s grip.

"Didn’t think we had to. My bad." Oisin raises his hands sarcastically, shaking them, and he doesn’t turn fast enough to see Buddy lunge at him, taking the knife, plunging it into his heart, dragging it down so that the fabric of his shirt and the scales of his chest rip with a sickening sound. Oisin chokes, gurgling, but it’s too late. He goes down before anyone else can react.

Kipperlilly saw all of it. She feels sick.

"Next time," Buddy announces, throwing the knife down, "we ought to check for ingredients before you make me start cutting up one of our Lord’s great creatures. Someone get started on that pizza." He looks down, sneering. "Otherwise, I might get a little hungry for something with scales."

THIS. so like. the take i have taken with the rage gems is that they slowly start to deteriorate the body they're in the longer they're in there. in the jace fics, you can see it REALLY evidently in how fast he spirals—like a parasite, right? and the more angry he gets, the more anger it wants the next time. it's like those little toys you get that are packed sand that you're supposed to chip away at. even saturated with water they're very hard to chip apart, until it All Crumbles At Once. goes to follow > kipperlilly had it first, but she accepted it, so her rate is slightly altered. jace had it the next longest, he starts losing it first. nobody else has the anger issues they have, but the catharsis of killing again and again is starting to accelerate it.

but buddy? who's only had the gem for a few days? he was so angry it happened in the first place, that his spiral has...well, he's much further along than kipperlilly at this point, let's say that. and it's only been a few days.

but he's got to act on it, right? he's spent so long without getting angry at all, and then he was so furious that when he finally was taken inventory of, his base rate was NOWHERE where it normally is. so his spiral takes him So Far Away from who he normally is. his personality does a complete 180.

but he's also spent so long working with the passive aggressive niceties of the church of helio (read: that sweet and southern "bless your heart" attitude, obfuscating what you really want to say and how you feel, etc) that he's brilliant at it with everyone else. but he's spent a year watching these fuckers kill each other in cold blood for things like cereal milk. he can let go with them. and let go he does!!!

Ivy, who also had a front-row seat to her best friend’s murder, looks deathly pale as she gags, then runs out of the room. She’s never seen Oisin murdered like that before, Kipperlilly remembers. Her own lips shake as she licks them.

"He’s gonna stain the floor," Mary Ann says. She didn’t look up.

this is another one of those moments that is just. they're kids, being kids. hanging out. right? and there's a LOT happening behind the scenes that kipperlilly hasn't been privy to of her own accord (ie. too dialed into her own shit...like a certain wannabe god.)

kipperlilly doesn't bother herself with details like who cleans up all the blood and violence. ruben probably has cleaners, right? but even if he doesn't, it genuinely doesn't have any affect on her if mary ann is the one on her knees scrubbing the blood out of the carpet and the tile and the walls. it started when she was the one causing the biggest messes, and it ended when oisin landed on the floor in this scene. she can mop it up, but there's no point in stopping it from staining. (to be fair, mary ann would never TELL kipperlilly or anyone this, so kip may not have even known even if she showed signs of empathy.)

and then...ivy. sweet ivy, who has been crushing on oisin since they were thirteen and is properly in love with him now and pissed that he won't notice her because he's so obsessed with adaine abernant. and she knew they wouldn't make it out of here alive, but when someone like ruben kills oisin, it's not quite so...vicious. there's a layer of respect still, one of those "i respect you still, you can kill me this way later, we'll be okay, this isn't personal." but with buddy there's none of that. this is his first murder (yay!) and he just fucking BODIES oisin for something that wasn't even really his fault, and the fact that they HEAR it? and it brings up a second point she hasn't been aware of—that she may have to watch oisin die. there's SO MUCH MORE with oisin and ivy that i'm getting into when i get to writing their aside for this universe but like...guys. this was brutal for more reasons than just what it appears. and kipperlilly misses ALL OF IT.

"You’re the cleric," Kipperlilly reminds Buddy, her voice surprisingly steady. "You have to revive him."

Buddy glares at her with such vitrol that she physically steps away. "I’m aware. I will do it when I’m ready. I have ten minutes, don’t I?"

Kipperlilly almost argues, but it’s easier to just nod. Buddy takes the meat he was cutting and dumps it in the sink, turning on the disposal and leaving it running as he pushes past Kipperlilly into the rest of the house. She doesn’t look at Oisin; Mary Ann is probably right, and the tile is probably going to be stained worse than it was before, but she doesn’t look to see how much blood there is. For the first time, she doesn’t think she can stomach it.

She decides to give it eight minutes before she bothers Buddy about it again, so she starts counting.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen…

okay this!!! i am not the most familiar with dnd mechanics, but (as you and i have discussed previously jade LOL) this is definitely a moment of the cleric realizing he can play god. he's in control of life or death in a way he hasn't been before, and he's spent all year watching these fuckers turn on each other, and he's taking the chance of "oisin is probably going to stabilize, and if he doesn't, i'll deal with it later." i think they have a 10 minute rule amongst the group because after that it can verge into actual feelings of mourning, and that's not fun for anyone involved. (yes, it's usually an immediate revive, but the ten minute thing is something they've all had discussions about when it's brought up, so like. it's still a fact, even if they've never used the full ten minutes before.)

and the counting...i've noticed that i have a habit of incorporating some of those "calming yourself down" tricks into characters who are vaguely unstable. i think it makes sense for kipperlilly though, that when she's scared or upset, jawbone had tried to encourage her to take that moment of "try counting, get your mind onto something steady with an end goal, see if that doesn't help" sort of thing. so she gives herself a set time limit and starts counting, and that way she doesn't have to worry about the body on the floor.

(another note though: kipperlilly is for sure also haunted by what the hell just happened, because she came to the same conclusion that ivy did, that rage-starred buddy is a completely different beast than regular buddy and it probably shook her down to her core. just a fun little thing <3)

so!! i intentionally didn't include a lot in this scene, but it's also SO FUCKING MUCH to me. personally. there's a lot happening behind the scenes that's going to come out in later chapters and asides, but. god i love this. thank you for asking and letting me ramble LMAO

[jajanvm-imbi]

Babe wake up the Helluva Boss hiatus is finally over

Okay I have some thoughts. Was it perfect? No. Was it better than the last 3 episodes? Absolutely 100%

And before anyone comes at me, I like the Blitz and Fizz plotline, I really do. Blitz and Fizz might be my fave dynamic in the whole series, so seeing them interact was fun! But the fact that we got the worst episode in the entire series (Happy Campers) followed by 2 more episodes that were almost completely irrelevant to the main 2 plotlines (Oops and Mid-season Special) A N D the hiatus BEFORE literally anything about 2 sets of alluded reoccurring villains is baffling to me.

Anyway, my main issue with the latest episode is the split focus.

This episode featured both the return of alluded reoccurring villains The Cherubs and D.H.O.R.K.S, and Stolas finally freeing Blitz of their transactional relationship. Both developments are really good, the return of the Cherubs and the agents was long overdue, but I'm glad to see them back. HOWEVER, both of these super important developments had to share an episode, which I think is the problem.

Both of these events were waaaaaaaaaaay too important to share the focus of a single 20 minute episode, and because they had to share, it minimizes the impact of both developments.

Or in the HB fandom's case, everyone is gonna focus on the Stolitz shippy stuff and all but completely ignore the other half of the episode.

Both the first return of these alluded villains and the Stolitz stuff should have gotten their own solo episode to really highlight the importance of each event.

What makes this even more frustrating is that, like I said before, we just came back from a hiatus and the three episodes before that were almost completely irrelevant to the 2 main plot lines. The only actually important thing that happened was Stolas getting Blitz the crystal, and that was the B-plot to S2 ep6 and not the main plot??? Almost nothing important happened in the last 3 episodes before the hiatus and then when the 2 most important plot lines finally get the spotlight again they have to share an episode.

"Look My Way" wasn't even in an episode????? It was a separate music video????? Which is completely bizarre?????

I have nothing but respect for the Hellverse creative teams, truly. I admire their persistence and their individuality. I respect how they are so unapologetically themselves, making the content they like and nothing else. I adore the artistic identity of Helluva Boss (not so much Hazbin but that's in my review of the first 4 eps of the series if you're interested in reading my thoughts about that). The art style and the animation style are incredible, looking x100 better than most animated shows done by bigger studios recently. Their success is something to be admired for sure, leading the pack for indie studios everywhere to find their own success. But one thing I cannot wrap my head around are the writing decisions for this show.

If they really have such limited time and resources, why are they wasting time on irrelevant bullshit????? Or at least, why are they so adamant on doing everything all at once??? Why does the D.H.O.R.K.S + the Cherubs plotline need to happen at the same time as the Stolitz plotline as the same time as the Striker + Crimson plotline at the same time as the "Blitz estranged relationships" plotline as the same time as "Stolas' family drama" plotline????? It's the same exact issue with Hazbin Hotel except worse because Helluva has more episodes than Hazbin. Vivziepop and her crew didn't know if they were getting a second season of Hazbin until halfway through production of S1, which can excuse a good portion of writing sins (no pun intended) committed in Hazbin. HELLUVA BOSS HAS 4 PLANNED SEASONS. They have the time to pace these plotlines better. There is literally NO REASON why they had to cram every single plotline into every single season. By dividing the attention between all the different plotlines, none of the plotlines get enough meaningful attention. There are so many episodes between each plotline development and so much time between each episode, that everything gets muddled and nothing is impactful in the slightest. And on top of everything, some of these episode slots are wasted on completely irrelevant nonsense. Happy Campers was such a waste of time, and Barbie Wire's introduction was completely wasted on it. It was promoted as the "Millie episode" but it was actually another Moxxie episode caused by random Millie angst. The Mid-season Special wasn't even about the main cast or Stolas????? Blitz was only there to justify the episode existing because without him the episode would have no real reason to exist???? Most of s2 has been completely irrelevant with no real plot progression.

So much time was wasted on stuff the ultimately doesn't mean anything, or won't mean anything for a long time and as a result, two of the more important plotlines get shoved in an episode together. So the stuff that doesn't matter get full episodes and the stuff that does matter have to share episodes.

Or in the case of "Look My Way", IT DOESN'T EVEN GET AN EPISODE AND IT HAS TO BE A MUSIC VIDEO OUTSIDE OF THE ACTUAL SERIES?????????

Each of these plotlines should have gotten their own season, or at least the similar ones can share.

S1 should have just been about the main cast (IMP) and maybe Stolas. Maybe introducing some of the main villains like the Cherubs and D.H.O.R.K.S (kind of like how they actually did it but without eps 2, 5, 7 and especially 8. So really only like half the season lmfao)

Then S2 could have been about Blitz's past relationships, Moxxie and Millie's relationship and Stolas' family drama.

S3 could have been about Stolitz and Blitz repairing his other relationships

and S4 could have been the epic return of The Cherubs and D.H.O.R.K.S, with some foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the rest of the series

......or something

Idk but the point is that by trying to do everything all at once, none of the attempted plotlines are impactful and the series as a whole suffers for it.

I still find HB entertaining, but damn is it frustrating to watch.

Anyway that's all I had to say

[apollo-fizz]

I HAVE A NEW JUNIPER

he’s a silly guy who might be mind controlled, so here’s the notes :3

this idiot is mind controlled. for reasons relating to wanting to leave. he’s too valuable an asset to get rid of, and so instead of just blackmailing him, they decided “eh fuck it” and mind controlled him into staying. same thing with post fall, he may have broken through the control once but he sure as hell wasn’t going to a second time

i used the mimic mask in the first drawing of him but it isn’t always that mask that’s used. it’s a few masks and possibly something more permanent all compiled together as to not come across as suspicious

after he nearly dies at the summit, the broken mimic mask breaks the implant that keeps him controlled, so he gets a few months of free will and headaches before he gets kidnapped and recontrolled

when the implant in john’s head syncs up to anything that makes the control stronger (( and he has to sync it up frequently for data transfer, better surveillance, new missions and stronger control because the control weakens n stuff, etc etc )), like a mask for example, it causes him pain. just briefly. it’s weird, cause it’s usually like he’s a prick, gets mildly electrocuted and suddenly he’s ready to go out in public and talk as if nothings wrong (( the person controlling him is the reason he’s such an egotistical prick ))

and post fall and how they probably would’ve just removed his ability to speak fully after that,, cause they could with the implant, just before he fell, and because the mimic mask would’ve broken the implant completely the implant could’ve overloaded and shut down a whole manner of things- and because he tried to reveal zor’s identity, they didn’t want to risk anything,,,,

oh fun fact, when talking anywhere but in public or in places where john’s name is important, they often cannot say their full name, because if it gets out that they’ve been effectively kidnapped, well. there’d be a scandal! And they can’t have that, Zoraxis has so much work to do,,,,

talking about post fall, movement limitations and problems with speech are the two main things a broken implant messes with. zoraxis has the implant set on immobility mode permanently post fall when john is “missing” (( aka free )) just in case the implant goes online, and occasionally it does, so frequently you’ll just witness john fall over or stop talking mid sentence, and to be honest those two things probably would happen anyways just purely from the erratic nature of the broken implant.

it makes sense for john to suck at social interaction when not controlled cause like. he’s so used to someone else forcing him to say and do things that he doesn’t understand that half the stuff they make him say isn’t what you’re supposed to say

thinking about the peace summit and how all of those satellites sending out the footage of the summit definitely would’ve messed with the implant, especially towards the end when john tried to reveal who zor was. not too much because he was wearing the mimic mask and that definitely kept the control strong, but just enough to say what he wanted to say

oh and, john fully trusted zor before the implant :3 he just showed a couple signs that he knew what was really going on and that he was thinking about leaving and zoraxis decided to take no chances

the implant is connected to the brain and spine by the way. It controls all of him. zoraxis can choose to remove his ability to see, hear, move etc etc. and they often do, just to prove a point, or to stop him from escaping.

He gets free time!! when he’s in the facility and safely in a sort of cell, he’s allowed to be free. And on the same lines as freedom, like I said, radio waves n frequencies mess with the implant just enough to give him free speech (( and sometimes the ability to be actually free :3 ))

anyways that has been my infodump on john

@dandorime here :3

[hermanunworthy]

!DNDADS S2 EP44 SPOILERS!

aTONYment??? what does pepperoni tony have to so w this. oh my god are they gonna visit him in heaven or something. wtf is happening. guess i gotta listen and find out (im scared)

- BETH PLAYING AS NPC BETH MAY

- "ron... what ARE we?" WTF IS HAPPENINGGG

- ROGUE TAYLOR??????

- MORE GOOFY FREDDIE NUMBERS IM EXCITED

- NO NO DONT SAY THE LINCOLN FACT AS LINCOLN THATS GONNA MAKE ME SAD

- WILL IS SO SILLY i love that man

- i like the energy at the start of this one its fun

- wait is anthony doing a regular dad fact

- ANTHONY. 😭

- FREDDIE DEATH SOUND MY BELOVED

- DID LINCOLN JUST CALL HIS GRANDPA ZADDY. NEVER AGAIN

- "i had more fun in the other place" GREASE CAR FLASHBACKS.

- OMG EARLY HERMIE APPEARANCE (i choked on my food)

- "no! we cant! my scene partner!" they are so besties (worsties)

- "MY FUTURE LIFE PARTNER" HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK OAKWORTHY CRUMBS. OH M GOD . FUTURE LIFE PARTNER.

- MEATBALL SCARY

- TERRY JR SOON. GUYS

- oh wow beth hasnt cast unseen servant since. goth

- ANTHONYS BABY VOICE

- so lincoln is looking for the eleanor shellstrop okay (this whole heaven/hell stuff has just constantly been reminding me of tgp)

- "he looks up at them asianly" has the same energy as the "cries in spanish" meme

- FREDDIES LITTLE SONG HAS ME SCREAMINGGGG

- ARE TJEY ACTUALLY GONNA FIND TONY. OH MY GOD

- WOW ALL U GUYS THAT WERE JUST TELLING ME HOW U MISS PEPPERONI TONY. HOW ARE YALL FEELING

- SCARY HAS A CHANCE TO APOLOGIZE.

- 4:30 MILE IS ACTUALLY INSANE. MATT.

- HOW DID WILL FORGET THAT SOCCER IS LINKS WHOLE THING

- GOD LINK CALLING NORMAL OUTTT

- HERMIE. FUCK OFFFFF

- SPARROW OFFERING NORMAL A HUG????

- FUUUUUCK. NORMAL

- help i would like to interrupt for just a sec to say that in the middle of the episode just now i got hired at spirit halloween. dndads reference GAKDJD

- TONY WAS WAITING FOR MARGARITA WAAAAA

- SCARY SOUNDS SO NERVOUS NOBODY HMU

- IM GONNA CRY. I CANT DO THIS

- PLZZZZ LET THEM SEE MARGARITA AGAIN PLZZZ

- SCARY WHY WOULD U ASK IF IT HURT :[[

- WHAT IS THE VIBE OF THIS SCENE. HELP

- NOOOO I NEED SCARY AND MARGARITA TO INTERACT AGAIN. THEY ARE GFS

- SCARY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT....

- THEY ARE BEING SO AWFUL TO NORMAL. QUIT IT

- SCARYS TALKING ABOUT TERRY. END ME

- "he never knew me when i was someone to be proud of" OOOUGHGHHH

- IF THAT FUCKING SWORD GOT INTO HERMIES HANDS. THEY WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE

- NORMAL. BURIES MY HEAD IN THE FUCKING DIRT

- ooo normal dragging the sword would make cool fanart

- i honestly love salty normal but it also makes me really sad

- SCARY DIDNT INCLUDE HERMIE AMONG HER SPOUSES????

- TY WILL FOR REMEMBERING NICKY

- TAYLOR DEFENDING HIS DAD AWWW

- WTF IS THIS FIGHT???? HELLO??

- IS NORMAL FINALLY SNAPPING. IS THIS HAPPENING

- "I AM JEALOUS I DONT HAVE ANY COOL DYNAMICS W ANYBODY!!!" FUUUUUUCKK

- i cant do this i feel sick im SICK

- "why are they arguing i thought they liked each other" WHAT IF I BURST INTO TEARS RN.

- THE NORMAL ANGST IN THIS EPISODE IS TOOOO MUCH FOR ME

- NORMAL PUT THE MASCOT COSTUME BACK ON. FUCK. FUCK

- "ME AND MY THREE BEST FRIENDS AND MY FUTURE BOYFRIEND" GUYS. GUYS I CANNOT DO THIS

- THESE KIDS ARE SOOOO TRAUMATIZED WHAT THE HELLLL

- OH RON WAS IN SCARYS POCKET

- TERRY IS IN THE "PLANES OF MISERY"????

- "maybe he saw what u could be" BETH.....

- LINKS TRYING TO TALK TO NORMAL AGAIN PLZ END MY SUFFERING

- TERRY AND GLENN ARE FUCKING FIGHTING EACH OTHER????? WHATTTT

- OH NEXT EPISODE IS GONNA BE WIIIIIILD DUUUDE

[jils-things]

❨♡❩ valentine's week ; platonic day

okay my biggest regret for this letter is that I don't actually have enough platonics to fit in here, like really major platonics because they all went to the familials AHDHFHSJDJJS but hey as long as i have someone, i'm more than willing to talk about them 💚

im gonna throw a little curveball here and start off with hero! before i got into poke.mon wholely, i was in a very deep o.mori mood. i loved the game so much, i played it blind and found myself to really adore hero. words cannot describe how happy i feel when i see him. he's a nice mix of comfort character and platonic f/o to me. i think he's the first guy that made me really feel so attached to him and talk about him like he was my best friend - i was literally branded as the hero friend in my circle just because of it 😭 as i played the game, i couldn't help but feel so connected to him. he's so mature, he's a great big brother, hilariously the charming type and he's not big headed. he's in fact a little self insecure... and part of me really just understood him well there. my sympathy and care for him grew all the more when i see him in the current timeline, especially what he had to go through for mari and kel. i remember being so happy when i saw overworld hero debut for the first time, heck i'm pretty sure i almost teared up in joy. hero is most definitely the highlight of my o.mori journey, his character just so happened to connect to so many favorite little topics i liked (him with sharks? cooking? love interest in mari?) so many things to love about him! its safe to say that hero is truly the first platonic i ever cared so deeply for. i'm a little sad that I don't have that spark at the moment to go back to him due to fandom jumps but just know that i'm absolutely down to talk about hero anytime

anndddd of course, as many of you all expected... it's blue! if not appleshipping, then it's the silly caramelapple goofies! blue was not gonna escape my grip if i were to romantic f/o red. like come on, this guy is the second closest to being associated with red. but that aside - i really like sun and moon blue more! i'm not exactly too fond of his younger alternative but for the character development i 100 respect him. sun and moon blue however is just the perfect mixture of - fun, mature and cocky. he's a bit of a flashy guy but at least he knows how to hold his ground. blue is just cool. he's definitely a lot more sociable than red but that's what makes the dynamic even funner! with jaide inserted in the group he becomes the token responsible adult and i think its funny 💚

since my platonic list is too small im gonna cheat a little and bring my friends' poke.spe ocs who i included in my platonic fo list AKFLFLFKDLLD hi bee hi nero uhh im cheating shhh sorry 😔

ok so like!! this maroon berry and clear salt!! (jaide stone is on the far left) if im being honest... reading poke.spe is not the same to me anymore because i always have the pok.espe parents in my brain no matter what. it can be over the littlest, trivial things yet my brain will go "ooh, what would maroon/clear do in here" like genuinely a lot of our fanon ideas are just real to me at this point. red has a brother?? fuck yeah dude. crystal's mom is meh but her divorced husband is better?? yeah. yeah REAL. the best part about having clear and maroon close to me is that i actually tend to imagine what would jaide be doing with them together, i mean clear has a little connection to d.evon corp and that's already a great bridge to ponder over how jaide and clear interacts. we may have not written anything TOO canon yet but the ideas are there. and then there's maroon with red meeting gold. there's a perfect bridge to make jaide at least interact with them. i know we're just floating on the bridge of ideas and we didn't actually canonize as much with the parents together but it's just so fun to think about, y'know?? maroon and clear are just written so amazingly well to me and well we're here to deliver therapy to our kids 🤧🤧 i promise you there's a lot of times where i wanted to cook smth that unites all 3 of them together but I just didn't have the time 😭 btw maroon is definitely the person i'd run to for comfort because she wouldn't judge no matter what and would find a way to comfort and of course give a nice nice delicious meal. clear is probably a little more difficult to befriend but if i imagine if you at least get past his cold ice exterior he's a very sweet man (and maroon can vouch for that ☝️☝️)

sorry this ended up becoming a little message to my actual friends but ahakskdjdjd i tried 😭

oh oh and big big BIG shoutout to my fucked up cartridge family created by my circle of pokep.asta obsessed mutuals AKKDKFJDJD 💚💚💚 from fuckin mike and steven stou.ghton, to kalei to jasper to grey to megabyte to rainbow to teo to jayden to blake to jett to orion to EVEN RHYS' PAPARAZZI to FUCKIN GREYYYY AAHHH GREYYYYY (UGLY CRIES) I'D PLASTER IMAGES BUT I FEEL BAD SHARING TOO MUCH ART DRAWN BY YALL HERE BUT I LOVE THEM UGHHH

yeah I didn't have much of an elaborate outline going on here unlike my last one its a little more passionate and sporadic AHJSDJJSHS anyways yayyayayay love my frens :]]] thank you platonics :]]]

[putschki1969]

Hello Puts, how are you?

Thanks always for your hard work.

Here's my question: what do you think of Hikaru's current solo career?

Hello there!

I am okay, a little busy but nothing I can't handle.

Phew, that's a loaded question. I have quite a few thoughts about Hikaru's current situation but most of them are rather negative so I am a little hesitant to share them. But oh well, here goes nothing...

Fair warning though, this is probably gonna sound like a rant, there's just a lot of pent-up frustration within me🙈

Right off the bat I wanna start with something positive before we get to the nasty stuff. I am a big fan of Hikaru's collabs with members of C.C.C. So glad Takeshi Kato (= SPICE guy) brought her onboard. As far as I am concerned, her stage play appearances are some of the best work she has done in recent times. You can tell that she is having fun and everyone seems to have welcomed her with open arms. When she is interacting with her cast-mates, it's like she transforms into a totally different person, she is happy and carefree, no sign of her reserved and quiet self. I also appreciate that HaKA (Kenichiro Hakariya = head of C.C.C.) continues to write solid tracks for Hikaru, so far he has done all of her freelance solo work, I am guessing her newest song "Flow" (debuted during her birthday broadcast) is also by him. Hopefully they will invite Hikaru to join another play in the future, one with a lot of music just like "Ambient Border".

In a similar vein, I very am happy to see that Keiko is taking Hikaru under her wing a little, I think that helps her get some much needed exposure.

Now that that's out of the way, let's address the elephant in the room: Music Champ. There are really no words that can convey how much I hate the fact that Hikaru has chosen a nondescript app as her main platform for almost all private and work-related interactions. I use the word hate very sparingly when it comes to anything Kalafina-related but in this case, nothing else seems fitting. In my opinion, relying solely on this stupid "Music Champ" app really cheapens her status as a serious artist. She might as well be using OnlyF@ns at this point¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The whole purpose of this streaming app is to level up a handful of wannabe idols by throwing "items" at them (which is achieved by viewers purchasing coins in the app). I can't believe that a large portion of each broadcast is wasted on those silly level-up campaigns or "item-times" which have literally no added value. Just a bunch of people sending items and Hikaru reacting to it. Not exactly my idea of fun. And really, you pretty much just finance a shady app, I bet only a fraction of the revenue goes to Hikaru herself. Everyone here knows that I am the biggest advocate of supporting your favourite artists but even I have to draw the line somewhere. I honestly don't trust weird apps that no one uses and on principle, I refuse to feed into this kind of activity ¬_¬

Another thing that really bothers me about the app is more of a me-problem but I'd still like to point it out. It's the fact that I cannot record any of the live streams. Yeah, I know, as a fan I am by no means entitled to a recording, this is complaining on a high level but it bugs me. I am aware of course that this feature might very well be one of the main reasons why Hikaru favours this platform over others but for some reason, that makes it even more annoying. Especially since the timing of her regular broadcasts is not exactly foreigner-friendly (at least not for my time-zone) so I can almost never watch her stuff live. I don't think I've been able to watch any of her more recent Wednesday lives and that sucks.

On a side note, is it just me or does this app consume a ton of RAM and drain the battery way too quickly ? Whenever I watch the broadcasts, I am having some major issues with my smartphone even though I have a relatively new iPhone. Within a few minutes, my phone will overheat and sometimes the app will even crash. Does anyone else experience similar problems or is it really just an issue with my phone?

All right, rant over. There is really not much else to say. Hopefully this didn't turn out too bad, it wasn't my intention to bash Hikaru or anything. I am just sad that she has chosen a path that I am not willing to follow. A lot of her loyal fans seem to be happy to support her on the app though so I am glad she has that backup at least.

[jennyandvastraflint]

It's late, I'm very tired, but I am going to write you the ask anyway because I need you to know you put a new fic idea into my head and somehow it has grown and now what am I going to do? Do I have time for it? No. But it's been a lot of fun writing a snippet on the train today (as you do) and I hope it will stay for a while and maybe develop?

Basically, it's -

"[The cat] already has a name" the Doctor said suddenly. "She's called Siren." "You've named her?" Yaz exclaimed. "Has she told you?" Graham asked. "Mate, she doesn't actually speak 'cat'; she was having you on, earlier" Ryan stage whispered, before blinking and looking over to the Doctor. "You don't, do you?" "She's wearing a name tag" the Doctor explained and really, now that Yaz was examining the cat's collar, there was a tiny silver square reading 'Siren'. "Oh" she said, wondering why the Doctor hadn't used the name yet. Was it as not to get too attached? It had taken her awfully long to enter the discussion on the name, too.

I'm not quite sure how far this will go but there is actual plot already somewhere. It's a bit - difficult though. Because they're all treating the cat like you would treat a cat. Which is different from how you'd treat a human/timelord/whatever, especially when it comes to boundaries. And they don't know she's not a cat of course, because River is there ~undercover~. To them, basically, 13 has 'adopted a stray'.

Anyway, it is still very fun :) (also 90% of it has turned into a zoo tycoon ad but I am blaming that on companion-showdown) I love writing for the fam! It's difficult to juggle so many people in one scene but I love all of them so much 🥰 (but if I do write this whole piece it will probably end up being doctor/yaz/cat!river centric so that's only 3 characters and one is mainly non-verbal)

(This is about that cat named River Song in that post (yesterday?) and you saying it should be River undercover btw. Not sure whether that's been clear until now.)

Do you think Siren is a good name? Sirens sing and live in bodies of water, so I thought she might choose it as a not-too-obvious undercover name. Plus, River would dig the seductress connotations. (It might also have come to my mind because we've been talking about mermaids but anyway)

Alternatively, I was thinking Cleopatra bc we know River has cosplayed as her and it would be cute to call the cat 'Cleo'. It's a very cat-like name, I think.

Or 'Melody'? More angsty but also more obvious and riskier. And the idea is that the Doctor cannot know either she's there. But it also makes a good name for a cat I think.

(also, yeah, I totally haven't finished the lkh rewrite either, I think I told you earlier. But ohhh shiny new fic concept with thasmin and River and a cat 😍😍😍 anyway I am blaming you <3 (for the idea, not the procrastinating - the procrastinating is 100% on me))

God, I hope this is halfway coherent now. I'm not feeling too coherent 😅

Anyway thank you so much for listening <3 I'm very grateful to hear any thoughts! On the name or general thoughts :) Also questions! As I said, there is some plot. Unfinished, but I can see a main direction (and it looks suspiciously like 20k+ words so... not sure I will follow it ever)

First of all, absolutely love that my bullshit inspired you XD

Second, I love the scene you wrote omgggg! The fact the fam didn't notice the nametag and just went to the more outlandish explanation of "13 speaks cat" 😂

I love the name Siren so much!! Like first, it fits with the "River" (body of water) "Song", but it also reminds me of how when River calls for the Doctor, they are always there for her, almost as though drawn to River.

(Shiny new ideas always so appealing, yuppp, it is a thing I know all too well)

I am so excited to read more of this, and am looking forward to the plot that awaits us!

On the point of juggling so many characters, yes, I find that anything above three characters regularly interacting gets a bit crowded. Perhaps you'll still find a way to have Ryan and Graham there and doing little tasks during the fic, like for instance sending them to get food for Siren XD

I am honoured to have enabled this as your writing sounds a delight!! May the writing gods bless you, may your writing be plentiful and motivating!