#he doesn't have any severe injuries in those episodes so

[thatstonedwriter]

Never Again

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Content; polyam fizz/Ozzie/reader, mentions of severe injury, blood, romantic relationships, gender neutral, no pronouns

• No specific scene or episode is mentioned, only the aftermath and care reader would receive •

A/N- angst. Sweet, sweet angst. Thank you for the prompt! I made these into drabbles instead of headcanons so I could properly address these topics. I hope that's alright. Please let me know if you have any critiques on how to handle these themes. <3

Feat; Fizzarolli x Ozzie, Stolas, Blitz

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Everything stops- there's no air. What did you do? Why aren't you moving? You're like this because you were making sure they didn't get hurt. Its their fault, they know they have to do.. Something, but..

Fizzarolli doesn't know what to do, and has frozen in place. Asmodeus is the first to act, immediately picking you and Fizz up and carrying you to the nearest hospital, where you're treated for various injuries. Deep cuts that required stitches, broken bones, and blood. So much that it was difficult to tell whose it was. With how slow the Hospitals in Sloth are, Fizz and Ozzie quickly get frustrated and demand updates. They don't leave the hospital. They barely leave the room to get food. Instead, they settle on whatever is in the vending machine across the hall. Constant fussing and "Never do that again," "You're like this because of us," and similar guilt ridden confessions bombard you. The second you're cleared to leave, the three of you practically teleport back home, where you're not allowed to do anything. Fizz stays with you all the time, watching movies, snuggling in bed, and helping you stay clean and hydrated. Meanwhile, Ozzie cooks and cleans, and if there's any reason he has to leave, he assigns several security guards to ensure neither you, nor Fizz, have to go through something like that ever again.

The words he wants to scream are stuck in his throat until, finally, Stolas manages to yell for help, scrambling to hold and examine you, despite his condition. He's mumbling "why'd you do this," and gently running his hands along your face until help arrives. He's following you as closely as they'd allow him. Your injuries, he's told, need a lot of attention, even some surgery. And once again, the distressing news paired with no urgency made him want to scream. Once you're stable, he's there with your favorite foods, pillows, and bouquets of those lil carnivorous plants. He apologizes profusely, insisting its all his fault and he should've never allowed it to happen. After a lot of reassurance, he finally seceded. Once he brings you home, you have several members of Stolas' staff tending to your every need. If you're in a stable enough condition, Stolas clings to you, only letting go (begrudgingly) if you have to use the bathroom, do physical therapy, etc. You'll watch the Hella-Novelas he's obsessed with, he'll read to you, and helps you take your meds or change bandages. Seeing your injuries, the gravity of it hits him.. how close he was to losing you forever.

Blitz goes numb. This was too familiar. Someone was hurt because of him. His- you.. Were hurt because of him. He's by your side. He didn't remember moving, but he's here and scanning your injuries. He rips his coat, using it to wrap your wounds. He's trying to clean off the blood, but there's no way he can do this alone. he can't save you- not himself. He grabs his phone to call for help- "SATAN'S ASSCRACK, GET HERE FASTER! FUCK!!" from there, It's all a blur. He doesn't remember moving or speaking. Only seeing you be rushed into surgery. Sitting in the waiting room. Sitting by your side. The only thing keeping him sane was the steady beep of the heart monitor. You're still here. He's sure once you're awake, you'll kick him out, say you never want to see him again. He didn't realize he was crying until he hears your voice. It just makes him cry harder. He wanted to run. He didn't want to face another failed relationship. Luckily, he stayed long enough to actually listen to you, and while he still feels guilty, he's so grateful that you don't hate him. And right now, he can breathe easier knowing he can still be in your life. Your recovery process is an excuse (as if he needs one) for him to "drop by" and keep you company. This turns to sleep overs, and watching movies late night, and laughing together until you can't breathe. He'll never take this for granted again.

[dokidokitsuna]

Goldilocks in Grimmland

This is so, so premature...but my muses have been with me from start to finish on this idea and I adore it, so I'm talking about it now! :D

So in the RWBY NeverFell AU, Yang's little mishap during the Vytal Festival actually follows her around for quite a while; with pretty much everyone but her closest friends whispering behind her back about what she did to Mercury. This is very isolating and frustrating for her, especially since she knows from Ruby's eye-witness account that Merc was definitely faking his injury. She's determined to figure out how and why she saw that illusion, and also kinda wants revenge against Mercury for low-key ruining her life. ^^; And her investigation eventually leads her back to him...except, he looks a bit different now. Shocked by his Grimmification and eager to know more, she dives even deeper into the mystery.

Unfortunately, by this time, Salem has arrived at Beacon, parking her giant whale outside the premises similarly to the way she did in Volume 8. ^^ And upon landing, it creates a Grimm-based ecosystem-- a dark forest that gradually spreads outwards the longer it stays there, only adding to the population of Grimm overrunning the area. That's a whole other issue, that the rest of Team RWBY will probably be helping with. For Yang, it's mostly just a giant hindrance to her investigation. She's got suspicions about Mercury (and knowing he's a silver-eyed warrior, suspicions about her deceased mother) and she's sure that the answers are somewhere in that Grimm-whale. But with the death-forest of Grimm surrounding it, it seems impossible for her to get there.

Until, she remembers she knows someone with a semblance that's perfect for the job. ^^

+++

There are several reasons why I love this idea: it gives Yang the spotlight for once in her life; it makes Mercury relevant; it provides an opportunity to get members of the main cast close to Salem.

But the biggest one is: IT GIVES ME AN EXCUSE TO USE REN!!!!! (≧∇≦)ﾉ

I've always loved Lie Ren; like Penny, he's one of those characters who's just impossible to screw up (in basic concept, anyway...). Across RWBY's many adaptations and spinoffs, he's always adorable and always looks cool in combat.

The only problem with him, and the reason I've rarely spoken about him, is that...people don't seem to care about him?? ;_; Specifically, in the source material, he's given so little to do that there just isn't much of a reason to care about him. He barely has any motivations that don't boil down to some variant of "protect Nora". Even Nora herself is given character connections and talking points outside of "her man", but Ren has no one and nothing else. He gets a couple episodes of spotlight in Volume 4, and that's it for the whole series. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I mean, just think about this: Ren is the only member of the main cast who doesn't have a character song. o_o Look it up, it's true. I had to look it up just to make sure, because I found it appalling...this is a character who was originally voiced by the creator of the show; why is he such an afterthought???

So I decided, if I don't like this, I gotta do right by him in NeverFell, somehow. And it was REALLY hard to think of a place to put him, until I suddenly struck gold with this idea. ^^ Yang's little 'detective story arc' had been a thing for a while, and although I wanted her to be separate from Team RWBY, I never really liked the idea of her being alone. A character like her works best with someone to bounce off, and Ren's coolness is a great contrast for her bubbly personality.

Plus, I think putting Ren in a position like this could service him, too: not only does it give me an opportunity to add his semblance, backstory, and maybe even a Nuckelavee fight to the plot in the absence of a V4 timeline; it could give him a chance to "flesh himself out" the way Nora did in V7. Y'know, allow him to really connect with someone besides Nora-- and then, maybe seeing how similar-yet-different Yang is to his childhood friend is what'll get him to realize that he's never done this before. That maybe he's stuck to the familiar dynamic of that early relationship for so long, that there are different sides of his own personality that he's forgotten about. Sides that are coming out now that he's on this new adventure, with a new friend~.

[nighttimeebony]

Unanswered questions about Dazai's backstory that are driving me fucking insane

(Yeah, so, completely against my will, Bungou Stray Dogs has been consuming every last neuron in my brain for the past several weeks, so I thought I'd share my unraveling)

(mentions of eye injuries and self-harm/attempted suicide below the cut, if you're sensitive to those kinds of things).

(1) In season 2, episode 3, when Ango turns out to be a spy in the Port Mafia, Dazai says, "Everything I never want to lose is always lost. Everything worth wanting is lost the moment I obtain it. And nothing I pursue is worth the cost of prolonging this life, this suffering." Like! What the fuck does this mean?!?!! What happened in Dazai's life that made him think this? The way he says it indicates that him "losing things he wants to keep" has happened often enough for it to become a pattern for him, so what was Dazai talking about when he said this?

(2) In season 3, episode 3, why did Dazai say "thank you" to the old Port Mafia boss when he killed Rimbaud's double of him?

In the sub, he says "let me thank you for once," and in the dub, he says "I'll never get another chance to say this, so thank you". Why did he say that?

(3) Why did Dazai keep his eye covered as a teenager? At first, I assumed it was because Dazai had some kind of injury that he was covering, considering how easily it bled every time Dazai sustained some kind of damage to his head or face, but never to the eye directly. In episode 1 of season 2, when a bullet grazes the side of his face, his eye starts to bleed

and the same thing happens again in episode 1 of season 3 when Chuuya kicks him into a wall.

BUT! When Oda's dying and he pulls Dazai's bandages off, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his eye. And it can't be that Dazai was just wearing them as some kind of intimidation tactic; there had to have been something wrong with it, because we see it bleed twice (even though the eye itself never sustained any direct injury), but there is no visual indication that anything is wrong with his eye, either in the flashbacks or in the present (no scars, seemingly no vision issues, and no discoloration in the eye like you might expect to see as a result of permanent damage). So I am asking WHAT THE FUCK WERE THE BANDAGES FOR

(4) Where did Dazai come from before he was in the Port Mafia? We know that he was a witness to the old boss's murder when he was 14, but Dazai wasn't an official Mafia member until he was 15 when Mori tasked him to work the Arahabaki case. Was Dazai always connected to the Mafia in some way, or did he come from a normal family before Mori inducted him?

(5) FOLLOWING THAT: where are Dazai's parents? In the "Fifteen" novel, it's stated that Dazai wasn't a mere orphan that Mori just picked up, but we don't know if Dazai's parents are dead or alive or where they would be if they were alive.

(6) What are Dazai's bandages actually for? Given Dazai's track record of suicide attempts, it's a common theory that the bandages are to hide self harm scars (I subscribe to this theory myself, as it's the most plausible), but we don't actually know because we've never seen Dazai without his bandages before.

EDIT: (7) Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. In season 3, episode 2-

What is the motivation behind this scene? Why does Dazai keep shooting? Why does he think that the soldier deserved to suffer more? Dazai offers the guy a more merciful death, but Dazai also thinks that a merciful death is "more than he deserves". Why does Dazai think this? This can't just be about this one soldier, because Dazai hasn't had any kind of encounter with him before this. Dazai is clearly having some kind of small breakdown, but what triggered it and why?

[princess-of-the-corner]

Okay I think I've figured out how I want the final fight between LB and CN v. Monarch to be in Princess Bee:

So, firstly, I'm putting them back on the time limits. No 'nuh-uh!'/'the FUCK you mean 'nuh-uh!'?!' in the earlier episode they figure a way out on their own.

Anyway: Onto the actual final battle:

Instead of sending Plagg off, Adrien breaks out of the room and runs away. Shifting things around where we kinda scrap Nighttormentor and Chat gets to see Felix's play and since Felix and Kagami know Mari = LB he assumes they know his so he drops the charade and is like 'Felix what the FUCK?! What do you MEAN that we're Sentimonsters and my fucking FATHER IS MONARCH???? Wait no actually that explains everything."

Since they didn't actually know Adrien was Chat Felix is like 'shit I was gonna break that to you a lot easier later once we dealt with things but uh. Surprise?"

Anyway. Gabe's kicking off his whole mass-akuma alliance take over thing. So LB and CN entrust Felix to lead the rebellion and fight back against those things while they face off with Gabe.

Yadda yadda they rush in and the 2v1 fight begins, but Adrien is taken out in some way. I think I'm gonna go with like. Either because of the high emotions they slip, or just the fact that LB and CN still need to recharge, but Monarch finds out their identities too.

And being the bastard that he is, he tries to use Adrien. While Adrien had been confident that he could resist either the Amok or being Akumatized, he's struggling to resist both. He manages to yeet his ring at Mari, but he's down for the count on this one as he struggles against both.

Gabe continues to make this work by doing his gaslighting 'oh I just want my wife back I'm such a good father!' while Marinette tears his arguments apart. For the actual physical fight, Marinette is now using loopholes for her time limit. She's switching between the Ladybug and Black Cat after each use of their respective power.

And for the most part this works, but they're at a standstill. Marinette can't get a hit Gabe. And in theory all she has to do is wait him out because eventually the Cataclysm injury will catch up to him. But can she? She's going to get tired faster than he is(he's using adult abilities, not loopholes, so she's draining faster). Not to mention Gabe has more abilities at his disposal, especially one-hits like the Bee. Though she does manage to at least smack the Butterfly off, it doesn't help Adrien get back into his own head.

Eventually, Marinette makes a choice. No more risking the loss. She transforms with both, and uses the Wish. No destroying and recreating, exactly. But she severs the connection between Gabriel and the Miraculous, making him and any allies unable to use them. As this is Equivalent Exchange, this also severs her and her own allies from using them. (slight rip to Felix who is suddenly dropped out of his transformation).

Gabe is still alive and pissed off, but also low-key in a despair breakdown knowing he can't fix this now and also finally actually facing 'oh hey I'm like. About to die. Huh.'. Also without his transformation, the Cataclysm has left him weak enough that Mari can kick his ass on her own.

She does so, grabbing the Miraculous and Adrien's Amoks. The latter she immediately gives to Adrien, which gives him more control over himself and they're able to get rid of the Butterfly that was trying to infect him. No cure/purification though, so they kinda gotta do it on their own.

Speaking of, while they can free everyone from the Alliance Rings, they unfortunately can't just Miraculous Cure their way out of the damage.

Mari manages to find something to makeshift handcuffs for Gabe and they lock him in one of the many rooms while they try to decide what to do with him. (honestly he's not going to live much longer anyway, but they debate on whether they want it known to the public that Gabe was Monarch.)

I don't yet have thoughts on how they fix Nathalie and Emilie.

[maintitle]

I watched DS9's It's Only A Paper Moon yesterday, and I want to talk about it because it wasn't until right now that I understood why it slapped me across the face so much, and why I think that episode is so important to me.

This may be triggering to people with disabilities, heart conditions, disabilities from COVID, or medical or military related trauma. Read ahead at your own risk.

I developed a heart condition at 18 from the H1N1 virus (which is why I tell all my friends to take preventive measures if they had COVID, because these kinds of new and unknown viruses can have long-lasting effects on you we don't know yet). While I had a lot of tests and missed a lot of school that year, the effects of that wouldn't be clear for years until at 24 I got a pacemaker/defibrillator put in in what we later found out was a life-saving surgery. The trauma of that event took a long time to catch up with me. While I'm still facing symptoms and limitations from that period of my life, the immediate danger has passed. But it took A LONG time for the fear of what happened to me, the PTSD of that event, to catch up with me. I've dealt with huge panic attacks and hyper-obsessive fears regarding my heart since around twenty-nine, fears I live with and fight through in therapy to this day.

As someone facing those issues, I hooked onto A Paper Moon this watch in a way I haven't before. The issue deals with the loss of Nog's leg in battle earlier in the season, a traumatic experience he had in the middle of a warzone only halfway through their defense. During his recovery, Julian begins to play recordings of I'll Be Seeing You, put together by Vic Fontaine, a semi-aware holodeck program that is really popular on DS9.

Nog returns from surgery at the beginning of the episode, and is walking with a cane. Multiple people on staff, including Julian himself, is concerned over the use of the cane because medically, he shouldn't have a need for it. He shouldn't even be in pain based off of what they know from the new leg and the nerves around it, but he's in pain and having trouble walking. A lot of the arguments in the early episode revolve around people talking behind Nog's back about how they can't understand why he has the cane or why he's in pain when there doesn't appear to be a medical reason for it.

The answer is actually incredibly simple: It's not the leg, it's the trauma from loosing the leg. Nog, who is still incredibly young in the episode, had somehow seen himself as invincible, a young cadet wanting to prove Ferengi can be incredible members of Starfleet, who had seen quite a bit of action and was cocksure, and in one moment he not only lost that bravado, but he also learned he was mortal in one horrifying singular moment.

Obviously, Nog is lucky enough to live in an era where it's possible to replace a lost limb, but that doesn't change the fact that for a horrifying unmentioned, maybe SEVERAL DAY period of time, he was left on a makeshift bed, listening to fighting outside, knowing that he could be attacked at any time, could die at any time from factors not even exterior to him. And now he just has to... go back to life after that horrifying dose of his own mortality.

The only thing that gets him by is that recording of I'll Be Seeing You by Vic Fontaine, because that's the only thing that he had to take him out of that horrifying situation while he laid on that makeshift gurney. The episode explores that idea by having him play it while trying to sleep, and eventually go to the holodeck and try to live in it with Vic after he was shamed for being in bed too long and for listening to said music for too long.

The funny thing is, Vic is the ONLY person, INCLUDING THE COUNSELOR ONBOARD DS9, who recognizes that his pain is valid. Vic, as a hologram, recognizes that his pain isn't crazy, it's as real as the injury he experienced, because Vic has a perspective that none of these hyper-worn-down Starfleet Officers or parental figures in his life has: His LIFE is a series of not-real instances of pain, of happiness, of dealing with other people he knows are holograms. Vic isn't like Moriarty in TNG, he's not like other semi-sentient Holodeck programs, he KNOWS he's a program but he also finds that life to be very real FOR HIM. The feelings of one of his bandmates are as real to him as the problems of Julian walking in to talk about one of the many women he simps for not feeling the same, because despite knowing they're not physically real, he CARES for them and takes their lives seriously.

Nog's feelings are real. His PAIN is real, even if a doctor can't understand why. Nog's in the middle of a long, extended panic attack where he's internalizing a near life-ending medical emergency and doesn't know how to DEAL with it. He loses himself in the program because it's the only place he can get past the trauma of the event, he's hostile to others who try and look at him with pity or as a hero because he doesn't want to be DEFINED by that pain. Vic knows this, and builds him up in other ways. Gives him a life to live, watches him slowly not need the cane and not even realize it, gives him tools and an environment to cope and generally is the only person that validates that trauma.

The episode is maybe one of the series best mental health episodes possible, and DS9 is generally REALLY good with these issues. As someone with medical trauma, I saw myself in Nog. I'm sure others who have experienced disabilities in the military see even more of themselves in him. We relate to it because we're constantly belittled or told our pain is in our heads, when the truth is we FEEL it. I feel it multiple times a month, when I lay down and go to bed and lay on my side just right that I can feel my heartbeat, and then I overanalyze it, and then that leads to a panic attack and me grabbing a pressure cuff or a fingertip pulse whatever it is to see if I'm okay, but by then I can't come down from the panic attack until it's done. I feel it when I'm helping someone move or if I'm on a casual walk and I feel my heartbeat spike, and my mind overreacts and wonders if this is normal exertion or a heart attack.

Not FEELS these things. It's real pain. And Vic doesn't invalidate it. It's as real as the injury itself, and it's not one that he'll ever truly conquer. But the episode gives him time, space and kindness to help him find coping mechanisms in order to continue with his life and dreams, and THAT'S Trek to me. A future where these things can be understood and worked through, without the constant shame that people with disabilities face when describing the trauma responses they suffer on a day-to-day basis.

In the end, Nog is heard. The main characters come to understand that what he felt is real. The episode gives him the time to work through complicated PTSD, and while he's not okay at the end, he's learning to live with it. And it's really fucking special to see this explored with a character we saw grow up into a man, on a show where the future is meant to be better than the present, written by writers in 1998 where they had no right to handle this as well as they did. This was an exceptionally special episode of television.

[aashi-heartfilia]

I know what you mean about the Ochako situation, like isn’t she post to be the heroine in this manga ?

I can’t remember any moments that stud out to me besides Ochako vs Katsuki fight (but that was like in season 2? )

Honestly out of all quirks , I really liked Ochako. It’s gravity !

it has so many potentials if giving the chance to shine

Like imagine her touching the floor , and the floor light up pink for miles and if your in the pink zone you float ! From living to non living things

or maybe if Horikoshi read other mangas or movies that has gravity users to get ideas from , like Shiki from Eden’s zero (he’s a strong gravity user many moves Ochako could use) , or that one villain who used gravity to smack natsu about (fairy tail first movie )

I know right?

She's supposed to be the main heroine.

Except she's not.

She's a hero, because it's a show of heroes and true heroism. We get the moral part right but not the flashy cool moves part. At least she's not the damsel in distress but she doesn't do much either. At least every other hero gets to defeat villains and show cool moves.

Take the current arc for example:

Bakugo got Howitzer Impact Cluster Bomb and another cool suit upgrade

(and something tells me it's not over yet, he will make a comeback to save Deku from Shigaraki and come up with even more new cool moves as a result of his new development)

.

Mina got ACIDMAN-ALMA

.

Jirou got a team up with HAWKS!! Plus HEARTBEAT LEGATO was something!!

.

Tokoyami got BLACK ANKH BALDR...

(And this was pages worth of highlights)

.

Shouto keeps getting new moves here and there like anything...

(I don't even wanna count how many new moves he has)

Vs what Ochako got...

.

When Bakugo got Cluster, it was a culmination of his development in saving department.

A 9 page chapter that probably holds the record for shortest main chapter, a move that is shown in 1/3rd page with no proper planning or meaning behind it.

When Mina got ACIDMAN-ALMA, it was a symbol of her strength to protect those she care about.

Tokoyami's Ragnarok and other moves show that even if it's dark, there can be light.

Shouto's new moves proves that he is his own person and not just Endeavour's son or Dabi's brother.

What does Ochako's move signify?

Does it signify anything?

It doesn't. It's just bad/lazy writing. Even the anime writers could come up with a better move. Plus, hasn't Horikoshi already seen the anime original episode? Isn't that why he decided to make Selkei canon? So he should already know that Ochako can do it. I think that's the main problem. There were several moments where she could have shown new moves: During the Overhaul arc, Deku retrieval arc, or even in this war arc early on. My problem is that she's never shown to be training like others. She has the slowest and most mudane development in the entire series. That maybe a stretch but you get what I mean.

Plus, she got stabbed and everyone thinks she's dying and that sucks. Because morals are not alone to prevent injuries. People have no faith because they have never seen Ochako in a difficult situation where she is forced to put up a fight. That's also why the only moment that stands out in her arc was Bakugo vs Ochako and that was years ago.

That's also why her popularity has decreased.

Heck even I could come up with better moves for her.

Talk about disrespect. And she's supposed to be the main character. I think that's also a problem. She was always marketed as MC, which she's not. At least not in Horikoshi's story.

My only saving grace would be an epic quirk awakening...but seeing as things are going on right now...I don't have much hope left...even a rising chapter feels like too much to ask for.

[scintillyyy]

okay so i finished up season 2 of the firefighter show

listen you gotta show off sliding down the fire pole for the kids but i always have to laugh if they ever seriously use it because nobody would rather go down the fire pole than use the stairs. as my husband says "oh god, my knees".

alright so i have to laugh at episode 14 where they lose the computer automated dispatch thing because something similar has happened to my husband's department before and it basically boiled down to "very annoying, but ultimately nbd"

like 911 didn't go down, but their dispatch system was completely and totally fucked and they had to be dispatched by walkie. things they didn't do: go around looking for emergencies. things they did do: use fucking google maps on the off chance they didn't know where they were going. but the nice thing about having a dedicated territory is that you do get to know the area very well. guess that doesn't apply to the 118 though, who's territory is roughly "all of LA and then some".

(seriously i am howling at the whole "we have to go back to paper maps". did the hackers get google too or something.)

god, the ginormous babies and two push and they're out get me every time. and this is coming from some who pushed like 30 minutes and then like 10 minutes and that was widely considered abnormally fast by everyone.

and. oh my god. OH MY GOD. they went for amniotic fluid embolism and of course hen knew what it was off the top of her head without any testing whatsoever.

which. whew. alright, since i know someone who's related to someone who had an amniotic fluid embolism, let's talk about those for a minute here.

so the name itself is a bit of a misnomer--it's not really a traditional embolism, which is an obstruction of an artery be it by clot or air. now, an amniotic fluid embolism occurs because amniotic fluid enters the mother's bloodstream, which is a fairly normal part of childbirth. the vast, vast majority of women have absolutely no reaction to this. in an amniotic fluid embolism, the best way to describe it is that extremely rarely the woman will have almost an allergic reaction to the amniotic fluid with absolutely devastating consequences--severe hemorrhage, cardiac arrest/collapse, etc. it is a catastrophic complication of pregnancy--probably one of the worst things that could happen--i've seen maternal mortality as high as 80%. (it's also so rare enough that most paramedics have probably never heard about it--i know when i was telling my husband about it, he certainly never had). the problem with amniotic fluid embolism is that it's so fast, so sudden and symptoms can overlap with other more common complications that it can be fatal before it's even diagnosed. anyways the relative of a friend who had it took like a day to diagnose, ended up with like 18 units of blood and an emergency hysterectomy to try and control the bleeding while they were trying to figure out what was going on. it's incredibly hard for actual childbirth trained professionals to diagnose. the fact that hen could...

but anyways in show it's adorable that the baby saved her. that lady probably going to end up with severe neurologic damage.

i have to wonder why they're always doing cpr manually. why don't they have an automatic compressor. you'd think the city of LA would invest in new technology to make things more ergonomic for their workers and reduce the risk of on the job injuries. (see also: the cots that lift so you don't have to!)

ah bobby begins again. aka the thesis on why bobby should never be allowed to work as a firefighter again.

aside from the fact that his fire chief can't just transfer him to LA (~that's not how any of this works~) he definitely still wouldn't be a captain upon transferring departments like that.

i like how that dude shits on the chicago fire department as nothing when in fact chicago is the second largest fire department in the country (NYC is 1, LAFD is 3). chicago is also local 2, and it's only local 2 because it lost the coin flip to pittsburgh. so strong fighting words from local 112 there.

there is so much insubordination in this show for real. like so many reprimands.

also, if there are "flashover" conditions, nobody is inside trying to save anyone at that point. there is no hope. you are outside containing spread. if you are in a room when a flashover happens, you are dead. (a flashover is when everything in the room ignites all at once).

for someone who likes to talk about respecting the chain of command (bobby) he sure as hell doesn't respect the chain of command. once again, bobby, you have no authority to fire anyone because they do not work for you, they work for the city, and you just gave that dude a ton of ammo for the union to file a complaint. you deserve to be fired ❤️ this show is a labor rights anti-union nightmare.

oh he didn't fire him, he just got him suspended and transferred. 1) while transfers can occur due to friction between private and superior and they are more likely to transfer the private, it's still up to the city to determine transfers because staffing matters at stations. you transfer someone out, someone needs to be transferred in. does that station have any special teams the private is on? sometimes moving one person can escalate mass transfers depending on what type of worker needs moving (ff or ff/medic) and how many of each type each station needs to man the vehicles and what types of teams need to man which stations. those things need to be considered as well. and 2) for a union job a suspension is a BFD. to escalate that high of a repercussion you need to make sure every single step along the way has been followed to a tee or you will be fucked over by the union. there's an escalation of consequences that should be clearly delineated in the protocols and union contract and needs to be followed. so no, you can't just suspend someone for 6 weeks even if they were insubordinate one time. was there a written warning? a meeting? no? once again, this show is a labor rights nightmare. fic i'll never write titled sal and the local 112 fuck up the lafd. frankly at this point i don't even care about the fact he never should have been hired to begin with i could compile a 12 page list of why he should be fired just from things he's done since he's been fired.

eat dinner together every shift? cute but LOL.

i'm team city of la here. at least they acknowledge that they shouldn't have hired him to begin with. and telling him that he could have a union representative is but empty lip service at this point. and the fact that bobby could have one and chooses not to have one? he would get wrecked and deserve it.

chimney interim captain. ~that's not how any of this wooooorks~ lafd has plenty of captains that could fill in and by god they would not have a private act up to captain. where are the lieutenants. the structure of the 118 is just ridiculous lmao. it's an unlawful, chaotic place. apparently the chief let chimney be in charge?? he really does not gaf about that station, and i support him for that. just the wild west of no rules. it's a union free place.

ahahahahahahahahahaha they killed shannon cool cool cool cool cool. i can see why she has been largely forgiven by fandom.

in conclusion, a fire truck weighs 20000-40000 lbs. buck would no longer have a foot.

aw, eddie's ceremony. i keep forgetting he's a probie because he's not wearing a bright orange probie sticker as he should be. sorry you had to do your ceremony by yourself in the 118 by your captain while the rest of your class got to go to the big ceremony with the chief <3 that's your lot in life for being assigned to the non-union no man's land.

[doubledyke]

Now lets talk about Ed:

1: His intelligence. He's just a doofus, or is he smarter than he looks?

2: Is he this 100% pure cinnamon roll, or he's a kind of jerk just like everyone else (yeah, I find him to be a jerk in some episodes, just like Your Ed Here)?

3: Is he so genuinely sunny and carefree, or is this a mask and he's secretly depressed or struggling (you know, his abusive homelife and all more)?

thanks for giving me some food for thought! i do just wanna say that any and all (okay, most) interpretations and opinions, including unpopular ones are valid, even if i have different ideas. im but a humble dumbass that spends my free time blogging about a cartoon. no one needs a green light from me to feel a certain way about any character. the fun of participating in goofy fandom stuff is to hear opinions from people with different experiences that shape their perception.

that being said 🤔

i've posted here before that i think ed became gratuitously stupid later on, especially for season 5. maybe he got brain damage from eddy using him as a battering ram so often. but he's got some lucidity sprinkled on top of his oafishness throughout the series. i don't think he's "stupid", i think he just stays in his own little world and that his brain works differently than others'. early on he comes off more as a dopey guy who hangs with eddy because they're both outcasts and can be themselves around each other. not a lot of options, if you get my drift. of all three eds he has the least culpability when it comes to their eventual injurious antics, in my opinion. he's kinda just there because he hangs out with eddy (and edd) and that's what eddy does. there's a true friendship there, don't get me wrong. but i don't think the eds started hanging out because they found each other interesting or cool lmao. that's comes later as they get to know each other and experience trauma together.......anyway, im getting off track.

i think ed is just as multi-faceted as anyone else, it's just maybe those facets aren't explored as much as they are for the other two idiots.

that being said, i don't see him as a jerk personally, but he has his moments i'm sure. i think it's moreso that he doesn't have much of a filter and just says what he thinks. and it's obvious that his doting on sarah is not because he actually gives that much of a shit but because he gets in trouble if she tells their parents. not that it really matters because she makes shit up all the time. he's probably said a lot more jerk-ish things but they're made incomprehensible by his use of nonsensical literary devices. little ed blue is one of my favorite episodes because as we get to see ed when he's upset and irritable which is rare and always fleeting. i'll leave it at that and recommend @gettingfrilly's recent post about that scene where ed is on the tree stump just fuming. they're way more qualified than i to examine this type of stuff 🥴 i'll reblog it after i post this. but i do find it hilarious that he grabs eddy by the face and throws him into a tree. with edd, he gives a warning and pushes him away. there are lots of examples of him being notably gentler with edd and probably even jimmy and others a few times. overall i feel like he's not really intentionally violent with anyone besides eddy. i have a terrible memory so despite watching every episode several times by now, i tend to forget stuff often. so i could be wrong. anyway, again i digress. in 'your ed here' he makes a few playfully sassy remarks when he's playing tic tac toe with edd, but i don't really see it as him being a jerk per se. he thinks he's good at the game so he's doing his weird version of bragging and teasing. and I think a lot of times he comes off as aloof when someone (eddy) is being humiliated and/or getting their ass kicked but i think that has to do with him again, being in his own world and not necessarily because he doesn't care. and finally, with him laughing at eddy and edd's middle names, i just don't find it to be mean-spirited. he thinks the names are funny and so, he laughs.

one example of him being snotty that comes to mind right now is from another of my fave episodes, 'thick as an ed'. it's hilarious to see him try to clap back at edd by saying "stinky hat" over and over. he's expressing genuine annoyance at double dee being well, fucking annoying as usual. to me it's unlikely that edd's hat actually stinks so that means ed came up with something he knew would get under edd's skin. you could argue that it's a bit of a dick move! but given the context of the episode, he's reached a breaking point after his friends have done nothing but try to take his beloved lucky cheese chunk. i can't believe i'm writing this right now.

anyhow, there's definitely a theory out there that ed is putting on an act of being stupid and clumsy just to essentially spite eddy, or foil the scams. it's just not my own personal take on things. interesting nonetheless!

yeah man, ed has an unquestionably awful life at home. his maladaptive daydreaming is definitely a coping mechanism for his shitty reality and probably helps him make sense of the things going on around him. i think ed has a bit of a lack of object permanence (for lack of a better phrase) so once he's away from his house and sarah isn't around, he might be able to put his hardships on the back burner for a while. with the other two eds, they wear their emotions and trauma on their sleeves. there's a lot in what they do, say, and how they react that are tells for their less than ideal upbringings and lack of emotional well-being. a big difference is that they try to hide it and don't explicitly state that things are though back home. with ed we mostly gain insight from his interactions with sarah, the neglected state of his room and personal hygiene, and the random things he discloses about his parents a handful of times. he doesn't even express his opinion about how his parents or sarah act, he simply recalls his past experiences. he's smart enough to grasp cause and effect, even if it doesn't ways show in his actions. his cheerfulness might come off as him being blissfully unaware and i think that's because he essentially is?? at the very least when he's not being actively lambasted by his mother, he's able to hardcore dissociate and go off into ed-land to escape the horrors ™.

TL;DR: i don't think ed's thick-headedness detracts from his distinct personality. he is a loveable oaf and that's perfectly fine in my book. i don't think he's a "cinnamon roll", but i also don't think he's a jerk. my opinion is that he leans waaaaay more towards benevolence. and yeah i absolutely think he's experiencing a lot of neglect and trauma, no doubt about it. i don't see his sweet disposition as a mask necessarily, but more as the result of masterful compartmentalization.

[kamenstranger]

So, over the next few days I plan on archiving some older reviews to have them available here. These are going to be selections of my favorite reviews and by extension, some of my favorite pieces of art and media. First up is my favorite Showa Ultra: Ultraseven. The review was originally written Dec. 27th 2019 and is presented as is, with some exceptions to the images used due to limitations and such. I'll also be cutting the presentation section that went over the case, discs, and episode guide because I don't really think it matters much.

Well now, this was a surprise even to me. I didn't expect to be reviewing Ultraseven this soon, but I received a Christmas present from my lovely friend, Rosy. This is one I've been looking forward to a lot- as Seven is a fantastic series with a notable reputation for being among the best. However there's never been a particularly good release of the show outside Japan, with the Shout Bluray A:Not being a proper transfer due to those shady as fuck dealings with Chiyao. and B: Having questionable subtitles.

But now, just like with Ultraman, we can finally have a proper release with approval from Tsuburaya. One interesting thing to note about the series before going in is that this did not start off as another Ultra show, that happened very late and lead to some interesting tidbits that you'll notice throughout the review. It's also worth noting that even after becoming an Ultra series it was not treated as a sequel to the original. There's no mention of Ultraman, the SSSP, past monster etc. The closest connection is that there are references to the M78 Nebula. Otherwise this was originally a stand alone series.

Our primary protagonist this go 'round is Dan Moroboshi. Right from the start Dan is very different than Hayata. Rather than already being a member of the primary defense force of the show, he presents himself as a wander and ends up joining after providing useful information and assisting with an alien threat. Dan also isn't a host to Seven the way Hayata was to Ultraman, he's just Ultraseven in disguise. This also means that any injuries Seven suffers also gets reflected upon Dan.

Unlike his predecessor, Dan has access to and makes liberal use of powers in his human guise. X-ray vision, the ability to see things that are invisible, keen hearing etc. He's also very observant of his surroundings, similar to an amateur detective in some respects- noticing when a things are out of place. We hear his inner monologues as he pieces things together in his head or struggles in various scenarios. His alien knowledge proving most useful.

Over the course of the show more is revealed about Seven and his past. About midway through the series it's shown that when he first came to earth he rescued a rock climber after he cut his own rope to save his partner. Admiring the act, Seven modeled his appearance upon him. We later learn Seven was part of a wider force in the M78 nebula, but he isn't a fighter. This is even reflected in his fighting style which is looser than Ultraman's Greco-Roman wrestling. Seven instead relies best on beam attacks and even telekinesis.

Even the Ultra Rise is very different.

I think the oddest difference is that sometimes there isn't even an Ultra Seven form appearing in some episodes, just Dan. That would almost never happen today- but it's oddly refreshing to see how it all plays out. Granted, that doesn't mean there aren't giant monsters or even monster battles in those episodes. Dan carries several capsules that summon kaiju to battle in his place:

Miclas, Windom and Agira. Usually this happens when the key device used for transforming: the Ultra Eye, is taken, or Dan is in some way incapacitated where he's incapable of transforming.

Even then, episodes that do have Seven don't always feature a giant Ultra Seven. Seven will just be regular sized to fight smaller threats, which is really surreal. Hell, at least two episodes have him shrinking down to a miniature size.

But the single most notable divergence is that Seven doesn't have a time limit like Ultraman did, more so he has an energy limit. The less he does the longer he can maintain his large form, but using various beam attacks will drain it much faster. The Beam lamp upon his head more or less functions the same way as the color timer did, although interestingly enough it's not explained until I believe episode 39 and a few episodes prior is when I first noticed it began blinking after long battles.

Left to Right: Amagi, Dan, Anne Yuri, Soga, Shigeru Furuhashi, Capt. Kiriyama.

Speaking of notable difference, the main organization that Dan joins, the Terrestrial Defense Force, is a stark contrast to the SSSP. While the SSSP was more scientifically focused- at least in concept, the TDF and by extension their elite sub section: The Ultra Guard, are far more militarized with much larger numbers. While the focus remains on the elite Ultra Guard unite comprised of six members, the show predominately features background characters making the show feel much broader in scope. Here we have various guards, men in uniform, scientists, medical staff, freaking PR people, etc. A number of them are even named. They even have a major space station with various staff members. It feels like an actual organization- or at least a well funded one.

The cast of characters for the Ultra Guard aren't that much more defined than the SSSP members were and once again I don't have much to say, but they do try by giving some of the characters more focus in certain episodes. Shigeru Furuhash (who is played by Arashi's actor Yoshi Ishii from the original series) serves as this shows comedic relief and gets his own dedicated episode involving a bit of family history with his mother that, at the very least, gives him some backstory. Funny enough the episode that focuses on him is also very dramatic, must be a thing with their comedic characters. The same can't be said for everyone though. What is there to say about someone like Amagi beyond he's played by Bin Furuya the original Ultraman suit actor? Not much.

What the show does do is a better job with the camaraderie. The characters interact more and in general just have more personality, allowing them to work off of Dan during missions, they're just fairly shallow elsewhere. However one sticks out above the others and that is the Medic on the team; Anne Yuri.

Played by the very lovely Yuriko Hishimi, Anne has a good chemistry with Dan- and I don't mean that in a romantic way. They just function really well in the episodes they're paired together, more so than any other of the cast. She has a magnetically charming personality that simply can't be ignored. I found myself wanting to see more of the character as she had a lot of potential shown off.

Another thing that helps the cast is that the TDF aren't quite as limited as the SSSP were in terms of operations. Ultraman's strongest point plot wise was variety in it's format, which you think would be come more of an issue for a series like Ultra Seven with a much more focused area on defensive measures. However I believe Seven to be even more varied. The show regularly has a number of different conflicts and ways of going about handling them. For a show that has an alien invasion scheme every other episode, it does a great job of never being tiring. Some episodes involve conspiracies like TDF members being assassinated or the UG having to go undercover and trail a suspected Alien like a 60s spy thriller, or there's aliens hypnotizing children to use as soldiers. Of course there's plenty of other none invasion type episodes as well, ranging from experiments gone wrong, strange alien diseases and almost twilight zone-esque otherworldly divergences.

Seven also deals with a lot more morale complexity than it's predecessor did. Whereas in the original Ultraman there would sometimes be episodes which presented a monster in some fashion as to make them sympathetic or that their demise was bittersweet, it never became a major sticking point of morality. Ultra Seven isn't like that, the show will often raise the question if the actions taken are justified, and Seven's own choices sometimes weigh upon him. This was done in an attempt to appeal to an adult audience.

A lot of the conflict comes from ignorance, arrogance, and plain misunderstandings rather than just a desire for conquest. Perhaps a simple satellite being mistaken as a weapon causing a panic, that sort of thing. One most notable of these is episode 6 when a massive space colony looses control of their gravitational force and begins a course towards earth, the alien Pegassa simply assume humans are capable of controlling Earth's own gravitational rotation like they and many other races are with their own planets. But when they learn humanity hasn't advanced that far, they begin thinking of them as simpletons lacking in technology. Faced with the colony colliding with earth, the UG sends a rescue for the Pegassans with an offer to stay until they're capable of building a new home. The Pegassans refuse to answer- perhaps believing humans lack the adequate weapons technology to obliterate their base. Faced with looming impact, the UG has no choice but to destroy the fleet with the inhabitants still on board. The Pegassan species becoming a victim of their own hubris. While aliens were sometimes used to illustrate humanity's own flaws reflected back, the Ultra Guard themselves were not above being shown as foolish. Tapping into late 60s cold war cynicism, episode 26 has the UG building a new super weapon that's the equivalent of 8,000 H-bombs meant for destroying small planets, with plans for a MK 2 and 3 to go further, which horrifies Dan and leads to a lot of inner conflict with his fellow UG members.

It's not the only time either, and while the UG are of course meant to be a force of good, they're not at all clean.

Intentional or not, it's interesting to note that as soon as a military organization entered the franchise is also when the stories first began having more complexity with the heroes' actions. Frankly, the TDF engages in much more questionable acts than the SSSP ever did. Sure, they had a few missions that would cause the viewer to raise an eyebrow, such as removing a kaiju from it's natural habitat. But the TDF have quite literally wiped out entire civilizations. Some unavoidable such is with ep. 6 being very grey- but others, not so much. ep. 42 in particular has quite possibly the most horrifying example of this when a race of pre-human ocean dwelling beings called Nonmalt begin retaliating to what they view as an invasion by humans. They're woefully ill-equipped, having only a single monster and one captured British sub as a means of attacking a nearby harbor, the UG having no trouble taking it out. Up to that point it seems like your standard issue group of creatures becoming overzealous and impulsive- they never try to even talk to anyone about coming to an agreement or the fact that they weren't even known about by the humans, they just start making threats immediately. Then things take a turn. After their sub and giant monster are taken out, their underwater city is discovered. The captain of the UG, Kaoru Kiriyama, fearing possible future attacks obliterates the entire city without a second thought. The show never outright calls it the genocide that it is, but it sure as hell doesn't frame it as good either. Dan and Anne are horrified at the aftermath of the episode, clearly conveying all that needs to be said with their behavior. In the end, the audience is left wondering if the results were necessary and how truly just the UG are when, as far an anyone could tell, it was a defenseless civilian population.

There's a lot one could get into with colonialism with this episode. The TDF&UG are better equipped and prepared than the SSSP were- and more happy to use their weapons. They're not outright villains and they're certainly shown to have admirable qualities. But they've engaged with reprehensible actions. At the same time I'm not sure if I can say it's a nuanced presentation so much as different writers having very different stories they want to tell and the results being accidental when looked at as a whole. But it is interesting none the less. Stuff like that makes Seven far more intriguing than the prior series and the show challenges its audience more by having them.

Once again the effects are a fantastic aspect of the show and far more advanced than even Ultraman's sets were in detail. The first episode alone flaunts it's higher production standards with some truly astonishing displays. Everything just looks a ton better. The Ultra Guard base and gear is drastically more intricate than the SSSP ever was.

The level of detail and scope of these dioramas is gorgeous for the time, and even now in some instances.

The Kaiju and Seijin are of course still fantastically designed and iconic. Eleking, King Joe, Alien Metron, Pegga, Alien Guts, Pandon. Every single one of the above has a great appearance that immediately make an impact.

Seven also experiments a bit by having some none suit creatures, smaller puppets handled by wire work. They… are interesting to mix things up but none stick out to me. I honestly couldn't even recall he first alien in the series. It's clear their bread and butter is still suitmation.

Speaking of the Kaiju, the fights are sometimes shockingly violent. Ultraman had a few that got a little messed up, like ripping Jirass' frill off and taunting him. The second Baltan also got split in half, but was little more graphic than splitting Play-doh. Seven on the other hand can get bloody.

People talk about Leo being violent, but Seven has it's moments. With all that said, there are however a few oddities with the effects. As lovely as a lot of those sets and creature designs are, there are a couple pieces that feel out of place. One is the backgrounds having noticeable seams. To some extent the original series had this as well but they were more often hard to make out and very few, usually a single vertical line. Seven on the other hand has much larger and extravagant sets and the caveat is noticing when the walls for the background connect since they're much larger.

I'm not entirely sure what it is, but Seven does feature a noticeable uptick in image quality- though it's not a massive leap over the prior series, it is sharper looking and a lot more sticks out because of it. How much they stick out is going to rely on how you view the series. On my computer they're not as bad in most instances, my 42" TV on the other hand was another matter- the backgrounds often appearing as a mass of blocks with thin lines except during wide-shots.

The final issue I believe to be rear projection and it's not just typical rear projecting like when someone is driving in a Bond movie, there's this excessively odd look to the whole thing. It's muddy, there's spots, and there's lines like they either didn't have a single large screen or it was wrinkled to hell. It looks like shit quite frankly and is probably the worst effect I've seen in the Ultra series.

Regardless of a few growing pains, by in large Ultra Seven excels in the visuals and often improves on the ones that don't, with an unfortunate exception to the rear projecting which never really looks any better. Their endeavor with super imposing on the other hand is shockingly impressive. I only saw one egregious example, but every other was stunning for the time.

I've seen movies made in the 70s and even 80s that didn't blend stuff this well.

Likewise, the aircraft are more grandiose and as such need more wire. I get the feeling that they had perfected a lot of things with Ultraman and wanted to branch outward to more challenging and by extension more impressive effects, and I appreciate that endeavor. Aircraft move far more fluidly, are more complex and they even have the flagship craft of the series: The Ultra Hawk 1, separate into multiple aircraft and then re-combine, it is marvelous to gander at.

But by far the pinnacle of the visuals is with returning Director Akio Jussoji on a select number of episodes. If there is one defining thing in Ultra Seven from a visual standpoint, I would say it's the gorgeous sun sets and Jissoji is largely responsible for that iconography with his first contribution in episode 8- which is an absolutely gorgeous entry. He was hardly the only one to use it, as other episodes would often incorporate the orange glow. But there is little doubt in mind that Episode 8 set the precedent. But that is only a tiny part of it, as that episode features so many fantastic scenes and Japanese pop culture owes so much to the cinematography of this Jissoji directed episode in particular.

It truly is a collaborative effort. The impressive work of the set builders and the masterful capturing of those sets on film.

Jissoji also wasn't the only one to create some truly fantastic shots. Other directors like Toshihiro Iijima, Toshitsugu Suzuki, and Kazuho Mitsuta also contributed greatly to the series.

There is one more thing, and it's something I wondered a lot about before the set came out and that was if episode 12 would be included. It sadly is not. There's a lot to get into when discussing that infamous episode that I'm not going to get into here. There are plans for the episode to be re-fansubbed so I'll be doing a spotlight on it and talk more about it there. (note from 2023: still waiting) What I will say is the included episode guide completely avoids talking about it and I find it really strange to not even acknowledge why there's an episode missing. It's even worse on the Moviespree site because it appears as an unavailable episode on the site.

Lastly, I want to end this review on something I wanted to do for Ultraman but never got around to it and decided it wasn't necessary at the time. That is to give recommendations on my favorite episodes with a short synopsis.

Ep. 6 Dark Zone. D: Kazuho Mitsuta W:Bunzo Wakatsuki. This is the one I talked about in the review. It does a good job captivating you with the aliens and their plights, they're fairly friendly but things slowly turn over the course of the episode and the aforementioned hubris kicks in. This is also a good episode with Dan and Anne, showing that they two are willing to bend rules, if a bit too trusting.

Ep. 8 The Marked Town. D:Akio Jissoji W:Tetsuo Kinjo The famous Akio Jissoji directed episode with Alien Metron. I've already shown plenty of screen shots for this one in the review and I think that speaks for itself. The story is also wild with Metron experimenting with how Space Poppies affect humans by lacing cigarettes with the drug. Yeah, it's a space drug trip episode.

Ep 14 & 15 The Ultra Guard Goes West. D:Kazuho Mitsuta W:Tetsuo Kinjo. The first two parter of the series and the first time Seven struggles against an enemy: the robotic King Joe, all while the UG work on a new weapon to combat King Joe as he's completely immune to most of their conventional armaments and even Seven.

Ep. 26 Super Weapon R1. D:Toshitsugu Suzuki W:Bunzo Wakatsuki. This is where that morality really comes into play. Again, another episode I've talked about in the review and it is one I highly recommend. One of the things I didn't mention was the monster, because the test for the new weapon on an uninhabited planet- wasn't. It pretty much causes a Godzilla scenario with a radioactive monster spewing it's toxic fumes all over the place. The horrifying prospect of this is contrasted with some beautiful scenery. I brag on Jissogi a lot, but Toshitsugu Suzuki does a good job in this.

Ep. 37 The Stolen Ultra Eye. D: Toshitsugu Suzuki W: Shin'ichi Ichikawa This is a very somber episode. Dan gets his Ultra Eye stolen (No shit) by an alien who then sends a signal for pick up which the UG intercept but allow to go through. A reply comes back from the girl's planet only to reveal they've abandoned her as they launch an interplanetary missile toward earth. This one has a bittersweet ending and examines Seven's more alien nature and his relation to living on earth. Really great shot at the end of the episode of late 60's Japan and all the lights.

Ep. 39 and 40 The Seven Assassination Plan. D:Toshihiro Iijima W: Keisuke Fujikawa Another two-parter. These episodes primarily focus on the TDF and UG, one of the few episodes that really show off their full force against an alien threat. Seven gets captured by one of the most memorable creatures, Alien Guts, and is set to be executed. It's up to the UG to figure out how to save Seven. These episodes almost feel like a finale and probably were written as such before the series got extended.

Ep.43 Nightmare of Planet No. 4 D: Akio Jissoji W:Takashi Kawasaki & Shozo Uehara This episode has Dan and Soga on a journey in a new test rocket, but after being put in the state of deep sleep, the rocket heads off course and is drawn to an earth like planet ruled by Robots. The robots treat the humans of the planet at best as slaves. Segregating them to their own community and disposing of them at a moments notice, even using them as extras in crime shows and using live ammunition, regularly executing them for minor offenses. The entirety of the episode is cold and disturbing. The interior shots are often surreal and plain while outside is nearly lifeless. At one point Dan and Soga escape the robots by hiding in the back a truck full of fresh human corpses that were shot dead just moments ago. And yet the end of the episode is also incredibly fun, mainly because Seven gets to go absolutely ape shit, outright growing inside the robots' main HQ and then wrecking everything around it.

This episode hits basically every high point there is for me and very well may be my absolute favorite.

Ep. 48 & 49 The Biggest Invasion in history. D: Kazuho Mitsuta W: Tetsuo Kinjo These are the last two episodes of Seven and they're a really great send off. I don't want to get into spoilers too much, but I will say they do a much better job than Ultraman's Finale which frankly felt very flat and rushed. This really shows Dan struggling and going through absolute hell. A nice touch is the Seven Suit is falling apart by this point which actually works really well with the plot. There's a bit of closure with his team as well, something Ultraman never exactly got with the SSSP due to circumstance. Also, shout outs to Kazuho Mitsuta who directed these two episodes, they contributed greatly to the iconography of this series with that fantastic shot of Dan and Anne.

My overall feelings toward Ultraseven is largely similar to Kamen Rider V3. It keeps what worked in the prior series, builds upon that which worked, trims a lot of the fat and adds some new. Seven keeps enough of the core concepts and ideals of Ultraman to still be viewed as part of the same franchise, yet it's unique status as not initially being developed as part of the franchise or at the very least not a direct continuation. I believe allowed it to have the many differences that assisted in making it feel fresh. Familiar, yet not overly so, different, but not completely alien. A lot of franchises struggle with that balance, either repeating what's already been done or it's so different you can't even recognize it. Seven pulls it off beautifully and in doing so created an incredible nuanced entry. I highly suggest picking this up because it is absolutely one of the very best series and my favorite Showa Ultra.

[descendant-of-truth]

I ... Really don't want to ask anything before they put out all episodes in season 1.

But it really bothers me on what the heck is going on with Sonic's new power??

Is he and the shard shared the same energy?

I feel like somehow.... the energy have a mind on their own. Provides his accessories to adapt and survive in any universe.

And those mild concussion... I felt it could turn bad for sonic.

Why would you not want to ask anything before they release all the episodes?? Speculation is half the fun of experiencing an ongoing series, if anything I wish they had released the episodes weekly so that I could've been able to speculate even more

That said, Sonic and the shard do share the same energy! Nine said himself that he has "the same energy that powers the city," and of course that energy comes from a Prism shard. You'd be hard-pressed to find evidence of him not having the same energy as the shard, honestly

The idea of the Paradox Prism having a mind of its own is a really interesting concept, though! Sonic's gloves and shoes being so custom-made for his environments could suggest some intent from the Prism to keep him safe, though there's nothing really proving or disproving it either way.

If the Prism does have a will of its own though, I wonder if that'd mean a confrontation with it down the line? Or, since it seems to be trying to protect Sonic, does it even have any hard feelings about getting shattered? Does each shard have its own opinions on things? Lots of potential there, I'd love to see it explored in a fanfiction if nothing else!

I wouldn't worry too much about Sonic getting hit on the head a lot, though; despite how fans like to talk about it, he hasn't actually gotten a concussion from anything so far. Or at least, the show isn't treating his injuries with the severity that an actual concussion would call for.

I'm no expert on concussions, but even just from looking up the basic symptoms, Sonic doesn't seem to have most of them. He doesn't lack coordination, nor is he consistently suffering from nausea, dizziness, fatigue, or ringing in his ears. He does seem to have some memory loss, but given when those problems started, it wasn't caused by getting hit in the head.

He definitely could get a concussion in future episodes, but I don't think he currently has one. While his injuries so far have definitely taken their toll, by Rule of Cartoon, nothing's been all that serious or debilitating so far.

TLDR; yes the Paradox Prism having a mind of its own would be extremely cool, no I don't think Sonic has any concussions yet, and yes we should absolutely keep the speculation train rolling because I'm having a blast with it

[popculturebuffet]

Tal'Dorei Travelouge: Season 2 Episodes 4-6: Creed: The True Threat to All of Tal'Dorei

Hello all you happy people! It's week 2 of Tal'Dorei Travelouge, my weekly look at Legend of Vox Machina season 2 as it comes out and this was both popular enough last week and not as much time out of my schedule as I thought despite being utterly swamped. So we're back for this week as we get something close to a beholder, Vax makes a bargin with death because surely those always end well, Keyleth passes through fire, and Scalan sings for a Sphinx and lets us know creed exists in this universe. All this and more under the cut, full spoilers for this weeks episodes.

Those Who Walk Away: So we start with the second half of a two parter.. and while I expected the secret origin of Trinket at some point, saved by Vex by trappers and thus bonded to her for life. What I didn't expect was for it to gut me so much, as not only does Vax have to mercy kill his mother but he watched. That poor baby bear. Anyways this week we more suprises as when they rejoin the party with us.. never finding out what happened in that hallway apparently, Kashaw reveals ressurection magic STILL EXISTS.

I assumed it'd just be sidestepped completely, with any near deaths just being severe injurys, but it's nice to have as , without spoiling when how or why, there are some pretty sizeable death scenes i'd love to see adapted i've heard of one genuinely dramatic, crushing and leading to a fairly brutal payback.. and the other being entirely stupid in the best way possible. That said they impliment it well, in a way that's less dragon ball z "DEATH DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE YOU GET A FREE SUNDAE", and instead "It's possible but VERY unlikely it'll work and takes expert skill to pull off", throwing in the fact that our main healer PIke.. has never done one and only does this one with Kash's help. There's also the fact this one.. very nearly dosen't work until we get a line i'd heard of thanks to some fan art.. and that is utterly awesome "Take me instead you raven bitch". In one act Vax sacrfices himself. And i'd like to , thanks to said world of critical roll book, if I may, share the real world story for this as it's utterly fascenating. So when Liam O'Brian did this.. he had NO expectation Vax would live. None. He wanted to save his close friends character, and figured "Well this is done, i'll roll my next character, it's a big sacrifice but it's worth it". Matt... didn't let him off so easy and instead had her take it in another way: Vax becomes the Matron of Raven's champion. As you can probably guess little good can come from this in the long run but in the short I do like that it gives Vax some new heads up: it gives him visions of the calamity allowing him to figure out where the sphinx is.... and he now has instinctual knoweldge of said events.. he dosen't know how he just does. That dosen't come into play until our third.

This also means he has to do a test.. and at a bad time as Zahara decides to go full on antagonist and dump a legally distinct from a beyonder creature on them, nearly killing everyone, all because she assumes the take should have the Deathwalker's Ward.. despite it MANIFESTING on Vax's chest.

Kash naturally nopes out of this and eventually helps, but it's a very tense, very awesome fight as one by one our heroes fall, and it's left to Vax. Vax's trial is also neat as he fights Perve On ina battle.. only to realize it's one of those "don't fight it" tests, to accept death so to speak. So as a result Vax gets a fuckton of neat new abilities I love> one is a nod to the stream: in said stream Vax had some kickass boots that were horribly broken as Matt didn't think about the fact they basically gave him super speed when he ported them over from Pathfinder. IT's one of the things I loved about finding out more of the show from the book: Even with an expertly crafted world Matt is just as prone to mistkaes. Purvan's name was another one of those. He may still be a genius who fucking crafts entire battlefields with expert percision... but he can still goof up.

So to compromise, the ablities are now part of the deathwalker's ward instead, which makes more sense and thus makes vax a combo of the flash and spiderman, able to dart around, easily dodge the creature, then throw a knife in it's goddamn eye. Just like the green goblin and his famous catchphrase "OH GOD THERE'S A KNIFE IN MY EYE WHY IS THERE A KNIFE IN MY EYE".

Kash and Zahara leave the party, and it's clear Vax feels dammned by this.. and while I didn't notice it at first, his personality changes a lot after this: he's no longer as happy go lucky, snarky ... he knows something's wrong with him, he's bound to death and he can't escape it, and he almost lost one of the two people he can't afford to loose. It's easy to see why he shifts but it's heartning to see a guy who while dour was at least happy so miserable and serious. He also punches Percy in the gut for trying to apologize. Granted it's realistically done: Vax simply says not now and CLEARLY isn't in the mood to accept it and Percy at least means well: he's clearly not trying to justify it he just.. feels terrible he nearly got the woman he loves killed and wants to apologize. It's clear the party isn't in a great place and it's not going to get much better.. well for most of them anyway. It also brings up something I like about this season so far: the character focus. Last season had a few arcs for everyone: Keyleth got a better grip on her anxiety, PIke came to terms with who she is, and Vex realized what a bitch she'd been to keyleth... but Percy was the clear center: the briarwoods were his mission, his purpose and letting go of his vengeance was his cross to bear. This isn't a bad thing: Percy is a great character and everyone still had plenty to do, and they were ultimately limited by the story itself: the first major arc they needed to do was Percy's so he got the lions share of the focus. It was also only two stories really with the pilot being more setup and the rest being the long war between our heroes and the briarwoods and between percy and his desire for vengance.

In contrast season 2 is a bit more episodic: there's still a clear main story in the conclave and the vestige hunt, but each adventure is it's own thing for the most part. Even though the first two episodes are back to back in how the story is they feel like two entirley diffrent stories that build up to the larger one. only the Sunken Tomb and Those Who Walk Away has felt like one huge episode, and that was fair given everything that happened.

And honestly.. I like it. It reminds me of when Final Space did a similar thing with it's second season. The one big story approach isn't terrible, it works for plenty of shows, but to me having little stories within the bigger one allows for more character and world stuff between the bigger plot moments and lets the subplots breathe: we got ample build up to where the twins are now, and plenty of background lurking of Grog and his growing dependance on Craven edge, who continiues to hunger. It allows the season to really build while letting everyone shine. So far we've had major arcs for Grog, Vax, Vex to an extent , Pike tagging along for grog's, and now ...it's keyleth's turn

Pass Through Fire: Pass Through Fire is a great example of this, as while it's an okay episode overall, it really does add to the season. It also shows me the team learned form last season as in hindsight, like I said, the focus was pretty percy shaped, with just enough else for it to not be a problem. So it's clear the team made sure with this season and it's wider scope everyone gets a chance to really get fleshed out.

In this case Keyleth deals with the fact her mom never came back from her armante, and allows it to explain why said Armante.. wasn't at all important to season 1 besides a passing mention: Keyleth has been actively avoiding finishing it as she's scared of both leadership and ending up like her mom. It adds layers to her anxiety, which was already relatable enough to me being someone who also suffers from it: part of it is just being afraid she's not good enough, something I painfully feel all the time. We also get Scalan singing while he thinks Grog is taking a dump and Grog trying to hide his talking new murder friend sword from everyone. It's not deathly important but Il ike the building tension: the sword wants blood and he dosen't care who he gets it from. Which wasn't a problem with Sylas: if his sword got hungry he could just go stab a dude and share a meal with what I now assume was his best friend. Like .. they went on picnics and stuff. He sang at Silas and Delilah's vow renewal. They were tight.

Point is it's nice to see her get this focus and to bring up a valid condrum, as while she considers visting the fire ashari since their close, it goes from a passing curosity they don't have time for.. to a deadly danger they dont' have time for as the volcano their in errupts. And it normally dosen't do that. It also nicely shows how badly Vax is rattled by events as he's so focused on the mission he snaps at Keyleth they don't have time and she storms off.. well Mighty Hawks off

And the rest all give him a what the hell and go to save her. The ensuring fight is decent, though the visuals can get chaotic. Long story short someone opened a portal to hell and Keyleth's dad needs her help closing it. He's of the air ashari, a group of nomads of various races, mostly elves, who help people, each one coresponding to an element. And if your wondering "That kinda sounds avatar the last airbender".. your exactly correct as Marisha was a fan of the show, had just watched through it and wanted to do something like that. It also nicely built in a reason for her character to gradually get stronger.

We also get Kim and Allura and the reunion feels off: i mean the gang being happy tos ee them alive, if baffled is nice.. but they really never bonded or antyhing the way they did with their stream counterparts, so it feels like their just writing them the way that's easier. It does make some sense as the group did save Tal'Dorei. As for how their alive Allura teleported them in time, they investigated this, and as it turns out it's their fault: like in the stream Allura was also part of an adventuring party once with Kima, and they fought Thordak. There's even a nice easter egg of one of the party being a dragonkin, as sir not appearing in this cartoon Tiberius Stormwind, played by Orion Akaba, was an early party member and also kind of a prick, but WAS close to allura, so ti's a nice nod to that and shows that despite how the parting wasn't the best even if it was likely for the best the gang hasn't forgotten where they started.

Point is Keyleth has to as you'd guess overcome her difficulties to pass through fire, that's the title, and gain control of the fire elment, sealing the portal, kiling the fire drakes and saving the day. I don't have a ton to say about this one: Keyleth's character growth is really nice, her new outfit is lovely, and of course i'm always going to support some Vaxleth ship tease and kima and allura kissing, with both planning to head to whitestone.. though we get some foreshadowing as the elven city seemingly.. vanished. And given we're going to the feyrealm next week, there was a sudden vanishing and the twins dad is a known asshole they have some issues to unpack with... yeah I can see exactly where this is going.

Into Rimecleft: This was easily the week's best , and that's not downtalking the rest: Pass Through Fire was fine and Those Who Walk Away was truly excellent. Neither are bad.. this episode was just esepcially good as it went. The starting nightmare helped: Prime Video picked THIS as the preview clip some reason despite not only showing Vex survivies, which isn't a huge twist but still maybe don't tell people who don't know critical roll that, but a fairly brutal scene. Still said scene is effective showing that Grog, despite badly clinging to craven edge, is deeply afraid of what Craven Edge means for him and sees where it could go and the image of PIke reaching out to him wondering why he killed her is TERRIFYING. We then get a nice tonal shift as we go from the deeply terrifying opening, to Pike genuinely trying to get grog to open up.. to one of the funniest jokes in the series as while Pike TRIES to get Scalan's help on this his response is to do his best creed impression and say "Dosen't every man play with his sword a little?" I fucking lost it and I kick myself for not repeating it a few times like Purvan. IT's pure comedy gold, and I didn't expect Sam to pull an OSW, but here we are and it was brillant. I want a full version of that song. I also want to know of Creed exists in Emon. LIke.. Scanlan is basically Eminem, long story, so it's probable but i'ts rife with terriffying implications, like that the infection has spread to alternate planes of existance, that Scanlan might one day form creed, that maybe the dragons shoudln't be the thing Vox Machina wipes out first. Just saying Dragons come and go but creed will linger like a wet fart for a decade unless they stamp that shit out NOW.

Anyways onto the important stuff: Percy gave Vex his jacket. Damn that was cute... not only her taking it but him blushing. percy fucking blushed. I didn't know he was capable. He's so pale and british but it happened. It happened and i'm glad. The real treat of the episode though is Tony Plana as Kami.... i'm using Scalan's nickname on the ground there is no way in whatever Tal'Dorei has that functions as hell that I will be able to spell that correctly multiple times. Plana is one of those actors you see in a lot of stuff but generally not starring, though he's voice acting royalty for starring in a game i'll likely cover at some point, Grim Fandango. At any rate he's gold here as he offers vox machina your usual challenge: defeat 70 death gorgons, survivie the labyrinth of misery or wound Kami once... which no one has ever pulled off. Yeah unsuprisingly our heroes pick the last one, aka the dumbest option.. well okay everyone but grog picks that one. Though what I like is while ti's an obvious trap.. it's also a nice show of how off his game Vax is: While he can be impulsive, normally he's one of the group's cheif strategiests, alongside his sister and percy. But here he's just like "I THINK ONE OF US CAN SCORE A DAMN HIT". The line sounds like him but the actions aren't.

So unsuprisingly it's quickly down to Scanlan, and what he'd do to solve it was blindingly obvious to me: he'd never been wounded, you can't hit him.. but he never said the wound had to be physical. And he just so happens to have a mate he hadn't seen in centuries. What makes this show, this character and this moment special though.. is the how. Scalan singing a song is obvious, he's a bard.. but him singing a fucking power ballad, along with a projection of osisya, and the entire sequence being as stunning as it is heartbreaking, that is what makes this show magic. I also love the heart to heart after, wtih Scanlan admitting he knows romance well enough, but has never actually been in love.. something I painfully relate to, as I do just chasing and chasing it. Kamoji's advice really hit

As a result the rest of Vox Machina are restored, and have a hearty group "the fuck" when they find Scanlan has a new pal. But eh it gets Scanlan a neat new sword, mythcarver and the location of the next two vestiges: one is in the feywild, which Keyleth might be able to get to, so it's no problem. The other.. is in westrunn. And while our heroes didn't know it till now, we've been seeing it ocasionally as Umbrasyl has conquered it and gotten the help of the local goliaths... including Grog's own Uncle.. and what I like is while Pike chalks up his reluctance to face him when he finds out his gauntlets are a vestige as his behavior.. we can tell it's NOT Craven Ed. I won't spoil whu for those who haven't seen the campaign or like me seen campaign spoilers, as we'll likely dive headlong into Grog and PIke's backstory next week. For now instead.. it's time for something series original. See part of that westrunn footage.. was giving Dr. Ripley a bit more of an active roll as she has some sort of magic Jareth ball that allows her to see what's going on.. and thus uses that as leverage with Umbrasyl, getting him to go after vox machina. As such our heroes meet the final boss of the season early and Kamy does his best to help. .but ultimately it's not enough. It' sa great battle.. but our heroes simply aren't ready as they have all of one vestige after Umbrasyl steals Mythcarver and while Kamy does his best.. he's simply not up to dragon level and has a very tragic death saving Scanlan. The entire fight is just brutal and hopeless, with Grog being the only one to put up a fight.. and it's not a good thing as Craven Edge fully posseses him to give him the

But also casues one of the most brutal scenes of the series as Grog FUCKING STABS PIKE FOR REAL, something I was not prepared for..l nor I was the twist of the party getting scattered: Keyleth, The Twins and Percy end up in the Feywild and Scalan, Pike, Grog and Fucking Asshole Sword Man end up in Westrunn i'm guessing, hence forth known as Team Double Date and Team Stabbed in the Gut. What will happen to these valient teams/ We'll find out next week. Thanks for reading.

P.S. I think I forgot to mention it but NEIN NEIN! I'm super excited about this deal as it not only means seasons 4 and 5 are in the bag, but spinoffs a plenty are all but assured, as is The Legend of Bells Hells in a few years when that's finished.

[noxiatoxia]

GUESS WHOS BACK !!!!!!!! (me i am back)

very sorry for dying temporarily. i have revived for hikakao and hikakao only

ANYWAY i love your story,,, host club found family is so dear to me, and hikaru telling them a story is literally treating them like his closest family...so sweet. love him

AND KAORU BEING A PART OF IT. kaoru doesn't even realize how important he is to those stories, but it's literally the whole reason they exist. hikaru wouldn't tell stories if kaoru wasn't there to listen, if it didn't comfort kaoru when they were kids. it wouldn't have happened at all. so by bringing kaoru up hikaru showed him he is a vital part of the stories, because he needs his brother there to tell any stories at all. or they're missing part of their spirit altogether. i love themm ,,,,

so i was thinking (oh no), specifically about hikakao and their issue with being overly scared about each other's well being when anything happens to them, even if it's nothing really major

like at the end of episode 15, where kaoru literally just got an unprecedented cut on his face and hikaru's like. clutching his hand. shaking and everything. dramatic ass

or in the halloween episode where they get separated and act like they haven't seen each other for 10 years. you get the idea.

anyway, not to be super angsty (i am about to be super angsty) but imagine them in an actually dire situation. like it doesn't even have to be life or death, but just something actually severe happening to one of them, like getting hospitalized for a sickness or really bad injury. i can't imagine what that would be like bc with the way hikaru was acting over a CUT...imagine kaoru breaks his arm or something. worse if it was in an accident of some kind that could've ended much worse than that. hikaru would be so upset.

and in that halloween episode scene i mentioned, when hikaru was freaking out trying to get to kaoru. hard to imagine what exactly he thought happened to him, but he was so scared something was very wrong with his brother . poor guy

OMG HI ANON HIII *TWIRLS MY HAIR AND GIGGLES* I'm so happy ur back ur asks give me life.... never feel pressured ofc but I appreciate them SO much!!

also THAT IS SOMETHING I THINK ABOUT ALL THE TIME.... Hikaru's worry for his brother is SO immense it drives me crazy. I do think it's more fun to imagine scenarios where Kaoru gets injured bc Hikaru is the one who has the habit of going berserk when the other gets hurt. Sure, Kaoru would be worried obvs, but Hikaru... dude just has a flat out panic attack sometimes. What is up with him.

I think injury is generally the most fun. Unlike (most) sickness, it typically happens very suddenly, which I think is the part that causes Hikaru to panic. I don't think Hikaru has a panic-attack level issue with being separated from his brother, it's when it happens suddenly and against his will that scares the daylights out of him. Likewise, most injuries are very sudden, and I think the lack of before and after really freaks him out. It's just the suddenness of something that is legitimately scary.

So... CONCEPT based off your idea: Kaoru gets injured. It's not bad, but it's not good either. Nothing life threatening. But it hurts like a bitch, and it looks a lot worse than it really is.

The how is obvs the biggest question. Tbh, it was probably during club. Or at least, with the host club. They tend to get rambunctious and throw caution to the wind.

I think the most likely cause of injury (and tw for hand injury involving glass) would be crashing into some sort of table or stand with a pot, vase, etc. on it (Haruhi isn't the only one with no spacial awareness!) Only since Kaoru full-on crashes into it, he falls, too. And instinctively he sticks his hands out to brace his fall on the ground. Except, you know, he also just shattered a glass vase on the floor, too. And, well... you can imagine it's not a very pretty landing.

Everyone heard the vase shatter, so it's not like they don't know what's going on. They probably didn't expect the accompanying yip of sharp pain Kaoru let out, though. Whether or not Hikaru was near him when it happened, he's at his brother's side at an instant.

Kaoru instantly snatches his hands to his chest, and though it hurts like hell, he's holding back from showing any signs of real discomfort. He's kneeling on the floor in front of broken glass now, and Hikaru is crouching next to him demanding he let him see his hands.

Kaoru being Kaoru and worrying more about Hikaru's emotions than his own physical well-being worries about scaring Hikaru. It's just some glass. It really hurts, but it's not a big deal. He doesn't want Hikaru to seriously worry, not after what happened back at Kuruizawa, so he just shrugs jaggedly and tells him it isn't that bad.

Hikaru calls bullshit because fuck that. Also, while Kaoru is trying to hide it by keeping his palms to his chest, Hikaru can clearly see blood on them. Impatient and worried, Hikaru may just (gently) grab Kaoru's wrists and pull his hands away to look.

And, like I said, it looks a lot worse than it really is. Still hurts, though! And seeing his brother bleeding in any way always freaks Hikaru out.

Kyoya probably offers to call one of his family's ambulances or get the on-staff doctors to look at it. Hikaru vehemently denies this. Maybe he'll have a different answer later, but right now, high on emotions and fear, he doesn't want anybody even close to Kaoru. His brother is hurt and he doesn't want some strangers messing with him. He'd rather take the glass out himself and patch his brother up.

Of course though, Kaoru has to be the one to tell him to calm down and also say he would like to see an actual doctor...... This doesn't stop Hikaru from hovering over him like a hawk and not-so-subtly glaring at the doctor as they fix Kaoru's hands up. Every time his brother flinches or attempts to stifle a whimper as they pull out glass/use sanitizer Hikaru barely restrains himself from snapping at them.

Now obviously it's just because Hikaru is running on adrenaline and is really freaked out by seeing Kaoru in pain/get hurt, so he's edgy and irritable. Once Kaoru's hands are properly wrapped in bandages, Hikaru hugs him very tightly because that really did scare him. Glass can be really dangerous you know!!! And Kaoru reassures him he's fine now, but tbh it had also scared him a bit, too.

After a second vase-breaking incident, maybe the host club should reconsider their decoration placements...

[antenanotaic3]

Episode idea ig

I had a dream (yeah i might have watched the entire series within a week so..ig that happened) that Wedge was in an accident of some sort and his memory was affected and he believed he was a Con.

He contacts (off-screen) a relative of his asking to be picked up because he didn't know where he was and is interrupted by the arrival of the other rescue bot recruits. He wants to act hostile and hides his wound(so that they wouldn't know 'the enemy is injured' but their 'oddly friendly' behaviour gives him an idea.

He joins them back at base and has to deal with hiding his boredom( being given those 'stupid tasks' and having to save people in sims isn't exactly his idea of fun, but he tries to keep his cover up, although since he doesn't rly care about the safety of the human(Chuck) chooses more environmental destructive ways to complete the current sim. In his free time he contacts his relative again, to let him know about the change of plan and does a little first aid on himself, to further hide any signs of the injury(he was leaking a lil Energon). The whole team is pretty concerned about his behaviour but Hotshot is the one who figures there's smth odd with him. But he's not believed by the others which bums him out.

Suddenly the alarm rings, showing there's an intruder outside(idk ik they don't seem to have that in the show, at least not outside the academy, but they rly should). All recruits + Heatwave go outside to investigate, and they see a bot close to a window, looking as if he tries to break in. Spooked by the newcomers, he transforms(the others recognize it's a Cybertronian vehicle) and stands his ground, ready to make a run for it. Wedge stops them and tells them he's his brother and makes up( or was it real, I couldn't tell; for the record, I don't remember his name either) some sad story about how Wedge had thought his severe injuries had had crippled him forever.

The recruits warm up to the newcomer (beside Hotshot who becomes even more suspicious of Wedge). As they spend time together vibing, Hotshot is more than intrigued by the fact that from time to time, Wedge and the other guy use some coded language(Wedge claims in from of the others that it's just their thing as siblings).

At some point, when Wedge and his brother are alone, Hotshot (yes he was following them) catches glimpses of things he finds quite concerning, and, due to his nature and partly still willing to trust Wedge, confronts him right there. Wedge ignores him and switches back to the coded language (although his brother is more pumped and nearly shows his blaster).

Now what happened afterwards makes little sense so I'll ignore that and jump to something more relevant: Medix finds out about the injury, Wedge threatens that him and his brother will have the world burn to the ground -well he was actually more graphical but as if that'd ever be mentioned in a kid show. Btw I'm pretty positive his brother wasn't a normal Cybertronian cuz he was told he's capable to rip out and consume sparks and other energy types. And well he's stopped. The only reason they are willing to give him a second chance is the fact that they figure from the way he talks that he doesn't even know who they are and trace it back to the injury.

Now this would probably take 2-3 episodes to show as a story, and not only that but it's pretty unlikely to happen but.. what do y'all think?

[kurokoros]

Do you really think Steve will die? I want to stay positive, but you all make me physically sick with those posts. Death wouldn't be a satisfying end to his arc even if he dies a hero. Plus the whole Dustin grieving storyline could prevent Steve from dying because it's just too much and Dustin would do anything to protect him, so full circle moment. Idk I just don't want to see him dead and still hold on to the positives :/

Okay, so I'm going to start off by saying I in no way want Steve Harrington to die, and I'll be very disappointed if the writers go that route. That being said, I do think there's a distinct chance that if any characters are killed off in S5, it'll be Steve. S5 isn't even filming yet, so it's way too early to seriously speculate on who might die. No one can see death flags until the season is airing. Now, as a writer myself, and someone that's taken screenwriting classes, there are a few reasons that I think it would make more sense for Steve to die than other characters, namely: Steve is the perfect blend of fan favorite character and combatant/protector. This doesn't mean I actually think he'll die, it's all just speculation and meta.

Steve is very well loved by the fandom. A lot of the characters in Stranger Things are very well loved, but not all character deaths are created equal. I believe that, of the main characters, Steve's death would have the most potential to make the audience and the other characters grieve. I could do a bunch of analysis here, but I won't, all we need to know if that Steve's death would be extremely upsetting to fans of the show and would at the very least would devastate characters like Robin, Dustin, Nancy, and probably Max, Lucas, and Erica as well. Being a fan favorite automatically has setup for killing a character for an emotional moment, but it's also the final season of the series, so the Duffers wouldn't have anything to lose or risk by killing off Steve. Personally, I think Eddie's death had more emotional weight than it deserved to, and the scene would have made more sense if it was Dustin and Steve instead. To me, it seemed like they wanted to kill Steve in S4, but chickened out do to the potential of backlash. Same with the writers choosing to not kill Max.

On top of that, Steve is one of the characters that put themselves in harms way on a regular basis. Steve, Hopper, El, and Nancy are the series combatant characters. Of those four, I can't see the writers killing Nancy, and Hopper and El have already received fake out deaths. I could see El maybe dying in the final confrontation with Vecna (or whoever the final boss ends up being) because narratively the Upside Down and everything supernatural has to disappear for the series to have a neat ending, but I also think killing El off would be extremely cruel, so she'll probably just lose her powers again, if anything. ANYWAY. Steve is the melee fighter that's injured every season, with those injuries increasing in severity. S1 he's in a fistfight that he's able to walk away from. S2 he's in a brawl that leaves him unconscious. S3 he's tortured by Russian soldiers. S4 he's mauled by monsters. The only way to take things up a notch would by outright killing Steve or mutilating him in a way that can't be healed or just forgotten about in the next episode.

I also think that narratively the Duffers have no where for Steve to go, purely by their own writing faults. The Duffers aren't very good at fleshing out characters beyond their debut, so a lot of characters are just there with nothing to do. Steve doesn't really have a plot of his own, and the writers don't know what to do with him aside from romantic plotlines and continually rehashing the fact that he was an asshole in high school. This could be a reason to kill him off, but it wouldn't be very good from a writing sense. You don't kill off a character unless it provides an important beat in the story, or the character has had an otherwise complete and satisfying character arc.

Steve's death wouldn't be closure to his arc. The narrative has repeatedly punished him enough for being a jock and an asshole. And, as you said, it would be like rehashing Eddie's death in terms of how it would affect Dustin. Personally, that would deter me from killing off Steve, but I haven't been happy with the Duffers' writing since like mid-S2, so I keep my expectations low.

TLDR: I don't know if Steve will die. It depends on if the Duffers want to kill any main characters in the final season. If that's the route they choose to go, I think Steve could be a contender for character deaths just based on the fact that he's one of the series primary fighters. And if Steve does die, you'll be getting plenty of fix-it fics in your future.

[froggy-seok]

an very long analysis/theory that is, in my opinion, long overdue: minseok's clothing choices, a possible (and likely) reason for said clothing choises, and the implications that come with that reason

(import from twitter, originally posted April 6, 2022)

much of what i'm going to be analyzing comes from Ep. 91-94, aka minseok's backstory. i will not be including any photos directly from minseok's flashbacks, but i will be referencing the events that take place in episodes 92 and 93 and as such, the same trigger warnings that apply to those two episodes should apply to this thread. additional tw(s): non-gore injuries pictured, discussion of trauma/abuse-related health conditions

minseok's character design is very interesting to me in that, somewhat similarly to dongho, almost all of his appearances include him wearing a turtleneck. unlike dongho, however, minseok's outfits don't seem to feature any shirts other than turtlenecks.

the first photo is from minseok's first large appearance (season 1) and the last is from a sneak peek of season 3. he's wearing a different outfit for each photo, and yet every time, it's a turtleneck.

on the rare occasion that minseok is wearing a crewneck instead of a turtleneck, he's covering a portion of his neck. so the question should be raised: why does minseok need to cover his neck?

the answer is, unsurprisingly, found in the few occasions minseok's pictured wearing anything other than a turtleneck or crewneck.

(tw for non-gore injury/bruise photos)

(photos from episodes 91 and 94) minseok has some sort of injury covering part of his back, chest, and arms, with parts visible on both the front and back of his neck.

after reading episodes 92 and 93, the logical assumption would be that this is just a continuation of minseok's father's abuse, but it's implied throughout most of minseok's arc that he lives alone. he doesn't seem to be in contact with his father, either.

these can't be injuries from the incident at the club. dae never hit minseok, and jaewon only ended up kneeing minseok in the stomach to get away. there's no way that all of minseok's injuries could have happened during what happened at the club.

minseok's not implied to get into frequent fights, nor does he seem to be involved in any sort of contact sport that could cause injuries. he's not described as being clumsy, either - even when he's drunk, he's not clumsy.

so that begs the question: what kind of injury does minseok even have if the most likely causes of bruising have been eliminated? are they just scrapes? burn scars? or are they just bruises, as koko refers to them in Ep. 91?

the answer is both yes and no. yes, they look like bruises, and probably started as bruises, but no, they're not just bruises at this point. i believe that what minseok has is hemosiderin staining, more simply known as permanent bruises

so, what is hemosiderin staining? how does minseok have it?

"Hemosiderin staining can essentially be regarded as a very severe form of bruising. Staining happens in areas where a significant amount of bruising has occurred as a result of severe injuries[...] When damage occurs, the surrounding tissue is flooded with blood and a bruise forms. The more severe the trauma, the more blood that leaks into surrounding tissues[.]"

to put it simply: i believe that, as a result of both the nature of the physical abuse minseok dealt with and the extent of said abuse, he developed what are essentially permanent bruises due to the amount of trauma exerted on his body.

that in itself could be an entirely separate thread, but there's something else i want to touch on here. there are treatments for hemosiderin staining. effective, non-invasive treatments.

the fact that minseok seems to just be living with these permanent bruises instead of trying to do anything about them says a lot about him.

for starters, consider the fact that minseok's signed under SHC as a model.

he's a model, and yet he's chosen to just hide what he's dealing with. now, realistically speaking, this does make some sense, as it's pretty unlikely that he would have been signed on if SHC had known about his condition. but then why wouldn't he just pursue treatment?

i believe that the answer to that is that minseok thinks he deserves this.

he sees himself as a monster. he blames himself for his mother's suicide.

to some extent, i'd say minseok really does think he deserves everything that's happened to him.

he thinks he deserves it and yet he knows he needs to hide it to avoid questions that, if answered truthfully, would reveal the truth behind his family (and, to an extent, the fact that he is gay). combine that with everything else, and the answer is really very simple.

minseok has been and still is struggling with internalized homophobia, and it's affecting his entire life - his clothing choice, his medical decisions, his justification for the abuse he faced, and, as best seen at LiT's surface level, the way he copes with his trauma.

it's not the happiest conclusion i've reached for an analysis or theory, but it's the most likely conclusion in my opinion. with that, thank you to everyone who reached the end of this! apologies for the length, but i hope you weren't bored by it all!

[vndic-a]

txf ran for YEARS and is chock full of moments that our boi has been horrifically injured.   this is mostly going to focus on physically lasting scars and prominent breaks that still cause him all those fun aches and pains,   but will touch into whatever prominent injuries he’s experienced that i think are noteworthy,   including those with notable trauma experienced.   this should have all of them but i’m not perfect. 99% of these are timestamped with what episode it happened,   some have screenshots,   and like maybe 1 or 2 will be headcanon ones.   the reason i’m posting is for the sake of plotting and also a little timeline for myself,   to keep in mind / keep track of all the things he’s been through.

SCARRING .

1 .    shot in the left thigh,   straight through his femur (oof).   thicc boi star - shaped scar.   1X13 2 .    gash on lower rib - cage / abdomen,   clawed by the “jersey devil.”  minimal / thin scarring.   1X5 3 .    moderate skin damage to face / below eyes and around cheekbones due to hypothermia exposure.    it’s not terribly noticeable and only really lasts maybe less than a year and a half,   normally most don’t see it unless he’s pointed it out since the damage was so close to his eyes.   screenshot of how it looked when he entered the hospital .   2X16/17 4 .   scully shot him in the shoulder :// give that boy another starry scar.  2X25 5 .   deep slash on the face / upper right cheekbone from a gargoyle.   he tends to receive a lot of scars on his temple / head and most of them remain thin and whiten over the years,   but to someone close enough / knows what to look for, they’re there.   screenshot .   3X14 6 .   slammed his head against a windshield hard enough for the window to have some blood on it.   was unconscious for a while after.   screenshot 1   2   and  3  ( 3 is harder to see but it was stitched & bandaged ).   3X16 7 .   shot in the head.   didn’t die bc this boi is wild.   screenshot .   FTF 8 .   probable damage to his neck  ( small scars dotted across )  after an octopus - like creature strangled him and embedded parts of it in his neck.   this is another sort of scarring that probably only lasted around a year,   if that,   and wasn’t noticeable all over.   trypophobia warning on this image :   screenshot .   6X13 9 .   deep human bite marks on right forearm / closer to elbow,    as well as part of his bicep.   definitely prominent if not jagged scarring.   bleeding was severe enough a tourniquet can be seen in the screencaps.   screenshot of heavy bleeding and tourniquet.   also his arm ass arm had a sling after the fact .     7X04 10 .   ricocheting bullet hit upper left bicep.   wrapped in heavy gauze ,   it’s probably a small minute scar.   7X06 11 .    he got attacked by a bunch of snakes,   so specific scarring is ???   questionable but they were poisonous and he did have to go to the hospital.   7X09 12 .    had his skull drilled into at the edge of his hairline to induce his repressed memories.   4X23 13 .   infestation of his lungs.   he was basically suffocating due to the volume of eggs and beetles in his lungs and had to have them cleared after coughing up blood.   it was hella violent.   7X18 14 .   i don’t count fight club cuz that episode was BONKERS and there were so many things. 15 .   of course,   mul.der’s abduction.   the scars for this fade away,   but in the first couple of days that he’s returned and back on his feet,   they’re still healing.   i’ll detail more on this later. 16 .    another temple gash !   photoset.     8X20

BROKEN BONES .

1 .    obviously whenever he got shot through the femur .   1X13 2 .    he got attacked by a gorilla ( don’t worry abt it this shit was wild im just putting it on here cuz like wtf y’know ) so i’m gonna wager potentially broken / fractured ribs / possibly some pretty bad bruising if not any breaks to his head.   he was unconscious for a while and when scully found him he reacted wildly pained to her touch.   also the only reason i’m adding this as well is because he’s definitely had a history of broken / fractured ribs.   2X18 3 .    left pinky twisted and broken severely as a means of torture.   5X18 4 .    in general he’s broken some ribs here and there.   i also personally headcanon he broke his wrist when he was a kid,   and it’s partly reason why this stooge drops his gun so fucken often,   he’s got a lousy grip.

GENERAL  /  LONG TERM AFFLICTIONS .

1 .   was infected with an alien gas that killed him,   he FLAT - LINED for about a minute before scully revived him .   2X16/17 2 .   he’s had a trillion concussions,   which can only get worse as time goes on :/// 3 .   he’s also had unconventional medical procedures performed on him:   mind - wiped in spooky unknown government labs,   a lot of techniques and medicines to help him remember things via stimulating hallucinations that basically caused seizures,   another time he was given medication that induced a seizure,   drugged a few times that caused extremely high levels of paranoia and anxiety to very violent and uncontrollable levels. 4 .   exposure to the black cancer,   as well as torture / imprisonment without basic necessities which totally had some long-term mental effects.   4X8/9 5 .   i mean he did get mummified by prehistoric fireflies but he’s cool now.   1X20 6 .   he’s definitely got tinnitus from multiple stuff over the years but mostly from the gunshot to the head.     FTF 7 .   he almost died again,   buried under rubble to narrowly avoid a massive explosion,   severely feverish,   dehydrated / heat exhaustion and unconscious for several days and BARELY fighting past the illness.   3X1 8 .   subjects himself to tests from a doctor to inject him with ketamine   ( a hallucinogenic anaesthetic )   to try and remember his past more clearly,   causing seizures,   severe migraines,   and lapses in his current memory ( a vivid flashback occurs and he’ll wake up not knowing where he is ).   also got his skull drilled into that was cool.   4X23 9 .   moderate radiation burns to his forehead / face . 10 .   oh yeah he drowned in the bermuda triangle but it’s cool his wife rescued him.    6X3 11 .    he’s had hypothermia a lot in general.

MENTAL .

1 .   take a shot everytime mulder gets tortured,   die in 4 minutes . 2 .   fear of fire is very pronounced.   1X12 3 .   kidnapped,   drugged,   mind - wiped,   dropped back to scully not knowing where he is.   1x2 4 .   take a shot everytime he’s sleep deprived,   whether bc of his own passion or because of someone forcing him to stay up.   scully has made notes herself,   verbally exclaiming mulder needs rest bc he hasn’t had any in 24 and sometimes 36+ hours. 5 .   idk if i mentioned but he’s been held hostage a lot,   more than once in some actual prison somewhere where he’s tortured,   and a handful of times by dangerous criminals who are ready to kill him and do it for ransom. 6 .   the amount of times he’s been detained and literally tied up or held down by something / physically restrained,   i’d wager he’s less and less cool with it every time. 7 .   almost was drowned inside of a mental hospital,   drowned in the bermuda triangle,   was almost drowned in a bath tub,   and has been strangled more times than he’s comfortable with.   the general concept of not being able breathe is a little too familiar. 8 .  i just want to point out how many times he’s been exposed to seeing death  / dead bodies  /  generally absolutely grotesque things ,   child death included .   staring at severed appendages .   has seen men literally chopped apart and left in trash containers .    mentally he’s become very sound in a sort of formal way,   in a way he can prioritize his work in an almost obsessive way to move past it all so it won’t catch up with him.   he’s excellent at that mental compartmentalization.   bleeding and dying,   he is still looking for the truth.   he’s seen many gruesome visuals and he notably has nightmares /  terrors in the shows. 9 .   that being said,   he’s had some vivid nightmares since he was a kid. 10 .   some ghosts psychoanalyzed the shit out of him and scully and made them think they shot one another,   which has always been a fear of his since kitsunegari when he saw scully shoot herself in the head and how he almost shot her.   he barely forgave himself for that.    lots of hallucinations and fun stuff.    6X6 11 .   extremely bad migraines that eventually formed into an unresponsive,   violent state that put him in a mental hospital,   where he paced around screaming,   unable to form sentences.   he harmed himself and others until he was medically forced into a catatonic state,    while skinner and others tried to inject him with medicine to revert the state,   resulting in seizures.   he could also read minds during this period but nbd.   a lot of this typically comes back up in   6X22/7X1/2 12 .   got stuck in a simulated reality and drugged by an AI which would just kinda fuck with anyone.   5X11 13 .   his abduction is an entire thing i won’t go into immediately here,   but there was some very severe torture involved that stays with him for the rest of his life. 14 .    his relationship with death is pretty fucked in general.   he should’ve died so many times.