#i have a lot more screencaps i could have shown off

[timdoubleyou]

i found jay’s black jacket (an ID guide)

This black jacket is worn by Jay about 9 times throughout Marble Hornets, including his final appearance. And after some weeks of on-and-off research, I think I know the exact make and model.

This post will detail exactly how I found it, and serve as a guide for anyone that wants to find the jacket, whether that's for cosplay purposes, or if you're just keen on collecting items related to MH.

Main post under the cut

Intro

The first step to identifying the jacket was to gather as many references as possible.

I went back to the web series and took screenshots from any entries the jacket makes an appearance. (shoutout to mg549′s very comprehensive MH wardrobe guide, without it this would’ve been much more of a pain)

Jay's jacket is, for the most part, very plain. It's a solid color, full-zip jacket, without any particularly eye-catching logos or other details. I had to look for moments where even the slightest distinction appeared clear on camera, at least as distinct as it can be. Even if it was just close-ups to get the shape of a zipper, or how many buttons are on a sleeve, it was the best I got. While I did manage to find a decent amount of these, there was just one crucial detail that would've made finding it near-impossible; the brand is never shown. Thankfully, I had another resource.

In 2018 Troy Sold a Lot of Stuff

In early 2018, Troy officially announced that MH would be continued in a comic series. To fund the first issue, he held a number of auctions for production items used during the web series on Ebay.

These included items such as Jay’s camera, Brian’s hoodie, A Masky mask, and Jay’s black jacket.

Lo and behold, the jacket listing includes a picture with the brand in clear view. It's from Gap.

Ebay does not archive sold listings older than 90 days. However, Worthpoint, a website for valuing and pricing collectibles, does. Using Worthpoint I was able to find all of these items, (and a lot more, which can be found in this doc I submitted to Archive Hornets)

Identification

With the picture from the listing and the series screencaps, I had a complete ID list.

(Top image is from the Ebay listing, with the contrast adjusted a little for easier viewing. The bottom two images are from Entry #79)

The Gap logo (This specific logo dates the jacket being made anywhere between 1986 and 2009, when it first appears).

Front Zipper (Note the shape)

The two front pockets

The two buttons and pointed cuffs on each sleeve (Second one is a little hard to see but it's jusstt peeping out at the side)

The blue piping in the inner lining

The zipper in the right side inner lining

The gray mesh inner lining

With these in mind, I could now go to the next and longest step-

Finding the Jacket

I combed three resell sites; Ebay, Depop, and Poshmark. My main goal wasn't to actually purchase the jacket, (although, I would like to at some point) but to find a jacket listing that had every identifier, and have a more definite baseline for finding others. I needed to be sure what I had was enough to properly ID the jacket. The references I had stitched together were decent enough, but I wanted to see if there was something better out there.

After tons of page scrolling and tab-switching and comparing and contrasting, I finally got lucky.

(first two images are from crashthecloset's listing on poshmark, last six are from shannfo-76 on ebay)

I haven't bought one myself as of posting, but I feel pretty confident this is it. The jackets were already sold, but every marker seemed to be accounted for. It also revealed new ones, like the reflective pattern and pockets on the inner lining, (zipper on the right side pocket, button on the left pocket) and the materials tag.

With that, here's some final notes that may be helpful if you try looking for the jacket yourself:

Online sellers often describe it as a light jacket, a windbreaker, a 2-in-1, or 3-in-1.

"Gap Mens Black Jacket" is the search phrase I used the most since it yielded a (very) broad result pool.

Most of the jackets I found came from Poshmark or Ebay.

The exact size of Jay’s jacket is unclear. My best guesses are either a US Men’s S or M, since Jay was pretty skinny and of average height. I’ve only been able to find maybe 2 jackets that are a size M, one of which is the first pic in the photoset above.

Gap has sold other black jackets that look remarkably similar to Jay’s, and they do pop up on resell sites. One of these was so similar, the only discernible difference was the style of the logo. I highly recommend making sure it matches the exact one Jay had before purchasing. (It's also more than fine to ask/msg me if you have any doubts!) As long as you know what to look for, you shouldn’t have a problem finding at least one.

One detail that confounded me was this sleeve poking out of Jay's jacket. At first I thought he was wearing a long sleeve underneath, making this shot a continuity error since he appeared to Only be wearing the green short sleeve under the jacket.

@hivemite pointed out that this might be a two-in-one jacket, which has multiple layers for different types of weather. While I have not been able to see the sleeve outside of two shots in entry #79 and #80, one listing I found did describe it as a 3-in-1.

that's about it! hope this helps :)

[ethicaltreatmentofcowplants]

Serenity likely judging both the Watcher for making her knit in a towel (she was at the Willow Creek gym lot) aaaand Maxis for making the lighting so dim before I adjusted the brightness in the Windows Pictures app. While I personally wouldn't want to be too brightly lit in that setting (being a fair skinned redhead, when I exercise my face looks like a tomato) please, think of the Watchers!

(Also why haven't I done this from the beginning with my badly lit/nighttime screencaps? I am such a doofus.)

Anyway here's her skills after Week Two:

KNITTING 6 8 PAINTING 4 6 CHARIMSA 3 4 GARDENING 2 4 COOKING 2 3 VIDEO GAMING 3 HANDINESS 3 ENTREPRENEUR 2 FISHING 2

CHEATS USED: Cheated her needs to Full once when the game was glitched and had her stuck on a video game that she'd already finished playing for hours.

She's also at the LEVEL 3: DREAM WEAVER stage of the Lady of the Knits aspiration, with 6/10 excellent quality knittables completed, 2 out of 3* successfully gifted knittables and having successfully shown off her knitted sweater to another Sim.

*This appears to be actually glitched since she's given presents that have received positive moodlets, but nothing's being checked on the list. So I'm just keeping track of her progress and will use a cheat once she's ready to level onto the next stage.

There were no reward traits redeemed as I'm saving up for STEEL BLADDER and trying to keep a few points in the bank depending on what packs I use next.

(ramblings plus more info below)

Obviously with keeping in mind a player who may have few to no packs, LAUNDRY DAY and TINY LIVING make more sense as additions than PARANORMAL and I can see why most people were leaning towards them. They along with NIFTY KNITTING were the first three stuff packs I purchased and they definitely enhance builds, CAS and just make the base game feel 'nicer' and more lived-in overall. But Knitting did spoil me with the amount of gameplay it adds in comparison to most other stuff packs, and so straight after that Laundry felt a little "okay, so now what?"

With only a single adult household the gameplay aspect is pretty straightforward and manageable, as well as helping your Sim's FITNESS skill if you use a washtub (well it should but that appears to be glitched too). But I'm also having flashbacks to multiple Sim households and remembering why - as cute as they were - I removed all the items that enabled this mechanic in other saves. And gosh, imagine having laundry with infants and blowouts - especially since infant management seemed to be glitched anyway. It would be cool if there were a way to deactivate it while still leaving out the tubs and washbaskets etc.

But aside from that particular mechanic not really being my cup of pumpkin spice, I do think that this is one of the best Stuff packs and I understand why it is many people's (including mine) recommendations of being among the first you purchase. Several items in both CAS and build are staples - I love the rugs, the sinks, the plants and the one hanging lightbulb that doesn't look too overwhelming in builds. There really isn't anything that I dislike in either mode. Also lint in dryers causing fires is a nice touch.

And yes - it is a bit silly of me to have purchased a pack called LAUNDRY DAY and then complain about having laundry in it - like they actually have werewolves in the WEREWOLVES pack? Could they not please?

EDIT: Forgot the house - there are a few mostly cosmetic additions from LAUNDRY DAY. Likewise saving simoleons because next week will be camping in Granite Falls and I'd like to expand the week after.

[atopvisenyashill]

that post reminded me that got actually did something spartacus did that i thought was an amazing choice for a visual medium.

both shows are about two hyperviolent societies and a specific war those societies wage, so both shows are full of violence - blood, gore, gaping wounds, grotesque injuries, you name it both shows have it. but one thing that spartacus was deliberate about was bruises. in the whole show, very few characters are ever shown bruised. i believe it’s just three out if a cast of several dozen - naevia, ilithyia, and pietros. i’m using naevia as the biggest example bc she’s the only one i can find enough pictures of rn (rip the websites i used to get my screencaps from, they are unusably filled with ads now). if you look at the scrapes naevia takes throughout the series (pls note the actress was replaced) you see she’s got blood, scabs, scars, sometimes even light swelling but no bruising.

EXCEPT. FOR ONE SCENE. background - naevia is a body slave to a domina, meant to stay a virgin until her mistress finds her a proper (slave) husband. naevia falls in love with crixus, her mistress’ gladiator lover, and he with her. they are found out, and naevia is shaved and beaten then sent to various other masters to be “punished” (raped) and finally sent to the mines to die, while crixus is whipped, poisoned, and sent into a fight to die. but when lucretia (the domina) is confronting naevia over how she’s been sneaking around, we see lucretia use her own hands to slap naevia around (before handing her off to be tortured). and here, we have the only bruise naevia ever wears:

it was very much on purpose, to drive home the interpersonal violence, and naevia’s helplessness to stop it despite her intelligence and strength.

they do this twice over. the very first time is actually with pietros, a young slave (glossing over a lot here) forced to share a room with a man who rapes & beats him. the first time it happens, the only evidence is a bruise on pietros’ face. not a cut, not a break, not a split lip. just a bruise.

the second is with ilithyia, the wife of a roman general. though she does her fair share of harm throughout the show, in s2 ilithyia finds herself at odds with her husband, culminating in him slapping her across the face. ilithyia is shown with a bruise - just a bruise! - the next episode. what’s more, it’s remarked on. background - ilithyia’s husband, claudius, was the general that left the thracian’s to die, then captures spartacus and his wife and sold them into slavery for disobeying his marching orders. another slave, gannicus, kidnaps her right after she’s struck to give to spartacus - he wants to end the war with an eye for an eye, sura died so spartacus kills ilithyia. except spartacus notices the bruise. he figures out right away her husband gave it to her, and sets her free with a haunting line while touching the bruise on her cheek - he does not love you.

it’s meant to be more personal, to evoke feelings of domestic violence. to show us that these characters who are brave, powerful, strong, intelligent, cunning, all find themselves through no fault of their own on the receiving end of ipv and no way of protecting themselves, because society is not set up to allow them protection from their “betters.”

and then we have cersei.

i know this scene is in the book but i think the decision to have it be a very common looking bruise was amazing - it’s not super purple and green, it doesn’t take up half her face, it’s just a palm sized, pink and red bruise on her cheek. such a small little thing and yet the humiliation of it, of what it represents, says so much more than some overdramatic injury ever could. the lioness of house lannister but even cersei can’t stop her husband from beating her if that’s what he wants to do.

[imminentinertia]

Today's the day when everyone is required to add their thoughts on The Eighth Sense ep. 6, yes? Here are mine, and I'll throw them under a readmore because there are spoilers.

It would be nice to be the kind of person who carefully screencaps and illustrates their posts, but alas and alack, there's only text.

I've seen a lot of theorising on most/all of ep. 6 being a dream or a hallucination, and while the cinematographic choices certainly point in the direction of the trip not being entirely real (the bright and slightly fuzzy filters, the sudden jumps, bringing nothing -> suddenly having all the camping gear you could wish for, the dreamy (hotel?) bed room, the shift from both of the guys sitting on the beach to Jae Won sitting alone in the exact same position), I think it might be an unreliable narrator twisting the "real" events of the episode. Not a dream, I think, but not quite a hallucination either.

I raised an eyebrow at the rest stop shop guy (side note: who is he. I want to see more of him in other shows/films) giving Ji Hyun the memory stick, and both eyebrows at him giving Jae Won the fireworks, because it made no sense at all.

But it does make sense if a narrator is edging into an idealised version of his story, where everything is bright and inviting.

From the rest stop on, I (and everyone else...) found the episode very unsettling, and the sudden camping gear really threw me - spare boots, really? When a few hours ago nothing was ready and you'd buy any thing you needed? At the entirely too bright and perfect morning on the beach I was practically squirming. It was so off compared to the cinematography up to the trip starting.

The unreliable narrator is most likely Jae Won. He's teetering on the brink of something, with his therapy and his meds and his father and the broken camera coming to a bit of a crescendo, and while he might not be all out hallucinating, he may be glossing over some things and blowing other things vastly out of proportion. We haven't been shown any hints about Ji Hyun being this unreliable.

So what sort of reality will we get in episode 7? I'm not even going to try and guess, it could go any way from a SKAM type mental crash and return to near normal and happy ending to all out horrible heartbreak and loss.

SKAM (I wonder which version(s)) was apparently used as an inspiration/preparation, according to a live they did, and SKAM's happy solutions for the mains was not necessarily the couple lives happily ever after (Eva breaking up with Jonas because that was the best for her at that point).

However, I note that the domestic trailer is far more upbeat than the international one, it seems from that like it's supposed to be feelgood overall. So maybe an open or happy ending? Yes please?

I also wonder why the tone in the domestic and international trailers are quite different. Could be something about what tends to lure the domestic audience in vs. what gets the international attention, and I don't know enough about the Korean audience to guess whether they enjoy getting a cheerful trailer and then a horrible heartbreak episode.

As for SKAM, back in the remake bonanza days there was indeed talk of making a Korean SKAM. It never came to be, and I absolutely don't want to call The Eighth Sense a Korean SKAM, but a beautiful Korean show that deals with sexuality and mental health? Yes fucking please. Also the reminder that SKAM lurks in the background here gives me a hope to cling to for a reasonably not-unhappy ending. It was utterly horrible watching Even's manic episode and Isak's panic at Even's text in O Helga Natt, but it turned out well.

Life is now, and don't trust your five senses too much?

I don't usually tag my poor mutuals in rambly posts, but perhaps @mynameisnotthepoint and/or @lurkingshan may be interested?

[distortedkilling]

Welp. I'm putting it under a read more so if people want to ignore it, they can. But because it was made public and for the sake of transparency at the accusations/implications hurled, I feel more comfortable posting about it than not. Not even for my own sake but because one of the best people I know is involved who is always patient and considerate with tags and being informed of peoples triggers.

@photosensitive-despair

I just want to say I find it convenient we were blocked and that my second ask where I'm clearly in agreement with the majority of what they're saying was posted, solely because I disagreed with the method of how this was approached. Nice to know the way they voiced having been treated is exactly the treatment they give others when they voice a criticism and ask for basic respect.

Additional unasked for advice: If you can't hold a debate or conversation in advocation for something you believe in, then you need to study and reflect more on what you're doing - wait to go public. In life, you are going to be criticized and questioned and if you can't handle some nobodies on the internet both agreeing, disagreeing, and criticizing you on a bare minimum level, then you are only going to hurt your cause more than help it. Especially when you throw accusations and implications and behave as shown below. Take it from an actual fucking activist who has been advocating mental and physical disabilities and equal rights since before you were born.

Where it began. Quen and I were just dicking around and her ask was reblogged. Neither of us have an issue with the blog's purpose, mind you. We're very much in support of correcting trigger warning tags being used incorrectly. Quen went ahead and corrected those tags.

Quen originally changed the tags on this post to the ones they requested before she decided to remove the icon as a whole and add context because of the reply that was given to our asks to remove the post from their blog. My dumbass just forgot to screencap the initial change but by the effort she made I think it's evident she followed through.

Cue my ask. Quen's is in their reply that follows. For the sake of transparency, I know my text tone isn't always pleasant and no one likes to get confronted/scolded, which is why I addressed how I wanted to sound to avoid confusion but alas.

Their reply. I don't disagree with the majority of their efforts, neither does Quen.

And then the second ask I sent which conveniently was ignored before they blocked us. I tried to clearly explain we supported what they did and where our only criticism was. As well as requested again to please remove our post from their blog.

After I had sent that, for the sake of showing with action my solidarity to their cause, I reblogged their post on tags. And I aim to keep it up and keep on reblogging it because I believe in their cause. Even if the people behind the blog I'm less enthused regarding, it's whatever. I'm an adult and a tired one at that, I see a cause I support and I'll support it even if the people are behaving poorly. What I won't do, though, is sit quietly when they are in need of some feedback on their conduct, however. People, especially advocates of something, don't become better activists by living in an echo chamber. They need to hear criticism in order to make sure they are reaching as many people as they can for their cause. That includes doing things in a way you may not like or get a lot of results with, like privately messaging people instead of making this public and snatching peoples content.

I hate doing this nonsense and I'm grateful I actually don't have to do it often at all since I usually am surrounded by competent adults who know common sense and how to communicate. I sent an ask off anon so they could reply to it private since messaging wasn't possible. Their choice to go public tied my hands a bit here. Especially with the following post here that doubles down on their accusations and implication of either of us being ableist. Honestly.

Finally, my favorite form of Tumblr mentality and behavior. Blocking people for giving valid and justified criticism. People who agree with you but still made frustrated and concerned commentary on your conduct. People who, I don't know... explained their discomfort and boundaries and requested you meet them halfway are shut down without any construction communication. Hm. Quen and I are literally implementing and supporting your cause and yet this is how you respond and behave.

Glad to know the level of professionalism here with this post they dropped. Brilliant. Congrats, you are officially behaving the exact way you said others treat you with. You've become what you despise and officially are hurting your cause by living in an echo chamber instead of having a constructive conversation and having basic respect for other people.

I support your cause, I don't currently support your ability to constructively advocate for it if this is how you behave.

And lastly, anyone who made it this far, please respect their cause and even reblog their post. It's very informative. Their conduct is rude, yeah, but I don't want hate thrown their way or any such shit. I just wanted to address for the sake of transparency this because it affects my friend and myself. If anyone has questions or wants stuff clarified, you know you can DM me.

Anyways, take care. Be safe. <3

[tired-reader-writer]

Team Zahhak lair recerence. Very spooky— are those fetuses?

This panel makes my brain go brr bc yes this humanizes Hilmes but also there's a lot of factors contributing to that impression even outside of the dialogue— the panel is relatively small, giving off a vulnerable, subdued feel. His eyes (which often come across as inhuman or burning with an unearthly flame) are not shown, his expression is milder here than before, and the actual dialogue bubbles are also small to give a vibe different from usual: he is not the intense, terrifying man he usually is, he's a grieving person who feels responsible for Kharlan's family after what he's done for him. The result combined with the actual text of the dialogue conveys Hilmes' humanity even before we learn of his backstory. Good. Job.

Also, show us Kharlan's wife, Arakawa. Where is she.

He leaves, and his expression is difficult to see and he's shrouded in shadows. I wonder how he dealt with this loss when he gets truly alone. Does he keep thinking of Kharlan, replaying memories? Imagining an unusually quiet and subdued Hilmes all alone in a big room :(

Before, I used to wonder why the fuck Hilmes was rewarding Team Zahhak with gold of all things— I theorized on whether perhaps precious metals or the like could have a fueling effect on magic but turns out I was overthinking it. It's not bc money is somehow useful to Team Zahhak, no, it's because Hilmes does not understand Team Zahhak and what they're striving for. This scene was meant to convey that they definitely got their thing going on and are likely using Hilmes, and Hilmes is in the dark about a lot of things, including their intentions, going by how the Master dismissively flicks a coin away. It holds no meaning to him, it has no worth.

I kinda feel like a fool, lol.

So slaves are not meant to be seen on the main streets? I guess they have their own dedicated pathways? Or is this a Lusitanian invention? Hmm.

Not screencapped but the anklets make an appearance again!

Palace refs! This reminds me of the water garden in Otoyomegatari (which I screencapped in this post) which makes sense considering they're both drawn from the same cultural inspiration.

Yikes.

It should be that confessions brought forth by torture should not be trusted bc humans will just say whatever they think their tormenters want them to say just to make the torture end, it's not about obtaining accurate info or confessions at all, has never been. It's about the captors exerting their power over the captive, and it's disgusting.

The same principle applies here. People aren't converting out of genuine faith, they're converting as part of self-preservation. And while I'm not sure Bodin is consciously aware of it or not but it's clear that he just likes flaunting his power over the defenseless rather than wishing to make people see the true glory of Yaldabaoth or whatever.

God I hate this guy.

This must be the royal archives!

The burning of books still boils my blood, it's abhorrent. And Bodin even threw a fellow Lusitanian into the fire just because he suggested a sensible thing of, y'know, not setting these tomes on fire willy-nilly.

It's okay, it's okay, chapter 121 is there for us. It's okay. But god I hate this man.

Foreshadowing! :D Rereading Bodin's atrocities gave me even more satisfaction for chapter 121.

I don't really have anything interesting to say about this, just putting it here bc I find it neat.

This is the first we hear of Narsus freeing his household slaves— when we're first introduced to him we only learn that he's a master tactician who pissed off the royal court and left, and though we already had a favorable impression of him (and his anti-slavery sentiments are already apparent) this sheds a newer light on his character.

It is not enough to just flip an old system over like a table and say “there, done, everything's fine and dandy now!”, it doesn't work that way. It is not enough to have an uprising or a revolution or whatever, it is even more important to have a clear vision of what comes after and how to achieve it. Good ruling isn't about winning battles it's about competent administration and resource distribution and all that jazz. It is not enough to just destroy, you must create as well.

The slaves in Ecbatana did not have the means to act on their (supposed) freedom because they hadn't planned for it, they don't have the means to, all they could do was the uprising without the follow-up and... I do not blame them, they didn't know any better, but this just shows how important these sorts of things is.

This also sheds a light on Hilmes because... he doesn't have a vision for Pars' future beyond him ruling it. That is not enough.

And look at Daryun looking concerned for Narsus!

[broke-on-books]

Hi Swishy!!! 👋😊 If you’re still accepting these:

☕️ + Gang origin stories (what you like/dislike/prefer in canon or fan-made origins for Mystery Inc)

Oh my gosh Cally you picked like the best question on the face of the earth for this ask wth okay

SCOOBY: This one's easy, and I'm sure you can guess it if you've been around my blog for more than five minutes. GRILLO'S PETS ORIGIN STORY!!!!!!! Love love love the Grillo's Pet Shop origin! If you're somehow unaware, this is the origin shown in flashback in Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood (1979) aka my favorite movie ever. Basically the gang (as teens already) go to a pet store wanting to buy a dog. While there, a baby Scooby tries to shows off for them and makes a whole mess (as usual <3) but is so endearing they take him home anyways. This is by far my favorite origin for Scooby as here he's more than just "Shaggy's dog" but the gangs' as a unit. This origin has really great gang interactions in and about Scooby with Shaggy showing reluctance to get him in the first place! (As opposed the the besties since birth origin that's common in other adaptations, such as APNSD) I really love that detail as we get to see other gang members (especially Velma!!!! The Grillo's pets origin has some amazingggg Scooby+Velma interactions and screencaps) argue for Scooby becoming a part of their lives, and it also paints Shaggy in the family-member-who-didn't-want-a-pet-but-now-they're-best-friends role that often exists in real life (and which is just HILARIOUS for Shaggy and Scooby!)

SCRAPPY: Of the Scrappy origins I'm familiar with (those being the one from the SD&SD theme song, and the other the episode surrounding his birth [the one all the baby bonnet scrappy screencaps are from]) I definitely prefer the original theme song version much better. Some of that strong preference is likely because I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I would go about reintroducing (or redeeming [in the public opinion] as my blog title says) Scrappy Doo, and that's by doing an extended exploration of the box-in-the-mail origin story. I'm also just obsessed with what that origin means for Scooby's family life and his relationship with Ruby that she would send her son (who Scooby has never met!!!!) to stay with him for an indeterminate length of time without notice (by MAILING SCRAPPY IN A BOX NO LESS) while also having Scrappy arrive at Scooby with a full hero-worship situation going on. Like do you know how much potential that idea has?!?!?!?!? I could talk about the Doo sibling semi-estrangement (as it exists in my mind and nowhere else) for HOURS and what it means for Scooby, Ruby, and Scrappy like !!!!!!!!!!. Warner Brothers needs to hire me to rewrite this introduction ASAP

Shaggy: I'm not informed enough on the Rogers family lore to say too much about it, although I don't see Shaggy having too large of a nuclear family. He's someone I see with a lot of cousins though and aunts and uncles (and differing relationships with each, as seen in the 'I'm a man? Another first! Take that Uncle Dave!' or however it goes clip from bcsd) I can't evision what his parents would be like at all, although I'm sure they're very interesting people for naming their child NORVILLE of all things. After some quick googling, I've learned he canonically does have a younger sister, Sugie, which I could definitely fit into my image of him with a big enough age gap bet the two. Shaggy is someone I see as growing up pretty alone (without Scooby in the Grillo's origin though, which... ouch) but could definitely fulfill the youngest/er child niche within a large extended family.

VELMA: I like Velma as an older sister and I like Madelyn Dinkley. I don't have a ton ton to say about her origin other that I like the parts we've generally seen (especially the fear of clowns lol). Velma to me has always been a lifelong reader and I think that's something that's likely true for her parents as well. Not a huge fan of her SDMI parents, but I don't like any of the SDMI parents so that's not exactly a surprise here.

Daphne: For Daphne, lots of Scopby properties like to portray her family as pretty wealthy, and I think I'd agree on that assessment for her. However if I was going to pick between Daphne origins/family situations I'd definitely go with the BCSD one for sure. I like her as an only child much more than having a gaggle of sisters like in SDMI, and I think that tying into her quirks and how her family is rich gives a good explanation for many of her more esoteric skills. Basically what I'm trying to say is that she had lessons in almost everything under the sun growing up, no matter how weird or useless.

FRED: This is definitely the hardest one. Believe it or not I haven't gotten to the BCSD episodes with Professor Huh? yet so I know pretty much nothing but idk. LOVE how Fred has tragic backstories with villain!parents leaking out his ears that's sooo funny actually (THREE TIMES FRED. AT LEAST.) However. Idk. I'm a fan of Skip and Peggy. Like Fred's embarrassing overbearing normal parents is also so entertaining as well. So idk I'm pretty flexible with Fred. This man has no siblings though. When he was bored at home he talked to his nets or something

THE GANG: I don't have preferences really on how the gang as a unit came together, besides the edition of Scooby and Scrappy. It's just not an event that interests me a ton, mostly because I see it happening in very similar ways each time. Like either they're all friends and a mystery pops up and they solve it together and BOOM! Mystery Incorporated or they're mystery enthusiasts and a mystery pops up and BOOM! close friendship (and also mystery incorporated)

But anyways thank you so so much for asking this question actually this was a very good pick Cally (esp in regards to the dogs, I have Opinions about those two)

[noriiii04]

THE LAST UNICORN CONTACT SHEET (LOU ROMANO INSPIRED RESEARCH)

After researching Lou Romano and reading his blog. I found that for inspiration he makes contact sheet inspired montages, sort of like colour scripts of movies he watches. I decided to do so as well in similar fashion, with the movie "The Last Unicorn" as it is a movie I enjoy the visuals of.

[SPOILERS FOR WHOLE MOVIE]

I took screencaps as I watched, of times I enjoyed the composition, colours, or aesthetics. The contact sheet however ended up a little long. But as we analyse it, from start to finish, the movie starts off with very light colours, lush greens and bright yellows. And as the story progresses it gets dark, and then light again.

In a very typical fashion, the movie has an exposition in the beginning. Then in the middle there is a conflict, rising action and climax. And lastly, falling action and a resolution, and you can track that from the colour palette in the images.

In the beginning of the movie, our main character, Amalthea, finds out she is the last living unicorn. She is told that the red bull chased them all away somewhere, and she sets out to find the other unicorns. On her travels she is captured by an evil witch, and trapped in her fake circus of fantastical animals. In these scenes the main colours used are dark blues and occasional reds, for instance the moon. It works perfectly to set a dark and unsettling atmosphere, that is suffocating and fitting for the scenes.

After she is freed, the movie keeps a sombre blue, in my eyes to envision the struggle and sadness Amalthea feels, searching for the rest of the unicorns. It could also be foreshadowing that there is more sinister scenes to come.

We are joined by some other characters and as they continue on their travels, they are finally met with the red bull that they have heard so much about. He stands out and is a bright striking red. The red symbolises danger, and rage. Which both describe the red bull perfectly. He is blocky and pointy in shapes, showing strength, intimidation and menace. Whilst Amalthea is whites, light blues and purple. Showing innocence and purity, which she is described to be as a immortal unicorn. The colours blue and purple are also used a lot in the movie (besides showing sadness) to embody magic. Amalthea is also a lot of round shapes and curvy smooth lines, which I interpret as elegance, softness and a soft nature.

She and the red bull are polar opposites. He is big and intimidating whilst she is small and soft natured.

To save her from being taken away by the red bull, she is turned human. Which is a jarring and sad experience for her, as she goes from an immortal being that cannot feel sadness and regret, to a mortal human.

She is then staying at the castle of the king who owns the bull, who they assume has all the unicorns captured. And his castle is shown to be sinister and intimidating, but at the same time mundane and depressing. The king is bored, and it is shown through his muted and grimy colour palette, which is made up of greys and muted browns and such. Similarly to his castle, which is greys and blacks. The castle is also sometimes sinister dark blues and greens.

The greys could also symbolise Amalthea's sadness, after being stripped away of her immortal body.

The red bull also takes over a lot of space on the screen, which makes everything a red colour, additionally he lights up his environment in a crimson colour, making the environment scary and hostile.

You can tell in which scenes the action is taking place by the bright red colours, the red is very clearly used in this movie to symbolise danger, and urgency.

Both the beginning and the end have a lot of green in them, in the end however the green is followed by a blue, which is apparent after Amalthea defeats the red bull and he is overshadowed by blueness. In these scenes the blue symbolises victory and magic, but also a slight sombreness as Amalthea has to abandon a prince she had taken a liking to in her human form. Furthermore, she is now different than the rest of the unicorns which she frees, she has been mortal and a part of her is yet mortal, she has felt regret and sadness. She accepts this and leaves her friends to go and join the rest of the unicorns as the environment around her changes from blue to green.

In this one I selected every third screen cap to shorten the contact sheet up. And although it does a good job at showing off the story and there's good images on there, it has missed out some really good shots composition wise.

In this one I picked and chose my favourite screen caps, composition and colour wise. It is still a little long, I guess I could do a better job next time and try to shorten it.

I got curious and wanted to see the storyboards and production art that went into the making of "The Last Unicorn". The most noticeable thing is that it is all done on paper, obviously as it is quite an old movie now (1982).

It is based on the book "The Last Unicorn" written by Peter S. Beagle in 1968, who was also the screenwriter for the movie. The movie was not very liked at first and was definitely not a box office hit due to its "weird" art and animation style, and also unusual premise, though the book is considered a cult hit.

The animation was a struggle as well, and most of it was actually made in Japan, not America. Studio Topcraft, which later on worked on Hayao Miyazaki’s "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind", worked on most of the movie.

Lord of the Rings script writer Beagle worked on "The Last Unicorn" as well, which brought more attention to the movie as at the time "Lord of the Rings" was growing in popularity.

Production, in studio Topcraft, began in 1979 after receiving a scratch track and Beagle’s screenplay, plus initial sketches by artist Lester Abrams. 75,000 drawings and 260 colours were used for "The Last Unicorn". Most of the look and feel of the whole movie was thanks to Tsuguyuki Kubo, he co-storyboarded the film with technical director Katsuhisa Yamada, and co-designed the characters with Lester Abrams. He is also widely respected in the industry, and prides himself in his work.

Expression in the character's animation was a priority and they used real live action actors as references. Additionally, the impact of each overall shot was super important to them; the design, the lighting, the layouts, the effects and etc.

The background art was heavily influenced by the art of Kay Nielsen. Furthermore, Topcraft invested 2 million yen into an artbook to study Nielsen’s work.

Kay Nielson's work

In conclusion, "The Last Unicorn" is a carefully thought out movie according to lighting, colour, backgrounds, design, composition and et cetera. It was a good movie to study as it gave me an even better idea of use of colour and the different ways colour and design can be used to uplift and exaggerate a movie's message and feel.

A real clay model was even used for the castle of King Haggard to really study lighting.

Concept art by Kubo and high quality screen caps

Source: https://animationobsessive.substack.com/p/the-making-of-the-last-unicorn

[xjinkiesx]

Question- What racism is there in SDMI? And how does SDMI only exist because of HP Lovecraft? That just doesn't make sense.

Good Day.

I did, admittedly, spend quite a lot of time last night thinking about your questions and figuring out the best way to address them. The best way I found was from the beginning, which is a perfectly good way to start according to Julie Andrews, so let’s just jump on it.

Screencaps from SDMI are either taken myself from archive.org’s postings of the episodes, or from mysteryincoutofcontext. Other pictures/screenshots were sourced from Google.

And this is going under a Read More because it’s a long read.

Real quickly, however, I’ll amend something that I learned while gathering my sources. I incorrectly called Abigail Gluk and Pericles’s robot creations Kriegstapobots, coming from mixing the German word krieg (war) and the term Gestapo, who were the former secret police of Nazi Germany. The term they use, however, is Kriegstaffelbot, combining krieg as well as staffel, meaning squadron. 

Okay, so into the meat and potatoes of your questions. Let us start with my statements of racism. I may, ultimately, be missing some instances, as these were just the ones that came to my head initially. What I also realized while researching for this reply is that I may also simply be misinformed. I am white. How I see things as being racist may or may not be correct, and the final judgement should be made by people of the cultures that these are directed at. My best work is simply to point out where things can be improved.

The racism in SDMI comes in the form of jokes. There is nothing outwardly malicious stated or displayed that I can remember. Frankly, I am not going to sit back down and rewatch every episode just to catalog things for the sake of this reply to make sure of that. I hesitate to use the term microaggression out of fear of incorrect usage, but I do honestly feel that is what a lot of these boil down to.

Honorable mention to Angel Dynamite (Vivica A. Fox) who I cannot in good faith say is an example of racism but knowing the social conditions that created her character is honestly well worth looking into. Angel Dynamite is heavily rooted in the Blaxploitation genre, popular in the late 60s through the 1970s, with some notable inclusions going up until as recent as 2021. The genre is deeply rooted in the Black Power movement, with characters that are often fighting “The Man”, a nebulous and white power that is attempting to keep them subdued. There are a lot of stereotypes and high romanticization of the Black experience in this genre of film, as well as a lot of generalizations made. I feel like knowing the history behind her character archetype is worth more than boiling her down to “racist trope or not”. What I did find interesting is that Black Dynamite, the film and adult animated series that parodies Blaxpoiltation, was also distributed by Warner Brothers around this era. Her name may be a nod to it, but I could find nothing concrete on this.

Angel is, however, subject to at least one possible microaggression that I can remember. In Season 1, Episode 14, “Mystery Solvers Club State Finals”, Principal Quinlan makes a statement about how Angel is “robust” for a woman. Women of color have a history of their femininity being downplayed or weaponized, and this phrase coming from a white woman just, to me, seems a little off.

For good measure, a screencap:

Who I can more definitively point out as being a caricature is Lady Marmalade (Cree Summers) from Season 1, Episode 23, “A Haunting in Crystal Cove.” Played for comedy, she is a heavy parody of the Creole South, with her design likely taking inspiration from actual Voodoo practitioner, herbalist, and spiritualist Marie Laveau, shown below:

Lady Marmalade’s name comes from a song by the same name about a man who visits a New Orleans prostitute, made famous in 1975 by Patti Labelle. This is, ultimately, not what I find out-of-pocket. It’s the characterization. She's a borderline Mammy in her delivery, and the character’s “comical” portrayals of Voodoo – a very real and cultural practice primarily performed by members of the Diaspora – are not flattering. 

SDMI is not terrible with its portrayals of Asian characters, which genuinely surprised me. Like many things in SDMI, you can see where the creators chose to wear their inspirations on their sleeves. From Showa Era film to more modern martial arts films, they take heavy inspiration and do so in a mostly respectful way. 

Chen’s Coffee is the thing that keeps me from giving it a full pass. Of all the designs for a Chinese-owned coffee shop, they went with this:

Call this one a stretch if you will, but I really feel like they could have done better on this design. Crystal Cove is a tourist-trap town, and gimmicks are certainly a thing, but this really just seems to be too much. Even the Chinatown sign seems overly done in a “Get it? He’s Chinese!” way.

Bonus points for Mayor Jones calling a traditional Peking opera costume a “Geisha” in Season 1, Episode 18, “The Dragon’s Secret”. It’s a completely different culture, though Mayor Jones does have a pattern of using inappropriate one-offs as jokes. The full line, since I wasn’t able to get a screenshot with subtitles of the full scene: “Why do we have a geisha tied up in here? You know they belong downtown in Crystal Cove’s Geisha House of Terror.” Partial screencap with subtitles:

The last instance of racism that I can think of immediately is from Season 2, Episode 11, “Dance of the Undead”. In order to infiltrate a Hex Girls concert on the yacht of a Sheik, Shaggy and Scooby go under-cover. They’re harem girl outfits. 

This is very much a joke context: Shaggy is explaining how, because this is a Sheik, it’s obvious that they dress up like this to get in. When they get in, everyone is dressed normally, and they stand out. It’s a decision they made informed by racism and Orientalism, and it backfires to them. In a show of good faith, I like to think that this is critiquing past cultural disguises of the duo that have not aged well. This one from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1970), Season 2, Episode 2, “Mystery Mask Mix-up” where they made this… choice. It reeks of Micky Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

We have come a long way since 1970, obviously. The fact that the joke is how wrong and out-of-touch the two are to think the disguise would work shows that. However, acknowledging something does not excuse it. There were many ways they could have disguised themselves to get onto that boat. The fact they went for the racist one is the ultimate problem.

                                                           xXx

Before we get into the second aspect of your question, I need to be pedantic and point out a difference in our wording. In my tags, I said: “Not to mention that the entire universe it [SDMI] exists in exists because of HP Lovecraft.” Your question is: “And how does SDMI only exist because of HP Lovecraft?“ Why am I bringing this up?

Because wording matters here. Part of SDMI’s charm is that it takes from multiple different sources to create its universe. It is a love letter to horror as a whole. From Hellraiser to The Hills Have Eyes to Twilight Zone to Alien, SDMI pulls from these iconic pieces and puts them together into something that people can enjoy even without knowing the origins. To me, that’s fantastic! It’s part of why I love it. So much referential content relies on the audience having a background with what it is referencing. SDMI does not do that.

However, the difference between our two statements is that I am stating that SDMI is a genre piece, whereas your question is attributing everything to a singular person’s work. That simply is not what I was saying and, to me, seems like an argument in bad faith. My wording could have been clearer; I was attempting for brevity due to tags, and did not think that anyone would be going through my tags, as this is a small and pretty inactive rp blog. Whether the misquoting was intentional or not, it does point to a breakdown in communication.

With all that said, let us address how SDMI is an entry into the genre of Lovecraftian/cosmic horror, and what that means regarding the genre’s namesake.

                                                          xXx

H.P. Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 - March 15, 1937) was an American writer. I do not need to tell you at this point that he was a man with some very flawed ideologies (don’t google his cat’s name). He is best known for the Cthulhu mythos, and delved into ideas that were not common in horror at the time, which created an entirely new subgenre. Victorian and Naturalist horror at that time was very much grounded in the person: The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Hounds of Baskerville, Dracula. If we want to go into the themes that create the horror in these pieces, that is a whole different ball of wax, but do feel free to ask if you’re interested.

Lovecraft’s interests regarding horror were based on the unknown. The ever present “what if”. The uncertainties that manifested into things that were utterly terrible and terrifying. Yes, a lot of this was rooted in his xenophobic beliefs and sheltered lifestyle. One can argue that he got better as he grew older: his wife, Sonia Greene, was Jewish, and did help to alter his antisemitic beliefs. There are a lot of people who argue that Lovecraft’s beliefs were simply in line with the era he grew up in. If you ask me, I doubt it. Severely. As a society, we have a way of using hyperbole to try to show how much better things are currently than they used to be. While ideologies come and go, the idea that everyone before the Civil Rights movement were a monolith of Extreme White Racists just does more harm than good and dehumanizes our ancestors.

Anywho, once the subgenre picked up and more persons began to add to it, the name became less synonimous with Lovecraft himself and took on the name “cosmic horror”. I actually really like this title more, as it doesn’t restrict the subgenre to a singular person.

So, what does this have to do with SDMI? Let us look at the hallmarks of cosmic/Lovecraftian horror.

Per Wikipedia (yeah yeah, faliable source), Lovecraftian/cosmic horror “...emphasizes themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries...”. Cosmic dread here means “the result of hyperawareness of our own minuscule nature within our universe” (Puzzlebox Horror). 

Frankly, I cannot better summarize the core themes of SDMI’s ongoing plot better than that list, save to add “the power of friendship” onto the end. 

In the realm of aesthetics, the color green also tends to get attributed to cosmic horror thanks to Lovecraft’s use of it specifically with Cthulhu. One of SDMI’s more striking visuals, to me, is the near- consistant use of a green wash or green backlight up until the final episode after Pericles is defeated and everything goes to “normal”, and then returns after the gang set off to Miskatonic University.

Which... we get to talk about Miskatonic University.

Remember how earlier I mentioned that SDMI does not require the watcher to know everything it references to understand the show, but certainly adds to the piece if you do? This is one of those moments where knowing what Miskatonic University is gives a whole new context to the work.

Prior to the team going, they speak with Harlan Ellison, who was not just a character in the show but an actual author of cosmic horror and is known best for his short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967). He even voiced himself in the show. Harlan Ellison’s voicework in SDMI was one of the last things he did in film and tv before his death in 2014. Ellison puts a bookend explaination on the idea that multiple dimensions exist, multiple timelines, etc., which the show had been exploring in a Baby’s First Theoretical Physics sort of way. This itself has a place in cosmic horror, fitting in that “risks associated with scientific discoveries”, as they have changed everything they know thanks to destroying the Evil Entity that had been manipulating Crystal Cove, and it does fill them with a sense of cosmic dread.

Ellison afterwards states he has enrolled the four of them into Miskatonic University, the gang repaint the van, and tavel off to Arkham, MA. 

Yes. That Arkham. The Batman one. This is where it came from.

Miskatonic University is a fictional institution created by H.P. Lovecraft, and a lot of his stories, as well as subsequent author’s creations, use it as a setting. It’s an Ivy League school, on par with Harvard and very popular with the Old Money of the area, as well as those interested in occult sciences. 

From the Wikipedia:

Because of the name-dropping of Miskatonic University, the universe of SDMI outside of Crystal Cove is incredibly expandid upon. I honestly recommend just taking a look at the Wikipedia article just to see how many different pieces of media interset at Miskatonic University, and from there see what they are about, and what they delve into, because it is fascinating how that informs the universe that this show now exists in.

And that universe, whether we like it or not, started with H.P. Lovecraft.

                                                         xXx

It’s 2:46pm right now, meaning I have been working on this for almost four hours. I hope that this reply has answered your questions and informed you of the meaning behind my statements. 

I invite you into my inbox should you have further questions, but do ask that you do so with respect and curiosity. 

I hope this finds you well, and you have a wonderful day.

- xjinkiesx

[blastoisemonster]

Posting A Few More W's

Oh hey folks! The site's not dead at all, don't worry. It's just that I have accumulated so many GB cartridges now that my current decorated storage boxes are full- and I'm still in the process of painting a new one to start hoarding more. Mine's an organized collection, mind you U_U

Nevertheless I've been playing a lot elsewhere, mainly on the Switch because I realized I have one at home I mean, its library of graphic adventures has plenty of interesting titles, but also on several other consoles as me and my brother currently have a knack for platforming adventures. We're especially looking at some 3d explore-and-collect titles released during the early 2000s on consoles we never had the occasion to try at the time: GameCube, PS2, the original Xbox. I feel like this was a generation I completely missed, as when Nintendo's cube came out I could only read about it on magazines while I played my GBA (still very loved of course!) and its Sony and Microsoft rivals were pretty much unreachable for me (I doubt I was even aware of the Xbox's existence at the time, incredibly).

Anyway, wanna know what's the best thing about these 3D platformers? They all have a screen displaying your progress and all available collectibles, something that pushes players to go for a 100% complete run (which is one of the things I love the most about games- pretty sure the Pokèdex started this obsession of mine) and that's very easy to take a snapshot of, in order to show off the completed mission. So here's a gallery of our completed games! This is a spiritual sequel to my post about personal gaming achievements, as I feel seeing these screens is an achievement of its own.

Vexx

Vexx is a game with a very odd charm to it. My brother hates it and I partly agree with his distaste: it's flawed, oftentimes buggy, most of the difficulty is due to its unpolished controls. However I feel it also oozes with style, tries to paint a bigger picture than what's shown ingame and it's clear there was a special passion put into it, the developer team wanted to impress. I like the edgy protagonist and his design; I remember looking at a few dedicated advertisements and being very curious about it. Nevertheless, I admit taking this game to full completion was quite a pain! I'm proud of this screencap.

Super Mario Sunshine

This title is a white whale for many players, since like half of the planet forgot the GameCube existed and now it racks up thousands on the secondhand market. I've always wanted to play Sunshine, it's the only 3D Mario chapter I was still missing and the reason why I was so very tempted to get 3D All Stars, yet I knew the Switch's emulation of the Cube was subpar. So we emulated it elsewhere. :V This game is so short! Everyone treats it like a gem and the general hype and mystique surrounding it might have elevated my expectations too much. Nevertheless we had fun, but less than what reviews promised us and if we have to choose, we'd still go for Galaxy over this.

The Incredible Machine

Oops, here's the odd one out of the list. :P Me and TIM go way back, I already talked about this game in one of my earliest story posts and it still bears an important heritage in my childhood; however, I could never finish it back in the day! The later puzzles were too complex for kid me and my english was still extremely unripe to understand what I had to do in the stages. Seeing this screen would make younger me very proud!

Ty The Tasmanian Tiger

If there was a class for mid 2000s abrasive platform mascots, Ty would have graduated with pomp and circumstance. This game follows every aspect of that trope to a… Ty. Antropomorphism, unusual species, comparative and aggressive advertising, catchphrases, characters trying to crack jokes every single time, an evil clone, the bad guy using robotics for end level bosses, big levels with lots of secret areas and tons of collectibles. Granted, not everything listed here is a bad thing: I appreciated the representation of australian fauna and enviroinments, also big levels and many collectibles were exactly what we were looking for when me and my brother started scouting for games to play. But there's also a huge level of unpolishness to it, like we played a beta of the game: it got too easy too fast with one of the boomerang powerups being an infinite machine gun and the other a literal nuke who automatically eliminated enemies (not that they were a threat before- we never got a game over); other boomerangs were barely employed in puzzles and game mechanics; transitions were nonexistent making cutscenes and level warps end abruptly; the sound design was especially lacking; the fire particles were absurd and we couldn't understand where it began and where it ended; similarly, the lacking shading on many platforms made jumps difficult. We got into a disagreement because I feel like this game should rank worse than Vexx while my brother swears it's Vexx still being inferior to this. We can't come to a conclusion on that. Anyway, this is as far as we can manage to go with Ty; the game is 100% complete with all collectibles except, sigh, five concept art collectibles out of 250. We literally combed all levels three times for them and like Dark Helmet's subordinates we ain't found shit. Also 250 concept art pieces? It really shows the game didn't fill up even a quarter of the disk (we were impressed on how short it was). If you're wondering why the screen's in german, my brother got quickly tired of the australian voice accent and wanted to hear all the other dubs. XD Are we gonna play the sequels? Fuck no!

I may get back to this post for the rest of the summer if we manage to take a picture of another completed collectathon! Otherwise, I'll make another in the future!

[barnofrijo]

YouTube worries me.

There's a lot of guys of all ages acting sexually there. I frequented that corner of YouTube to masturbate as a teen, but now it just worries me. I used to not recognize red flags I recognize now. I quit that habit a while back because of that but I copied my open tabs' links and pasted them into a text file because I would feel guilty pretending like I don't even know this corner exists, and I want people to know about this and talk about it some day. I have thought about maybe screencapping some of the comments there while blurring out the names so people can know what goes on without directing anyone towards that material. I think this goes way beyond any comments in kid-posted non-sexual videos timestamping "suggestive" "poses".

There are kids with channels where they play with their own bodies in a way that narrowly passes the regulations and where they readily give out private messaging app profile links to people who have not shown their own body at all, placing trust on the stranger to be someone hot to them, or look for "donations". I should go through my file and report every video and channel but that idea just makes me feel guilty too. Some of these commenters do show themselves, because they are other channels just like the ones they comment on, most of the kids are wise to not showing their faces or using what seems like a real name, and I know from first-hand childhood experience that kids can be into adults too. I want to let these people have the pleasure of each other, but maybe they don't need to do this stuff to get off and it's too risky? I realized embarrassingly late that you don't need any immediate stimulation from other people just to get off, and that watching p0rn is just a ritual that our society manipulates a lot of guys to think to be fine if not needed, so what's my stupid hang-up? I don't know.

This was kind of the place where I learned how to take pleasure and comfort in my own body. Seeing people with bodies similar to mine in a seemingly happy relaxed state seemingly loved and admired is something I can't quite excommunicate from my heart. Even when I see these clear red flags and inequalities, I have faith that you could, with work and effort, separate the good and bad aspects and do away with the bad. Society just doesn't have a use for it. To trust adults to engage kids sexually safely, society would have to monitor and moderate those interactions closely, and who would want to do that job except another such adult? I've had an idea to go to all these videos that have the comment section open and warning all the kids about accounts making requests where you have no real idea what the person behind it is like and so on, but wouldn't that just get my account banned like most of these channels eventually are?

Maybe I'm just being selfish. A lot of the stuff that goes on in my head when I fantasize sexually is still stuff that I learned about and saw in these videos. What if the reason I vascillate is because I just want other people to have the chance to get into the same stuff I'm into? You know, I think there is a kind of implicit guilt based chain reaction that goes on in that corner that makes more people make more of those videos and keeps the corner alive even though the videos are deleted and the accounts are banned constantly. You stumble upon a video, it makes you cum, you feel like a voyeur, you feel guilty, so you make and upload a similar video of yourself, and comment a compliment on the video you found, so that if that video's maker and viewers are duely vigilant, they can go see what the people who view and enjoy their videos look like and actually know whether or not their viewers are attractive to them. But it could be something beyond just a way to clear your conscience. It could reflect a desire to find someone from the anonymous community to get actually intimate and not anonymous with. The boys in a lot of these videos are visibly aroused.

Even though I had the exact same fetishes that the people in the videos I watched had, I never felt a compulsion to make and upload videos like that of myself, or to even make comments, and I think that desire for intimacy and friendship aspect explains it. I had friends I loved in real life, and, and I feel kind of stupid for having downplayed and misunderstood this fact for so long, my sexuality to this day is highly informed by what they were like. My emotional "needs" were supplied by real life, and my sexual "needs" were supplied by YouTube, in two unbridgeable worlds.

So, what do I do? I'm torn. I just don't have a conclusion. I need a push.

[minijenn]

Sigh...

Alright, enough is enough. 

Time to give a certain someone exactly what they want. 

(long, drama-related post under the cut imo)

So since I would say around May or April, just about every single day, several times a day, I’ve been receiving a handful of negative guest/anon reviews on both UF and Keys on Ao3 and FF.Net alike. The crux of every single one of these reviews basically boils down to hatred for the Stonemason idea being used in UF2, specifically the idea that Yellow Diamond will be redeemed after it. To be even more specific, here are some things this individual (and despite using several different “names” to post these reviews under, I am well aware that they’re all coming from the same person) has accused me of: 

1. Singling Dipper out for “baseless angst” (when that’s not even true, that entire arc will stir up angst for just about everyone). Also says I’m wrong just for enjoying writing angst when its a genre that a lot of people like writing/reading, I’m not the only one smh it’s popular for a reason. 

2. Being willing to let YD get off scott-free for what she does to Dipper in that arc (something that I never said and even if I did say it in the past that’s not necessarily my current plan now) just because her and the other Diamonds were redeemed in SU canon (which again, I have confirmed that I’m not necessarily following to the letter and I’m still currently very much in the process of trying to figure out what I want to do in that regard)

3. The Stonemason arc being an example of “bad writing” and being full of “holes” despite the fact that its NOT written yet and WON’T be written for another few years or so at this rate

4. Claiming that the only reason why I’m willing to let YD off the hook for her actions is because I see her as “attractive” and a “wiafu”, despite the fact that anytime I say that I’m clearly joking, that’s what I do around here smh 

5. Making several blatant attacks on my person, including calling me a fascist, an incel, a pedophile, homophobic (despite the fact that I, myself, am bisexual), claiming that I’m “creepy” for writing fanfiction, claiming that I am a “middle age man” (I’m a 24 year old woman), claiming that I have no sense of morality, get off on torturing children/child abuse, and a number of other horrible, baseless claims 

6. Claims that Dipper needs to get revenge on YD by shattering her when that would stir up an entire whole other mess of problems, by 1. starting an entirely new Gem war no doubt since Blue and White would be livid 2. completely against Dipper’s character entirely and against the spirit of GF, SU, and UF 3. not at all “cathartic” and is really just simple, sociopath thinking expected from a small, immature child obsessed with the idea of “getting even” without growing from an experience and moving on to become the better person instead. Which of course, is probably what this individual is. 

7. Has said insane, immature, stupid shit like this. There really is no making this up: 

Mind you that this person has left these reviews not just on UF, but on Keys to the Kingdom, a KH fanfic that has nothing to do with UF, but these reviews are still very specific to UF all the same, which yes, does basically make this spam. And indeed it is spam because today alone so far, I have already gotten 6+ reviews from this single person alone:

This person also loves taking things I’ve said here on the blog in answers to asks from years ago out of context, never mind the fact that they might not be in line with ideas I currently have and/or again, are completely without context to what the original conversation was so they can twist whatever I said to fit their bizarre, hateful agenda. Here’s a taste of some of today’s fare, for reference: 

At first, I thought this whole thing was just a troll, but really at this point it’s become legitimate harassment. I’m not, nor have I ever asked, everyone and anyone to accept and enjoy everything in UF. I know some people don’t like the Stonemason arc, that’s fine. But I also want people to understand that I haven’t even written the damn thing yet. My entire plotting process for both UF and UF2 alike are always in flux, even from chapter to chapter, in both large ways and small. Minor details and big ones are going to change with time. Not that this person cares about that since they’ve already decided a long time ago that they hate both me and my work for whatever reason (seriously I have no idea what i did to them to provoke any of this). 

(also before any of you say “oh well Jen, just turn off guest reviews and this will end!” Ao3 and FF.Net don’t give authors the option to do that, so I’m pretty much stuck where I currently am with this whole terrible situation unfortunately)

Now mind you I do have a theory about who this individual actually is but I’m no going to address that here because stirring others to action against them isn’t my intention with this post. My intention is something I’m sure they’re not even going to listen to but I’d like to make an earnest appeal all the same, so now, my dude, let’s speak to you individually. Since you clearly want attention so badly in all this, looks like you’re finally about to get exactly that. 

Look. I get that you don’t like this whole Stonemason arc. Again that’s fine, you don’t have to like it. But you sending me these reviews every single day, day in and day out is not going to change my mind, especially given your downright malicious tone in every single one of these. Consider, just for a moment, that I’m an actual person behind this screen, a person with feelings and thoughts of my own just like you are. A person who is out here writing fanfictions because it is something that gives me a personal sense of enjoyment to see a story I’ve crafted play out, and enjoyment in how others interact with my work. Your reviews haven’t changed any of that, I’m going to keep on writing despite them and I’m going to keep on taking pride in my work regardless of anything you have to say. That’’s what being the bigger person is all about. 

 But before sending any more of your petty little reviews, just... all I’m asking is that you think about what you’re saying and why. Does sending these reviews make you feel like you’re superior to me? Is that really what you need to feel some sense of fulfillment? Because really, friend, you could find that sort of fulfillment in something much more genuine and wholesome. Read a book, watch a movie or TV show you really love, go outside and take a walk, hell even write your own fic if you despise mine so much. But just... maybe try to find something else to do with your time instead of attempting to tear other people down for no reason. 

I highly doubt this is going to change anything, hell you may not even read this to begin with, because again, you’ve already decided you hate me for some reason and that’s fine. Go ahead and hate me. I just want you to maybe do a little self reflection and consider that what you’re doing only makes you look bad in the end. 

And with that, MiniJen’s out. Peace. ❤

[untouchabyeolman]

DFTF & the gist of everything; a theory

(warning: long post, no cut)

*cracks knuckles* OKAY. so i’m about to give my two cents on the theories surrounding the comeback but this is gonna be a long one so strap in and enjoy the ride i guess??

but before i get started on the DFTF stuff i just want to do a bit of recap on the members’ powers and their counterparts back in mama era (yes i’m going all the way back bear with me). from the beginning, we are shown that each member has a special power and those from exo-k have a counterpart in exo-m and the pairings went like this:

xiumin (frost) - suho (water manipulation)

luhan (telekinesis) - kai (teleportation)

kris (dragon’s flight) - chanyeol (phoenix’s fire)

lay (healing) - baekhyun (light)

chen (lightning) - kyungsoo (enhanced strength/earth?)

tao (time control) - sehun (wind manipulation)

i think these parings are fine but for me a couple of changes could have been made to make more sense to their powers. in my opinion, i think it should be:

xiumin - suho

luhan - sehun

kris - chanyeol

lay - baekhyun

chen - kyungsoo

tao - kai

obviously, xiumin/suho make sense bc their powers are related to each other where suho’s is the foundation of xiumin’s more refined control of the element. kris/chanyeol also makes sense for the same reason. for lay/baekhyun, healing powers can reconstruct damages from wounds and even bring dying flowers (maybe even people) back to their full health. basically, lay restores a living thing’s energy. but light is a form of energy too. flowers need light to survive and so does the rest of the planet for that matter. but i think baekhyun uses that light to be able to concentrate the energy into his hands to form a beam powerful enough to blast anything in its path (who are u? tony stark??). 

tbh, i’m still kind of unclear about ksoo’s power on whether he can actually manipulate earth (like an earthbender) or if he has enhanced strength. either way, he can shake the earth and obviously he’s more powerful on the ground. with lightning, it can travel three ways: cloud to cloud, cloud to air, and cloud to the ground. you can think of their powers as being related by how the fissures in earthquakes are similar to the patterns of lightning. kyungsoo causes the rumbling in the earth, while chen causes rumbling (thunder) in the sky (hence why they are parallels of each other in mama mv)

for those i think should be switched, we’ll start with luhan/sehun. sehun has the power of wind but throughout the history of their powers i don’t think we’ve actually seen him have full control of his ability? in mama, he’s in the desert (this is gonna come up again later!!) with a raging tornado behind him. i mean, i guess he could be doing that intentionally but for the sake of this entry i’m going to assume he can summon the wind but he can’t fully control it. meanwhile, luhan can easily manipulate objects and we could think of this as him just actually manipulating the air around that object. luhan’s control of the air is more stable whilst sehun’s is the opposite. 

for tao/kai i think it makes more sense for them to be counterparts since kai travels through space and while tao’s power is to stop/start time, he has the to potential to travel through time as well. these two go hand in hand because if they’re together, they’d be even stronger as traveling through time could be faulty since the time you might want to go back or forward to isn’t going to be in the same exact location as you are now. 

BUT WAIT! we’re left with 9 members so what happens now?? 

i actually made a “theory” about exo having new counterparts back in 2016 but i’m scrapping the main idea from it and will just be referring to particular points going forward. so for now, let’s go with the assumption that their counterparts are as they are in my version. this means that sehun, chanyeol, and kai no longer have their counterparts. now what?

let’s first make two assumptions: 

their powers become stronger when they are with their counterparts: like i’ve mentioned above, they’re stronger together than they are apart. but additionally, it’s a bit safer for them to be separated since they are much more easily located by the red force if they are all in one place.

if one loses their counterpart (i mean for good and not just separated by distance) then eventually, the power of the one who was lost will manifest itself in the one who is left

for (2), it would make sense then as to why in sehun’s pathcode teaser, he finds the toys floating in mid-air. at this point, he’s unaware that he’s actually the one doing this. (@raven-rin​ points out the similarities between luhan’s scene in mama with the orbs and sehun’s “planet” in the DFTF teaser photo which supports my theory that they are connected in this way). 

in chanyeol’s pathcode teaser, he seems to have lost some control of his power whereas in mama mv, he was able to keep a small flame in his hand under control. 

for kai, we’ve mainly see him teleporting on earth and he’s had quite a good control on his power since the beginning. but i think now, with tao’s power manifesting itself in him, he’s now able to teleport beyond just earth. we can take his mmmh mv for example too where he’s teleporting between worlds and currently, his power symbol is that of a hexagon with a keyhole in the center; he is the door between worlds and the main connection between the others. 

SO THE POINT TO ALL THIS IS there was a theory posted by @vampwrrr​ and pointed out by @loeyarc on twitter about how the members are not in their own planets but they actually landed in someone else’s. i think this could be true since xiumin is in a planet with aurora’s (baekhyun’s planet), kyungsoo is in a red planet that could possibly be chanyeol’s. kai’s might be in kyungsoo’s and baekhyun’s in a planet where there’s ice which could mean he’s in xiumin’s planet. i’m not sure about the power swapping (tho i absolutely love the idea) but i think they might have just landed in planets they were closest to. 

but i want to point out how chanyeol is in a planet that looks like a desert 

now, this could actually be sehun’s planet in parallel to where he was in mama. sehun, on the other hand, is actually in luhan’s planet (going back to the reference @raven-rin​ made). 

i think here, he’ll finally realize why his powers have been glitching (from pathcode) and how he now has the ability to move objects like luhan did (disclaimer 1: since not all members are present for this comeback, who’s to say they can only land in the planets of the active members’ planets??. disclaimer 2: not saying luhan is still member, he clearly isn’t. i meant for members who are enl*sted. for all we know, one or two of those planets could be chen’s or lay’s, etc.)

idk if DFTF is a pre-quel to power or a follow up but *if* the latter was the case, then the end of power makes sense. throughout the mv, we see suho, xiumin, kai, chen, chanyeol, sehun, and kyungsoo fighting the giant red force robot in possibly a different planet (i’m thinking the exos actually banded together to track down the red force themselves to get their powers back and in every planet they encounter these RF bots who keep destroying the planets they occupy) but for most it, baekhyun isn’t there fighting with them. he does show up near the end which confirms that he’s in the same place as the others but why isn’t he fighting?

let’s recall that their powers are stronger when they’re with their counterparts. if we go by the theory from lucky one that some members lost their powers, then it makes sense why none of them were able to fight off the bot with their powers alone (which they regained by defeating it in the end). i do think they are still strong at this point but their powers are weak. as for baekhyun, his counterpart is far away. lay hasn’t really been with them since monster era so he was probably playing it safe by not actively fighting alongside the others. (if he’s powerless and separated from lay then he’s the most vulnerable compared to the others)

at the end of power, we see baekhyun falling into the water/ocean. how did this happen? if exo left the planet they were in in power, it’s possible that after defeating the bot, it triggered the red force of their location. the red force then proceeds to destroy that planet in an attempt to kill exo once and for all

(disclaimer 3: screencap is meant to show an example, not that this is exactly in the same timeline as power)

but the exos manage to escape in their ship in time but their ship malfunctions (could be hit by debris from the planet’s explosion) and they have no choice but to leave the ship. i think their ship has “escape pods” meant for each one of them as a way to escape safely in case of an emergency. but let’s say these pods will immediately head for the planet they were set to (again, kind of like a safety protocol type thing where they get sent to different locations to avoid detection from the red force). to add, say that in the chaos, the exos just went into whatever pod they got to first which is how they end up landing in different planets. 

maybe something happens to baekhyun’s pod and he has to manually eject himself from it. but we see he lands in the middle of an ocean 

and in his DFTF photo teaser, we see he’s in a planet with ice caps and water

you still with me? i’m about to tie everything together and finish i promise!

remember the second assumption we made? “the power of the one who was lost will manifest itself in the one who is left”. what if the red force know this? what if the reason they’ve been after exo is because of this fact? but if that were the case, where would the powers manifest in if the exos are gone? i know the lot of us skip the intro of mama but it states that an eye of red force “coveted the heart of the tree of life and the heart slowly grew dry” which meant that the tree of life is the source of the twelve force’s powers. 

everything started with the tree of life and in an attempt to save its remaining powers, they split it in half and hid the halves from the red force. the power of the tree of life is what connects exo. but as mentioned, if one is lost, the power will continue to live inside another. if the red force destroys all of exo, the powers they possess will be returned to the tree of life and if the tree of life is whole again, the red force will in no doubt abuse its power and continue their plans from the very beginning. 

then we can say that in lucky one, it was another tactic used by the red force to extract their powers. those extracted powers were then used to create x-exo. since x-exo are under the red force’s orders, if they manage to destroy exo, their powers will undoubtedly go to their x-counterparts. but as the red force control’s x-exo they still have the upper hand once this plan is set in stone. i mention this to get us back on the current timeline seeing as DFTF may be strongly connected to power which precedes obsession. but then again, i’m not even sure about the exact order of the timeline but this is just my theory so it’s just for fun!

/end. 

[infinityactual]

So, it's been months, but this post has been stuck in my head since September and I'm a petty bitch, so.

Apparently I deleted the screencap I had wherein the fuckhead who capped my tags replied to my fuck you by attempting to accuse me of 'doubling down on refusing to improve' or somesuch bullshit.

Which is not at all what my point was.

My point - and I will die on this hill ten times over - is that when it comes to fanart or personal creativity, let people do whatever. Unless they ask for critique, just leave them alone and let them have fun. Keep your opinions to yourself. And that isn't asking anything unreasonable; it's basic creative courtesy.

HUGE post under the cut.

Before the above assclownery, I had seen a lot of posts from people complaining about artists drawing older men 'wrong'. And I think every single complaint revolved around "You're just drawing a 20 yo and giving him silver hair!! That's not an old man!" and honestly, I didn't think anything of it the first few times I saw this.

But as I saw it more, it started to bother me because it was always in reference to fanart, specifically.

Fanart. Something that fans of a given media draw out of love and appreciation for the characters in said media. Something fun, something not (usually) done for profit. So upon seeing yet another 'stop drawing twentysomethings with silver hair 2021' tag, I reblogged it with my own tags (capped in the linked post) and went about my day.

The thing that just made me instantly angry was the proclamation of "I'm an artist. Calm down and go look at some reference."

Obviously this person didn't bother to check things out before putting both feet in their mouth. I may not have a damn degree from some hoity-toity art school (no shade on people that do, some of the coolest ppl I've met have art degrees) but I'm sure as hell an artist. Creativity does not require a degree.

And guess what. I draw old characters.

The secondary point I'd been hoping to get across in the tags is that aging a face is fucking hard. It takes effort and practice and often doesn't look good with hard lines. A lot of age is shown in shadows and lines too fine to be rendered with any but a .005 pen; and even then, it still tends look off unless you're drawing on a fairly large scale.

And my tertiary point was that people age differently depending on a huge kaleidoscope of factors! How often do they go outside? Do they have any inherited or otherwise chronic health problems, mental or physical? Male, female, intersex or transgender (and how much have they transitioned, if at all?), do they use drugs or alcohol? How often? I could spend hours listing factors that contribute to a person's appearance, and age isn't the biggest factor by far.

Hell, take Lord Hood and Lasky for example:

Most people I ask, including people well outside the Halo fandom, put Hood's age between 70 and 80.

He's 64.

A lot of people put Lasky at around his late 30s, maybe early 40s on the absolute outside.

He's 48 or 49 by the time Halo 5 rolls around, maybe 50 during Infinite.

Hood looks much older than he is bc of all those wrinkles, like someone let him sit in the dryer too long. Meanwhile Lasky looks a lot younger than his actual age. And these are just two examples from a single game series.

So when I draw Lasky, I draw him as is:

The only obvious wrinkles he has are on his forehead, right above his eyebrows. That's also one of his few unique identifying features, and anyone reading this who knows anything about cartooning, caricatures or comics will likely know that you focus on the few unique features that make a person recognizable but still easy to draw.

But unless you're drawing professionally as a career or doing commission work, your primary goal should not be constant improvement; that's a real good way to hit burnout and lose your passion for something. Even professionals take breaks and doodle stupid 'bad' art on their own time for funsies. I can cite countless examples I've seen personally, from the legendary DnD artist Todd Lockwood to commission artists on this beloved hellsite just trying to make the rent.

Fanart and personal work isn't always about improvement or practice. And it shouldn't be!! People need to have the ability to just crank out stupid lil doodles of their beloved older men without fussing over making sure they get every wrinkle right to be certain they convey his exact age 'correctly', or whether they have the skills to do so. If I had a dime for every thing I didn't draw because I don't have the skill, I'd put Jeff Bezoar to fucking shame with my wealth. Creators - amateur and professional alike - should be able to do this without having to see people, especially other fucking creators, bad mouthing them in posts or tags or comments.

Constant improvement should never be a primary goal with any skill. Bad art is still art, every single person who has ever put pen to paper started out drawing 'cringey' art. Fanart and personal work not done as part of a career or for commission should not be subject to the same standards. And lastly

Even 'bad' art, stupid little doodles and fanart still contribute to the learning process.

Otherwise I would not be where I am. All of my skill was developed by drawing personal stuff or making fanart. My skill making vinyl stickers by hand that makes people say I'm talented all started years ago with one sticker that took me five attempts to make because I didn't know jack shit about working with vinyl at the time. I kept making personal stickers for my car sporadically for years, and over time I got better simply because I was doing. I wasn't making stickers with the goal of improving my skill with an Xacto knife. I was making stickers because I couldn't find any designs I wanted and goddammit I wanted unique stickers for my shitty lil Cobalt.

And I'm able to take Giuseppe from this:

to this:

Not because I was trying to improve my skill at rendering faces, but because he's my Short King and I love him, and I love drawing him, and I also love the idea that he gets to live to be an old grandpa.

And no, I did not use reference for this, I just fucking drew it because I wanted to, and pulled from my past experience drawing old men from back when I actually DID sit my ass down and trawl references and guides on how to add age to a face, because I wanted to learn how to draw my 70+ year old Mechwarrior better.

[maddogofshimano]

Goromi Character Story

I really liked this one even if it was a pain in the ass to translate. Damn all that kansai slang! I have some pics to go with this one unlike the Goromi Event where I forgot to take any screencaps.

Character stories are split into three parts with a fight in each part, and this one will be a little more paraphrased because there’s a lot of back and forth dialogue that doesn’t matter too much. Here’s Goromi’s card!

Summary: Turns out it takes several days for Kiryu to actually show up to club SHINE to meet Goromi (he’s busy!) so Goromi spends her time working there and taking care of problems. She’s not the number one hostess for nothing!

<Part 1> <Majima Goro, as Goromi, has been working at club SHINE for several days now> The shop manager has been having to deal with this and he doesn’t know what to do.

Majima shows up again, as usual, and the manager fumbles over himself on whether to say Majima or Goromi

He asks if Kiryu has shown up yet and Majima complains before heading to the back to get changed, where Goromi continues to complain that she’s a good woman and Kiryu is a horrible lazy bum for standing her up for so long. She’s bored to death! (I wonder, does Majima leave the Goromi outfit at the club or take it with home each time?)

A rowdy customer comes in and makes a scene and Goromi steps in to wallop on him, because she’s bored and he spilled a drink on her dress.  <Fight Happens> Goromi wins, easily, and makes him leave his wallet. The manager pulls her into the backroom to tell her that she can’t fight customers. Goromi counters that she can’t allow a threat to women to go unchecked. 

Another hostess on the floor shouts at a customer to stop because touching is forbidden. Goromi says that sounds like trouble, she might as well handle it since Kiryu hasn’t shown up yet. The manager says absolutely not, those are Sakamoto Family men (probably, it’s not spoken out loud but Sakamoto is the most common reading).

The manager goes out to deal with it and gets hit by a Sakamoto Family goon for his trouble, but the guy leaves. Turns out the Sakamoto Family has been showing up a lot and never paying, and it’s a real pain. Goromi tells him to get his act together and fight back already! The manager says there’s no way he can win, going along with them is the best way to protect the club. Goromi calls him a coward, and leaves. <Part 2>

<the next day> Majima once again shows up and has a brief struggle with the wig until... Tada! A perfect Goromi~❤️

Goromi is certain Kiryu-chan will show up today! He definitely will! ...Why the hell hasn’t he shown up yet? She notices yet another unruly customer, once again a Sakamoto Family goon, hassling the manager, but this time she just watches. The manager tries to explain that the rules clearly state you aren’t allowed to touch the hostesses, and gets hit for it again. He stands back up, repeats himself, and gets punched another time. The goon grabs the hostess and says they’re going to the bathroom together.

Goromi steps in to stop him, but the manager beats her to it, and finally hits the guy back. He’s remembering what Goromi-san said to him... He’s not going to run away!!

<Fight Happens>

Manager gets his ass KICKED, goon taunts him and says he’d never win in a million years. Manager gets back up anyways, tells him he has to leave... just in time for the patriarch of the Sakamoto Family to arrive. He’s heard this is a fun place, and wants to sit with a lady ASAP. His goon shouts at the manager, the manager fumbles, and Goromi steps in.

Sakamoto thinks this is just great, that eyepatch is really getting his fighting spirit going! His lackey is less sure. The manager tries to step in, Goromi cuts him and says she’ll be his hostess tonight. Sakamoto is falling over himself trying to offer Goromi a seat, he’s just smitten.

The manager wonders what Goromi is up to...

<Part 3>

We start off immediately with Sakamoto telling Goromi how cute she is, and how much he likes her, and that she’s got a real tight lil butt.

“Stoooop~, ya pervy patriarch❤️” 

Sakamoto says he really like Goromi, too many girls nowadays would throw a fit if he grabbed their ass. The manager is wondering what the hell is going on, why is Goromi being so nice??

Sakamoto asks what kind of men Goromi likes. She likes strong, beefy guys, of course! Sakamoto says that she’s gonna love him then. Sakamoto: I was the strongest guy in his whole town! I’ve heard that the strongest guy in Kamurocho’s the patriarch of the Majima family, some moron named Majima Goro. Goromi: Oh, is that so? Sakamoto: I’m pretty sure him being crazy strong’s just a silly rumor though. If I were up against him it’d be like beating up a baby. Goromi: Woahhhh, that’s so cool~ 🎵 All that strength is really making my heart beat fast~

Sakamoto lets Goromi order whatever she likes from the menu. The manager worries that she’s going to order a fight! But no, she just asks for Don Perignon, the most expensive thing on the menu. And she convinces him to get 10 bottles of it.

<2 hours pass>

Sakamoto: Bahaha! Goromi-chan, you're the best girl of them all! Goromi: Before ya go I got one more thing for ya Mr. Patriarch! Sakamoto: Ehhhh, is it a kiss~ Goromi: It's your bill! Sakamoto: Ah....? Haha, great joke Goromi-chan! Goromi: It ain't no joke! Between the drinks and the service... you've racked up 5 million yen. How would ya like to pay that?  Sakamoto: Now hold on, I ain't payin' that! Even if you're cute!! Goromi: Eh, you really won't pay? Sakamoto: No! I absolutely will not pay!! Goromi: So that mean's you're not a customer now, is that right?

Goromi: Since you're not a customer, Goromi can be a little... rough Sakamoto: Tch, boys, let's teach this lady a little discipline! Goromi: Discipline....? Idiots, Goromi is the butterfly that dances in the night. I don't take orders from anyone, especially morons like you!! <Fight Happens, Goromi obliterates them> Sakamoto: You, you're actually...! Goromi: What are ya talking about? I'm Goromi, Kamurocho's number one hostess. Goromi: If you disrespect the women of this city... I'll show you a world of hurt. Sakamoto: W-Wahhhhh!! P-Please forgive me!! Goromi: From now on you're banned. Don't let me see your face here again. Got it?  Sakamoto: Y-yes ma'am! I understand! P-Please excuse me... Goromi: Wait. You still got a bill to pay. Sakamoto: Wh- um, well, I don't have that much right now... Goromi: Haw? Then why'd you eat and drink so much! You got some nerve takin' whatever ya fancied. But... I could forgive ya if you go on an after hours date with me. Sakamoto: ...Eh? Goromi: Until the money's collected, we're going on dates. ...Be prepared. 

<the next day> Manager: Majima-san, thank you so much. Goromi: Eh? What're you talkin' about. This is just Goromi gettin' paid properly for her work. Manager: Ah. I see. Goromi: And... I'm glad you stood up for your girls. Ya finally showed your guts. You've got a real good crew here, keep workin' to be the best. Manager: Th-thank you so much! Uhuuuuuu! Goromi: Don't get all emotional and cry! I'm countin' on having your full cooperation when it comes to fighting Kiryu-chan! Manager: Yes ma'am! By all means.   Door Greeter: Maji- I mean, Goromi-san! K-Kiryu-san is coming here!! Goromi: Ohh, nice timing! Well, let's do this thing! Manager: Yes! <Goromi goes to greet Kiryu at the door> Goromi: Heyyy, it's Goromi~  

<END>

Another bonus fact that relates to both this and the event: the rggo twitter put up a poll asking everyone which of these girls was their favorite

(Lady that does the gatcha rolls, Mayumi from rggo’s story, Yuki, and badly photoshopped Goromi)

in a shock to no one reading this, Goromi obliterated the vote, coming in just shy of 80%...

...which was apparently a shock to the staff! They immediately tweeted "Goromi got 80%...! What a crazy result 😵 We're having an emergency planning meeting now. Thank you all for voting so much!"

I have to wonder if this was a turning point in how they wrote Goromi, with the event and substory presenting her as not strictly a one off occurrence! Maybe the fan enthusiasm got them to take her a little more seriously

[mettywiththenotes]

320 bits I wanna talk about

Iieda looks like he’s doing the *inhale* before the BOI IF YOU DON’T- meme. Something along the lines of “BOI IF YOU DON’T GET YOUR ASS BACK TO UA-” kind of thing lol.

He holding something in definitely. Maybe charging up for an attack? Idk but he sure seems concentrated

Actually, Iieda seems kinda considering. Maybe he’s weighing up if he should join in the fight, as if he’s asking “Will I have to fight Midoriya, if it comes down to it? Or can the others handle this?” Something tells me he doesn’t want to have to weigh in on the fight. Maybe tear into Izuku verbally, but fight? No I don’t think he wants to do that

But also, I find it interesting that that black panel of text is under him and then it cuts to Bakugou yelling at Izuku. I mean, it could very well be Bakugou thinking that, but if that’s so, then why is Iieda the first person we see?

So, I think it’s Iieda thinking that. Tensions are rising, it seems. I’m expecting his turn to be full of a lot of emotion, or at least trying to get across to Izuku that he feels betrayed but mostly just wants Izuku to come back home.

I don’t really know what’ll happen with Iieda exactly, but I’m totally interested to see what happens

I know Bakugou has problems with his emotions and words and stuff, but I also think here he’s trying to anger Izuku in order to get him to fight back, maybe so he’s more angry than flexible in a fight, so the end result would be Izuku getting too angry to predict anything and eventually tripping up, and that’s when 1A could capture him.

The one thing to remember about Izuku is that allowing him to think is going to be the opponent’s downfall. We saw in the Kacchan VS Deku 2 fight that Bakugou knew this and so kept attacking as much as possible so Izuku wouldn’t have time to think. Which worked, because Izuku is great at analysis, so making his “Win” attitude [getting competitive therefore putting more energy into attacking than strategy] come out over his “Save” attitude [you’re my friend and I want to help you] is kind of a weakness of his. That’s kind of one of the reasons he lost that fight.

Then again, maybe Izuku has improved since then? I don’t really know but I think enough time has passed for him to have maybe improved more on that so idk we’ll see

I really love Bakugou’s expression in that bottom screencap lol

His wound!! All bandaged up!! I wonder if there’s a scar there or smthg :O

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I know Enji or Bakugou probably gave them details about the multiple quirks but I still find it wild that everyone just knows now

KOUDA! MY SWEETHEART! I’m glad he’s getting a part in this too, along with Sero. Two of them who didn’t really hang around Izuku but still want him to come back :’)

Sero and Black Whip! Finally! I mean it’s not much but it’s still better than nothing

Also, seems like Sero is trying to taunt Izuku to get him to attack him maybe [same as Bakugou feeding into Izuku’s competitive side] soooo idk Sero following Bakugou’s lead? Maybe :)

Look at how,,,, innocent Izuku looks,,,,, *head in hands* AND SERO TEACHING HIM!!

I knew this lil moment would come bite me in the ass at some point, I knew and yet I’m still tearing up goddamn

That “I thought she was going to tell me its a useless hobby” bit really drives home how Izuku’s friends are 1A, that he loves them and they were the only friends he’s ever had [except Bakugou but he was a bully at the time so I’m not really gonna count him for back then]. HOW many people before UA had gone around and told Izuku his taking notes hobby was useless? SHOW me the people!

I, mettywiththenotes, will NOT allow anybody to slander one of my own!

I know it’s like the only moment Izuku and Ojiro shared, with the sports festival thing, but it’s still really sweet that Ojiro sees that Izuku stood up for him

*head in hands*

Shouldn’t this kid be more worried that he’s likely going to get kidnapped?

“Yeah this super evil villain guy has decided he wants to kidnap me and take me away, but like nbd guys really, that’s why I left in the first place! So I wouldn’t be a burden!” Somebody get this kid a fucking therapist or some shit

This is kind of a chilling and pretty scene though. The rain falling above Izuku and him looking down with these piercing green eyes likely being the only light between them. Good stuff.

Satou! Aha I like how he’s pulling all the stops, such as “I WON’T LET YOU BORROW MY INGREDIENTS FOR ERI!”

Also let’s appreciate that Satou caught Ojiro and Jirou and managed to land on a freaking traffic light. The balance on this kid! Very well done

Kaminari putting Izuku in a headlock! How cute :)

Be cuter if they weren’t trying to subdue a martyr-complex cryptid from killing himself, but still

Does Shouji have some kind of support-item?? Or could he always do the stretchy thing?? Or I guess maybe he’s just stretching his arms out like branches [like he usually does] and using them as more like a capture weapon rather than his usual stuff. I don’t think we’ve ever seen him use his heteromorph body and quirk for anything other than the 5 senses, though I could be wrong

Also Shouji remembering what Izuku said at the training camp, I’m so glad! Shouji always seems like the kind to be so protective over his friends, so I’m glad he remembered that. Then again, Izuku did compare them to freaking ALL MIGHT, but if the nice analytical kid in your class who knows your limits and strengths says you could basically beat A GOD, then that’s definitely one for the memory scrapbook lmao

“It’s nice and dark here, Dark Shadow.” Who said that?? Kami or Izuku?? I just have this mental image of Izuku being shrouded in darkness and trying to keep his eyes open from falling asleep haha

Tokoyami remembering that from all the way back then!! It makes me think that not only have Bakugou and Izuku been watching each other, but that Izuku has always had everybody’s eyes on him! Which is true, he’s inspired everyone! It goes both ways; Izuku loving his friends, and them loving him back :’)

Kami telling him to take a bath lmao I love it. Finally somebody said it

*ugly sobbing noises*

This kind of segment, with a mask falling, a space in-between and a reveal, reminds me of Compress’ reveal :) In that, the person is hiding their identity and then when the mask comes off, they reveal who they truly are underneath

While Izuku is of course determined to go after AFO and is quite the fearsome powerhouse, I really think when he takes off that mask, he’s showing who he really is underneath - a scared little boy who just wants everyone to be happy

JESUS, SHOUTO REALLY IMPROVED HIS QUIRK HUH!! LOOK AT IT, IT’S EVEN HIGHER THAN THE SKYSCRAPERS!!

“The burden placed on you... it doesn’t allow for tears, right?” He sounds so sassy here.

Kind of like saying “Oh you look upset. But that’s weird, I thought Heroes weren’t supposed to cry.” Lol it really shows here how pissed Shouto is at Izuku

But then he relents from that snark and is like “Hey, come on, we’ll share this burden. I’m not letting you go it alone, remember that we’re all here.” :’)

I love when Shouto is sassy and passive aggressive but I also love it when he shows that soft side of him

Okay, this is something I really love.

Tsuyu didn’t join the Bakugou Rescue Squad because “they would be just like Villains breaking the rules”

But here she is, learning from that regret of hers and coming right back to make sure Izuku isn’t the one struggling. She wants to be a part of this rescue squad and pick up where she left off :)

Tsuyu has always struggled with her regrets. It was shown after Kamino when she cried, but for me, I only realised this fully during the Joint Arc when she had her regrets about not making better decisions and not being quick enough [I think that was it].

“I won’t cry in such a flurry” reminds me of “I want to live a life without regret” and so that’s what she’s saying here. This won’t be another regret of hers. She wants to do her best to save her friend

“When scared, you’re allowed to tremble when it’s tough, you’re allowed to shed tears. That’s how you become a Hero like in the comics.”

I feel like that quote piggybacks off of Shouto’s “Heroes cry too”, in that, this is now 1A comforting Izuku. This is them fully coming up to him and telling him that they can help, and that he’s allowed to feel sad about his situation. Shouto’s quote was the teaser, while this entire chapter [and the rest that come to follow] is the main course.

And this is exactly who Tsuyu is. Reassuring, comforting, someone dependable. It says a lot that she’s come from not going to help in Kamino, confessing her feelings and crying about it, then coming back in a similar situation and offering her help - that she’s not willing to just let an opportunity go to better herself. I think I remember reading a few posts on her crying after Kamino and saying it was “performative” or that she just “wanted attention” or smthg like that, but I think she’s really just quite an honest person, and here she is making a great show of how she won’t let something like her guilt slow her down from being the hero she wants to be.

[A part of me feels like this is also a little more evidence with the whole People Not Caring About Bakugou’s Feelings Of Helplessness but like. I digress. It kinda counts but at the same time, it’s not what is going on at the moment.]

Seeing everyone try to reassure Izuku was lovely, and I can’t wait for the rest. I’ve seen a lot of people waiting more for Bakugou’s portion of the battle [AND YEAH DUDE ME TOO] but I really feel like Bakugou’s won’t come until like 2 chapters later or something.

Cause, if this chapter is anything to go by, we’ll probably get through Mina, Mineta, Kirishima, Hagakure and Aoyama next chapter, and then we’ll move onto the “more important” conflicts which will be Iieda and Uraraka, and if their segments are chocked with tension drama and tears, then Bakugou will have a whole chapter to himself hopefully.

Which means we’ll probably have to wait 2 more chapters until we get that sweet, sweet Bakugou chapter :( I hope I’m wrong and it comes sooner than predicted but whatever

I know for some people, that’s all they want, but personally I love these little bits that reflect on the background characters. As someone who isn’t really obsessed with the background characters but also likes them enough to appreciate their development/the little moments they have, I gotta say I really liked this :)