#i just got here too so idk if things are skewed

[nat-without-a-g]

I don’t speak up about it much but sometimes I feel like this

[pb-and-jammothy]

If you get this, answer with three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs! anon or not, doesn't matter, lets get to know the person behind the blog <3

Hi, wasn't expecting this, but cool!

I'm pb-and-jammothy, I'll probably answer to any variation of that pseudonym, except for Jim, and quite a few unrelated nicknames, here are some fun facts about me:

I'm British American, but in a kinda weird way, often this can be seen in my relatively shallow understanding about British or American things, and me using British and American spelling (though I tend to stick to one spelling of a word, it may just be an American spelling right next to a British one).

I really like cooking! I'm rather a picky eater for sensory reasons, and I'm really not a fan of trying new foods, so I'm rather proud of my abilities in the kitchen. Learning how to cook vegetables in a way where I actually enjoy them is an Absolute Game Changer whooo boy. My goal this year (which I've been achieving - 2 I've tried and been successful with and a handful ready to try next) is to learn new recipes for things I can make regularly.

I have 3 notes for fanfic ideas for a combined total of just under 14k words, with the separation being by fandom. I want to make progress in turning them from rambles about ideas into actual fics, but most of them are geared towards multi-chapter long-fics, which I've tried writing over the years, but haven't finished a single one, hence why my current ao3 accounts only have one shots published. Can't really work on any of them right now since I've got deadlines, but maybe this is a project for the summer (alongside reading a bunch of mythology books in prep for a Percy Jackson inspired ttrpg campaign I'm gonna run).

Uhh yeah, that's me. 😁👍

[foli-vora]

used by you

marcus pike x f!reader

A/N: Yeah. IDK, I started writing this on my lunch break because I can't fucking help myself and then couldn't focus on Jason when I got home until I got it finished (typical) so here we are. This might be very fucking shaky - I'm easing back into the writing thing so I'm sorry if it's not great lmao. Enjoy angels! x

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: SMUT 18+ ONLY. dom!reader, sub!Marcus, oral (f receiving), face fucking/grinding, degradation, praise, hair pulling, slight brief choking, dirty talk, brief use of colour system, mentions of free use

He’s on the phone when you quietly slip through his office door, and your heart warms at the wash of surprised joy that floods his face at your unexpected appearance. He holds a finger up to let you know he’ll be a minute before his attention drops to the papers strewn across his desk, and you take the opportunity to discreetly lock his door.

He takes no notice, too immersed in relaying case information and potential hits to hear the click of the latch. Success. You wander over to his desk, rounding the messy surface until you're able to perch on the edge just to the side of him, ensuring to keep the documents he needs out from under you.

It's been days, perhaps weeks, since you've seen him - well and truly seen him. Sure, he comes home every night to curl around you, when the pixels on your phone screen showcase some absurd early hour. Sure, he hovers in the mornings, long enough to coax you awake with the sweet roll of his lips against yours and it's just so damn lovely... but today? Today it's not enough.

The nights without him, where you're left with nothing but your fingers to try and ebb the throb churning deep in the pit of your stomach - they're torture. No matter how you do it, how often you do it, fingers stiff and tired from the exertion of hurtling yourself up yet another peak... it just doesn't work. The feeling remains, simmering just below the surface.

There's just some things that only he can do, and easing that hot, unrelenting ache is one particular skill that he's mastered over the course of your relationship.

Finally - God, finally - that fucking phone leaves his hand, and then he's looking up at you, giving you a soul shattering smile that does absolutely nothing to calm the wild fire growing along your veins.

Such a pretty boy.

"This is a pleasant surprise," he says.

Oh, sweet thing, you have no idea.

“You’ve been neglecting me, Marcus."

Your words stop him in his tracks, that beautiful smile ever so slightly wavering on his lips. A frown soon starts to follow, and for a moment he seems speechless. Tsk'ing lightly under your breath, you slide the small distance along the desks edge until you're fully in front of him, smoothing your hands along his collar until your fingers can pluck at and fix his skewed tie.

"Work, work, work—that’s all it’s been with you lately."

“Oh," he murmurs regretfully, throat bobbing above where your fingers play, "honey, it wasn’t my intention to—”

One quick tug of the tie and the words die instantly on his tongue. His eyes widen in surprise, darting between your own as the silky fabric cuts softly into the skin of his throat, and you tilt your head in faux confusion.

“Did I give you permission to speak?”

You see the moment it happens, where a dreamy sort of glaze rolls over his warm eyes and then he's softening in your hands, completely at your mercy. Completely yours. Tongue darting out across his suddenly dry lips, he gives a slight shake of his head, and you hum in quiet approval, loosening the tie back to its original state.

“Whatever will I do with you?" You muse as you fix the tie back into its usual perfectly neat knot.

The question is rhetorical of course, and he wisely keeps quiet. Your hands wander once you're bored of fiddling with the silky fabric, running along his broad shoulders and up his throat, thumbs smoothing over his cleanly shaven jawline and tracing over his plush lips that part under your touch.

"I've missed you," you murmur, leaning forward to steal a taste of them.

He exhales softly under the pressure of your mouth, lips yielding to yours and following their direction with ease. It's slow, so painfully slow and sensual and passionate, and it's glorious.

God, how you've missed him.

You've missed him, and the scent of his cologne, and the subtle wash of his shampoo. You've missed how he makes you feel; how one hand on the cheek makes you feel so delicate, so cherished and loved and wanted; how one wet stroke of his tongue against yours makes you practically dizzy with pure need.

It's all reflected back at you when you finally break away from him, swimming in those eyes that blink ever so lovingly up at you.

"Can you do something for me, sweet boy?"

"Anything," he whispers huskily, eyes fluttering when your lips ghost over his, "I'll do anything you want."

“Oh? Good. Get on your knees.”

The desk chair is kicked back immediately, and he soon drops to his knees in front of you, hands naturally coming to rest on his thighs. Those wide doe eyes never leave yours, waiting for your approval, your instruction, anything.

"There's that good boy I know," you breathe, gently carding a hand through his soft hair, heart thundering as he practically melts like butter under your touch. "Always so good for me, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am. Only for you."

"Good. Now, sweet, sweet boy, as for your apology for leaving me all on my lonesome for so long..." you lean back on his desk, bracing your weight on your elbows and slowly spreading your legs as far as your business skirt would allow, "get to work, and make it quick, Agent. You’re a busy man, after all.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He wastes no time in shoving your skirt up and out of the way, molten eyes darkening further when he finds no underwear in his path. The cool air hits your exposed pussy, the arousal built from days of no touch from him no doubt glistening noticeably along your folds in the harsh fluorescent office lighting.

"Fuck," he exhales sharply, before the firm stroke of his tongue glides agonisingly slowly along your slit.

The wet heat of his mouth soon encloses around your clit, and you hiss from the bolt of pure electricity that rockets along your nerves - finally. It's both a sweet relief and complete torment. It's almost too much with how sensitive you feel, how every little lick and suck to the nerve feels like pure fucking blissful agony.

He does as he's told, tongue rolling and smoothing and rubbing over your clit in all the delicious ways you like before diverting his attention elsewhere, dragging and pushing the thick width of muscle into your cunt and groaning when he feels you flutter around it.

Your hand flies to knot tightly in his hair, and you exhale shakily as another rough moan vibrates the very centre of you. God, you should tell him to keep it down, but even you don't care anymore.

Ever so slightly, you start to rock carefully against his face, using your hold on his short locks to keep him close and still as you start to find your pleasure at your own pace. Maybe it didn't have to be as quick as you thought, maybe this will be how you keep him for a little while.

"Colour?"

"Green," he replies hoarsely, lashes fluttering against his cheeks.

His hands fly to your thighs, digging into the soft flesh of them in an attempt for purchase, more noises spilling from his throat as you start to slide your wet cunt more firmly back and forth against his mouth, his nose dragging against your clit with every upwards roll.

“Oh Marcus," you mutter softly, chest heaving from the onslaught of ecstasy your body is being assaulted with, "what would your team think of you right now? Trembling at the desperation of being used, like some pathetic little fucktoy.”

He shudders heavily against you, panting into your cunt like a man starved.

“You like that idea, sweet boy? You want me to use you? Whenever I want, wherever I want it?"

He makes a strangled noise of approval, brows pulling together as his face pinches in euphoria. The mere idea of him being so fucking into playing your own personal sex toy aids in building that pressure building steadily in your core with every slick grind against his mouth.

Just a little more. Just a little -

"Fu-uck," you whine, head rolling back on your shoulders as the tight promise of release starts to linger just in reach, "that's it, pretty boy. Stay just like that. Just like - fuck, you're doing so good. So good for me. My sweet boy, my - God, Marcus -"

An eruption of stars overtake your vision as you fall from that deliciously sharp edge, your thighs briefly coming in to close around his head as you ride out your climax against his face. He merely groans loudly against you, greedily taking everything you give him and more.

You feel boneless when the bliss eventually fades into a pleasant glow of warmth along your limbs, and you carefully sit up and readjust yourself on the desk as Marcus struggles to catch his breath beneath you, your arousal and cum smeared so prettily over his jaw.

"Are you okay, hon?"

His dazed eyes roll to yours, and he gives a wide, lazy grin.

"Yeah, I'm -" he exhales deeply, stretching his neck from side to side before nodding, "I'm good. Are you okay?"

Chuckling quietly, you give a small nod and brush some of the sweat that built along the back of your neck away, taking your own deep, steadying breath. You reach for the box of tissues on the corner of his desk, and swipe some into your hold.

His eyes, full of adoration, follow your every move, and soften even further when you start to clean the mess gently from his skin. He catches your hand before you can move too far from him, and you let him coax you closer, until he's able to press a tender kiss to your lips.

"I love you."

"I love you," you grin, "sit tight, handsome. I'll get you a water -"

Your legs give in the second you stand, and if it weren't for Marcus hurrying to steady you, you would've met the floor in seconds. He's laughing as he helps you down onto the floor next to him, running a hand along your thighs to massage some feeling back into them.

"Maybe we'll give the water a pass for now," he grins.

"That might be a good idea."

[bleachbleachbleach]

You've always been my go-to for all things Bleach lore and world-building! Do you think Shinigami all sleep in futons or beds? Or maybe it varies from character to character? We've seen the 4th division with beds in their wards, but I think every other character has slept in futons.

Haha, thank you! We do love a furniture deep-dive here, and people's headcanon speculations about shinigami life even more.

I started a list of any time we'd ever seen a character in some kind of bed (futon or frame), but it mostly just ended up being a long list of "_______ at the 4th," lol, so we'll see all those aside (almost all those aside). But canonically, there is a mixture! We see:

Hinamori in Aizen's futon

[Bleach 100]

Ukitake in his quarters

[Bleach e40]

Isane in her quarters

[Bleach 179]

Hisana at the Kuchiki house

[Bleach 179]

I think Rukia had a similar setup during the Bount Arc, as well.

Also, I'd like to note that for the record as I was retrieving *bed pictures* I got emotionally destroyed by my re-encounter with this panel. It is just SO deeply sad:

[Bleach 180]

The incredible, isolating vastness of the room, and the way the shadow cuts across the space. ToT <33333 It also reminds me of a really excellent meta piece done by afinepiece, where she analyzed the panels from Byakuya's story about Hisana and pointed out sections where the panel visuals might suggest Byakuya's memory/headspace more than physical reality. Her journal is deactivated but I know the reblog is on B3 somewhere! I'm inclined to go with that reading here, even though I also feel like the room probably just *looked like this* because every room in Soul Society is like this. (Maybe it's also for airflow, given her illness seemed partially respiratory and possibly contagious? ngl I'm basing this off that one anime elaboration scene and my co-blogger's post about Circus Hisana and Elephant TB).

In my mind Byakuya's convalescent setup was the same as Hisana's (is this the sad Seireitei equivalent of couples' outfits) but I was wrong:

[Bleach 180]

He's in a bed! But from the look of this building he's probably at the 4th and not at home. Put simply, this building is too brutish and workmanlike to be part of the Kuchiki complex:

[Bleach 180]

Hanatarou's quarters (implied)

[Bleach e259]

The tatami floor, layout, and big closet on the right-hand side seem to imply that Hanatarou uses a futon.

Abarai family quarters (implied)

[Bleach "No Breathes from Hell"]

This is probably not the only room in this house and they could put *anything* in those cabinets, but their sheer number and the style of the room suggests that this converts to a futon-filled bedroom, regardless of what might exist in other parts of the house.

Bonus 1: Renji in jail

[Bleach 118]

Is this at the 6th? Is this at the 4th? I always assumed the 6th, though obviously the 4th was involved. Idk, Byakuya left him on the ground. Maybe if you don't pick up your invalids the 4th just stashes them in their jail.

Bonus 2: Hitsugaya in Junrinan (non-shinigami, non-Seireitei)

[Bleach -16 (in between 286 and 287)]

These examples are pretty skewed in favor of futons, but if we think about this collection of characters, there is an overrepresentation of people who trend more traditional in terms of aesthetic, so they might not meaningfully represent the whole. Also, half the list is the same family.

We've seen a number of different offices and meeting rooms for each division, as well as some private residences, which have been a mix of Western and traditional styles in terms of the building itself and the furniture within it. Most of the offices seem to have Western furniture (or at least, the 10th, 6th, and 3rd), whereas Byakuya and Aizen, at least, seem to prefer the traditional at home.

Though, I don't know what this big-ass room is, but given its size and feeling of formal reception, this may well be the 5th's office?

[Bleach 100]

NB 1: I tried to look up what the office looks like under Shinji, but what is happening here:

[Bleach "No Breathes from Hell"]

NB 2: The 2nd also has traditional receiving rooms (used by both Yoruichi and Soi Fon, wherever the division between Shihouin and the 2nd is. But I assume Soi Fon's office is not the Shihouin Family Receiving room).

--

My feeling is that the differences are more regional/Division-based than personal preference-based, and *when*/by whom this design language was established depends on how much time and money the people in charge want to devote to furniture.

But that doesn't necessarily mean each Division is uniform, since we can see Isane and Hanatarou, both seated officers of the 4th, have different-style rooms! Maybe this is an effect of the 4th being an early bed adopter for their general professional purposes. Unohana is 100% a futon lady. I feel like Isane just accepted whatever was originally in the room, and that if there were no bed at all in the room she would sleep on the floor before asking to remodel. Does that mean a previous 4th VC wanted to modernize the VC quarters?

Was that previous 4th VC the original bedframe proselytizer, and got permission from Unohana to do up their quarters like a model home that gave examples of both types of room? Do Isane and Unohana live in an IKEA showroom?

What are the benefits of futons?

the room can be multi-use, a general common room by day and sleeping dorm by night

don't have to make a bunch of bedframes

Given what a big deal everyone makes out of transporting goods from the Living World, I feel like they probably make all their furniture and don't import particleboard from Nitori, so this would be expensive! Plus, given the amount of building reconstruction that needs to happen, I feel like there's probably a fairly small quota of wood released to civilians and/or divisions for non-essential use.

What are the benefits of bedframes?

BUNKBEDS

easier cleaning/long-term savings?

Yeah, you'd have to make the bedframes and have a whole separate common room, but having beds implies you've probably done away with the tatami in the room, since you're not really supposed to put heavy furniture on the mats. And I don't think in a barrack with heavy use you'd be able to rely on shinigami simply "being careful." Same logic as college dorms and their "IKEA, but completely indestructible" furniture.

So if you decide in the long-term that you don't want to do tatami maintenance/replacement and want wood furniture on wood floors, maybe the bed route is for you! ("You" here meaning "your division"!) At which point it'd be a matter of:

caring enough to do a cost/benefit analysis about this

whether or not you want to preserve the traditional aesthetic

whether you have the initial capital to invest in making the change

Some additional thoughts:

We know that at least a portion of the 2nd has heated floors, as financed by Oomaeda. I'm not a heated floors aficionado--though I stayed at an AirBnb once with a heated driveway--NUTS) but I feel like that would...not work with tatami? That over time the heat would dry them out too much and make them brittle? So maybe the 2nd has beds.

Despite the fact that the 10th office changes out their couch out a few times during the canon timeline, I feel like there's a 0% chance Hitsugaya has considered a bedding/architecture overhaul during his tenure at the 10th. He's spent the last 15 years developing a real filing system and an actual budget procedure. He didn't come in with extra money to put towards beds and the 46 doesn't generally approve that kind of line item. That's more of a "gift fund" expense.

Shinji is trying to get a Pod Hotel proposal approved, on the grounds that the idea would benefit more than just the 5th. They could implement it in the Tsumesho (Gotei WeWork)! And provide them in strategic outposts across Rukongai!

During what decade was the 11th briefly "HAMMOCK DIVISION" because it seemed like the cheapest, most low-maintenance option?

[teaspoonnebula]

Hullo, I am so sorry if this ask is a weird one but. You are in the fandom for a long time, and I need to know, is it me or is the ACD SH fandom *not* insane?? Everywhere else where I've been, I see people turning on each other, fighting over characters and the morality of liking them and not liking them, telling people to go kill themselves and here. I have been in this corner of Tumblr for a few months now, and everybody seems normal? Am I just not deep enough yet to sew the drama, or is this really just a place where people hang out to enjoy something together??? Are we just too old of a fandom to do this?

(feel free not to answer if this is too weird or anything)

Sorry my reply got really long. I've broken it up with memes in the hope that it makes it more readable.

I've been in the fandom for a few years now, and I don't have much to compare against because I've generally avoided fandom spaces because they seem pretty intense (and I've not had a piece of media grab me quite like this before) but yeah it seems pretty chill?

I think there are lots of possible reasons why.

It might be that the fandom skews a little older, with lots of people who have enough life experience to know how to de-escalate tension when they encounter it, and when to walk away from the keyboard.

It might be that there's a century-old understanding that we're all playing a silly tongue-in-cheek game with characters from magazine stories that were never supposed to be analysed this way. Remember the term "canon" as used in fandom circles was invented by Sherlock Holmes fans (specifically my boy Ronald Knox) as a joke, a deliberate cute misapplication of a term used for discussing the Bible to something frivolous. Not taking yourself too seriously is very baked into Sherlockian culture.

I sometimes get glimpses from other fandoms of this puritanical attitude that to like or not like a character or a piece of work is somehow a moral act, and I find that... bewildering. A bit scary. To be a fan of Sherlock Holmes is inherently to love something dearly which also contains things which should be hated: racism, sexism, imperialism. I think that fans tend to be people well used to approaching literature with the level of nuance required to process that dichotomy. To acknowledge it rather than hide from it.

It might also be because it's public domain. A big blockbuster movie or pastiche by a celebrated writer is precisely as legitimate as every fanfic on Ao3. Or the CGI movie where they're gnomes. Or a slightly wonky point and click game someone is obsessively making in their spare time (...coughcougheveryonewishlist 'The Beekeepers' Picnic' onsteam) Sherlock Holmes belongs to everyone equally regardless of how much money and power they have, which is why I love it.

Like, I love him as a character, I love the Victoriana, I love the mysteries, but the #1 reason I've gone gaga over Sherlock Holmes these past few years is the joy of loving a thing which isn't controlled by a corporation and which does not exist to make money (anymore).

I'm not saying there's zero drama because I think when you get a bunch of people passionate about something there will always be a little drama. I'll see things like the jostling of people who are very protective of asexual readings of Holmes and people who are very protective of gay readings of Holmes, things like that. Feelings can run high when personal identity is involved. But I've never seen anything got too vicious.

Errrr yeah idk if you wanted an essay as a response but you got one!

[fetching-sketching]

long-ass post ahead so i'll put it under a cut but basically this is a ninjago superhero au with drawings explaining stuff because i couldn't get it out of my head ok lets go

it's kind of a fusion between regular ninjago, movie ninjago and superhero elements. the ninja work as a protective force of ninjago city and are in some sort of superhero training program where the dr kids are the underclassmen and some of the other realms are basically rival training programs. the main six ninja are essentially on a work study (the costume designs are very first pass here, i just wanted to get ideas onto a page and i'll work on them from there).

we'll start with zane since he was the first one i drew. when he activates his power it slows time down for him and speeds up his cognition, so he's essentially moving at 2x speed and thinking at 4x speed compared to everyone else. he can't activate it for long, however, because it very rapidly drains his body heat. his costume is designed to keep him warm and there's heating pads in the coat he can turn on and off. he's the best guy for time-critical crisis situations, but he can hold his own in a fight, too.

next is nya! she can turn her body into water, fully or partially. when she's in full water mode, she can travel through regular water as well. one of her signature moves is turning a single arm into a water whip. she also uses her water form to evade attacks as well. her suit is pretty similar to that of a scuba suit for ease of transporting and getting back into her suit when she goes in and out of her water form. she can't control water that isn't 'her', but she can move it around if that makes sense? like how we can move water with are hands but if our hands were also water. anyways she mainly works around the shoreline but can help in a lot of other situations as well. her favorite trick is instead of taking the stairs, she'll jump from a roof and turn into water before she hits the ground so she doesn't get hurt. (i'm not the most pleased with her suit since it is basically just a scuba suit, so i'll revise it to something more interesting).

onto lloyd! he can draw energy from any living thing and turn it into an energy blast. it's really simple, almost a bit too simple so i'm more open to changing it in the future. idk, if it works it works i guess. he can draw energy from things other than himself but he's paranoid of hurting others so he strictly draws energy from himself. he can blast the energy like he does in the show or he pop it when he's still holding it to maneuver himself when he's in the air. with enough concentration he can even double jump. he's kind of a generalist, working wherever he's needed, acting as a sort of comfort figure for people whenever they see him. i felt that if any of the ninja could have a costume reminiscent of their show gi, it would be lloyd.

jay's turn! whenever he generates static electricity, he stores it in his body until he releases it as a single bolt. the amount of electricity he can store is theoretically infinite, but he can only release the electricity all at once, so if he stores up too much its no bueno. periodically throughout the day he has to release whatever he's built up, which is rather annoying. once he learns how to control his output it's over for everyone, he'll be unstoppable. he used to have his regular combover hair but when his powers came in it got all curly and wild. no amount of water, gel, or brushing can tame it. his powers come with a rather neat immunity to electricity. he's a generalist like lloyd, although he skews a little towards more fights than anything else. one time the local hospital lost power and he spent three hours powering the backup generators before they got the power up and running again. he hates it, but one of the fastest ways for him to build up a charge is to rub his hair with his gloves on. he thinks it makes him look stupid. he can have a stereotypical hero costume. as a treat.

kai's turn! his is pretty basic too, but i feel like it fits him. he can light himself on fire. that's pretty much it. once the fire catches on something that isn't him he can't control it anymore, so he has to be careful about it. he has a flamethrower he uses mainly for combat, so he doesn't always go out with it on. the most useful part of his power is his immunity to fire and heat, so he responds to a lot of fire calls. however, he's not immune to smoke, so he keeps a face mask in his pack with him to combat that. since breathing fire is more of a european dragon thing rather than an eastern dragon thing, he has some knight elements in his costuming as well. tbh i'm not sure if i'm gonna keep it, ninjago is obviously very eastern-inspired and there's probably other motifs i could explore rather than medieval knight, but it was the first idea that came to mind and my main goal, again, was just to put pen to paper and get stuff down.

last and most certainly not least is cole! he can cover himself in a rocky outer skin, where the strength and durability of whatever areas that are covered are boosted. currently, he can't cover much of his body, his maximum is just about enough to completely cover both of his arms, but he's working on upping the amount. he works a lot of disaster situations, such earhtquakes, building collapsses, and other similar situations. his costume is based a lot on early 20th century mining uniforms, and same as nya it doesn't offer a lot more, so i'll do more with it in further revisions. cole is the one i've thought the most about with the story. his mother was a very well-known hero who protected ninjago city as well, but she sustained and eventually succumbed to an injury she sustained on the field. cole wants to follow her footsteps, but lou is pretty opposed to him going into the same field that killed his mother. he's being allowed to do the work study, but just barely, and it's an unspoken rule that lou will pull him from the work study if he gets injured whatsoever.

obviously i'm still working out a lot of the kinks but the powers, which are the most interesting part to me, are pretty much done and dusted! i have so many characters thought out you wouldn't believe. pixal and morro should be next, but after that i'm not sure. lmk if there's any specific character you wanna see done next because chances are i've thought them through!

[katiekatdragon27]

People sleeping on this hypothetical tbh.

Oh, First King you grump and unaware old fart. You have no idea how scary and cool you look to these kids <33

Notes n stuff below cut:

I get all the jokes about FK being a zombie and evil n stuff, but like, not really?? He's just the FIRST KING OF THE GLADE that's all. He's probably been unjustly necromanced into today's world when he was just chilling with being dead. He would be the last thing from evil. Maybe kinda rude to other species, but that's normal for older people.

Idk, I just want grandpas in the world who actually want to help care and raise the next generation (cuz peepaw Polokus is doing daedally-shit)

Since I'm self-indulgent and biased to my own ideas, I had this silly idea that when FK was resurrected, he and Markus (the name for the Grand Minumus always hanging with Rayman for me), got into some arguments about just general stuff regarding the Glade and it's management. It might've gotten violent, and this got FK banished to the Livid Dead for a couple years, hanging out in the upper levels with Romeo, Shadi, and Goth (kinda).

When Big Mama found him there, she quickly brought him back to the surface and showed the Fairy Council. Betilla is very conflicted about him being back (cuz daddy issues), but she makes a decree that nothing harmful shall be bestowed upon him. So, he can do whatever without being sent back down to the Livid Dead.

Now, onto the school-related parts:

FK has a had a liking for kids ever since he was known as Aurthr Grandur (shameless The Sacred Dream plug sorry-not-sorry). So, when he was allowed back into the royal ranks, he began basically being everyone's royal babysitter when he wasn't listening in on Fairy Council meetings. That's where someone proposed for him to be a teacher, to which he took up the offer.

History has a tendency to be kinda skewed in the Glade, often neglecting the stuff predating Rayman and the rise of the Limbless race along with every other group in the Glade. Stuff that FK went through first-hand. He was not really vibing with the lack of diversity in the schooling.

As the magic school's history teacher, he always makes an effort to share all kind of history, not just Rayman's. This consists of every kind of creature in the Glade and of course his own. He even talks about the fairies as "kids" on occasion too. He is very well-liked amongst his students of all ages. Also, he doesn't give homework and does live-acting demonstrations of certain events with crazy swordsmanship, so bonus points there.

Many adults were wary about what they thought to be a nightmare teaching their kids but grew to appreciate him more b/c of his old-school "fuck around and find out" methods of teaching and discipline. Kids got better when in his class, which was something not that seen prior to him.

And in the background, he tutors students that show an interest in hand-to-hand combat. He loves seeing younger people actually using sharp weapons and learning the powerful method of channeling magic. He's an actually good PE teacher, I always thought those weren't real

Here is his full drip:

Enjoy the essay and have a good one fellas ✌️✌️✌️✌️

[bcbdrums]

"now the anime i felt diminished Soul's character in the second half... that's another topic though, haha."

What do you mean, his character was diminished?

Hello! Sorry it took me so long to answer!! Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn't seen the whole show.

Let me approach this a different way... We know the running joke about Tsubaki, that after the Masamune arc she gets no character development. Her lines are just screaming Black Star's name, and that's about it for her.

That's how it feels for Soul after Crona shows up. Except with him it's just...silent brooding and watching his meister put all her focus onto someone else. The meister/weapon relationship that seems like it's kinda supposed to be the whole point of the show...? We don't get much of that for Soul and Maka anymore until the finale. And then it feels just kinda...forced in at the last moment, since we haven't gotten much of that.

He's not the only one whose arc gets skewed, and a good lot of that is due to the anime ending so abruptly and not getting to tell a fuller story. It needed at least ten more episodes in my opinion, whether it followed the manga or not... It just ended too fast.

But Soul specifically got supplanted by Crona, and it makes no sense to me. To have his relationship with Maka just...set aside entirely. Or rather, the issue is that they tried to pretend it wasn't. They tried to pretend all was well, and then bring it back at the very end as if things have been fine the entire time. But no.....no they haven't been.

For some idk like fifteen episodes or so? The only glimpses of Soul are him brooding, pining, trying to be himself toward Maka, being a good friend and weapon, but Maka only has eyes for Crona. Even at their apartment her only thoughts are for Crona, even telling Soul to leave her alone one time. She puts this wall between them and doesn't even know she's doing it, and Soul... His devotion to her never changes.

And... He never gets resolution with Crona for himself. So Maka just...forgave Crona I guess for almost killing Soul? Remember that huge giant plot point that started back in episode 7? That started the entire black blood thing? We never see or hear them talk about it but I guess Maka just....let it go, after purifying Crona? Which makes NO sense but okay I guess. But what about Soul... So since Maka decided to forget about Crona almost killing him, Soul is supposed to just forget too? Since his meister has decided to obsess over this poor mixed up kid who desperately needs professional help NOT a friendship that's doomed to unhealthiness due to the kid's issues, and Soul's supposed to just...be cool with it?

I was really glad that Kid brought it up that one time at the courts, even if it was just for a moment. At least somebody remembered what Soul went through. But it should have been his meister.

So yeah it's just...messed up. In summary.... Soul gets ignored second half of the show till a last-minute dramatic thing in the finale, but it feels out of place since Maka has ignored him for who knows how many episodes except to tell him to leave her alone. Soul has remained devoted and loyal. Soul's devotion to her has him repeatedly use the black blood for the sake of all of them, risking himself. And Maka just forgot I guess about her "new project" or whatever almost killing her weapon. And Soul just gotta deal with....all of that. Deal with what looks like the slow losing of his meister.

Yeah. That's what I meant by Soul being diminished... Everything about him was just kinda forgotten except what he could do for the rest of them.

Gonna take a left-turn here and compare Maka to her father again... Wonder if this is what Stein felt like watching his weapon go off with someone else, slowly losing him to some new, interesting person for whatever reason...

Yeah Maka, your weapon deserved better from you.

All that said? Oh I still ship it. I can be annoyed as heck with canon and still use it, lol.

[infini-tree]

wanted to actually finalize the ppu kid legacy characters' designs, since i already did that for both ppu!krupp, blunder, and edith. additional notes under the cut, as an extra bit of supplement to the ppu headcanon post i have-- i was going to just rewrite the stuff i had on the canvas, but typing it out is easier at the moment.

ppu!harold

inverted heterochromia! also, his bangs hang a little lower, shading his face

his tie is tied into an atlantic knot

the polo logo was supposed to be a dolphin, but it looks more like a stylized shape at this distance. its fine lol,,,

despite his upbringing making him be more (outwardly) assured, he still has echoes of that cautious nature seen in his mainverse counterpart. this manifests in how he plans pranks/overall prank style being more deliberate, 'slower-paced'

doesn't really use The Tie as a weapon so much as a fidget toy. kind of ruins the whole 'evil kid' vibe in a fun/funny way

ppu!george

stripes have a thin-thick thing going on, as opposed to just having equal width stripes. idk, it looks pleasing to me this way

despite not having The Tie here, he'd still improvise a weapon of choice. the whole time i've been wracking my head around for what the "opposite" of indiana jones would be, or other apt movie references he can draw on. the most i've got is that he's just extremely adaptable until i have something more concrete

with mainverse george's sense of justice, ppu!george probably has a skewed version of that in a way i haven't workshopped too deeply yet

ppu!melvin

also has the inverted heterochromia!

went through the most changes. ditched any semblance of canon outfit in favor of, "what looks dorky but in the diametric opposite way from mainverse"

answer to that, apparently was overalls-- still dorky, but makes him look a bit more childish and ready to be a bit more rough and tumble than his mainverse counterpart

instead of the bunny slippers i opted for untied shoelaces, though the bunny motif still remains in said shoes

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

MAC HI don't mind me i just finished the genloss founders cut and im putting my ful lreview in ur inbox bc u said u weren't gonna watch it i think but i want 2 share my thoughts with someone who will not rip me to shreds for criticizing it even slightly <3

OK. I'M NOT GONNA LIE. IT KINDA SLAPPED. maybe i just think it was really good in comparison to the original four hours of streams that dragged on. i honestly thought the original streams of genloss were longer but NO all three streams add up to about four hours???? it just felt so much longer when i originally watched it i guess!!! u can understand why i am sure. but the founders cut was like two and a half and oh my goddddd cutting out a lot of it made such a huge difference. holy shit. like i definitely did get bored and skip through a little bit but honestly i didn't skip through much!! every time i got to a part where i was like "oh fuck not THIS bit that goes on for 30-45 minutes god dammit" it ended up being like maybe ten minutes at most which was SUCH A GODSEND. i am delighted to report that they cut the half hour cooking bit in the first episode down to like 7-8 minutes <3 the best surprise ranboo could have given me tbh. like with the way things were cut down and framed differently i actually laughed at a couple points????? WILD. did not think i would find any genuine comedy here. lowkey there were points that were funny. insane

honestly with the unfunny bits being cut down, it actually let the slightly more serious lore bits shine more, and the payoff for when it got to the third episode felt SO much more deserved. like. the original streams i'd probably give a 3/10 collectively and that's being generous but i would unironically say the founder's cut deserves like a 7/10. maybe a 7.5 if i found it in myself to ignore the bad special effects. (there was still plenty of bad comedy ngl i still don't know why charlie slimecicle's face was superimposed on a towel. that scene was nothing. it was literally nothing. they could have removed it and it would change nothing but they kept it in idk why)

ANYWAY. if they had released genloss like this first maybe i would unironically be a fan of it now. tbh. i would still be making fun of the bad comedy and the horror that was barely horror but i think i would actually be like participating in the fandom a lil and i would probably find it in me to find some charm in the bad special effects. all in all Not Bad!! not good, but not like actively bad. ofc im still running on the adrenaline of the ending because episode 3 was objectively the best out of them all so maybe my perception is skewed but. kinda decent. 7/10 👍 anyway i hope ur havin a good day i hope to finish pd season one soon over the next couple days!!!!!

taking the cowards route and putting my thoughts under the cut bc a lot of my mutuals these days really enjoy genloss and i don't want them to be mad at me

(genloss crit/neg/whatever under the cut)

dude this makes me so unironically sad . why the FUCK was genloss what it was the first time around when this was obviously the better route to go from the very beginning. I am still staunchly in my "I don't like genloss" position but. I DID WATCH IT. i sat through ALL of the original streams and it was so miserable for me. im not going 2 watxh the directors cut or whatever bc i dont hate myself enough to sit through all of that again but i trust your opinion!! if only it would've been planned out thought out prerecorded videos from the start I also probably would not hate it as much as I do!!! maybe I even would've liked it !!! (<< not likely bc i do have Other Issues with it than just the fact that it was too long too unfunny too unfocused etc whatever im getting into hater territory sorry. always welcome 2 genloss fans to try to explain to my why its Good Actually so i can recommend them actual horror media)

like . the streams added absolutely NOTHING to it other than that final choice scene or whatever. and even if they wanted to do that still u know what would've been an awesome smart choice??? prerecord and edit the whole thing and then premiere THAT video on twitch- then when it comes time for the final choice you can still have people vote!! then you can have two separate endings prepared based on which way the vote was swaying. like. its that easy. it would've made the whole experience so much more enjoyable . ughhghghg the fucking wasted potential on HOURS of unfunny badly improvved bits is so devastating

personally I still cant excuse the bad effects considering the amount of times ranboo bragged about the genloss budget like. maybe you should've used your resources better and also if it would've just been prerecorded from the start things wouldn't look as rushed as they did but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what do I know !!

anyway I'm so glad this version was better but for me it will always ALWAYS be tainted by the . misery I felt while watching the streams lmaoooo . I wanted to like genloss so bad. I tried so hard. head in hands !!!!!!!!!!!

[furbygoblinxiv]

Part one of a mini Scum Villain design series I've been doing between work and assignments recently, mainly on the demons and their looks and fashion. First up: Luo Binghe's extended family. I've included some sketches and notes in that main picture, but I'll include some thoughts beneath the read more for if anyone is interested. Just keep in mind these are all head canons based on. my brain. and get a bit over explained and in depth (to the tune of 1k words) (in theory these is a read more here but uhhh rip):

Also keep in mind idk the official fashion names for stuff so I call things belts, robes, pants, ect even when that may not be the official term. if you know the official terms or even have guides or references I can use then please hmu and I will love you forever. Anyways:

Since TLJ ruled the southern kingdom and MBJ ruled the north, I've primarily divided the demon variants to be based around the directions. For most demons, I've got them in "clans" that really just denote what color fabric their belt is and what the design/color of the crest featured on most of them is. I imagine those sorts of simple visual signifiers make it easier for demons, especially lower class ones who may be unable to read, to identify friend or foe at a glance. I also wanted to have the demons wearing jewelry much more prominently than the humans do. As in like, the human fashion sense trends towards sensible, refined, and modest, and the demon fashion sense tends towards ostentatious, lax and boastful, though that ofc doesn't apply to everyone. This sorta stuff gets more relevant later for the designs of demons like Six Balls and Meng Mo.

For these lads (sans Binghe), they're southern demon based, as shown by the little cat demon design at the bottom right. Completely arbitrarily and just for the fun of it, I've got their primary clothing choices as being warm color fabrics paired with gold as a metal, form fitting tops with exposed stomachs, and baggy pants. Looser lighter fabrics allow for more flexibility for animalistic features or and body transformations that may happen. They're also typically in open toed shoes for similar reasons. Only Zhuzhi in this lineup has mini little horns, but I've also assigned each region a general horn shape (so edged and jagged for the north, spiral for the south, straight for the east and curved and wavy for the west). The only thing Binghe adopts from any demon style is the exposed chest, cloth on the belt, colors, and the demon mark.

I like giving the demons openly animalistic and beast like features, like colored skin, horns, fur/feathers/scales, claws, three fingers, ect, which again comes into play for the later demon designs I'm gonna post. For heavenly demons, however, since they're ancient fallen deities, I wanted them to skew more towards a human appearance. So while they have more vibrant skin and eyes, or sharper ears and fingers, they wouldn't have to put too much effort into a disguise or glamour to come off as a human.

Anyways, onto actually explaining what's happening in the pictures:

TLJ is attempting to appropriate human fashion choices, but has no idea what the line is. Like, he's aware they wear more fabric than demons, and have sleeves that fully cover their arms, but has no clue what pieces pair together and what fashion choices are clearly demon related that would get him recognized immediately. Like "what do you mean human's don't wear their clan crests everywhere? well how else do they define their enemies?!" Su Xiyan, meanwhile, is dressed in Huan Hua clothing. I wanted to make them distinct visually from Cang Qiong, so currently I have CQ having each peak have its own colors of robes (patterns and such denoting ranking), with each peak generally having a similar look and all of them (sans peak lords) wearing identical belts and boots, with the only variations being colors. Meanwhile, I have Huan Hua having everyone in the same gold silver white uniforms, with ranking denoted by accent colors and accessories they choose to wear. Like, if she was more self absorbed here, Su Xiyan could have worn a longer robe and a cape over that uniform but just chose not to. I like the idea of them wanting all their people to look the same, like an army or a hivemind.

Going to the bottom there: TLJ's Sister and ZZL's mother...what a figure. Like what was up with her. Like TLJ saying "if i had a mother like that I'd want to forget her too" like is that in reference to the abandonment or to her being a piece of work? Also, how on earth did the little sister of Mr "I'm so powerful a multi sect ambush of the top cultivators was only enough to imprison me" TLJ just casually died?? Like can heavenly demons even do that??? I love making up wild conspiracies about her based on nothing. She faked her death. She didn't die, she ascended to godhood as the god of deadbeat parents, or perhaps snake lovers. She dropped her mortal body to enter the dream realm like Meng Mo did and that's how she told TLJ her wish for ZZL. Wild. Oh also my other wild conspiracy is that she had more than one kid and thus there are a bunch of unclaimed half heavenly demons running around. Banging a snake man and ditching the kid?? Ain't no way that's her first time. Anyways.

My only comments on Zhuzhi are that I wanted to make him look like a little guy. And I hope I succeeded. Oh and also that his cheeks, nose, forehead, shoulder, hands, and feet are darker bc thats a cluster of harder scales he retains even in a humanoid form. Anyways.

Onto bingqiu: I've seen some art of Binghe in that white robe on top of his darker ones and had the thought that it'd be nice if that was the Qing Jing inner disciple robe, so I leaned into that. Their robes (as also shown on the little Ning Yingying next to him) are like a shorter color swapped version of the peak lord robes, and they're wearing similar belt and hair crowns. I think Binghe would wanna wear them partially to show off his disciple status and partially to wear the colors of his husband (like with the upper eyeliner), though he still has demon traits and fashions showing. I gave TLJ and LBH heterochromia since I wanted it to be immediately obvious to anyone who looked at them that yeah, they have the same eyes. Binghe's everything else is just slight adjustments of SXY, like the nose and the fluffy hair. Meanwhile, I've got SQQ in mainly his peak lord robes, with a few exceptions: The tassel on the closed fan he's holding is the same as Binghe's earring, he's wearing red eyeliner, and part of his hair crown is red. Also he's embarrassed about the pda (h*lding h*nds in public), that nervous expression isn't bc he was forced to do anything he doesn't want to.

Anyways to wrap up this one thousand word brain ramble, I have a lot of thoughts on world building for fleshing things out, and part two of this will be focused on Mobei Jun, thanks for reading

[cassierobinsons]

to the anon from a few days ago: sorry i'm only just getting back to you on the sam + classism discussion. putting this under a cut because it's rambly

To me the whole Sam classism thing is very much like coming from an immigrant family the people you will meet who complain about "illegals" because they didn't do it "the right way". Like generally, these are not people who hate immigrants or approve of ICE or anything like that, but they still feel a certain moral superiority in having improved their situation "the correct way". I don't think Sam thinks homeless people should all be sent to prison or anything, but I think he still looks at himself as having done something morally correct in getting out of his situation (even though he really didnt in the long run excluding the finale). You see this attitude with other things like when he asks Max why didn't you just leave. I don't think he has no empathy for these situations, but there's like a mental block of not understanding the barriers that other people might face that he didnt.

Oh i extremely know what you mean as a fellow child of immigrants. my mum will make a snide comment while watching the news and i’ll be like 🤨 oh so now we’re pretending that your friend [DATA EXPUNGED] is here totally legally huh. it comes from a small-c conservative belief that there exists a group of people who are less "deserving" than them.

“Morally correct” also happens to be how the fandom sees sam's escape from the family, when it’s just Morally neutral? Like it’s a good thing. But says nothing about sam’s moral fibre because it was for self-preservation reasons. that's not a bad thing either! and i obviously don't think fandom is bad for thinking of sam's hard work as an admirable trait but there needs to be some acknowledgement of his perspective is a little skewed.

Max is a great example to use because sam isn’t being spiteful, but he is being thoughtless and most of it is due to him literally being a man in his early 20s but like, it’s also because of how he grew up and how he got out.

sam’s judgy moments are at their most interesting in s1 because there’s so many of them and because they’re so intentional. Like, intentional on the part of the writers, not sam. his response to max is a reflection of how idk, myopic? sam’s read of dean and their family situation is. It’s an in-universe character flaw he has to work on in order to repair the bond between them, just as dean’s seething resentment over sam’s departure is something he needs to work on too. s1 is about both of them learning to see other as their dad's victim.

I think in general in the fandom you get these sort of knee jerk reactions like "no they can't be racist/sexist/homophobic/classist/etc, they don't hate xyz people" but really no one is saying they do. Like no one is saying Sam spits on poor people. No one is saying Dean thinks women are beneath him. But they both clearly have some ingrained beliefs that are ultimately prejudiced! These aren't immutable characteristics. In fact, I think for the most part if someone had an actual deep discussion with them about it they'd probably come around fairly easily, but that doesn't mean Sam scoffing at Dean hustling pool or Dean saying "sweetheart this ain't gender studies" aren't bad things to do. Like they're often understandable character flaws based on the characters backgrounds, but they're still there.

Honestly, i’d argue that plenty of people ARE saying that dean sees women as beneath him or that sam despises the poor or vice-versa etc. but like. Hmm. this is a tv show for a narrow group of people written by an even narrower group of people and thus the show reflects the views & prejudices of the people writing them. There are moments in which we’re supposed to approve of dean’s sexism but there are also moments where we’re supposed to disapprove while simultaneously approve of or at least be okay with sam’s sexism. There are moments where we’re supposed to think sam’s being a judgy snob, but there are still others where we’re supposed to wrinkle our noses at how uncouth and lumpenprole dean is in comparison to college boy sam. And that goes for the many other -isms in the show. characters are often used as vectors for the beliefs of the writers, good or bad. It’s up to the individual how they choose to make peace with that, but the problem with this fandom is that discussions about isms get heavily wrapped up with stan wars. 

Lemme give an example. It’s incredibly common in samgirl spaces to paint dean as a homophobic neanderthal. they usually do this by taking a shitty comment from season 3 and extrapolating it until they’re talking about s15 dean as if he can’t so much as look at a gay person without threatening to kill them in that sense they’re no different to the desticule circa 2020-2023 WHOA WHO SAID THAT anyway they pretend it’s just a heehee haha jokeyjoke but like. it is 2024 and they STILL can’t engage with conversations about queer dean without talking about deangirls as if they are personally endorsing homophobia! As a result if someone points out that sam makes just as many homophobic jokes as dean does and he’s just slyer about it they flip the fuck out because they’re lowkey projecting and think you’re judging them as hard as they judge you. This is why the mildest criticisms of sam prompt an insane amount of backlash. 

(i talk a little more about this phenomenon here)

and so we come to discussions about sam and classism that feel like people trying to defend him at every turn because they sincerely think we're trying to cancel him and it's pissing me off because if we can't even suggest fictional character sam winchester is maybe a little classist how the hell are we going to address the DERANGED lvls of classism throughout this fandom. i've never been in a fandom where so many people think going to college makes a str8 person better equipped to talk about queerness than actual queer people until i joined spn fandom.

(discussions about racism/racialised misogyny get a lot more complicated and a lot more depressing than anything mentioned above so i'm not approaching that topic for now. "but-" don't care didn't ask plus i probably have more melanin than you. i don't wanna talk about it!!!)

anyway. idk what i'm saying. i think i get where the defensiveness is coming from but it's annoying. what if we just mutually agreed that we're not to blame for spn's bigotry but we also have a responsibility not to reproduce that same bigotry? what if???

EDIT: coming back a day later to say that I do agree with your assertion that a deep conversation could be enough to change them! I just think that a certain part of fandom is allergic to acknowledging ANY flaw at all and that's the biggest hurdle in these discussions.

[monstersinthecosmos]

i feel like slightly younger than marius mael is the best just for flavor reasons lol. reeaally curious to know what you think

I think I usually land on slightly younger but not like a baby. Like early 30s maybe. BUT I'LL TELL YOU SOME THOUGHTS OF WHY I LIKE EACH OR WHY EACH COULD WORK:

Under 30: First of all because of Jesse's chapter in QOTD--Maharet was turned around age 20 I think? And for Jesse, I'm sure there's that sort of uncanny thing where your mind fills in blanks and makes excuses, like, her "aunt" has been around her whole life so like gee golly I guess she just looks young for her age! Except that there's like the vampire uncanniness too, so whatever you judge as an age doesn't super matter. So like, Mael blending in as one of her guy friends in his early 20s would make sense. Jesse DOES also clock him as not being human, so again I think the uncanniness might not make her peg either of them as a certain age.

I do worry if this clashes with the idea that he could properly be a priest? Caesar said that it takes 20 years to train a priest, but A) A lot of what Caesar said is like anti-Keltoi propaganda and might not be accurate since the Druids famously never left anything in writing, so there's very little first hand information about them. B) MAYBE IT'S OKAY BECUASE IN VC-VERSE TESKHAMEN IS REAL AND MAEL WAS REALLY COMMUNING WITH HIM SO IF THERE WAS LIKE MAGIC AFOOT IN THE COMMUNITY MAYBE HE GOT FAST TRACKED OR RESPECTED AS BEING SPECIAL IDK. I can work with it and make excuses lol.

I LOVE the idea of him being like a young man because of how much madder that would make Marius, plus the way he likes to mentor young blonde men lol. But it might like hurt him even worse if the author of all his misfortunate is like SOME KID.

In his 30s: Personally I usually land here because I DO wonder how long it takes him to gain status in his community and become a priest (in his 30s is still fast tracking it but maybe feels more plausible LOL) and I enjoy the idea of he and Marius being sort of similar to each other. Like, Marius often gets used as the example of Turning an Older Guy and what it means for his temperament and the way it translates to his immortality. I like imagining Mael as around Marius's age for that reason, like I want to remove all his excuses why Mael is a young stupid kid or even an old salty jerk--it forces Marius to confront that Mael is ALSO someone who is chill and smart and has had enough life experience. BUT WHILE THERE'S A WINDOW WHERE THEY COULD BE SIMILAR IN AGE, OR MAEL COULD BE A TAD OLDER, I ALSO STILL ENJOY MARIUS BEING LIKE "HE'S YOUNGER THAN ME I HATE THIS!" BECAUSE HIS AGE AND SELF-PERCEIVED WISDOM & EXPERIENCE ARE IMPORTANT TO HIS IDENTITY AND HE FEELS BELITTED LOL.

In his 40s: Makes sense for the above reason! But I like to skew younger personally just for the Marius ageism dynamic lol. Also there's something about him being a foil to Marius where like, if they're very similar in other ways it can kind of emphasize how their atheism/religion contrasts each other and affects them as people.

Over 50: ALSO POSSIBLE and it's hilarious bc in the audiobook the narrator reads him like such a grouchy old man lmao. I could see this causing a lot of resentment because Marius likes to be the oldest and wisest in the room. I could see him also being younger because Marius insults him every chance he gets and I just think he would've told us that Mael is like an old hag if it were true lol. Anyway wondering how this effects Marius's barbarian kink and how he submits to men.

[fraudulent-cheese]

So i watched episodes 3 to 8 of Pahkitew Island

Again, watched these with my buddy @rockin-it-rusty! And, holy shit these episodes have got me genuinly wondering why Pahkitew's so hated.

I'll go over the negatives first; the challenges are kinda eh. The Truth or Scare one is great, and the cave one is interesting due to it's hints at the Fake Island reveal (as heavy handed as they were), but most of these were just pretty out there to me? They mostly felt like an excuse to put the characters in situations mostly. Just have Topher make a narration joke, give Max and Scarlett an interaction, have Sky and Dave dance around eachother all due to a thing the challenge made them do. I don't mind the first two much, but the last one gets super repetitive man. Glad they mixed it up a bit by making Shawn try to wingman Dave though, i like their friendship! im a bigger dashawn shipper now oops

ANYWAYS IMA TALK ABOUT THE CHARACTERS NOW BECAUSE LET'S BE HONEST, THE CHARACTERS CARRY THE SHOW!

Amy... Ok im very mixed on her. On one hand, she serves her role as the mean twin relatively well. But on the other, that's all she really is! Her one trait is being mean and hating her sister, and that's all she really does! Granted she has a thing? Where she gets sayings (?) wrong, or just gets words wrong (she says parfait is german. it's french. i would know) which! could hint at something! (maybe less smart than her sister?) but they don't do shit with her outside of her swimming back to the island in episode 5. god i wanna rewrite this season so badly now to give her a bigger role. idk shoutouts to Twinning with a Twist for redeeming her while still giving her some edge ig.

Rodney. i uh

I haven't thought about him since his elimination honestly. I just doooooon't care about him it's crazy. Most forgettable guy in the entire series.

Sammy! Ok back to the siblings rambles! I wish the show leaned into her scheming more. Girl in five episodes pulled identity theft and did nothing else. Why. Her relationship with Jasmine is adorable, and i wish she got Jasmine to call her by her actual name, and a personality too! It's really a shame man :(

Sidenote, but like her team fucking hated her for some reason??? Like what. I know it's because of that one scene, but really?

Ella!! My sweet girl Ella!!! She didn't do anything wrong man she just likes singing leave her alone!!! Chris really fucking hates her and it's pretty entertaining at least, but i'd say his beef with Topher's funnier. She has a nice singing voice, and i love how passionate she is about fairytales and stuff. You could do so much with the Prince thing and the show... didn't. Like what even was that. Conflict that wasn't one that lasts an episode. what

Gotta say though, her elimination was fucking ass, Max 100% should've been kicked instead of her.

Topher. Ah the opher. He's a special case, even in the context of Pahkitew Island itself! Because the dude's not here for the game. He's here to meet his idol, Chris Mclean (he really knows how to pick em, huh). I like the progression he's got, from wanting his approval to straight up wanting to host the game instead of him. I'll admit, my opinion's a little skewed since i am mutuals with the Topher guy on Tumblr, but i like him regardless!

His relationship with Chris is easily one of the more interesting parts of the season, mostly because a 30-something year old dude having beef with a teenage fan is hilarious, and you could definitely spin it in a sad way from Topher's perspective.

It also helps that he's genuinely funny! His few interactions with the other campers are also pretty fun, he dgaf about them it's great.

Im kind of mixed on Dave, i'll be real. On one hand, im glad they ditched the whole "he doesn't like anyone on this Island" trait three episodes in because that would've gotten. SO ANNOYING. SO FAST. (hell i'd argue it was already annoying), and him being a hopeless romantic could be a fun trait, if done right. It also helps that he's really pathetic and i find that funny. His friendship with Shawn's fun too!

But on the other hand... Yeah, even before the finale the Skave plotline's really boringgg. They just dance around eachother for half the season for like! No reason! Please just have a conversation, even if it takes other people to sit them down to have it! I know why they didn't because the finale needed them to not actually talk about it but at least have Sky tell him she'll explain later or have him not be a coward and ask her about it himself!!! ack!!

Also the thing with him and Ella went literally nowhere. I have 0 feelings about it because it's just there for some reason. Idk they just really wanted to shoehorn in romance for every girl this season huh.

Scarlett's a really underutilized character pre-Island reveal. The bulk of her interactions with the other campers are with Max, who has a ton of screentime for some reason (which i don't personally really mind but i'll explain later) which honestly sucks because she's a fun character! I want to compare her to Twilight Sparkle at the very start of MLP. She's smart, she knows it, she can communicate with her teammates just fine and just chooses not to usually. I like her alot! Im just... really disapointed that she's so in the background usually; if anyone's a wasted character in tdpi, outside of the Twins i'd say it's her.

Her legit wanting to kill Max is great though. That's how i'd react to him irl. Don't get the Max saying she had a crush on him three episodes in, or the quip Chris made during the team switching tho.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, MAX! I swear, i was convinced i'd find this guy annoying pre-watch but uh... I like this guy! No really, i do! He's like Mal, only the narrative doesn't take him seriously in the slightest and it's hilarious to watch! Im like Sugar in that one clip, i am laughing at this buffoon's intelligence, and his stupid catchphrase, and his "evil" plans, and his general delivery! Max is funny!

Even when the Scarlett "minion" thing kicked in i still found him funny! Don't get me wrong, i wish he'd gotten out earlier (ESPECIALLY when he was supposed to get kicked in the episode Ella got eliminated into) or just gotten less screentime in general, but in the season proper, yeah he's a funny guy! Big gimmick, but i like him! Please don't add nuance to him, i don't care

Jasmine... certaintly exists! I'd call her the Season's rock, the one character that's emotionally intelligent on the show. She's fun in general, and also the only one noticing things going wrong with the robotic island. As said before, her relationship with Sammy is great to see, and i wished we'd see more of her and Sky's friendship and uh. For there to be more between her and Shawn? Because the only things i've retained is that they blushed at eachother once and then trust issues party because he hit her once during a challenge and that completely broke her trust in him - which, could be an interesting aspect of her character to explore since if that's all it took for her to pull a 180 on Shawn, the girl must have a complicated relationship with trust. That's an interesting flaw! It also shows up with her rapport in Sky in the later episodes of this batch, and. GOD. I wish it was developped man!

The issue? Yeah it's dragged on so longggg man! It's frustating to watch frankly because i really wish they'd resolve this conflict quicker since it's like. The same thing every episode :( to my knowledge it's solved in episode 9, but it did NOT need to be dragged out for 4 episodes.

Unrelated to her charater, but her height difference with the other campers is kind of ridiculous. In some shots the characters look so small compared to her it's crazyyy

Ok, now. Sugar. I'll be honest? She's great! She's just a menace and doing her own thing and it's fun to watch! She's also interesting in terms of backstory since she's canonically a pageant queen; her relationship with Ella is greatly impacted by this, since she heavily suspects her of lying to her face when it's just. Ella being Ella. Similar thing to her opinion on Topher; she doesn't like him for his sucking up to Chris, the host (something that Rusty probably agrees with). I fucking wish she was more popular because then people would look into her more, but alas. She's a female, plus sized character in Pahkitew Island, so considering the Fandom's biases, it was never going to happen. U_U

OK TIME FOR ZOMBIE BOY. So, Shawn. He's definitely more present in these episodes than he was before, and, again, i think he's fun! He's a weird little guy. He's got interesting skills (his camouflage, legit parkour, general athleticism) and his personality's interesting as well compared to the other guys. The zombie thing is fine, actually, because they do different things with it over the course of these episodes. Not much to say about him, he's a solid character to me and i wish he had more interactions with the cast outside of Dave and his pining for Jasmine. Who he's talked to like, five times at this point? Again, they probably should've talked stuff out faster than this for me to actually enjoy it. Oh well.

And finally, Sky. She's an interesting case for me? She's fine, mostly. She's the Normal Person™️ of the cast to me, and that means she really struggles to grab me. It's made worse by her main plot being a basic romance plot where the gimmick is that she's a reasonable human being and Dave isn't. And neither are able to have a normal fucking conversation about it either. The mixed signals thing could've been interesting, but this is Fresh TV writters, so of course it didn't end up that way. I assume the episodes without Dave are the ones where her personality shines more? Because so far she's just been really reserved and calm. And said she'd "focus on the competition only" And then. Doesn't. Really. God i wish this season treated it's female characters better :(

OK SO OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Im mixed on alot of the character decisions

god i wished these people talked more

the screentime is not well split among the cast

the romance plots and pacing of the Island plot are the weakest parts of this season

the challenges are fine

Why does Chef have 5 lines total.

Pahkitew Island does NOT deserve the overly negative rep it gets in this Fandom, at least based on the first 8 episodes.

[becauseplot]

it’s Stupid Hours (aka way too early in the morning) and after 0.2 seconds of searching on YouTube ive come to the conclusion that there is no qsmp John Mulaney “The One Thing” animatic yet and ive gotta say guys. im disappointed.(/lh) im so used to every fandom having at least one The One Thing animatic that realizing there isn’t one for qsmp is bonkers to me. i’ve watched so many of these over the years that if you played The One Thing audio, i could probably recite it in time w the audio (i won’t say from memory bc my memory is shit.)

anyway here’s what i would personally do for a The One Thing animatic if i could draw. remember that this is gonna be skewed to the POVs im more familiar with so im sorry if your cubito doesn’t make it into the role you’d expect. i tried to include as many people as possible.

Edit: "Back in high school..." - not really necessary, but i imagine this story/"AU" taking place during the egg disappearance, which would explain the overly chaotic behavior of the islanders. not that they ever need a reason to be chaotic.

Narrator - Charlie. he’s not on the server as often but bc of that he would make a good “outside” pov narrator. also he’s just a got a really quick-with-it type of humor, cracking jokes and puns and doing wordplay/inprov’d songs at the drop of a hat, and he also loves telling stories.

Mr. Macnimara - Cucurucho. “And Mr. Macnimara was an asshole.” need i say more?

Jake Macnimara - Jaiden. beloved bird of the Federation, though that absolutely would not stop her from throwing a wild party for her friends in their offices if she could. Edit: also Quackity would make a really good option here. Cringefail man that the Federation likes to toy with, we love to see it. Also with his shit luck it makes sense that a party that he decides to host at the Fed offices (a bad idea in the first place tbf) would blow up in his face so hard.

(Bonus: Mrs. Macnimara - the Duck. the Watcher. ElQuackity. idk who’s funnier just whoever your heart desires.)

“And we all got up individually and thought: okay, let’s go over there, and destroy the place.” - split screen of Cellbit, Baghera, Maxo, and Bad. there could be more, like Mike, Etoiles, Phil, Tubbo, really anyone who hates the Federation and/or has an affinity for chaos. Foolish would be a really fucking funny option for this one because yeah he works for the Feds but He Absolutely Would. all of the characters would get up calmly, and on the word “destroy” flip to a Chaos Mode Engaged expression (Cellbit with a grin and bloodstains on his cheeks, Baghera w flames behind her and in her eyes, etc etc)

“People were drinking like it was the civil war and a doctor was coming to saw our legs off” - Tubbo and his backpack of 3749588383 chainsaws. tazerraft could also be a good option considering Pac’s love of beheading people and Mike’s generally unhinged behavior. tbh just anyone/everyone in morning crew.

Person who breaks the pool table - Etoiles. someone would dare him to and he’d get so fucking excited he would absolutely HURL himself at that pool table. (dogboy behavior)

Person who takes a shit on the computer - … look ive been blankly staring at this one for like 7 fucking minutes. my heart says Aypierre but i could not tell you why. just. anyone who would absolutely do some rancid, unhinged shit when given the opportunity. Foolish again maybe. idk.

Edit: "Something something, police." - Jaiden, if she isn't Jake Macnimara. She would totally say it in a "LOL UH-OH" manner. If not, I could also imagine Missa, Bagi, or Fit nervously/bluntly trying to warn people while laughing.

“Fuck da police!” - “Fuck da Feds!”/“Fuck da Federation!” from what i can tell, Charlie doesn’t have an active animosity towards the Federation, but a lot of his friends do, and he will do anything, ANYTHING to commit to the bit. he will do ANYTHING for the funnies, and if he thinks that shouting “Fuck da Feds!” at the top of his lungs is going to get a reaction out of people, he absolutely will.

Edit: "'I served my nickel, you come and take me!' confidence." - Mike. I have such a strong mental image of Mike drunkenly shouting this while Pac and Fit hold him up/hold him back. Fuga references my beloved. Also the fact that he was put in a Fed freezer for a while.

The Police - the Federation workers. obviously. bonus points for one unnamed guard/officer being impressed like “wooooow :0” and then widening the shot to reveal an unamused Agent 18 standing next to them, leaning into his walkie talkie saying, “Get the paddy wagon.”

“SCATTER!” - Phil. (if you know you know.) generally, people who don’t know Phil tend to think he’s pretty chill, so no one would expect him to do something like that. also when Charlie says “And my friend John—” it would cut to a ‘pause screen’ over the scene, Charlie coming on screen to clarify the “father” and “baby” parts by providing helpful pop-up images of family pictures with Chayanne, Tallulah, and Missa on screen. Resumes, presses play and the screen clears: “He grabbed a 40…”

Edit: "Until, two years later..." - again, not really necessary, but it could be something like, "Until, after Purgatory..."

Alex (guy who stole the photos) - Roier. HEAR ME OUT. Roier, similar to Phil, is just such an unassuming guy. he’s cheery and laughs a lot and cracks jokes, but deep down, he’s smart and he’s got a burning HATRED for the Federation. he’s not the kind of guy to start fights, but with everyone else causing chaos at the party, breaking shit in the offices/house, he would absolutely take the opportunity to steal Federation documents for his husband’s investigations. (or antique photos, if you want to keep with the high school setting/theme.) i mean he stole a fucking lamp from their offices once just because there was so much shit going on and he knew the Feds probably wouldn’t notice (iirc).

Edit: SOMETHING I FORGOT TO MENTION ABOUT ROIER. you could totally make the line “because it’s the one thing you can’t replace” a reflection of Bobby, who the Federation ‘killed’, so now he’s getting back at them. (i’ve put way too much thought into this.)

anyway that’s all! feel free to contribute if u want i just really love The One Thing. it’s an older fandom meme but yeah it still checks out.

(the sheer number of edits to this thing really speaks to how much it lives in my head lmaooo. there's more details but im not gonna include them here bc they're too visual.)

[twothpaste]

Idk if you've covered this before but what are your thoughts on Porky having a movie about Ness n pals? That scene is rapidly spinning around in my noggin

This turns my cerebral matter into a rotisserie chicken on a spit as well. Part of what's so fascinating about it I think is how much we don't know about the film. How did Porky make this thing?? Are the characters we see on screen paid actors, re-enacting the events of EarthBound for his amusement?? Or did he somehow, through timetravel shenanigans or a deranged obsession all those years ago, actually record Ness n' pals' adventures?! Did Porky himself write a script for this movie, or supervise the editing? Is it documentary or dramatization? We don't see any frames that feature Porky - one's gotta wonder how he presents himself on the silver screen. Like, did he clip out all the times he acted like a total scumbag? Did he change them, so that to an audience of suckers, the esteemed King P seems like a hero too? Or is it presented exactly as it happened, 'cause in Porky's eyes, he really was the hero of this story all along?? I feel like a dedicated fan could make a case either way for every one of these possibilities. And all of them carry haunting implications in a bazillion different ways. ( Lots more beneath the cut. )

What we do know is that this movie's mere existence says a lot about Porky's fixation on the past. New Pork especially - but other areas too - is littered with callbacks to EarthBound, loads of shallow & off-kilter recreations of objects & imagery from Porky's childhood. It's as if he's trying to resurrect everything he's nostalgic for, and superimpose it onto a totally different world. Dude's lived a bazillion years, he's probably had all kinds of crazy experiences in that time. But he's still only got eyes for Ness, and Onett, and that one very special adventure. He's grandly presenting his origin story to a generation of future-people, and presumably expects them to be just as terminally nostalgically enthralled as he is. But these people don't have the context to know what it means. They can't grasp it as anything other than a cartoonishly wacky adventure film. They probably don't even know it's depicting real events (however skewed it may or may not be)! Or that these child heroes almost definitely grew old and died ages ago. The thought of Porky putting forth something so important to him, something that means fucking everything to him - and his flock of brainwashed followers just not getting it at all - is like??? Boil me down into soup and stir the pot around. Pour me in a Campbell's can and don't open it until the end of the world. Agh.

This applies just as much, maybe especially so, to Lucas. Something about it always feels deeply unnerving to me, when I reach New Pork's movie theater on replays. Piloting Lucas n' company to stand there, in the dark, juxtaposed in front of a past they can't possibly comprehend. A past we, as players of this series, identify so strongly with! But our new protagonist flat out just isn't a part of that old world. He's got nothing to do with it, and no clue who Ness is. His fight with Porky is so present and personal… I don't think Lucas is carrying on a mantle here, even symbolically. Porky wants very badly for him to be the new Ness, a worthy opponent who'll "play" with him, to rekindle the same adrenaline he felt when he last fought his old friend. But Lucas is his own person with his own motives. And he's not playing, either. You press A in front of that screen, and you get nothing special in terms of flavor text. 'Cause it doesn't mean anything to Lucas. Porky's memories simply aren't Lucas' baggage.

There are a lot of moments in Mother 3 that turn nostalgia on its head. Makin' stuff that oughtta feel familiar and heartwarming turn queasy in your tummy instead. Making you reconsider why you cling to childhood memories, and whether or not they blind you to future possibilities - like they do for Porky. The movie theater's probably my favorite of these moments.