#i think my favorite thing is how fucking mediocre the animation is. like no this was lost for a reason but man i dont give a fuck

[tillman]

undefined

man this is surreal this is absolutely surreal to have in my hands i cant believe guilty gear vastedge is real. even if it is for ants.

[ouroborosorder]

Do you have an instance of Arknights VFX that gets frequently praised that you as a VFX artist think is mediocre or bad?

EBENHOLZ' SKIN "EINE VARIATION" IS A CRIME AGAINST ME SPECIFICALLY.

Look. I love Ebenholz, a lot. His effects are really strong, too! Some of my personal favorites. But this skin. Jesus Christ this skin.

I have seen so many people praising this skin as having good effects or being better than his original and it genuinely makes me wonder if half of the effects are actually rendered in some sort of shrimp colors that everyone but me can see.

There is not a single part of this skin's effects that I don't hate. Not just because I find them ugly, uninteresting, and unclear, but because I think they fundamentally misunderstand who Ebenholz is.

You asked for this.

Part 1 - The Colors.

The actual art for his skin has a beautiful striking blue and light gray background, with the light pink Arts accentuating it, and then the blood red and pitch black of his outfit meant to draw the eye to the center. This works perfectly in the art, so what's wrong?

First problem. Ebenholz doesn't have the blue background in gameplay. Meaning that his effects are red (not pink, like the art, they are red) and his skin is red. So there's extreme monochrome happening, with absolutely no interesting contrast between him and his Arts. His Elite Charge is blue, at the very least, so his signature gimmick stands out uniquely, which is quite nice! That's a great decision that won't cause any problems down the line at all.

"Oh, but Keys, it's so that the red Arts stand out when he uses his S3 and summons that giant goat spirit in the background!" That's a great point, person I just made up. Please remember this excellent point for later.

Part 2 - General Effects

The effect starts with a deploy animation wherein Ebenholz is surrounded by sparkles like some sort of magical girl. The deploy effect is genuinely bad in so many ways, mostly related to timing and motion, but this rant is going to be long enough. And I'm gonna need to focus and talk about the sparkles.

The biggest thing to know about Eine Variation is this image. Get acquainted with it. If there was a recurring visual motif in Eine Variation, it is this piece from the original art.

And yeah, as an effects artist, I'd be amped to work on this. This looks fucking sick as shit. It's dynamic, it's chaotic, it's got harsh lines to contrast the flowing music staff, it's great. So let's see how this texture looks in g- okay what the fuck.

In the game, it looks nothing like the art. It's literally just the stock glimmer effect. It's not even a new texture. This thing's been in the game since release. It looks. Bad. It's way too simplistic. Because it wasn't meant to be the center of attention, it's meant to appear for an instant and then fade. Like, you know. A glimmer.

What you just saw in the screenshot above is one of Ebenholz' Mystic Caster charges. And it is easily my least favorite part of the entire skin.

Ebenholz (Original Flavor)'s Mystic Caster charges has one of my favorite visual touches in the entire game. Ebenholz fights using artifacts from the Witch King whose power he inherits - a wand and a set of five Originium dice. So he wields the wand, and has die rotate around him as he fights. In-game, they represent this by his charges being the dice, rotating around his hand. This is, as we say in the vfx industry, fucking badass. So naturally they removed the dice entirely in Eine Variation.

Fuck.

Fine, alright. Maybe it's him... moving further from the Witch King's influence, then? We'll go with that hey stop looking at his S3 what are you doing don't get ahead of me.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "hey, Keys, this is unfair. You're asking us to judge an animated effect based on a static picture of it." Well, my dear reader, I have bad news. You just saw the entire charge's visual. The whole thing.

They are a glimmer of light that does not pulse or twinkle. They just. Sit there. Floating. Again, it's just so simplistic, it's not even interesting to talk about.

The only good thing I can say about it is that it's way easier to tell how many charges he has since they're bigger, more spread out, and not moving. Also the Elite charge is WAY more distinct, since it's bright blue now to contrast with the red normal charges. Which is nice! A good decision! It would sure be a shame if it bit them in the ass later!

Part 3 - Attack and Skill 1

Did you think I was kidding when I said that the sparkles are the sole visual motif in this skin?

I hate these attack trails. Not only are they too simplistic, they're just too cute. I joked about magical girls before, but dear god, this just doesn't fucking look right. This skin is literally described as him being apathetic and miserable as a noble, so why are the effects so... Colorful and cute? Ebenholz isn't a cutesy goofy music-themed magical girl, Ebenholz is a sad gay goth kid who would create a fake My Immortal confession for attention.

I also hate the musical notes. I know I complained about the glimmers being too one-note (pardon the pun), but they just don't interact with the rest of the effect at all. There's nothing else musical about what is happening here. They feel added to remind you that he is casting music.

God I fucking hate the sparkles so goddamned much. I also find it really funny that one single musical note bursts forth with each hit. These shapes are just... So boring, so simple. But put a pin in that for a later.

His S1 uptime comes with an awful aura. he glows red. There is only red and white. this is all there is. This is all there will ever be. That's all I've got about S1.

Part 3 - Skill 2

Oh jesus go back to the red and white

First off, I find these goat so fucking ugly. The synths are a truly terrible choice, because synths and digital music don't come up in any capacity throughout the rest of the effects. So. Great work. This doesn't make sense.

Anyway I hate the color here. The original has a great two-tone black smoke with bright blue glowing eyes, contrasting with Eben's orange Arts. In the skin they slapped an awful blue glow haze over them. This makes them just completely draw visual attention, while they don't match up with Ebenholz' aesthetic at all. if you could see the black, there would be a clear visual link between them, but... Nope. It's ONLY blue, motherfuckers.

Also, they passively emit triangles, which is the only time in this entire effect that the Arts = Geometric Triangles visual idea appears in the entire skin based around an arts caster. Yay for recurring game-wide motifs!

Shockingly, I hate the explosion. It's passable, it's fine. But the timing is absolutely awful. The original's feels like an explosion that is pulling the target in, but the skin's feels like an explosion followed by absorption. It makes it feel less like an explosion and more like a contrivance. Also, it spawns only like, four notes total, which is just so low. Please have more notes, you even have the musical staff, you're so close to having this look like musical arts. I also hate the random swirl of red. The goat didn't have any red in it. Why does this have red. Monochrome would have actually worked better, this is just a summon.

Part 4 - Sound of Silence

Eine Variation S3 features Ebenholz getting hoverhanded by a goat.

I wish I had any other way to put it. But he gets hoverhanded by a goat for the entire uptime of this attack.

What even is this thing? Obviously, it's the goat behind him in his splash art, but what is it? Is it the Witch King? That would make sense, but why is the Witch King's avatar blue? The Witch King has literally never been blue, he's always been associated as being red. Unless this isn't The Witch King, in which case, what the fuck is it then?

I hate this effect more than anything else in this game. The ghost looks absolutely awful. it is very blatantly just the art from the actual skin, slapped behind him with no regard for aesthetic consistancy. Or even regard for if the image is readable at the distance Arknights is played at. The goatghost.jpg is not animated at all, but the hands move up and down, which weirdly only further reveals how static the ghost is. Also the hands aren't animated outside of going up and down which is just so uncanny and uncomfortable. It just reveals how desperately they needed to have some animation to make it not look like absolute hot garbage, and they still failed.

After an entire skin of absurdly simplistic geometric shapes and basic ass textures, suddenly they think they can pull off some shit that looks like a granblue render. This doesn't even look in-line with the rest of the skin's effects, let alone with the chibi artstyle.

Now. Why I truly, truly hate this attack.

When you activate S3, all of Ebenholz' Charges become Elite charges. Meaning they all become blue.

The charges all finally become blue.

In the only part of the skin where you have a blue background.

I just. I can't figure out how you'd fuck this up this bad. If the Elite Charges were red, it would look like the fucking skin art, with the red notes on the pink staff. They'd stand out, or at least look fucking decent. How many charges does Ebenholz have? Oh I don't know THEY'RE FUCKING BLUE ON BLUE.

WHY. WHY ANY OF THIS. WHY ALL OF THIS. I'M IN HELL. THIS WAS MADE TO TORMENT ME PERSONALLY RIGHT

anyway I will give credit where credit is due. I actually quite like the trail when he casts his stocks in S3.

The slight orange two-tone and complicated trails add a lot of nuance and depth to the effect, and the glimmer is toned down to the point where I can see the diamond shape hidden underneath. There is one singular silver lining to this cloud. It could use more musical touches and less fucking sparkles but at this point I need to compliment something.

Finale - Why Do I Give A Shit

Eine Variation launched as part of the Bloodline of Combat skins that came out with Lone Trail. It released alongside Specter the Unchained's Born as One; my personal favorite skin in the entire game. It is a skin that perfectly conveys Laruntina's love of natural beauty and Specter's love of poetry and recitation, bringing them together into poems reflected in a starry lake. The effects are serene and dreamlike, peaceful yet chaotic. It conveys who they are going into the future, who they are together.

Born as One is Bloodline of Combat at its best. Bloodline of Combat is at its best when it tells you something about who this character is at this part of their life. How they change, how they grow, how they look at the world in this point of their life. This is the story that good effects can tell.

So I ask you: What story does Eine Variation's effects tell?

If this an Ebenholz who is growing further from the Witch King's legacy into his own man, then why does the avatar of the Witch King appear behind him? Why does the flavor text describe this as clothing worn by every Graf Urtica? Why does it not lean further into the synth aesthetic to separate himself from the classical music of Leithanien?

If this is an Ebenholz who is currently stuck within the confines of nobility, why is he not wielding the dice associated with his title as Graf Urbica? Why do his fucking goats have synths instead of traditional instruments? Why is the Witch King the wrong color?

And most importantly to all of this: Why are all the shapes so simple?

Yes, Arknights' Arts are geometric. They're usually represented by simple triangles. This is true. But think about who Ebenholz is.

Ebenholz is not a simple and elegant person. Ebenholz is a man who nails complicated, difficult, strange flute solos, but who fails to do simple rhythms and scales. He excels at the complex, the elaborate, and the detailed, and fails at the simplistic. This is always how Ebenholz has been.

So a skin full of simple shapes, easy language, and flat colors... Isn't how he'd fight. It's not who he is. It's not how he'd act. It doesn't just feel wrong, it feels like it's not made for him.

I don't just hate this skin because I think its effects are bad. I mean, I do, and they definitely are.

I hate this skin because it just... Fundamentally does not understand who Ebenholz is. And it definitely does not understand why he is so special.

[tyrantisterror]

Fantastic Rants and Where to Find Them

So, back when the Herbie Porber movies were still being made, Warner Brothers saw the cash cow on their hands and decided they had to lock that shit down as much as possible to make sure they could milk it until its teats were chafed and withered to nothing. To that end, they bought the rights to every book the Terf Queen had written by that point - which included all the Henry Pansley wizard school mystery books, but also two gag books set within the Henry Pansley world: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which was presented as an in-universe biology textbook for wizard children, and Quidditch Through the Ages, which was an in-universe book of trivia for a fake magical sport.

And at the time everyone with a brain who'd read those two books was shaking their head and thinking how dumb those corporate executives were to do that because, like, those aren't novels or novelas or short stories or narratives of any kind. They are, and I cannot stress this enough, a fake textbook and a fake trivia book about fake things written in a slapdash manner as a cheap gag. They existed for three reasons:

First, to sell something Herbie Porber related at a significantly lower price point than the actual novels so the Terf Queen could get more of that sweet, sweet Scholastic Book Fair money by having something poor kids could buy.

Second, to give a portion of the proceeds raised from that poor kid book fair money to charity so the Terf Queen could get some nice tax writeoffs.

And as a distant third, to expand the world-building of the Henry Pansley setting a teensie bit.

Now, as far as I'm aware, they succeeded at the first two well enough - tons of kids bought those cheap-ass thin as shit paperbacks when I was a kid, myself among them. Well, ok, I only bought Fantastic Beasts and skipped Quidditch because even during the height of my Herbie Porber fan days I thought the Terf Queen's imaginary sport was really fucking stupid and every time it popped up in the books I was bored as shit and tried to skim it as quickly as possible to get to the interesting stuff. I think I looked over the book once in a Barnes and Noble and thought, "Wow, I knew I thought real sports were boring as shit, but it turns out fake ones are even more so."

But back on track - goal number three was... kind of successful, I guess? Like, I don't know if you know this, but bestiaries of fictional animals are one of my big interests. I love a big book of made up creatures, and have collected many in my long life of thirty-four years. And as I said, I got a copy of Fantastic Beasts - technically several, because those cheap ass paperbacks disintegrated if you read them more than once, and I haven't met a bestiary that I haven't poured over several times, no matter how shitty. And despite how often I read it, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was, well... pretty mid, honestly. It's a book that's 99% world-building, and like all of the Terf Queen's world-building, it's overall mediocre and undercooked.

Like, in pure Herbie Porber style, it's mostly concepts that have been done in fantasy fiction and mythology dozens of times before with no real original spin on them whatsoever, often stripped down to their most recognizable elements alone. There are a smattering of original ideas that are actually interesting an novel, a few more original ideas that have potential but don't seem very well-thought out as is, and then some that are clearly just there to be a joke and are amusing for, like, a second, but also would quickly become annoying if they were given any focus.

I'll give a very me-specific example. As a fan of vaguely medieval european fantasy tropes, one of the metrics by which I judge a bestiary is "How does this handle dragons?" Because, like, I don't know if you know this, but I love dragons a lot, and the sheer variety of dragons in fiction is one of my favorite things in the world. There is a smorgasbord of different dragons a person can choose from just in folklore and mythology alone, and that variety is reflected in a given bestiary, the higher I think of it.

The Terf Queen's bestiary gives us ten dragon breeds... and they're all more or less the same except for scale color and minor variations in size. Oh, and their names, which are all based on different dog breeds because the Terf Queen thought that was funny. It's the worst of both worlds because it gets your dragon-loving hopes up that there'll be lots of unique dragons but no, they're just different colors, ho hum. Even the Chinese Dragon sticks to the same basic bitch wyvern body plan as the rest, when, you know, Chinese dragons have SUCH a different body plan than any of their European counterparts. It's downright insulting to the variety and creativity of this iconic folkloric archetype to reduce it to such a samey-set of monsters. Absolutely the most disappointing dragon entry in any bestiary I've ever read, just infuriating.

BUT, BACK ON THE INCREASINGLY DERAILED TRACK: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was never meant to be a "great" book. Remember goals one and two: it was a cheap cashgrab, a gimmick, a gag book. It was meant to be a disposable bit of fun - "Tee hee, here's a goofy textbook from this goofy wizard story that you kids will likely grow out of in a few years, you can read it in twenty minutes and not feel bad when you pitch it because there's very little substance to it, and it only costs three bucks."

The Terf Queen doesn't write textbooks, gag or otherwise, she writes novels, narratives, and in its original form Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was clearly just her fucking around with something whimsical and stupid for shits and giggles (and money, sweet sweet money). The original version of it was published with notes in the margin written by Henry Pansley and Donnie Stoat themselves, the two wizard hooligans writing little jokes and messages to each other with further references to other characters from the series, both to add more humor and because, again, the Terf Queen writes novels, and it was clear she couldn't commit to the "fake textbook" bit without working in some characters riffing it for her own sanity. And that makes it work as a gag book - you get a few laughs from the wizard hooligans playing MST3K with their shitty textbook, learn a little about the (undercooked and poorly thought out) ecosystem of the wizardy world, and then when you reach the back cover the spine of your cheap as shit pulp paperback book falls apart and, unless you've got a weird obsession with bestiaries, you throw the dying book in the garbage without a second thought. Three bucks spent well enough.

BUT, TO GET BACK ON THE INCREASINGLY DERAILED TRACK AGAIN: Warner Brothers bought the rights to this cheapo cashgrab gag textbook, and goddamn it, they were/are determined to squeeze Herby Porber's sore teats until every last drop of money milk spills from his chapped and bleeding nipples. They announced they were going to make a Fantastic Beasts movie towards the end of making the Herby Porber novels into films, and everyone with a brain sat there and thought, "Well, that's going to be a stupid cashgrab. Bet the Terf Queen's laughing her ass off at how dumb it'll be, too."

But the Terf Queen was not laughing, at least not for long, for once the Henry Pansley movies wrapped up, she was left with the horrifying knowledge that people didn't care for her non-wizard books all that much, certainly not enough to keep her rolling in sweet, sweet money. She needed that mega millionaire cash, and she needed it in abundance and she needed it quick. So when Warner Brothers asked her to write a movie based on her cheapo cashgrab gag textbook, she said, "Yeah, I can make a novel out of that! I - I'm a talented writer! People love my writing! They definitely love my writing and they'd love to pay money for things I wrote that don't directly feature Henry Pansley!"

So now she had to pretend that Fantastic Beasts, the cheapo cashgrab gag textbook about made up animals in a made up world, has a narrative. Not just any narrative, but a grand, sprawling narrative, one to rival, nay, SURPASS Herbie Porbie and the Seven Books of Wizard-Themed Coming of Age Nonsense. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, she assured us, was to be a magnificant tale, and one she planned all along, and CERTAINLY not a marriage of convenience to a completely stupid idea for a film that she was desperately sculpting into a narrative it had no ability to support for the sake of trying to recapture her already passed glory days as a writer.

And I think, in retrospect, this is a great illustration of the Terf Queen's great character flaw. She just can't fucking admit to a mistake, even when it's obvious to everyone that one was made. She will hop on board a sinking ship and keep doubling down on trying to get it to sail even as the water is up to her neck. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a serious narrative now, not a gag textbook written to wring a few more dollars from school children goddammit!

Recent editions of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them took out the Herbie and Donnie commentary, by the by. They also added many of the new half-baked monsters that were introduced in the movies, in a shoddy attempt to pretend this was the plan all along, and that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was always meant to be the seed of something great.

But it wasn't, and no matter how hard the Terf Queen pretends otherwise, it's obvious it wasn't. It's a cheapo cashgrab gag textbook, and that's all it really had to be, until greed and ego demanded otherwise.

[damagedintellect]

Dazai Osamu x reader

💌 Reading into the palms of isekai bullshit:

Chapter 5 💌  

Summary: You were no stranger to isekai bullshit. It’s not like you had a problem with it. The genre took over the anime scene for years now but you try to stay away from thinking about how you would handle the situation. The last time you thought about inserting yourself into your favorite show you wrote a 100k word xReader fic for your favorite characters and you didn’t want to spend all your time consumed by the brainrot again. Never again, you promised yourself that was the last time you’d let the devil on your shoulder win. You clicked on chapter 1 to start the adventure over again but when you opened your eyes and saw Dazai O-FUCKING-samu getting choked by Kunikida you honestly hoped it was a dream.  

Notes: Another isekai so I can play around with BSD like dolls.  

💌 Word count: 2,522 💌 <= Previous Chapter | Next Chapter =>

As expected, neither of you would bring it up once Dazai did make his return and it wouldn’t be until Kunikida received the call from the president that you'd be relevant again. Which is fine you needed the break anyhow. Keeping up with Dazai had been easy at the beginning but now that things have progressed you don’t know what to make of it. It could be the fact that before you didn’t believe in the possibilities thinking that eventually you’d wake up and this would have been a silly little thing your brain created one night. As the days flew by and especially with last night's date things became very real. You were brought out of your thoughts when the phone rang and despite not being able to hear the other side of the conversation you remembered the gist of the exchange.

“All operatives are to leave company offices and gather at the former facility”

Kunikida stopped what he was working on and looked over to who was currently around. “Do you mean your previous headquarters before you founded the agency”

“Only a select few know of that location so we should be safe. We risk being overwhelmed by superior numbers otherwise. Hold on I have visitors”

“Sir, what’s going on? Sir?” His voice wasn’t that concerned at all but you could visibly see the panic as Atsushi entered the room. “What’s wrong?” Atsushi questioned putting the boxes down.

“Something happened with the president. Ambushed maybe.” Kunikida was still very nonchalant in his demeanor. “We should go and help then-”

“I’m sure he’s fine. More importantly-”

“How can you be so calm at a time like this!”

Kunikida sighed “Try and grab hold of my hand, you’ll see why” Atsushi looked at his hand, reaching out but he was already on the floor “That was the first technique he passed down to me. I’ve never won a single match against him. He’s not going to lose against a handful of mediocre hitmen”

Kunikida then made arrangements for everyone to meet at the former facility. You were all waiting around before the president made his entrance “Listen up, the port mafia seeks to eradicate the agency. The guild seeks to usurp the agency. We must do all we can to protect ourselves from both of these foes. Dazai please continue” You were getting excited counting down the minutes for a certain slug to make an appearance. It would probably be the only time you saw Dazai’s counterpart.

“You got it~” He winked at you before addressing the rest of the room. “The guild has substantial financial assets and the port mafia has the benefit of numbers, so we’ll split into defensive and offensive teams and engage them in gorilla warfare. The primary goal for the defensive team is to make sure doctor Yosano is protected. As long as we don’t die outright, her healing ability can cure our injuries.”  Dazai took a pause pointing out the defensive team that consisted of you, Fukuzawa, Ranpo, Yosano, and Kenji. “The offensive team will split into two sections and will surprise the enemy using Junichiro’s mirage ability and my nullification ability. The crux of our strategy is to keep our base of operations hidden. If our enemies hit us here with everything they’ve got our defenses will never hold” he punctuated his speech with a smile. Fukuzawa made the last declaration before everyone dispersed. “Of the three organizations only one of us can survive. Our only option left is to fight. A three way war, a war of the gifted!”

Then you were left to your own devices. You spent the first part of your writing out the details of what would happen just in case Ranpo was serious about you telling him what happens next. You never know with Ranpo. As he finished more and more of his snacks you tried to hand it off to him. He nodded at you acknowledging you did your part but he didn’t open it yet. Maybe he was testing if you were telling the truth or if anything has changed since causing butterfly effects were always a concern in the back of your mind. 

“Man, I’m so bored! I wanna go outside.” Ranpo whined in the president’s direction. Fukuzawa was reading while he put black and white pieces on a board. You think he’s playing “Go” but you thought it was a two player game. “Any suspicious activity?”

Yosano sighed “A bunch of nothing followed by more nothing” It’s been like this for hours now.

“Luckily the only way to enter this hall is through that underground railroad tunnel. Even if an enemy does try to invade our location our security cameras will warn us well in advance.”

“We set up a fair amount of traps on the way as well.” Yosano added just before Ranpo shouted “War is so boring! I’m already out of snacks after just half a day. I know hey Akiko let’s play hanafuda online!”

She had stars in her eyes at the offer. “Okay how much do you wanna bet?

Ranpo went quiet, opening his eyes causing you to perk up from your relaxed position. Chuuya must have finally shown up on some of the cameras. Yosano blinked at Ranpo’s suddenly serious demeanor “What’s the matter?” You leaned over his shoulder to see everyone’s favorite sad boy. "Let me guess they sent the short redhead with the tacky hat?"

“I think we should call back the defensive teams.” Ranpo put his hat back on, peering towards the president who grunted standing up from his seat. “An attack, in your estimation how many are there?”

“One.”

Chuuya casually strolled through the tunnel disconnecting cameras and destroying turrets “I’ll cut to the chase, we could do this the easy way or we could do this the hard way.” He phased out some more cameras for emphasis “I’ve come to trade information. My boss has a special gift for you if I get to have a little chat with (Y/N).” Ranpo immediately turned to you as you froze. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Why does Chuuya know your name, unless, did Dazai actually tell him you said hi? Did he really set you up again! You groaned at the very realistic possibility, rubbing your face with your hand. You were going to strangle him the next time you saw him. You gave Ranpo and the president a reassuring look that you were fine with it. Chuuya held up the picture of Lovecraft and Steinbeck letting everyone get a good look at them “Those men are they members of the guild?”

“That’s right we reeled them in with bait. Here’s the time and location they’ll appear. You don’t get many chances like this do you? You can finally get one over on that lousy guild”

Fukuzawa was mulling it over but before he could ask any questions you growled. You decided to move things along “The mafia used Haruno and Naomi as bait, the guild has no idea it’s a set up and the mafia doesn’t have to do anything but sit and watch. Ranpo can confirm but we can’t waste too much time.” You stood up trying to figure out what your next course of action should be. This was interesting.

Fukuzawa turned to Ranpo as the detective grit his teeth “It is, unfortunately.” The president nodded at you to go have your chat before Chuuya changed his mind on being peaceful. You stopped halfway out the door, a thought occurred to you. “In the event I get kidnapped, don't go after me. I’ll be returned unharmed.” At least you hoped, whether or not they took your word you’d have no idea. Yosano and Kenji stepped back letting you confront Chuuya head on. “I take it you heard about me from the mackerel?” You hoped that neither of your colleagues knew Dazai by that moniker. Chuuya’s eyes had a glint in them. “All you have to do is see my hands right?” He looked over your shoulder as Yosano held her guarded stance ready to strike if needed.

 “We’ll see what I can do with this lighting but yeah that’s the gist of it.”

Slowly Chuuya pulled each finger out of the glove as you approached but the moment you touched his hand just as you expected he threw you over his shoulder with ease. He kicked off the ground avoiding the attacks from behind you. “Don’t worry I’ll return her to you eventually.” He shouted as he bolted out of the tunnel. You huffed “Why am I not surprised?”

“Most people would be terrified to be kidnapped by a port mafia executive, just how much do you know about me?” You shifted in his arms but he gripped you tighter. Obviously there was no point in trying to struggle but you wanted to see his face. “More than you’d want me too. Can you at least princess carry me or let me ride on your back so I can see your hands? I'd prefer to be back as soon as possible.” Once you made it out of the tunnel he set you down “What are you going on about?” 

“I wasn’t sure how far away you were going to take me. I would prefer not to worry my comrades further. Thank you very much.” You grabbed his hands pretending to look them over when you remembered a small detail from the stormbringer light novel and stage play. You focused on Chuuya’s right hand looking at his wrist seeing the pencil scar. Clones are only made of the same genetic materials but any scars or tattoos wouldn’t be copied over even if “N” said there would be no way to prove it, this could be good enough to sway Chuuya. First though you wanted to do something else. You looked back up at him affectionately squeezing his hand as you pulled him into a hug.

“What are you doing?” he was stiff, more confused if this was how your talent worked. Once you nuzzled into him he started trying to push you off. “Compensation for the minor kidnapping but also after seeing what I saw holyshit, you need this more than I do.” He continued to put up a fight “Enough already!” 

Pouting you sighed “Fine, fine I’ll talk. You want to know if I could see whether or not you’re human, yes? Although you have no reason to believe me nor do I have any reason to tell you the truth, I do know the answer but you’ll have to do something for me in return for the honest truth. Seem fair?” You have no idea what the hell Dazai even told Chuuya but maybe you could have this work out in your favor. “Depends on what it is, I’m not going to agree without knowing what I’m getting myself into.” He grumbled but you but there was a slight interest in his expression, you could work with that.

“Do you wanna help me mess with Dazai?”

He paused for a second letting your offer sink in. “Hah?”

“Well, you see we’ve been playing a game and I don’t plan on losing anytime soon. I’ll need your phone number and a picture of us kissing so that when things settle down I can leave my phone near Dazai, have you call it and hopefully Dazai being Dazai he’ll snoop through my phone and see it.”

You could see the gears turning in his head as a wicked smirk overtook his features “I like where you’re going but I don’t think you’ll get the reaction you're looking for. Lucky for you I have a better idea.” He chuckled darkly to himself like he’s been waiting for this kind of opportunity for a while. 

“So are you in?” You put your hand out to shake on it. He immediately took your hand. “I would have done this for free, too bad I won’t be able to see the bastard when it happens.”

“Good, now I’ll get to the point. You’re the original, but you really didn’t need me to tell you that you have humanity gushing from your pores but if you do need proof,” You grabbed his arm tracing the mark “That’s no birthmark, that’s pencil lead from before you were taken to the lab. If you were a clone only your genetic material from your birth would be copied bottom line is you wouldn’t have this mark. N lied to you because he wanted you to give up Arahabaki.” 

Chuuya didn’t seem that flabbergasted. He might have already come to terms with his humanity since he’s never truly needed to know the answer. Maybe this was just closure for the flag’s honor. Almost like a debt he needed to repay. It’s sad to say that Chuuya puts himself so low on the priority pyramid. It was extremely faint but you could see the hint of a smile on his lips as he glanced up to the sky taking a deep breath.

“For my end of the bargain you’re just going to have to trust me.” He started putting his gloves back on offering you his hand when he was finished. “But of course! An enemy of an enemy is thy friend.” 

Your squad would have to wait a little longer for your return. It’s not like they needed you at the moment. Chuuya ended up taking you to his apartment. It was spacious and astonishingly well kept. You whistled “Nice place. So what’re we doing?” He led you into the bedroom and started undressing. You blinked, um what the fuck was going on. You were starting to regret asking him for help. Chuuya still had his pants on, thank god, but he even discarded his choker. What the fuck were you guys doing? He shuffled the bedding a little bit while he spoke. “We’re gonna one up your idea. Take your shirt off, you can leave the bra on just hide the straps that will really send it home.”

Oh you see what he was doing now. You spend no time removing your clothes getting under the covers with him. This was a much better idea. He pulled you close, fluffing your hair to make it messier. “Okay now pretend to be asleep.” You did as you were told and let him take the picture. He ended up taking a few and you both decided on which one looked more scandals. It really looked like the morning after adult festivities. Once you were satisfied you set it as Chuuya’s contact photo. You had him call you for good measure to make sure that it popped up on the screen. It was perfect. You both snickered when the trap was ready. Now all you had to do was wait. You were prepared for the long con. Afterwards, like he promised, he returned you to the agency where Ranpo gave you an ear full. He had finally read your note. You are going to have to be more careful from now on.

[demi4ngel]

Updated/Edited on 9/20/2024 so it could be worded better, not just changing preferences:

I’m usually going to reblog posts of some of my favorite stuff on this account! I was just going to post this on my blog’s description section but this is going to be long-ish for mobile users.

Plenty of cursing and some slightly suggestive themes on a few posts ahead but there’s no outright NSFW/18+ since I’m technically a SFW reblogger.

Other Social Media Links:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/demi4ngel/profile

https://www.wattpad.com/user/demi4ngel

I am typically neutral to most things in fiction, so there’s not much point in throwing hissy fits over minor stuff and things that don’t affect sane people much unless the creators, canon and even the fandom are truly toxic and problematic. While there are technically bad apples in every fandom, some are way worse than the others so I block and filter out as much as I can for my own sanity. Yes, that includes blogs who still support badly written canon content.

I don’t care what your orientation/race is, if you are toxic then GTFO!

DNI

AI images/artists (At first I didn’t think much of it but it clutters many art sites with all these different tags if #ai art isn’t used! Not only does it have delusional fake artists and their audience who thinks it’s fine, it’s especially bad news for inactive or even deceased online users. Like, it’s unethical and most sharp eyed users see how flawed the “art” is. That makes mediocre human drawn art look good because they aren’t that blurry or has these machine made flaws. The AU Generated art is often uncredited which can confuse people. Oh god, I hate the realistic/real life ones the most because what if that’s used without that person’s consent? What if that’s used to make an innocent person look bad?)

Vivziepop Stans (I used to like her art but the plot of Helluva Boss portraying the main toxic romantic relationship as “good LGBT rep” is uncomfortable… the same ppl can criticize Val/Angel or MothDust but defend Stolitz? All bc it’s gay men screwing each other? I’m glad that critics point out the similarities because aren’t they both technically abusive relationships? Even without the out of context screenshots, those relationships are still unnerving. Toxic relationships are toxic regardless of their sexualities and how it’s written! I mean there’s a mountain of evidence of her many misdeeds and even abuse of her power! Also, she, her associates, and even fans had the audacity to diss other indie animation projects!)

Miraculous Ladybug (uncanny 3D graphics, especially the salters and the maribat shippers ruining practically everything they touch)

My Little Pony franchise (oh lord the damn fandom and fanarts won’t stop plaguing my feeds…)

Rabid proshippers [I hate the ones that take things too far like the big age gap (a decade to more apart &/or when one is old enough to be their parent/familial figure), prepubescent children and younger x adult (yes that includes real and fictional ancient/past times), and incest ones (blood related, adoptive or foster it’s still fucking unnerving… I mean aren’t they raised together as such even if their time together wasn’t that long?) Though I understand why people give them the side eye due to probably not tagging correctly and boundary disrespecting the ppl who use DNIs for good reasons bc the latter most likely have reasons why they hate or don’t like certain things.]

Rabid antishippers (I used to have a similar mentality many years ago but such a puritan approach wasn’t good for my sanity. I understand how y’all feel about certain fictional ships but blocks and filters exist here and several other sites that have these functions. So use them instead of causing unnecessary discourse over small things! Y’all don’t have to complain about every single thing that irks you. Besides, if y’all are that concerned about certain things, go help out real people who really need it and stick to your safe spaces! Spreading misinformation, doxxing and harassment are not acceptable!)

*Both sides of the shipping discourse have bad apples and rabid dogs crossing lines so I steer clear from them and their petty discourse whenever I’m surfing this site. Hence why I decided to stay mostly neutral in fictional matters from now on like a spectator. Funnily enough, it’s usually the antis starting shit and even being killjoys on actual harmless ships. I mean look at the screenshotted evidence here by the pros, neutrals and civilized smart ppl who stay out of drama. 🧩🥀 & 🌑🎈(former anti and currently a neutral shipper)

Nostalgia fandom (sheesh, these people need to try something new it’s like they are literally stuck in time, bitching about new things and going as far as to dislike or negative review bomb things not from their childhood time. Especially a portion of the western cartoon fandom. Yes, it’s usually those guys making a fuss about their favorite stuff being forever canonically discontinued. Well, there’s the fan works to create and consume! Wherever I am, I rarely hear the eastern anime fandom fussing about the “good old times”. But the downside to the nostalgia are lonely feelings when several others have moved on and a shitty attitude towards a lot of things not aligned with your own takes.)

Character Hatedoms/Bashing/Assassinations (Those who do hate characters for legitimate reasons are usually more civilized. But those who hate them for very minor or petty reasons get the side eye lol.)

Heterophobic/Homophobic (I legit don’t understand the intense hate from both sides, y’all just have different labels and sexualities/preferences that are seen as socially acceptable and legal. But there are vile ppl who use their gender and/or sexuality as a shield which is unacceptable!)

Reality Shifters/Otherkin (suddenly fictional drawn OCs and reader fics look like stellar content that’s much more preferable! It’s kinda weird that irl ppl insert themselves into fictional stories instead of creating OCs or just using canon characters…)

Age Regression/Age Play blogs (this type of content is kinda weird… it’s annoying and unnerving that teen/adult characters or even real people behave like little children to cope or smth. I don’t care if it’s also SFW, y’all still are getting the side eye for using baby/childish talk. And turning mature characters into that kind of behavior is just kinda stupid.)

Ppl who don’t properly tag/label (oh come on, no wonder I had to block certain blogs and tags here… some of y’all weren’t specific enough not just being irresponsible idiots. Had to block a shit ton of character assassination content not just ppl slipping past tags.)

Fetish artists/blogs (if you don’t properly tag/label, you do kinda deserve to get criticized heavily and blocked)

Fictional content that turns places and countries into anthropomorphic figures (weird ASF…)

RL crime/criminal apologists and hybristophiliacs (these guys make the fictional villain/antagonist character stans look like angels bc at least the latter will seemingly less likely simp for IRL criminals and know what’s fictional.)

[alollinglaughingcat]

@firealder2005 reblogged a bunch of tag games and i wanted to do all of them but i hate long reblogs in multitudes even if read more is an option so i combined them all into one post <3

@/gu1lty-as-sin's tag game

nickname: irl none really, online name is just Lolling

zodiac sign: Libra

height: i genuinely don't know but its probably somewhere around 5'6 since that's Alder's height lmao (i have height blindness and also cannot remember if i am taller or shorter or same height as you oopsies)

last thing i googled: uh technically i think it was me adding up the number of animals at the shelter i work at (the answer was 365 or somethin) though i never actually hit "enter" for it lol. otherwise it was "watcher grian ao3" (love me some ANGST)

amount of sleep: okay fun fact! i actually cannot perceive the amount of time i sleep. like if i go to bed at 11:00pm and wake up at 7:00am or if i go to bed at 9:00pm and wake up at 7:00am i think i've slept the same amount of time in my brain. i mean if i really push it to like 1:00am yeah i'll feel it in the morning but i can't do time math so it's all just the same numbers to me, so in my head i think i've always slept the healthy amount of hours. anyway probably 7-8

dream job: my current job is my dream job <3 i love working at an animal shelter. i'm currently going to school to be a vet tech, which I know I'll also enjoy doing since i've basically been a vet tech intern before, but I'll definitely miss getting to do everything i currently do as much as i do now, especially in regards to cleaning kennels, animal handling, and behavior assessments

movie/book that describes me the most: ??? fuck it i'll go random, The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg and Jon. that book is like how my brain works

favorite song: all of them and none of them they're all the same in the end

favorite instrument: minecraft noteblocks

favorite aesthetics: animalcore, cottagecore, vaporwave

favorite author: tui t sutherland!

random fun fact: i hope warrior cats never ends. i want a cat to go to space before it ends

not sure who started this tag game :)

favorite color: greens and pinks!

last song i listened to: damn i WAS gonna say "no clue" but i instinctively pulled up my yt playlist and started playing it RIGHt before i answered this tag game so now it's Flesh & Bone from ZOMBIES 2 (never watched it)

Last film I watched: 100% Wolf series and you can fight me over it its so endearingly mediocre

Currently reading: random fanfics. i guess the one I'm most dedicated to is the Echoes series for Watcher Grian content

Currently craving: nothing. wish i wanted to eat something tho but my appetite is empty

Currently watching: Guess That Build series w/ *takes breath* Impulse, Skizz, Grian, Gem, Jimmy, and Joel (currently halfway through Skizz's vid here)

Coffee or tea: i've never had either <3

Positivity Tag started by an Anon

Five Things I Like About Myself!

My writing skill, and specifically my ability to see things from a readers' perspective and predict the possible ways they will interpret my/others' writing.

My drawing skill, even though it is limited to just cartoon-ish, very stylized animals (mostly just cats tho). I enjoy drawing what I can draw.

My positivity. I've never been more grateful that I managed to somehow train myself into a more actively positive mindset. While I can get stressed, I feel like I can often manage it and remind myself that situational stress is temporary and happiness can always be found if you go looking for it.

My care and ability with animals. I enjoy handling difficult animals, be it spicy cats or reactive dogs, and I love seeing how animals' behaviors change over time with trust and patience. Even though I ironically don't really enjoy playing with animals that much, I enjoy surrounding myself with them and just co-existing with them, y'know?

My maturity. Took me a bit to really think of a something else to compliment myself on that wasn't just a reiteration of the above. But I've been told a lot that I'm always "so mature for my age" (not in a creepy way, but in a surprised, "wait you're X years old?!" way lol). I always thought it was a little silly, because isn't everyone "my age" mature? To my surprise, no. And those older than me aren't either. Which is okay because everyone's different! But it is frustrating sometimes lol

if anyone wants to do all or some of these tags, go ahead! open tag :)

[itsdappleagain]

CS WEEKLY #2 BABY! Oh yeah two part opener. Also ummmm its still Saturday right?? Haha...I'm late.

ANYWAY HERE WE GOOOO

How. did they not hear her in there lmaooo

If Player was tracking her altitude as well can you imagine what he thought when she suddenly plummeted from a plane wheeze

I love the "I don't have a parachute" line 1/ its so black sheep. its so cute 2. YOU DIDN'T??? THINK OF THAT??

gay people. also glad el topo got over his fear of heights with his bf around

tigress meowing and flailing around whe gray kicks her out of the helicopter is the funniest fucking thing also can helicopters even get to heights that you can parachute from? I guess so

black sheep is so lucky cracker was the last one to jump can you imagine she just grabs tigress by the shoulders or something

POV you have a parachute

I LOVE THE HANDHELDISH CAMERA AS THEY DROP OUT OF SCREEN AND THEN IT FOLLOWS THEM DOWN AS THEY SPIRAL AND ZOOMS THATS MY FAVORITE ANIMATION STYLE EVER

here starts my gripe (well publicly) with gina rodriguez for being a mediocre voice actor imo. like black sheep, plummeting at maximum velocity and only clinging on my her fingertips to safety: um don't let go :/

gray sounds like such an older brother wheeze WHAT'LL MOM AND DAD DO WHEN THEY FOUND OUT U SNUCK OUT WITH ME

also black sheep is so funny. who cares >:) I'll be long gone WHERE. WHERE ARE YOU GOING. also, at this point she isn't trying to defect. what is she going to do? steal something? that seems like a good way to get forever grounded, stealing something random without authority

the little "uhg" scoff black sheep does. she's such a teenager

what is emitting THAT MUCH LIGHT FROM THAT ARCHWAY

chickens do fly, cleo, chickens do fly

mime bomb is so funny its such a shame they couldnt have him in season 2 because they couldn't get his voice actor back

ohhh i forgot they did the title card after the ominous cleaners thing i love that so much

CASABLANCA!!!! SHE IS IN MOROCCOOOO also my headcanon is that casablanca was the first movie carmen ever saw when she escaped vile. I HAVE PROOF TOO she references the movie in TSONTS so hah.

i hope she still has that picture she took

all these doorways are blindingly lighted

ALL OF BLACK SHEEP'S BRAINCELLS RUBBING TOGETHER TO COME UP WITH A REASON SHE'S AT THIS RANDOM ASS DIGSITE

carmen was a dinosaur kid confirmed

i LOVE how she jumps down the ramp its so. shes such a kid

i like how black sheep is characterized- doesn't care about stealing, finds it like a game, interested in reward and loves the risk. i just...find it hard to believe that one guy changed her mind completely from 15 years or whatever of conditioning from VILE. idk. i guess i understand how seeing some guy almost die at the hands of your brother figure would shake you up but carmen puts her WHOLE pussy into taking down VILE after that one five minute conversation

THERE'S NO EXPRESSION ON HER FACE AS THE DIGSITE GUY TALKS TO HER AT ALLL ITS SO FUCKING FUNNYY shes just like brrrrrrrr ohg i have morals now...

i love the order of black sheep going "gray must have cut the power" then thinking about it and being like hmmm and THEN realizing that it must be the caper

i love the way le chevre runs up that wall

IM DYING

why did le chevre??? climb up that wall and then....use the rope...to jump down again.... i mean i know it was for the dramatic split kick to knock out the guards but STILL

the blown kiss ahag

OKAY ANYONE ELSE SUPER CONFUSED BY WHERE EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING OKAY WAIT

it shows us super up close le chevre and tigress taking out guards and workers but then??

WAY UP THERE??

why are they so far away??? the eye of vishnu is right next to black sheep?? or wat no it was far away but then el topo stole it and tunneled...further away? but closer to BS?? why did he do that and not just go offsite to get away? im so confused

also i love that digsite guy sees black sheep confronting the thief and goes wow she must be working with them not that he was wrong but

very strange that graham is sort of...the muscle? like he turns out the lights but this time he's also sort of a bodyguard for the gem

as much as I complained about it earlier the moment of realization for black sheep hits so hard

also what was tigress doing up there. did she kill all those people or what because if they left no witnesses did they just. leave a whole digsite full of people dead. like they totally killed Digsite Guy after Black Sheep got chloroform'd right

why did they need to many people for this job wheeze what was le chevre doing there either...its. idk

also she did NOT protect the face HAH

"gray" *smacks him with the stick*

they should have let carmen attempt to hit people violently with a stick more often because she failed so bad it was hilarious

the chloroforming is such a cool thing the cleaners do. like. i know its cliche but the fight way later on in season 4 is so much scarier because carmen is so weakened. i'll get to the parallels of that scene with this one way down the line in s4 tho

the added animation of carmen and gray gently rocking as the train stops/starts is my FAVORITE DETAIL EVER

oh fuck i forgot they do let carmen hit gray violently with a stick later on in the ep nevermind

OKAY HEY JACKIE AND I FOUND OUT (via CS Dream's big analysis video) THAT THEY CHANGED GRAY'S EXPRESSION POST-RELEASE IN THE GRADUATION SCENE? SO HERE'S THAT HE USED TO BE SMILING

The absolute delicious irony of Shadow-san being the one to say "No one or thing must stand int he way of achieving our goals" when HE brought Carmen back OH MY GODD

"you've earned your place at our elite table" all of season two's VILE arc entirely disproves that

evil evil evil evil evil evil evil ev

that sneer carmen let's lose when she repeats "evil" is so fucking good they almost never let her be that expressive or disdainful again

also the lean forwards as she says her entire upbringing was a lie is so. idk. almost intimate? she doesn't say it nonchalantly, sitting back and sneering. she leans forward. its important to her.

"steal lives" could be the worst decision the show had to make due to the young rating. but also consider: its funny carmen is going on about how her life was a lie and how crime causes irreparable harm and then she goes STEALING LIVES

anyone else forget chase exists every time they watch this episode. ALSO HEY. SHOUT OUT TO MOTIFS BECAUSE CARMEN'S THEME AND CHASE'S THEME ARE SO DISTINCT AND ARGEHGGSHDSHGRHGWH BARK THEY'RE SO GOOD THEY REPETITIVE HEAVY BRASS OF CHASE'S THEME BRAZENLY ANNOUNCING HIM IS SUCH A GOOD DECISION

the hood flying off of the car i mentioned it in my last cs weekly post but. its so funny

they get to that point so fast the steals from other thieves thing. i dream to see a mystery unveiling of that but only in my fanfic dreams

did he ever hang up on her or did she just hear him kick the door and then distantly commandeer a plane

he's so sinister about "your name" like why was that so menacing girl

carmen putting on that confident mask after crackle crackles on the crackle rod

someone's already mentioned brunt's bone-crushing hug foreshadowing and just. ough.

when black sheep comes back to the island and coach hugs her there are to uniformed students in the back...i wonder if thats the new class or if they're leftover from last year? because black sheep says she's all alone

girl it wasn't an escape attempt you didn't want to defect from VILE the first time

i love the raindrop running down her face like a tear when she decides to leave the dolls

ITS BEEN LIKE A YEAR WHY ARE THEY STILL TALKING ABOUT BLACK SHEEP'S PHONE

i like the detail of black sheep looking up before its revealed that she hid in the ceiling

strudelhaus of dusseldorf

"strange people have been answering your phone" i wonder if player ever talked with the faculty jshagjhfad

player's like OH YEAH YOURE A CRIMINAL and then shes like yeah but not like that and hes just like oh ok sure. cool

RITAAAA

i love the precursor to the comm earrings

maelstrom and booker give ex energy

the type of physical comedy they use with carmen saying that she has to be undetected and then showing mime bomb watch her say it is so fucking funny and so fucking underutilized

ALSO WITH CARMEN SAYING SHHH QUIET TO A MIME

i also like the detail of mb throwing the flower away

that animation of bs's hair as she whips around at mb is so cool

also the gag of mb running in place he's so funny

OKAY hi i'm obsessive but the details of both here and in the boston episode (carmen's first caper) bs/carmen is OUT OF BREATH when she's running but she isn't in later episodes WE CAN SEE HER GET IN SHAPE AS SHE DOES CAPERS isnt that cool???

the music picking up as black sheep races towards the elevator!!

HI OLD WITWICS THEME MUSIC IN THE ELEVATOR <3333

this is an underrated scene i think. of course later there's the physical "passing on of the hat" from rita to gina but this conversation is kind of...that. the old from the new. idk its really cool :)

"my you've grown" you saw her last year and she looked exactly the same

i like to think that black sheep realized she was being a dick to cookie booker after the eye of vishnu heist because idk. you know what its a cool little development moment

she looks so happy about the apology being accepted its so sweet <3 i mean. she does steal from her seconds after but

does she switch the hard drive as cookie exits or when they shake?? has to be when she exits but how the hell did she do that

RED LIGHTING!!!! we gotta know carmen's gonna come out on top now <33 ALSO the coat!!! the coatttttt

i adore how black sheep slumps down in the muck defeated and screaming no she's so dramatic about it

its like she dies

THE RED LIGHT ON THE SWORD GGRR R RBARK BRBWERB BARK CS COLOR THEORY HE'S ACTUALLY HELPING HER THE WHOLE TIME

THE SKID AS BS BACKPEDALS WHEN SHE SEES BOOKER IS SO COMEDICALLY PERFECT

CARMEN'S THEME GOING OFF FOR THE FIRST TIME (WHILE WE SEE HER AS BLACK SHEEP) WHEN SHE SEES RITA'S OG COAT AND HAT IS MY FAVORITE ITS SO GOOD AGHHH

how those stilts are staying in the shoes i will never know

also we never see those stilts again, kinda sad :( woulda been cool to have an operative who used em

the arrivederci imitation was SO BALLSY

cookie after the kid she made up with and gave life advice ties her up and shoves her in a closet five minutes later:

i love the shot of carmen running down the beach towards the boat in the coat from far away

realizing that shadow-san came directly from cutting the heli wires when he told the cleaners to prep air support...

captain was super ready to straight up shoot bs with a spear gun

THAT RUN AND JUMP WITH THE STILTS AND HEELS? I DONT THINK SO

also the look of regret when she knocks out the captain like maybe she wishes she could apologize to him too..

i like that boris seems to have a bit of a soft spot for black sheep- both of them, actually

OH MY GOD THE WIRES BEING RED TOO this sounds like "WHAT COLOR IS THE DOOR AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN" but i swear to god its intentional its theory its

shadowsan, barreling at the boat with a sword out: this surely looks friendly and approachable, and i should keep the sword up though i am much too far away from anyone who could stop me

do you think they have a driving class on vile island but bs was too young to take it or

anime protag?

again. the score is so good RELEASE AN OST RELEASE IT

black sheep. he cant hear you

THE VICTORIOUS USE OF HER THEME AS SHE DRIVES AWAY IT KILLS MEEE

carmen presses the arrow key to call player

the tenderness and relief in her voice as she tells him she made it out absolutely kills me every time. also player being comparatively nonchalant when he answers because he doesnt know how dangerous vile really is yet..

player u already triangulated her position like 8 months ago when she got off the first time but ok

also shocked carmen didnt figure that out herself after they landed in MOROCCO? CASABLANCA, MOROCCO BY HELICOPTER?? what other islands were there????

anyway

pulled her name from a hat

also. her theme again. yes i will keep pointing out themes and motifs

the only thing about the cs artstyle is...those 3/4 profiles. yikes.

chase looks great 👍 also where the hell did he land that thing

i find gray's orders to kill carmen if she didn't come home surprising, seeing as for the rest of the damn series they try to just capture her

carmen took all that time to say her name HE LITERALLY COULD HAVE JUST KILLED YOU your last words could have been "i told you i go b"

this fight is actually really fun. the arcs of electricity as gray smashes down on where her head was three seconds earlier, their physical strength grappling to keep the other away as carmen figure out how to disarm him

god the setup for the finale with this fight right at the very start. i KNOW it wasnt supposed to be setup but it is now

oh wait she doesnt hit him with a stick she kicks him. shit. nevermind. still a cool ass kick tho

they don't ever protect the face. PAPER STAR DOES THOUGH ACTUALLY she's cool

that must have hurt her knee so bad snapping the crackle rod. the metal crackle rod

SEE HERE NOW PLAYER BEING CONCERNED OVER HER DISAPPEARANCE

THE WAY SHE LOOKS BACK AND DISAPPEARS BEHIND THE POLE MWAHG CHEFS KISS

also chase is so funny too

julia's still so polite to him </3 u dont have to be girl

ive never noticed players little pat of the hard drive when he talks about the entries that was cute

cs does a pretty good job of transition sentences between episodes. this one mentions indonesia, indonesia mentions ecuador, ecuador mentions the vermeers, so on and so forth

its almost like...you'll always have paris...right? riiight

they literally only use "red-eye" because it has red in it i love it <3

and we've set up acme!!! ahhh this is good

AND THE CUT TO BLACK WITH THE MUSIC MMM

okay. solid episode <333333 sorry it was so late. BYE NOW!

p.s. ah yes, vile "never leave a witness" and also "hide in plain sight" crime organization...makes sense

[ichorblossoms]

(ur replies r also off tho that might be by choice idk) i picked so many so feel free to pick and choose which ones u wanna do but: grimm and yarrow with 3-9, 22-26, 30, 31, 36, 40, 43 + A-C for you about them!

THANK you for pointing that out, they're on now! and also THANK you for these i am >>>:D some of these questions have activated my infodumping bc i have a lot of Thoughts and Words ehehe

How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

yarrow: he'll usually wind down beforehand with a book and a cigarette (only allows himself three a day), but the exhaustion of being the only doctor in town and not really having days off puts him to sleep pretty quickly

grimm: i don't think it actually has much of a routine, but it does have to check that wrench (robot coyote companion) is alert to watch it's back while it sleeps

How easy is it to earn their trust?/How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

both answered here!

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

yarrow: flexible, has seen firsthand how people in power can bend laws around them and get away with horrible shit other people can't

grimm: doesn't give a shit about them either way

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

yarrow: tbh i need to think more abt yarrow's past bc they don't have any Tragic Backstory like grimm does. while they don't actually miss living in the large city like they did in the very beginning of the story, occasionally they'll get lucky and find one of their old favorite snacks from when they were in school, and how it reminds them of days spent cramming for exams. the memories are fond, but they don't miss it

grimm: seeing traveling caravans of performers come through town makes them ache for the family they used to have. until the age of ~13 or so they performed in a traveling band playing the violin/fiddle, but an accident left them and a few kids as the only survivors so it's all very bittersweet. yarrow found them a violin they'll occasionally pick up

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child?

i haven't thought enough abt the specifics of grimm and yarrow's childhoods to have a clear answer but i can tell you they often have to tell their adopted child lucy to stop eating the bugs she finds (she's an eight-year-old ringtail humod so she has a typical child impulse control alongside an instinctual drive to eat bugs hdgklhf. she'll be fine)

Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

they absolutely both swear, yarrow more than grimm just by sheer volume of Talking More. i don't think either would remember their first one

Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom?  

yarrow: being a doctor and all that, yarrow's definitely comfortable talking abt sex in the clinical sense to their patients. when it comes to personal matters it's. he has some issues. not trauma or anything so much as the mortifying ordeal of asking someone to do something for his own sake (he's got a sort of complex about doing enough to be "worthy" of things like asking) in addition to just like, having mediocre sexual experiences with other people (not fully bc of the prior point bu that doesn't help). he'd much rather just do the fucking, make his partner feel good, and call it a day without worrying about his own wants

grimm: yes and no. it's much easier to talk about things as a faceless one night stand who won't take all their clothes off than it is to talk to the only person who actually knows you, and they're very interested in you and that terrifies you because you want that too but oh my god what if you destroy things because you're nothing but an animal but oh god you also want this so bad

they both do in fact get over their respective issues with the help of the other (grimm's persistent devotion making yarrow realize "oh it wants this too" and yarrow's near-infinite tenderness and fascination making grimm realize it's not repulsive) and have fucknasty gay sex with one another but it's An Ordeal for both of them to get there bc sex involves vulnerability and they're both people who have had to close off parts of themselves for their own protection! makes me insane to think about tbh

What are their thoughts on marriage?  

yarrow: wants to get married! thought about it more in their late teens~ early 20s but by the time grimm comes back around when they're ~27 it's more of a "eh, it'll maybe happen" sort of thing. after everything he and grimm have been through in the story he's defs going to marry her there's no questions there

grimm: didn't have any thoughts really, after escaping the shitshow that was most of their teenage years (still working out the details of that) it was like "i'm never getting married, never attaching myself to any person i am wandering the world By Myself." yarrow changes the game a little bit but it's still not on their mind until years later when yarrow slugs someone bent on attacking them and shouts "don't fucking touch my WIFE" and suddenly grimm's like wife????? wife??????? 🥺👀💖😳💖👀💖💖

What is their preferred mode of transportation? 

yarrow: generally walks everywhere, will and does ride a horse for longer distances

grimm: their beloved carnivorous horse. the beast doesn't have a name yet but here's a drawing from a comic that's in the works (she's actually sweet but has an occasional attitude)

Who do they most regret meeting?  

yarrow: actually dunno for them, but i imagine of all the of the ceo scum type people they meet in the last part of the story, a few of them are particularly nasty

grimm: again, ironing out details of their past but tbh i'm not as concerned with the details of backstory so much as how this affects who they currently are, but they basically grew up as this one girl's guard dog for several years after they lost their family. treated enough like a person to fall in love with her, treated enough like an animal to feel like a tool instead of a human being. not exactly someone they had much control over meeting, but fucked them up irreversibly nonetheless

Who are they the most glad to have met? 

yarrow: grimm ofc. they were a handsome stranger who all but rescued him from a soul-sucking job in the city and whisked him away to the middle of the desert. did grimm piss them off after leaving them for five years? absolutely. but grimm also came back, which threw yarrow through a loop bc he had all but accepted he wasn't really important in anyone's life as anything but a doctor

grimm: yarrow, naturally. he showed them kindness when they didn't think it existed and saved their life on more than a few occasions. if grimm gets hurt, yarrow will be there to patch it up

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

yarrow: doesn't quite seek it out but is inclined to pursue it if there's a mutual thing going on. actually did date a guy in the five years that grimm had fucked off

grimm: it actively avoids romance lol, but before it and yarrow were actually a thing it'd seek out the occasional one night stand

If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so? 

this question is deceptively tricky bc to me they're both nonbinary bisexuals, but honeybee's world is like, various pockets of civilization (mostly what are essentially company towns) in the desert, so i think use and knowledge of labels is prominent in more metropolitan areas and ppl in more rural/isolated settings have either their separate terms or just don't describe themselves in the same way? idk how much i'll actually like, think this out and construct in-universe description bc it's not as interesting as the characters. also any attempts to explain this further have just end up in me typing out three sentences of sociopolitical worldbuidling mush that's decreasingly relevant to the characters hdklgfhdf none of this is also to mention any complexities that come with human-animal hybrid shit ANYWAYS

yarrow: bisexual, also transmasculine nonbinary IF they're talking to someone who is familiar with those words (he grew up in one of the metropolitan areas). if talking to someone who's not he'll call himself a guy, use he/him pronouns, and say he "swings both ways". they'll maybe elaborate on being "mostly a man but not quite" and that they also use they/them pronouns if they think that person will Get It. also considers himself stone* and is some flavor of ace but never feels the need to mention it to anyone but romantic/sexual partners

*ace trans guy who's never been on the receiving end of anything other than mediocre sex with cis ppl: y'know i think this only does anything for me if i'm doing the fucking

grimm: will shrug or say "none of your business" if asked, but will say it uses they/it pronouns if pronouns specifically are asked about (otherwise will just let themself be called whatever). describes themself to yarrow as "kind of a woman but not really" and only yarrow gets to use the bonus she/her pronouns for grimm. (functionally bisexual and transfem(ish) nonbinary, but labels don't hold the same meaning to them bc social differences, so they don't rly use em yadda yadda)

OKAY now it's time for me hehehe

Why are you excited about this character?

i answered this but i want to talk about them more hehe

a basically am always a sucker for human-animal/monster hybrids, or characters who are otherwise not entirely human. it is my SO my shit and has always been my shit. i think i get some of the best of both worlds with these two: grimm gets the angst of "i'm not human" and yarrow gets the fun of "of fuck yes i'm not fully human". also with these guys (and other humods in this universe) they aren't inhuman in any supernatural sense, so i'm not considering how things like powers factor into things (which can be fun ofc), but rather like, in what ways are these characters human, in what ways do they have animal insticts/mannerisms and it's all somewhat grounded in reality and Real Animals so i get to look up animal stuff about desert animals so i'm :)

yarrow's also my first time of having any sort of bugmonster shit going on so it's been a fun divergence from my usual dragony monster tendencies. grimm's part coyote and you know me and my love for Coyote And Dog Imagery and whatnot so it's mostly an excuse to play with that more and i'm having a LOT of fun

What inspired you to create them?

okay there's actually two solid inspirations here but with what honeybee's become i feel like it's so far from either of them in my brain that it's like. those were the catalyst but honeybee's its own thing now, yknow?

anyways my public library has the first few volumes of the no. 6 manga and i picked it up on a whim in...march? bc i heard good things about it back in like, high school. anyways i was actually very pleasantly surprised by the depth of the characters? definitely like "i would have hyperfixated on this media if i had found it in high school but i'm 23 now and stories with teenage protags aren't my jam" anyways the dynamic between nezumi and shion, especially in regards to this idea of someone from a very cruel world meeting someone who is openly kind and not knowing how to deal with that was super intriguing. then the thought "what if shion got transformed into a bee monster lol" crossed my mind and within an hour i had the initial quick sketches for grimm and yarrow AND several plot ideas. legit the fastest my brain has ever connected the dots to make a semi-coherent story. insane really

the cowboy/western setting was frankly overdue for me, but i had also just finished trigun at the time so i was like "fuck it, we'll make it sci-fi ish too, that explains the human hybrids" trigun's semi-western sci-fi deal continues to be something my brain returns to for aesthetics in the story but also like, i live in the desert, i can do this myself

if you combined how much i cared about no. 6 and trigun it would be like, a fraction of the brainrot honeybee as its own thing has given me. truly magical

Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

not really, surprisingly (or not yet, i should say lol). i think bc no. 6 was such a prominent inspiration for this story in its early stages, i approached honeybee like "how would i change this story (no. 6) and the characters to be more interesting to me specifically" early on so i always had an idea for the General Arc of the plot (or plots, it's three main parts in my brain) and how grimm and yarrow responded to them? now that i've figured out where i want to take the story (for the most part) i don't have to fall back on the scaffolding of another story to decide what my characters are doing or how they fit. now it's a matter of actually writing shit and conveying the proper Vibes

[woolieshubris]

okay so before tumblr rudely interrupted me, i was wanting to ask about your thoughts on atarashii gakko's new album, ichijikikoku! since i know you listen to them too :) i remember you saying a bit ago you thought their single 'the edge' was a bit boring, and i would be inclined to agree. but i think the songs on this album are fun! especially 'otome no bigaku' and 'odoru honno 001', which really feel reminiscent of earlier songs of theirs to me <3 'seishun wo kirisaku hado' also has a really fun and interesting feel to me, i really like it. and of course the addition of 'otonablue' on this album is. yes!!! i really like otonablue, i have for a while. it's one of my favourite songs of theirs overall. 'janaindayo' and 'giri giri' i also really love the sound of, tbh the only song on this album im not super a fan of is suki lie. overall i think it's really solid!! i will say it has a very different overall style than their ep snack time, and songs such as nainainai but i don't think that's necessarily a bad thing? i do miss that style a bit though. ANYWAYS i would love to hear your thoughts ^_^

MAN I LOVE IT SO MUCH. They went more for the ballad/rock stuff which I heavily prefer (mostly because they genuinely are good vocalists). Otonablue is genuinely like top 3 songs of theirs and top 10 songs in general for me, so to see an album drop that features it!!! Incredible. I do really like snack time and nainainai, ("free your mind" being a standout for me), but I was worried that it was going to mark a more permanent change in their artistic output. I hope that their new album performs well (especially overseas, because they were promoting snack time in the US at least), so that they realize that it's not a lost cause.

Janaindayo: it feels like an anime opening to me? (Maybe it is one?) I love it though!!!! This shit slaps. I love the speed of it. It feels like I'm running while listening to it

Seishun wo kirisaku hado: THIS SHIT IS SO GOOD.. it feels just like Splatoon music to me. I love vocal filters in songs. This is so fucking good. I don't really know how to put into words how much I like this track.

Giri Giri: interesting. A more typical pop track for sure! Giri Giri means round and round, (like spinning). I do genuinely like how they just let the vocalist go during the bridges. Not my favorite, but I don't hate it.

Suki lie: Also very typical pop track. I don't hate it (I've been listening to a lot of kpop lately so this just feels like a mediocre kpop track to me...) But yeah def a skip. I love the jazz section in the middle but the stuff around it... :(( It's just so mid LOL. maybe I'd like it more if I knew what the lyrics meant but yeah. A bit too repetitive for me

OTONABLUE: OTONABLUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEE !!! (Incredible song love it so much it's my favorite out of the album. I love how it uses 80's synths. If this song doesn't have a music video I hope it gets one for sure)

Otome no bigaku: YESS let her SING!!!! me when women sing with deep voices and go crazy and go wild and just sing !!!!! I love music !!!! I love women!!!!! I wish we had a music video of this I wanna know which girlie is the one who sings

Odoru honno 01: YEASHDHXHHSAHA. it's not my favorite song out of theirs but I genuinely hope this is the direction they take their music! Imo it suits them really well as a band it seems like they want to do more uplifting and fun tracks for people to blast in a car with their friends and this def feels the most in that wheelhouse out of all of the tracks presented.

IMO everything after otonablue slaps!!! Suki lie def feels like they put it on their because their producers made them, but the rest are incredible. I wish they reserved the more traditional pop tracks for another EP but whatever it's still a great album :))) we love atarashii gakko in this house

[littlewestern]

Hey, Hey, Hey! - On Music in CGI TtTE Movies

Part 1: The Anecdote (Intro)

If there’s one thing that watching Thomas the Tank Engine has taught me, it’s that the most important thing is being friends, especially when you’ve committed to watching a bunch of children’s movies of questionable quality. For this @greatwesternway​ must again be commended not only for getting her hands on all the films, but watching them multiple times (once by herself and then again with me, several times over by this point). That’s friendship!

The first movie I watched (alone) was Blue Mountain Mystery which, If you’ve never seen any of the CGI movies, is a nice one to start with. The pacing is decent, the characterization of the narrow gauge engines is good, and the inclusion of Victor’s backstory is great, bordering on brilliant writing. Really, I only had one complaint… The music.

My god, even now listening to it again as I write this. It’s like at every juncture the people responsible for this song were determined to make the worst possible decisions available to them at the time. The blaring horn in the intro, the cacophonous production, the lyrics that would earn a C+ at best in a 4th grade poetry unit, the children’s choir in the background, this truly has it all. Two minutes of baffling mediocrity in an otherwise pretty decent movie. The other numbers weren’t any better, but Working Together was particularly noteworthy.

The film ended and I told DJ that I’d enjoyed most of it, but that the music was very, very bad, as bad as I’d ever heard in a children’s animated feature (and I’ve watched some garbage animated features).

“The songs in the film were different songs, but they sounded almost identical,” I observed. DJ laughed and agreed, and for the next few weeks we watched better movies with better music in them. Then we got to King Of The Railway.

“This next one has Stephen in it,” DJ promised me.

“Love that guy!” I replied cheerfully. We’d watched his episodes of the show, but I had not yet seen the movie.

“It also has your favorite song in it.”

I laughed. I thought she was joking. After all, I had said that all the bad songs sounded basically the same. And as someone who has been diagnosed with incurable Commitment To The Bit Syndrome, I proceeded to ‘yes-and’ her.

“Oh, great! Can’t wait to start rockin’ and rollin’ and liftin’ and loadin’!”

DJ did not laugh or continue the joke. I was confused, but it happens! I’m not always as funny as I think I am. At least I would get to watch the movie that introduced my favorite Ulfstead Castle engine! And then, sixteen minutes into the film…

“No fucking way,” I said, at first in disbelief and then again in glorious, shrieking delight. “No fucking way!”

“I’m afraid so,” DJ said gravely. At least, I think that’s what she said, because at this point I was inconsolable. I had become unglued. I don’t remember exactly what came out of my mouth, but I know it was unkind. And loud.

“You can’t just– You can’t reuse a song you already used!” I declared, once I’d pulled myself together enough to start forming full sentences again. “You can’t hand in the same homework assignment twice!”

“Sure they can. They have the rights,” said DJ matter-of-factly.

“Well yeah,” I conceded. “But it’s just not The Done Thing. It’s not wrong, but we just don’t do it!”

Since then, the quality of the music in the CGI films has been the subject of much ridicule between the two of us, but to me especially. Sometimes I will narrate what I’m doing to the tune of Working Together. Any five syllable phrase will work, and it doesn’t even need to rhyme!

Open the ipad Lookin’ at files Drinkin’ my coffee!

So why bring this up? Well, a few weeks ago, I and several others in the ttte blogosphere received the entirety of the lyrics to Misty Island Rescue’s theme as an anonymous message. It reminded me that there’s actually a lot to say about the music, how it evolved over the years, and what makes the bad stuff bad and the good stuff good. And, yes, there is good stuff in some of these films.

So let’s make a series of essays about it! Next week, I’d like to take a look at the worst of what these movies have to offer, and break down why they don’t work and what might be done to fix them. After that, we’ll look at the good stuff and talk about how they improved on the formula, and I’ll reveal which song I think is the best out of the 13 CGI films.

‘Til then!

[scuba-divers]

Grave Brigade: The Great Info Dump Thus Far.

Okay, so Grave Brigade- What, exactly, is it, and what am I planning to do with it?

You may have heard of Grave Brigade if you lurk around my page. It's usually in the tags of art posts I make related to Terraria [typically Terraria's enemies] or it's mentioned in the text I put in a post. Well, here's what it is, summed up and compacted into a rather large nutshell.

Grave Brigade, nutshelled. [A tl;dr]

Basically, Grave Brigade is an Alternative/Alternate Universe, or AU for short, of Terraria. Now I expect that if you've seen this post, it's likely because you're following me, so I'm going to assume you know at least a bit about Terraria. Now, why on earth do I call this an 'AU' and not just 'my interpertation of the Terraria lore' if Terraria's lore is so open? Well, you see, that's the neat thing, it isn't focused around lore change or anything. It's focused around enemies, but not just any old enemies.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking: "How can you make an AU based off of enemies??" Well, it focuses around the unique enemies, specifically the main three linked below:

Of course, there are other unique enemies that'll likely be included [Eyezor, Nymth, Tim, Rune Wizard, ect.] but these three are the main cast. Why? Well, it's just because they're my favorite enemies in the game.

My project plan for GB

So, what, exactly, am I even doing with this AU of mine? Well, it could just float around in my mind and sort of exist, but no, I'm taking it a bit further. I'm not making a comic or a written story, however; I'm planning on making this thing into a series. An animated one, to be exact. I've been building up characterization for the three I mentioned earlier for months, and since little is actually known about these guys, they're basically blank slates for headcanon characterization. Using Blender for effects, IBISpaintX for sprites backgrounds, Google Docs for scripting, Ableton Live 11 Intro [along with my mediocre composing skills] for a soundtrack, the possible help of some others and more, I'm going to attept to make a cartoon series about my versions of these wacky undead people that I'm obsessed with, infused with the worst possible mixture of headcanons, headcanon personalities and awful animation because almost everything I know about Blender was found out by fucking around while making VRchat avatars.

What's up with this series?

Grave Brigade [The Series] follows the wacky and sometimes [usually] dangerous adventures, situations and shenanigans that a trio of zombies get themselves into, and that's basiaclly all.

Who are the characters, and what are they like?

Well, putting it simply, the characters are my versions/characterized versions of the unique enemies from Terraria.

The Main Cast

The main cast is composed of my characterized versions of the three I mentioned before:

Doctor Bones, or, as everyone just calls him, Bones, an undead archeologist who unfortunatley lost all of his memories from when he was a human. The only thing that remains of his past self is his obsession with anything regarding nature, archaeology and/or history. Outgoing, energetic, uncannily physically strong and lacking common sense, this guy can easily unintentionally [or intentionally] cause trouble wherever he goes. [Yeah, I'm aware that in the canon game he's supposed to be a reference to Indiana Jones but I have always and will always disregard that fact because he's at very least 20x cooler than the original source.]

Victor [A.K.A. The Groom], an awkard guy who doesn't like talking to people he doesn't know [or even being around people he doesn't know for that matter] and would much rather wander around pouting about his afterlife choices than go on a rampage for human flesh. Obviously the husband of Angela.

Angela [A.K.A. The Bride, A.K.A. Angie]. She gets bursts of rage and pissed-offness every now and then, but she's usually pretty chill. She's always the first one to choose violence in any situation, because despite the fact that she's typically pretty chill, she always thinks it's the easiest and fastest answer [She isn't always wrong with this view, but but I'm gonna say that ~65% of the time, she is]. Obviously the wife of Victor.

Why am I putting actual effort into characterization and a series?

I just felt like I had so many ideas and concepts for these undead dorks, and I wanted to do something with them. Not a lot of people in the Terraria fandom/community even aknowledge these guy's existances, so I thought that since I'm the one big fan of these guys, I need to make something! And boom, Grave Brigade was born.

Conclusion

So basically, this freakishly long post is just to provide information on my Terraria AU. That pretty much draws a conclusion to my current plans for it, so I'm done writing.

[eldritchsurveys]

1241.

Have you ever had the chicken pox? >> I have not. Have you ever been evicted? >> I have not.

Would you grow your own garden? >> I wouldn't. I love plants but I like them best when they get to do whatever they want and I just get to admire them. I don't want to have to do all this cultivation work, especially since it demands labour-intensive tasks being done in a timely fashion and I'm not quite at the place where I feel comfortable taking on long-term projects that require that much effort from me. Do you know anyone who snores? >> It's certainly possible that someone I know snores, but I'm not around them when they sleep so I wouldn't know about it.

What is your favorite font? >> I'm not sure anymore.

Would you have liked to have lived during the Victorian times? >> I would not want this.

Do you like deviled eggs? >> I do, but I'm picky about them. Most deviled eggs I've had were mediocre.

What time do you usually wake up? >> Assuming I slept through the night and wasn't awakened by anything external, some point between 6:00 and 8:00.

What made you feel most accomplished in your life so far? .

What can’t you afford but wish you could? >> Man, everything.

What is your favorite type of museum? >> I really like places like the Science and Technology Museum in Chicago.

Have you ever been inside the Statue of Liberty? >> I have not.

What is your favorite book you’ve read this year? >> Episode Thirteen. It was truly written For Me™ and I cannot stop thinking about it.

Do you think animals really have emotional feelings? Or do you not? >> I do. You see the person you fell hardest for. What do you do? .

Have/are you depressed? >> I experience depressive symptoms, but not in the sense that I would say "I have depression".

Did you grow up in the United States? >> I did.

Do you call anybody ‘baby’? >> I do not. I can't imagine calling anyone that, it just doesn't suit me. Do you wear earrings on a normal basis? >> When I go out, yeah.

Would you pay someone to kill the person who hurt you a lot? >> Of course not.

How are you feeling right now? >> Regulated, finally, thank the fucking gods. The past two weeks were hell.

Are you drifting away from someone you were close with? .

Is there someone you’d like to fix things with? .

What are you listening to? >> Nothing.

Have you ever stayed in a hotel? >> Sure. Have a best friend? >> I do not.

Does it bother you when your best friend does stuff without you? .

Last person to send you a text? .

What were you doing at 8:00 this morning? >> I was waking up. Have you done anything embarrassing lately? >> I am not embarrassed by anything I've done lately.

Do you trust easily? >> I do not.

Do you like cookies n’ cream ice cream? >> It's fine.

What color shirt are you wearing? >> A grey undershirt.

Are you a mean person? >> Sometimes, sure.

Does anyone hate you? >> I don't know. That's honestly not my business.

Do you usually tell people when you’re mad at them? >> I do not.

Have you ever liked someone older than you? .

Have you ever played Marco Polo? >> I have not.

Do you know anyone who is a vegetarian? >> Sure.

Who was last mean to you? >> I don't remember.

What was the last video game you played? >> FFXIV.

How do you dry your hair? >> I mostly let it air-dry. What did you have for breakfast? Are you even a breakfast person? >> I had cereal. I do generally eat the first meal of the day, yes.

Have you left the house at all today? Where did you go and what did you do? >> I haven't.

Who was the last person you spoke to online? Do you know them in person or not? >> Sparrow. We live together.

If you could change any law that exists in your current country, what would it be and why? .

What's your favourite way to eat potatoes? >> As French fries or as diced and seasoned potatoes in like a breakfast bowl.

When was the last time you met someone new? What were the circumstances and did you get along? .

What will you be eating for your next meal? Will you be cooking, eating out or ordering a takeaway? >> I don't know. Whatever it is, it will have to be made at home because I don't have takeout money.

Which Harry Potter film was your favourite? What about your least favourite? >> I remember liking Deathly Hallows Part 1. I also liked Half-Blood Prince but that was also my favourite book so of course. My least favourite might have been Chamber of Secrets, I just really can't stand Gilderoy Lockhart.

Are you afraid of walking alone at night? >> I am not. I would prefer not to do it mainly because bright lights are really bright when it's dark and that high contrast is hell on my eyes (and it's not like I can wear sunglasses like I can in the daytime), but also because there's really no reason to.

Favorite dried fruit? >> Mango is good dried.

Would you rather wear a dress or a suit on your wedding day? >> I wore a suit.

If you chose dress, will it be long or short? . If you chose suit, will you wear a bow or a tie? >> I wore a bowtie with skulls on it. I have no idea where that thing has gone, come to think of it... god, I hope I didn't lose it in a move. I might have. :/

Have you ever wanted to be a police officer? >> I have never wanted that.

Do you have a nut allergy? >> I do not.

How often do you cook dinner? >> Rarely. Ever had bangs? >> I have not.

Have you ever dated someone LGBT+? >> I mean, yes.

Last time you went to Pizza Hut? >> I have never been.

Do you hear owls or crickets at night where you live? >> Crickets, no owls.

Are you scared to ride public transport alone? Why? >> Of course not. I've been riding public transport since I was a teenager, nothing about it is frightening to me. It's very banal and commonplace in my life.

Did you own a dollhouse when you were younger? >> I did. The dolls that came with it had magnets on the bottom and when you put them in the magnetised areas in the house's rooms, they would have scripted conversations. You could put them in different arrangements to get different dialogues. It was pretty neat and I've never heard anyone else say they also had one, so now I'm like "where the fuck did I even get that thing..."

Do you have a favorite sibling? .

Best year of your life? .

How do you like your eggs if you like them at all? >> I like them just about every way.

Are both your eyes the same color? >> They are.

Opinion on brussel sprouts? >> Love them roasted. You gotta do it right, though. They're easy to fuck up.

How many followers do you have on Instagram? .

How about Twitter? .

How much would I have to pay you to get you to do karaoke? >> I'd do karaoke for free. But I certainly wouldn't object to being paid either, lmao.

What is your religion? >> Me. I'm what you might call "autotheist".

[eukaryotesrool]

Lion King is a franchise that has always meant a lot to me, my favorite Disney movie of all time (and given the current climate, I doubt that's gonna change)

Now, if you didn't know, they're making a new move. Mufasa The Lion King, which promises to be the next introduction in a sprawling franchise of hyper realistic Lion King CGI movies, likened to Star Wars by Disney employees. It will be a prequel focusing on Mufasa's (and to a lesser extent, Scar's) origins.

Now, I could rant about how unfitting the animation style is, how souless and cash grab-y the whole things sounds, and how they go against pre-established Lion King lore (not even in cool ways) BUT, that's probably been discussed a thousand times since the movie was annnounced way back when, I wanna criticize (and poke fun at) a recent article.

"The first Lion King was criticized for being too close to the original." -CBR

Yeah, among other things. I think people would be a lot more forgiving if it was a good unoriginal remake.

"The latest prequel pushes the boundaries and tells a new story and Disney's live-action department can learn a lot from its performance."

Now this, THIS is the line that got me heated. Lemme just repeat the important part.

"The latest prequel pushes the boundaries and tells a new story."

THE LATEST PREQUEL PUSHES THE FUCKING BOUNDARIES AND TELLS A NEW STORT! (Paraphrased)

That is a demented sentence, holy shit. I don't think I need to spell it out, but it isn't boundary pushing to tell a new story, that's the default form of telling stories.

"Oh, but they're just saying it's an improvement on what the departments been doing."

Fair, but take this into account. Does Captain Assaultman deserve praise when he does the bare fucking minimum and stop assaulting people every time he does anything?

Anyhow, some other bits stuck out to me.

"Disney is in a fascinating position as it gears itself up for a potential Renaissance era anew."

Huh? Buddy, HUH?

Don't get me wrong, Disney's a century old, they've made movies bad and good, they COULD absolutely bounce back and make the greatest movies- nay the greatest stories ever told. But what have they done to imply a Renaissance? Make mediocre-at-best movies?

"renew them with original ideas and a live-action edge."

Did you have to say that? To my face?

"Disney strengthens its image and, more importantly, improves upon its storytelling again."

Yeehaw partner, that's right, yet another fat Disney win. Dear Mickey, this company doesn't know what failure means!

Seriously, this article is so shill-ish, it feels like a Disney bigwig wrote it themself.

1: I don't think Mufasa The Lion King being made strengthened Disney's image in anyone's eyes except, apperantly the goober who wrote this article. The movie has to fight an uphill battle to prove itself to audiences, and that is a GOOD thing.

2: What improvement on its story telling? Were you part of the test audiences? The movie could be an insult to the very idea of storys, like you watch it and just keel over from sheer bad writing. All you know they improved on is actually telling original stroies, which is hardly something to praise, as I've said.

Anyway, just wanted to rant about it. I'd like to close off by saying something nice though, the CGI used in the new Lion King remake and its upcoming prequel is genuinely gobsmacking, that stuff rocks. I just wish it was used in a good movie, and that instead of invading a franchise better suited to other mediums, it had a new IP (or an old one that didn't work so welll with the tech of the time) to really push the visuals to their fullest.

I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on Mufasa The Lion King!

[divinepriestesskokomi]

I just did (most) of Lynette's hangout event, so I wanted to share my thoughts. Spoilers for the hangout undercut

For the most part I really liked it! I'm so happy we got to see more of Lynette and really get to see her personality shine!

I loved the two different story threads I got to see, the mystery solving one and the movie one.

The mystery one was my favorite, and my first playthrough I got the "Adventurers, Investigators, and Cats" ending, which ended up being my favorite ending of the bunch! I loved the interaction between Lyney and Lynette, of Lyney being very protective of her (which was super sweet), but I also really loved Lynette standing her ground and telling him that she doesn't need to be protected anymore, that she's grown and can handle herself. And I loved that Lyney heard and respected her feelings, it was just such a sweet interaction between them 😭

The story for the mystery itself was definitely convoluted and very sad, but I loved that Lynette was just as protective of the animals as I was. I was ready to fucking throw hands with those hoes for hurting those animals

The movie one was also really good, I really loved the whole message about how genuinely good actors are getting pushed aside and their roles being given to mediocre celebrities because it will garner more attention. That's such a huge problem in the entertainment industry today (side eyeing Crisp Rat) so I was super happy, and very surprised, to see Genshin addressing it so openly!

It's funny too because one of the things I love about Genshin is how the voice actors aren't just random big name celebrities and instead actual super talented voice actors who don't have big celebrity status. So I hope this is a sign that Hoyo intends to keep supporting actors who aren't big names.

My only complaints with the hangout quest are:

1: Freminet didn't show up at all, which was disappointing. Where is my boy Mihoyo. If you could include Lyney you should have included him too, don't leave him out! Even if he was in a separate route or something.

2: The perception check RNG thing is annoying as hell. Why should I miss out on things just because I got a low card.

3: They made it fucking IMPOSSIBLE to get the final ending because you have to rely on the stupid perception check. I've tried over and over and over but all I get are the one card and the 3 card, so I literally can't get that ending. I eventually gave up. Honestly I'm so annoyed I'll probably leave feedback for it because why the hell should an ending be locked behind shitty ass RNG

Other than that, I really loved the hangout event, I think it really did Lynette justice! I hope this will help make people appreciate her more

[casliveblog]

(That moment when some good anime finally come out but I don’t wanna watch them because they may be on Toonami at some point and rewatching anime for Toonami does kinda take some of the fun out of it but then Toonami’s like ‘we have nothing planned for the next two months, have double Naruto Shippuden’, which I get because Housing Complex C just came out and it’s four episodes long and that makes it the perfect length to be a Halloween marathon and you don’t want to start a new show just to interrupt it with a Halloween Marathon but like there’s nothing really to look forward to as far as existing anime and it’s kinda frustrating since a lot of the new anime they’ve made have been mediocre or bad and I just want some guaranteed quality.

Just looking at anime that have new seasons that haven’t been on Toonami we have:

SSSS.Dynazenon, My Hero Academia (Season just started but still technically counts), Mob Psycho 100, Made in Abyss (Same as MHA), Jojo (scooped up by Netflix so not expecting it just worth noting), Food Wars, Demon Slayer, Megalobox, Pop Team Epic (See MHA)

And then as far as things that haven’t aired on there before but REALLY should given their general connection or even promotional materials that have aired on Toonami we have things like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man

So just as a way to vent I’ll list my top wanted things and the things that I’m baffled haven’t been on the block yet

Demon Slayer and Mob Psycho 100 are kind of the odd ones out given how long their second seasons have been out and there was even a rerun of Mob Psycho Season 1 that everyone thought was going to lead to season 2 being announced for the block that just... didn’t happen

Megalobox and Dynazenon aren’t my favorite picks by any means but they do seem to gel really well with what the showrunners want for the block and I think they are going to be scooped up at some point when things cool down a bit

MHA, Pop Team Epic and Made in Abyss will also probably come at some point, like Toonami legit can’t keep its hands off MHA it’s basically its big moneymaker since it found out it can’t milk Dragon Ball endlessly, they got their hands on Made in Abyss at a good time right before season 2 was really being talked about so it kinda just kicked up the discussion again and that may mean there’s a deal to be made there but I don’t pretend to know how this shit works and Pop Team Epic is just a wild card in every sense so who knows.

Food Wars has a weird history with the block given how its seasons are broken up into some weird copyright mess so that’s kind of a toss-up whether they’re going to pursue that or not but it’s there should they decide it’s worth going after.

But as far as new series I’d like to see on there within the next year that could really give the block the shot in the arm it needs are Jujutsu Kaisen, (I mean come on the fucking movie advertised on the channel why is it not there) Chainsaw Man (just started so we’ll see about the news) and... believe it or not, Spy X Family, like it’s probably not something most people think of when they think of Toonami but it’s a popular show with some action, at least as much as some of the more chill shows that have been on there.

Ever since Dragon Ball Super ended and MHA’s seasons have been sparse, Toonami’s really kind of struggled to find a new flagship series and covid certainly didn’t help and it seems like they’re putting more effort into creating new shows rather than acquisitions but I think grabbing something with good press behind it already would probably give everything the boost it needs given none of the originals have really been able to get off the ground. I get there’s probably business reasons why creating new shows you have full rights to is probably easier/more profitable than trying to bump gloves with Netflix and Disney+ (the whole reason I didn’t mention Bleach) but that doesn’t do much good if nothing’s pulling in the numbers and we just kinda let the block sit on reruns and shows that are decades old. I’m thrilled One Piece is getting another shot I really am, but it can’t carry the block and if Toonami’s not going to pull the anime that are actually in current conversations then it’s going to get left behind, I respect that it’s trying to make that conversation rather than leech off of it but there needs to be a mix since production takes so long and as we’ve seen with shows like Shenmue and Black Lotus just doesn’t yield the results they’re looking for)

[izukult]

what they get you / what kind of gift they get you for valentine’s day :D

idc ab valentine’s day whether i have a partner or not but i would geek ab it for these mfs

warnings: swearing!! fluff 🤢

characters: hinata, kageyama, oikawa, suga, tsukishima, bokuto, akaashi, iwaizumi, matsukawa, atsumu

hinata shoyo ♡

this ray of absolute sunshine would see smth from tiktok and be like: yup. perfect. he’d get you like the chocolate box of crystals !! and be like “look at how pretty they are- this one looks like my hair!” and he also gets you some homemade ring from etsy and makes this big deal ab how “HES NOT PROPOSING BUT HE WOULD BUT LIKE- LATER ON BUT HES NOT PROPOSING AT ALL ITS JUST A PRETTY RING” he gives me secondhand embarrassment sometimes. really tho gets so giddy seeing you wear anything he buys you and if anyone ever compliments the ring he loves hearing you say “thanks! my boyfriend got it for me for valentines:)”

kageyama tobio ♡

he gives you this ratty ass old ass volleyball and you are trying your best to give him a convincing smile, but you’re really, really confused? it wasn’t the fact that it was volleyball related, it was just the fact it was so old. he rolls his eyes and turns it in your hands to show the tape on the other side of it. ‘kageyama t. grade 4’ MF GAVE YOU HIS FIRST FUCKING VOLLEYBALL PLSSSS that’s so goddamn cute i’m gonna throw up. you cried idc

oikawa tooru ♡

oikawa tooru is an overcompensating bastard man. no matter what he’s doing, he feels the need to prove himself. he kind of goes too hard for valentines LMAO. flowers and chocolates? yea. a teddy bear? i wouldn’t be surprised. a jersey? you betcha. romantic picnic at night? if you want. a playlist? probably. a necklace? maybe so. your favorite part, though, is the little note he writes you talking about how grateful he is for you that he slipped in your (his) jacket pocket at the end of the night. neither of you bring it up tho- bc emotions 🤢

sugawara koushi ♡

old fashion sweetheart i sure do love this man. i’m sorry to be so vague for this one, but his gift is definitely some very niche, partially homemade idea of some inside joke of yours. he wants you to know it’s personal to him, that he really put a lot of thought into your gift and that he loves you. a cute little stay at home kinda date, and you two make dinner together as you listen to your favorite playlists and laugh. very good fella. love him sm.

tsukishima kei ♡

his gift is that he doesn’t insult u all day😁🤝 no. no it’s not. he still insults you you’re not fucking dying why wouldn’t he? he burns you a cd and then realizes that’s kinda not cool and so he just makes you a playlist. actually explains the reason for each song (not verbally, though) and he brings u strawberry short cake bc he is convinced it’s the pinnacle of desserts he does not care if you like smth more take the gesture.

bokuto kotaro ♡

this lil dummy is so doting. starts your day off by bringing you your favorite coffee or tea and a lil kiss. he buys you guys something matching LMAO like maybe some bracelets or smth and while i am not a big “matching” fanatic and i don’t think bokuto would necessarily be an avid bracelet wearer, but he will not take that bracelet off unless it’s like a tournament game. definitely takes you out to some fancy dinner and also probably gets you kicked out of the restaurant

akaashi keiji ♡

akaashi is very down to earth. so, he knows what you’re going to want. he also knows what he wants to give you. so let’s say you’re really really into smth he rly rly hates, he’ll listen to you talk about it absolutely, but he might not spend money on it? in his eyes, the gift would be just like your relationship— a mutual understanding where two separate people come together. i cant say what it would be specifically (i’m sorry D: if u want my generic answer it would be: a lamp), but it definitely is a representation of what the two of you are together.

iwaizumi hajime ♡

he gives you something disgustingly meaningful. like the kind of nice that makes you want to gag yknow? but you don’t really know how meaningful it is at first?? he gives you like this little “photo book” esque thing, and you KNOW oikawa gave him the idea LMAO. it’s already so cute but at the end there’s just a little piece of paper with a day on it and you’re like what? and he shrugs and goes “wonder what that is? hmm” and you know he’s teasing u so u kinda joke ab it but he won’t tell u. then at the end of your date when he’s dropping you home he kisses you and he’s like “oh yea, that paper??” and you’re like omg yes finally and he looks so nonchalant when he says “yea, kinda weird that i remember this, but that’s the day i fell in love with you🤢” and he nods and laughs and you’re just Staring. you are STARING loss for words but he fucking leaves before you can ask him ab it. this made me physically sick to write bye

matsukawa issei ♡

simpleton scrub. buys you a gag gift or pretends he doesn’t remember. starts breaking out laughing when you try to hide ur disappointed look (it’s ok to punch ppl sometimes😁‼️). his real gift is kinda cliche, but i feel like he really has no idea what he’s doing for like actual relationships even if he tries to hide it. he just gets you like one of those rectangle bar necklace, and he does get his initials on it bc he’s kind of a braggy fuck, but he only does it on one side so you can choose whether to show it or not.

miya atsumu ♡

this man is absolutely a perfectionist. he is so loving, absolutely, but he’s also kind of immature? so, he’s a little nervous to give you a gift because what if yours isn’t as good. LMAO it sounds rude, but he always wants to be pushed to be better and do better, and even tho this is a declaration of affection, he can’t help but attaching competition? so he buys you two gifts- a mediocre one and what he thinks is really good. the mediocre one is just like a stuffed animal and the really good one is personalized, and well thought out, and it just Screams that he loves you. it definitely centers on a passion of yours so i can’t get like a specific example but if you play guitar he like bought you a fucking case youve wanted for months kinda vibe LMAO. also, truth be told, bc he’s a sucker for you, no matter what u get him he’s gonna give u the “mediocre” gift and the other one as well.