#idk i'd thought of like a general vibe and then it went a completely different way lol but yeah

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

In my 'healing girl era'. That means relapses, that means recovery, that means small victories and bitter struggles; small joys and smaller motivation. Days when everything seems a breeze and the past only a fading memory. Days when the healing itself seems like a memory. Healing isn't linear. Recovery isn't linear. Enormous leaps forward come with enormous falls back, and tears, and trials. That's part of healing and of recovery. Being in a healing girl era means the mindset and the intention, even if outwardly it all looks the same. It's not an aesthetic and it's not pretty. It means lying on the bathroom floor sobbing. Sometimes it means giving in again and again and again, and vowing never to do so again, and doing it the very next day. But then what it really means is picking yourself up off the floor, drying your eyes and keeping going, keeping trying, keeping on keeping on.

[djservo]

hiii it’s that time again! september wrap up and october tbr? do you go in for a particular vibe in the autumn/winter 🙇🏽‍♀️

IMO 🫂☕️📖 idk what came over me last month (especially since i was out of town/had nonstop plans for the past 2 weeks) but i got thru a lot more than i thought i would so i'm gonna put it undercut 💆‍♀️

black hole by charles burns

LOVED!! really cool body horror/concept - i really wanna try n incorporate a graphic novel every month bc i've enjoyed myself each time 🃏 u already know that i watched it follows the night of finishing this & it was simply the perfect wine n cheese pairing 🍷🧀

shoplifting from american apparel by tao lin

stupid and soulless LOL i went down the rabbit hole of alt-lit (like Theoretically) awhile ago & i guess this was my first real dip into it & it sucked ass but what else did i expect from a genre chock-full of pretentious pseudo-intellectual assholes from peak blogging era 🙄 IF i'm brave enough to sit thru sterile & self-important ramblings of alt-lit again, i'm sticking solely to women writers only ❌☝️

a carnival of snackery by david sedaris

his entries about identity/politics/the pandemic come off a little out-of-touch in a way i'm sure would put someone off completely if it was their first sedaris, but i was still struck by unexpected tenderness/introspection amongst the occasionally glib and smart ass sections - though admittedly, all of which are what got me to love & become a loyal reader of sedaris in the first place

happy go-lucky by david sedaris

i listened to an audiobook of this bc i'd never done that for his essays before & im so glad i did!! it's such a different & even more fulfilling experience to hear his voice/inflections/impressions and generally with essays/memoirs it feels more intimate, kinda like a friend recounting thoughts n memories to you. i need to revisit past essays, but i have an inkling that he's getting a little softer in age - particularly with how he talks about his partner (hugh) like i literally had to go back in book and reread an essay because i couldn't believe he'd gotten so sappy with no punchline 🥲

crush by richard siken

quintessential tumblr poetry moment... don't know what i could possibly say/add about this as it's already been beaten and gutted to death for years on here, but it definitely holds up beyond the more popular n quoted passages interspersed with like. gifs from supernatural or whatever else LOL

high school by tegan & sara quin

so cleverly done with each chapter alternating between them - for some moments i did wish i could've read the other twin's perspective, but i understand it'd probably be too repetitive. clea duvall is the perfect fit to direct this so i'm excited to see how things translate in the show!

the agony of eros by byung-chul han

i devour any ponderings on eros/desire/love/etc so this + a lover's discourse + symposium + a blunt... yeah

sigh, gone by phuc tran

probably wouldn't have finished this if i hadn't switched to the audiobook like halfway thru. kinda uncompelling and pretentious, maybe bc i didn't know of/necessarily care abt the author enough to justify delving into a memoir. i did love/resonate with the bit about his attempts to relate to immigrant parents, i just wish he'd reflected more on his own assimilation / muddled cultural ties rather than straining to connect everything to classic literature (which is kind of ironic now that i think abt it)

never be alone again by lina abascal

laughable... could've (should've) easily been a vice article or better yet a vice documentary (that way the interviews/references would've actually flowed nicely) but instead there are these clunky kitschy buzzfeed ass 'your bloghouse song according to your zodiac sign XD' chapters in between.... but whatever i had fun & gave it to a coworker who's equally & damnably nostalgic for this era 😐

natural causes by barbara ehrenreich

listened to the audiobook - morbid but necessary food for thought abt the wellness industry, moreso how 'wellness' has become so misconstrued to the point of infiltrating our basic understandings of life & death. healthcare myths we've been brainwashed to believe/never question, examinations of intrusive procedures/"cures" that do more harm than good - a little all-over-the-place, but listening to it made it absorb easier i think

corpus christi by terrence mcnally

learned about this play semi-recently thru a documentary (same name) about a theater putting on this play & the actors' experiences with religion/sexuality, THEN coincidentally came across david sedaris mentioning terrence mcnally in a carnival of snackery which was obvi a sign 📡 beautiful & heartbreaking in the way any/all religion&sexuality intersections hit - would love to see this live

+ 3 more since then but i'll save those for our october round-up (bc this is already so annoyingly long) :-)

i'd like to think i'm more drawn to fiction as the weather gets colder n i want something cozy, but i have a few theory books i really wanna sink my teeth into so we'll see how these last few months go 🤨

at the moment i'm reading the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde by robert louis stevenson & also checked out bath haus by pj vernon and the cabin at the end of the world by paul g tremblay (my sister and i saw barbarian in theaters & they showed this trailer & we were like 'omg let's read this together??' despite both of us not being big readers of horror or caring much about m. night shyamalan movies anymore LOL but i'm excited!) - so i suppose i'm doing a horror thing BUT it's also filipinx american history month so i'd like to incorporate that too! i finished up a jessica hagedorn book on my recent trip back home and i'm gonna try to squeeze in another, but i'll be out of town again the end of this month (🛌💤) so to switch up the tone i think i'm gonna take along global divas: filipino gay men in the diaspora by martin f. manalansan iv 🧳📚

[strangefellows]

Two different fandoms and I know in general but I'm curious about the details, Cu and Emet?

First impression

Emet: God my reaction was basically OH GOD, NO when he popped up the first time because I'd been so burned by Ardyn's treatment and how he was mishandled in XV, and Emet giving me Ardyn vibes nearly immediately triggered my panic button of NO I DON'T WANT THIS AGAIN. I did NOT want to like him and get fucked over again.

Cu: Hot! Hot guy! Oh, Cu Chulainn, I know him! He's my dad's favorite myth hero! My dad and I watched UBW together, so he was pretty hyped to see Cu, and though at the time I didn't know as much about him, I thought he looked pretty cool and I'm a nut for Irish/Celtic mythos, so I was intrigued.

Impression now

Emet: MY LOVE MY DARLING, YOU BASTARD MAN. I can tell you the exact moment I gave in was in Amaurot, during Hyth's little speech about Emet when they had a nearly frame-by-frame perfect recreation of an Ardyn scene (the bit where Emet's walking down the street shot in dif angles) and it hit me that Ishikawa was not going to do me dirty like Tabata did, and I just went "oh okay I can safely love him". He's fantastic and one of my favorite FF characters now but also FUCK YOU FOR LEAVING YOU ABSOLUTE BITCHLORD

Cu: I LOVE HIM SO MUCH [sobbing] his interactions with Rin and Shirou in UBW were what sold me on him completely, he was just so warm and friendly and teasing, and so clearly a loyal badass, and his death scene absolutely destroyed my ass, and then I read about myth Cu and screamed a bit because he's SO COOL, and then FGO ruined me further. He's incredible.

Favorite moment

Emet: "You've committed the cardinal sin of boring me." is one of them for sure, but also Literally Everything In Elpis. The moment when you go in as a DPS and this motherfucker is a DRK.

Cu: Absolutely destroying Kirei in UBW, CasCu wrecking Corrupted Emiya's shit in the Fuyuki Singularity anime, every single time in my FGO file this absolute Irish cockroach has been my last man standing and saved the entire fight for me singlehandedly, my love my darling.

Idea for a story

Emet: YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED YOU BITCH; anything like that I guess, but also let me see more past shenanigans.

Cu: God, IDK, myth stuff? Chaldea shenanigans? Let this man have a damn nap?

Unpopular opinion

Emet: ....I'm not sure what's unpopular or not anymore? It's hard to say.

Cu: I absolutely fucking despise the "Oh no, you killed Cu!" joke, it's not funny, mildly insulting frankly, and it needs to knock it off. He has plenty of comedic potential without him needing to be lol-murdered every five minutes. The comedic abuse angle is awful. (On a less salty note, I don't ship Cu and Emiya, though yall do yall XD)

Favorite relationship

Emet: EmetAzemHyth OT3, obviously! Though Emet and non-Azem WoLs is fun to explore too, his relationship with them.

Cu: Besides how much I fucking adore the BFF relationship I've written between him and my Fujimaru? ALL ABOARD THE GOOD DINGHY SS CUROBIN!!!! Though CuGil is a fun secondary ship, and like I said for Gil, the Cu+Gil+Emiya friendship trio is delightful.

Favorite headcanon

Emet: I like the idea he has some sentimental feelings towards the Garlean Empire (its people specifically) despite everything, and it would kinda break his heart to see it as of EW.

Cu: Trans Cu thanks very much. Also I headcanon a VERY DIFFERENT version of events regarding Aife and Connla's conception that I won't talk about here, but I do prefer my version given Cu's stated personality. (Also I like thinking he was actually pretty loyal to Emer despite the flirting, he doesn't seem the type to actively cheat, regardless of what's said his personality doesn't to me seem the type.)

[anxietywriter]

social anxiety prompts

went to therapy for the first time a while back and yeah confirmed social (and generalized) anxiety. there's some other things in the mix as well but i forgot and also like i feel that sometimes the questions are sorta iffy. ANYWAYS

this one is a silly lil title prompt, "Press X to Doubt," v generic and i kind of liked the idea of someone who is socially anxious using video games as a way to interact, especially online games with chat and stuff. bc in real life it feels so high pressure but like if i get bad vibes online then i always have the option to leave

idk if others experience the same thing but for the LIFE of me i cannot trust authority figures. not fully anyways, bc there's always that thought in the back of my head that they could use that authority and that's not good like i don't want that. so i often hold back on what i want to honestly say, i find myself twisting details so they don't look as concerning or pathetic. i put on a shabbily put together brave face

i go to college rn and i find myself struggling to do a lot of things bc it's all communal so i stress myself out about what other people think. like i have to walk across the dorm lobby to get to the laundry and i'm lugging this basket of laundry over and it's normal but i still only go when i think it's fairly empty in the lobby so i can walk over. have to fight myself in the morning by telling myself it's not that bad so i can get up and get breakfast at the cafeteria.

sometimes i have a huge sense of dread in me and all i want to do is find a corner and sit there in a blanket. and i just stay there bc nothing i do eases the dread other than time.

have to hype myself up everytime i leave my dorm, when i go to get meals, for class, meetups with friends, etc.

big struggles and awkwardness trying to make friends bc i don't know how to really relate and develop those friendships after so long of not really having to start completely fresh (many of my high school friends i met through mutual friends or knew from elementary/middle school)

ordering food, whether online or real life, is a little nerve-wracking and sometimes i fuck up my words because what i have in my head doesn't translate to what comes out of my mouth

i have braces and my college is too far away to still go to my current ortho place, so i have to find a new one and then switch back once the school year's over and finding a new ortho place is hard, especially since i'd have to find a ride or walk there as i do not have a car or bike

emails are good. texting is king. real life is fine. phone calls are hell on earth. => my communication preferences

they gave me a form that asked 'what would you do if you didn't have social anxiety' and i have no idea. i know i'd feel less dread, less nervousness, but what would i do differently? no idea.

tfw everyone praises you for being more mature and quiet but in reality it's just soul crushing anxiety

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

ok some more thoughts on the eps (under read more cos of potential spoilers lol)

starting with the slightly more negative stuff so i can end with the things i like lol

there was a lot of over explaining of some basic who things, which i didnt mind that much considering they were being told to ruby, but but it did definitely feel like 'rtd is trying to introduce this to a new audience so he's kinda spoon feeding them everything' which is a lil frustrating as a long time fan lol...

on a similar note some of the flashback things in space babies were completely unnecessary given they were from the literal same episode pfft... like at least in the 2nd one they used flashbacks as voice overs which worked a lil better, but i'd still rather they just relied on the audience to understand the call backs without having to SHOW them u know?

the cgi babies mouths were weird, i didnt like them... i also wasnt the biggest fan of the music notes as tentacle like things coming from maestro... surprised i havent seen anyone complain about this given how vocal some of y'all were about the use of cgi in chibnall's era....... hmm

speaking of, i think some of the pacing issues in chibnall's era have stuck around a bit because that 2nd episode esp started off really well but then fizzled out in the middle, and the resolution went on for waaaay too long lol (also after maestro said that in ordered to defeat them they needed a musical genius, i kinda assumed the doctor and ruby would turn to eachother like 'hmm who could we go to who's a musical genius in 1963...' and then it cuts to john and paul wondering around the studio or smth... like idk there wasnt much connecting tissue between the sections, it just hung around on the kinda boring 'music battle' between the doctor and maestro... and like i get theyre trying to make ncuti's doctor more of an action-y style hero, but that felt too much like the battle with the toymaker.... also yes maybe i'm also mad there werent more scenes with the beatles in them SUE me lol! like literally most other episode (think of the van gogh one) the feature figures from history, theyre the main focus of the episode so it kinda sucked they were barely there :///////)

the musical number at the end of that ep wasnt my fav i'll be honest.... like it was fine, but in the xmas ep it made sense to have a fun musical number and it worked with the rest of the ep, but this one just felt like 'well the story's over ... but we still have 5 minutes left to fill so random song and dance number!'

final thing that i didnt love was (and bear in mind i know nothing about filmmaking lol) that some of the shots and edits felt a bit off? or didnt feel like they worked in a scene or just could have done with a retake from a different angle ... like especially some of the maestro scenes, like the performance was so good but the camera didnt seem to really be working with them very well? and in general some of the conversation scenes had the vibe of what you see in theatre lol? like where characters talk to each other via looking out at the audience lol... and like i dont mind that kinda theatrical way of producing scenes usually, but in moments when it's an intimate conversation between two characters, it did feel a tad weird lol...

edit: another thing i didnt mention but i did recently see a post talking about this, but i did think it was odd that most of the beatles ep is set in the 60s but it doesnt actually discuss the doctor being a black man in what was a very tough time to be non-white lol... like not only does the beatles music directly come FROM being influenced by black artists in america (smth they even discussed lol), but a part of the episode is about how important music is to humanity, and nothing shows that more than the way music the african slaves' sang whilst on plantations was adapted into blues/jazz and then later into rock n roll/pop... like music was an act of keeping a part of their humanity alive when they were being brutally dehumanised... (and like in part i get why rtd didn't go into this, as he hasn't the best history of dealing with black characters... but it WAS a notable absence and does kinda tell me the doctor being black isnt going to play into anything, which sucks, since chibnall did at least make it so the doctor being a woman DID massively alter the way she was seen... i might make another post about this lol)

ok things i liked!

nan-e was seriously great (cant remember what the actress is called but she does such a great job!!!! in a way i'd love for her to show up again she's such a fab character lol)

the whole resolution of the space babies ep was really great tbh! also the reveal the bogeyman is actually made of bogeys was legit really funny lol! even the fart at the end like yeh it's childish but who doesnt love a fart joke lol?

ncuti is great at acting all suave and confident one minute only to be on the verge of breaking down the next, aka the literal epitome of the doctor lol! also love his relationship w/ ruby ofc

ruby was great too! tho atm idk if we've really gotten a true grasp of who she is as a character u know? atm it does feel a lil like the whole clara mystery thing where her character comes 2nd, but i'm sure as the series goes along we're gonna get more lol

loved that cilla black was in the devil's chord ep!! that's it tbh just loved that

also loved that the doctor mentioned his family this early on, specifically susan! i do kinda wish they had used a flashback sequence when he was talking about the genocide cos i kept thinking 'wait... is this the time war or is this what happened w/ the master at the end of the (???cant remember the number.... 12th?) series??' which was several years ago and would have been great to refresh our memories on.. also meant we could potentially have seen jodie again lol!

i saw someone on .... somewhere complain about the 4th wall breaking but i actually really liked it lol! especially the non-diegetic comment! idk if i want every episode to have that, but i enjoyed it in that one! one thing about rtd's first era that i appreciate is that he experimented a lot with the format of each episode... which meant we got things like love & monsters, which like,yeh, it's..... An Episode for sure, but i appreciate that it's told from a different perspective! so in a way it feels like he's doing that kinda thing again, where each episode feels connected but still distinct from one another, if that makes any sense??

i liked the fake beatles song about the dog lol... partly because it didnt even sound that far off of something they wouldve written on a later album (by paul) pfft... kinda sucks they didnt buy the rights to at least one actual beatles song, even just to play a few secs of it lol...

overall, neither episode blew me away, but they weren't terrible either lol... i'm also shocked how similar this series is to chibnall's era, which is why it's so bizarre to me that people continue to be like 'oh doctor who is finally back!' like bitch for one it never went away lol!??! and for two, a lot of issues people had with chibnall's (and to some extent moffat's) era are still there, but now cos it's headed by rtd again people arent complaining about them the same way they did before... idkkkkk

i've also already talked about this, but i do still think the releasing at midnight thing is fucking dumb, especially for us british fans! i get that maybe that's a stipulation from disney but it doesnt mean i have to like it... also didnt like that 2 episodes were released at once like ???? why lol idkk

i'm still looking forward to the rest of the series ofc!

[purplerose244]

My thoughts on Seabound!!! 🌊🌊🌊 (1/4)

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Finally Nya's season! Our queen, our water goddess, our amazing girl gets what she deserves! 😍😍😍

What I know about the season beforehand is that Nya's powers apparently are getting problematic for some reasons? Which is a pretty common topic in other shows but it's a first in Ninjago, usually the elemental powers don't have focus and I LOVE that we now get to see stuff like that 💕💕💕

I know there should be Wojira involved, trusting The Island to deliver that little foreshadowing at the end of the episode 🤷‍♀️ Also Maya is back... MAYA IS FINALLY BACK AFTER SEVEN SEASONS YES!!! 😭😭😭

I have nothing else to say, I have no idea what this will bring, hopefully something as good as Master of the Mountain! 🖤

Alright, here we go!

GENERAL THOUGHTS

Warning reader, I might be fangirling to an extreme because I love mah girl Nya and I've been wanting Kai and Nya's parents to be back ever since Hands of Time ended. So yeah... screaming alert 😅

At this point I don't doubt that the intro is great, we reached such a level of animation and we got The Fold 😍😍 Love the marine vibe and how it's similar to The Island, because it's a great intro 👌

NOW I like the writing! Maybe they rushed the dialogue's quality for The Island to get here? It's just fun and in character, maybe it's just me but I'm enjoying it a lot for now

How many episodes are in this? Wiki says ten, then I checked again and it's sixteen like with Master of Mountain... eh, it looks good so far so it's fine whatever happens 🤷‍♀️

A BIG SPLASH

Oohhh, new villain! One that uses... flames... huh, does she know there's literally a master of fire in the ninja team? Eh whatever she looks cute, give it up for Miss Demeanor!! 👏👏

Wait... OMG IS THAT ERIN MATTHEWS??? WE GOT MACY!! ❤❤❤

Whoa, we're finding out where did the order of the vengestone from season 13 come from?? YAS! CONTINUITY!

Yep, there it is, Nya lost control... her attacks look so cool 😍

Lol that kid trying to be a nindroid and Zane being offended 😂😂 Sorry hun, you're that popular

Aaahhh, thank you Ninjago! You gave me back Nya the perfectionist 😂 I was worried her reaction to her powers wasn't going to be in character but it looks fair so far. Brings me back to Possession, my favorite season 💙💙💙

WE GOT BACK THE FACT THAT SHE CAN MAKE IT RAIN!!! YAS!!! I might be easy to please but I love these details 🤩

🤯🤯🤯 Okay they are definitely going somewhere this time and I LOVE IT, because wow. WOW. Are we actually addressing the forever questioned fact that wind and water weren't elements that Chen needed at the Tournament? Are we giving a reason for them to exist outside the main set of elements and the elemental masters?? Duuuude, season 15 don't let me stop you, keep going 😍

Mm, so water and wind are connected to Wojira (now I see the connection with the special). Are we setting the ground for a new master of wind? 😏😏 It's risky going for a Morro replacement but it's a super intriguing idea! Oooor Edgy Boy TM might come back? WHO KNOWS I'M CURIOUS ANYWAY 🤩

Love how it is universal knowledge that Nya is super indipendent 👌

YES YES FINALLY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MAYA!!! 😍😍😍 Is it too much hoping into a Ray cameo as well?? Pleaaaase? Also addressing Krux after so many seasons, this feels exciting!! 😊

This is what I'm talking about, training, fighting scenes, show me everything that water goddess can do! 🌊🌊🌊

Aaahhh, Nya flexing her mightiness through anger, just to remind us that she is the descendant of a water master as much as of a fire master 😅

YES YES YES YES IT'S HAPPENING FINALLY AFTER SEVEN SEASON THE FIRE WATER PARENTS ARE FINALLY BACK!!! 🔥🌊🔥🌊🔥🌊 I'M SO HAPPY I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG!!! 😭

RAY IS THERE TOO HECK YES!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 I shouldn't get this excited at only the first episode... WHO CARES RAY IS BAAAAACK!!! ❤❤❤

Omg Maya is definitely different from what I expected, turns out Kai's enthusiasm came from her 😂

Oh look at my flame babe 😍

He's so happy his parents are here, he's a total family man ❤❤❤

Nya is maaaaad... 😅

THERE SHE IS

WELCOME BACK JILLIAN I MISSED YOU 💚💚💚 Would it be too much having a "Your voice sounds familiar" moment with Maya and Lloyd? 😂

I'm so stoked for this! I want all the interactions I've missed for all of this time, asap!! HECK yes!! 😍😍😍😍

Oh, are we looking over the Miss Demeanor, vengestone situation? Mm... for now at least... WHO CARES FIRE WATER PARENTS!! 🔥🌊🔥🌊🔥🌊

THE CALL OF THE DEEP

Imma just slow clap for The Fold because this is another amazing intro, one of those things in this show that stays awesome no matter what happens 👍👍

So Maya gave Nya her discipline and perfectionism, but not the passion behind it 😂 I like this, it's not your conventional master of water, although I'd say it's different from the impression she gave me back in HoT. Maybe this is how she is when she's not trapped for fifty years? 😅😅

Is it too much asking for Kai and Ray bonding while the water women get the work done? 😅😅

Is this the sequel of Green Eggs and Ham?

Green Pancakes and Ham? 😂

Oh it's seaweed nevermind... at breakfast? I'm all for sushi rolls but this is a little 😅 Although since Maya missed their childhood she probably never cooked meals for them... how did I get myself sad 😢

Whoa, Maya is a strict teacher! I got flashbacks from my first and only dance lesson, teachers nitpicking every single pose, uuurrrggg I feel ya waterlily 😡

Again, not a fan of Misako, but coming from her the whole speech about wanting to be there for her child makes a lot of sense

Yes. YES.

YEEEEESSSS KAI AND RAY FAMILY BONDING THIS IS EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WANTED I'M GETTING ALL OF MY WISHES GRANTED FOR THIS ONE ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤

AND MY FLAME BABE IS SO GLAD HE GOT HIS PARENTS!!! 😭😭😭

Lol with Kai's new hair they look even more related 🤣

Ray also sounds so happy he gets to have his moment with his son 😢 I feel so blessed in this moment 👍

Also this scene makes a lot of sense. Nya grew up to be indipendent, one that succeed in most of stuff without problems, she built her life without any help and doesn't look for it. Kai grew up more insecure, he got some walls up but loves to take care of others and be taken care of. With a childhood lost he looks forward to a bit of softness ❤❤

Did Maya make real bacon for that sandwich? Do I smell some favoritism? 😅 Or maybe she really wants Nya to get onto the water mind setting idk 🤷‍♀️

Little tiny complain, why isn't Jay doing the fixing? Did he give up mechanics completely? It feels like we haven't seen him do tech stuff in so long, I miss techy boy in action 😞

And no, having to check on the bathroom doesn't count 😅

Aww robot date 💜🤍💜🤍

AAAHH ROBOT DISASTER 😱😱😱 ZANE DANG IT YOU WERE DOING SO GOOD NOT TRYING TO DIE IN THE LAST TWO SEASONS!!

Oh that was weird, weird magic purple wave thingie?

I DID NOT ASK FOR A SEASON WITH A BEST GIRL AT THE EXPENCE OF ANOTHER BEST GIRL PIX DON'T YOU DARE DO THIS TO ME 😱😱😱😱😱

"Well this is troubling." I love this samurai so freaking much 💜💜💜

GUYS THIS IS ONLY THE SECOND EPISODE, I'M A LITTLE SCARED NOW 😢

Okay Nya admitting that something's wrong looking so apologetic, girl you don't need to do that you already own my heart 😭

Alright, I'm guessing this is Wojira's power or something, and they will have to go down below and find out why... just throwing this in, maybe Maya did something? Because she wanted to finally be with her family and needed an excuse? JUST A THEORY WITH NO BASE I REALLY HOPE I'M WRONG!!!

Okay, two episodes and I'm BEYOND engaged, let's keep it up! 😍

UNSINKABLE

Getting an idea how this episode might end already 😂😂

Look, I love best girl Pixal, but I'm kinda sad that she seems to be the only one tinkering at this point. Like, I saw Nya fix little stuff, while Jay dropped engineering altogether, I miss my engineers team 😭

Aww, the guys didn't want to crush Pixal's dream of an unsinkable boat 💜 But honestly yeah, I agree with Cole, this might end badly 😅😅

Thank goodness

I was worried they forgot about Jaya ❤💙❤💙 Jay is such a cutie omg

Nya: Mm, going on a potentially dangerous mission with unstable powers in the heart of my element or... mom's tofu pancakes... *yeets herself over the ship*

I'm making too many screenshots of the Smith family... WHO CARES THEY ARE BACK AND THEY ALL LOOK SO GOOD!!! 😍😍😍😍

Aww Ray wants to play with his son and his friends so CUTE ❤❤❤ Still can't believe they play Prime Empire after everything that went down 😂😂

Whoa whoa whoa, Kai and Cole are sitting this one out? That's actually interesting, I'm pretty sure I saw Cole's scuba suit in the sets though so I didn't expect it... lol it's actually kinda fair that the two that used to be afraid of water aren't going 😂😂

Bet Kai is happy to stay behind because he gets to spend time with his dad 😭

Also studying the fire elementals?? Uhm, yes please?? TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT MY FLAME BABE!!! 😍😍😍😍

I'm sure this one scene...

... made so many lavashippers happy ❤🖤❤🖤 Cole you got Ray's blessing

Ninja team acting cool while Jay is being Jay, it's how it always goes, it's the entire show's description and I absolutely love it 😂 That wink though 💙

PIRATE ZANE IS BACK 😂😂😂 Haven't seen him since Possession, and this time he's not even malfunctioning 👌 Pixal is so done with his dorky boyfriend 😝

Of course Jay already has a ghost butler theory going on 😂

OF COURSE IT'S MAYA 😂😂

To be honest muffins would sold me too 😅 Not sure if she will make them out of tofu again though...

It's actually really interesting that we still haven't met the actual enemies, it does build up excitment! Very curious about these squid guys 👍

Well what do you know, the Unsinkable sank. Who would have thought?

... yeah same, sorry Pix 😅

FIVE THOUSANDS FATHOMS DOWN

Aaaahhh, Nya fixing stuff! That's more like it!! 😍😍

Oww, that one speech, I've been waiting for so long for that! Maya just wants to catch up with her daughter and it's not her fault she was separated from her children, but Nya did everything on her own with Kai. Only fair she isn't seeking for her help right now... still sad 😢

Pff, with this ninja team there's not a moment of privacy 😂😂

Maya cleaning his future son-in-law's laundry what the HECK 😂😂😂 To be fair Jay has a bit of a history of having to change underwears during sea travels 😝

Zane was attached to a battery? When?... are you talking about that one scene in Prime Empire? Cause that's not really a flashback I wanna ha- whoops never mind got the flashback 😱

Maya looks more calm now, I think she's trying to act more reasonable and she's got good points 👍 I know people were a little weirded out by how more cheerful she looks in comparison to Hands of Time, but I think she gets the most serious and rational when time needs. That's actually fascinating of her 🤔

CALLING OUT AN ATTEMPTED MURDER

THIS GIRL IS TOO GORGEOUS MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT 🤩🤩🤩 Like my gosh that smirk, what the heck Pix 💜💜💜

Okay but Jay looking at Nya until the doors are completely closed?? CAN YOU FEEL MY JAYA HEART BEATING?? ❤💙❤💙

Whoa green gas I thought this was Nya's season 😂

MAYA WHY ARE YOU SAYING THIS STUFF YOU'RE SCARING ME 😱😱😱 I SWEAR LEGO IF YOU BROUGHT BACK WATER MOM JUST TO KILL HER OFF I'M GONNA SUE YOU 😭😭😭

I really REALLY like the atmosphere of the entrante of the temple! Super sealike and ancient! 🌊🌊🌊

Maya: off we go, into the spooky old temple! (Why does it feel like something Kai would say? 😂)

Oh gee, someone sleeping in the deep, who could that be? Coff Wojira coff

Whoa the jellyfishes look pretty lifelike!

HERE HE COMES

WELCOME BACK GILES!!! ONCE AGAIN ON A LEGO SHOW I MISSED YOU SO MUCH YOU AND YOUR GODLIKE VOICE!!! 😍😍😍😍 Gosh he's a villain but he's got Clay's voice, how can I even try to hate him?? 😅

Alright, knocking down my water girls, that is pretty hateful material... BUT CLAAAYYY 💙💙💙

So they need the two amulets to wake up Wojira? Isn't one on the island? Fire dad and son coming to the rescue? WHO KNOWS BUT I'M ENJOYING THIS A LOT SO FAR KEEP GOING SEABOUND 😍😍😍

[tuiyla]

what do you think about rachel’s romantic life? what would you have liked to see go down between rachel and finn in an alternate timeline? was she better off with jesse? or should she have been with quinn or santana in universe? curious to know your thoughts on that for her!

Another day went by without me answering this, so sorry Anon but I won't keep you waiting any longer.

So with Finchel, I'm not their biggest fan but a lot of that comes from their early seasons and the general "oh we're the main couple we're soooo destined for each other" vibe that I don't dig. It's tempting to say time spent apart would have done them good and their inevitable reunion could have made for a healthier relationship, but I think I'm giving the Glee writers too much credit. The could have been can be anything so sure, I can say that in an alternate timeline they would have become better for each other but idk.

IIRC Ryan Murphy basically confirmed that Rachel would have gone back to Lima at the end of the series, "gone home" to Finn. I'm inclined to think that, ultimately, it would have been Rachel's character who was compromised to make Finchel work, because the Glee writers just liked Finn more. And I don't dig that, especially not from Rachel's perspective. She belongs on Broadway and not just until the first Tony or whatever but for life, because her ambition is a part of her and if she ever decides to leave (again) it shouldn't be for some guy.

Had the tragedy not happened and Finn was still an option, I'm 100% sure Rachel would have ended up with him. But even in a timeline where Finn is an option I prefer Rachel with Jesse. I think he's the best choice for her from the established cast. There's a good theme of forgiveness, which imo is important in Rachel's story and they're a very even match in lots of ways. I like that the time jump leaves room for interpretation as to how exactly they find each other again. I'm not actively invested in them enough to have pondered that but there's potential.

Because of the way canon is, I don't see her ending with either Quinn or Santana but I've written about a Faberry au season 5 and 6 before so I think the writers could have easily gone there. They just chose not to, sorry y'all who were baited for years. They're a very strong pair narratively and would just make for an interesting story. Santana I can only see if we're talking complete AU haha but I do like that sweet Pezberry crack. I'm also a bad Pezberry stan because it really would have to be an AU for them to last but again, ton of potential for interesting stories. For a more close to canon Glee storyline I prefer Santana with Brittany and I'm actually quite strong on Quinn needing to be with someone from beyond Lima.

I'm not entirely sure where I stand with Rachel's sexuality but I think bisexuality could have been interesting to explore for her. But in any case, the way I see her romantic life going down in canon is that she needs time after Finn. First to mourn, yes, but then to explore herself and what she really wants. I know in canon she's married by 26 but I'd like to imagine she focuses her twenties on her career and trying different things, meeting different people. And only then will she cross paths with Jesse again and now with a stronger sense of self and what she wants, and decides that he's the one for her.

This doesn't feel like a very proper answer, I'm sorry you waited and for this lol but I'd be happy to talk more about Rachel/any of these ships and potential timelines. Or really just Rachel as a ch and what I think she needs in her romantic life.

[thestarssystem]

hello! same anon who asked the last question about being able to send an ask! i've been having questions about whether or not i could be an osdd system (1b to be specific) but i can't find answers to sone questions so i was hoping you could help me out? it's really long, sorry:(

1. the thing i have the most issues with is alters fronting. i don't exactly know how it feels to have another alter fronting and taking control of the body. there's only been a few times where i've genuinely felt like i wasn't in control of my body & felt trapped in it but other than that, whenever all my other alters(?) fronted i would still generally be able to control the body. i don't know how to explain it. for example, an alter who i think is a protector was fronting last night but besides the name and some traits, everything was pretty much still the same, like as if i was the protector? and i'm not the most knowledgeable on how osdd works, but should i be feeling atleast somewhat out of my control ?? it's happened pretty much every time an alter(?) has fronted(?) and i ended up in a really bad mood after trying to validate the possibility i might have osdd because i didn't know if this was real or if i was just being delusional. and this is kinda a silly question but when another alter fronts, thinking is still the same, right? like they can still talk in their head like a singlet would and such

2. 'voices' in your head - a lot of systems i've come across generally have the voices. i don't, atleast i don't think i do. again, i don't know how it would be if i experienced it. is it like how someone would talk to you irl? or is it more vague? or is it like, more of a feeling that you can't really 'hear' but yk it's saying that?

3. i can't exactly communicate with my alters, if i have any. i don't know how to and even then it feels really odd trying to talk to myself and again, i start to feel dumb/delusional again because osdd may not even be the case.

4. similar to the last thing, is it normal to 'talk' to your system? like last night for example, it's a blurry memory now but i remember 'we're going to bed now' 'we're gonna do this and then sleep' and such, despite the fact i know we can't really communicate. i think another alter was fronting then

4. i have trouble recognizing my alters as seperate identities and people, and rather tend to think they're pieces of me. so like, if another alter were to do something, and later i fronted, and if i would talk about what the other alter did i would still use "i did" rather than "(other alter) did". i'd just like some advice on this part

5. i have no idea whether or not systems i've met have 'different talents' but i've seen it going around a lot. to be more specific, my 'talents' or other stuff has never really changed. i usually still have social anxiety, my triggers are usually still the same, i've never suddenly gotten good at anything, and so on. is it a normal/common thing for systems for that not to happen?

6. memory. i have really bad memory, which actually led me to did/osdd (+ 8/9 year old me going "why do i feel like two people" and googling it years ago), and i always have trouble recalling what happened. after i do anything and i try to think back to it - it's just foggy. i can sometimes remember a bit of what happened, but generally i'll have to think for a bit and the visual memory of it will just be really really blurry. this happens pretty much every day but i have no idea if it does the same with important events because nothing important has really happened. and another thing - when you switch, do you still remember friends/online friends/family? i've had times where they've seemed odd(?) and somewhat unrecognizable but i've always known it's them, same with trauma and other stuff. i've always kinda known about it.

7. i've tested some things multiple times. for example, a few days or weeks ago, i was doing and typing stuff on discord in a server just for me, for fun. when i went away and checked back later, i know that it was me who did it, just not,, me, yk? like it happened with my own fingers and hands, i didn't have exact visual memories that i did it, but i had memory of doing it, so like, i knew, despite the fact another alter could've been the one doing it. same thing happened last night - now that i look back at the account i, or my alter, created, i can tell it wasn't exactly 'me', but i still had memory doing it. and it's never been like "what is this? i have zero memory of doing this" or something like that

8. i don't really have roles for my alters. well, some do. for example i think a protector (and maybe caretaker as well) was fronting last night. i just have trouble with the roles? if that makes sense. unless it comes naturally, like the protector for example, it's just kinda really hard for me to make stuff out. i also have dpdr & i dissociate and i believe that influences on how i view my identity and how i can't really make out stuff, even stuff like emotions, my opinion on something, who's fronting, etc.

9. as far as i know, systems have an 'inner world', right? i know some systems that don't, but i'm not sure if i have it and i dont know how to find out if i do

to add on, i'm kinda worried i might just be thinking i have osdd because i've been exposed(?) to it and that i might just be delusional and that i'm just making people up

lastly, would it be a good idea to try to reach out to alters? and if i should, how would i do so? thank you :D !! again, i'm really really sorry this was so long! don't stress yourself out on this please:]

- fox

DISCLAIMER: We are not trained mental health professionals! All of the information we give is coming from our own experience as a system, or from research we have done! We always recommend that, if at all possible, you speak to a therapist about OSDD/DID!

hello! thanks for you questions! i’ll do my best to answer everything haha. I’m going to section everything off in the same way you did, but there may be some overlap between questions!

1.)I’m gonna start my answer to this by saying that switching feels and looks different for every system. There is no one way to switch. What happens for us when we fully switch is the obvious dissociative feeling, and then it feels like we’re “falling” almost and then after that falling feeling, we’ve switched. With your experience you’re describing, though, it seems more like co-conscious or co-fronting. Co-conscious is typically a feeling like you’re still in full control of the body, but another alter is in the ‘passenger seat of the car’ and is giving their thoughts on what’s happening on the outside. Co-fronting is more of a feeling where you feeling like you’re half in control of your body, and another alter has half control of your body. This can be a moment (that i’ve vaguely described on my tumblr actually) of feeling like “this isn’t my hand. I’m not controlling that arm.” However, that feeling can also happen with depersonalization. To help you tell the difference, i think it could be helpful to journal when/if you get those feelings and if you “feel” different, like you could actually be another alter. —/ part b.) for my system at least, thinking is still the same, regardless of who’s fronting. I’m not sure if that’s the same for other systems, but i’ve never heard or seen anyone talking about thinking being any different, but i have heard systems discussing something i’ll address in #2

2.) so, in my experience, my system does not audibly hear each other’s voices. Some systems do, and some systems have a different form of communication. Since i can’t talk about audible voices, i’ll only talk about ‘intrusive thought’ communication, which is what we experience. For my system, we get an intrusive thought of sorts. It’s just a thought, but we can tell who it’s coming from (honestly not really sure how, it’s just a feeling. I can always tell who is telling me something) That thought is different from normal thinking though, because it doesn’t feel like it’s coming from us and it has a different... vibe?? idk i honestly can’t really think of how to explain it lmaoo. To continue my answer from part 1, alters can use something called “passive influence” which is where they ‘control’ your thoughts to get what they want. An easy example is if someone asks what you (the fronting alter) want to drink and you want to answer water, but another alter wants sprite, they can use passive influence to say that YOU want sprite, when really you don’t. That’s the only way I can really think of the act of thinking being different though haha.

3.) my system doesn’t really have the best internal communication, but that’s the case for a lot of systems, especially new ones. It takes time and determination. One of the ways i’ve seen suggested to help with internal communication is before you go to sleep, when you’re in the calm and peaceful state, just ask into your head if anyone is there and wants to talk to you. Let them knower they’re safe and that you want to talk. Keep the convo friendly and ask them about themselves (i.e their name, age, role {if they have one}, favorite color, etc)

4.) to be completely honest, it’ll just take practice to change your habit of using “i did.” I don’t know how old you are, but you went your entire life up until this point believing you were a singlet. Using “i did” is still natural for you to use as a default. Try to catch yourself as (or after) you say “i did” and try to correct yourself and overtime that habit will hopefully be broken. The same goes for not really recognizing your alters. You went your whole life thinking everything was just ‘you’ (the host) so now, when discussing OSDD, it might be hard to really pinpoint who is who. That’ll just take time though. But don’t force your alters to fit a specific mold you made for them. Everything with figure itself out eventually

5.) what you described (with different talents and different mental health issues) doesn’t happen to my system and i believe it doesn’t happen to a good portion of systems, especially OSDD systems. The only thing that really changes for my system from alter to alter is preferences, such as food, instruments (my system knows how to play 8 instruments and each alter prefers one over the other lmao), and hobbies (like reading, painting, and writing) HOWEVER, we all still can paint and play all 8 of our instruments with the same skill. Our skill level doesn’t change between alter, just our desire to do that activity (if that makes any sense lmao)

6.) problems with memory and forgetting things is not a sign of OSDD-1b. Dissociative amnesia is only a sign of OSDD-1a and DID. I think it might be helpful to keep track of your switches and see if your memory “fog” overlaps with it. If yes, then you should probably consider check out OSDD-1a or DID. If it doesn’t, my honest suggestion is to consider talking to a doctor/therapist about memory problems and short term memory loss. (also to answer your question asking if we remember online friends: yes, we always remember other people, regardless of who’s fronting)

7.) this relates back to the memory question. OSDD-1b is not characterized by forgetfulness or memory problems. With OSDD-1b, you will never have that moment of “I don’t remember doing this” unless there is a VERY specific reason (i.e. a traumatic event that needs to be hidden) It is normal, on the other hand, to know that another alter did something, rather than you, and still have memory of it.

8.) i think roles are difficult for a lot of systems. I know my system had (and still has) a little bit of trouble with roles. My biggest advice is actually something i’m following rn and that’s to not force roles. Let alters naturally choose their roles. It may take a really long time though, but that’s okay. It might help to do some research as well. Google all the different alter types and see if you can pinpoint some that fit your system (like i said though, don’t forget those roles! let them have the ultimate decision)

9.) My system doesn’t have an inner world. We have something called Aphantasia which makes it impossible to see images in our head. There are systems who don’t have an inner world, however i don’t know if there is a specific reason or not. Ive heard that meditating can help you access the inner world, as well as, once again, trying to access it before you fall asleep. However, because I can’t have an inner world, i haven’t done much research on the topic and I suggest that you try and find a method that works for you :)

closing points: When considering any type of mental health problem/ mental disorder, make sure you’re not bending the diagnostic criteria to fit you. With OSDD, there are slight differences between every system, but nothing major that would require serious bending of the criteria. At the very end, you asked if you should try and reach out to your alters. You DEFINITELY should. They’re scared and confused, just like you. I think my answer for 3.) gives a good, easy starting point for alter communication c:

I hope these answers helped, at least a little. Good luck and stay safe xx

-the stars system (written by multiple alters all at different times)

~sorry if there’s any typos~

[kashilascorner]

the wonderful @2-dream tagged me to list my 10 favorite characters, so here it is! (in no particular order)

1. John Constantine, from the Hellblazer comics (and others). He is my favorite bastard I swear. I don't know what's about him, but I've loved him since minute 1 and here we are. He is terrible in every aspect, but he is softer than he pretends to be and that just sends me sorry. I love that noir detective vibe and that edginess to him and I just love following his adventures. He is pretty archetypical, yet he has something that makes him himself and that's cool. Plus, he is just funny at times. My favorite disaster bi? Possibly.

2. Data, from Star Trek The Next Generation. I love my android boy and I don't care what ST said, he does have feelings, he just processes them in a very different way. He makes me soft, I love him. That's all.

3. Woland, from The Master and Margarita. Look. It took me too long to read this book. But I loved it. It's so special. Woland isn't exactly my favorite character from the book, but I choose him because the concept of Satan, the ultimate symbol of evil, being actually a positive force in it's own way is incredibly interesting philosophically but also Woland and his entourage are just FUN!! And I love how goofy and not so harmlessly yet funnily evil they are.

4. Yennefer, from The Witcher (the Netflix adaptation). The more I think about her, the more I love her. There's so many layers to her and Anya Chalotra killed it. At first I thought she was a crazy obsessive b*tch but as time went by and the show progressed I got to understand her, and I keep reflecting on her character and finding new things. She is That Bitch, and I love her. So much. It's not that usual to finds such a complex, grey, and unapologetic female character. Also, I thought her desperately wanting to be a mother was a bullshitty patriarchal driven narrative but, actually? It makes so much sense within her character and I just... Ok I won't write a whole essaybon it but anyway. I love her.

5. Alphonse Elric, from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Idk if he is my favorite FMA character, because I love so many of them. For example, May completely stole my heart. But Alphonse... There's a special strength in him and idk maybe he just reminds me of my little brother, but I love Alphonse and I want him to be happy and he deserves only good things. He is big, and big hearted, and soft, and clever, and caring. He and Ed make a very good balance and a perfect team.

6. Minerva McGonagall, from Harry Potter. She is the Baddie I'd like to be honestly. HP has grown with me, like so many others and I will always have a soft spot for it. Ms. McGonagall is one of my fav characters. I love her strenght, her motherly authority, her combination of hard and soft. She is a Bad Bitch and I'm sure she had soooo much fun when she was young. Plus she is a teacher, and I LOVE teachers in general.

7. Hector, from the Iliad. Along with Andromache, he's one of my favorite mythical characters. I just love him and how Homer portrays him (aand Andromache) in the Iliad kills me everytime. He is good, he is a family man, he is soft and wants peace but he's willing to spill blood to protect his family and do what he believes to be right. It's so goddamm tragic, and I'm a sucker for tragedy. I think he is pretty much the ultimate hero because he didn't start conflict, yet assumed responsibility, he faced his destiny, he was a loving man and a good leader, husband, son and brother. And yet, of course, he did terrible things because you know, it's war and all. Also, I think his name is just beautiful. Finally, he was a bottom and yes you can look for it.

8. Megara, from Hercules. My favorite Disney princess -along with Mulan. Megara is mature, she has suffered a lot, yet she learns how to open her heart again, and despite being hurt, she is willing to give it all for love again. Which might be stupid, but it's also certainly brave. She is sassy and sexy and she knows it and I love how unlike many other Disney characters she isn't really a young girl and this is her coming of age story. Rather than that, Meg is already a grown woman, who struggles and learns and evolves, but is nevertheless an adult in every sense of the word. She is not innocent, and that is refreshing in a love interest in a movie aimed at children.

9. Margaery Tyrell, from Game of Thrones. I watched like 4 seasons of this show and didn't bother to watch the rest though I followed what happened via spoilers. Look. There were many good characters, but I just LOVED Margaery so much. She is young, ambitious, cunning, incredibly clever, but she is rarely cruel. She is gracious, she wants power but she knows its dangers as well so she doesn't let herself be carried away with it. I also, of course loved Olenna, and Margaery was definitely her best student of sorts. Also, Margaery was rather kind, and everyone loved her. She had that thing going on with Sansa and all I can say is Yes Baby, Go!

10. Samwise Gamgee, from Lord of the Rings. I don't need to say anything else about this. There are many heroes in this story, but he strikes me the most. He is so full of love. I just love tenderness.

Doing this list I found out that, though I can name a favorite charcter within a show or book, I can basery think of 10 characters from different media to include in a list like this lol. As you all see, I just love soft and kind characters. It doesn't mean I don't like villains and evil shitheads, but my softest spot is for the softest characters.

I tag: @cukibola @viragosouls @marwoood @levcosia @ravenalghul @pynchmee @frenchmurdock @epic-summaries @hypatia-e @maskedlady

[championfrita]

Pokémon Sword and Shield Review

So...I've taken some time to fully play Pokémon Shield. Now, I know this is pretty delayed, and I got the double pack so I wanted to play Sword first to see if how I felt was really accurate or if I was being too harsh. That said, let's talk about my experience with the Galar Region.

Initial Impressions

Overall, I was excited to play Shield at first. Everything was bright and exciting and the characters were easy to recognize and not overly generic.

The first few hours of this game, well it's a slow burn. And I do mean SLOW. Even with the text set to Fast and me taking things at my own pace it took me at least a good couple hours to reach the Wild Area. Furthermore, this game has an infernal amount of handholding, even when given the option to say "I know all this already" it still gives a brief explaination for almost anything and STILL makes you sit ALL THE WAY THROUGH the catch tutorial.

It's 2019 and older players still don't get the option to skip this. Come on GameFreak.

That said, the longer I played the more I began to notice...how should I put this? Blatant laziness?

The Wild Area

Now, the CONCEPT of the Wild Area in theory is amazing. It's still not too bad as is, but there are definitely flaws. For starters, the same tree has been copy pasted all over the place to make up 90% of the foliage.

More than that, though, despite the Wild Area having a good selection of Pokémon and a fairly varietied environment (desert, lakes, forest) it feels oddly...empty. There are no real secrets to speak of, no hidden areas, no easily missed items. Everything is all right out there to see and spread pretty far apart. I don't know if it's a lack of Trainers or the fact that I don't have an Online membership so I played alone, but the Wild Area feels like it just needs something MORE.

Dynamax Raid Battles, even when done alone, are fairly fun and sometimes challenging with the turn limit. Radiant AI Trainers spawn in to assist you if you're playing alone so there's no worries about having to take one on with just one Pokémon.

Camping, which can be done anywhere but is introduced to the player here, is an absolute treat. Have YOU played fetch with a unicorn? I have, and I love it. The wide variety of curries you can make with different ingredients is nice, and your Pokémon even get EXP boosts if you play with and feed them while camping.

The Pokémon

Honestly, I'm really not impressed. The Galar Dex of new Pokémon feels painfully small, so much so that playing Pokémon GO and catching a few Unova Pokémon made me yearn for the days when we used to get regions completely FULL of new Pokémon. Remember when you had to wait until AFTER the main game to start catching Pokémon from past gens? I...well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I LIKED that.

That said, using a sparse selection of Galar Pokémon and Galar Regional Variants on my team definitely made the Gym Challenge more difficult. I picked Scorbunny, because Fire Types, and honestly didn't really care for it or its evolutions at first. Cinderace has really grown on me though and I like Pyro Ball as a move. It's flashy and powerful and that suits me just fine. Most of the new Pokémon's DESIGNS were good and I liked them, there just really weren't ENOUGH of them.

I'm fairly pleased with the regional variants as well. It was difficult to adjust to Ponyta and Rapidash being Psychic Type, but I really liked having them on my team. At the same time...Meowth not evolving into a Persian doesn't really sit right with me.

I'm all for branch evolutions, but Perrserker honestly just looks more like a giant Galar Meowth than anything. I played this with only the info given in the few scattered trailers I'd seen, so I was genuinely excited to see what a Galarian Persian would look like only to end up with Perrserker. The Typing is phenominal, and I think it's great to see a Steel Type Meowth for a change, but I just don't like where they went with it. Eh. Ces't la vie, moving on.

The Story

It's weak. Straight up, the story in this game is poor. There were so many directions they could have gone. I really liked the idea of Rose being this charismatic chairman hype man for the League and being the bad guy. I saw it coming, but it was a nice change to see just based on his personality. Still, it feels rushed. His motivations are really one dimensional and glossed over. Like, "Oh, here's the bad guy. Go get him." It worked in Gen 1 because Giovanni was a MOBSTER. He was MEANT to be a bad guy straight to the core in general, but Rose just doesn't have that vibe.

Not only that, but the "Bad League Members" are kinda meh. That feels REALLY lazy. They didn't even really get a decent uniform change when they started taking on the name Macro Cosmos in Rose Tower. They got black glasses. That's it. Just that. The fight with Eternatus feels painfully rushed and shoehorned in too, almost like they thought "Oh no, we need to give them a big nasty boss to fight! Let's just throw a random monster at them and say Rose summoned it. Seems like a solid plan."

I DID like the after story with Piers though. It really solidifies that older brother sort of nature with him, even if he tries to hide it most of the time.

The Characters

I liked Hop. As a character he's really fun and I like how they gave him this over excited very grand gestured sort of personality. He's really just happy to be ANYWHERE as long as it's with his Pokémon and you. His admiration for his big bro might come off strong and make him seem a little flat at first, but he's overall portrayed as a good kid and I like him.

Leon on the other hand...well I hated him for most of the game. His design is great and he looks fabulous, but he just has the most cocky, obnoxious, pandering personality 90% of the time. Still, I have to give credit where credit is due and recognize that he IS actually a multifaceted character. He showboats not just because he's too confident but also to give the crowd a show and put people at ease in times of danger. Not only that, but his recognition of his little brother's accomplishments and his graceful acceptance of defeat when you beat him reveals a really well written character.

I don't DISlike Sonia, and I have no problem with Prof. Magnolia sitting on the sidelines, but she can be a little...irritating at times with the way she speaks about and to people. The Gym Leaders, aside from Piers, feel a little...light.

I mean, most Gym Leaders don't have detailed backstories, but these ones feel paper thin personality wise as well. I had to look at the official GUIDE just to be sure what the relationship between Melony and Gordie even WAS because you only seem him in her Special League Card in Shield and that tells you nothing about him. The only real leaders that stood out to me were Piers and Raihan, and while I was iffy about his design at first I LOVE Raihan. He has so much more personality and ferocity than any of the other leaders. And the social commentary about him needing to constantly take and post a selfie, even after losing, is a nice touch.

The Galar Region

Is very linear. Like, VERY linear. Even when you take a branching path it either loops back around or gives you a free ride to wherever you have to backtrack to. I hope you like Hammerlocke, cuz you're gonna be visiting there several times.

I know that the region is based off the UK, and maybe my Americanized idea of cities is different (idk, I've never been to the UK), but a lot of the towns in this game feel really small. Like, almost smaller than some of the towns in Hoenn small. Maybe it's a lack of significant interactable buildings, but despite many of them having multiple floors you typically can only access one and that's kind of a disappointment. The hotel in Wyndon won't even let you get in the elevator, and while I get that Alola also did that, it's kind of jarring when the hotel in Motostoke WILL let you see other floors.

That said, I kind of expected more than ONE Wild Area. The one we DID get is fine, and I appreciate what it is and lets us do, but I honestly thought there would be multiple places to really explore outside the standard straight lines. Pokémon has never been a franchise to shy away from puzzles before so I expected this to not be any different. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Moreover, many of the environment pieces are just UGLY. A lot of the ground textures are reused 3DS assets, and those copy pasted trees I mentioned earlier? Also 3DS assets. How do I know? They're pentagonal instead of round. In other words, they have five sides. Why? Because the 3DS hardware couldn't handle complex environmental shapes that well so they could get away with it, but now that we have nice round berry trees the contrast becomes painful. The Wild Area is so ugly the first time you see it is at NIGHT. They were so aware of what they did they hoped making it darker would hide the lazy flop instead of showing off how bad it was.

It isn't like they COULDN'T fix it either. Look at Ballonlea and Glimwood Tangle. They're absolutely beautiful and very well done. The modeling with them is fantastic and I love the glowing effects. They absolutely could've made the poorly done areas look amazing, but for some reason they didn't and the game suffers some as a result.

Other Thoughts

The Gym Challenges...they were not fun. Like, honestly some were ok. Herding Wooloo was easy, but they really didn't feel like anything I would expect from a Gym. The water puzzle in Nessa's Gym was fine, and I personally liked the spinning cup ride, but the rest just felt like agonizingly long padding because they couldn't come up with anything. Look at Circhester's challenge. It's a dowsing rod gauntlet where you have to avoid falling in pits in an artificial blizzard. It. is. SO. SLOW. That said, Spikemuth having just a Trainer gauntlet instead was kind of awkward. I reached the end and asked myself "Was that it? Is this it? Is this all there is to Spikemuth? Just one giant alleyway and a Pokémon Center?"

Raihan's three trials of worthiness challenge? It was more difficult than the battle AGAINST RAIHAN. Speaking of, I beat Hop, Marnie, Bede, all the Gym Leaders, Rose, Oleana, and Leon on my first try every time. While it was more difficult with my specific Pokémon choices, it really wasn't much. And can I just say that the Gym Badges are kinda lame? I get what they were going for, but the designs of each piece could've been really unique and intricate and instead we got glorified stamps.

I liked a lot of the general features of the game. Camping, clothing shops, League Cards. I love designing League Cards, even if I'm the only one who's ever gonna see em. That said, the clothing choices were really narrow based on what we got in Sun and Moon. The variety of different items was pretty small, though I loved all the punk leather stuff but WOW IS IT EXPENSIVE. Like Lumiose Boutique expensive. AND WHY IS THERE NEVER A REDHEAD HAIR COLOR THAT ISN'T JUST AUBURN RED? There are actually A LOT of redheads with LIGHT RED hair (that's more a personal gripe than anything, I know).

A lot of the music felt almost like rehashes of older BGMs. Like, Postwick, Route 1, and Wedgehurst all sound like they have remixed Hoenn music. A lot of the other music tracks just don't feel fitting for the areas or for Pokémon games in general. I like parts of the Slumbering Weald music and I like the Gym Music, but the opening of Slumbering Weald feels awkward and like it doesn't fit a mysterious forest we're not allowed to be in.

I know I've complained a lot, but there were some things I genuinely liked. A lot of the Pokémon designs, place names, and other radiant decor and parts of the region are actually subtle and not so subtle references to cultural points of the UK. Skwovet and its evolution for example are a gray and red squirrel respectively and are a nod to invasive species, which is neat.

In Conclusion

Is Pokémon Sword and Shield amazing? No. Is it bad? No. Sword and Shield fall into that mediocre middle ground of being ok but nothing to write home about. Could I have done without them? Sure, they aren't some world ending imperitive must play. They're ok, and they make for a fine jumping on point and a fine little adventure if you have spare time. Have other mainline games done it better? Heck yeah, but that doesn't mean Sword and Shield haven't done a few good things too.

Overall, it sort of feels like GameFreak bit off more than they could chew, or were afraid to make changes because of unfamiliarity with the Switch's hardware and software limitations. Pokémon Let's Go had a lot more effort, but it also was much safer and had a much easier to work with art style to everything. Chibi proportions are a lot easier to fake than a more realistic counterpart. Things can be not perfect and it's less noticable than with more realistic proportions, and I think they were afraid to push back the deadline any further for the inevitable backlash despite that being what they likely needed. The DLC may change my mind, but as it stands, just the fact that they feel they can JUSTIFY their laziness with DLC packs really upsets me.

I give Pokémon Sword and Shield a 5/10.

It's just, OK.