#imo it's just the best flavor out of all of those. the other ones have their moments for me but i wanna put cholula on everything

[hooved]

i'm always trying to get ppl to use cholula. like if someone's eating eggs or avocado or a baked potato or something i'm like y'know what's really fucking good on that. cholula

[tedturneriscrazy]

I have now completed Sea of Stars, including collecting all the Rainbow Conches and unlocking the true ending. Here are some assorted thoughts about it (spoiler warning for those who haven't finished it):

I like how the game encourages you to use everything at your disposal, which includes skills and healing items. The MP recovery with basic attacks combined with live mana is a good stopgap for when you're tapped out, and allows you to develop a sort of rhythm to combat. Recovery items are also relatively easy to get between the recipes and abundant ingredients, including the best ones in the game.

The Lock system offers a great deal of complexity and strategy to combat, and encourages you to use pretty much all skills and party members to the fullest

The combo system is great and offers a wide variety of techniques and abilities that helps keep the combat fresh and exciting. The fact that it clearly harkens back to Chrono Trigger doesn't hurt, either. (Just an FYI, I will likely be making a lot of comparisons to CT, because a) it's inevitable given it's a direct inspiration and even brought on Yasunori Mitsuda to compose a few tracks, and b) it's my favorite game, so yeah)

That said, I feel like each of the party members could have had two additional base skills to vary the combat a bit more outside of the combo system. Speaking of which, I kinda wish there were 3-way combos, as well. Just imagine what they could have pulled off with those...

On another critical note, there's a curious lack of status effects, which I felt might have added some nice flavor. I feel like this was mostly replaced by the Lock system, and odds are incorporating status effects might break the flow of the game. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing stuff like poison or sleep or whatever. This might just be a personal taste thing, as I'm sure plenty of people are glad that this was omitted.

The folks at Sabotage managed two incredible character feats imo: They managed to create a character who is widely beloved both in- and out-of-universe without going overboard (Garl), and they were able to have a character who is literally a cyborg ninja pirate without it being silly or cringeworthy, and in fact is one of the more serious and narratively dense characters in the game (Seraï)

In fact, I would say most of the characters are quite memorable and likeable, and it's easy to become attached and invested in their arcs. The main exceptions are, unfortunately, Valere and Zale, who I think suffer a bit from generic main character syndrome and being tied to a Chosen One narrative. Also, B'st comes in a tad late into the game for him to have much impact, and his whole trait of having a strong will kinda falls flat when not much time is given to his backstory or development. That said, these are relatively minor gripes on my part, and I definitely don't dislike any of them.

The soundtrack is fantastic, naturally. Standout tracks for me include Encounter Elite (boss battle) and Mountain Trail, though plenty of other tracks are also great.

I was able to recognize the Chrono Trigger-inspired narrative elements (time manipulation, post-apocalyptic future world, going back to a moment in time to swap out a major character to save them from death), and it made me happy to encounter these.

The art direction and character design are immaculate. To put it in as few words as possible, everything is appropriately appealing and appalling as is called for.

Overall, I enjoyed this game immensely, and it kept me occupied for a good long while. I would highly recommend picking it up for your platform of choice. If I were to give it a numerical score, I'd say 9/10.

[benbamboozled]

Where are the best comic representations of Jason in your opinion? I’ve read some of the Red Hood and the Outlaws stuff and that’s okay (I really like Roy and Jason interacting) and the Nightwing 2021 annual was great, but I want to read more. I just don’t want to read the versions where writers distill Jason down to “angry, violent, no empathy, doesn’t care about anything or anyone” which I feel like happens a lot.

Whew…okay, this is going to be long. Just a head’s up.

SO…this is kind of a complicated question when it comes to comic characterization, at least for me. Honestly…I don’t really judge things based on “best” with comics but more “my favorite,” because comics characterization is so all over the place and inconsistent that (IMO) “best” just…doesn’t really mean much.

Because of that, this list is going to be some of my Jason Todd faves, with a focus on Red Hood, that I think all or most of your specifications!

(Also note that I am NOT the person to give pre-A Death in the Family Robin!Jay recs. Hopefully someone in the replies or reblogs can help out! I’ve only read the Garzonas arc and part of A Death in the Family.)

(ALSO ALSO NOTE: I have SIGNIFICANT GAPS IN MY CANON KNOWLEDGE because I dropped out of DC comics for like…many years because ALL OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS WERE DEAD. I am FAR from a Jason Todd Exploit Expert. Why was Jason “Wingman”? What was that whole thing with Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner? I DO NOT KNOW. I am WORKING ON FILLING THOSE GAPS but I am also FREQUENTLY TIRED.)

ANYWAY, on with the show!

Let’s start with the classics!

Under the Hood+Batman Annual #25!

Don’t call it a comeback…he’s been here for years!(Technically, via retcon.)

Okay so I’m putting this one first because this is the Jason Todd I fell in love with. FURTHERMORE, I mean, this pretty much sets the stage for all of Jason’s Red Hood appearances.

WHY do I like it?

—Jason is COMPETENT. He GETS SHIT DONE.

—Jason is FUNNY. Like, legitimately funny. Other characters are also funny! Black Mask and Slade are funny! The Joker is funny! It is frequently a funny story!

—Jason is SO SAD. With every part of this arc, I very much get the feeling that Jason is just…desperately trying to live for something and this is the only thing he has. And I, for one, eat that up with a spoon, it gives me LIFE.

Red Hood: Lost Days

A mini by our buddy Judd Winick, filling in the details of Jason’s backstory originally seen in Batman Annual #25.

WHY do I like it?

—We get to see Jason killing baddies! Unapologetically! Like…real bad baddies! Wooo killin baddies!

—More of Competent!Jason! He learns a lot of very useful killin skills and he learns them quick! And he uses them very well.

—Once again, Jason Todd is VERY SAD. Here, we get to see WHY he is so sad in Under the Hood. Have you ever wanted to see every element of a character’s stability in life get slowly but surely worn away by circumstances completely outside of their control? Well, here you go!

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth+Red Hood: Outlaw

Ah, the Lobdell Years. (Original flavor RHatO not included)

WHY do I like it?

—So, RHATO:Rebirth!Jason Todd is not quite my Jason Todd. He’s more subdued, more of a Stoic Woobie than my preferred Jerkass Woobie version of Jason. HOWEVER, Lobdell’s version really exudes a sort of sense of…doom?…crushing sense of existential hopelessness?…quiet despair?…that hooks my heart. Good old Jason “not everyone wants to be alive” Todd!

Whereas Winick’s version of Jason plays with the fourth wall in a kind of pointed way, RHATO:Rebirth Jason (IMO) feels very…trapped in the narrative. He knows that everything is going to fall to pieces for him—because he can’t have nice things, because he’s Jason Todd, and Jason Todd will never be allowed to keep anything nice—but he’s still going to help his friends, goddamn it.

—It’s nice to see Jason have friends that are his own. I love the “Dark Trinity” of Jay, Artemis, and Bizarro. You really get why they cleave together, and they’re just…cute. I love them.

Okay, now…here are some recs with caveats!

Cheer from Batman Urban Legends #1-6

There’s a new drug called Cheer on the streets of Gotham! Flashbacks and problems abound!

SO.

Cheer.

My caveats are:

1. Jason is annoyingly incompetent.

2. Part of the setup of the story involves Jason acting in a way that I consider OOC (he kills a guy and it’s made out to be a very big personal deal for reasons that I have ranted about previously).

3. Jason gives up guns. Ugh. Boo.

—Okay now OUTSIDE OF THOSE THINGS…

WHY do I like it?

1. We get flashbacks to little kid Jay, Robin!Jay, and Bruce in UtH that I consider to be very meaningful to Jay and Bruce.

2. The plot hook involves a drug called Cheer that makes people hallucinate their happy place, and Jason and Bruce’s hallucinations kind of break my heart into pieces. (I’ve talked, uh, A LOT about them, I have no chill.)

3. I really love the art for the flashbacks, and bb!Jay is REALLY CUTE.

So, yeah, thems my feelings! Jason definitely isn’t portrayed as “angry, violent, no empathy, doesn’t care about anything or anyone” so I’m gonna go ahead and rec it.

Robins mini

The Robins get together on their own and decide whether recruiting child soldiers to fight a never ending war on crime might be…you know…a bad thing.

Okay my caveat is that…some people don’t like it for reasons that I haven’t really explored because I REALLY like it. In the beginning of the story there is some talk of Jason being a ne’er-do-well…buuut it comes from him, so I very easily take it with a grain of salt.

WHY do I like it?

—First of all, I just really love the Robins all getting to hang out together and then work a case together. They should get to do that more often/all the time.

—Jason gets MANY Big Damn Hero moments. And they’re not just Big Damn Hero moments but like…BIG BROTHER Hero Moments, and I love every one. Multiple times he’s watching out for the other Robins and I just…I love it.

—Stephanie Brown is also a Big Damn Hero.

—Bruce Wayne is kind of a woobie and I can’t help but get feelings when he gets feelings about his kids.

Battle for the Cowl

Batman is dead! (For now.) His cowl is like…right there. People may or may not battle for it.

WHEW…okay so…THIS ONE IS VERY CONTROVERSIAL. A lot of people hate it. FOR VERY GOOD REASONS.

It is NOT good. In fact, it is very BAD. It is bad on MULTIPLE LEVELS.

—Characterization for multiple characters is BAD!

—The story is DUMB! It’s not even a BATTLE! Only one person WANTS to be Batman!

Also, Jason is a villain in the story, just straight up.

So…

WHY do I like it? (And WHY would I rec it?)

WELLLLL…two main reasons.

The first is that, in his attempt to make Jason “irredeemable,” Tony S. Daniels (the writer) ended up making him AWESOME.

Do you like watching Jason run around Gotham beating up his whole family? Do you like seeing Jason get to be a proper villain? Do you like Jason being perhaps the only competent person in the whole fucking city? (Okay Tim Drake is also competent but he gets jobbed by my boy.) Do you like seeing Jason go off the rails with absolutely no hinges to be seen? Do you like seeing Jason play dress up with the Bat costume?

I DO! I do like all of those things! And if you, like me, answered YES to most or all of the above, Battle for the Cowl may be relevant to your interests!

Okay so reason number 2 is…

Jason is going through a mental fucking breakdown through the whole story brought on directly by Bruce fucking Wayne. And there’s nothing I love more than hating Bruce Wayne! And, gosh, he is just SO HATEABLE in this story! He’s not even in it, but I guarantee by the end you’ll be like, JFC, JASON is supposed to be the irredeemable one?!

ANYWAY! As a diehard Jason Todd fan, Battle for the Cowl is my filthy guilty pleasure. DO NOT pay money for it! Get the TPB from the library or get it through sneaky means. It is NOT worth paying for but it IS a rollicking good time if you are a person of specific tastes.

Okay, whew! That’s it! Well probably. That’s at least the ones that I can think of right now! Hopefully people will throw more recs your way!

(Sequel list here with all of my faves I didn’t put on this list! :D)

[everydaydg]

46. Radirgy De Gojaru! (3DS, 2014)

Well well... this is a wierd one

Radirgy De Gojaru is a pretty good example of not judging a book by its cover.

It all takes place in one screen, not the scrolling backgrounds from previous entries, you have infinite HP, the framerate fucking dies often.

It sounds like a bit of a lame schmup doesnt it... it kind of is honestly... and that what makes it good imo...

RDG doesnt try to surpass its previous entries, instead trying something new and simple for the handheld, this simple aproach makes it in my opinion the best handheld RS34 schmup on the 3DS

Beating that of Karous The Beast of Re:Eden and Illmatic Envelope Dillinjah, as those two shot for something more complicated that didnt really work because of the 3DS's power.

Ooookay so this video game.

Radirgy de Gojaru is a schmup tower defence game... yup

This are all the options you have in the title screen, nothin more, nothin less.

Alright, let's get straight to it!

As described previously, RDG takes place in one area, above Tadayo Aita's garage.

You protect the garage using a modified machine with endless HP and a super big bomb.

Your main objetive in game is to not let any bullets or ships travel to the bottom of the top screen.

For every ship and bullet that passes, 1% of the total HP of the garage is lowered (your HP is shown by the block thats over the X shot icon)

and thats the basic gist of it, its quite simple but eh it works well enough.

So you have four weapons and a bomb (that big circle thing in the second screenshot)

So you have a wide shot, a X shot, a side shot and a upgraded sword.

You can use the sword while using any other shot but its particularly strong when using the sword option.

When you deal damage to enemies you regain Battery which lets you use the bomb more often.

You can stack the bomb up to 3-4 times, at max level it covers most of the screen and takes every bullet on its range. Keeping the shield up is the most important part of the game.

On the bottom screen you have a few things,

From top row to bottom row left to right:

Total signal, Instant Death (Quit button), Timer of the current run and battery %

Total score, the HP % of the garage, Time at full signal (you reach full signal by propperly using the shield at max power), a button to talk to Tadayo as shown bellow.

sadly I dont understand japanese so im missing out on the flavor text...

and on the last row: manual weapon switching if you dont want to use the weapon change button (the weapon switch just uses the next weapon to the right, no way to pick the last selected weapon, so that kinda justifies the use of the touch screen... in a way)

Its neat. Having all the important hud info on the bottom screen makes the top screen less cluttered (Kinda like how Resident Evil Revelations handles it... odd comparison I know lmao)

You shoot things, you gain meter, you use meter to get meter.

The gameplay is simple but it works.

So what about that presentation... I mean for a one screen game it actually it has quite the decent presentation

Models are nice, prolly ripped straight from the original radirgy

It does suffer from alot of jaged edges and the cel shaded style doesnt really look the best which does hurt it a bit but despite all that it captures the essence of the series.

Even if the game does look quite alright... It doesnt help that the game never runs at full speed at later parts of runs, the slowdown is SUPER heavy but thats kind of a good thing.

Theres alot of stuff to keep track off so the slowdown helps catch some enemies going to the bottom screen.

One area where I have no complains, where they absolutely nailed it was the 2D elements.

The menus are super nice!

There is alot of selectable bottom screen art that is really nice!

Not a good screenshot, I was trying to just take a screenshot of the bottom screen art alone (and failed) but there is alot of stuff to select and unlock!

The game hits the series style on the 3D visuals and 2D visuals.

also in the topic of presentation, the audio.

The sound effects can be a bit much at times. you will hear the shot sound... often, same with the sword SFX and its a bit annoying. You grow used to it and you can turn off sound effects but its not the best... but what saves all this... is the music.

The music is so good! Daisuke Nagata and Ko Hayashi, composers of the original Radirgy, came back to create a great 13 track long soundtrack!

It even got a CD soundtrack release! (RSCD-001)

Take a listen!

Fantastic stuff for a 800 yen game.

Radirgy de Gojaru is not the greatest schmup out there, its not even the best one on the 3DS. Games like Kokuga and even Metal Torrent on the DSi have it beat easly.

But that doesnt stop it from being a fun time at a cheap price.

Keeping the spirit of the series in a simple format.

I am not sure if I should give this a score at all. giving it a high score is giving it too much credit but giving it a low score is discrediting everything it does right...

Eh I guess its a 4.5/10 game that I like so much I give a 6.5/10

To cap everything off. heres the trailer from RS34's official YT channel.

My apologies for the more scattershot review this time arround.

[progmanx]

Hello, hi. First of all, I just want to say that I LOVE your Jeckole fic. It's honestly so great and everything from the dialogue to the various HCs to fill in the space left by the game makes so much sense. I was reading the comments, though, and saw that you said that you were going for a biromantic Nicole. This really struck me as an interesting choice because it really kind of clashes with my interpretation of what's presented in the game, IE complete disgust with men in all circumstances. Since everything else about the fic is so clearly well thought out, I was wondering if you have any specific reasoning for that decision?

In either case, like I said, I really love your fic, and want to thank you for writing it.

Hi! Thank you so much! <3

Mmk, so, "going for" is not really how I meant it, or intended. Yes, there was a lot of thought put into that decision to “write” Nicole as biromantic gray/something/she's seventeen she's not gonna have this shit figured out, though in all honesty that ideally shouldn't be distinguishable from any interpretation one may have in the actual text of the fic.

If it is, dear God, tell me. Because I whiffed something if you can. The fact that you were this surprised suggests that you couldn't, but, just to be safe lol

All of this is interpretative, and has no real bearing on how I'm writing Nicole, as she's still who she is first and foremost. Whatever she is to you, that's what she is. End of story.

This is basically the equivalent of flavor text (I seriously mean it; this isn't supposed to have any kind of noticeable or even actual influence on how she is written), but, since you asked, sure! :)

*inhales*

First, teenage boys are, by and large, disgusting. They don't really have hygiene figured out, or put in any effort into their appearance, and this can continue well into the 20s for many cis straight men. They smell. Boys smell. No one likes stinky people.

Second, teenage boys in 2009 also, by and large, identified as straight by a WAY wider margin than they do now. I can't stress enough how massive a difference just NOT being straight at all---even for those who don't even know they aren't---can radically change a dude’s perspective and behavior even at that age.

However, the ones who are unknowingly closeted are also unlikely to make enough noise to really be noticed at all half the time, because having any kind of crack in that brick wall of bullshit makes engaging with it absolutely revolting and horrifying.

It's just a constant stream of "this is not okay" and not having the language, nor authority, nor support, to do anything other than do your best to not make it worse. Because if you try to help without fully grasping WHAT is going on and WHY (which, you can't, because you're not high on the same bullshit as the other dudes) you WILL make it worse.

The sheer toxicity of what masculinity presented itself to be (and continues to), is probably the LEAST romantic or generally attractive thing ever for many, many people. It's hostile, aggressive, and has zero interest in acknowledging anyone's existence or feelings.

This is even WORSE with her male authority figures (Coach Colby, the counselor), who honestly really shouldn't count towards any consideration since she's a minor and they have a massive amount of power over her.

So, they don't. Just wanted to mention them here to make sure it was clear I didn't forget about them.

Anyway, if all the guys you knew were ones like Kylar (an obviously closeted rapist), Crispin (pbbbbth), Braxton, Trody, or Jeffrey---like ACTUAL Jeffrey, not just 'the nerdy anime kid', no the MASSIVE red flag stalker who THINKS he's a Nice Guy (tm) and sensitive---and AT BEST you'd get lucky with Hunter (ew) or Kyle (lmao, and also a stalker), and you didn't HAVE to date dudes, and understood that about yourself, dear God, why would you ever bother?

That being said, Nicole's general viciousness and misanthropy is rather heavily implied, imo, to be mostly reaction to her most recent move, so all of those guys hitting on her at her old school doesn't seem to be something she actively despised, since the social leverage she gains isn't presented as anything negative initially.

That's not to say Nicole did not have the capacity for all of this, she absolutely did, but I don't think she pushed it NEARLY as hard as she does now.

Anyway, the boys, at her old school, were still stinky, but with 'the popular girls' comes the guys who actually know what deodorant is. If she were constantly disgusted and revolted by the guys at her old school, I don't think she'd be THIS PISSED and not okay with moving somewhere else, since that is SO MUCH of high school social life, endlessly.

Nicole, at least how I'm reading this, is disgusted with everything about masculinity and men that she absolutely should be. There is no gray area here. I don't think she is inherently disgusted with the existence of men in general as a concept.

In the start of the first game, she honestly kind of DOES give the guys half a chance. They're just all generally terrible and do nothing to disprove any of her preconceptions since she's done this so many times and met so many people, and since boys really aren't encouraged to TRY, why would they be any different?

I'm not saying she'd jump at the first guy who wasn't a total piece of shit to her and was sincere about it (she would NOT fucking believe it wasn't part of some long play to fuck her and fuck with her head, and honestly I wouldn't either in her shoes) but rather that the idea of 'dating a guy' isn't inherently repulsive down to her bones, but rather that all of the guys she knows make the distinction, for the moment, essentially non-existent.

Now, yes, by Senior Year (so parts of the first game, and all of Re-Up), she has zero fucks left and zero patience (hence her amped up hostility from moment one compared to September 2007) since none of them, have EVER done anything to prove her wrong. And if someone did, like I said above, she wouldn't believe them anyway.

All of that said, I mean. Yeah, she probably massively prefers girls. If you could choose one or the other in that context, and you didn't give a shit about how people saw you, or what your parents would say, or any of that, who would pick dudes?

Hopefully that answered your question, and thanks for reading!

[dotlilith]

FINISHED FUJIEDA'S ROUTE!! WHAT A RIDE!! i got the congratulations cg while still missing some cgs from the final interrogation because it apparently counts actual madness differently from presenting the second clue.

If i said that madarame was a good foil to towa, then fujieda made a really really good mirror. i LOVED seeing the comparisons between him and towa throughout the entirety of the route and how they were very similar yet still quite different.

The after credits scenes were fantastic too, and confirmed a few sneaking suspicions i'd had for a really long time which was nice!!

Major Spoilers Past This Point.

I can't readmore on mobile so i'm just going to hope that anyone who cares about spoilers scrolls past. Will still try to be vague like my other posts just in case.

Getting to see all of the cast once again and check in on them after the final interrogation was really nice. I was worried we wouldn't get to see eiji again! but right after inada said he'd left town he showed up immediately after the exploration and i breathed a sigh of relief. genuinely my favorite character. Inada's little backstory with him was neat too, and something i'd suspected for a while.

I would have liked to have a character art bonus section? like to see all of the different talksprites and their differences? but i understand why they didn't do that.

Towa's backstory with the ch1-2 cast was intriguing, i find myself wanting to know more about how that came to be and i'm pretty sure there's an extra story for ikuina's childhood in the tips menu somewhere but i'll have to get around to those later.

I think madarame's route was my favorite, but taku's route had the best madness end imo. i just like the whole vibe of it even though the other ones were also fantastic.

Reading through the last hour or so of content was really heartwarming to me, towa getting to essentially restart his life on his own terms with a good number of people there to support him and especially someone like fujieda who didn't mind when things would still get bad was!!! aaaaa

This has to be my new favorite n+c game just because the entire atmosphere feels perfect, and is exactly what i would have wanted out of a new n+c game, oozing flavor and flair at every single turn. I feel like dmmd had better character design, but the less flashy outfits eventually grew on me and i liked having a protagonist like towa, an artist without much direction. Eventually he gets that direction in every ending and it's just... nice. The plot was extremely dark at times, but that just made the good endings that much better and i would have expected nothing less of n+c.

The ending felt extremely bittersweet in maya's room. I tend not to enjoy media that involves people reconciling and forgiving those that fundamentally traumatized them, but i'm so glad that didn't happen here. him reading the diary and finding out that despite all of the stuff she did, she still thought she loved him with all of her heart HURT. him telling fujieda that the people that caused his trauma don't own his scars resonated really hard with me for some reason and echoed in my head a bit while the credits rolled here and it's the one time i cried during my playthrough.

On to the bonus content!

[clarks-letterman]

Wally anon: For now. Idk how pronounced the problems become, but the way people have discussed them do not sound very inspiring. 😶‍🌫️

Yessss. He's just getting so sloppy with it, thrusting up & down until he probably wouldn't even need to keep fucking it from how much juice is on his dick, but he's so lost in the moment that he keeps going until he cums everywhere. 😮‍💨 Oh, for sure. The only thing that get him temporarily sticky is your cum & he loves the feeling of it. And, yup, if he does it for long enough, the lingering flavor is on his dick the entire day & you can't get enough. 🤪 I almost want to say he's fucked a whole cake before. It made an absolute mess, but, once again, not a problem for him. 🎂

lollllll @ the loan. But, yeah, I getchu. It's really the bond between you & him that's reignited the excitement for him like he's going through puberty all over again.

Exactlyyy. You'll be leaving that little exam more wobbly than usual cause he'll have exhausted every single area that drives you wild. 🥴

You get it. 🙌 You've gotta hold on tight (both with your hands & hole) to him when he really gets into it just so you don't end up being completely jostled around. But, even then, you know the bed is about to fully give out (& he'll keep fucking you through it, as if he doesn't notice it).

And that's one of his best attributes cause you know he's gonna be 100% honest at all times.

Yupppp. He just can't get enough & gets so overwhelmed thinking about how lucky the both of you are to be with each other. Oh, you KNOW he's gripped on tight to you in the most comforting bear hug you've ever felt while you fall asleep in his arms on those nights when you absolutely have to rest. Even though he doesn't have to sleep, just the close proximity is a comfort to him.

He (& Milo in general) really deserves so much more. 😫 Yup, it's just a good practice for both representational reasons & adding variety to headcanons. A small thing, but can make a big difference over just going with the same old same old.

(ah, I see, I see. I'll have to give him a shot sometime.)

Let’s just say the show queerbaited its finale😭

For realll, he just needs that release that he doesn’t care how it’s making a mess on him. Even with a cake (would moister cakes feel better?? does fondant or buttercream icing feel better??) he doesn’t care that crumbs and icing are smashed all over his hips and his dick has been smeared in the color of icing some poor sap in Home Ec. decided to use on their cake. (If we’re talking alive!Wally here, he could be fucking a navy blue cake the sports team was gifted for one of their wins sksjsjg)

Exactly, he’s confused but ecstatic to explore what he can in whatever way, shape, or form possible.

Speaking of the whole doctor/“exam” thing, I totally forgot he was a patient in that one disney show and a fine one at that😮‍💨 off topic mini-mention over.

Wally just has the kind of (ass)ets that leave you drained in more ways than one. whether he’s pounding or riding you, it’s always gonna make you feel weak after. I bet his aftercare is phenomenal when he isn’t limited to what the school offers.

He speaks his truth to be sassy and to be the best partner ever fr

He’d definitely close his eyes and think about sleeping as hard as he can, but you’re already his dream come true… (cheesyyyyy) and he may smell like a locker room because he literally died while playing football so i know he doesn’t smell like roses💀😮‍💨

They really do, Milo unfortunately got stuck in the Disney web where most of his stuff is either marketed to kids or just never gets popular enough for recognition. I’m glad he doing more and getting noticed more. He deserves it🖤🖤

(yeah he’s got kind of the same positive vibes i’d expect milo to have if i met him imo)

[lord-shitbox]

whole ask game with mezumaru

Why do you like or dislike this character?

many reasons. he's silly and pathetic but also has his fucked up&evil (silly style) moments + very transgender coded + the skull is baller + he comes as part of a 2-guy set so i can think long and stupid about him & gozu. i am Almost Always insane about a set of characters because I like looking at how they go together

Favorite canon thing about this character?

umm prob the fact that he wears the skull because his face is really girlish. [trangdesnder flag emoji]. i like his hair too. the fact that hes over 400 yrs old is funny but also gives me eternal headaches because iirc nurarihyon married yohime when he was like. 106 years old or something? so hes fucking 500? i think i just spent an hour looking for the panel that specifies nurarihyon & yohime's ages [something something youre turning 17 and im turning 107 ? i dont think it was 1007] but i cant find it. whatever

Least favorite canon thing about this character?

i could dislike nothing about mezu.

ok actually the fact that hes a minor character & a lot of fine details abt the gyuki clan often contradict or dont go along with other worldbuilding because theyre minor characters and shiibashi forgot 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

um... i think a form of animation that uses interesting media would be extremely swag. like stop motion or the mob psycho whiteboard effect or the collage-style animations that look like moving quilts. gyuki clan spinoff series when

What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

reminds me of him. tonchinkan feast & villain teniwoha also

What's something you have in common with this character?

long hair and trans gender

What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

😂😂🤣🤣😀😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂🤣🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂🤣😂😂😁😂😁😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂🤣

ITS JUST ME AND 2 OTHER INSANE BITCHES ON PIXIV

What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

not post or care about him ever (me and the character with 2 moments of plot relevance)

Could you be roommates with this character?

ummm. i think so. I'd make him do the dishes

Could you be best friends with this character?

having a hard time with this one. his best friend is already gozu and im Sorta like him but I don't go with him as well

Would you date this character?

if he didnt look and act like twelve years old

What's a headcanon you have for this character?

gyuki clan has few to no women in it so it takes him A While to figure out women are real. he thinks women are just dudes in drag or something

What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

👾🐸 :3

Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

i dont have the flavor of gay that lets me remember what any of those are. overalls and lots of pins/patches. converses. loose sweaters. colorful (but not super vivid) wardrobe

What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

gozumezu idc if its platonic or romantic

What's your least favorite ship for this character?

have i mentioned how like 3 people on the planet ever post him. gozumezu is the only ship if at all. but i would not like mezu x rikuo (not much chemistry imo, especially night rikuo)

What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

have to make up another ship for this.. wait maybe kappa x mezumaru has been a thing? i get that.

How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Gyuki & Mezumaru are pretty close i enjoy that. Like even though Gyuki was in his merciless evil scary era he had a little guy clinging to his leg. found family for Real

How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

N/A i would like to see him develop a good one w/ rikuo's friends though. apologize to maki & torii & yura for trying to kill them in the bath

Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

gozumaru

If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

i write stupid little drabbles of them sometimes..gotta keep him silly thats all

If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

he's a significant character in 2 of these and one of those is in French.

Favorite picture of this character?

What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

sugihara kei from yakuza's guide to babysitting is the same genre of "silly/pathetic guy that gets bullied by his buddy with bonus moments of scariness"

What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

uhh. this would've been like. over 3 years ago so i don't Remember but I know it was favorable. here's the first time I drew him (late 2020) holy shit i did not know what was coming to me

FREEBIE QUESTION!!

umm ok so I think the gyuki clan gets a gaming console & gozu obviously has bad violent gamer rage but will calm down when removed from the situation. however mezu in gamer voice chat picks up the foulest nastiest language ever & will not stop spouting shit for days. gyuki and gozumaru have to regulate his gaming time severely over this. also he will NOT leave animal crossing once he picks it up

[wackywheel]

what is rhsmp??

hi anon! you have invoked the beast with this innocuous ask! thank you :)

rhsmp, or Roughhouse SMP was an smp run by and played on by, as you'd assume, roughhouse! the server started in late october of 2020, and... didn’t really formally conclude? i’m pretty sure the server itself is offline, but it remained playable for nearly a full YEAR after launch. for those unaware, roughhouse is a group of streamers/content creators who mostly met on/during smplive/smpearth. while some friendships predated both servers, the group really only came together during smplive, and finalized being solidified during smpearth. here's their yt channel for their podcast! (their podcast thats sort of on hiatus but its ok its fine its fine we're coping its fine)

while most of the server's run was it simply being a normal minecraft smp for the group, as well as a few friends of the group at the time, such as crumb, sophietexas, a LOT of their s/o's, and fuckin. rav the rapper of all people. yes, as in that rav the one that was on epicsmp.

like most collaborative cc content from 2020 (ie; smpearth, earlier dsmp vods, sbirust) as you'd expect, most of the vods are lost! yipee (derogatory!) the key word there, though, is most. luna and poke have every single one of their vods fully archived! everyone please thank luna and poke. for highlight videos, again, luna and poke are absolutely carrying, especially in luna's case. they have a TON of older rhsmp highlight videos you can find on their main channel! poke also has a few highlight videos, as does james. (...on the topic of james, though, finding those videos may be a bit tricky. the guy privated all of his main channel videos, so the only way to watch his stuff is to either use this archive channel that someone set up (with the downside of the videos being in 360p at best,) or to ermm maybe? maybe join this discord?? and ask for the james archive? and about rhsmp? totally not me shamelessly plugging it?) every other pov, though, has sadly been lost to time. F in chat and the like.

but, enough about vods and lost media, let's talk LORE! rhsmp really didn't start out with intended lore, nor was it ever scripted or acted out, but it very much WAS present, whether it be in the background for the majority of the smp, or right in the forefront right near the end of it.

the two biggest and most noteworthy instances of lore imo were the Console War and The Forbidden Blade of Roughhousia.

let's start with the first one. the Console War was a short, one stream or so long altercation that involved luna building a GIANT XBOX Series X to rival michael's giant and just a little bit ugly PS5 in spawn. it wasn't entirely a "war" in the sense of there being battles, but more in the sense of destruction and petty, low blows. an ingame cat kicks the bucket. an important structure blows up. a god causes problems on purpose. y'know, normal stuff!

speaking of a god, let's talk about The Forbidden Blade of Roughhousia! rhsmp's server admin was the one and only ogbeefstew, and if you're familiar with him already, you likely know what i'm about to describe. for those unfamiliar though, i'll summarize; beef is a silly little quirky fucking unhinged creature. and we love him for that <3 during the server's white elephant gift exchange, beef's gift that he inadvertently submitted by proxy of luna was. uh.

this! the forbidden blade! forged by a god! offered up to mortals as if it were nothing more than a toothpick! i don't think any form of me trying to summarize the impact of this item would do it much justice, so i'll just link poke's vod of the gift exchange to let you watch the carnage yourself. (the sword itself comes into play around the 2:49:00 mark) aside from that though, beef has actually talked about the server's lore in retrospect! a friend and i have been trying to track down the instance in a vod of luna's so obv take this with a grain of "source: dude trust me" flavored salt, but the jist of it is that when the sword was finally broken, the server would either end or reset into a new world. very cool stuff for something as small as a friend group smp!

EDIT: the clip in question has been found! you can watch it here! the jist of the clip is that luna, beef, and dink were discussing how they would theoretically ‘reboot’ the world for a season 2. beef suggested that whoever had ended up with the sword would end up snapping and killing everyone, including beef, the admin. this would then reset the world. how? idk lol

now, with all of that being said, should you watch rhsmp? if you're okay with only having two solid povs at your disposal, then sure!

if you do seriously want to watch this server/series, i would mostly recommend luna's pov of highlights, as its a nice intro into the funny little world that had been built up. if you're dedicated or curious enough about the lore, their vods channel is also the first place i'd recommend you start, before moving on to poke's.

tl;dr- god i love it when minecraft servers accidentally get a crazy compelling storyline that very few people ever know about after the server closes. i love having all of this knowledge trapped in my brain. please watch rhsmp. help me.

[parallelroutes]

Munday Meme

2, 6, 7, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 18

— 2. Who are your longest rp friends? in 2008 i joined bulbagarden (forum from the pokemon wiki bulbapedia) and met a guy who also rped and had similar irl interests. i joined an rp forum with that guy in 2010, was in and out until he left in 2014 and we kept in contact. didn't rp after that, but we are absolutely still friends to this day and send each other pokemon things, talk about current fandoms, etc. probably my 2nd oldest friend i keep up with in general, tbh.

— 6. NOTP for your muse? tyl!byakuran/anyone LOL. in all seriousness, i really can't wrap my head around byakuran/uni in any romantic/nsfw sense… like even besides the massive age/experience gap from before, i only see them as emotionally close in a platonic sense?

i still enjoy poly tsuna/uni/byakuran from the trinisette trio flavor, but that's also kind of conditional and if tsuna wasn't there i don't think i can see it. imo, just not a dynamic that would exist without tsuna there, if that makes sense.

in other news, shoichi/byakuran isn't a NOTP so much as i'm just really tired of him being the Only one i see people ship with byakuran. they're just so much more fun as best friends? platonic soulmates? partners in crime? balance each other out, etc.

hmm. maybe i just struggle shipping with characters that knew him really well in TYL. funeral wreaths are a struggle too. a current!genkishi would be super difficult to make work but i did have an idea a long while back. BUT WAIT. gamma or spanner 👀

— 7. What are some similarities between you and your muse/muses? i am super weird too. independent. we both have terrible diets. i will eat 3 muffins in one day instead of lunch/dinner if i have them in my room. most obviously, adhd.

— 12. What’s one random headcanon about your muse that people mightn’t know? (at the end/under the cut)

— 14. What do you look for in a rp partner? for longer plots/threads/verses? i love people who can generally match my enthusiasm or come up with ideas or has enough time to talk about it here and there. also love it when partners can take a bit of initiative in keeping it going too.

for just small threads? anyone who reaches out, really. i like almost everyone lmao, rping is included.

— 16. Least favourite trope? i don't know if it counts as a trope but i just don't really like seeing how many people only focus on him in a very dominant role in ships? it's just preference. there is nothing wrong with it and it makes sense for TYL byakuran anyway, but it's a least favorite for sure. (it's in part because it's the only way i ever see in fanart. i am Tired just thinking about it.)

— 17. Are there any AU’s you’d like to explore but haven’t had the chance to yet? i have a specific immortal!byakuran fantasy au that i want to use as a verse someday but not sure if i'll have the chance tbh. might have talked about it before?

the tl;dr is he became a pseudo-deity with six others but was kicked out of the makeshift-pantheon a long time ago. he was stuck with his immortality/power and was left to wander the world like that.

— 18. Do you listen to music whilst writing? If so, what kind of music? i can only listen to music while writing if i loop one song and know exactly how it goes. usually it just ends up being either a song for the atmosphere or a song i'm currently addicted to. picking music gets distracting tbh.

moved 12 since it mentions nsfw. it's under the cut.

— 12. What’s one random headcanon about your muse that people mightn’t know? on account of not doing nsfw, i don't really mention it lol. i do have gray-asexual on there for this interpretation, but the ace part is really apparent. there is that he had more than enough abuse of that variety. now he just doesn't care, doesn't see a point, nonexistent drive. if i did any nsfw it would be focused on the partner bc i'm sure he'd remember how to Do Things like that from all those different lives.

the gray part is that i think he would try if thats what a partner wanted? i think he'd be okay if he trusts/loves someone enough (demiromantic) but probably not often.

would also like to mention you don't see me doing any nsfw on this blog because he is only 15 and 18 in the two main verses. that speaks for itself, i hope? i guess post-canon 10YL or college-age verse or something might work, but still not on tumblr.

[g0sts]

hit with tha "get to know me" tag game i love u guys! i was tagged by both @phasmama and @memosminifridge! im debby emoji fr, sorry it took me so long to get to it!

fave ships: well i apparently gravitate towards whatever the unifying thread of nandermo and jonmartin is (EDIT i fucking forgot about sted aka blackbonnet-but-i-think-im-hilarious, im in a fog today forgive me), but going further back we obviously had taakitz, preceded by destiel, preceded by johnlock, preceded all the way back in high school by tbh the blueprint of Feral Bitches Finding Each Other And Making Each Other Better And Worse All At Once... sophie and howlmovingcastle... oh wait but if we want a real throwback that still rips my heart from my chest a decade and a half later, kyo/tohru fruitsbasket. oof... gotta lie down... into the next...

first ship: well i hit on that in fave ships, but definitely kyo/tohru. back in fuckin middle school i could tell those two needed each other 😭

last song: i have spotify on right now so last one that finished was White Stripes - Icky Thump but the currently playing is yeule - Pretty Bones [EDIT from the bottom, Fleetwood Mac - The Chain is playing me out, so, that's fun for us, huh?]

currently reading: all i read is fic these days and i'll be honest i've fallen extremely behind However i'm extremely extremely invested in Alethophobia by @jay-auris and i am itching to catch up (smirk... u are not on tumblr to see this but im calling out thru the ether.... saturday.... read w me.... after pathfinder........) Literally fic of all time, yeah it's an AU but like. hear me out. it's phenomenal, it's an exceptional mystery, it's not even rly a slowburn imo they've just Been Thru It, jay is a wizard, the characterization is like. best i've seen tbh i'm Entranced and i think about it a Lot even when i fall behind

last movie: i . i think it was indeed glass onion lol

currently watching: i binged the first season of Only Murders In The Building earlier this week and am Obsessed, can't wait to watch season 2, show of all time. i'm having a mystery moment it seems

consuming: strawberry flavored water... barely... not a good food day oop im sorry

currently working on: alternating between two cross stitch projects (got one more coffin ornament Plus Another If I Am Not Out Of My Mind After This One, but my passion is in this rainbow quaker squares beast) AND in a new year's miracle, i have been Writing Again for [redacted] for an exchange (it has been literally like half a year since putting words to doc hasn't made me feel like clawing my skin off i am taking the W)

no pressure to do this if u don't feel like it! but tagging some folks i don't Think have been tagged: @wrath-of--the-lamb, @partiallyobscure, @fanfic-fugue, @space-jaam, @fivevotesdown, @nuclearparade, @gothwizardmagic, @2momsatbrunch, and tbh who ever wants to do it im tagging you too

[amechyofsorts]

Alright, Labyrinth of Galleria thoughts. Sorta spoilers and really long so:

-Story is great. Started out better integrated together with the dungeon crawling and went in a way different and interesting direction after the major story shift. Characters too, love the main gals and the side characters are good too, though some get somewhat less focus overall due to their numbers, compared to the more compact cast of Refrain.

-Combat and rpg mechanics got a number of sensible small improvements. Facet unique skills and support attacks all fit in great and increase the character building possibilities, which is really where the meat of the rpg gameplay is for a game like this.

-Facets im a bit so and so on. All the new additions are great, but im disappointed by how sort of standardized the designs seemed to get. Just kinda generic pretty anime people with similar body types. Refrain had some tubby folks, super semen demons and the occasional more goofy designs. This one is particularly irritating, since they kept the fucking loli designs for the female designs of certain facets.

-The dungeons are a tough one. On the other hand, Narthex and Apse are both really well designed and fun to explore quality dungeons that you can compare to the better ones in Refrain. But then... those are basically the only proper full length dungeons in the game. The Transepts are way too short and simple, and the randomized dungeons are... kinda shitty, honestly. More on that in a bit.

-Mentioned this in an earlier post, but the dungeons don’t really have anything interesting in terms of events or story within them. Refrain’s dungeons each had a little story arc and a number of npcs to bring flavor. In here it’s really just the single dungeon story, stretched way too thin, and it’s all explained in the main story anyway. It makes exploring overall way less interesting. 

-Kind related to above a part of that is also just not making the best use of dungeon mechanics. The gooey darkness and aqueducts are pretty cool, but most of the others are just new forms of locked doors essentially, made into non issues once you get the ability to deal with them. Even the first two disappear entirely once you actually finish Apse. All the new reinforcement abilities have a similar issue, where they are cool additions and perfectly usable, but never necessary or even super helpful, since the enemy orb mechanics work exactly the same as in the last game. At least the floor portal makes moving around a bit faster.

-And the real big problem imo, almost no boss fights. I mean sure, Wiccards always there to be a pain in the ass, but it just summons jacked up regular enemies, which really aren’t interesting to either see or fight. Like, the combat challenge in these games never really came from random encounters, it’s in preparation, either for a dungeon dive or a boss fight. So the fact that the game has barely any boss fight, especially during the first half, means that a pretty big part of the gameplay feels like it’s been totally cut out. Some climactic bossfight would help gate and section off the areas better too, even without the story stuff surrounding them necessarily.

-And then there’s just the pacing. I mentioned the randomized dungeons. When I first got to the apartment after the first section ended, I thought it was cool. Something different with new mechanics dedicated to it. But once it ends you briefly backtrack some of the original dungeons... and then go into another randomized dungeon, which is pretty much the same fucking thing as the original. Then you just have a few short inbetweeny dungeons before the “final” boss, comparable to Transepts in length. The randomized dungeons just totally destroy the pace of the second section of the story, because they are the fucking same thing over and over. Randomized floors with nothing but loot and disconnected random skits. No wonder they let you just skip entire sections of them.

When I got to Grand Corridor, I was fucking elated. A new, actually hand crafted dungeon with unique mechanics and bossfights (with big tits!). Which is why it was really disappointing that it’s only a few floors ín length and the actual final dungeon is... another randomized dungeon. And a real motherfucker at that.

Overall I did still enjoy the game, in spite of all that whining. It was definitely a disappointment in some regards, but the story was still great and I was always willing to keep playing to see more of it. And the gameplay was still fun when the design held together. I don’t know if the reliance on long randomized dungeons and having so few proper boss fights were conscious design decisions, or if they were necessary due to some kind of production issues, but they are major detriments to the game either way.

Wow, that was mucho texto. In short: worth playing for the story and even the gameplay, even though the latter really shat the bed compared to the last game. Also, should have had more Bocklin. I loved that dude.

[arcane-ish]

Recommendation: Realms of Runeterra Audiobook

There is a book published by Riot games that sort of explains their universe called Realms of Runeterra. It came out in 2019.

The most important thing you need to know is that you don't need to buy this book. If you have ever read a wikipedia article on any of the Runeterra/League of Legends/Arcane regions => 90% of the stuff in there is just copied straight of the books.

Like this stuff?

is just copied from the Realms of Runeterra book.

IMO the book is quite pretty and almost has "coffee table" qualities. It has pretty pictures and collects together all the "wikipedia" information.

Intermixed with this a various short stories to give you some flavor for the regions. All of those short stories as not fully available online from what I can see, but they are also summed up by the various wikis.

So, now that I've explain why you don't need that book unless you want a pretty coffee table decoration: Realms of Runeterra works surprisingly well as an audiobook!

Which really surprised me because part of it has this encyclopedia/travel guide style. But then I spent one of my audible token on it, I actually had a really good time listening to it. Especially since I personally often struggle with enjoying short stories/reading short stories, especially if they are about non major characters.

But as stories being told to you, it actually brings in a nice variety.

When I thought back on the book, the ones that stuck out to me the most were Zaun, Noxus & Freljord and then Bilgewater.

I will now ramble on in more detail on the different short stories under the cut. But yes my review is, while it wasn't world changing I don't think that it's a "rush out, must buy at full price", if by any chance you have an audible token lying around, consider spending it on the Realms of Runeterra audiobook (especially if you are missing Arcane and want some vibes). [and no, this is not a referral/kickback link]

BTW, I'm not gonna spoil the stories in detail, but I will talk in detail about my feelings about that and that in itself can raise expectations/give off vibes. I'm talking about them in order of how much I like them.

Zaun: I find it hard to say whether this story is that high simply because of Arcane I just have the deepest emotional connection to Zaun as a region. The funny thing about this it is: I feel like I don't actually like that story. The characters kind of feel like they are almost more like blueprints ("the scrappy street urchin", "the haughty Piltover assassin" aka proto Camille, "the mysterious chem baron" aka proto Silco) rather than real fully fledged character and I kind of don't care for the story itself (both the main action story and the implied past backstory) and find it a bite trite => But I have to say with real grudging respect, despite all these real complaints and gripes with the story, I can't deny that it really stuck with me despite all of this. And to me that is one of the best compliments that I can give.

Noxus: I low key feel that might be the best story of the book that really does a good job of fleshing out the region and the mindset while feeling very real. I could see this story being boring to others, but I think if you have at any point cared about international politics it's a really fascinating story about colonialism/imperialism. It really fleshes out the concept of the war mason and what it's really like to be some random place under Noxus.

Freljord: Now this is a very simple story. I feel like it's plot can probably be summed in a single sentence. But somehow I still really liked it and I think it did a good job of portraying its characters and world. Bascically: it had the vibes. I think this story might have been greatly enhanced by the fact that I play the Legends of Runeterra card game and this story is I think where I had by big "aha!" moment and realized that many of the Legends of Runeterra cards are actually based on stories from this book. So I could nerd out "OMG, I have had this card played against me!" respectively I had the visiual of the card in my mind.

==> I find it interesting that when it comes to my top 3, none of them feature a champion as a main character, that they are all about normal grunt people

Anyway, on the with ranking:

Bilgewater: First story to feature a champion and it's one of my faves from a story/lore perspective Kindred. The lore is very cool the characterization is good. I think the main reason why this is slightly lower than the other is because man this story is effing weird.

Shadow Isles: I feel like this story should probably be higher in the rankings based on quality alone, but I have to dock it points because when I was trying to think about my favorite stories from the book it completely slipped my mind that that it was even part of it. I do think that it is well written and moody, the Champion in question is well used, the main conflict is actually interesting and well done and the threats feel interesting and believable and the lore implications are very intriguing. Plus it did a good job establishing a decent amount of "canon fodder" supporting characters in a small scale. It also feel like it gave me a new angle to the Shadow Isles I hadn't really considered.

Ionia: Just overall decent and solid. One of the larger roles of a popular champion. Not too many characters but they feel well rounded and the world feels well portrayed, you buy that this just a small moment in a larger conflict. I guess it's this low becaues it feels like a very standard mystical kung fu tale, so maybe a bit pedestrian (yes, despite the fact that it does feature magic). It has a very lengthy setup that successfully invokes a lot of martial arts movies and in that it is very vivid, as in I can easily picture the scene in my mind, but I guess I feel it doesn't fully grow much beyond that. I feel like I would have preferred a story that delved deeper into the more mystical/Vastaya aspect of Ionia or the story could have done with a twist (or maybe a better twist? all the ones it had felt pretty predictable?). Still a solid story.

Shurima: I think this story was harmed because it's actually very important characterization for a certain champion and because of that I was "spoiled" for it by having it already be covered by various League lore channels. (plus I wonder if you are Arcane only and don't follow the lore channel whether the mysticism of the story would hit or wheher you would be confused why you should care about this people). The main character is likable but yeah I was hit by "oh, that story" and it didn't really grow beyond that.

Demacia: I'm sorry Cithria, I really like you in Legends of Runeterra, but this story was quite boring to me. The main topic of story is the in universe game of Tellstones and maybe it was harmed by the fact that 1.) I know what Tellstones is and how it works 2.) I know that from a board game point of view, it's actually really terrible. The story tries very valiantly to make it interesting and exciting but yeah I feel like eve if you don't have this exposure to Tellstones beforehand, I think it just isn't happening/it's just not that interesting.

[curetapwater]

Shadow for the bingo meme?

Skdhshshs love himmm

For a lot of reasons. Like on a surface level he's just really cool!! His design is awesome, both badass yet adorable at the same time! Imo he neither feels out of place in super serious nor lighthearted settings.

On a deeper level, I adore the themes of his arc regarding healing from trauma, breaking free from cycles of toxicity, and actively choosing to make the world a better place despite it all. I have a particular thing for characters who were specifically created for certain purposes, only for them to explore personhood outside of just being a tool. It's why a lot of my favorite stories feature some form of destiny as a heavy theme. Shadow has that going for him multiple times over!! With various people and factions effectively pulling him in all directions and him ultimately deciding to follow his own path.

I also think his power set is so cool! He can wield weapons, he's basically a wizard with all those Chaos powers, he's got a set of space-age rollerblades!!!!!! I am staunchly of the belief that he doesn't NEED the air shoes to go as fast as Sonic, he just wears them because they're cool. He looked at a motorcycle and said "I can figure this out" and he was right. One time he like. Rode on an eagle or something and it didn't feel out-of-character. I'm pretty sure he flipped a truck with his non-dominant hand once.

And yet he's so vulnerable!! He's just a kid and all this is happening to him!!!!!! I mean, that's true of 90% of Sonic characters lol but I mean Shadow tries So Hard to make you forget he's ultimately a child who's working on himself. A super cool, super-powered child but a child nonetheless. I've heard people say his current English VA sounds like a "tryhard" but imo that's part of his appeal. Honestly I adore Shadow's specific flavor of "I'm trying so hard to be cold but my giant gooey heart keeps seeping through."

I remember when I was really little and I'd watch my older relatives play Sonic Adventure 2, and at first when I saw Shadow I legitimately couldn't categorize him into "good guy" or "bad guy." (I also couldn't follow the story because I was a toddler lol) His design and boss battles with Sonic told me "bad guy" but his flashbacks with Maria and the way he patted the Chao's heads muddled the waters for me. So I also appreciate him being a gateway into more complex ways of viewing characters.

With all of this that we've been given, he's a very interesting character to see pieces of oneself in. For one example that's close to me, it's basically canon that he's mentally ill (in SA2 he displays PTSD symptoms and in his title game there are pathways where he expresses symptoms of depression) and also has a lot of external trauma happen to his brain (multiple cases of brainwashing/memory altering/mind control plus blunt force trauma so bad it gave him amnesia) that makes it hard for him to distinguish what's real. So as a neurodivergent person it delights me to see this character honestly, legitimately struggle with not only everything placed upon his shoulders but his own brain chemistry on top of it. He doesn't always make the best choices (to say the least) but in the end he makes a conscious effort to do right by the world and I think that's incredibly inspiring. His character song Never Turn Back lays out this facet of his character perfectly.

I put a halfway cross on "didn't get enough screentime" because in the 2000s he got a lot of attention but in the 2010s not so much. It seems that might be changing soon and I sure hope it does!!!

I put another one on "got done dirty by the fans" because I feel it's less so fans and more other people that make Shadow out to be a far less compelling character than he really is. I also don't appreciate how he's used as an avenue to bash goth and emo teens who are just trying to enjoy themselves. "Lol who are you, Shadow the EDGEhog" like is that an insult to be compared to such an awesome character???

I put a cross over "I'd be scared of them irl" but that only applies to those times he went oopsie daisy and tried to destroy humanity. Otherwise I'd actually feel very safe in his presence. I'd give him a cookie and trade anime recommendations with him.

[youngshiney]

how i would run sm: Red Velvet edition

back to the series with the next logical group, Red Velvet. sm's first group after Exo and my ult girl group, similarly under a cut as per last post

triple debut (2014-2015): so to start, i actually dont mind Happiness as RV's debut and that its ot4. Yeri was really young, so i wouldnt really change those first two eras (Be Natural is my beloved but its a single and a remake so it doesnt count as their first cb in my eyes). what i would change is the schedules and some promo.

firstly, like Exo i think RV would have benefited from some sort of webtoon or lore comic starting at the second debut for ICC bc thats when we start to get hints that something in Cake Land isnt right. i have a lot of thoughts on RV lore/storyline which we will cover in the upcoming kwangya post (after nct and aespa posts bc they are integral to my version of kwangya).

second, Seulgi should have solo debuted in 2015 between Dumb Dumb and the lesbian christmas song (Wish Tree was iconic and we love Lee Jooyoung). shes been RV's ace since pre-debut, everyone knew and loved her and acknowledged her talents, and she was in multiple mvs of her sunbaes (Henry's Fantastic was the best). Seulgi being the first solo RV member feels right in every way, and while it would be very different than what we got for 28 Reasons, i think that might be partially a good thing.

the start of the success era (2016-2017): Russian Roulette was perfect and i have nothing to say about it. The only thing I would have done differently for them in 2016 was pushed for more solo/unit content, like station songs, vlogs, arts and crafts vids? like just stuff where theyre having fun and hanging out with no pressure. the main 2017 change tho is Joy solo debut. sm is so fucking stupid for NOT capitalizing on the attention Joy got from The Liar and His Lover, a show all about how perfect and amazing she is as a singer! like have her prepare and record between Red Flavor and Peek a Boo and have Peek a Boo pushed back a week or two. the concerts were a good idea, but they really should have capitalized on Joy's performance more. im still annoyed she hasnt properly debuted especially bc clips of her singing from TLAHL was what made me look into RV in the first place and why Joy is my girl ult of ults

Bad Boy (2018): id push Bad Boy back a little bc the time between PaB and BB feels too short, especially going by my plan. other than that, no major notes since the eras were pretty good and the concerts were a good idea. maybe a bit more of a rest after RBB bc of the short turn around time between that and the Japan cb + NA tour

ReVe Fest pt.1 (2019): the Ellie Goulding collab was amazing. ReVe Fest day 1 was a mess, and i say that as a Zimzalabim supporter. the styling was horrific and it all needs to go, the mv should have been more circusy and less performance vid imo, and the song is fine but maybe a less chanty chorus? ReVe Fest day 2 was good and idk why people hate Umpah Umpah bc it was cute and summery like it should have been. and then the Finale, Psycho was one of the best eras taken from us too quickly. i mean the only thing to change is to stop wendy from falling bc that killed the whole momentum and their careers for a hot minute.

the hiatus (2020): now to be clear, i am not blaming wendy for her injury or suggesting she should have come back early. its good she rested and healed properly and came back slowly to make sure everything was okay. every idol should do that. that being said, we should have gotten an ot4 album even if it was just a mini. the girls basically did nothing for a whole year waiting for her and it really did hurt them/their momentum. they should have had more solo content through the year alongside the like two group things, then Seulrene debut in june like originally planned, and then and ot4 album in fall or winter.

back on track? (2021): ot5 being at smtown was great and got everyone hyped to see the group after a full year of hiatus and they teased a cb at the performance. and then wendy killed the hype by doing her solo debut 4 months later with a ballady slow song. and she had the audacity to be like "omg i feel so bad for making everyone wait and then doing a solo" like girl wtf?? anyway gripes about her aside. Queendom was cute, but it felt lackluster after the long wait and felt more like a b-side than a title. also the mv/concepts teased all this magic and powers and a whole universe only to give us literally nothing after the first minute. why were they in a post office when the teasers were about the antique shop?? i would have changed the mv a lot to either expand on the magic or fit the teasers better.

ReVe Fest pt.2 (2022): sm cancelled the concert (rightly) bc the girls got covid but then never rescheduled bc there were "no venues open" even tho the same thing happened to dream and they got rescheduled in like two weeks so what the fuck is that about? um anyway they should have done a concert after Feel My Rhythm but also not named it ReVe Fest bc theres no point and they arent connected. ALSO FMR was beautiful and all but what happened to the ballet concept which wasnt in the mv and why did they not expand on the weird half story with Dark Queen Seulgi and the garden etc? also also FMR felt like a b-side too which was disappointing especially after queendom. and im skipping ahead to birthday bc that was actually the biggest let down of the year. the concept/teaser photos had literally nothing to do with the mv or song, the song itself was easily their worst title and did not sound good in any way, the mv styling wasnt great for pretty much everyone, the cake ver selling out before preorders even ended and before they showed us what it was/what was in it was super annoying. birthday is the biggest let down era imo and ESPECIALLY after the beauty of Wildside. Wildside was the only release in 2022 for RV that i actually 100% enjoyed from the style to the mv to the song to the plot in the mv. like it was perfect and exactly what we should have gotten as a Korean title and era. i would have absolutely done something similar for birthday, especially with the grunge outfits/concept

future plans/ideas: Yeri and Irene solo debuts, Seulrene cb, Joy actual debut this time, more solo schedules especially for the actresses, more Yeri vlogs, Seulgi cb with a better song, my highly indulgent KaiJoyYuta trio, an even more indulgent trio of Seulgi/BoA/Yunho, i think thats all i have off the top of my head.

next week nct u and the way nct overall would function before we get into the actual units

[survey--s]

273.

survey by emptyspaces

Do you ever read the threads on r/AskReddit? If they come up when I’m scrolling, but I prefer other subreddits.

Is there anything you wish your parents did differently in raising you? I wish they hadn’t prioritised their careers over spending time with me. I was lucky to have nice holidays abroad, but I spent every day before/after school in childcare, as well as 90% of the holidays and it SUCKED. 

What would you do if the last person you texted asked you out? Wonder why he’d suddenly come down with a bout of amnesia.

What was the last lie you told yourself? I honestly couldn’t tell you.

Have you ever received a scholarship? No, I applied for one in year seven, but wasn’t good enough lol.

Who was the last person who got frustrated with you? Probably a potential client. She wants help with her dog but no matter how many times I try and tell her I don’t have space, she keeps messaging me.

Did you have a good day yesterday? Yeah, it was good enough. A short day at work and then I pretty much did nothing for the rest of the day, lol.

Have you ever swam in an infinity pool? I have on holiday, yeah.

When was the last time you mopped your kitchen floor? A while ago. I sweep it daily but rarely mop it, in all honesty.

What are your siblings' names and ages? I don’t have any of those.

What is the greatest source of anxiety for you? Life in general.

What habit are you currently trying to break? Waking up at 5-6am and not being able to get back to sleep. It’s like I wake up and my brain suddenly goes into overdrive and then I’m fucked.

What was going on in your life exactly 6 months ago? I worked mostly, and then it was Christmas break.

Do you think professional athletes are paid too much? Yeah, most definitely. It’s ridiculous IMO.

If you had to invent a new chewing gum flavor that's bizarre but you think people would still like, what would it be? The one from Willy Wonka - breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one, lol.

What is your favorite work of art? I like Starry Skies by Van Gogh, or Sunflowers. I just find him interesting as an artist/person I guess, especially after the Doctor Who episode about him.

What was the last appointment or plan you had to cancel? I haven’t had to cancel anything for a while, but I did re-arrange a meet and greet today for an hour earlier as I messed up my timings, lol.

What is going right in your life right now? Work is great, I’m doing a lot of riding, the weather is finally picking up AND I have four-day weekend next week.

What is going wrong in your life right now? I’m not getting enough sleep.

Did you do anything today that you can be proud of? I mean, it was just a normal day. I got up, worked 8.30-1pm, went for coffee and cake, came home, showered and I’ve been watching The Hobbit and messing about online ever since. Hardly anything to be proud of, lol.

What spur-of-the-moment decision that you've made has had the biggest impact on your life? Deciding to move up to the Lake District.

Do you know anyone who is (or has been) a refugee? No.

What is your best friend's worst habit? Leaving toast crumbs on the counters.

Would you ever want to be an architect? No, but I was interested in interior design at one point.

Are you currently stressed out about anything? Nope.

What was the last adventure you went on? I have absolutely no idea lol, I don’t really tend to do stuff like that much.