#just that they're missing a lot because it seems like all of the raw character moments with Keith are only shown properly to Shiro and/or us

[the-peak-tmnt]

I want to say that I like that your fic is mostly Raph centric because those fics are rare and he deserves more love and pain lol

Raph: Mom says it's my turn with the trauma

Thank you so much! I'm seriously so grateful for people who are willing to give a Raph-centric fic a shot!

I knew writing Raph-centric fic that's also a Mutant Mayhem fic was gonna turn a lot of people off from giving it a try, which I totally understand because I usually go for Leo-centric fics myself lol. It also doesn't help that Mutant Mayhem still isn't super popular.

But Mutant Mayhem Raph is an exciting new version of Raph that's been SO fun to explore, and I'm gonna go on a little rant about why I'm enjoying writing (and torturing) him so much!

[Initiating Raph Rant] So, almost all Raphs are tough guys who also wear their hearts on their sleeves, which is what makes him such a fun character. He's "the angry one", but usually also super emotional in other ways:

Because MM feels more like an actual teenager than most other iterations, his moments of emotional vulnerability feel particularly raw and relatable. I might be old as dirt now, but I do still remember what it was like to be a teenager still trying to figure out who they were and what they wanted in life.

Mutant Mayhem does such an amazing job of hitting on those teenage insecurities and desires. The turtles whole goal in the movie is to be accepted. All teenagers feel like outsiders and want acceptance at some point. That teenage desire for acceptance is amplified for the turtles because they're not just teenagers, but mutants as well. The moment where Raph's voice sort of wavers as he says "we're never gonna be normal" breaks my heart every time, because they're so sure acceptance is completely out of reach for them 😭

...but the MM boys do get acceptance by the human world by the end of the film. Raph even seems to find his place own at Eastman on the wrestling team in the post-credit scene.

I think this is what has turned a lot of fans off MM, though, because the turtles' need for secrecy and using their ninja skills to remain hidden has always been an integral part of the TMNT franchise. Personally, I actually love that departure from the typical TMNT format and talked about it once before.

But there are some traditional TMNT elements that I did miss in MM, one of those being the fact that in most iterations, Raph is an outsider even amongst outsiders. His anger is what alienates him from his brothers at times, and it often gets him into trouble. It’s also what almost always leads to his friendship with Casey (another outsider).

Tales of the TMNT isn't out yet, and we don't how this series will give Raph that traditional outsider treatment, or if it will at all. They could save it for Mutant Mayhem 2, but that's still years away. And even then they might decide not to go that route because so far, MM Raph's rage has mostly just manifested in a propensity for fighting & violence rather than interpersonal issues with his brothers & other people. His rage is even framed as useful in the final fight against Superfly.

So anyway...as canon stands right now pre-tottmnt/MM 2, Raph is an "insider". He and his brothers can have a life on the surface, and Raph even seems to have found his own place at Eastman on the wrestling team. Again, I'm all for this happy ending and a brand new experience for the turtles, but I was also missing my personal favorite flavor of Raph...which is angry and alienated lol.

After I saw MM in theaters, I started looking at a lot of the concept art and other production material floating around on the internet and I came across this concept art by Garrett Lee:

And it was like "oh shit, there he is! Outsider Raph!"

He looks so lonely and separate from everyone else here, and I was obsessed with this idea of Raph somehow still being an outsider even after the mutants were accepted by humans. But again, we're still waiting for tottmnt and MM 2, and even then there's no guarantee we'll get an Angry & Sad Outsider Raph out of either of those.

So I asked myself "how can I ruin MM Raph's life so that he's as lonely and miserable as he looks in this concept art???"

...and Reciprocity was born 😅

[yellowocaballero]

dude psyched ur reading orv, insanely curious about ur takes

My friend @charterandbarter put it best.

ORV is pretty fascinating to me. It's really just a self-insert isekai OP webnovel, and it is nothing else. Its medium is trashy and lowbrow, and its genre is almost devoid of high art. OP isekais are 'id' stories, meant to be satisfying and fun and contain very little of substance. ORV is a very well executed OP isekai - it contains the elements of the genre that make it satisfying, it understands why people read the genre and enjoy it, it reproduces those elements very well, and it is very concerned with telling an enjoyable story. ORV really, really loves webnovels and isekais and shitty wishfuillment stories. There's a lot more to ORV than the 'fist pump' moments of kdj doing something cool or pulling a fast one on a shmuck, but those moments are the undoubtedly the point of ORV, as they are the point of all SIOC isekai OP webnovels. And that's the point of ORV.

Metanarrative stories are cheap. Neil Gaiman's written 30 and millenials love waxing philosophical about the power of narratives. These metanarratives tend to describe stories as a theoretical framework through which we understand the world and our lives. Therefore, stories are tremendously important and valuable because they contain the totality of religion, history, culture, relationships, and lives. ORV says this too. But this theory tends to land at mystifying and exalting stories on virtue of them being stories, which I think misses the point. Stories aren't special because they're stories. They're not more sacred for containing our lives. What ORV says is that stories are important, because our lives are important. I like that a lot more.

ORV says that stories are our way of ordering a disordered world. A history, culture, nation, and religion are stories. None of those stories are true or real, because histories/cultures/nations/religions are constructs - they're how we interface with reality. They're created with a purpose, told for a point, pulled together into a narrative, and are satisfying or dissatisfying based on certain factors. ORV's perspective on fiction is deeply seeped in its own nature as 'low art'. There's something very cynical and commercialized about narratives in ORV, and every narrative in ORV is being told for a quick buck or to try and spread an idea for an individual's gains. It's a very unromantic, unimpressed view of narratives and fiction. It's pretty much the only way a SIOC OP isekai webnovel like ORV can talk about it without being disingenuous. And it's remarkably raw and visceral as a result, because ORV loves SIOC OP isekai webnovels like kdj loves yjh. Fiercely, insanely, like breathing, exactly for what it is. No pretensions.

It's bizarre, because ORV is about love. It's not about love for anything that deserves it. Not for a story with a lot of literary merit, a main character who is a remotely kind or lovable person, or art itself outside of its commercial or philosophical value. kdj really, really, really fucked loved TWS - because it was there, and because it lasted 15 years, and because it was fake, and because it was what he had. He loves yjh because yjh was his only companion in a dark world. That's fiction. Fiction helped him survive, because love is a way of ordering a disordered world.

I'm still reading myself, but ORV seems to be about how we manage to live in a hard world, and how to find it within ourselves to love each other and find meaning in that hard world. I see why kdj's the protagonist: he can find merit in something for existing, and loving it for being there, and he holds onto something because he has it. He sees the value in that. He read it in a book.

TL;DR: ORV is well-executed trashy commercialized art that is so obsessed with trashy commercialized art that it's looped straight back around into being somehow the most raw and visceral depiction of love I've seen in a long time.

[gay-dorito-dust]

Headcanons for Clive Rosfield with gn s/o reassuring him that he's a good man who does his best to help people despite everything he has gone through, they're proud of him, and they love him so much? With hugs and kisses too!

Clive Rosfield had to be one of, if not the most strongest man you’ve ever met in your life.

Yet you’ve found that the stronger the man, the more broken they seemed to be in due to certain circumstances that happened within their past.

A past that could still be felt to this very day as it clung onto your beloved’s soul, it’s claws digging in deep into him that you worried that you’d deal him more damage if you were to pull them out raw.

You wanted nothing more then to help your exhausted lover and thankfully a time did come where Clive needed your comfort and sweet words and even sweeter reminders the most in the aftermath of a nightmare;

‘What if I’m an omen of death, destined to leave a trail of dead bodies, friends and foes alike in my wake?’ Clive admitted to you under starry skies. Yet despite how ethereal the sight above was…the topic at hand was anything but. ‘What if by the end of this I wouldn’t have had you gravely harmed, whether it’d be by my hand or others because of me.’ He adds sombrely, clutching your hand when he felt it involuntarily twitch.

‘I don’t want to have to watch that day come to pass.’ Clive was whispering now as though if he raised his voice any louder then something awful would take place, and it wouldn’t even matter whether the inherent danger were to take place five minutes from your conversation or even going as far as five weeks.

For as long as Clive could sense danger, he would always on a subconscious have himself somehow incorporated into it one way or another. He truly felt the one to blame for every wrongdoing that was committed no matter the scale of it, he just felt as though all bad things tie back to him in even the most minuscule ways.

‘Clive,’ you gripped his hand tightly, ‘not everything bad is inherently your fault.’ You told him but you weren’t finished yet. ‘You’re a good man, regardless of what the past speaks of your character. You’ve done a whole lot of good since those dark times and done a whole lot of good for the people who felt as though they had no hope to hold onto, Who felt like they too were deserving of the wrongdoings that have happened in their pasts because they felt as though they didn’t deserve better.’ You raised his hand and pressed a dozen kisses against the skin there as you decided to hold his hand close to your chest.

‘You’re a good man Clive Rosfield and I will not stand in hearing you slander yourself on the pretences of lies and falsehoods.’ You said as you tug him closer so you could bring your arms to hold him against you as you began to speak your words against his ebony locks. ‘For the Clive Rosfield I know is a brave, strong man of many talents, and he’s a beautiful man with a gentle, kind and caring heart.’ You felt Clive relax further into you, as though attempting to drown himself in your warmth and your scent with how he noses it’s way from against your collar bone, and upwards until his head is firmly flushed against your neck where he would then find comfort in your pulse point as his eyes began to drift off at the sound of your soothing voice.

A voice Clive would rather die then to never hear again, whispering sweet enchantments that you call encouragement into his ear.

‘And I am proud, so very proud of my Clive that neither words nor any form of expression can begin to accurately convey of the magnitude of how proud I am of him.’ You whispered sweetly, pressed kisses now and then again his hair or any form of exposed warm skin that was within your lips reach to douse in a plethora of kisses, leaving not a spec untouched by your lips, and even as you pulled away, you could feel Clive’s body writhe as it began to desperately miss your lips; considering how determined your beloved seemed to press himself further up against you, you’d think that he was trying to imprint himself onto you in some form of way.

‘His demons may want him to claim otherwise but I wish for him to remember that he isn’t what they say he is, Clive Rosfield isn’t a monster, nor a death omen, but I know my Clive Rosfield and my Clive Rosefield is anything and everything but those words. He’s generous, brave, bold, and yes I do have to admit, a little stubborn and hardheaded.’ You admitted, chuckling as Clive removed his head from your neck to give you a look. ‘But, even though he may often claim that he’s putting me in danger just for loving him.’

You pressed your forehead against his, nudging your nose against his, smiling when he wordlessly reciprocated the action. ‘I’ve never felt more safer then I ever have then within his arms.’ You muttered against his lips before closing the gap and kissing every ounce of love and affection you held for Clive into that kiss in hopes it’d make its way to his soul. Humming in delight as you felt him practically bruise your lips with the force of his kiss that burned with a fierce passion that at some points you felt as though you couldn’t keep up with him.

You knew Clive had a whole lot of love to give to the point where it became overwhelming and consumed every action he did, from the way he protected others, to the way he was currently holding onto you as though you were the last flicker of light in his life; which you might as well be. His grip was firm and strong but while also being gentle and cautious as not to bring you bodily harm, because god knows Clive would never forgive himself if he was the main reason you were hurt, as proven multiple times where you had gotten hurt saving his ass and you’d awaken up with Clive at bedside, holding your hand within his larger and warmer ones; it felt as though your hand was trapped within the depths of a campfire. Comforting and warm.

‘What have I done to deserve you, my love?’ Clive whispered against your lips upon pulling away but consciously choosing to stay within proximity of you in hopes that your words and love would continue to rub off on him like they have for as long as you both been lovers. You smiled, bringing your hands up to his scruffy jaw, enjoying the prickly sensation that kissed the pads of your fingertips deliciously. ‘You were just yourself my star, I was just merely captivated by your beauty and the way you treated others as equals and fell deeply in love ever since.’

‘What about now?’ Clive asked you.

You pecked his lips, ‘I’m still falling my star, I’m still falling.’

[fantasticalleigh]

Rewatching old RAW from 2020 and it’s so interesting to see how the Randy vs Drew feud went down because there wasn’t that much intensity behind it so when they announced their Hell in a Cell match I just sat there like huh neato. But seeing how differently (and WELL) built the Punk vs. Drew feud was handled leading up to HIAC and all the emotion and excellent promos and hatred behind it is incredible. The difference is literally night and day (and Drew and CM Punk have chemistry for days compared to Randy vs. Drew).

Of course one has to factor in that the Orton vs. Macintyre feud feels like it was a lot shorter (I haven't checked to see how long it lasted but it definitely doesn't feel like 10-11 months' worth of content) and of course there was different leadership at the time AND it was in the Covid Thunderdome era so of course all that impacted the show heavily but it still has to be noted how much better one feud was executed over the other.

Also “I’m Randy fucking Orton and I demand the WHC title for the 13th time because I say so” is much much much less compelling as an opponent for Drew over “you injured me and halted my career for several months, then stole something precious from me and mocked my family, thus invoking the pettiest fucking man in the roster. It’s fucking go time.”

In 2020 Drew was a huge babyface, having come back and proven himself as worthy of champion status. He was a fighting champion and let anyone who wanted a shot at the title to try. He'd had his own irl hero's journey to make his way back to the WWE and got along with most of the roster and seemed well-liked by most. He was cocky but honorable and booked like a beast.

In 2023-24 so far he’s the broken down, deeply bitter, deeply angry man who’s been disillusioned by everything that’s happened to him to the point he’s turned into the opposite of what he once was. It’s been absolutely fascinating to go through the archives and see how he is such an opposite of who he used to be. He’ll blame everyone but himself for the challenges he’s faced and each loss he’s taken. He’s so determined to get back the gold, he’s blinded to everything else and doles out destruction wherever he goes. And Punk brings out the worst in him and he brings out the worst in Punk. They're holding up mirrors to each other fighting over who gets to say they've been wronged the most. They had months of slowburn where Punk was out injured and it was just Drew in the ring with a mic and it still delivered. And (though I haven't watched the Drew/Orton HIAC yet) at this point, having watched (and gone insane over the punkintyre HIAC match) I don't think anything can compare to that at this point.

There's more I could and would like to add to this but I've rambled beyond the point I set out to make so I'll cut myself off here.

(Must add the caveat that I know there are huge swaths of lore and character developments I'm missing from 2019+2021-23 and everything behind that. I only started watching WWE in March of this year and have picked through content to watch and learn from over on Youtube and Peacock. Currently I'm only focusing on all the RAW 2020 episodes but will continue in chronological order and maybe do the same for Smackdown starting in 2020 at a later date. There just...so much to get through... @-@)

[demodraws0606]

What is q!BBH's end goal with the Soul Vultures ? (and his plan in general)

I'm making this in turn because I'm frustrated with the "q!BBH will die and come back with no memories" theories purely because I feel like they're really unsatisfying from a storytelling standpoint. I also have been thinking a lot about q!BBH's plan and how it could all tie together.

I've been specifically thinking about what cc!BBH has been hinting with his character's dialogue with others and the smaller details.

Now I'm gonna get started with the obvious : The Soul Vultures

We know q!BBH has been letting himself get hurt by the Soul Vultrues HOWEVER there is a big thing people are ignoring about this...

q!BBH also kills the Soul Vultures after getting attacked by them. You can see that happen at the end of this particular stream, where he even says "all according to plan".

Now I think most people know at this point know this information about Soul Vultures but after having attacked something, the soul vultures become "bloated".

When a Soul Vulture is bloated they can drop a Soul Heart.

Now those Soul Hearts can be used to make a Soul-stealing potion which can grant it's user the same abilities as the bird but after seeing some people talk about it and thinking about it...

I don't think q!BBH has been using the hearts to make potions, I think he has been eating directly.

I'm saying that based on two major things. The first being that q!BBH's ability to eat literally anything has been shoved in our faces a looooot of times to the point where it has to come into play in some way. The second is that we never really see q!BBH with the soul-steal potion effect which...tbf isn't that much of evidence but I still feel like its important to mention.

Either way, weither he has been drinking Soul-Steal potions or straight eating the hearts raw, q!BBH is not just letting himself getting attacked by Soul Vultures for no reason. He is doing so to gain something from it.

There is also a huge detail that people have missed and it's that this particular stream and it's end is the starting point of when q!BBH starts turning blue.

Meaning what is making him turn blue is not just the Soul Vultures attacking him...but the Soul Hearts (or soul steal potions) themselves.

Now let's focus on the big elephant in the room, q!BBH's clear death flags and him seeming to plan his own death.

However there are a tons of things that don't make sense with q!BBH planning to die. We know he doesn't know exactly how to get the Eggs back so him dying to get them back doesn't make sense.

He also says multiple things like him planning to escape the island with the eggs which just ends up contradicting the idea of him dying in a literal sense.

I've said it multiple times that I him dying would be most likely metaphorical but I do actually think it's a little more than just that.

I've pointed this out in a theory thread before but q!BBH's skin went through a strange transformation

He went from being extremely pale almost like he was fading away or turning into a ghost..

However, he is turning opaque again, you can see his skin almost seeming to grow back (I have no better words for it) but...he is not returning back to how he originally was. He is still changing.

I decided to compare how he was before turning to pale to the skin he currently has right now.

Now of course q!BBH now is still more pale but I want to point out to people how q!BBH's entire hood changed hues.

They're still blacks and grays so it's a lot harder to tell but I screenshoted the color wheel after picking the colors on the hoods between the two skins. You can see an EXTREMELY visible difference between the two color's hues, in fact i'd say the values of the colors are the thing that are left the most unchanged despite the fact that it's the most visible difference.

I've said this in a theory before but I do believe this heavily implies that q!BBH has died or is in some kind of strange rebirth process. I do think it's still true however I think it's slightly more different than that.

I think q!BBH is dying through this strange transformation he is going through, I don't have any other better ways to phrase it. q!BBH is slowly losing more memories and has lost any sense of pain/smell. It's quite obvious that he is dying however I don't think him dying is gonna be just him keeling over and taking his last breath. I think this transformation that q!BBH will be q!BBH's death.

When the "transformation" is fully done q!BBH won't be q!BBH anymore but be replaced by something else. That something else weither it will be completely seperated from q!BBH or be just another version of him, we don't know.

Now let's get back to q!BBH's plan, how can this transformation be beneficial for his plans at all and how does it fit with everything else he has stated about his plans.

I think q!BBH's main goal is to transform himself into something stronger because, here is the thing, q!BBH has blamed himself constantly for the eggs getting hurt. cc!BBH has said it loud and clear q!BBH's main goal has always been the Egg's wellbeing.

However his plan also involves hurting the Federation severely leading to pose the question...which is it ?

(I also want to say since I don't know how to insert it organically into my arguments but q!BBH's plan is something he had before the eggs even disappeared meaning him planning to die to get the eggs back doesn't make sense if that's part of his plan)

But I think seeing that as a contradiction might be missing the point because we assume q!BBH's Massive Omega Secret Plan only has one end goal or that it's end goal isn't broad enough for it to fill multiple purposes.

I think q!BBH's end goal is to become stronger

q!BBH is going through this transformation on purpose to become stronger most likely by giving himself the power of the soul vultures. He is going through this transformation that will most likely "kill him" to become more powerful and thus being able to protect the eggs.

The question is where does the whole "falsely emprisonned" part of this come in, why does he want to be thrown into jail for something he didn't do ?

Well I think q!BBH by making himself go into the jail..is trying to make himself snap and fully finish that transformation I was talking.

He said himself that if he doesn't time his emprisonnement correctly it could throw his entire plan into the water. Possibly because if he ends up not actually triggering the transformation it would both be harder to get emprisonned again and also would end up wasting a lot of time.

Now the reason why being falsely emprisonned would make q!BBH snap and finish his transformation would be well....we know q!BBH holds negative feelings over being emprisonned. Him getting thrown in jail at the museum for something people had no evidence for (even if he DID do it) is something that still affected him.

I think q!BBH's plan basically is the representation of what he told q!Bagi about wine glasses. When glass is broken, you can't piece it back together, you have to melt it into another whine glass. Basically q!BBH is trying to make himself shatter to reform himself again into this new wine glass.

It also fits another thing that q!BBH has said to q!Bagi, about how sometimes death is just the beginning of something else (not exactly the words he said but i digress)

And that's my theory, I probably left out some things there but I pretty much said the basics on what I think q!BBH's ultimate goal/plan is.

[saturnniidae]

4, 7, and 14 for the Httyd ask game :0

4. What is your favourite type of dragon and why?

I can't narrow it down to one, but my top three are probably: Deathsongs, Stormcutters and the Boneknapper

Deathsongs because they remind me of rainwings from wings of fire (my first dragon media obsession) with the bright coloring and ear frills as well as the amber being vaguely reminiscent of the acid rainwings spit.

Stormcutters because I absolutely adore Cloudjumper. The way he moves (owl + dog like body language) is incredibly fun to watch and his design is gorgeous.

And the Boneknapper because I had an obsession with the special as a little kid as well as having a one in SoD, iirc. Also, the concept of a scavenger dragon coating itself in an armor of bones is badass.

7. Do you have any OCs? If so, talk about their appearance, backstories, and personalities.

No, unfortunately. I've not really been into OC making since middle school. Not sure what happened, but I kind of lost interest and shifted to focusing on pre-existing characters 😭 I'd like to make a Dragon Rider sona one day though if feel the inspiration to.

14. Which part of the franchise has your favourite animation style?

The first movie era, hands down. The rough, somewhat bleak (in the beginning, at least) gritteness of Berk's scenery, the textures and lighting, Toothless' original design (Cat-like, sleek, very clearly built for speed over raw strength, you can literally see the dust in between his scales) and the original designs for the all the dragons tbh, they feel more.. textured and wild (which I guess makes sense. Later, while they're still, very much wild animals they've become accustomed to being cared for. But still.)

And with the human characters as well!!! I love how much personality their designs have alone; Hiccup has crooked teeth and so many freckles, Astrid has really choppy, greasy looking bangs that she's always shoving out of her eyes, Snotlout's actually missing a tooth, and most of the kids have like, visible dirt on their skin and clothes.

I love how 'imperfect' the designs for all of them are!! And like of course they are!!! Like these kids were training to wage war against dragons! Of course they're gonna be grimey!! I dunno, I just feel like a lot of movies/shows aren't willing to have that level of perceived realism in their character designs. Httyd's cast feels so real to me despite how insanely stylized some of the characters are, and its an absolute shame they seemed to have lost that in the later installments.

(Hiccup's teeth magically get straighter, his freckles fade, Astrids skin is no longer ruddy, her hair looks like it's been shampooed or something, her freckles are completely gone and that's just the second movie. As it goes on the characters' designs and the world around them feels less full of life and more like shiny, plastic figurines. Especially Toothless.)

All the first movie era stuff has just a completely different feel to it that the rest if the franchise hasn't been able to replicate

Anyways, tysm for the ask! I had a lot of fun answering these!!!

[cookies4evry1]

Dreamlight Valley/ Twst Headcanons for my Ocs!

Basic Stuff:

- Both of them can change themselves quickly cause magic

- The power of Dreamlight depends on how much dreams and thoughts affect it.

- The more compound it gets more it crystallizes

- The main Dreamer Daniela the ruler makes the world it is. She created it when she was young child.

- When she split from the world she left behind a part of her making the Forgotten. Who was a perfect carbon copy, but she was missing a part of her. Leading into the events of the game.

- All of the Characters in the world have their own dimensions from where they come from.

- Some characters who died were brought to life though they don't seem to be the exact person.

- The ruler came to the world in a well, and made the castle there.

- Being trained by Merlin and some others in magic they are very proficient in spells.

The Ruler/ Daniela

- She'd love to oversleep in the morning and wake up in the afternoon. But sadly she has duties to do.

-Has a pet Crocodile named Marshy

- Loves to craft furniture and make flower pots. Her house is filled with flowers.

- She drinks two cups of coffee a day when the villagers need a lot of things

- Doesn't remember her childhood that much unlike the Forgotten

- She sees the forgotten as her own person and as a twin. (Obviously they look the same)

- Very rich as she keeps harvesting and selling Pumpkins on the regular.

- Tends to overwork and leave things to the last minute. But she makes it one time anyways.

- For some reason the villagers tend to surround her when she spaces out. She gets that they're concerned but she's imagining in her headspace.

- She was found sleeping in Maleficents house causing a huge misunderstanding with Merlin and the other villagers. It nearly caused a huge disaster (She and Maleficent were just having a sleepover)

- Never put her near any flying bugs, she'd would start to shoot fire everywhere.

- Likes to poke fun at Jafar

- Puts Coal in peoples houses when she's mad or disappointed in them. Gothel has a few which she placed on a shelf.

- Loves to sprint around she loves feeling speedy even if it takes a lot from her. (Because of this she eats a lot.)

The Forgotten/Yuu

-The forgotten named herself Yuu and left the forgotten title as her last name.

- She likes to make jokes on that which concerns Mickey and Minnie

- Tends to be forgotten a lot or not noticed that much since her footsteps are very quiet.

- The wings are very much real, and Yuu will fly around the sky when she wants to clear her head.

- Likes to experiment and befriend items.

- Has a potato farm in her castle somewhere

- Tried to eat a night thorn raw never again

- Loves to dress up and do her hair. (When your being evil you gotta look good)

- Likes to follow Daniela around when bored.

- Doesn't feel comfortable being near Gothel or Scar (She'd get really on the defensive)

- Really finds Minnie as a mother figure (Usually likes to hang out near her house)

- Yuu has a Raven friend who she enchanted to speak. Named him Charlie.

- Once boasted she could and would eat all the icecream in Remys restaurant.

- Avoids Olaf as much as she can

- Loves making tiny sandcastles in the beach

- Tends to forget important dates.

- Finds stupid looking fish cute

- Her cardboard wings and crown are hidden in a shelf.

- Loves Snow Whites pie and eats it in her room. While watching movies with Charlie.

Twisted Wonderland stuff in here!

- When she goes into Twisted Wonderland by accident she tries to summon a portal back home but changes her mind as she gets curious about it's inhabitants.

- Makes Ramshackle into a nice living space with a huge potato garden. She got green, red, and blue potatoes.

- She has a little issues when making new friends but She considers it as a learning experience.

- Keeps in contact with Daniela with letters

- She considers Ace, Grim, and Deuce has a younger brother figures

- She really likes Crowely's sense of style and made a similar looking hat and mask for herself, and a little hat for Charlie.

- She relates to Malleus sharing the love of icecream. Going off to try some icecream flavors she makes up in the experiment room!

- Dealing with Overblots is very tricky, but She always has Daniela in beck and call if things get too messy. But she mostly deals it fine.

- Yuu loves to talk to the portraits in the school and tried to enchant the paintings to give them a body to walk around with for a day. But that caused a whole ruckus and Crowley reprimand her for a while.

- Daniela finds Sebek adorable and very charming. Wanting to adopt him as he reminds her of a crocodile. Yuu doesn't get it but alright.

- Daniela visits sometimes for fun, trying to buy things from the world and make money. (Learning from the best Uncle Scrounge)

- Like Sebek Daniela finds the twins cute as well, Yuu at this point wonders why and gets very annoyed when the twins try to get into Daniela's graces.

- Yuu tends to go into a creative tangent when seeing Vil and Rook. Having many ideas fly away.

- Yuu finds Daniela in each dorm gushing at everything she'd like to make at home.

- Both become Therapists for the school unintentional.

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Have you considered uploading the spritesheets to Spriters Resource as well as fandom? It might make them easier to serch through, especially if fandom ends up being difficult to use as it's wont to do.

Oh yeah absolutely!!! I love spriter's resource and def want to get the images on there at some point for ease of use and downloading. I haven't done it yet just bc spriter's resource is a lot more picky about how you upload/submit/organize files (vs. wikia where you can just mass upload a ton at once), but once I figure all of that out, I'll definitely get those up on there.

In the meantime, here's a Google Drive link to all the images I've ripped if that's helpful. These are just the raw files (so none of them have any of the renaming I've done) and I haven't touched the organization so they're all stored in the original developer-named folders, but if you're looking for something specific + you're willing to do some digging it should probably be in there somewhere haha. There's lots of fun stuff like maps and UI elements, as well as the basic character portraits/spritesheets. (Quick note that I did remove a folder called "L10N" because it seemed to contain a lot of duplicates - I'm guessing it was the folder originally used for the demo assets. So if something's missing, might be because I got rid of that.)

And also as always, definitely feel free to take any of the files from here and do whatever uploading/submissions/etc. that you want as well! The images aren't mine to begin with hahaha, so definitely go wild and do whatever you want with em.

(P.S. I think it's becoming more well-known, but in case no one's ever used it before, brief propaganda for Spriter's Resource! It's a really cool (set of) sites that have a lot of archived assets for games. Spriter's Resource is for plain sprites, and other things go to the Models Resource, Textures Resource, and Sounds Resource. I'm especially fond of Sounds Resource because I've never found another site that has archives of video game sound effects, which are really fun for custom notification beeps and that sort of thing :) )

[dengswei]

I’ve been meaning to ask about the High & Low franchise since you seem to know about it. How heavily interconnected are all the different tv series and movies? Yes, I’m one of those Yuta-biased people that would love to watch the movie he’s in but got overwhelmed with the amount of content that precedes it. 😅 So basically can I get away with watching just that one movie (or that and the previous one) and still have some idea what’s going on or is there like ”previously on” type of summary that I can read/watch? 😅 I tried watching the first tv series a while ago but couldn’t really get into it so I don’t think I can commit to watching every single installment.

Hope you have a great day!

hii!! and you've come to the right place 🤣 you don't need to watch all of them to be able to understand it in my opinion they're definitely connected but not heavily connected. I haven't watched The Worst X movie yet so I can't be 100% certain if you need to watch The Worst before watching it but I'd say you probably should to get context especially on the characters since that's where they (other than the new ones) are mainly introduced. it's no thoughts head empty kinda series so you don't really need the context and can probably figure it out yourself 🤣

(more extensive explanation under the cut because high&low brainrot is real)

i'd say the high&low series is broken down into 2 parts and the worst is the second part so you don't really need to watch the prev instalments to understand the worst universe (if you wanted to watch the H&L 1-3 movies and/or the red rain move i would have a different answer because those are definitely connected and the 2 series also would give more context to those, but still aren't necessary to watch them) (just for clarity road to high&low is literally just a movie version of the first series)

the school in the worst movies is introduced in the earlier series/movies but only really todoroki (maeda gouki's character, if you've seen any of the trailers for The Worst X then he's the black haired character with the glasses) is introduced there and it does give his back story within those but that's not necessary to understand the worst movies, the earlier movies/series mostly focus on tokodoroki's dynamic with the gang leader at the time Murayama (YamaYuki's character, who you do see in The Worst movie but isn't as much of a leading character as he was in the series/movies that focused on the non-school related gangs)

there is a high&low wiki it's not extensive but it can give you some of the knowledge you might want to know about S.W.O.R.D & the school that The Worst/The Worst X focuses on without having to watch the previous instalments (sadly there's not much on the specific series themselves) & you can always ask me if you want any like context or something explained (though i do recommend watching them all but it is a lot so i can understand not wanting too, even i haven't managed to watch them all yet 🤣 mostly due to lack of access to subs & raws like i still need to watch 6 from high&low the worst so i don't know if it's necessary to watch that one before watching the the worst x but i don't think you'll be missing out on too much other than possibly some introductions to some characters, i know Morisaki Win's character was introduced in this series and he does make an appearance in The Worst X but most of the time when they do reference prev instalments it's in a way that makes sense even for people who haven't seen it, plus the worst x is said to be a sequel to the the worst movie so you shouldn't need to watch the series, am i just repeating myself now 🤣)

so in conclusion i'd probably recommend watching The Worst movie before watching The Worst X

i hope that makes sense

[phantomwisestory]

Blog Introduction: the Phantomwise tarot as story prompt

I have recently finished a huge creative writing project (Fateheart, my fan-sequel to Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea) and have found myself in need of some real recuperation and recovery in the wake of it. But I've also found my imagination to be ready and rich in a way I don't want to miss just because I don't have one big project to be throwing myself at anymore.

I also recently came in possession of my first deck of tarot cards. It is a deck called Phantomwise, designed by Erin Morgenstern, whom you may know as the author of The Night Circus, or The Starless Sea. In the latter book, a character (Mirabel) says of tarot cards, "they're basically stories in pieces that can be re-arranged." So seemed to make sense to start with a deck designed by the author of the book from which she was speaking.

The Phantomwise deck is beautiful: all greyscale illustrations, whimsical and evocative of a certain blend of innocence and darkness - mystical but with an edge of the folkloric. Figures themed around circus performers and fairytales, with a distinct flavour of Alice and Wonderland. The people in the images are costumed like performers, even when not holding props or caught mid-act. The settings are often murky with darkness and shades of grey from which trees and castles and animals emerge as strikingly as the swords and wands and teacups and pentacles.

The deck is based on the classic Rider-Waite tarot, but I know absolutely nothing about that, frankly. And, I'll confess I'm not much interested in learning.

I'm interested in the cards as Mirabel described them: as moveable pieces to a story. I'm interested in tarot spreads as ways of arranging those pieces in order to lay space for kismet to tell a story. To use them as intricate, moving parts of a story - like the dangling pendulums of a mobile, or the myriad lights of a chandelier. I want to put them in front of me and read them like they're a fairytale.

I've been thinking a lot about stories not as things we think up and build from scratch, but as organic, writhing entities we record for posterity as writers - existing beyond our imaginations, but illuminated by the words we are equipped with as they approach.

I'm also pretty burnt out from allowing one of the biggest stories I've ever encountered in raw form to slam through me and precipitate into its fully realised glory in a very short space of time. But I don't wanna stop writing.

So I've started sitting with these cards. Pulling them out in whatever order feels right. Staring at the pictures not thinking too hard about whether they are symbols or illustrations or just shapes and lines and shades. Letting the story shoot from card to card and link each suggestion into a web that may or may not result in narrative. Maybe it will just be a feeling. Maybe the associations will be arbitrary, maybe I will get no more sense than that, and the senselessness will be the story.

Then the first spread I did last week was so intriguing that it seemed to be politely demanding that I write it. I stared at the cards I'd drawn for a good few minutes, hearing the story in my head, seeing the way each figure connected with each other - feeling the different spaces of one vast, dynamic land in front of me, glimpsing it through these little windows of card on my bedroom floor. It seemed so connected - each card belonging to a distinct and unified world - that I pulled up my notes app and started writing.

I tried to limit it to three sentences for each card, as I had done a pretty ridiculously big spread - just to start to immerse myself in the feel of the deck, to get to know the world they suggested and get up close to the people in that world.

And the language of the world seemed to come readily. The images were vivid, the tableaux potent, the characters mysterious and intriguing and seeming, as they always do when I'm writing, to be pulling me along in their wake.

The chapter's worth of story I wrote up from that reading felt distinctly and truly like a beginning. Unmistakeably. So I titled the notes 'Phantomwise: chapter one', and went to bed. Then this evening I did another reading - a much smaller one - and tried to make space for it to feel like a completely different story if it wanted to. But the strength and unity of the aesthetic sense across the deck rendered that pointless - and I ended up writing chapter two from the cards in front of me. And now I like this project so much I'm making a little tumblr space for it to live beyond myself.

So this is the blog where I'm going to chronicle this creative process, and post the chapters. 'Chapters' should be interpreted as 'readings', by the way. These are tarot readings. But I'm not looking to divine the future, or anything directly personal. I'm trying to see if the cards will tell a story. If there's a way to lean into this position I've adopted in my creative writing of being a scribe, or a conduit, to an entity beyond myself, capturing it and recording is as faithfully as I can as I witness it. And these cards do indeed seem to be absolutely bursting with story. Thanks, Mirabel (or Erin Morgenstern, I suppose. Though I've never met her - I have, however, spent a fair amount of time with Mirabel).

I'm not claiming this is a supernatural art (I'm also not asserting that it's not): I'm actively exploring my own creative writing process using a physical tool beyond myself, dragging the process out of the arena of my own head and somewhere into the space between me and my real world, so that hopefully I can get to know myself better. Which seems to be at least part of what tarot is all about anyway, so that works.

And part of that is going to be chronicling the process here. And posting the stories. I can't guarantee that the story from reading to reading will be the same story - or that it will be coherent, or decent, or good. I'm just gonna post each reading as I write it - with no editing past a quick scan for blaring typos - and no mind as to the coherency or continuity of plot or anything else. I'm just following the rabbit down the rabbit hole and writing up wonderland.

I'll make a master post of Phantomwise chapters and link it here, and I'll probably post short notes separate to those chapters about each draw - if you're a seasoned tarot user, I apologise: I know nothing about traditional spreads or card positions, but from what I can tell of the ethos of tarot, it's as much about your personal relationship with the deck as how you choose to read it - and this is certainly a very fun (and very particular) way to get to know a deck.

Anyway. That's what this is. I'm not gonna box myself into an upload schedule for this either: if I post fourteen in one day, so be it. If I post exactly twice and never touch it again that's fine too. This undertaking is designed to nurture the weary parts of my creative brain and also to aid the discipline and structure of my writing process.

You just get to read it.

Here's a link to the Phantomwise tarot set on Erin Morgnestern's website (check out the art it's gorgeous)

Here's the master post of chapters I've posted so far

Here's my main blog (my name is Boogle)

Any questions, feel free to shoot them my way. No, I'm not planning anything or even really thinking about the story between chapters. They're just kind of happening.

By BoogleBoot

[glassmarcus]

Chrono Cross: A Reputation that precedes itself

*Played in April 2022, Written in November 2022,

I heard a lot of shit talk regarding Chrono Cross in the decade between me playing Chrono Trigger and it. No positive comment about it came without a caveat. It was always an enjoyable disappointment at best or a complete insult at worst. I heard nothing about it held a candle to the original. I heard it only weakened the world of Chrono Trigger as a whole. I heard only the music was solid and even then, Chrono Trigger still had the edge in that area. Yet. I still desired to play it. It was never convenient, so I didn't take the plunge. But now that the Radical Dreamers Edition has been released, my primal urge to complete franchises has awakened and has set its sights on Chrono Cross. And upon playing it, I can say for certain that all the bad stuff I heard about the game is basically spot on. Yea, no hot takes really. This review will not be particularly unique.

Chrono Cross is a bit of a train wreck. Party Recruitment is obtuse and for the most part pointless. The story delivers itself in the least digestible way possible. The looming threat of one shots makes defensive play seem required. The frame rate is bad and even worse with the "enhanced" graphics. It's never clear what's interactable in the world. You'll spend far more time than what is acceptable in multiple menus that are a drag to navigate. There's a misstep at every turn and while some of the remaster's features alleviate the sluggishness and tedium, it's not enough to release its true potential.

Despite all these gripes, I still would consider myself a fan of this game. It just has a vibe you can't really get anymore. There’s a moody ominous air about it, while also having no issue throwing goofy shit in your face without missing a beat. It gets a little up its own ass near the end, but I really think there's a solid blend of Edge and Levity throughout most of the game. It expertly toes the line and gets away with more than even Chrono Trigger does in terms of having schlock elements while still being a story you can be legitimately invested in. It has big Hell House energy. Probably more than even Final Fantasy 7. So many enemies and characters feel like they're from a different world, but because they are presented so confidently within it, you have no choice but to accept that they belong. These character designs with these dialects have the nerve to ask for your full attention with no reservations. And I have to respect that

While mechanically and narratively it drops the ball in a lot of places, I think there is a ton of merit to be found here. All and all, I'd describe the story as a bit trash by the end. Not valueless, but certainly not the type of story I wanted it to become. I feel like Cross wasted the intrigue built in the beginning and middle. It's not a spoiler to say that this game back loaded all its Chrono Trigger connections and these connections are the worst part of the story. Well, maybe it is a spoiler, but heeding my warning is more important than being blind on this game. If it implemented these connections throughout, it would still be kind of dumb. But at least the plot would be cleaner and I wouldn't have been tricked into loving the game in the beginning. Instead it blindsides you, revealing that it was secretly a hack job the whole time, a plot twist I really should have seen coming given its reputation.

But, there are moments which are Undeniable Peak Video Game Experiences and I can't help but look back at them and think about how raw Cross was in those instances. The branching choices the game gives you in the first act and the paradigm shift near the end of it are perfect examples of why video game stories are special. I popped off at the latter more than anything from Chrono Trigger. This game takes big swings, and when it hits it hits. And even when it grazes, you still feel the power behind it.

The gimmick of having half the cast of the game being playable is bonkers. It made the party bloated and undeveloped. There was no way all these characters would feel like they had any meaningful baring on the narrative, no matter how much time they had to work on this game. Serge, Kid, and a few others are the only ones who are important. The rest are jokes who you wouldn’t want to play as because there are only 3 party slots. Why use this slot on a character who at most has 1 side quest and otherwise doesn't effectively exist? It's not their story. Chrono Cross doesn't belong to 80% of its playable cast and by the end you have this huge party which should feel like close friends and family when it's mostly just acquaintances and 4th cousins.

Even so, I can’t deny the sense of adventure this perverse decision brings. One thing (of many things) I adore about One Piece is how you follow a protagonist going around the world, meeting colorful characters and forcing them into his found family. Any notable weirdo has the chance to join the crew and Chrono Cross elicits that same feeling. There's even a skeleton party member to complete this analogy. And if Cross can remind me about One Piece then it's definitely doing something right. Though you could also compare the cast bloat to Late One Piece too, so it might be doing somethings wrong as well. I had an issue with only 3 party slots back in Chrono Trigger. That had only 7 guys you play as and I felt I had less of a connection to some because I never had them in my party frequently. This game has 45 party members. I care about like 6 of them. That's kind of a big issue for me. There are moments in the game where you lose team members for an extended period of time. These have the potential for heart felt reunions with the friends you’ve grown apart from. I felt this sense of reunity with one character. 1 character out of dozens. Sure, I feel grateful about the reunion I had with that one character, but I can’t help but feel disappointed by the woeful dearth in kinship I felt for everyone else. It’s fine for some to get more focus than others, but there’s a disparity here that borders on hilarity.

Another big swing it takes is its world traversal. Instead of having multiple time periods with wildly varying geography and characters, Chrono Cross takes a more reserved yet more interesting approach by having two versions of the same time period. There's less variety this way, but it allows for more intimate exploration of the little space you have. Seeing how versions of characters differ between timelines and the subtle changes to the world hits a different part of my brain than the era skipping in Trigger. It's similar to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where the other version of the map is interesting because you are comparing it to the original. Seeing the changes and using those differences to progress is what gives you that time traveling feeling, rather than going somewhere seemingly unrelated and butterfly effecting your way to victory. I just wish this was executed a bit better. It feels pretty on rails til the end and there's only one spot where you can timeline hop, so it's a bitch to do. There's a lot of potential in this structure, but it yet again ends up paleing in comparison to Chrono Trigger by not taking full advantage.

The swing Chrono Cross takes which lands consistently is its combat. The battle system is fantastic. Everything in battle has a cost, but that cost only affects you WITHIN the encounter. Your attacks require stamina, which recharges by defending or swapping characters. Your magic requires combat points, which recharge by attacking. Your spell slots are one use only, but recharge after the battle is over. It's a very 'use it or lose it' type of game. It kinda works like old Vancian Dungeons and Dragons Magic where you chose your spells at the beginning of the day and they recharge at the end. Only with Chrono Cross they comeback after each battle. This allows for more interesting individual encounters as opposed to having a gauntlet of jobbers strangling your resources. Not necessarily better, but something I prefer and want to see more of. There's such a good flow to it and there's no stress at all because you end up wasting nothing in the long term.

Attack accuracy is a big part of the combat as well, and normally I hate that RNG being heavily involved in video games, but Chrono Cross does the impossible and makes it actually interesting. You have 3 basic attacks: light, medium, heavy. Light attacks cost less stamina, but they do little damage; medium attacks do moderate damage for moderate cost; heavy attacks trash enemy life bars, but cost a lot. The heavier the attack, the less likely it will hit. I thought this would be annoying, but it actually created an interesting risk and reward dichotomy. 2 heavy attacks and 1 light attack will do way more damage than 7 light attacks, but you will probably miss one of those heavy attacks. There's a combo system implemented which incentivizes you to go light->medium->heavy as each hit increases the accuracy of the next. It has a built in Bread & Butter Combo by default. But this is usually not the optimal way to deal with the issue at hand and certain situations require certain combinations to maximize damage or build combat points. It fucking rules. It's like if Xenogears combat had meat to it rather than just looking pretty. It's not perfect. The Magic the Gathering field magic shit is pretty pointless most of the time and makes the final boss more obtuse than it needs to be. Cross is starving for dual techs which were my favorite part of Chrono Trigger combat. There aren't enough encounters that push you to master the system. But honestly, aside from the music, the combat is the one thing that actually doesn't look embarrassing compared to Chrono Trigger.

When looking at this as a Chrono Trigger sequel it gives a less than favorable impression. It does some cool things with the universe and themes, but also some head ass stuff that is ultimately detrimental. Chrono Cross is a game with a heavy duality motif. So it's fitting that Chrono Trigger is both a sequel and not a sequel. It seems like the intention was to make Chrono Trigger a Final Fantasy II situation. Similar elements and branding, but completely self contained. Then somewhere down the line it decided to not be self contained. I can only assume that this is some quantum event which split us into two timelines. One where Chrono Cross isn't a sequel and one where it is. We are in the timeline where it is. The problem timeline. The one that shouldn't exist. One where the franchise was brought to a halt and Chrono Cross is vilified as an insult to a masterpiece.

But in parallel, there could very well be a world where Chrono Cross is actually respected as something different. A game that neatly ties up all the interesting plot threads it sews throughout the adventure. Or at the very least fails in a less pathetic way. Maybe this makes Chrono Trigger fans less brackish. Maybe this leads to the franchise continuing, not as a linear story, but as a series of vignettes outlining the perils and theories behind time manipulation. That timeline sounds like one I'd love to be a part of. Should I be anguishing over the reality we have been robbed of? Should I accept that this is the way things are and give in to the flow of time? I don’t know and probably never will. These are the kind of questions Chrono Cross ask and I was too confused by the last handful of hours to notice if there were any answers. But no matter what timeline you belong to, I'm confident in saying that it's worth your time. Because there's a lot worse things you can be in this world than a decent game that isn't as good a Chrono Trigger.

[goldlock1]

~ideological state apparatus theory~ & la la land

I love this theory so I just want to talk about it! Basically, it's the idea that film is a vehicle for the dissemination of an ideology that reinforces the control of the dominant class. Mainstream cinema would have us believe that it is doing its best to represent real life, and Bazin would say that this is cinema's most important aim. Colin MacCabe, however, thinks that cinema is not equipped to represent reality because reality is something that just...isn't representable. He's fighting against this idea we tend to have of films being real and raw and emotional -- and I would tend to agree with him. i think that there is something that a lot of films are missing when it comes to emotional integrity. there's something about a lot of them that i just don't buy.

at the same time, i also think that films affect us emotionally because we have accepted our position as the subjects of the film. We relate to the characters and their experiences. we fall into the trap of being affected and inspired.

Perhaps one of the most powerful methods of inspiration is music -- or, for our context, the movie musical. And since we're talking about reality here, I'm going to talk about the 2016 film La La Land. I think it's a film that represents reality in a very convincing way, through the emotional appeals of its songs and dances and harkening to a more nostalgic era of art. But I also believe that it is trying to convince us of a capitalist falsehood: that belief and hard work in your dream will one day be enough for you to actually achieve it.

This scene, like many others in the film, is one long, deep take (an important element of Bazinian realism), in which we are actually experiencing time at the characters do -- pay attention to how the camera moves, and who the camera is focused on. Listen to the lyrics of the song.

Without looking at it too closely, this just looks like the opening number to a feel-good musical (which on some level, it really is, and it's ok to take pleasure in it). But let's look a little deeper. I believe this clip employs some method of subversive realism, in the sense that we're not following the story of any one character for too long: it's what MacCabe refers to as "a systematic refusal of any such dominant discourse", like in Van Sant's Elephant. We're seeing a very mobile camera, and even the cars are blessedly normal (Pontiac Aztek amirite). So in this sense La La Land is shaping up to be a bit of a subversive realist film. The rest of the movie also contains elements of it -- we see people dancing in the air among the stars, we see alternate realities, we see reflexivity in a scene where all but one of the actors are frozen in a tableau.

Personally, however, I think that these elements produce the opposite effect of subversive realism. Within the context of this particular film, they actually draw us deeper into the narrative, and this opening number "hooks the eye, the heart, and the mind. And once it snags you, it keeps getting better" (Variety.com).

This opening scene is so compelling because of its ensemble nature, where there seems to be no dominant discourse. But that's where it gets you! Because while we're introduced to different characters, distracted by the bright colors, we simply accept, and even delight in, the fact that they're all singing the same song: therefore, perpetuating a unified discourse or IDEOLOGY. This is where it gets fascinating. We're in horrible Los Angeles traffic. It's hot. It's boring. Yet everyone breaks into song and dance, glorifying life in traffic under the hot California sun, the endless dance of sacrificing everything to chase a dream that probably won't come true. One could even say it's glorifying the American dream, this idea that if you just work hard enough, if you want something enough, you will succeed.

In this manner, we are swept into a romantic notion of hard work, one that keeps us working and working and running this Pontiac Aztek of a country steered by the bourgeois class. This is the ideological capitalist falsehood of La La Land. The main characters achieve their ultimate goals -- albeit with the sacrifice of the life that could have been -- but we don't ever see those hundreds of dancers again, people that didn't achieve those goals. We don't get to see the reality of sky-high rent and working three jobs to make ends meet while you're waiting for the big break that never comes.

This is not a love letter to the life of the struggling artist, it is a romanticism of that life. Our main character, an aspiring actress, only has to work her one job at the coffee shop to afford her gorgeously decorated 791-square-foot apartment, and eventually shows up to the one-in-a-million audition for a role she's already been cast in. it's the dream of every person dancing on their car in gridlock. It's the reality for almost no one.

But damn if that scene isn't inspiring. And it's made more so by the fact that our main character does make it. The trap of inspiration can be a comfortable one. I know it is for me -- I'm someone who's deeply affected by ideological state apparatuses like film and theater and music, and there isn't any shame in that. Because even though they are perpetuating ideologies I may not subscribe to, i find there is some grain of truth to them.

they are art, after all.

[the-firebird69]

John riverlord must have found out where the stuff is going and ratted on Tony f and it's a retard way and they do it to each other and he's threatening to try to radiate turkey that Ken and I would eat and at Bob Evans

Zues Hera

It was at the Bob Evans in Port Charlotte that he wants to try and do this and we are on it a lot of people are now because he did it on TV and people are sick and tired of seeing our friends threatened on TV and his mom and everybody else it's ever connected with him and he's a shitted and they're going to threaten the s*** out of him and tonight he does something bad to Mac and some others his grandson and he starts getting the s*** kicked out of him and it doesn't matter then answer Jason and to Lily and by the way inside mom is another idiot it's Jason and he's a radiating her and him and to her it's a it's a pleasant gift if you get something like 20 minutes and kicks the s*** out of him it's a little bit bigger not much big time not necessarily song and she tries to find some gets a big heaping handful of a bunch of them and is eating out of a tray let's meet and it's raw hamburger and about 3 minutes she puts on weight he's more so yeah we'll sit down like a wolf and she does that's why I just in case she does she goes out beats about says Matt come pick him up and he does and tries to hold him he can't and she escapes second 9 ft tall as is pretty beefy s*** like 5 lb no like 20 lb and Jason's inside having a field day calculating his money and all stupid stuff and they're stuck in it and he thinks until the video sort of and no it's before that but that's where it is right now and he goes in and out and grows real fast then he loses it he gets it

Now what John remillard doing is doing is very legal illegal not legal and he's going to go down some people hate him and here he is is a different doctor Christian Park and he's in one of those other characters and he's screwing around with people again she already escaped. So the idiot wants to mess with our sons supplements he says so I'm messing with his and he's getting sicker and sicker all the time he falls Dead all the time and keep doing it until he stops doing it or is gone

Thor Freya

Tonight is got a bunch of appointments and yeah many times in California doesn't seem to want to make them the first one is at 8:30 p.m. and she missed it the second is at 9:00 if he misses it we just clear out his board and him and they say that occupied they're not doing much they just screwing around with our son. And we have indication that he doesn't want to show up to any of it and we'll just take it over and the conditions or whatever we say and it's a hostile takeover so it doesn't matter we just buy a stock up and he can't do anything about it you can try and buy stock when we're not going to sell it to him so his socks are on the stock market yeah and he can't privatize it cuz he doesn't have control and share so the minute the Bell rings tomorrow and it's 9:00 a.m. New York City we buy up his chairs I got to do it for other companies but these are important because it's about investments and it's about the stock market

Thor Freya

[brostradamus]

hi! typically i wouldn't counter anyone on opinions but since op is allowing folks to counter, here's my take on butter roll cookie note: ill be looking at all the cookies w the lens of them being neuroabiguous (or just. not specified whether they're neurodivergent or not) . also providing screenshots 2 back up my points. i promise yall this is a lot shorter than it seems. ALSO ONCE AGAIN.. spoilers for part1 of the lab storyline. to start, I don't think he really comes off as condescending to his researchers. I think the only instances of him seeming like he might come off as condescending is when he's speaking to researcher cookie 2, and says this:

or when he's telling researcher cookie 1 to dispose of the batch 98 (which i'll get to l8r)

but, here's the thing. Butter Roll Cookie, yes, is a peer and fellow researcher but he's also their director. He ultimately has more experience in working with cookie dough than his fellow researchers, and what the researchers might find important might not actually be all that important to their goal. Like researcher cookie 1 coming to BRC in fear that they messed up the past batches of dough due to excessive salt (despite the salt actually being needed + this also shows the researcher's inexperience in working w/ dough) or the researchers creating a raw dough monster and getting excited about it when they're trying to make cookie vessels for the beasts. Butter Roll's job is to guide and lead his team with baking cookies, and ultimately he knows what leads are best to follow + which ones to disregard. some may see this as condescending, but i PERSONALLY see this as him being a guiding hand to his researchers. secondly, there's only one instance I can find of BRC talking about DE, and it's this scene. also note!!! the definition of erudite is to have great knowledge/be scholarly. its definitely not an insult to her character.

here he's not putting her down at all. He's simply stating that her goals just cannot be achieved on her own- which is true and i'm sure she knows it too (but would just never admit it). And then the discussion of her turns into a discussion of her experiment - which he does take note of the ingredient DE mistakenly left out, but only to emphasize how her creation still lives despite a missing ingredient. Then he says that whatever she left out could be important to how they can make the perfect dough recipe. This does not seem very shit-talky to me, it more seems like he just wants to find out more about her experiment to aid in his experiment.

Now with BRC ignoring how uncomfortable Licorice is with seeing raw dough. I can understand Licorice not being comfortable with seeing raw dough, but I don't think it's BRC's job to make him feel more comfortable or even care for all that matter. Licorice Cookie can remove himself from the situation if he is so uncomfortable, no one is forcing him to stare at raw dough. He is not even touching it, except for when he's cleaning out beakers ( and even then, he probably has supplies specifically for cleaning dough since its probably considered cookiewaste/biowaste) Now for asking Matcha about her missing ingredient. Yes, i think it is rude of him to be asking even after she tells him to mind his own business BUT I don't think he's asking to be rude, or antagonizing. He's asking for research. I think its really clear that he's asking for research too, as he spoke earlier about wanting to know the missing ingredient because it could help them make the ''perfect raw dough''. now about batch 98. i think BRC, though it seems heartless, was... right to throw away / dispose of batch 98 (but tbh they shouldve done it a lot better. if theres one thing i can criticize him on its his waste management jesus christ.) i think BRC says it best.

I think it's important to take into consideration that despite them having "state-of-the-art" equipment and resources, they're still limited. If they tried to rehabilitate or save it, and it be a waste - it wouldve wasted precious time and resources that they may or may not have. Or if they did try to save it, and it somehow worked - what wouldve happened to the cookie that came out of it? we don't know. Now we have Matcha being upset about BRC calling batch 98 a failure - she has every right to be upset! It would be extremely upsetting and potentially triggering to hear what she heard, especially if batch 98 reminds her of herself. In my perspective though, she's upset though because of how much it parallels (?) her own relationship with DE. Butter Roll Cookie and his failed experiment, batch 98. Dark Enchantress and her ''failed experiment'', Matcha Cookie. I think she's feeling bad for batch 98, because it was thrown away/disregarded just like she was by DE (or atleast its implied). Now after Matcha Cookie runs off, Butter Roll Cookie only has one thing to say about her after she leaves. here's how the conversation goes.

then afterwards, the other researcher cookies interjects to talk about the life powder level going down an entire notch (which btw, is because of matcha. she stole the life powder) now yes, he does mention her missing ingredient again - but only to say that she's probably trying to figure out what her missing ingredient is too. (though he does say shes ''probably'' spying. which i can see how it can be seen as shit-talking to some) now for the last point. I really think that this is a matter of perspective. Matcha cookie has a meltdown, and tries destroying the equipment/research. Butter Roll Cookie calls her meltdown a tantrum, and has her restrained while he ensures the dough they just perfected is placed into a beaker where it can proof. That is exactly how the scene plays out. I can't say whether one is in the total right, and the other is in the total wrong because this scene kind of has a lot of nuance to it! Obviously, restraining a person who is having a MELTDOWN is fucking terrible, and people destroying things during meltdowns is something that is completely normal and happens. But I don't think BRC is a bad person for wanting to protect his research and the lab equipment - even if he had to protect it in a way I would consider unsavory (i.e restrain matcha). tldr; i think butter roll cookie cares more about research than literally anything else. that's it tbh. he is a research-oriented man.

UNPOPULAR OPINION;

butter roll cookie gives me the ick.

some reasons below (spoilers for pt1 of the laboratorium storyline);

condescending toward his fellow researchers, even if he hides it with sweet words (this is disputable, I can see how the way he treats his coworkers could be taken differently)

spreads gossip about dark enchantress cookie to make himself look better (a pretty scummy move)

Ignoring how much Licorice Cookie feels uncomfy when he's near the raw dough, glossing over it by talking about his own craft (this isn't actually that bad, at least if Butter Roll Cookie wasn't aware of how uncomfy Licorice feels, but if my interpretation holds any truth then he's doing this purposefully.)

Asks Matcha Cookie about her missing ingredient even though she's CLEARLY uncomfortable and doesn't want to talk about it (borderline abelist! like asking a neurodivergent person what part of their brain is missing! And he doesn't even back down when she gets upset..)

Makes his coworkers dispose of batch 98 because it was an 'utter failure' and doesn't even try to rehabilitate or save it in any way (also calls something a failure when matcha cookie is RIGHT THERE - failure is probably a triggering word to her)

Talks crap about matcha cookie when she leaves after she is CLEARLY TRIGGERED by the dough being disposed of (also talks about her 'missing ingredient' again!!!)

Equates Matcha Cookie's meltdown to a tantrum (something you DO NOT DO when trying to console someone whos about to have/ in the middle of a meltdown)

In conclusion; Butter Roll Cookie is scummy and a borderline abelist, but hides it behind professionality, and a friendly/encouraging facade.

thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

(feel free to counter me :))

[sun-daisies]

euphoria 2x04 you who cannot see, think of those who can

ok well everyone (that I saw in a 10 minute scroll through the euphoria tag tonight) is upset with tonights ep of euphoria and I personally fucking loved it so here's my episode breakdown (spoilers under the cut)

keep in mind this is just my raw thoughts, no editing, my brain is oatmeal and I don't have my film analysis hat on, so this is probably going to be really messy.

first of all reasons I think everyone hated this episode:

no lexi and fez, which is funny to me because when the promos were coming out everyone was confused and upset that they were putting them together in the first place (just an observation!)

SO much cal jacobs. omfg.

jules and elliot

uhhh probably the mouse thing

^ yes, these are valid reasons to be upset. I get it. I do. I dont care about mouse and im so sick of cal. jules and elliot was A Choice. I miss lexi centric scenes (and while im not sure fez is the right choice, I still think they're cute while they last).

BUT. I think this episode is a huge turning point for basically a majority of the characters and here's why:

1. rue. obviously. she's over her head in her addiction and she's got so much unresolved trauma and pain that she doesn't know how to deal with - we literally see it in the scene with her dad in the church. we've seen her scream at and threaten her mom and blow up at her sister and now we're seeing her addiction leak into other relationships - first ali last episode, now jules. AND the ending of this episode, is she dead? did she die? earlier in the season I was genuinely concerned that she might not make it through this season and now im REALLY thinking she didn't. and that's absolutely tragic, and I really hope that's not the case. but if it is, then it becomes first and foremost a haunting reality of addiction that we don't see a lot in media, and second a really interesting character moment for jules and elliot in particular as they grapple with their guilt and find ways to grow and move forward. if it isn't, then we still have the mess with the suitcase of drugs to deal with, which is going to be SO MUCH WORSE than this.

2. cassie. oh dear, cassie. the guilt is literally eating her alive and this girl is absolutely in the trenches of a nervous breakdown. I've seen a lot of people complaining about her arc this season about how stupid it is that she's trying so hard to get a guy's attention - but it's SO real. she's a high school girl without a dad. all of the attention she's ever received was for her being pretty or sexy or whatever. she doesn't feel seen or validated unless she's getting attention and this breakdown she's going through is as a result of it. (side note sydney sweeney needs an emmy for this season omfg)

3. maddy. she's recovering from a toxic abusive relationship and im really really hoping she comes out of this season knowing she's better off without nate. I feel like I have less to say about her because she's fairly straightforward as of right now? she's always been super confident, and right now she's sort of having this internal struggle of going back to nate (the evil she knows) or letting him go. and while it always seems like an obvious choice on the outside, leaving an abuser is the absolute hardest thing to do, because you still love them and you still will always think it'll be different, you'll believe them when they say they've changed. it's a cycle, and her arc right now is about breaking from that cycle.

4. nate. sigh. yes, nate. he's getting a TON of development this season and... I'm not mad at it. I still don't like him, but I do sort of sympathize with him. his arc is grounded in his relationship with his father, how his dad's abusive behaviors have affected and shaped him as a person. and it's clear that he doesn't want to be a part of it - he wants to grow up and leave the house and start a new life and not be anything like his father. but this season we're seeing just how similar they are, and I guess the reason we're seeing so much of cal's past is because it really does echo in nate. both are clearly into men, raised in toxic households, internalized homophobia, childhood trauma, and have developed angry abusive behaviors as a result of not being able to be themselves. and I think cal's breakdown is big for nate's character arc as well, because unless nate addresses his own trauma, he's on that same trajectory.

5. jules. let's just recap for a moment: jules' mother actively abuses drugs and alcohol - this has strained their relationship to a point where they no longer see each other. and if I remember correctly her mother relapsed and ended up in the hospital after visiting her before halloween? don't quote me on that. subsequently, in her special episode she expresses that she's terrified of being responsible for rue's sobriety. loosely she even says "what if she relapses and im not there?" and in the first episode of the season she finds out that rue relapsed the night jules left. and tonight? she finds out that rue hasn't been sober the entire time (and has been lying to jules). ALSO jules is self harming again SO-

6. kat. an episode or two ago I was SO happy with what they were doing with her, the whole "love yourself" scene was just perfect - and I think that's defining a lot of her character this season. she's sort of a blank slate. she started s1 as sort of this introverted person who did a lot of living in a world she created (cough escapism) - first with her fanfic writing, then when she changed and started with the whole porn thing. and she went through this huge moment where she reinvented herself but it still wasn't really her - she was sort of living as her own 24/7 character, like armor, or what she thought the world would want from her. and now? girl's still pretending. she's living this forced relationship with ethan and she's miserable in it. see where im going with this?

anyway other cool things from this episode:

visually stunning as always but this episode really blew me away

third jacobs brother???? seen in the portrait cal takes with him. actually so wild??? i saw someone saying that they might be hinting that nate's responsible for the brother's death, i'm not too sure yet? i need to let it ruminate. i think it wild. I saw someone suggesting that they might be hinting that nate's responsible for his death. I'm not too sure? I need to let it ruminate a bit longer.

LABRINTH and the whole church scene was AMAZING

lexi quietly observing in the background, I'm just waiting for the episode where she puts it all together and becomes the active character she's en route to be rather than the passive character she's been the whole time

I think a huge part of this season is finding who you are as a person. these kids are coming of age and none of them really know who they are - rue doesn't know who she is without drugs, kat straight up has no idea how to describe herself when asked, a lot of maddy's teenage years have been defined by her relationship with nate, cassie doesn't know herself enough or can't stand to be alone with herself and is subsequently breaking down because of it. this episode shows them at (what I can only hope is) their lowest points, and I think after this we'll start to see them learning and growing.

hopefully.

and finally, a thought:

I really, really hate that everyone (the viewers) is dragging everyone (the characters) through the mud for their actions through the series. like "jules is the bad guy," or "cassie's dumb af," or "can't stand rue this episode." my favorite part about this series is that the characters are allowed to be human - to be teenagers that make trauma-related mistakes and fuck up and say shit they don't mean and be impulsive. like??? rue is over her head in an addiction and she acts like an addict - ruining relationships, choosing drugs over her friends and family every time. cassie craves attention and needs that outward validation to feel seen because it's all she's ever known. remember her episode in s1 where even her relatives were calling her "sassy cassie" and hugging her a little too tight and telling her she's beautiful and she's gotta be getting all the guys and all that? all of these characters act upon what they perceive is true, based on past childhood trauma they're navigating, PLUS the fact that they're still young and navigating all these intense teenage emotions and impulses and experiences. it's just frustrating to see people thinking so black and white about who's good and who's bad when they're all just fucked up kids trying to make sense of the really fucked up world they live in, you know?

anyway, that's just my thoughts on this episode, because personally I loved it (even though it was A Lot.)

[kithtaehyung]

DESTINYYY oh my god i finally get to respond after a busy as hELL two weeks! but here we go there are a lot of screams under the cut bc IVE MISSED YOUR COMMENTARY SO MUCH

Okay firstly, did I spend the entire chapter flip-flopping from happy tears to sad tears (also a very shell-shocked horny comatose state)? Obviously.. and I'd do it again too because HOLY FUCK this was a lot!!

yeah... i have no real explanation for this. just gonna quickly say that i did warn y'all about the amount of content in the actual warnings HAHA like it was established from the jump!

THE CLIFFHANGER???????? 😫😫

BYEEEEEEE I KNOW

'm just gonna say it babe, the second they stepped foot in his apartment was nothing but absolute Filth, but in the very best way.. goddamn, I swear he was so 🥵🥵🥵 my brain had a hard reset, like guuuurl he was a menace for that slapping shit 😳 just imagining that damn smirk ughhh.. the shoes? The desk???? The intimacy? Dude 🥺 (Seriously though, it was so cute and absolutely precious the way they're so comfortable with each other now, and the playfulness made me feel like my heart was going to burst in both heartbreak and pure adoration.)

OK SO YOU GET IT. yoongi was on something else entirely this time and i am damn sure reader was all swirly eyed and dumbstruck in the very best way. all the slapping?? you were one of the only ones to recognize that and i was like "finally yes someone else is suffering with me bc of all the cheek pats fuuuuu!!" don't even talk to me about the smirking and desk and playfulness all in one. it's just too much to think about.

Nothing but pure adoration for you too, this series has come so far and it's flat out impressive as hell how attuned you are to your characters. These backstories feel so rich and real and raw, you can't help but feel part of the story. All of these conversations were so needed, I love getting to see them finally be vulnerable with each other, it's definitely been a long time coming.

oh wow! thank you so much for saying this about the actual characters and dialogue and everything<3 i love feedback but this type of commentary is very very appreciated. i'm glad they seem real bc they're real to me, too. and the vulnerability here even after all that time? dear god i love them.

I ALSO CAME HERE TO SCREAM BECAUSE YOU DIDNT HAVE TO SNATCH MY LUNGS FROM JUST LIKE THAT "“I got us,” he vows, finger on your chin.." hmmm? care to say something for yourself??

ADJHHF WHENEVER YOONGI SAYS "US" I GET BUTTERFLIES FR🦋 

I'm not even gonna touch on the sibling talk too much because that definitely hit deep, but I feel like that was a really good showcase of how much they both have matured? Not perfect, but definitely on their way there and I love that for them. Part of me lowkey wants this cliffhanger to be him finally putting the pieces together but I'm waiting for him to make her sweat and then pull some "so you're seeing jungkook? 🤨"

the sibling talk was super personal to me, and looking back i'm like "damn i wonder if this was too much.." but it's real. like tbh some of these same conversations are ones i have had with my sibling, but we are also at that point where they are in which it's just pure "fuck it, we made it" so. that part was easy to write but for a sad as fuuuck reason.

definitely not perfect. they still have a ways to go, but they're human just like us. it's gonna take time. especially with the situation they were dealt.

My nerves are too much! I swearrrr you just love keeping us in fight or flight smh. That or you're really going for the immersive reading experience 😂

ASFHDSLFH just where i like to keep y'all HAHAH but you know i love you!!! i do also want the reading to be as immersive as possible. like i really do want this story to be somewhere you can go when you just need to escape. bc it's that way for me, too. thank you so so much for reading, my love! apologies for the very late response!

busted (3tan) (m) | myg

title: busted  pairing: 3tan!yoongi x reader(f) , jungkook x reader(f) series: masterlist | three tangerines | fireworks | house party | basketball | stay | sidewalk talk | friends | dalo | like that | anytime | sundress season | yoongi’s interlude | forfeit | flutter | video call rating/genre: m (18+) ; angst , fluff , smut ; brother’s best friend au, implied age gap au summary: when things go a bit south at your house party, decisions between you and yoongi have to be made. note: well. here we are, y’all. it’s been quite a long time, but we are back to regularly scheduled programming :’)) thank you to everyone that has supported and encouraged me throughout this whole process – and series, for that matter. i couldn’t have done this without y’all and the next part is already in the works. also i cried a lot writing this lol have fun! note 2: happy birthday, hedgehog! and to colourless and nicki and whoever else had birthdays recently, consider this my gift to y’all! warnings: language, the amount of content itself fck i’m so sorry, parties, alcohol consumption, tense situations, shoving, obligatory yoongi on the phone, ch*king, head/hair pulling, reader has a pain kink and it shows oops, angst, overthinking :((, penetrative s*x, chains but come on now, protective s*x, cowgirl, or*l (m/f rec), edg*ng a ha ha, thro*tf*cking, kissing :’))), kissing D:, did i say angst?, bro😵‍💫, but also bro😭, jungkook gets a warning too, yoongi’s jeans are as ripped as he is heyo, hitting from the b b back, yoongi king of consent sheesh, multiple org*sms, spitting lmfao, sl*t/wh*re mentions, yoongi jfc lol, the aftercare y’all i–😭, the ending🧍  drop date: june 9th, 2023, 7:17pm est  word count: 18.8k gdi

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