#kinda? spot is canon but this is my version of him all grown up ..

[gordon-furman]

adrian at the beach with his son, spot

[cpulysses]

I dont think I ever poster my Whipped Cream Cookie obsession here bcs at the time I would "consistently" post I was also obsessed with We Happy Few but oh my DAYS!! HES GETTING A SKIN. HES GETTING STUFF HES GETTING SO MUCH FUCKKNG STUFF IM SO EXCITED!!! So I'm infodumping all here

OK first of all were starting from the beginning. when i was born anyways when I was like 13/14 or something around that age and on a bigggg road trip with only me and my dad, I was feeling super bored. Me and my friends just finished a roleplay we had so we were speaking in a groupchat and my boyfriend mentioned trying a Cookie Run roleplay! We all joined but I was the only one who stayed, everyone left immediately because their favorites were taken.

BUT NOT MINE!!! I really liked Whipped Cream Cookie, when I picked up the game again after a really long time I just looked at him and decided yeah that one and oh my god why did that like change the trajectory of my life. He wasnt taken and I knew jack shit about his lore, but I picked him up and later on Cyborg Cookie too

I wasn't... heh... known for my whipped cream..! 🤓! But I still really liked him, people liked how I wrote his dialogue, but I was cooking so well with Cyborg Cookie that theg were the main focus really, eventually I decided to connect the twos lore for fun! I knew like all of Cyborgs lore except for stuff with the future skins really, so I just interwove Whipped Cream as someone related to their past in a way where Cyborg makes that stupid pink egg Whipped Cream has, and Whipped Cream just kinda found it and was like this is FIRE! and Cyborg was like noooe :( Thats basically it shortly put but I had a lot of fun roleplaying the two and found my best friend ever while in that server and now were big and grown and :3!!!

But yeah, I basically ONLY have good memories with the character. I continued to grow to like HIM, when the server was sadly deleted I ocified him and Cyborg alongside other cookies, with my friend also taking them in as ocs as well. And I grew more attached to my ocified Cyborg cookie due to how different they were to the base, but my ocified Whipped Cream Cookie could never fucking take the wheel. I love him sure but canon Whipped Cream just always had a special spot for me, my friends literally told me they've never seen someone so infatuated with a character while barely posting about it online or anything (now here i am) or just in general so captured by a character, he was like my fucking mascot to my friends, they'd see ANYTHING with him in it and send it to me, to the point where I wouldn't be shocked if I've seen almost every fanmade and canon Whipped Cream cookie thing like in the world

And for part of that massive fixation I knew jack shit abt what lore he actually had 😭 I knew small things and then again all he really had was small things, but I didn't know all of it. Then randomly on his wiki page I was doomscrolling and found a link to an article all about him! Not an article just a long google doc, but thats where I learnt a bunch and could look into the Dessert Paradise and all the characters to know how each connect and know more about him and I was very joyous,,, I was content for SO LONG. Just knowing he was a fellow brownskin who loves ballet and pink, with my little headcanons. Now I knew real shit I felt like the man.

And now me, one of my friends, and my boyfriend are all ocifying some of the Dessert Paradise cookies that we see as family ^^ So like Sugar Swan, Wind Archer, Fig Cookie etc etc. I wish I knew who made that Whipped Cream Cookie document but if your out there just know you changed the trajectory of my autism for life. I won't say more I'm already rambling so much, but I love Whipped Cream with all my heart and this update has me so so excited because I've had dreams of being on my fuckjng death bed with one wish and wishing for an update about him. Its bad.

BUT!! I will draw him and my ocified version more to post here and on Twitter even if nobody gaf bcs i gaf. I love him so dearly I've grown with hum through time the span of like 4-5 years just because I randomly pointed to him and went that one!! And moved on. I could legit die happy now. Like my life is over this is my peak. My peak.

[lollytea]

I originally started following after the first trolls movie.

You haven't posted trolls in the while and maybe you don't keep up with the media at all.

but if you do, it would scratch an itch in my brain.

What do you think of Guy Diamond's son, Tiny Diamond? Like Jade vs Tiny Diamond is kind of a whiplash huh?

What do you think of branch's brothers????? I'm just so curious b/c ur headcanon content is very tasty to me.

Haha! All of my trolls brainrot has been effectively purged. The kind of things that I'm interested in have varied so far elsewhere that I really can't sink my teeth into this franchise the way I did when I was 19. Its a universe that doesn't really take itself all that seriously and functions on saccharine surrealism, which is fun to watch for an hour and a half, but I can't really get invested in it. Its just not what I vibe with anymore. And if I'm just not interested in staying long in the world the characters inhabit, I'm just not gonna think about it much.

But! I do watch the new trolls movies when they come out, mostly cuz I love Poppy and Branch and its always nice to see them again. I appreciate that they've remained three-dimensional characters throughout all three films, and their wide range of emotions are taken seriously, in spite of the overall goofy tone of the movies. And as I said, the world itself can be fun to sit in for an hour and a half.

Nobody needs to know my overall thoughts on trolls 3. But the short version is that I didn't really like it and will probably never watch it again. But there was a lot of talented designers, writers, animators etc. involved and I like to appreciate the bits of magic they brought to it.

Tiny Diamond is....certainly a bit. His character is just. Being a bit. It's not a bit I find all that funny (baby with a grown man voice), so I really don't feel anything about it. Except for Guy Diamond giving birth out of his head, like the King of the Gods, producing his noble daughter Athena. I feel a lot of indescribable emotions about that.

Diversity win! The trolls franchise has mpreg!

Anyway, point is, Tiny Diamond was the first of MANY characters that the sequel films fired at us. It's made it all feel....a bit crowded. There's just a lot of bitches to keep track of. And they dump all of them out in front of you in the span of one film that it's hard to get particularly attached to any of them.

I don't even have anything to say about Jade, except I was transparently more into the characters than the world when I was 18/19. Jade was an OC that existed (almost) solely in the Human AU. I didn't give a shit about troll Jade obviously. I didn't develop him all that well and have no real emotional attachment to him anymore, so I don't really feel anything about Tiny Diamond becoming his Canon counterpart. Tbh I think it gave me an interesting glance in the mirror. With Jade, I had strayed very very far from the trolls' goofy ridiculous vibe. The introduction of Tiny Diamond was a humbling experience agsbdjnk.

I quite like Branch's brothers! It's the kind of info that makes me wish they revealed Branch had brothers seven years ago when I was going absolutely insane about trolls. I love sibling relationships. I would have had so much fun with it. Like throwing new toys into a baby's playpen.

But unfortunately the info has dropped in 2023 and I am 25. Sad face.

But still, Branch's brothers are neat. I like that their designs are all distinct but they still have the family resemblance you'd expect of brothers. I like that John and Bruce are fat. I like that Clay is all gangly and peaky looking. I like that they're all well meaning but kinda unintentionally dickish for refusing to acknowledge Branch as anything but a baby. I like that Floyd was a very sweet nurturing big brother and Branch still has a soft spot for him twenty years later. I like that Floyd is a twink. Yippee.

I think Bruce is my favourite, mostly cuz I had the most fun during his segment of the film. I love the puppet land. I love his big puppet wife and puppet children.

To be honest, as soon as I finished watching the movie, I began losing memories of it at a rapid rate. This is just what I remember. Okay byeeee <33

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s2 ep4: Elogium

I was kinda dreading this one, and it still gets more cringey to watch every time I see it.

While addressing the future prospect of Voyager needing to become a generational ship is a valid theme to explore in an episode, it could have just been a secondary subplot that Janeway and Chakotay's little ready room chat covered just fine on it's own. Revolving a whole story around whether a teenager should have a baby with her grown ass adult boyfriend is just, oh my god, wtf?

Neelix treats Kes terribly, he yells at her almost every episode, he's possesive, he's jealous, he's dismissive of her feelings and abilities, and this episode was the first time he ever apologized for his behavior, and we're like, 20 episodes into the show already. Add in the fact he's old enough to be her dad, and it's just like, why was this ever a thing? Why were they ever a couple? Who thought it was a good idea or a good story that the audience would enjoy watching? It's insane. And then the writers hit us with 'should they have a kid together? Even though she's not technically not even old enough to go through her species version of puberty?' EWWWWWW!!!! NOOOO!!!!! Why would you write that?!?

Ocampa lifespan nonsense aside, Kes canonically being a year old and having to decide whether to have a baby is just so icky. Sure, there are times in real life where people might have to have sugery to remove a reproductive organ, and they'd have to decide whether to have a baby now or never, which could be interesting to explore in drama. But that's a concept to explore with a character who's already a grown up. If elogium doesn't happen till 5 or 6 for Ocampa, it's clear she's still closer to childhood tham maturity among her people, so putting her character in this situation is gross and unfair.

Watching it, I kept wondering: doesn't she have any women friends she can talk to about this before even bringing her shitty boyfriend into the picture? Half the ship must be women, are all her friends really old dudes? They shrugged it off with 'the captain is too busy right now' but like, Kes has no other female friends besides the captain?? Really?? (I'm still salty that she and B'Elanna never even talked more than once for a few seconds in 1 episode out of 20.) And sure, it's her decision- her body, her choice, after all, but isn't anybody looking out for her and helping to advise her at all? Nobody is saying to her, hey, you probably shoudn't have a baby with a guy who doesn't even trust you?? Like, damn, after Tuvok hears that line from Neelix about 'I don't have anything to teach a daughter! It's different from having a son!' he should have bopped that combage like: "Tuvok to Kes- girl, get out now. Dump his shitty sexist ass. You don't want to have a kid with this asshole, you can do better. Harry Kim is single and literally right there." (Tuvok provides the only bright spot in this episode when he tells Neelix about how much he loves being a dad, and schools him on his illogical assumptions about gender. Tuvok is the good space dad we deserve!!)

And then there's the whole elogium itself, with starts with off with a creepy horror scene of Kes eating bugs (which was really gross btw). Kes basically turns into a feral animal, she has wild mood swings, she's eating everything in sight, she's sweaty and sick looking, her eyes turn into creepy yellow lizard eyes- it's just a whole litany of negative stereotypes of pregnancy or menstruation taken even further by making her almost literally a monster. Who thought it was progressive to treat a female character's reproductive process as a scary horror movie? There's ominous music playing in the background of all her scenes, even though the scene where she's eating everything she could find was actually being played comedically by Jennifer Lien. They could have made it a cute comedy scene instead, but no, we have to hammer home that women are scary monsters. It's really insulting. Can we stop othering and demonizing normal biological workings of people's bodies please?

To add insult to injury, in a story that should have been about Kes, we spend most of the time listening to Neelix whine about it being too much for him to handle that Kes asked him to have a kid with her, not knowing what he wants, and the last scene is him being all disappointed when she decides not to have a baby right away, even though she's basically a teenager. Oh my god, now we're supposed to feel sorry for Neelix? Who didn't even want a kid until he got talked into it literally yesterday, and who wouldn't have to deal with any of the physical consequences of childbearing? Nope. I don't feel sorry for him in the slightest. Kes had the infinitely worse dilemma here, and she got literally one scence to explore her feelings about it, while he got, like, three.

Even the B plot about the swarm of space creatures, whose presence causes Kes's premature elogium, is riddled with gender stereotypes. As soon as the ship begins to be attacked by a larger one of the creatures who sees it as a sexual rival, the crew all starts referring to that creature with male pronouns, with absolutely no evidence of what it's sex is at all. Apparently the writers thought big and aggressive automatically equals male, but scientists from an enlightented future would never jump to that assumption.

And to cap it all off, in the final scene, Ensign Wildman, in her first episode, comes to basically apologize to Captain Janeway for being pregnant. Why? Now, I like Ensign Wildman, and the baby plot too, but this scene was weird and nonsensical- why does Wildman seems nervous to the point of being afraid to tell her captain she's pregnant? Starfleet people have babies all the time. Do they all have to personally alert their captains? And why would the captain care? Starfleet can't fire you for being pregnant (especially in the Delta Quadrant lol). And she's justifying why she's happy about her baby to the captain- why? Does she think the captain is going to order her to have an abortion because they have a 'no babies in the Delta Quadrant' policy or something? It makes no sense. It's the 24th century for heaven's sake, you better believe that 'your body, your choice' will be enshrined in every Federation world's constitution, or else it isn't any kind of utopia at all. Don't tell me people still have to feel guilty or ashamed for being pregnant, or fear a negative reaction from their boss, in the 24th goddamn century! (And I'm now headcanoning that Ensign Wilman's husband's species must have a really long gestation period if she got pregnant before they left and she's just found out in the beginning of the second season. I suppose the time elapsed in the story is supposed to be less than the real time the show aired in, but still, it's a bit of a stretch.)

Tl;dr: This one is deeply uncomfortable to watch, and bogged down in misogyny from start to finish.

[nanatsumu]

HIGH SCHOOL!SUKUNA x F!READER

thinking about bad boy itadori sukuna who all the kids at school try to steer clear from because they know he’s bad news and if you get involved with him then you’re bound to be tied with bad luck for as long as he lives. well, that is everyone except for the president of the student council who so happens to be his childhood best friend turned lover.

this is mostly written for my own self indulgence and to project my fantasies of having a boyfriend onto sukuna but feel free to treat this as any other headcanon! ps i am pretty sure canon sukuna would kill a baby at any given situation, but this is going to be a revamped version of sukuna written by yours truly ;) and its a high school au so sukuna won’t be a complete menace to society and will actually have a heart heh

also i didn’t realize how long this was going to be??? this is kind of all over place too because i just wanted to throw all of my thoughts onto this post so there might be some plot holes in this LOL

i feel like sukuna would be the type of bad boy who isn’t necessarily a bad boy but everyone at school just paints him as some kind of delinquent because of all the tattoos and piercings he has.

he actually shows up to school more often than you think he would (but that’s only because you’re in most of his classes so long story short: you’re his only motivation for attending class)

“forgets” to bring his work books to class more than usual (in reality he does this on purpose so he has an excuse to be near you) so he requests to sit next to you the entire class period so he can share with you for the meantime but whenever the teachers not looking he’ll go back to admiring your face.

his older twin brother, itadori yuji, is very fond of you since you three grew up together and you both had your chances of being a victim to his antics!

exhibit a: in middle school when you and yuji were watching tv together, the show you two were watching would keep switching to some wrestling match broadcasting on a sports channel and no matter how many times you turned the tv on and off, it just would not stop. but it wasn’t until you heard snickering from the kitchen that you realized sukuna had a spare remote and was the mastermind behind the whole thing.

exhibit b: sukuna and yuji’s mom was the owner of a bakery so every now and then she would have either one of the twins come deliver freshly baked pastries to your household! oh how wrong was she to trust her youngest. sukuna was now a freshman in high school, and by now you would’ve thought that sukuna would have grown out of his childish phase, but WRONG! sukuna was still a menace in your life even past childhood. so when you bit into one of the macaroons, instead of being hit with the overwhelming taste of [favorite flavor], all you could feel was the burning sensation of wasabi kicking into your tastebuds.

yeah after the whole wasabi macaroon freak accident, you stopped accepting everything sukuna offered to you and opted to only eating pastries out of the boxes that yuji delivered to you. (sukuna eventually caught onto this and was just TEENSY bit upset but he would rather down a whole tube of wasabi than to tell you upfront)

now, how did you two even end up dating??? oh boy now that is a story

you see, yours and sukuna’s dynamic growing up was similar to that of tom and jerry’s— you being jerry and sukuna being 10x worse than tom of course

but it wasn’t until a confession after school behind the cherry blossom tree that was known for bringing good luck to successful confessions that sukuna finally realized that maybe he really did like you just a little lot bit

sukuna overheard the boy who was planning on confessing to you talking to his friend group about how “sweet and caring” you are (although sukuna could argue otherwise, you were a little brat. *LIKE HELLO?!&:&:& YOU WEREN’T THE ONE WHO ATE A MACAROON FILLED WASABI**) and obviously his ears perked up at the mention of your name. he grew up with you after all so naturally he would be interested in a conversation that revolved around you.

but then the boys started going on about how “you looked like an easy catch” and how “your body was bangin’!” yeah no, that’s where he drew the line. sure sukuna was an ass and talked shit about you most of the time (in his defense it wasn’t like he was doing it behind your back) but if he ever caught someone else talking about you like that then he would be sure to give them a hard time.

he hid behind one of the bushes near the cherry blossom tree while the boy was professing his love for you. funnily enough, for a moment sukuna forgot why he was originally there because he was too busy trying to stifle a laugh as he watched the boy stumble over his words.

“okay shows over” sukuna thought as the confession was reaching its conclusion, but just as he was about to step in and give the poor boy a piece of his mind, he stopped in his tracks when he heard you roaring with laughter.

“did you really think that i wouldn’t hear about what you and your friends said about me earlier? you’re really pathetic if you think any girl would be easy enough to fall to her knees for you because news flash! you’re a disgusting pig and you deserve to rot in hell for speaking about a girl’s worth like that.”

“it’s kind of sad too, i thought you were a nice boy and i probably would have given you a chance but it seems like you’re even worse than scum! damn it, to think there was somebody out there who’s even worse than sukuna.”

of course sukuna was not pleased to hear that last bit, but he did have a proud grin forming on his face as he watched the boy run away, flustered from your rejection and the embarrassment he was put through.

“sukuna i know you’re hiding behind the bush.”

“huh? i came here way before you got here, there’s no way you could have seen me.” he said as he stood up to his full height.

“well, your laughter isn’t exactly the quietest, plus i can spot that hair of yours from a mile away.”

lets just say, sukuna was glad you didn’t ask him what he was doing there because he wasn’t sure if he could spare the embarrassment of telling you that he was planning on ruining the confession.

after that whole fiasco happened, sukuna started to feel(!&:&::&) things

like he started to notice how you styled your hair differently one day and how you switched to a new perfume that smelled like spearmint (was that weird? for sukuna probably not. he just excuses it as being highly observant)

you weren’t dumb either, you had a feeling sukuna was there that day of the confession because he too had overheard the conversation between the boy and his friends as well (you knew he was prideful and if you brought it up then he probably would’ve denied it)

so from there on out it was just mutual pining at the point except... well.... not really??

i feel like it was just an unspoken agreement between you two that you guys were “together” but not “together together” because he started to treat you differently than he would before. like for example, he’d carry your bag for you whenever you guys would walk home (yuji was confused by this at first because if anything, it would have made more sense to see sukuna make you carry HIS bag, but he eventually caught on to sukuna’s feelings for you because they were twin brothers after all), he started walking you to class more often even though his class was all the way on the other side of the school (you asked him why but he just shrugged and said he was just “killing time” so that he wouldn’t have to go to class and then you ended up scolding him), and there was also that one time you miraculously found a $20 bill in your backpack after mentioning to sukuna that there was this cute top you saw at the mall the other day but didn’t have enough money at the time to purchase it (you asked him about this but he said it was probably yuji, but you didn’t want to pry any further since you wanted to cherish the fact that sukuna cared that much)

but eventually you got sick of this whole push and pull game that you physically had to tug the collar of his school uniform and pull him in for a kiss (he was visibly shocked at this because he never would’ve imagined you as the assertive type. not that he was complaining though)

“oya? didn’t think you liked me this much kitten.” he said laughing while you rolled your eyes.

“as if, i got tired of you being a wuss so one of us had to wear the pants in the relationship.” you snorted, causing him to irk.

to be honest, your relationship with him is smooth sailing because you both were pretty chill people and you didn’t have to worry about him sneaking behind your back to see other girls because 1. literally all the girls at school are terrified of him and 2. he knew what you were capable of doing to him if you were to ever catch him cheating on you so he wants to stay on your good side

jealous and possessive don’t exist in his dictionary because he is the epitome of those two words. remember what i said about how your relationship is smooth sailing? i kinda lied.

he’s easily jealous like for example: when you were in english class and the teacher had you guys jot down some notes, you realized you forgot to ask for your pencil back when you lent it to your friend last period.

so you asked sukuna to borrow a pencil but instead of giving you a pencil, he called you an idiot for being so forgetful.

this makes you mad so you turn to your male classmate since he was sitting on your opposite side and ask him for a pencil instead.

sukuna was practically fuming the entire class period and once the day ended and you two were back at your place, he made sure to mark you real good. (oh he also went out to buy a pack of mechanical pencils to sneak into your backpack so that next time you forget your pencils, you’ll have 10 extra pencils sitting in your backpack as backup)

he’s not a big fan of pda in public, but on the chances he will show some of it, the most he will do is wrap an arm around your shoulder or waist whenever some dude is trying to hit on you.

BUT IN PRIVATE? better buckle up because your in for a ride wink wink

really likes putting hickeys on you to a fault! but will never put any visible ones on your neck because he doesn’t want your parents to view him as some kind of animal (but he has nothing to worry about because your parents really like him and are grateful for the fact that he’s very loyal to you, and you guys grew up together so it’s only natural that your parents are accepting of him since they already know he has a good heart underneath that tough facade of his)

oh, and yuji starts learning how to knock whenever you come over (or shuts himself in his room for the meantime if he thinks it’s unsafe to step out of his room) because chances are, you’re probably making out with sukuna in his room or smth.

now onto the spicy stuff

when you and sukuna first started dating, the first thing you told him was that you weren’t ready to have sex yet because you were nervous and sukuna understood and told you that he was willing to wait for whenever you were ready.

but when you were ready though, it was kind of spontaneous and you weren’t even wearing a matching pair of bra and underwear that day

you two were chilling in your room watching some stupid (according to sukuna) animal documentary when suddenly you felt his hand on your thigh

dating sukuna and all, it was normal for him to have his hands on some part of your body (whether it be your thigh or your waist) while you two were in bed.

but you were feeling a bit bolder HORNEE than usual so you began to leave a hot trail of kisses starting from his jaw all the way down to his neck.

sukuna obviously got the memo but before those kisses could escalate into something more daring, he asked you once more if you were completely sure you wanted to do it and once you gave him the green light, he was quick to tug his shirt over his head and pounce on you.

he started getting really into it though and accidentally bit your thigh which made you loose your high and scold him for it, but he let out a hearty laugh and muttered a quick apology before getting back into business

sike i lied, remember what i said about it being spontaneous? yeah, you technically didn’t loose your virginity to him that day because after he finished prepping you, you both came to a realization that you didn’t have a condom.

oh well, there’s always next time!

i think sukuna is a sucker for pet names: his favorite thing to call you is either kitten or princess and that’s it LOL he finds calling you baby or babe is a bit too cheesy for him

but he likes it when you call him baby or babe ;)

date nights consist of either staying in and cuddling in his room, going out for a walk at night (but very very late though. there’s still lamp posts that guide your way through the streets but it gives you the heebie jeebies to be out walking outside so late. sukuna always reminds you that nothing bad will happen as long as he’s right by your side), or just spending time with you and your families.

but if you’re really down to do it, he’ll probably initiate a make out session that’ll lead to y’all fucking one way or another (he only ever does it if he is 100% sure that you’re feeling it because he knows you get easily embarrassed if he asks you straight up)

(this part is mainly written for me because i love the idea of sukuna being over at family functions, but it can be applied as part of the general hc heh) if you took him to any of your family functions as your plus one for the first time, all the aunts and uncles would be a bit wary of him at first due to all of the tattoos and piercings he has (sukuna swears he has never felt so self conscious before) but after they strike up a conversation with him and find out that he’s actually a good guy who knows what he wants to do in the future and is very loyal to you, they start to like him more.

your little cousins adore him and love it when he comes over because sukuna is a very tall high schooler which makes him the perfect candidate as a monkey bar

so when you noticed that all the little ones started to climb on his body and mess around with his hair, you were quick to react because you knew your boyfriend was easily irritable which prompted you to think he hated kids

but there was nothing to worry about because when you saw him playing around with them and even crack a smile, you felt your heart grow fuzzy at the sight and you knew right then and there that you wanted to stick by sukuna’s side for the rest of your life

and in the unfortunate circumstances that sukuna is too busy to make it to one of your functions, the first thing everyone asks is “where’s your boyfriend?” or “where’s ‘kuna? i wanna play with him!”

so you have to facetime him and let him know that everyone is wondering where he is (your phone is dead by the end of the night because after the adults get their turn at saying hi to your boyfriend, the kids snatch your phone and end up talking to him for the rest of the night)

but in conclusion, everyone is waiting for the day he gets on one knee to propose to you and your parents are itching to get to get call sukuna their son-in-law :))

also don’t forget that your parents want two grandchildren: one boy and one girl!

[starstruckkittensweets]

Hi Star 👋🏼

Omg, so I know I left comments on the latest chapters, but I had to come here to sing some praises too, because holy hell those chapters were amazing!!! 😩 I just love your writing so so much, and I will forever be grateful I stumbled across AWWW last year. It is by far one of my favorite Levi fics EVER, if not right there at the top. The detail, the world-building, the characterization of Mia is all just so fucking perfect and I’m always in awe whenever I read a new chapter.

I love Mia and her character so so much. She just gets Levi, and that’s one of the things I love most about her. She understands him, understands how he is, and it’s so freaking sweet and adorable 😭 the way you’ve inserted her into canon is AMAZING. She fits so well, as if she were made to be there. Her personality meshes so well with everyone else. Her insecurities, her flaws, her virtues, everything about her is so damn relatable.

All of the things she’s gone through, yet she still keeps going, and it’s such an admirable quality of hers, her resiliency. Yea, she still struggles, has her ups and downs, but it’s not “blink” and everything is fine again. It’s a constant process of working through everything, and with the support of her friends and Levi, she’s able to keep making progress. I think that’s part of what makes her such a beautifully well-written character.

Also, Levi? Yea your portrayal of him is so perfect and spot-on. I think different potential partners/lovers for him will bring out different sides of him, and I love the side of him that Mia pulls out. He has these moments where he’s just so sweet and affectionate, but in a way that’s utterly Levi and I love it.

And holy shit the smut between them 🥴🥵 you write their steamy moments so well, and it’s always fun to read. The progression of Mia moving from where she was at the start to where she is now was a blast to read. The slow-burn honestly killed me but was well-worth the wait. It just made sense for a character like Levi, and a character like Mia too.

Anyways, long story short, I love love love this fic, so so much 😊💜

Scarlet you have NO IDEA how happy you make me whenever I see you in my inbox! I read your comments on AO3 on Sunday when I was having a kinda cruddy day at work and immediately they made me feel so much better! And then I look to see another message in my inbox from you 🥰

First off I hope you’re having a lovely day/night, and I hope you’re taking care of yourself! Are you drinking water and getting lots of rest? I hope so! ❤️💞❤️ (sorry for being the “mom” friend, I guess it comes naturally!)

And now, onto my reply:

I’m so so thankful you stumbled upon my story too! Reading your comments and hearing your constant support and love for Mia and AWWW has been such an inspiration for me to keep going with it! Usually I write for myself but it’s another thing entirely when you know there’s someone out there who loves reading this story just as much as you love writing it. Mia’s character has always been my baby, and I’m so grateful that even after all this time (and months and chapters and events in the story) you still root for her! She’s changed a lot since the first chapter of AWWW and it’s nice to look back on those days to see how much she’s grown.

Mia’s resiliency is probably her core trait, the one thing about her that will probably never change. No matter how many times she falls or fails, or how many times people tell her “no” and belittle her or try to make her feel a certain way, she’s always going to get back up and keep fighting for what she believes in. Sometimes it’ll take her some time to recover and heal, but she’s determined to push through and be the best version of herself she can possibly be.

And that’s where Levi comes in—a constant wall of support, and yet he has the brains (and mouth) to tell her to slow down or stop when she needs to. And in return she does the same to him; they ground each other, they’re each other’s weight in this world. They support each other and protect each other, and they’re not afraid to let the other know when they’re upset or when they need some extra affection (although it doesn’t always come out the right way)! Their communication was one of their weakest points in the beginning, and I think it’s gotten so much better over time, as they’ve gotten used to how they both work in this weird little relationship of theirs.

Yes! I do agree that different partners pull out different sides of Levi, and there’s a lot of unexplored territory that gets to be revealed as they grow alongside each other! That’s why I love to read fics for him, both Reader and OC, because every author has their own interpretation of him and his character. And there’s a lot of potential there to create powerful character moments and situations that allows both Levi and the reader/OC to grow as people—not just characters, but people. And I’ll be honest, the sweet and affectionate side of Levi is just too precious and quite a few of those moments are purely self-indulgent! (Especially the forehead kisses—oh to be kissed on the forehead by Levi himself...)

And I’m so glad you enjoyed the smut too! (Honestly when I saw your comments from Ch. 58 I thought “ooooh boy I can’t wait till Scarlet gets to the next chapter” 😏) This has to be one of my favorite scenes of this story to write! Not just because of the smut, but because of Mia’s somewhat “reclamation” of herself and her relationship with Levi. We’ve seen it before when she asks him to return to the sweetheart nickname in Ch. 55, but this way is much more physical and intimate. They know each other so well at this point, they know their strengths and weaknesses and what to expect from each other. They give each other space and time when they need it. And after everything they’ve been through for the past few months (almost a year in the story) they’re finally at ease with each other, enough to trust each other with what they once had. And seeing them reclaim that for themselves was so much fun to write!

The slow burn nearly killed me too, though! 😅 Writing it was so painful at times, and I remember thinking to myself “oh god it’s Ch. 40 and they just kissed, I have like 28 more to go before this story’s done”. But i think it was all worth it in the end! Sure there were long chapters where we were all just screaming at them to get together already, and a lot of that comes from my fears of moving the story and their romance too quickly! But there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a slow burn romance finally reach its peak, and seeing these two lovebirds have a few moments of hard-earned peace with each other.

Alright that’s the end of my rant Scarlet! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the story and Mia’s character and everything else along those lines! And I promise I’ll get to your AO3 comments soon, I wanna answer them in-depth as well! Always a pleasure hearing from you my dear 😘 take care and I’ll see you soon! 🥰❤️💞❤️💞

[waystobuild-blog]

Top 7 CN Shows That Would Work Better in Live Action than PPG

So I think everybody’s talked about why CW Powerpuff Girls doesn’t work, whether or not it’s a real thing or not? Who even knows. But while thinking about how this:

is kinda awful for Powerpuff Girls, I got thinking what shows that this style of a reboot would work for. In which it’s live action, the character is depressed and has sort of resentment towards their childhood now and that sort of thing. 

So what are the top 7 shows that I think this

Number 7:

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends

At Number 7 we have Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. Seems fitting that we’d start the list with another one of Craig McCracken’s biggest hits. Why do I think the premise of “Oh, life sucks now and I kinda wasted my childhood” would work for Foster’s? For the plain and simple fact that for a few episodes of the show, there was a focus on Mac growing up and whether or not he should leave his friends at Foster’s behind him. You could play a lot with that concept combined with the live action reboot thing. Maybe an older version of the character is dealing with whether or not to let go of both Bloo and the past and move on with his life. Frankie being a young adult during the time of the original show could also be a pretty instrumental character since it was a matter of living there, caring for the friends, having that job and balancing this life with the life that she had outside of the house.

Not quite a coming of age story but a sort of “Hey, my life has gone nowhere and where could I go with this now? Do I keep the friends I loved and cherished as a child or move onto other things? Is there a way to do both?”

Only thing I wouldn’t want though is CGI monstrosity friends. Those would be kinda the worst…

Number 6: 

Okay, let’s actually talk about a real superhero show this time around. Or would this count as a superhero show? Well, they certainly do a lot of cool time travelling so I’m gonna say it’s a superhero show. Of course, I mean Time Squad.

Now if you haven’t guessed, I don’t have the most experience with this show but I know enough to think that this is something that could actually work well. I mean, Otto was a kid who was basically running around all over history protecting the balance of time with a stuck up robot and a dude who is a little too into all of this. Imagine if he just sorta did this for all of his childhood and realizing as a young adult that “Crap, I didn’t really have a childhood.” With the dynamic of the squad, the potential to expand the greater organization as a whole and just all the time travel shenanigans that could happen, I don’t see a reason not to do it.

Plus, CW already has Legends of Tomorrow and that’s awesome so even less likely to screw it up if they’ve already got a model to do it off of right?

Number 5: 

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack

Yo ho ho, it is a sailor’s life for me. And in this sailor’s life we’re coming in with Number 5: The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. Now this is a bit of an odd choice, right? But hear me out.

Flapjack as a child kinda had only Bubbie and K’nuckles as guides for his life. While they mostly spent their lives at Stormalong Harbor, they also constantly spent their lives looking for Candied Island. What if they never stopped looking and eventually, little kid Flapjack is a grown up now and he’s like “Oh wow. I wanted adventure but I was kinda manipulated to follow this creepy old man’s dreams of candy.” I think going heavy and hard on this sort of found family between them would be kinda fun. How K’nuckles wasn’t the best role model and how they’ve still only got each other in this world, that sort of thing.

Plus, a live action Stormalong would be sooooooo cool.

Number 4:

Ben 10

As the old saying goes, it started when an alien device did what it did, stuck itself upon his wrist with secrets that it hid, now he’s got superpowers he’s no ordinary kid, it’s Ben 10.

And unfortunately in CW’s Ben 10, he’s not a kid who just wants to have fun. Nah, he’s got a lot of emotional stuff to deal with and all of that depressing stuff. Isn’t it great? Now I do think that this could work especially if you work it in where maybe Ben enlisted into the plumbers after his summer vacation and it just kinda escalated from there to the point where here he is now.

Say what you will, but at least with Ben 10, we’ve seen it hit a more grounded and emotional place with Ben 10 Alien Force and Ultimate Alien so I don’t believe that this would be too far of a stretch with how that show worked and a lot of people happened to really like those iterations of the show.

Granted, I actually do want a CW styled Ben 10, but less edgy Arrow style and more along the lines of The Flash, but I’d still take this too.

And now before we get into the top 3, let’s get into a few honorable mentions.

First up, we’ve got Steven Universe. Now honestly, this could work really well, the only issue with that is that we’ve kinda already seen this story told and that was with Steven Universe Future. Good stuff and a lot of potential, but we’ve seen it and I don’t think we need to see it again with a live action coat of paint.

Next up there’s Codename Kids Next Door. Honestly, I think the only real spinoff we need for Kids Next Door is Galactic. That’s it. Anything else is unnecessary. Still, with this sort of concept an older KND who has been decommissioned and feels like there’s something missing in their lives that they just don’t understand would be really cool. Although maybe that would work as like a movie or special or somethin’ I don’t know.

And finally for the last of the honorable mentions we’ve got Teen Titans. While I am trying to keep this list to CN Originals, I couldn’t help but bring this one up. How Long is Forever is one of my all-time favorite episodes of the 2003 series so I think seeing a series taking place in that timeline or something similar would be a lot of fun maybe for like a miniseries or something. And honestly, anything’s better than Titans.

With those three out of the way, back to the list.

Number 3: 

The Life and Times of Juniper Lee

In a world full of monsters and demons, June is the only one who sees them. This is the Life and Times of Juniper Lee and it makes number three on my list.

Now, like Time Squad, I didn’t watch much of this show. But what I do know about this show is that June is cool and she’s got this whole legacy and destiny by being the newest Te Xaun Ze, which are basically the magical protectors of her town. Only problem, and why I think that this direction for this show would actually be kinda cool, is the whole thing that the Te Xaun Ze is never allowed to leave the town at any point in their lives and oh boy, you could actually go really hard on that with this format since it’s literally built into the show.

Juniper Lee all grown up and just straight up depressed because she’s got the cool powers and grabs all the monsters but everyone around her has moved on in their lives. Friends have gone off to college and started all their lives and she’s got nothing but her family in Orchid Bay. You’d have a story of someone who once was big on their destiny who has accepted it but wishes that it wasn’t theirs anymore. I do know the show dealt with this a bit but with a new continuity and an older version of the character you really could just go in and deep on this.

I stand by that this would actually be pretty cool and kinda want it. Honestly, I like this idea so much that I wasn’t sure whether to put this in the number three or the number two spot, but y’know what? The next show told me a little secret that gave it the edge.

Number 2: 

The Secret Saturdays

That’s right, it’s the Secret Saturdays. 

Zak Saturday went all around the world with his parents discovering ancient cryptids, protecting the world and everything. He got some cool siblings in Fiskerton, Komodo and Zon. And then to add on top of that that he’s also the reincarnation of an ancient cryptid set to rule and control all the cryptids in the world? Yeah, that’ll do it. Definitely not the type of life he asked for and kid went through a lot because of it especially after losing those powers and apparently getting them back if we’re to count the Omniverse crossover TGIS to be canon.

But having parents like Zak’s, everything with the community of Secret Scientists and not really having many friends his own age or well, his own species will do that.

Exploring Zak and maybe Argost coming back for powers he might not want anymore and learning to embrace his destiny while also trying to patch up the Saturday family would be awesome.

Number 1:

Dexter’s Laboratory

Now while I know we already have a live action Dexter and it was an incredible hit, I- Wait, not the same show.

Ahem, Dexter’s Laboratory makes the top of this list. Partially because of it being PPG’s sister series but also partially because of the whole thing of there’s a lot you could do with Dexter’s character in terms of depression. If someone with such a high intellect were to somehow lose it all or just in some way, never really got forward in life, that would do it. Dexter could be a type of character that’s too stuck inside his own head in order to move forward. Alternatively, maybe Dexter is highly successful but has found there’s something missing in life or something. I dunno.

But whichever way you decide to go with Dexter’s character, you could have Dee Dee be pretty much the opposite of that. Maybe she’s found herself a place in life that she’s content with and Dex doesn’t understand why but wants it. I think going deep on this sort of emotional aspect of his life while also having all sorts of fun crazy science stuff would be a good watch.

All in all, gimme a Dexter’s lab show but we gotta make sure he keeps some form of an accent. No accent is a dealbreaker.

Although, I think that at the end of the day, animation should really just stay animated and that we don’t need to go live action for anything. All of these ideas I’ve presented, I’d of course rather prefer as cartoons with a more balanced tone more than anything but I figured with the announcement of a PPG show, this would be a silly but fun idea to talk about rather than ranting about it like most have. Granted, I’ve got some rants of my own since I still think it’s a bad idea. Haha. But you know how it goes.

At any rate those are all the shows I think would make better CW PPG style reboots than CW PPG. When it comes to the edginess and potential for drama, I feel these shows fit the bill better than the innocent, buttkicking action that was the Powerpuff Girls.

But what do you all think? Do you have any shows in mind that I haven’t mentioned? Do you think I’ve opened Pandora’s Box and given The CW more awful ideas? 

Now, this was originally a YouTube video so you can probably see that in the way that this post, especially the ending was written, but I just still don’t really have the energy to edit stuff so have this post instead. It’s something I really wanted to discuss and just decided, hey, why not make it a Tumblr post?

[karasunology]

⸙ ˚₊ ➷ IWAIZUMI HAJIME BEING A DAD HEADCANONS! ❞

✎ . . . Herrroooo! 👋🏽 May I request a Baby daddy head canon (The “as dads” head canons lol) please? For Iwaizumi and Nishinoya please and thank you 💞 Love your writing too!!!

❝ ― submitted by @ nonnie <3 ❞

✎ . . . jae idk whether anyone has requested this but is it okay if i request for some iwaizumi and ushi dad HCs 🥺👉🏻👈🏻 ur HCs make me SO soft and tbh i just wanna live in ur imaginations 😢💞

❝ ― submitted by @b0kuto <3 ❞

✎ . . . since you did oikawa as a dad, what about my boyfie iwachann?? and maybe how their kids will interact with each other, thank you if you ever consider💛

❝ ― submitted by @ nonnie <3 ❞

-ˏˋ ➶ character(s) ━ iwaizumi hajime <3

[ trigger warnings ━ slight manga spoilers !! ]

✎ . . . DAD HEADCANONS.

[ SUGAWARA KOUSHI & OIKAWA VERSION. ] [ BOKUTO KOUTARO VERSION. ] [ MIYA ATSUMU VERSION. ] [ KUROO TETSUROU & KOZUME KENMA HEADCANONS. ]

-ˏˋ playing soleil's tape ˊˎ-

[ 📼 ] . . . happy 900 followers and happy birthday lizzie !! @kaidasen , i have two other iwaizumi hcs in my inbox and one being another dad req but not just general hcs and phew i'm tired

IWAIZUMI HAJIME.

➜ i'm not a s*mp but,,,

➜ i would glady offer him my hand in marraige

➜ you two weren't quick to settle down, since the both of you have been busy with your own jobs especially then, trying to survive a comitted long-distance relationship

➜ but now that it has been almost a year since you two got married, hajime knew he wanted to start a family with you

➜ and when i tell you that if MANS EVER EVEN THOUGHT of having children WITH YOU, you're in it for a long long run my love

➜ listen ─ iwa is a rational and decisive man, stubborn too, but overall thinks first before bringing these types lf serious stuff with you

➜ knowing that once you agree, mans will not be able to hold back anymore

➜ it was quite funny actually, since it has been a running joke between you two with your baby fever phase in high school that you soon grew out of when you attended collage.

➜ iwa used to relentlessly tease tf out of you but even then, he couldn't help but be the one that you want to have a child with

➜ now all the left over pride he has vanished away while he looks like a CLOWN as he nervously asked you about starting a family with him

➜ emodiment of👉👈😳🥺

➜ because now it was YOUR turn to tease tf out of him, payback bitch

➜ iwa : what if we . . start a family?? 😳👉👈 haha i'm joking . . . unless??

➜ you : it's funny how bitches turned into my fans💅💸

“ wow how the turn tables ”

“ baby girl, i don't think that's how it ─ ”

“ ─ aha simp ”

➜ but regardless, you immediately agreed to his offer and you BET that iwa would give you payback for all the teasing you have done in the bedroom

➜ ok bet fill me up to the brim sir

➜ okay um chile ,, i have to keep reminding of myself that this is a family friendly show

➜ he may be a little busy with work sometimes, but he'll always try to have time to go with you on your baby check ups and appointments which, he, actually booked the second you told him you were pregnant

➜ but whenever he doesn't, he would always be a lot more affectionate whenever he goes home to see you and would hear how you talk about updates from the doctor as he just RUBS YOUR TUMMY as he apologizes for not coming with you😭

➜ when you gave birth to a beautiful hanako, iwa couldn't help but cry because wow??YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL AND HE IS SO PROUD TO HAVE YOU AS HIS WIFE, AND YOU GAVE HIM THIS LOVELY MASTERPIECE OKAY AIGHT

➜ hajime didn't really care about gender now, but before he actually wanted a son, but as i said now, all his mind was just about you and your daughter ─ his precious girls

➜ besides, he has all the time in the world to make a son with you or two

➜ hanako, no matter how sweet she could be ─ she is lowkey a little shit too

➜ prefers hajime over you but would LOVE to rile him up and make it seem that she prefers you over him

➜ he would be a strict father, but such a softie for his daughter that he forgets why he even was mad when your daughter pulls up with THE TRUMP CARD with the same puppy eyes you always used on him

➜ like mans was already a goner but aight

➜ gets FLUSTERED AND EMBARESSED whenever hanako wants him to play with her with her dolls and he also has to act out with her lmao, but we all know she was doing it on purpose

➜ your daughter is a   s a d i s t

➜ makes her dad watch all the OLD barbie movies because she doesn't👏like👏the👏new👏ones👏

➜ periodt 😡💅

➜ has grown to LOVE the thought of being a princess AND HAJIME CALLS HER PRINCESS ALL THE TIME AHH

“ but daddy i'm a princess !! of course i need a prince ” hanako pouted as iwaizumi's tick mark just grew with the thought of his daughter having another boy in her life other than him ( and oikawa & perhaps future brothers😳 )

“ why would you need a prince when you already have your knight in shinning armor here, ” he gestured vigorously to himself with his hands moving up and down from his head to toe

“ oh yeah! i guess i'm okay with that ” your daughter giggled before calling out to you as she saw you coming into her line of sight, reaching her hands out for you to carry her

➜ and by the time you have her in your arms, she would always nuzzle her little head onto your neck, but this time, before he could, she looked back at her father ─ but this time with a mischievous glint

“ ─ for now ” she smiled cheekily before tugging you to head over to kitchen because one, she wants to get away from her father's intense aura emitting from him, and two, she was hungry

➜ as you can see, bb girl loves to rile up her father, but as i said, iwa could never stay mad for too long

➜ would, yes, kinda yell at his kids, but would NEVER EVER hit them

➜ would kinda BONK🔨💥 them but not the childhood traumatizing methods

➜ he has strong beliefs that hitting children are a no-go, because it would probably affect them in the future, and there are other, better and appropriate ways to handle them without leaving them in child trauma

➜ since argentina is close to california where you and iwa have settled down, you bet that oikawa BEGGED them to have a small little reunion atleast every other three months LMAO

➜ and when you gave birth to your son, hayato, oikawa's offer did not STOP, and when oikawa finally had the time to visit you guys with his family ─ it was chaotic.

➜ first of, hanako is so mean to oikawa for some reason but she also kinda likes him too?? 😭

➜ oikawa : that's so upsettin😔

➜ then moves to hayato because unLIKE A CERTAIN SOMEONE, hayato being the precious bb boy he is, accepted all the love oikawa would give him

“ hana-chan, yahoo !! ” before uncle tooru could engulf hanako as he ran up to her with arms open wide, she avoided his figure as he went pass her and hit himself on a lampost

➜ with a blank stare, she crouched to his cowering figure as he rubbed the spot on his head that hit the post while whining, poking his side in curiousity.

“ uncle, are you alright ─ ”

“ ─ oi, shittykawa what are you doing ─ ”

➜ as you and your husband along with oikawa's wife and kids, run up to where the two duo were crouching, your toddler son tilted his head innocently

“ shittykawa . . . ? ”

➜ usually these reunion day would always end in traditional family dinner with the iwaizumis and the oikawas ─ and after that, their offsprings just couldn't get away from each other when it's time to go 🥺

“ i don't want them to leave :( ” hayato pouted as he wouldn't let go of his little tug on akiro's sweater

“ hana-chan !! ” hikaru clung onto hanako as hanako quietly glared at him, trying to shake him off while she shyly held onto akio as aiko starts scolding her little brother

➜ also side note : you bet that they would come back to japan just to attend aobajohsai

➜ anywh0res😍

➜ iwaizumi is the type of dad that would give EQUAL amounts of love to his children, would never have favouritism with his children because that shit actually hurts ngl😔

➜ would arm wRESTLE with hayato but he doesn't wanna hurt him so he would always let him win though it may cost his pride

➜ someone thirst with me about his arms please😭😭

➜ when he's soft'ish

➜ it was near father's day and you have been planning for it along with your children but you guys were anything BUT LOWKEY

➜ iwaizumi could literally hear giggling in one of the rooms and he goes to check it out and sees nodding vigorously at hayato.

➜ wanting to join in the fun, he opened the door and leaned onto the door frame expecting for you to call for him to join you guys

➜ but to his suprised, you guys stayed unusually quiet while your two kids avoided eye contact with him

➜ iwaizumi was upset being left out, but didn't really comment on it. but as father's day rolls in with your two kids waking him up as he goes down to the kitchen to see his favourite breakfast along with some cards from hanako and hayato, and with you smiling warmly at him as you took off your apron before kissing him a goodmorning in his cheeks ─ he knew it was worth it, whatever you guys were planning

“ ew, mommy kissed dada!! ” shrieked by your children as hajime stuck a tongue at them as he grinned at you, lovesick, before he could get to steal kiss on your lips, you pushed his head to look at the opposite side

“ brush your teeth first, and THEN, i will think about kissing you ”

[elyvorg]

Hypothetically speaking of course due to one of Monokuma’s logic defying motives. If everyones favorite space man was ever turned into an actual tooth and fang monster, taking his issues on NEEDING to be a hero into acount how do you think something like that happening to him, being twisted into a beast like that would affect him? My apologies if this is a odd question I’ve just been thinking up story stuff lately and thought it would be interesting for the hero to become a literal monster in a sense.

Hey, no worries! I'm always up for running my mental simulation of Kaito through interesting scenarios and rambling about the fun ways he responds, and this one's a juicy one. Thanks for the prompt!

(Heck, I hope you don't mind me having gone into so much detail here, because if this is a story idea of yours then I don't want to step on your toes and make you feel like you can't use any of these ideas if you'd been thinking something similar.)

Basically, this would depend a lot on exactly how Kaito “being a monster” worked. Since you left it vague, I decided to just take multiple possible variants of this situation and talk about all of them, because they're all fun in their own way.

Scenario 1: he's still mentally entirely himself, and he can still speak.

If this were the case, Kaito would be basically fine! No problem! Sure, it's kinda freaky to suddenly be in a body like this, but he knows that doesn't change the fact that he's still himself. Kaito has a very strong sense of identity and conviction in who he is, and even this wouldn't shake that. (See also: that one AU of mine in which he found himself in a different human body.) Being physically a "monster" doesn't magically make him a worse person if his mind's still the same.

The only potential issue would be whether or not everyone else would understand that, since Kaito also cares a lot about how other people see him. But if he can still speak, then it should, in theory, be fine, because he can just reassure everybody that it's still him. Communication is important! He might be just a little strained and desperate at first upon seeing everybody freak out at him, but it'd be okay once they got it.

Shuichi and Maki would believe him straight away, because they know Kaito well enough to be able to recognise the way he talks and acts even from a different body, and because they want to trust him. Shuichi would maybe be a bit instinctively freaked out by Kaito's appearance, but he'd also know how much it would hurt Kaito for his sidekick to be afraid of him, so he'd be determined to push that aside and show Kaito that he trusts him.

Maki... Maki gets it. She knows exactly how it feels to be seen as a monster by everybody, to be afraid that the whole group is going to ostracise you and dehumanise you because of something about yourself that you can't help. Kaito has been teaching her to understand that she's not actually a monster despite all appearances and despite how long she believed it herself. She knows Kaito isn't a monster either, no matter what. Maki would never not extend that same compassion and trust back to him.

(Kaito reflects that this is helping him understand Maki Roll's struggles even more, so he can help her even better! So in some ways, this is a good thing, really!)

The rest of the group... some of them might just try to write Kaito off as a monster at first, even after he explains to them that it's still him. Not naming any names, but I think we all know who'd be the worst offender with this. Still, over time, and seeing Shuichi and Maki stand up for Kaito and treat him like they always do, most of the group would get used to it and accept him. They all got used to and accepted Maki within the space of pretty much one chapter; it might even happen quicker for Kaito since he'd still be acting just as trustworthy as ever. Keebo in particular should be good with this, since he can relate to feeling othered just because his body happens to be different from everyone else's.

That said, this is all on the assumption that Kaito gets turned into a monster at some point in the middle of the killing game, which actually kind of makes things easier. He's surrounded entirely by people who already know him and can easily recognise that it's still him once he communicates that to them. It might be harder in the outside world where there'll always be new people, people who'll just see the monster on the outside and might not be willing to listen to him for long enough to realise he's still a good person beneath that. That'd kinda sting a bit, since other people's image of him is so important to Kaito – even if not in quite such a literal way.

Still, given there's nothing Kaito can do about the monster body, he'd be determined not to let it get him down and see this as a challenge to overcome. He'd do everything he could to show the world he's a hero anyway. Hey, maybe this body has cool powers and he could be an actual literal superhero! That'd be awesome, right!?

(oh boy, what if he could fly, he'd be so excited at being able to fly you know he would, he'd give his sidekicks rides, it'd be great)

So in the end, this scenario wouldn't actually set off Kaito's hero issues that badly at all. He knows he hasn't failed anyone in terms of being a hero and still isn't going to, and Shuichi and Maki at least know it's still him and so he can still inspire them just as well like this.

The only thing really relating to his hero issues here would be the fact that finding himself in this body is kinda freaking him out a bit – not in the sense that being a "monster" matters to who he is in any way, but just in the sense that anyone would be freaked out at being trapped in an unfamiliar body that isn't even humanoid, let alone human. But no, of course Kaito isn't freaking out about anything! He's fine, everything's good, he is totally 100% chill with this situation. It'd be a similar flavour of his hero issues as in the canon story: just insistently hiding that something's bothering him and being afraid that he couldn't be a hero any more if everyone knew about it.

In fact, what I think this would set off the most isn't Kaito's hero issues, but Kaito's friendship issues. He's not less of a hero because of this, but this is making people see him differently and be more likely to just not want to trust him or spend time with him in the first place. Kaito already had some subtle insecurity and awkwardness about whether anyone would want to be regular friends with him because of how larger-than-life he always is; this'd set off a similar kind of feeling to that, but much worse.

Like, surely Shuichi doesn't actually want to hang out and be friends with a weird creepy monster? Surely he's even more definitely only sticking around out of still needing Kaito's heroic support and wants to be done with him the moment he's grown independent enough to be able to stand on his own? So, if anything, this'd make Kaito amp up his hero deal more than usual, not because he's worried he's not a hero, but because he's even more afraid that this is all he's got to offer.

Scenario 1b: he's still entirely himself, but he can't speak.

Only a slight variant on the previous scenario. Kaito would still feel the same about himself, but it would be a lot harder for him to communicate this to everybody if his monster form wasn't capable of human speech.

Let's assume everyone would be able to tell it's Kaito anyway. Maybe he's all purple and spiky and recognisably him, or maybe they just use process of elimination in that he's the only one missing. People would be bound to assume at first that he's just been turned into a mindless beast, but Maki and Shuichi, the ones most primarily viewing this situation as something awful for Kaito rather than a potential danger to the rest of the group, are less convinced. They'd be able to spot that he looks more confused and desperate than hostile.

Kaito, of course, wouldn't let the lack of a voice stop him and would do everything he could to communicate that he's still himself and still cares about supporting everyone. He could at least nod and shake his head to answer yes/no questions, and he'd figure out other ways to communicate, too. Maybe he'd lead Maki and Shuichi to the training spot and do push-up motions to get across the fact that he remembers their training sessions and still sees them as his sidekicks. That'd be adorable.

I bet he'd also figure out motions or noises to communicate the most important sentiments such as “I'm here for you”, “I believe in you”, “the impossible is possible!” etcetera, all so he can keep supporting his sidekicks the best he can. In some ways, his hero role doesn't even really need him to communicate anything that complex; he just needs to be there for his sidekicks and give them the nudge they need.

Kaito is so good at communication, after all. It'd be a challenge to learn to adjust and find new ways to communicate without a voice, but Kaito never backs down from challenges!

(All of the issues from the previous version of this scenario with Kaito freaking out about this body and worrying about how others see him would still be here, of course, and probably a good bit worse – but at the same time, it'd also be easier for him to hide those problems from everyone else. It's not as if anyone's going to be expecting him to talk about how he's feeling here.)

Scenario 2: having the body of a monster comes with disturbing violent urges.

The first scenario was a fun exercise in Kaito's self-conviction and determination to overcome any challenge, but what if we did try and make him really question whether or not he can even be a hero any more like this? So let's imagine that, while he is still mostly mentally himself – because if it wasn't really Kaito any more there'd be no point in this – monster-Kaito also has to deal with the intrinsic urge to do monstrous things.

Like, imagine Kaito's there fervently explaining to the group that it's still him, he's still himself, he's not actually a monster in any real way – except then his words die on his tongue as he's suddenly hit with the thought of tearing out Shuichi's throat. Uhhhhhh.

How this goes would really depend on exactly how strong these urges are and whether or not Kaito can control them. (And let’s also assume that he can speak in these scenarios, just for simplicity’s sake.)

Scenario 2a: they're entirely controllable.

In this one, Kaito is sure that he's perfectly capable of ignoring the urges and not acting on them, making them just really annoying and disturbing intrusive thoughts.

Naturally, Kaito would act like nothing's wrong and not tell anybody about this at all and continue to be Fine like he usually is. It'd jab at his hero issues, but not in terms of him actively failing at being a hero for having these thoughts – just in terms of the fear that he might end up failing them if anybody learns about this (or if he did somehow end up acting on them even though he's pretty sure he won't). So, you know, basically like Kaito's hero issues are in canon with him hiding everything he's going through and being terrified of it coming out anyway. But it's all okay so long as he doesn't let anybody see that he's not a perfect invincible hero, right?

Kaito might reflect during this – entirely to himself, of course – that this must be a little bit like what it's like to be Maki. She probably has similar thoughts all the time about all the many ways she could kill the person she's having a friendly conversation with, because her training has ingrained that mindset into her. But that doesn't meaningfully change who she is as a person just because she's been given these disturbing thoughts against her will.

(Maybe, even though Kaito is trying to hide his intrusive thoughts from everyone, Maki would be able to pick up on it a little bit, because she knows the feeling.)

Scenario 2b: the urges are very clearly uncontrollable and Kaito knows it.

If he was able to recognise from the beginning that the violent urges are so strong that they're going to overwhelm him and take control of him sooner or later, Kaito wouldn't take any risks. He'd just shut himself away the moment he realised this, to avoid hurting anyone. It'd basically end up looking a lot like this, except with a very different-looking Kaito.

(This wouldn't even necessarily be that specific to Kaito's hero issues, because any decent person would be terrified of losing control of themselves and hurting someone else like this. I guess it'd just be more amplified for Kaito than it would be for most, because his hero thing is such a big deal to him and he's so scared of failing everyone.)

This scenario might end with Kaito accepting there's no way he can keep safely supporting anyone any more and shifting tactics to do the next most heroic thing he can do – seeing if this new body will help him fight and take down Monokuma while he's still somewhat in control of himself. Even if he'll only end up being killed for breaking the rules, he doesn't exactly have much left to lose.

Scenario 2c, the most fun one: if Kaito thinks he can ignore the urges well enough to be safe around others but turns out to have misjudged his self-control.

(This seems like quite a plausible scenario, really. Even as a human, Kaito is not very self-aware about his difficulty controlling his impulses or his tendency to get riled up easily and potentially lash out at people when he's frustrated or upset. He presents himself as a person who always has himself together and always acts exactly the way he wants to, but that really isn't actually all that true about him.)

Imagine, with Kaito already more on-edge and stressed than normal because of the whole monster thing and the disturbing violent thoughts he keeps having to push down, somebody says something to him that happens to really hit a nerve and set him off. (Not that there's aaanybody in the group who'd be stupid enough do this kind of thing on purpose, not at all.) One moment Kaito's vaguely irritated but in control, the next moment a haze of anger grips him and he's pinned them down with his teeth at their throat and Maki Roll's screaming at him to stop—

—and Kaito does manage to stop himself just in time, but oh god—

—and as he's frozen in horror, still fighting the urge to finish the job, the rest of the group acts. A profusely apologetic Gonta wrestles Kaito down and clamps his jaws shut, rendering him unable to speak to defend himself or apologise – not that he'd even know how to if he could. Others pile on, restraining him, finding something to tie him up with, talking with frantic certainty about how he's a threat and a monster and can't be allowed around anyone.

Through it all, Kaito is using every ounce of his self-control to let it happen, forcibly suppressing the instinct to fight back and maul them. Being manhandled and restrained and talked about like he's not even a person would make him viscerally feel like nothing but a dangerous beast – but after what he almost did, and how much he felt a part of him wanting to do it... aren't they right?

Shuichi and Maki are too shocked to try and defend him in the moment, but they're the only ones standing back and not helping to restrain Kaito. They're the only ones that can see the fear and guilt and pain in his eyes.

(This would absolutely stab right at Kaito's hero issues, with him very openly failing everyone right in front of them all, doing something so undeniably monstrous and proving that he can't possibly be a hero at all. I came up with this specific variant of the scenario basically out of an attempt to find one that'd jab at his hero issues as much as possible.)

Later, as Kaito's tied up alone in a room hating himself and thinking over and over about how he's a failure and the exact opposite of a hero, someone enters the room for the first time since he's been locked away in here. It's Maki. He flinches away as she approaches, terrified of hurting her.

She's here to talk to him, but Kaito can't even speak with a rope roughly tying his jaws shut. So Maki begins to untie it, despite him cowering away and shaking his head and eventually growling at her in desperation to try and get her to stop (what if he hurts her?). She is undeterred, freeing his jaws and then moving to sit a safe distance away, calmly telling him that she knows he won't hurt her, that she's not afraid of him. (She... she really isn't, is she. Why not? She should be.)

Again: Maki gets it. If anyone can help Kaito become less afraid of himself in a situation like this and learn to control these urges that he now knows are capable of overcoming him – but only if he lowers his guard! – it's her, using everything she's learned from him. She's been there herself, more or less. She knows what it's like to be terrified that you're going to end up killing someone. Despite Kaito fervently insisting that she shouldn't have come here at all, Maki eventually convinces him to trust himself and his own desire not to hurt her for long enough to just... talk to her.

The biggest obstacle to Kaito opening up here is just reassuring him that he's not going to hurt Maki while they talk, because that's the only thing he's really got left to lose at this point. He'd actually be surprisingly willing to talk about his failure otherwise, not even bothering to try and insist that he's fine, because everyone's already seen him fail and so there's no point trying to hide it any more. There'd definitely still be a lot of Kaito talking like how he feels about all this shouldn't matter, not when he's a monster who nearly killed someone and still could – but Maki would know what that feels like, too.

Helping talk Kaito through this would also help Maki a lot with her own issues. The biggest argument to make that Kaito isn't a monster here is that he doesn't want to hurt anyone, despite the urges he can't help having. Neither did Maki, ever, despite her orders and her training forcibly instilling a killer's instincts into her. Talking Kaito into accepting this and giving himself a second chance might also end up being the first time Maki properly accepts any of this about herself.

Shuichi is outside the room for the whole conversation, listening in. He's just as worried about Kaito, but Maki knew that Kaito would feel less afraid of hurting someone if there were fewer people there, so she told Shuichi to let her go in alone, at least at first. Eventually Maki manages to help Kaito trust himself enough that he feels safe having Shuichi there as well, and Shuichi makes it equally clear that he still believes in Kaito no matter what. They are friends.

[bigskydreaming]

Beware: do not consume the following post in the belief that there’s a point being made with it or like. Any real reason to it whatsoever. LOL. Just something I’ve been pondering.

So, its interesting to me that there’s such a lack of fics about Bruce raising his kids with a partner. And by interesting I mean just that, lol....I’m not trying to imply anything, I’ve no specific opinions or conclusions on that myself, I’m just...thinking about it lately.

Literally just that. That I’m kinda intrigued by how rarely I see fics where Bruce has a co-parent that his kids would equally deem as much their parent as Bruce himself. There’s plenty of Bruce ship fics, with various of his children usually playing fairly large roles in the fics rather than it just being about Bruce and his ship partner. But not a lot that pursue or at least show that relationship through to the point where they’re effectively a co-parenting team rather than like...Bruce and his kids, plus Bruce’s new partner who likes his kids well enough but doesn’t really feel its their place to parent them.

There are a number of Batcat AUs where Bruce and Selina have a pretty established relationship from fairly early on in the timeline, but in general, most of them tend to have her take a pretty hands-off approach to the kids. They’re still pretty much viewed as Bruce’s kids. While she’s someone they might come to when they need to vent about Bruce and want a sympathetic ear, she’s not really front and center making the child-rearing decisions alongside Bruce. (In a lot of the ones I can think of, she usually doesn’t even officially live in the Manor herself, she’s more just a strong presence who will still leave to return to her own space when things get too chaotic around the house). 

And even in fics where she and Bruce marry, she’s usually written as the stepmother to his kids rather than....hmm, I don’t mean to come across as disparaging of step-parents or to imply that they can’t be just as fully a parent to a child as any biological or adoptive parent. 

Let me put it this way. Just to clarify, when singling out Selina, Clark and Talia as step-parents in fics I’m generalizing about here, the thing I’m really trying to get at is like....for instance, you might see plenty of Selina having a positive relationship with the Batkids, but you rarely see her being like...equally involved in the decision to adopt any of the kids. Either because they’ve all already been adopted, or the fic is set in a window where whichever kids are present have already been present in Bruce’s life when she officially begins a relationship with him, and the fic ends before any of the later kids come into his life. 

And same thing with Bruce’s other partners I refer to in this post. Like, there’s plenty of fics where you can certainly assume that after the conclusion of the fic, any later kids to come into their lives, Bruce and his partner/spouse decide to take in together, are equally invested in giving them a home and a family, etc....I literally just mean, this isn’t something you usually SEE in any of these fics, which is part of what I find interesting and have been kinda musing on.

Anyway. Then there are a good number of Superbat fics, that usually diverge from canon before Clark ever starts forming a family with Lois, but retaining all the Batkids. My assumption is this is because the Batkids as a family unit are more established and still the ‘preferred’ family overall, and if you feel you have to pick and choose because say, you have trouble picturing or don’t want to write Tim and Kon and Jon and Damian as stepbrothers, etc, then I can understand why a writer would go that route. 

But what’s interesting to me here is the way most of these are set timewise....there’s a number I can think of that have Bruce and Clark get together early on, when Dick is still Bruce’s only kid...but by and large, these ones almost always end when Bruce and Clark officially get together. Like, there may be plenty of Clark and Dick bonding scenes, but the fics themselves don’t normally progress past that ‘finally getting together’ resolution, so there’s no real delving into Bruce and Clark as actual co-parents for Dick and then the later kids. 

And then on the other side of things, there’s a lot of Superbat fics I know of where Bruce and Clark only get together at a point comparable to ‘current’ canon. Where basically all Bruce’s kids are already present, Dick, Jason and Cass at least are all adults and living on their own, usually Tim as well, and so of course, they’re all very much Bruce’s kids by the time Clark even comes into the picture. Their child-rearing officially done and over with, so even when Clark eventually becomes the cool approachable stepdad or whatever, again, its that angle where he’s involved, but it wouldn’t really be accurate to describe him as a full co-parent with Bruce.

(As far as Bruce/Clark goes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Superbat fic that has them get together at some point in the middle of Bruce’s.....umm...child acquisition period, let’s call it. LOL. I just mean, there’s not really any fics I can think of where Bruce’s kids only include Dick and Jason so far, etc. Again, it tends to either be early on, when Dick is really young, or ‘contemporary’, where all the kids are around.)

Similar to the Superbat take is the BatLantern. I’ve seen a few of these, and again, you tend to see Hal and Bruce get together when Bruce has all his kids already and most of them are fully grown, or early on when its still just Dick. Actually, as opposed to Superbat, I think I have come across one Batlantern fic that was set when Dick was Nightwing and Jason was Robin, but that was it. However, there’s possibly a bunch of Batlanterns I haven’t even looked at, as I’m uh....not a Hal fan, so who knows what I’ve skipped over there. *Shrugs* 

And then we’ve got Bruce and Talia fics, which.....I confess aren’t my favorite, as my general impression of fics that have them officially get together, live together, the whole nine yards, is that pretty much all the ones I’ve come across tend to heavily prioritize Jason and Damian as ‘their’ kids, and Dick and Tim are usually just kinda...there, or more often than not, the antagonistic foils/sources of family drama. Which. Umm. Not my thing, obviously. 

And interestingly, a lot of Bruce/Talia fics I can think of, where they live and raise the kids together, like....there’s a lot of them that are full AUs, even No Capes/No Powers AUs, at least relative to how often Bruce’s other big ships go the No Capes route. My personal assumption there is because its the easiest way to separate Talia from being heavily associated with the League, even just in the fic’s past, whereas with Selina, Clark, etc, there’s less of a narrative concern how their comic-book pasts/origins might affect a relationship with Bruce and his kids. Who knows if I’m in the right direction there or not, its honestly just my gut theory, and doesn’t really matter, its just something I find interesting and worth noting.

But even in the full AUs here, even ones where Bruce and Talia are married, she’s largely written as the stepmother to his kids rather than someone who was already there and present as a co-parent throughout various kids’ adoptions or fosterings. Often she’ll be written as particularly close to Jason, or with a soft spot for him, but it tends to be kinda a ‘he’s her favorite of Bruce’s kids, aside from Damian, who is of course as much her kid as he is Bruce’s.’ 

Granted, there are some Bruce/Talia fics I’ve seen that come the closest to what I’d describe as them being full co-parents to several of the kids from the start of whenever they meet those kids in the fic. But lol, again, I’m not really a good source for delving into the specifics of those fics, as the ones I’ve come across IMO tend to prioritize getting Talia more involved early enough that Jason’s ‘hers’ as much as Bruce’s, and uh, most I’m familiar with aren’t too complimentary to Dick, who takes the role of the rude, resentful holdout who dislikes his wicked stepmother from the word go...which is when I usually go too, lol, so I can’t really claim to know how those fics handle later arrivals like Tim and Cass. But with maybe only one exception, I definitely don’t think I’ve ever seen a fic that tried to tackle Bruce and Talia co-parenting Dick as much as any of the others. Even the full AU fics where Dick doesn’t have his canon reasons for disliking/distrusting Talia, lol.

Anyway, that’s it, basically. That’s the post, the train of thought I’ve been pondering, though to what end...eh, I’ve got no clue. I rarely do, though. So, just putting it out there in case this is of interest to anyone else for any reason, lol. Hell, its not even that I particularly would like to see more fics of this vein myself - I’m honestly just not a huge Bruce shipper....I don’t honestly think I have a preference for any of his bigger ships, beyond just....disliking Hal, and refusing to give Morrison’s take on Talia (or on Damian’s conception) the time of day. Ugh. Morrison. Eww. Why is he. Just. Anyway.

Actually! One last interesting (to me) thought, lol....now that I’ve written this whole post and processed it, I can think of literally one and only one fic that I would describe as the Batkids being taken in and raised equally by Bruce and a co-parent....and the bizarre thing is its a Nolan-verse fic. The bizarre part is I hate the Nolan trilogy, like, with an intensity that burns like no other (look I know I say that a lot, and about a lot of things, but I swear its almost always true). 

Anyway, literally the only thing I like about the Nolan trilogy is I have a soft spot for Hathaway’s portrayal of Selina. Which is pretty much the only reason I ever read this one fic where after the third movie, Bruce and Selina ‘start over’ in Europe and end up taking in and raising Nolan-verse versions of Dick, then Jason and then Tim together. Its actually a pretty damn compelling Selina, and I found the boys and their dynamic completely adorable, so I mean, not like that was the point of this post but its worth a read IMO. I know I have it on my bookmarks page and shouldn’t be too hard to find as its literally the only Nolan-verse fic on there, lol. 

(Also, it was written over ten years ago, I’m pretty sure, which is why its just those three kids.....Damian hadn’t even been created yet at the time, and the author’s non-movie Batfam knowledge was mostly cartoon based, which is why Cass wasn’t present, which was pretty much my only complaint about the fic from what I recall).

Anyway, that’s it, that’s the post. These are my thoughts, I’m all done with them so here, you can have them.

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

2019 in Retrospect

2019 has been fairly quiet, so I decided to start off this year by looking back on it. I’ll be dividing it by main fandoms/characters/ships because this year there were actually some new ones. That hasn’t been the case since, like, 2013. 

Sonic the Hedgehog

It was an...alright year for Sonic. TSR was fine but too light on content, Mario and Sonic Tokyo felt like a step down from Mario and Sonic Rio but was still alright, and I have not played SEGA Heroes (and haven’t bothered with the Chao in Space short). Lowest spot for me was the IDW comic; the Zombot arc has had one interesting story so far, but the rest has had either bad writing (primarily aimed at Shadow’s turn) or it’s just been wallowing in its bleakness in a way even Shadow the Game didn’t. Then again, I find zombie stories uninteresting to begin with, so no duh I’m not interested in a Sonic take on it. 

Chaotix kind of mirror that. Vector’s managed to get a good showing in, batting 3 for 3 on the game front, and having a key role in two of them. And like I said before, the Chaotix have genuinely had the most interesting stories within the Zombot arc, although with Vector and Charmy turned this may become more limited. Speaking of though, Espio and Charmy have had weaker presences. Espio managed to get into all three games in some form but to a lesser extent (one just by name), and Charmy was really left behind. 

As for Vecpio, it’s been pretty bare for canon material stuff. Espio got mentioned in TSR as contributing the report that reveals Dodon Pa’s true role (with him and Vector being the key to making everyone shut up about him being suspicious, proving they’re best as a team). And Mario and Sonic Tokyo has something if you headcanon some stuff; when Vector talks about the medals, Espio is the first person you’re directed to. Nothing is said by Vector about Espio in text, but you can implicate that Espio was chosen first because of his strong link to Vector, being the first one Vector would trust to compete at a gold level. Other than that? Dry. And with no announcements for Sonic games in 2020, this may just continue. 

Crash Bandicoot

On the reverse side, we have Crash Bandicoot having a really strong year. CTR:NF came out (which is a remake of my favourite Crash game) and has been doing gangbusters. On top of this, it has been going out of its way to revive pretty much every dead character in the franchise, to the point that we have RIlla Roo back in the fold (something I genuinely didn’t think would happen 19 years beforehand). 

Skipping straight to the shipping for this, I wouldn’t have imagined it for Crash ever, but there’s actually some in-game material for me to latch onto for DingodileXKomodo Joe! Dingodile has been pushed into a more jovial character since N-Sane Trilogy, being even more doubled down on in CTR:NF. However, for the past 20 years Komodo Joe has managed to avoid being given traits closer to Espio. This game finally catches up to him, and does it hard. Seriously, his character took a hard turn for the stoic badass Espio did after Heroes, and when did Joe ever use Martial Arts magic ever? Aside from making that dynamic naturally more matching, Slide Coliseum joins in the fun with the visual upgrade. It has holographic projections of a trophy girl repping a couple of racers dancing each, and guess who the devs felt could be paired up for how they go together rhythmically? That’s right, my reptile boys. Man. 

Super Mario Bros

What a weak year for Mario for me. What Mario got for new games this year were Luigi’s Mansion 3 (which I’ve not played), Mario Maker 2 (which isn’t new story content and doesn’t interest me in the slightest), Yoshi’s Crafted World (which I forgot was a thing) and Mario Kart Tour/Dr Mario World (which...um). 

Because of this set-up, Bowser hardly got anything to do so he’s really been on the backburner. Considering how he’s been pushed in the rest of the decade that’s saying something. In fact, the most character stuff he got was in Mario and Sonic Tokyo, and even that was mostly just alright (I think Bowser Jr got the best deal out of that).

Spyro the Dragon

Spyro was alright, but this one’s more understandable. With 2018 being the big year for Spyro’s return, 2019 was a rest for the little guy. That being said it wasn’t completely quiet; Spyro Reignited Trilogy finally got its port on the Switch, and to tie in with that Spyro got an appearance in CTR:NF. 

Because of the latter point, Gnasty Gnorc got a surprisingly strong year. Not only having more people learn about his glow-up in SRT, but bringing over that petty and angry character to CTR:NF. Seriously, his bit in the grand prix intro video is great, and he has more lines in his racing quips than any other game. 

OK KO

I don’t think I made a post about OK KO on Tumblr (or maybe I did one, I can’t remember). But I did manage to get into this just before it got cancelled so there’s that. 

I maintain that the Sonic crossover (aka the first thing I really knew about OK KO) didn’t give me a good impression of the show.It just seemed like “here’s the Sonic and Eggman dynamic but with more cartoon shenanigans*” and it spent more time making endless Sonic references. While some were deeper cuts which actually were impressive, most were references I could see in pretty much any Sonic-referencing material. It wasn’t until I decided to look up more info on Lord Boxman sometime after because I wanted to check if N.Gin was an influence that I found out the plot of the actual show (crossover notwithstanding) was pretty nuts and way more up my alley. 

Speaking of, there’s Voxman. Whereas other ships on here I have to dig through material to construct nuggets from them, this was literally in the text. And why not, they have a good dynamic and are usually the most fun to watch bounce off each other. And I still like the fact that if KO and Lord Boxman were the Sonic and Eggman parallel, the story ends with Eggman becoming Sonic’s stepfather. Let’s see IDW tell a story like that, it’d be better than the Zombot stuff. 

*I think that was the point but still. 

LEGO

Man I wouldn’t have thought they would have remade LEGO Racers but the one they made this year was gre--

Okay no, this year basically reignited another flame that I thought was snuffed out like 16 years ago. For a brief history of me and LEGO, when I was six I had a freestyle box which I used to make an elemental superhero persona. I played with this until I was 11. Before then, my sister got some LEGO Harry Potter sets (which we still have in the loft), I played LEGO Racers a lot (and wasn’t very good at it), and I owned two random other LEGO sets (the trike from Life on Mars and Lava from RoboRIders). 

After that, I only dabbled in LEGO when there was a Sonic set done for LEGO Dimensions. I did try to play more into it, but it was really prone to crashing in certain worlds so I eventually got frustrated enough to stop playing it. Sometime in the interim though my sister started enjoying LEGO films without me knowing, so when February came around I was dragged to see LEGO Movie 2 when all I wanted to see in 2019 was Toy Story 4. Dad insisted on it since we rarely have family outings. In retrospect; 

LEGO Movie 2 hit me in a way a piece of media hasn’t for years, or even decades. It’s shot up to be my third-favourite film of all time. And it’s revealed to me that LEGO is shockingly good at making endearing characters. So much so that breaking it down (pun not intended) has to be done by theme.

LEGO Movie: Part of the reason why I didn’t get into LEGO earlier was because I did see LEGO Movie back in 2014 when my sister was given it on DVD (she wasn’t into LEGO then) and I wasn’t impressed with it. In retrospect, I can appreciate what it did more, and I bring it up because it’s what makes Unikitty, Benny and Metalbeard so endearing when combined with what happened in TLM2. Lucy’s okay (moreso in the sequel), Emmet’s cute, President Business is fun but the MVP is definitely Rex Dangervest, who’s this feral monster but with Emmet buried away deep inside ready to flesh him out. When I make LEGO stories, I just have Rex change his mind on rescuing himself after getting the dinosaurs, and instead wreaking havoc in the present. This kills Emmet off in any story I do but it’s a worthy sacrifice. 

LEGO City Undercover: As a video game person I’m kicking myself for not getting into this before. Frank Honey is the best; he’s adorable and weird yet still feeling very much human and basically the Emmet of his city. Rex Fury has grown on me lots since my initial assessment of him,it’s infectious how much fun he has with being a criminal (while Vinnie is more fun when not doing criminal stuff and Chan seems to be more focused on doing criminal stuff as a job. I also think his calmer side is criminally (no pun intended again) overlooked). Also Ellie is underrated, she is the best straight man you could ask for. 

LEGO City Adventures: As I’ve said before, pretty much everyone in LCA is adorable, especially Duke and Harl. Still hoping for more Daisy time in the second season, she could be a riot if played properly and not just a Fendrich stooge. 

Ninjago: Coming in with the hot take here; I prefer the movie version of Ninjago to the series. I think the problem with the series is that it has so much baggage from before the series started to iron out some of its issues and cliches that it’s kinda hard to get into as a new person, whereas movie Ninjago is a lot more approachable and written better off the bat (although I do see why it wouldn’t go down well with existing Ninjago fans). This all just makes me think of that moment in series 11 where Nya sees her worst fear of being normal in an artefact and it shows her movie self, almost as a take that. It just makes me think the show writers are salty about movie Nya kicking show Nya’s ass in being a better character. Also shout outs to Kai, Cole, Zane and Lloyd for being great characters as well (Jay is cute in the movie, his show self can be punted off a cliff for all I care). And I am with the movement to have Cole come out as gay (or at least bi if they want to keep Tournament of Elements I guess). 

Nexo Knights: This show is regarded as another Ninjago wannabe, but it feels very different to Ninjago to me. So much so, there’s not a single one of the heroes I don’t like and they all need to be cherished. Macy gets props for being the best female character to me, Aaron is probably my favourite now and this is a house of Clance for future reference. 

So, with all that being said, what do I think of the prospects for 2020? I think it’s going to be quieter than 2019 to be honest, since there’s a lot winding down, and on the game side there’s been zero announcements. Crash and Spyro having a rest is understandable, Sonic’s going to have to get past the movie before gearing up for 2021 probably (for the record I have no interest in the movie) and Mario just needs to try harder. And with OK KO dead, only LCA is holding the fort for guaranteed new content I want to engage in right now. 

You know what would be fun though? Series 20 of the minifigures theme is due at the end of this year. Wouldn’t it be awesome to use the occasion to give some phsical minifigures to characters who never got them before? LIke, Rex Fury somehow still has enough demand to be a persistent feature in the customs market, give him an official figure (especially since he’s the only character from LCU that’s not Chase that’s even appeared in merch outside the game). Or let Sky Lane get her LEGO Universe look in physical form to go with her LIXS look. Or heck, finally give Rocket Racer his original look, that’s how I discovered the minifigure world in the first place!

[forestwater87]

Odd question. If you were doing a wing fic (shorthand: everyone has some kind of wings on their back; up to you if they're always out or if they can be banished and summoned at will) for Camp Camp, what kind of wings would the cast have?

Oooh I love wing fics! Hmmm, let’s see . . . 

David’s would be a little small for his age/size, and he’d probably be kind of embarrassed about that. He can still fly just fine with them -- which he’d say, defensively, if anyone pointed them out -- and they’re very fluffy, white, with little speckles of green flecked throughout.

Now I know most wing fics stick with feathered wings, but it did occur to me that some sort of insectlike wings -- all delicate-looking and iridescent like the surface of a bubble -- would also suit him very well. They’d be a bit more natural and forest-y, but would still have that element of embarrassment and shyness (he was probably called “fairy” a lot growing up, and it’d be a sore spot for him).

That being said, the idea of David having massive wings was suggested by @ciphernetics​, and I must admit that the idea of him either wrapping them around people to protect or comfort them is super cute. Also in a protective moment he could like fwoosh, out they come to shield the campers and it’d be badass. It’s not my preferred hc for him, but there are some lovely ways to play with it.

Gwen’s would be . . . serviceable. Dull, easily overlooked, probably some shade of gray or that kind of dun mousy brown that looks greyish in the right light, bigger than David’s but neither unusually large or small, not especially fluffy but not kind of molted the way some sick people’s are . . . they’re just sort of there. (She was probably nicknamed Pigeon by a lot of people, both as an affectionate term and a derogatory one. And like pigeons’ wings, there are little patches of color among her wings that are hard to see unless you’re looking for them it’s a metaphor get it? aren’t I clever ohoho)

Campbell’s are humongous. The biggest wings ever. He is a mountain of a man, with massive pure-white wings. Some people are convinced he genetically modified them somehow, and they do have this uncanny radioactive glow in the dark but don’t worry about that, it’s perfectly natural and not at all suspicious!

The fun thing about this is that they can get increasingly bedraggled as Season 3 progresses, until they’re drooping and muddy.

Quartermaster has bat wings. I don’t give a fuck if literally every other character has angel wings, QM’s are bats and that’s just the way it has to be.

I like the idea of the campers having small wings that can fit under their clothes, because they haven’t really grown in yet. I imagine maybe Nurf might be an exception, since he seems to be either older or just bigger than the other campers, but for the most part those kiddos look just like their normal selves. That being said, a few ideas of what they might look like grown up:

Max -- black, maybe a little big for his age, like a crow or raven’s wings. When he gets annoyed they puff up and slip out of his hoodie, and it’s a pain to put them back in which annoys him even more and gets them more puffy and hard to stuff back . . . it’s a constant struggle. Pity the poor kid.

Neil -- I’m torn between going with his hair color and giving him some hawklike brown-and-white wings, which I think would look nice with his coloring, and just going hog-wild and giving him wings like a bluebird because of his eyes. I think the latter would be too showy and embarrass him, but there’s something kinda cute about that too. His wings would be like his dad: impossible to ignore and much louder and more obnoxious (in his POV) than they need to be.

Nikki -- big and flecked with golden-orange. Of all the characters I think hers would have the most modifications, because as a kid/young adult she wasn’t careful with them and got them all torn up -- maybe to the point where she can’t even fly with them. But she has Neil and he’s a smart cookie, so I like to think of her wings having a vaguely-steampunk element of mechanisms and patches keeping them together.

Harrison -- white or a very light gray, like a dove’s. He paints the tips gold when he’s older as part of his illusionist costume.

Nerris -- I’m just thinking pure eastern bluebird, orange at the base and then exploding into brilliant blue. I think she’d love how flashy they are.

Ered -- Somehow I want her to have dragon wings. I have no idea why, or how, but I think it’d be extremely cool, and Ered is nothing if not cool. Especially if they’re really rare, almost unheard of, and she’s put a lot of work into transforming herself from the tomboyish freak with the demon wings and gay dads into something to be envious of. Besides, it’s easier to do sick stunts without having to worry about your feathers getting caught on stuff.

Nurf -- All right, I wanna get emo for a moment and say that his wings have been hacked either partly or entirely off by the time he’s an adult. We know he’s been abused in canon, and I think that people like that would go for the easiest target to hurt you, and that target is probably the delicate feathered things sticking out of your back. Bonus points if they’re somehow kind of girly, which coincides with his more sensitive nature and how he initially wanted to do ballet as a kid (especially since I don’t think that was well-received by his family). So, like . . . what remains are very fluffy and sweet-looking, maybe pink or pale yellow and orange or something, but they’re either little stubs he covers up all the time or they’ve got big chunks missing out of them but who’s gonna point that out to the huge guy with a pissed-off expression?

Preston -- Rainbow, like the most extravagant bird of paradise. Does he paint them himself, or are they as natural as he claims? 

Dolph -- Probably something very average and serviceable, in the brown/gray/white family, but they’re always speckled with paint because he’s not very careful with them and especially the long feathers at the bottom trail along the ground while he’s painting, or get stuck to his art if he turns around too suddenly.

Space Kid -- I’m thinking of a duck, for some reason. Partly because they’re aquatic and I just connect the ocean and space for some reason, partly because they’re very ordinary and that’s kind of how SK rolls, and partly because ducks can just flap for insane distances without getting tired (thank you Animorphs!). Space Kid is like that, I think -- very diligent, keeps his head down and gets things done, not very bright but he works so hard it makes up for a lot, and that’s why he’s going to be an astronaut someday. Mallards have those pretty green feathers, too, and I think those would look nice with Space Kid’s eyes.

Jasper -- Peacock. Obviously. He is the most garishly-dressed person in the show and his wings would match. Not that you’ll ever know, because he never gets to grow up and have real wings :( 

So those are the mains! As for some of the less-important characters, I don’t really have too many interesting ideas, but a few throwaway ones:

The Flower Scouts all have pink wings, either feathers or bug/fairy ones. I think maybe Tabii has a chunk missing from one of hers, from a fight or something, and the other girls made a patch so no one can tell and she can fly properly. Erin’s might be just slightly different colors -- one with an orangey tint, one with a blue.

A fun thing about bug wings is they could buzz when the girls are angry. So Sasha’s are basically always going, poor thing.

The Woodscouts probably have their wings bound, clipped, and constantly ready for combat flying. I’m thinking, like, the military-haircut version of wings.

Daniel’s . . . I mean, I don’t care about Daniel because he’s trash, but I do love the idea that they’re not naturally white and he dyes them. It’s my favorite Daniel hc and I need it to appear in every AU.

So that about covers it!

EXCEPT

Then I was talking with Ciphernetics about wing AUs, and I mentioned that in some wing fics (namely the awesome one by setepenre-set, though there are probably others) the wings’ size are based on how loved someone is. Which led to the below cuteness. Warning: shameless Gwenvid and Makkiel ahead, along with me insisting that Cameron Campbell isn’t the worst person in the entire world because I’m love him

Ciphernetics: Max’s wings growing during camp!Max voice: who the FUCK is loving me I specifically requested the opposite of thisDavid: You can even fit them in your hoodie anymore awwwwMax, struggling to pull it on over his wings: the hell I can't

Forestwater:(what if they come in the color of the person who loves you's hair)(so at first it's just this line of red that he knows is fucking David, goddamnit and then all of a sudden start sprouting these mint green and brown ones and my ship takes off)

Ciphernetics: Max, disgusted, throwing an auburn feather at David: get LOSTMax, looking over his shoulder in the mirror at the brown ones gathering at the tips and the mint ones scattered chaotically throughout: huh

Forestwater:Oh no what about when Nikki and Neil's start getting flecked with black, small and easily tugged out like they're ashamed of being there

Ciphernetics: The small really curly little feathery down that like to hide under other feathers(Gwen's had auburn in her wings since almost the first summer but lately it's started to overpower the rest of the colours. Not completely, it's just... Noticeable how much of it is the same colour now.)(She knew David loved people quickly and easily, it's just suddenly a lot more)(or she just wasn't paying attention)

Forestwater:What on earth would David's reaction be to suddenly finding some of Gwen's?I like the idea of her feathers being two-toned

Ciphernetics: I'd love if he's had a very small, slowly growing patch since they met (just a handful more each summer) but some event happens and suddenly there's a lotOh absolutely two tonedHey how about some angst;David's been waiting his whole life for Campbell's hair colourToday at 9:32 AMHe'd never say it but Campbell makes so many throwaway jokes about David being the son he never wanted but it rings a little hollow when there's not when one little brown/grey feather

Forestwater:until the end of season 3 when there's like . . . twoLISTEN I NEED MY TRASH GRANDPA

So that’s just a little bit of extra silliness for added angst/romance/fluff.

Hope this answer isn’t too long, but I was having fun.

[seshiiru]

Cecil Harvey 🤍

Thank you; it’s time to show all the love <3

OTP for them: Cecil/Rosa / Cecil/Kain BROTP for them: Cecil/Noctis ( look at him teaching him the ways ) / Cecil/Rydia : it might be one of my favourite in the whole game; I just think that these two characters probably saved each other from existential despair and probably death and they’ve grown a relationship like no other.  Other ships: What kind of fic I’d write about them: I think I’d write something that would capture the kindness and supportive aspects of Cecil. Something in which he wouldn’t be the main character but rather be the asserting and supporting partner A favorite canon moment: I’ve got quite a few tbh. I’d say the moment when he arrives in Mysidia and everyone just rejects him and use spells on him and he’s just there silently taking it as a punishment is very decisive in his later trial because it is at this point that Cecil’s determination to atone for what he did truly starts to shine and the Mysidian can see it and acknowledge it.  Color that reminds me of them: Navy Blue ! because it’s one of the main colors of his outfit but also because it’s a cold and shy color, it’s not shining in your face, it’s mixing with other colors and let them shine in its stead.  Song that reminds me of them: Clair de Lune de Debussy ! Definitely because of the title closely linked to the moon. But also because there’s a certain duality I feel in that song; regrets and hope. The song goes somber at times and shines back. That’s how I see Cecil. Someone who can’t stop doubting and thinking about the past, yet will do what is in its power to overcome it. Who will strive to be a good person no matter how it hurts at times. A headcanon about them: Always broke my heart that Cecil never really got to really reunite with his brother and have time with him, I’d like to think that Theodore would from time to time come to visit him and for a few minutes have conversations with him A random AU I think up on the spot for them: He owns a small but lovely Café in which you can just chill and he’d come to you bringing a lovingly made warm Coffee and ask you how your day was with a lovely smile. Anything else: I never played the DS version and I was kinda tempted to buy it recently. I haven’t played the game in so long and I want to go back to it with a fresh view that I didn’t have when I was 15. Something I’m really hyped to do again. Cecil became my absolute favourite character at that time by being a model I could identify to and learn from, 10 years later, I still love his character to bits and I can’t say how much it helped me grow as a person.

[clonerightsagenda]

Your commentary is so interesting, I love your AU and how much thought you put into it! Could you talk about Vriska's first scene (with Aranea and Meenah) or her arc in general, and/or about Play the Rain? Thank you!

Oh sweet, more opportunities to talk about myself. I am enjoying these more than I should.

This is another set that I can already tell will get long, so I’ll break ‘em up. Vriska’s arc in TLC is kind of a Big Thing, so let’s start out with her first scene with Aranea and Meenah, and I’ll work my way through the rest as I have time.

On this blog, I refer to GO!Vriska as the superior one, but in canon she still has a long ways to go. She has figured out that her other self is an asshole, and she’s got an inkling that her earlier behavior was not 100% excellent, but she stalls out there, possibly a victim of dreambubble inertia, possibly a victim of bad writing. I don’t really consider a character going ‘huh, maybe my past behavior was somewhat unsavory’ sufficient as a ‘redemption arc’. You need to do something about it. So a big focus when it came to TLC!Vriska was making sure she actually took action, and part of that involved lighting a fire under her ass. Unfortunately for Meenah and Aranea, they were the kindling.

The scene starts with Vriska and Meenah hanging out in the bubbles, watched over by Andrew Hussie, who is quickly replaced by our author self-inserts as part of the running gag and also because a grown man spying on two teenage girls dating has become increasingly creepy to me as I get older. I disapprove of Gill's overly aggressive tactics though, as you can tell from my tiny avatar. This was in early days, when I was convinced we were going to get a cease and desist letter at any moment. Now I figure no one cares.

In the conversation, I tried to highlight GO!Vriska's insecurities. Throughout the comic, Vriska adopts different personas as a survival tactic. I'll talk shit on her because she does terrible things that I feel the narrative never properly addresses, but it's not that I don't get why. She tries to play up the Mindfang thing to survive Alternia and her lusus. Later, she emulates Meenah to gain her approval, especially when her confidence is lowered by her pir8 expedition falling through and her one human ally dissing her. The fact that there's a significant age gap in this relationship doesn't help. I also find that creepy. Dancestors are like 19 right? 19/13 is Too Much, kids. I don't care how long both of them have been in the afterlife; brain chemistry remains a factor. Anyway, in their scene together, they're both falling victim to the tendency for dreambubbles to sap dreamers' energy, and Vriska's getting increasingly anxious because she feels Meenah's losing interest in her.

Then, Aranea shows up. Now, I detest her, but again, I can at least attempt to empathize. She's been dead for a long time, and rather like alt!Calliope, has had her perceptions of people skewed so she views them more as characters. (With her plans of healing the timeline, she kinda was trying to be a Muse of Space, anyway.) She hated being sidelined, and so she tried to do something about it. Allegedly her intent was good, but it quickly warped into a self-interested attempt to have her way no matter what the cost, doubling down on cruelties like mind control and murder whenever people put up a fight. Approaching the kids and offering her assistance with an explanation of her plan might've worked out fine, especially as they were scattered and looking for leadership. Instead, she went in guns a-blazing and paid the price.

On page 381, we get the hell out of there because we know what's coming, and that's pretty much the end of the self-insert gag. For the best.

As in canon, we use Aranea as a way for Vriska to see her behavior reflected back. It's less dramatic than seeing an alternate version of herself, of course, but it still prompts her to think about some of the mistakes she's made. It's less threatening when you're criticizing someone else. Still, she immediately backtracks and says they can come up with a new plan, eager to remain part of this crowd and maintain the most recent identity she has constructed.

ARANEA: Dancestor, consider this your next and most important lesson in 8eing a Serket.

We just had to lay the irony on thick here. 

In canon, as I mentioned earlier, Lord English remains a sort of shadowy, not wildly intimidating enemy. He shows up with a bang in Caliborn:Enter, but after that you mostly get the vibe that he has to be defeated because he's the narrative's assigned big bad rather than because anyone has personal stakes. After all that buildup, most of the cast doesn't even confront him, and his demise is never clearly shown. Sort of anticlimactic. We wanted to re-establish him as a threat, which is difficult in a comic where it's almost impossible to kill someone properly. This scene, and the one with the puppet strings earlier, are our attempts to add a semi-horrorish vibe to the comic and go hey, this guy? He's a big deal. Plus, it's a fitting reference to the f8 Mindfang doomed Redglare to. Panel 391 is a direct reference. Aranea considers everyone else merely background characters, and the background characters kill her.

She does have one last... I hesitate to say "redemption" spot, but she does help free Meenah and Vriska when it's clear she's fucked. Whether that is out of genuine good nature or a desire to have one last impact on the story, you decide.

Then, Meenah saves Vriska, only to run out of time to escape the bubble herself. It's not an intentional heroic sacrifice (she would've followed if she could) but the Thief of Life does "give" life one time before getting doublekilled herself. This led to concerned musing on my part in the google doc that we ended up heroic sacrificing both Thieves. What sort of message were we sending about the class? That still bothers me a little, because I don't want to suggest the only way to balance out initial selfishness is to give yourself entirely. You should never be called upon to destroy yourself to prove your worth. Perhaps there was a better way to handle that, I don't know. To be fair, canon was laying the implications on pretty thick that Meenah was seeking a fight to the death against English, and so that's sort of a subversion of that (putting prudence before glory), but again. YMMV.

Despite me being the one to plan both sections, I wasn't thrilled about wiping out Meenah and Aranea not long after wiping out alt Calliope and doomed Roxy. I felt like we were really burning through the girl characters and I didn't want to give a bad impression. (We killed loads of dudes in Cherubquest, but then most of them come back.) Part of it is that we wanted to clear the dancestors off the board bc we didn't have the time or inclination to work with them properly, and Aranea and Meenah were the only ones with enough story weight that we felt they needed a bigger exit. It also seemed like a suitable ending for Aranea - she tried to take over the story, and instead she gets wiped out of it entirely. Though, to be fair, her influence did make an impact, so I guess she sort of got what she wanted after all. Also, there were in-universe reasons for most of those deaths. Doomed Roxy had to die as per the deal with Nix. Lord English was looking for Calliope(s) to kill. And there's no way he'd let Aranea's attempt to defy his alpha timeline slide. Meenah was more a casualty of us trying to get rid of dancestors/freeing Vriska's piece up on the board. Still, like I said, not wild about it, but I can’t see any other route I would have taken plotting-wise. 

Ok, that's what I've got for this scene. I'll do more on the rest of Vriska's arc and Play the Rain later, I have to pace myself and also I have meetings.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Houseki no Kuni 3 - 6 | Girls’ Last Tour 3 - 6 | Boueibu OVA | Netjuu no Susume 6 | Juuni Taisen 7 | Mahoutsukai no Yome 6

Apparently there’s a bonus if you watch until the end of the 5th ep of Netjuu no Susume…I’ve seen it, or else I wouldn’t be telling you it exists.

I’ve rolled out the simulcast commentary tags for the seasonal shows that don’t have tags yet (aside from Netjuu no Susume’s replacement when that time comes).

Plus, as you can see in the title…there’s the Boueibu OVA in this bundle of notes, for completion’s sake.

Houseki no Kuni 3

That snail sure is a lively thing.

Really? A poop joke? Well, that’s one way to rub Phos’s new state into Dia’s face.

…welp, not much to talk about this time, I guess.

Houseki no Kuni 4

What the heck? The snail has a type???

This OP is lovely. Its best aspect is the visuals, though. It sounds kind of plain compared to even Saturday Night Question (Netjuu no Susume).

That snail makes a nice wig for Master Kongo, doesn’t it?

I’m listening to this show for the first time, and Phos uses “boku”, interestingly enough.

The snail's urge to go back to its home in the sea reminds me that lots of Chinese people go back to their country for Chinese New Year. I wonder if the same sentiment is involved in both instances?

The ED is nice, but not as good as the OP.

Houseki no Kuni  5

Watermelon? I feel sorry for the gem which has that name.

Ahh! These jellyfish are cute (and practical)!

“No getting all weak-kneed now!” – Says Phos, who’s got legs potentially harder than their body.

Houseki no Kuni 6

Trust exercises. I did some with some members of my anime club once. (Haha.)

I noticed the spikes were blue, so they might be Sapphire. It’s kind of like Rabbit’s necromantistry (Juuni Taisen), but…in a slightly different form.

Girls’ Last Tour 3

Kanazawa???? *thinks about King’s Game, where the protag and the author share the surname Kanazawa*

There’s some extremely glaring CGI during this episode. For a moment, you can discern Chi’s made of CGI while in her Kettenkrad.

Please don’t ship the grown man with the loli.

That’s some grim humour they attempted with Kanazawa. Kinda like Zetsubou-sensei (Nozomu Itoshiki).

Boueibu OVA

I almost wasn’t going to cover this, because it’s an OVA, but hey, why not make an exception? This may be the last time we Boueibu fans can talk about this stuff again…(Plus I think I’ll have volume for the entire thing if I hurry.)

Haha, the volleyball scene. Notice En talks first.

Yumoto’s being basic as always. *sighs happily*

Trump, eh? The word for playing cards is trump, but…y’know?

(about “graduating in a storm of cherry blossoms” and En saying it sounds lonely) I was just about to say that, En. However, that may just be OVA feels speaking.

Itsumo Ichiban? Rememer that guy? Well, there’s Itsumo’s brother on Kin-chan’s list. You can tell because he’s literally Itsumo Nisan. Geddit?

(about Zundar’s meeting with Kin-chan) The manga! It was correct after all!

Yep, that’s exactly how it went 2 years ago. In fact, I think it might be recycled content…(?)

Wombat speaks very formally. I learnt about keigo in the past year so I only picked up on that this time around.

The word used by Aki is “sad” according to the subs, but hazukashii means “embarrassing”, which puts a new spin on it.

They’re literally just using montages of s1, which is why I want Pony Canyon to bundle the OVA with s2. It’s more money, but for the consumer, it’s more worth it. However…having Bi…Egoism in an anime segment at all is new.

Akoya must be popular in the fandom. Either that or the staff are acknowledging how unloved he is.

Yay! It’s Star the VEPPer!

It’s good that each of these side characters is getting their own montage. Plus we’re getting official translations of the character songs, which is the best thing you can get for free when character songs aren’t distributed normally in most cases.

4th wall breaking! I guess you never expected that, eh? (Actually, you probably did, considering it’s been a montage for almost everyone now.)

(I love En’s little snarks in the middle of the song.) The only one left after this is Atsushi, right? Update: Oops, forgot Kin-chan. Sorry Kin-chan.

I never really realised Atsushi’s song was so hard rock compared to En’s more pop-like one.

“But do I really have that fire inside of me?” – I think I heard the song go atsui which is a real funky (in a good way) pun on Atsushi’s name.

Aww, they missed out in such a good pun! Haru went haru and Aki went aki. The translator didn’t pick up on that though…aww.

Whoa! Yumoto got all scary! Botan Yuzuru though…gotta look into that later for magicalgirlsandcerulean.

This (Spanish?) guitar reminds me of this track from The Dog Island.

A-ha! This is what you get when you translate the Japanese in the ads too.I was quite right indeed, although it really is the dang 132nd graduation ceremond.

It’s literally a button monster. Don’t wanna mash his buttons! (I bet you’re all groaning from my jokes, ahaha…)

Dadacha’s voice sounds kinda ridiculous now because Yasumoto is clearly using the deeper voice he normally uses for Zundar.

Notice the monster’s face is made from the character 高 (the first character in the Japanese word for “high school”).

Salty Sol is still salty after all this time…sad life.

That train station is the same one from the beach episode!

I’ve seen enough spoilers so I know where this is going…I already identified in the spoiler chat what Wombat is going to catch as a reference to a Kenji Miyazawa work.

This train is somewhat obviously CGI…

Spinach curry? When’d Wombat eat that?

Ths slideshow appears to be all the clean art for everything they’ve ever produced in the Boueibu canon! Even events and collabs!

“So wipe away your tears.” – I’m not crying, you are…*tear leaks from corner of eye*

I don’t recognise two of those pictures…(EnAtsu beach pic and a yukata one with the Defence Club on the roof.)

Oh…my…it’s over? Well, frankly I was expecting the fandom’s end in 2015…so, here’s to the future. Farewell, and remember: love is forever! Separations are only a new beginning!

Netjuu no Susume 6

That was a really bad Glico man in the back (of Koiwai)…

I think something’s wrong with my eye. It just gave off a few tears…(kidding tone)

Whose car is this that Morimori-chan is sitting in??? Update: It’s a taxi. Whoops.

I think Morimori-chan used the word douryou (colleagues, coworkers) instead of employees. The word for employees would probably be very different.

Nikunokiya??? (thinks about Kinokuniya)

(Koiwai goes Ai no chikara ne…) Boueibu reference…kind of.

Notice Koiwai said he was low on health in the text but he said zombie in the Japanese. That’s where Fruits de Mer comes in for Morimori-chan.

“There’s no way I’d say something like that!”

I think the cup this ED is new. Plus the headphones.

Oh! I spotted Morimori-chan with the medium length hair in the background of Sakurai’s bit of the ED.

There are some blurry pictures of Koiwai in the ED and they’re so hilarious!!!

So the ED actually evolves along with the show. Interesting.

Juuni Taisen 7

Rabbit stores his blades in his tail. That’s weird, but funny.

Literally, the episode title is “Dragon Head, Snake Tail”.

Dragon and Snake really are like the Beppus! I keep thinking that. I want a crossover fic now…

Tatsu = dragon.

I only just realised but…a naga is a snake. Nagayuki is the younger bro, isn’t he? Dangit, Nisio Isin! You bested me again.

150 doesn’t have any significance in regards to the number 12 now does it?

It’s Rabbit! Who’s not wearing his trademark booty shorts or high heels! Rabbit in a waiter’s outfit is really something, though.

“Hot guy”? Not by most people’s standards Tora/Kanae, considering he’s currently missing his head.

It’s tiger versus…aww. It’s not tiger vs dragon…

How can Ushii still talk after being strangled by Snake’s arm???

Whoa! Incendiary components are cool in Bond movies, but fiery liquid? That’s a step up!

Mahoutsukai no Yome 6

Admit it. You saw it in the next ep preview (unless you skipped it or read the manga)…It’s TITania time!

“She touched me for the first time.” – Elias, what a dork you are…

The birbs around Chise are so fluffy and adorable! It’s cute.

Geez, it really is TITania…these fanservice wiggles are destroying my Mahoutsukai no Yome experience…

Seing the Faerie Queen facepalm…is something else. *sweatdrops*

In the same way I want a koala sheep from Avatar the Last Airbender, I want one of those sheep bug things.

“Every creature of the night, including she and you, are my adorable little children.” – No wonder you have such big hooters, TITania…

A wild SIMON appeared!…Thought we’d forgotten about him for the rest of the episode. He would’ve made a better brick joke if his return were prolonged, y’know.

Strange question, but do priests wear pants?

Girls’ Last Tour 4

I’m listening to Ugoku Ugoku for the first time and it’s…strangely catchy…

That thing with the face is really creepy…

That thing is a stone statue???

“What IS cheese?” – Considering sometimes cheese tastes pretty bad, I don’t blame you for not knowing what cheese is.

Couldn’t they check the camera for what Kanazawa was doing with it?

I just saw the number 3230 on the camera’s inside frame for taking pictures (whatever you call it). That might be the year this show is set…

Notice the word for temple that’s used is jiin, a Buddhist temple. A Shinto version of that might be jinja.

Kanazawa was voiced by Akira Ishida? The guy who did Kiku (SGRS)??? NOOOOOOO! I missed a prime opportunity! I’ll have to go back for it later.

The ED is even more catchy than the OP. Is that even possible???

The camera breaks in the ED…that’s so ominous…

That post-ED scene was cute. A little bit.

Girls’ Last Tour 5

The slightly-electronic-sounding OP doesn’t quite fit the show, does it?

The phrase used was definitely ie dake ni. I’m not quite sure what that means, but…okay. I’ll just believe the subs on that one.

I wonder if Sentai is planning to dub these…I can imagine this show being dubbed.They wouldn’t need to pay too many VAs for it, for one thing.

Akogare is the word for desire or longing. It would be no surprise f there was an akogaru or akogarareru made from it as well.

Notice it’s “Yay!”, but with the word for house (ie) emphasised.

What is this fish dream, a metaphor for lesbians…?

The soundtrack guys must’ve had lots of fun striking cans or whatever.

I think this ED is different to the one last ep…Its name appears to be Amadare no Uta and it’s sung by the main VAs.

I bet the soundtrack guys hit a bell or two there…

Girls’ Last Tour 6

Oh no! It’s an Anime Scientist! Last time we had one, it was Shinawa (Kado), and you know how badly that went…

Interesting that the word for “takeoff” is “separation [from the] ground” literally.

Okay! I’m caught up to the weekly episodes now!

[friendlyneighbourhoodlucifer]

i got tagged to do this by @radioactivebroccoli

Tell us your favorite character from 10 different fandoms & then tag ten people

(now, it doesn’t say i should give motivations for which characters i chose but i will anywas bc why the heck not)

Harry Potter – Harry Potter

Now see, i’m a sheeple and i tend to enjoy the main character in the media i enjoy, that’s just life sometimes ok, and like i wouldn’t spend all those years reading books and watching movies abt a character i didn’t like and feel with and shit. And like obvs I like herm and ron and the others but like they’re not harry ok let me live (also idk how hard we are on this “one character per fandom thing” and if harry potter and avps are the same fandom bc if not, my fav avpm character is Voldemort)

 Pearl – Steven Universe

She’s trying so hard ok and she’s grown so much and she’s such a repressed gay nerd but like she also was co-leader of a rebellion and she’s poofed so many gems and like she’s so selfish but also selfless and, like, every single character in steven universe is amazing in their own way and like just fkn watch the show my dudes

 Tina Belcher – Bob’s Burgers

Tina is such a teen girl ok and I love her so much for it, like do you ever hear that shit abt how teenage girls are too passionate and weird and people call everything they do ugly and they act like their feelings are in some way a personal offence to society and then someone like tina fucking exists and feels and acts and is confident and insecure and weird and amazing, fuck dude

 Blue Sargent – the Raven Cycle

Ok so like this weird thing happens when you only watch visual media and like things that are made in like the us and maybe the uk where men are like 90% of everything and women are so unrelateable ffs, And then you like read a book again bc like you haven’t read books in forever bc mental health am I right, and then the female character is just so darn likeable, in like the way where it’s not that she’s perfect, it’s just that she’s a person, and she’s so cool ok Blue is /so cool/ and smart and she has good believable opinions and like I wanna be her and also u know maybe make out with her when she turns like 22 or something

 Jake Peralta – Brooklyn 99

Ok so b99 has so many good characters, it’s such a good show and like I do love amy and rosa and gina and charles and the gang but like jake is so well arched and funny and enjoyable ok he’s just so easy to watch and like espec in these later episodes and he’s really nice as a funny asshole-ish dude-character that’s not actually offensive (mostly there might be some fat-jokes in there but that’s more the fault of the show and not a thing that’s part of the character)

 Gayle Waters-Waters – Gayle

Sometimes you don’t really like a character but like it’s still 100% ur fav bc u just wanna watch them forever like yeah she’s horrible but I love it, watch gayle on youtube kiddos

 Guinevere– Merlin (bbc)

She’s so kind and strong ok and she did so much to shape Arthur and like yeah I ship merthur as much as the next one but like I can still love the heck out of gwen outside her relationship with Arthur and I do think the love story was beautiful ok, I did, my heart might often be cold towards the ~romantic~ stuff but like she deserved it so much and I would 100% watch anything more with angel as gwen ok she was so good for the role and while on the topic of romantic shit her and morgana was the shit, honestly, the stuff with morgana breaking gwen in the tower was the saddest betrayal in the entire series ok frick, and like ok if ur gonna watch merlin, or rewatch it, do it and watch is as the story of gwen ok, she’s just as much the hero and she has a hero’s story just as much as merlin and Arthur

 Steve Rogers – Marvel

So I’ll be the first to admit that I do not know all that much abt comics canons or even that much abt the mcu, I watched the first avenger and then avengers and winter soldier and like yeah I love that steve at times but the steve I really love is my head version that’s based on fics and different posts and headcanons and shit, that’s how we do it up in here ok, and for a character called captain America who’s almost made to be a beacon of hope, a symbol, I really think it’s kinda ok to make that symbol mean something unique to u ya feel. And ok I know peeps have different opinions abt what kind of heroes they like, and like yeah I like a good chosen one obvs but steve is just so fkn heroic ok he chose this life and he’s doing it and no one could tell him he has to really like the world will not really end if he just fucks off but he still does everything he’s such a saviour ok also he’s a lil’ shit, love him (sam is missing out on this spot only bc he wasn’t in the first movie like I already loved steve when I saw sam but rest assured I love the heck out of sam too)

 Cecil Palmer – Night Vale

I’m so fond of cecil, like sometimes I don’t like him and I want to fight him with a wooden spoon, but he’s one of those characters where the fondness you feel for them stems from the way they act and feel, more than their opinions (which is like a whole other thing that is so weird on tumblr, like how you are almost expected to look at people as a bundle of opinions and like or dislike them based on that but w/e that’s not what we’re talking bout here) and idk, just a solid good character

 Miss Marple – Agatha Christie

Idk dude it’s a comfort thing

i tag: anyone who wants to do it, yes i know that’s cheating but when ur out ur out u feel let me live