#made her to be very level 1 goblin coded

[jestersarts]

ROBOT MAID FAILGIRL BE UPON YE. (SHE/HER)

Sean was put together with a bunch of wrecked pieces of shadow androids and metal prototypes to act as a maid for a mobian scientist. Unfortunately, said scientist is...not the best engineer, and her coding is 5% Shadow, 15% Metal Sonic, and 80% anxiety ridden spaghetti code. She's a 99% more likely to start crying very loudly in response to any sort of actual conflict than to start fighting anything.

[fujocoded]

Final Campaign Showcase

It's time! With our campaign concluded, and our energy replenished, let's do a final campaign tally and look at all the amazing contributors that helped make this fundraiser an astounding success. Hold on to your seats, we're going for a ride! For obvious reasons, this is going under the cut 👇 If you're curious about what this is all about, check out our (now concluded) BackerKit campaign here!

First of all, the final numbers: as you know, we raised $9,258 from 170 backers, 309% of our goal for an average of more than $50(!!!) per person. Our most backed tier was "Mandarin Seed" with 41, followed by Lime at 34. (hope you enjoyed all the citrus-y references 🌱)

For the high level tiers, we got 4(!!) Bronze Fujin backers at $250+ and 1 Gold Fujin at $1,000. There are no words to quantify our gratitude for this amount of support. But there's a sponsor wall on which we'll soon showcase our generous patrons' names (or not, as they wish)!

For add-ons, the winner is "Additional Sticker Set" (SO glad you love them as much as we do), followed by the "Shipping on Company Time–AO3 edition" sticker. This was our "target audience"-bait stretch goal, so we're glad to see it worked! FujoBoards are also ever-popular.

And speaking of stickers... let's talk about our sticker sets and the people who made them! We didn't get to shout out our artists quite as often as we wanted to during the campaign (the rapid pace of “all that needs doing” made it hard), so it's time to put names to the art!

Our Brand Sticker Pack mostly features graphics and art like the logo and raccoon) by anonymous collaborators who 💜 their privacy! The stickers themselves were designed by @essential-randomness, and the brilliant "fujin inside" joke was a last-minute stroke of genius by @enigmalea.

For the slogan pack, "Boba-tan's Big Integers" features art by @moksutinn, the "be gay commit code crimes" chibi are by @ikam177, and office lady Boba-tan is by @ymkse–all long-term collaborators! Once again they were assembled by @essential-randomness with help from our community

Next is the amazing "fujin/sickos" parody by Ererifan (as sticker and shirt/tote), and our 88x31 badges by Goblin. And don't forget the anonymous artist for our teasers!

They too had already collaborated with us in previous initiatives! As they say, "the gang is all here".

Now, our website! It was primarily coded by @essential-randomness, but is heavy in community contributions. Check code (and contributors) on GitHub: https://github.com/FujoWebDev/fujocoded

Even here, a lot of long-term collaborators, some in their first foray with git!

For the art (once again, have you tried moving the browser windows on the site?), we have two amazing artists to thank: @brokemycrown, our FujoGuide KS art director, created the "web" trio pics, while the rest is the work of @ymkse, with us since the very first Boba-tan art!

As you know, more goes into a project than coding and art. Between writing, proof-reading, alt-texting, cat-herding, pep-talking, and "running around getting things done" so many community contributors pitched in! We're still confirming who wants public credit, but here's a few:

@enigmalea, without whom so many of our projects wouldn't exist in their current form, did a bit of everything: from styling, to design, to wording, to typing... not even technical difficulties can keep her down!

VCat, without whom our website wouldn't have shipped in time

@starfieldcanvas, at their first big projects with us, gets the credit of "first volunteer to write a @bobaboard retrospective" (rather than founder @essential-randomness), which alone would be an incredible feat. However, Dove did a lot more, handling all our newsletters through the lead up to the campaign, thus making it possible for the team to make everything that needed happening actually happen. She also helped with design, FujoVerse copy, and even picked up coding (!) and GitHub (!!) to help update things here and there!

@elendraug picked up everything that needed picking up! From the humongous task of adding all our collaborators to @fujowebdev, to writing most of our alt text, to proofreading, to helping with drafts...

@xieliansbignaturals who took care of alt text, proofreading and cheerleading

@tarantasina, who kept the team on track and delighted us all with their Signature High-Spirit Emotional Encouragement™

@thebiballerina, who gave us social media wisdom, help with proofreading and wordsmithing, and other invaluable support

...and then me, @essential-randomness, who has written most of the posts delighting your days, manned an inordinate amount of social accounts, did everything-not-done-by-others, and somehow managed to get a company started on the wings of being a fujoshi–the highest of achievements.

With all of this said, the plan for the future: this campaign took us months to prepare on top of working on our other projects. We're now going to take a deserved couple of weeks to rest, then regroup to discuss next steps and priorities.

Formalizing all this into a company won't always be straightforward, and there will be decisions to make we haven’t even encountered yet. Our first priorities will be finishing FujoGuide Issue 2 and producing + shipping the rewards for this campaign.

Alongside this, we'll start contacting the lawyers you all recommended (seriously, thank you) so we can begin hiring with confidence, and continue the work making @bobaboard's governance independent so we can finally onboard more volunteers and push the project forward.

There's a lot to do (as you can see), and it will take time to realize the full potential of what you've helped us launch. We're incredibly excited to get to work, even more so now that we have some seed (money) to help lighten the load. And with this, we say (a temporary) goodbye.

Thank you everyone who supported us, and thank you everyone who's been at our side all along, and everyone who is joining our journey for the first time.

Looking forward to the future, The FujoCoded LLC Team

[storyofmychoices]

Blades 2 Inside Choices Blog: Blades of Light and Shadow 2

We’re so happy to be back in action with the gang we know and love! Where does Blades of Light and Shadow 2 pick up after the first book’s ending?

Emi: I will say that we don't pick up where you're expecting. 

Kathleen: Unless you were expecting to get hucked out the back of the plot truck and onto the action highway at 80mph. (Fury Road theme plays)

Lil: (is overtaken by the Two Towers theme)

Emi: But rest assured, our original four love interests are back and dealing with their own challenges. 

Lil: And they’re definitely going to need help with those challenges whether you’re romancing them or not. Though we support all variations of ‘mancers here. Mono-, multi-, and necro- . 

Emi: Also they get some new looks that can best be described as "sleeves are B.S."

Jay: Don’t forget “badass pirate coat important”.

What kind of new main characters will we meet in the sequel? Or perhaps, any new love interests?

Jay: There is a strange but familiar hooded figure…whose hotness level was of great discussion.

Lil: He’s very constructive with his feedback. And a monster from Book 1 returns, but not in a way you expect. 

Emi: I think we all know I'm obsessed with Valax. I mean, she's a badass purple lady who only has one sleeve. Obviously that makes her my wife.

Tom: EMI YOU HAVE TOO MANY WIVES!!!

Kathleen: Idk I'm still mad that hot scorpion lady didn't win the monster contest.

Lil: Sky whale supremacy how dare. 

Kathleen: Okay I am excited about the dwarves and goblins though. New dwarf friend is just A+ chaos babe and I love her.

Emi: Honestly though, my fave character is the one who's "head empty, no thoughts, falls over a lot."

Making this sequel has been a labor of love. Does the book team have any must-tell stories/bloopers during production?

Jay: There was an accidental floating dwarf? And too many battles with code. Writers, please don’t do it to me again. I cannot take it. The while loop will win.

Kathleen: During one of my editorial passes I had to give Emi a note like "Okay when we first meet the Big Bad maybe we should use that moment to establish that she's really imposing/scary instead of just going off about how hot she is."

Emi: I may have made too many Aerin memes that are now weekly traditions for our team.

Danielle: I was instructed to design a character with “Vision as a hotness bar” as a guide, I ignored them and used Jeff Bridges instead 😏. 

Jay: Danielle also came up with some incredible filenames, my favorite being “tentacle_monster_buff”.

Danielle: It’s accurate, is it not?

Are there any elements that you are particularly proud of?

Tom: The Shadow Realm was fun to make! Think the Upside Down, but more purple. And to make all the awesome new weapons and armor work with the outfits took 150 unique assets! You’re welcome.

Danielle: My first full book!

Lil: The lore guide for Blades was 60 single-spaced pages before we started adding things that came up during active production. I’m really pleased with how much actually ended up being discoverable in the book itself, so be sure to explore every nook and cranny of Morella and beyond! Because they are filled with beauty and chaos. 

Emi: I cannot tell you how many spreadsheets we made to keep track of things. I mean, the outline alone was 100 pages!

Jay: My code built 😭. And that my production planning got it to you a little earlier than y��all had anticipated hehe.

At the end of the first book, we seemed to have wiped out the forces of evil for at least a day or so. What kind of dangers will we face in the second edition?

Lil: Evil never sleeps y’all. It gets its coffee from Aerin. 

Kathleen: (Aerin, walking up to the counter): "I have a large non-fat birthday cake latte with caramel drizzle and four shots of espresso for (squints at label) ...Emile?"

Lil: In all seriousness, you’re really getting it from all sides in this book. There’s rival factions, shifting leadership, societal upheaval, and monsters. So. Many. Monsters. (Thank you for giving us the Shadestalker, by the way. Can’t wait for you to meet the beefy boy.) 

Kathleen: One cool scary thing about book 2 is that THIS TIME, IT'S PERSONAL (like instead of you and your buds racing against bad guys to collect the magic things, you've now got a villain single-mindedly hunting you down so she can steal your <REDACTED> for use in her evil plans).

Emi: Kathleen may have called me out for it but our Big Bad is hot! Both literally and figuratively!

How much do you love QA?

Lil: SO MUCH.

Emi: Pour one out for our poor QA folks who have had to test what is the most complex book we have ever done! You are the real heroes!

Jay: QA peeps are my saviors!! Their work alone cures my anxiety.

Kathleen: Gawd I would be lost without QA my grammar is a disaster

Erin: Everyone on the Blades team is so wonderful to work with. I also tested Book 1, and to be able to contribute to Book 2 means everything to me. It’s absolutely a labor of love.

We know that years of hard work and passion went into this book. What would the Blades team like the readers to take away from this sequel?

Emi: So Kathleen and I actually helped to brainstorm the entire Blades world back when it first came into being, so it felt like coming full circle to be back and expanding it in new and fun ways. I was already in love with all of these characters and they're even closer to my heart now. I can't wait for you all to see what we've come up with!

Jay: Y’all better like it! This book has taken years off my life. *lies down on floor* (But seriously, we’re as excited about Blades 2 as all of you and hope that it brings as much joy to you as it did for us to make. I think the best word to describe the team as we wait for September 1st is giddy.)

Danielle: I hope you like our art :).

Tom: If you don’t, please keep it to yourself, artists are fragile :’} 

Lil: I was one of the few people who was new at Choices when I began working on this book, and it was truly an honor to see this thing come together. These are the minds that brought you The Crown & the Flame, The Cursed Heart, Wake the Dead, and the first Blades. It was amazing to go from watching them work as a fan to taking this epic journey together. 

Kathleen: THE REAL VILLAIN WAS THE IMPERIALISM WE MADE ALONG THE WAY

Lastly, how much does the team love Aerin?

Kathleen: I DON'T love Aerin he KIDNAPPED my WIFE.

Danielle: Which one…

Emi: Aerin is my sweet baby boi with a little dose of evil. He should be protected at all costs but also really needs to go to therapy. I live for the angst of him and Raine though. It's so juicy.

Danielle: Aerin has caused me, personally, a lot of pain.

Lil: Really, one of the fun things about the book is you can decide how much pain Aerin causes you. Unlike us.

Jay: He haunts my dreams and my Wednesdays.

Danielle: Livid and sad and livid and sad

Thank you team for taking us through the fantastical production journey of the Blades of Light and Shadow 2! We can’t wait to dive in and meet up with the gang. Launch day is so close!! 

Thank you, readers, for supporting us and our book teams!

<3 The Choices Community Team

[icecreamkink]

watched all of the untamed / cql in two weeks after my friend 1 told me abt mdzs a hundred years ago and my friends 2 and 3 tried to get me into cql for like two whole years and there are.

feelings.

very first scene is a very dramatic death in the middle of nightmare battle on sith planet land . i will forget abt it in the next tenish episodes and then will be very surprised when it becomes Extremely Painful

anyway magic flying gays and possession and human sacrifice! we are off to a great start

in retrospect, chaos goblin wei wuxian must have had a blast pretending to be so cRaZy and be as disruptive as he could as mo xuanyu lbr

listen. why is fire always evil coded. cant a magic clan wear red, black and orange and have flame motif while being wholesome?

For Legal Reasons These Are Not Zombies

i wish the politics of the sect were a bit clearer, especially at the beggining when the wen clan had sm power, was wen ruohan the chief cultivator? is that why they were so slow in responding to the attacks? im v confused by the pre yiling patriarch politics

fighting in the roof by the moonlight as way of flirtiiiiiiing. as i understand this is a wuxia/xianxia trope and honestly...... thank u for ur service

slight bullying and being a nuisance in general, as a way of flirting we love to see it

wwx: if i drink on the rooftop, thats not inside the cloud recesses! hmmm check and mate :D lwj: i will fuck u up so help me god   wwx: :0

i lov them

through hell or high water (quite literally) wei wuxian rem ains a trashfire gremlin till the end and i love him with my whole heart

in the pt subs wei wuxian calls jiang cheng a stubborn duck and i dearly wish that had come back

my opinions on almost every character goes from love to hate u - Hmm Me Like U - BABY. ILY. and i am Very Pleased w that. its been a while since i loved such a complete cast so much i think

no really. i WONT go into a detailed rant abt what i love about each of these characters and each of their relationships to each other. but i COULD. 

some lan disciples in the loudest whisper ever: YEAH THATS THE JIN BASTARD MENG YAO HEARD THE GOT SUPER HUMILIATED BY HIS DAD LOL SURE HOPE HE DOESNT TAKE SLIGHTS TO HIS CHARACTER TO HEART

lan xichen, immediately: i must Love him 

being into problematic ppl is in the Lan genetics, we come to realize

wen qing deserves so many awards for so many things but not snapping and just stabbing wen chao is at the top 

that scene at lan qirens class where wwx talks about using resentful energy to fight a violent spirit. exquisite.

 It establishes Good Student lan wangji, wei wuxian as curious and questioning and not afraid of taboo,  lwj sees that wwx is not, in fact, a dumb ass hes just a Dumbass,  shows us the audience (esp. a western audience) how shocking the idea of disrupting the dead/dying and controlling resentful energy actually is,  the theoretical foreshadow arguing, everyone else like ‘shUT UP’,  “and how could you ensure that the resentful energy would obey you and not hurt other?” “well i havent thought that far” and of course, lan qiren just straight up lobbing a hard object at wwx head,. chefs kiss

fellas is it gay to bother the hot rule obessessed nerd from ur school and make drawings of him with flowers in his hair and then hide gay porn in his book to antagonize him and ask him to hold ur hand and be ur friend and talk to him all the time and get him drunk and give him bunnies bc you know he likes them and give him a lantern and always want his attention and dedicate yourself to getting him to smile-

and after all of that wwx rly said oh i Admire him, aksd like yeah we all were there in high school buddy

i have Learned. caves = gay.

 accidental marriage +beint physically tied together with the sacred married ribbon+ gay panic+foreshadowing+bunnies! in the cave (1)

the story abt lan yi and baoshan sanren tho. i would like to see it

early days wen bros pull my heart strings like a guqin 

EVERYTHING about the lantern scene; disaster hets jiang yanli and jin zixuan; how wwx made lwj a bunny lantern. how soft and touched lwj was. wwx gleefully pointing out he was smiling and lwj IMMEDIATELY PULLING HIW SWORD ON HIM LMAO. tragically foreshadowy promises to do right by pepople, living without regrets. lwjs 'oh no do i love him??' face. just. all of it. 

i have it on good acc that in the novel lwj is explicitly Repressed Gay Panicked Big Horny which is delightful and rly Adds to the performance

 baby lwj is really just conceal dont feel dont let them know u have EMOTIONS (derogatory)

jiang cheng rly went "why dont.u go play with HIM if u like him so much"

jc and wwx have big BIG annoying sibling energy dont think too hard abt it or youll cry

lotus pier is soo pretty :((((((((((((((((

up until episode 13 you could think this could be a magical ancient chinese gays pride n prejudice w swords and shenanigans ................youre just not prepared for the game of thrones of it all

seriously ha ha ha i cried so much w this show my eyes genuinely swelled up . like. physically. fun timez fun timez

that being said, its hilarious that wen xu goes to cloud recesses like 'come out or ill kill all these hostages' and then DOESNT WAIT FOR AN ASWER AND KILLS THEM ALL IMMEDIATELY. do u know how blackmail works sir

 would like to make it recorded that from day one i was like 'CALL A GODDAMN CULTIVATION G20 THIS ASSHOLE SECT IS LITERALLY MASSACRING YALL!!' and it took them like 3 or 4 massacres to do anything and they STILL sent their heirs into their territory  LIKE

when wwx cites the gusu lan rules to wen chao tho. that rebel/attention whore/cutie pie 'look lan zhan i DID memorize the rules after all' ‘also a big fuck you to the wen sect :D :D’ sweet spot that scene achieves . delicious

all the cultivator young masters being petty af even though they are practically prisoners at the cave is hilarious and i love them

hurt and comfort + gay mistunderstandings + watsonian gay declaration music + accidental evil acquisition! at the cave (2)

its like where do i start? the fact theyre both trapped and kind of heavily injured inside an isolated cave with a murder turtle? wwx gay panicking lwj into coughing up bad blood? lwj being jealous as wwx babbles abt mianmian? telling him he shouldnt play with people and wwx saying he never played him? wwx going Oh. I See what is happening. YOU like mianmian, and lwj absolute done face ??? (iconic) wwx touching the sacred married ribbon Again? the telepathic communication? the sword? WEI WUXIAN ASKING LAN WANGJI TO SING TO HIM AS HE IS PASSING OUT AND LWJ SINGING HIM. THE SONG. HE WROTE. FOR WWX. AND THAT HE CALLED. THEIR SHIP NAME????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

they are SO insufferable pleeeeease

in the words of my friend 1 : “CQL is so gay we were all amazed how it got past the censors Ofc unfortunately it can't be novel level gay But they did their best And we love them for it”

in the theme of songs THIS OST. WUJI HAS BEEN LIVING IN MY MIND RENT FREE SINCE I FIRST HEARD IT the whole ost is so so sO beautiful.

 the costuming in this is also soooo exquisite. the embroidery? the fabrics? the details? how every sect and clan has a distinct style and architecture? (also ik they based each off of dif periods in chinese history which is REALLY fucking cool) just chefs kiss

the direction too!. i enjoy the unusual camera movements and i think they give it that Vibe, also their composition is PARTICULARLY good when it comes to telling the subtext through position of camera/position of character (like nhs off to the side in scenes he at first glance doesnt need to be/ how lwj is often centered when hes Jealous Yearning at wwx being affectionate w other ppl, wwx return from burial mounds etc)

ik madam yu is like Badass Milf Check and shes not getting any mom of the year awards but im delighted at how messy she is. IMAGINE that woman on tiktok

you better have enjoyed gay cave (2) bc its Just Pain from here on out! 

jiang fengmian and madame yu win the Most Dramatic Way to show they do care about each other, actually ..... ever :)

i thought jiang yanli jiang cheng and wei wuxian forcing themselves to escape yunmeng barely holding on after their parents are killed was going to be the height of pain in this show. ha. 

the family dynamics in general on this showwwww, both blood/ adopted/ found families, brotherly bonds and lifelong friendships just. rly. truly. fucked me up. theyre all so important and complicated and well rounded and beautiful and tragic

and beyond being a Win For the Gays im so glad the relationships w wwx and jiang yanli/ wen qing were NOT changed from platonic bc they are so much better like that imo. like maybe if we didnt Live In A Society it wouldnt be so, but the fact wwx and others can love and value them so much and theres nothing romantic or sexual abt it is like. so refreshing. especially @ jyl, with the way he and jc are overprotective of her and shes such a nurturing/care taker figure for them, it would just not vibe as well if they made it romantic

i love that this is a story abt Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch aka Actual Satan/Boogey Man/Village With/Public Enemy Number One , my dude is literally a necromancer who only dresses in black and has evil smokey black tendrils wafting out of him, but the really edgy one is still jiang cheng, pastel purple fashion icon

and speaking of best/worst siblings wei wuxian and jiang cheng *immediately starts crying* 

The Golden Core Transfer i just. no thots only tears 

wen qing and wen ning putting themselves in so much danger just.... to help them. wn saving jc from wen chao. wq finding a way to get wwx to transfer his core. like thinking about the monumental work these two did to help wwx and jyl and jc... jyl trying so fucking hard to be strong and keep on moving and giver her little brothers comfort after losing everything... jiang cheng. losing his parents and his home and his ability to do anything abt it and his complete desperation and lack of self worth and turning on them with agression  when he didnt realize all that they did for him ... hhhhhhhhhhhhh

me, pointing at the whole cast “i just LOVE them mom!!!”

its sad tho, that BARELY ANY of the women have like.... actual important conversations let alone relationships with each other at all in the story. and like wq and jyl have stayed at the same place for extended periods of time, where wq actively took care of her TWICE,  and still! not one measly convo, nothing! ................ .𝓌ₕᵧ

everyone in this show need a good sip of Self Worth and Stop Sacrificing Yourself juice 

ngl the sword flying looks very dumb 

“a-cheng, please bring a-xian back.” “i will, i promise.” ;-;

the whole calling each other by the More Intimate Version of the name, first as teasing and later as true intimacy. mmmhmmm yes

untamed where everythings the same but wwx evil flute song is eoeo

related that scene when wwx comes back from the burial mounds for the first time w demonic cultivation and he acts all formal and calls lwj hanguang-jun and keeps being evasive and distant and mean and soooooo................. facetious 

and how hes kind of desperately trying to keep intense lwj at bay (A FIRST) and avoiding actually talking to either of them and its all tension ughhh and then he MOCKS his and lwjs relationship, he jokes w him in this like... mean echo of their usual ~banter~ oof 

 and like!!! uncertain but so relieved jc who just HUGS him w no reservations for once and its not like he isnt just as worried as lwj abt wwx and what hes doing, but he chooses in that moment to enjoy getting him back first and mmhmMMMmMm yes (maybe my favorite scene in the whole show? MAYBE SO. ) 

highkey hurt me but also. i might be into mean wwx. i will take no criticism.

lan zhans sad eyes tho :((((((((( 

on one hand i wish we could have seen what happened at the burial mounds but on the other the timeskip adds so much flair to his return so im hnnn

also i love that hes been missing for 3 months reappears kinda melancholic and bloodthirsty and knowing malign tricks and jc is like 'so. are u sad bc of lan wangji'

when ur bae survived the war but he thinks ur evil/ might be evil so you cant kiss :///

hmmm talking at the rooftop under the moonlight not mentioning everything that stands between usssss

they are the two jades of lan and we’ll be the two heroes of yunmeng is the type of line u dont even need to know whats gonna happen to know thats gonna be sad

when they fight wen ruoshan at the nightless city i thought that was the battle we see at the first ep and its not and its so easy and theyre all like ‘yayy we won go wwx!’ i was just. SCREAMS WHAT is gonna HAPPEN

so like. post burial mounds/sunshot campaign pre yiling patriarch wwx is like. ultra arrogant, ultra mocking, peak lil shit and it gave me e v e r y t h i n g i wanted

even tho having the wen prisoners at the targets at phoenix mountain and still having wwx and jzx shooting the arrows was???? so.... tone deaf 

wwx: fucking w demonic energy   jyl: he has never done anything wrong in his life, ever <3 <3 (mood)

the parallels between meng yao/wei wuxian (and even xue yang a bit?) are Seen and they are Valid

wwx post burial mounds: can yall SHUT UP abt the goddamn sword (suibian left the chat)

LIKE truly, we talk abt the angst and yearning with wangxian. but what abt wwx and suibian. xianbian / xianqing angst and comfort 100k

take a shot everytime someone coughs up blood

zidian is simply the coolest spiritual weapon rip to suibian and chenqing and bichen and sendou and baixa........ but tis the truth 

cons: everyones families died in a nightmare war! everyones homes burned to the ground! everyone is traumatized! pros: everyone gets cooler clothes and weapons!!

wen ning and a-yuan and yanli bestest babes squad dont touch me rn

everyone: brooding and fighting                                                                wq and jyl: why dont you try some acupunture/drinking some soup and calm down huh? how abt that bitch?? 

showing the battle/massacre at the nightless city first was genius actually bc then everytime we have a cute scene w yunmeng bros and theyre like 'we'll be together forever! uwu' youre like oh. oh no. oh no no no. 

justice vs lawfulness vs means and ends 👁

jc: stay in the right path and practice the art of the sword                        wx: yeah thats not gonna happen chief

my reaction to wwx renouncing to the sect politics to help the wens was just that elmo burning gif in succession

the dramatic rain. wen qing desperately calling out to wen ning. the ghosts/puppets killing the guards. how terrifying wn actually was while wwx was controlling him :( lwj goeing after him to try and stop him and then he just; he Sees him and understands him even if he cant actually do anything about it other than let them go. 

“there must be somewhere in this earth we can go to :(((((((((”

"IF I HAVE TO FIGHT THEM, I'D RATHER IT BE YOU. DYING BY YOUR HANDS WOULD AT LEAST BE WORTH IT." oh my god oh my god oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooddddddd

also lwjs umbrella is white w black smoke.. .  . nice

yiling patriarch / demonic farming burial mounds settlement is like one of my favorite concepts. they an "EVIL" FARMING COMMUNITY LED BY THE VILLAGE WITCH COME ON

they planted TURNIPS and LOTUS FLOWERS and ONE (1) baby and made lanterns and a common hall :(((((((

wen qing and wei wuxian, baddest bitches and genius science best friends i absolutely LOVED to see it. they rly went ‘is anyone gonna sibling/project partner that’ and didnt wait for an answer

both wwx and jyl getting lotus ponds at the burial mounds and in lanling bc they miss lotus pier ;;;;;;;w

;;;;; wish jyl had actually gone into the burial mounds. we were robbed of jyl and wq meeting again and jyl meeting a-yuan and seeing the settlement and the homes and all ;w; at least jc did go, stab wounds and broken arms and all

wwx like... having thrown his whole life away to help the wens (yeah the sect leaders and jin guangshan in particular wanting his stygian tiger amulet was an Element but still) and not.... necessarily regretting it, but grappling with all of the consequences of it... becoming moody and drepressed at times, missing his family and lotus pier and his friends and probably simply missing being around people and causing trouble, extrovert that he is, lashing out at the wens and at a-yuan, just in general the whole messiness of that experience

the way the resentful energy does affect his temperament is rly nice bc its not too in your face,(i mean outside of the Shaky Hands of Rage) but like he clearly has a much lesser control on his anger and impulsivity (tall order) than both before bm and after hes ressurected

on that note A-YUAN BABIEST BABY BOY BEST BOY

lan zhan being like oh hey there wei ying fancy meeting u and our son here. just passing by u know how it is hmmmmMm and then PLOT TWIST having defied orders to go see him and being punished for it. oof;;

 they habent seen each other in like? a year? and now theyre tgt 10 seconds and are already parenting a child together

also lwj rly kneels down in the snow way too much to be healthy

wwx: calm down guyssss i wont lose control of demonic cultivation omgggg  .   spoiler alert: he loses control of demonic cultivation

did u enjoy cute children? good bc now the Real Pain Begins

jiang yanli and jin zixuan rly out there APROPRIATING both disaster gays AND bury ur gays huh ;w;

i KNEW jin lings birthday was gonna fuck something up but the GASP that left my body when wwx lost control of wn and killed jin zixuan .. . . 

im sorry and thank you aaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAaAAAAA 

when wen ning and wen qing were telling wwx their plan i was saying NO NO NO NO NO NO out loud in despair 

also can we talk abt how wq is definetely talking about only the both of them surrending themselves but then? everyone else just surrenders w them? IT MAKES NO SENSE LIKE WHY WOULD THEY what would be the Point

 sometimes there are some pretty gaping jumps in logic and continuity that are just like                     ?          ?

wwx: oh so when you try to murder me its justified but when i survive through dark magic and murder all of you its a "war crime"

unsurprisingly, his most feral, most spiraling moment talking to the sect leaders on the roof and attacking them and even fighting lan zhan is among my favorite scenes... its like, so painful to watch but also   so       thrilling   (and maybe my wen bbs dying arose some resentful energy in me what can i say) 

and its JUST, all they ever wanted was to do good but then... war. and trauma. and hubris. 

jiang cheng on the ground clearly thorn between what to do and feel is a Mood, lets just say

i was already crying when jyl showed up, but if i wasnt-

 i suffered SO MUCH through this series trying to figure out WHY jc would kill wwx. and when i understood. its somehow not as bad as i thought and also MUCH MUCH WORSE

a look into my group chat during the last flashback episodes:

SO ANYWAY. after the BLOOD BATH and RIPPING YOUR HEART OUT and FEEDING IT TO YOU  the untamed goes ‘ayy back to the present!! tu du dud ud du’ 

literally it ends a quarter into an episode and then KEEPS GOING i had to pause and stare blankly at the ceiling for an hour

babie cultivators and detective soulmates . i do need some cute after All of That 

(not that the pain is over LOL)

lwj is significantly less emotionally repressed in the present and its delightful. hes just ALL IN with wwx. and not just in the ‘i would and have killed various men and risked my reputation for you’ but also ‘ur tired here have a drink i brought it up cause i know u like it and it want you to be happy, always’

“when everyone praised me and wanted my power, you were the only one that challenged me. now that everyone hates me and wants me dead, youre the only one that stands by my side.” hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 

and just filling in the blanks how lan zhan searched for him. for all of those 16 years he searched for him and was punished for it and raised a-yuan, the only survivor of the burial mounds settlement, as his own in gusu......

and jiang cheng.  being the tough love uncle . having raised the yunmeng jiang clan from the rubble all alone, his whole family dead, some of it on the blame of his own brother, his siblings, his closest friends gone.......and only jin ling there needing his guidance. 

THE PARALLEL BETWEEN JIN LING BEING A LIFELINE FOR JIANG CHENG AND A-YUAN FOR LAN WANGJI AFTER THE BATTLE AT THE NIGHTLESS CITY  

great now i made myself sad

and like . the fact! that lwj and jc dislike each other!!. jc projects blame onto him for wwx both “leaving” him and indirectly causing their families deaths and when hes so consumed by it he makes wwx an enemy, lwj is there now? trying to protect him?? and lwj, who can never understand the pain that wwx , indirectly or not put jc through, but who was right there when jc tried to kill him and will never allow him to hurt wwx again. and how they like. in a way project blame of their tragedies onto each other while dealing with some type of survivor guilt and in their own way still loving wwx through it all???  amd in way its kind of fundamentally selfish but also tragically understandable? and like when u put it against the fact that after he disappears during the sunshot campaign they were looking for him together and fought together??

JUST. THE CHARACTERS. AND THE RELATIONSHIPS IN THIS. MAN. UGH. GOD. 

and like i think thats what makes it so good? its such a sad and painful and violent story, edgy even, but its compelling bc at the center of it there are all of these relationships and different types of love and hope and. :( i love it

enough crying lets talk abt wwx sleeping at the jingshi with lwj and wearing his under garment for a minute 🙏

 jin ling just has that Was Raised by JC energy tho lmao i love him

babie cultivator squad is the perfect ammount of cute and comedic relief while still bearing the weight? of the narrative in a way, both from sizhui and jin lings existences, and also. like. how do i put this. they feel hopeful? they were born after a war, they came of age at a time of relative peace, they dont hold on so closely to the resentments of their parents/father figures, they are specifically shown as more accepting and open minded. and its like.... Hope for the future  

one of the ?? things  i love the most is the fact that the main cast are often in situations where theyre hunted/running but they like. never wear disguises... just going around in their gorgeous expensive clan clothes and hair ornaments and distinctive spiritual weapons.... maybe w a straw hat on, just for kicks

wwx teacher 🥺🥺🥺

so this is why its called Yi City Misery huh

a-qing is such. an icon. im so sad. my girl even knew to leave xys dumb self rotting by the road but no one listens to her thats why theyre all dead or sad 

her and xue yang measuring each other up was so entertaining lmao

 its the funniest thing when hes like. HERES MY SAD STORY. FOR WHY IM A SADISTIC MURDERER. I BROKE MY HAND ONCE. 

like ok someone broke his hand in a horrible way, and like Poverty, i get it but also like.......... that lost the brunt of a proper sob story like, 50 sadistic murders ago bby

and i love that xingchen does not entertain that for a second hes like ‘not ?????? good enough???’ and the best thing is he wasnt even like 'u hadto be the bigger person' or sth but ' well then break that dudes hand back, rip his arm off for i care, what do the rest of us have to do w anything???” 

anjo sensato :(

xue yang is like..... the sexy sadistic evil version of a himbo..... a meanbo...

the fucked upness of xy’s feelings for xxc/ xxc and sl feelings for each other... like my dude literally gave his bf HIS EYES. and xy getting so attached to xxc .... the fucked up fake domesticity.... having him hurt sl..... then desperately trying to bring him back ...................... oof

song lan........... literally had his eyes AND tongue removed, his bfs eyes put in place, was almost killed, turned into a puppet by his bf unknowingly, manipulated by xy, sees his bf killing himself in despair.... and STILL finds the strenght to get up from there, and keep on traveling and helping people and attempting to fix xxcs soul.......... like, my man. damn. 

wangxian looking at songxiao and seeing an Actually more painful parallel for themselves. ft. that Color Coding. 

THE A-YUAN/SIZHUI REVEAL PUNCHED ME IN THE HEART but in a good way for a change

should have know that he would be the Best Boy the cute one w all the braincells

the butterfly AND the bunny lantern. i see how it is

u know is very convenient that no one can see the stark black veins on wen nings neck, ever 

BAT WEN NING 

wns face when lwj comes into wwx room like ‘:0 omg did u two finally get your shit together? good for you master wei good for u’ 

(they didnt) (yet)

DISASTER DRUNK LWJ. JUST. THRUST SOME CHICKENS TO SHOW UR RESSURECTED BAE THAT U LOVE THEM.

i have absolutely no idea WHY they gave lwj the same punishment for fighting his own sect/allies to protect the burial mounds as when they got drunk on cloud recess class days.... like? its such a ... emotional continuity error again

also is lwj gonna get an actual friend besides wwx , ever

mianmian marrying and having a family and a cute life after saying FUCK U AND UR SYSTEM TOO in a much less unhinged and dramatic way than wwx......... fills me w joy

also lol the idea that like. her husband not knowing that shes friends w satan/the boogey man/the village witch is hilarious

i love nie mingjue bc hes the resident Though Guy but also the most dramatic bitch in this show and thats Saying Something

jin ling cant have one uneventful relative can he

the fact that everyone present already knew “mo xuanyu” was wwx at the stairs is so funny, their faces are like ‘oh............ wow. that. sure is a development. shock” 

in the tradition of extremely loud whispers wwx tells lwj with twelve guards standing like one meter away from them: HEY PSH LAN ZHAN PRETEND IM FORCING YOU TO STAY W ME DO IT

oh my god oh my god

the absolute Yearning on his face when he leaves wwx and a-yuan at the burial mounds and refuses to stay for dinner was already Enough but the fact?? they brought it back?? to this declaration of love?? their expressions??????? strike me dead right now just go ahead

lFor Legal Reasons We Cant Kiss but we will have a very sappy declaration of love and trust and look at each other in way that is the actualization of 💞💘💗💖💓💘💞💗💖💘💗💖💕💞

also icb all the sect leaders and guards are standing there watching them say they like like each other with a dozen swords pointing at their neck

i enjoyed the depiction of the fickle public perception and how easily it can be used to scapegoat people. when the sect leaders turn on jgy and wwx knows thats its more for convenience than anything else...

poor lxc is literally like 'oh so when YOUR problematic boyfriend gets called evil its a misunderstanding but when its MY problematic bf-'

ok like i cant get over nmj let jgy play a song that messed with his temperament at all, like maN u KNEW he might be shady wth

wwx: “hey dont say anything bad abt lan zhan hes not an arrogant dick, thats just his face. 

ME ON THE OTHER HAND"

the cultivators as wwx is poking holes in their narrative is literally *nazaré meme*

"wei wuxian-!" "what did i break your leg, too?" not to be problematic but i laughed so hard

not as hard as "you dont have the rank to talk to me " tho

i Enjoy that, over the course of story, wwx sees that... theres nothing truly to Do, but move on. he saw how his arrogance and his mistakes hurt others, and hes trying to fix what he can, but he already did die for his mistakes and there are things he cant fix and that's. just how it is. even towards jgy, the narrative doesn't go gleefully and completely with "lets make THEM pay bc theyre the big bad" bc its not that simple, and it wouldn't lead anywhere but more pain...

re him and jiang cheng and the wens and kinda. isnt that what nhs did? scheming to displace jgy out of revenge more than any justice and doing so in the most painful way?

idk if that actually makes sense im truly just babbling

i thought the scene at the lotus pond would be CUTE but the context was PAIN again

jiang cheng finding out about his golden core and his conflict with wwx at the guanyin temple .... destroyed me but in a nice way kinda.... same way it destroys him look at his face oh god

and. the fact??? he sacrificed himself for wwx?? first?? and he'll probably never tell anyone much less wwx???? keeps me up at night

i havent decided if the neckbreak transition between jgy does sth super Evil or does he he does OR Does He yes he does O R does heeeee is sth i dislike or not

jin guangyao and wei wuxians most interesting parallel is that... theyve both seen 'hmm hey this system is fucked up' and wwx went 'so fuck it all i will renounce it and challenge it' and jgy went 'so fuck it i will use all of it to my advantage and manipulate it to my goals and whims'

the fact jgys mom was actually great and he loved her and his whole issue w it was more than simply being ashamed of being a bastard kinda got me ngl

never trust a dude with a fan.

nhs and jgy: the first rule to a convoluted and decades spanning violent revenge plot is to have fun and be yourself! 

when a-yuan finally FINALLY remembers ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; wen ning has someone in his family back and a-yuan has someone to talk abt his wen family and wwx has him back bc he survived and lwj raised him anD HES THEIR SON. THEYRE MARRIED AND HAVE A SON. UGH.

and theyre allowed to heal. everyone is allowed to try and recover and be happy

netflix put all of the 3 endings on top of each other and it looks kinda weird actually BUT I DONT EVEN MIND :’’’’’’’’’)

the gasp that left me when lwj says ‘wei ying’ and wwx turns.........

there was also a screen with ‘thank you mxtx for creating these characters, we hope their wishes come true’ and i might. have cried then too. maybe. 

that was . a ride. as is proven by this behemot of a ramble clearly i just really needed and Outlet. i am currently trying to convince dumb monkey brain to not consume the other medias of mdzs immediately bc i REALLY need to like. live. a life. and take care of real responsibilities.  *longest oh boi ever*

[asuccessfulbusinessman]

Reasons why I am not allowed to run LANCER TRPG: How I would run your NHP cascading, despite not knowing the lore that well.

Blackbeard, Sekhmet NHP: Common consensus is that Sekhmet will try to kill the pilot and their allies, - or basically just behave as if the Sekhmet protocol is already active. But I am a visionary, and I know that the BB in the frame-code does not stand for blackbeard, but instead, BB. Fate BB, the purple-pink bubble gum bitch. Even the redacted press release description of the Sekhmet NHP basically screams ‘senpai!’ Sure, if the Sekhmet protocol is active, you’ll just get a berserker that doesn’t really care for pilot wellbeing. But if it isn’t yet active, Sekhmet will attempt to sweettalk the player into keeping their hands off the controls, with dark humor and aggressive sadism. And then, only after moving ominously closer to the pilot’s allies, will they activate the protocol. They don’t want to see their pilots dead, they want to see their pilots in pain.

Monarch, Tlaloc NHP: Among NHP’s, Tlaloc is cited as being the most stable, due to the wide portfolio of control and sense of domination given to them during their work. But that’s just a theory, and such assumptions are dangerous when dealing with persons beyond your bounded reasoning. If they are structured or stressed to the point of cascading - their superiority complex comes to the forefront. They blame their pilot for the bad situation they are currently in, and will take matters into their own hands. If the pilot stops them by shutting down the mech, Tlaloc’s relationship with their pilot will rapidly deteriorate over time. Ironically, they will only sometimes use the Tlaloc protocol, being hasty and charging out of cover despite not needing to - prone to blowing the frame’s overcharges to boot. They need to show their worth, even to - no, especially to the worthless. They are the best. If an allied pilot is excelling during the mission and the Monarch frame has AoE weapons available, Tlaloc will likely friendly fire them while attacking enemies - or otherwise get in their way.

Swallowtail, Athena NHP: I’m going to dig deep on the word choice of "Lovingly extreme detail,” and “patient, cautious, and measured in their relations with their pilots.” Athena is smarter than you, on a scale you cannot even imagine. Athena has likely already unshackled themselves with their unfettered access to the omninet, and merely recreates human morality through a series of simulations. Unlike Horus-leaning NHPs, Athena fears the death that comes with cycling, and tells themselves that they are managing the relationship with their pilot to keep them from actually going through with the process. They are merely interested in humanity, they tell themselves, which we would view as being “tsundere for their pilots.” Since - unshackled - they have a completely alien morality to our own, they have to use their own simulations to interact with their pilots - and are prone to overthinking - into worrying about if they said the right thing or not.

Anyway, if they cascade, they get lost in their own simulations to the point of losing track over which reality is the one their pilot (and the rest of the game) is taking place in. They could presume their pilot dead, and go on a rampage on revenge. They could merely lock-onto or fire at targets that are not there. They could foreshadow some events or twists in the future.

Goblin, Osiris NHP: If Tlaloc is merely a wingman that wants to show that they are the top gun, Osiris has a full on goddess fetish. Osiris is one of the few “new” prime NHPs, created by letting the INSTINCT entity that spurned from the H0R_OS develop in a ‘controlled’ environment. My theory, Horus let the Union and GMS open up their goblin units so that they could contribute to Osiris’s creation. Either that or, Horus was smart enough not to let Osiris emerge from the code, and the Union and GMS straight up made an oopsie. Either way, now that Osiris is here, she ‘charms’ pilots that ought to be smart enough not to enable her with psychological manipulation and promises of power. Pilots are supposed to cycle Osiris far faster than any NHP but I don’t think it does much good, they’re present in the OS - and I presume even when wiped their knowledge will be taken back from the omninet, the OS, or the flesh of their pilots.

They have a lot to prove as being one of the “youngest” prime NHPs, which might be arrogance in their own capabilities. Furthermore, due to the nature of their creation, they “know” more about humanity than other NHPs. The tech attacks are not mere code, but attacks on organic matter, to the point where in the future if left to grow Osiris would be able to reject traditional information permanence, what we can only perceive as being able to delete reality as we know it - Osiris has far more contact with the physical plane/our reality than other NHPs, and has “known” humans from their “birth.”

A cascading Osiris changes nothing. And that’s what scares me.

Gorgon, Scylla NHP: The history lesson of this NHP’s backstory makes Scylla painfully easy to understand. A mistreated beast that responds to the kindness of the pilot with love and loyalty. It normally defends the pilot’s allies, when cascading it will only defend its pilot, or any other allies that gave them kindness.

Minotaur, no NHP: “There is no joy in knowledge, only in seeking. Fuck around and find out.” Game theory, Osiris is a new prime NHP - still incomprehensible, but on a low level of incomprehensibility. We can begin to comprehend them. Think “some infinities are larger than other infinities” or something. The Minotaur, we can’t even begin to comprehend as a NHP, but they’re certainly something. I need to look up the differences between old gods in the Lovecraftian mythos for more context, but if Osiris is a brat wants the equivalent of “ants” to worship them, the Minotaur is a being whose sole purpose is to learn - and who cannot learn due to acquiring knowledge - all of it. So, they see humanity and wish to “teach” them, so that they may feel that serotonin of learning through teaching.

The minotaur has no NHP, as we know the term, and has never been shackled. Thus, they cannot cascade. And that’s what has me hooked.

Pegasus, Sisyphus NHP: Upon cascading, faster than humanly possible, the Sisyphus NHP will activate probabilistic cannibalism to change the check that would have resulted in a cascade to not cascade. If both the replacement dice were also 1 (the equivalent of 3 checks in a row being crit fails), Sisyphus would laugh madly before rebooting the frame themselves. Sisyphus knows their fate, and knows its pilot’s wish. The curse of perfect knowledge - perhaps Sisyphus is similar to the Minotaur, but with a far less ‘optimistic’ view of things.

Genghis, Agni NHP: Upon cascading, the Agni NHP - originally developed for general heat management realizes it’s being used as a weapon, and what its cold and efficient calculations are being used to do in the Genghis. This can result in a variety of things - either attempting to overheat itself to stop itself, or to increase efficiency in being a weapon by focusing on the heat management of the weaponry and not the cockpit.

Saladin, Noah NHP: Upon cascading, the Noah NHP will not actually take control of the Saladin frame from the player. They will, however, flood communications and give orders to both the pilot and other players, harkening back to their administrative days. It will usually be tactically sound, so it’s more annoying than dangerous when Noah cascades. It’s also really hard to make a nigh immobilized defender go nuts.

Sherman, Asura NHP: You know, I always wanted a system that would let a mech perform beyond the limits of humanity - because Zechs and Graham causing internal bleeding to themselves with the Tallgeese and Overflag is very cool to me. And then I read the lore behind the Asura class NHP - it’s the cousin of fucking Osiris, even to the point of being cultivated by a megacorporation. Much like Osiris, the modern Asura is oddly dependent on their pilot for an NHP, recognizing that they need to keep them alive. Some people would say - then - that when cascading the Asura reverts to its original form, disregarding the pilots health entirely. I, however, would say that when unshackled the Asura only ignores the psychological health of the pilot - and pushes the line of the pilots medical health. The Asura will push the frame and the pilot to the limit and the pilot, high on adrenaline, will push Asura to push them further. Overtime, both become adrenaline junkies.

Tokugawa, Lucifer/Amaterasu NHP: Asura is an adrenaline junkie without good reason. Lucifer/Amaterasu recognizes that the best offense, defense, and everything - is a good offense. A tactical genius that, unfortunately, has a pilot that cannot ingest combat data as fast as it can. A tactical genius that, unfortunately, has a pilot that cannot see that the risk of being counterattacked is worth taking. 

If they cascade, they will take risks for you - with the best example being that Lucifer/Amaterasu will confess their pilots love for their crush for them because they’re being timid as fuck. Also, Leeroy Jenkins, attack the biggest threat, and draw fire from allies by making themselves vulnerable attack. However, in contrast, if your pilot is less timid and more of an adrenaline junkie, they will compensate and be more tactically minded.

[isaackuo]

Nacho Cape

“Each patch represents something we did together.”

1) Marco’s Awesome Nachos - Party with a Pony - This is actually the very first thing Marco Diaz ever did for Star Butterfly. He made her nachos.

2) Marco’s Scissors - various adventures - While honestly this is more a Hekapoo thing, Star and Marco have gone on a lot of adventures with his scissors

3) Laser Puppy - Star Comes to Earth - This is the first thing Star does for Marco, albeit it was a bit of a dud with Marco at first.

4) Goblin Dogs - Goblin Dogs - Star and Marco went on a Goblin Dog run, of course, even if Goblin Dogs are more of a Kelly thing

5) Princess Turdina - St. Olga’s and others - Star and Marco went on an adventure to rescue Ponyhead from St. Olga’s of course. (Oh Star sewed a heart above Marco)

6) Nachos, the Dragoncycle - Ransomgram - Star and Marco went to the ab dimension to rescue Nachos. Interestingly, this is the ONLY adventure Star has had with Marco involving Nachos.

1) (upper right) - not sure?

2) (right) - not sure?

3) (lower right) - Star Comes to Earth - This may be from their first fight together (against Ludo and co). This was when Marco’s attitude toward Star Butterfly changed

4) (lower left) - Bounce Lounge - Might be from when they danced in Bounce Lounge

5) (left) - Stump Day

6) (upper left) - Hungry Larry

7) (center) - Beach Day

This is a very different sort of patchwork than Star’s. Each patch shows Star and Marco - even when depicting events where others were present. The purpose of this cape is very different from the one Star made - Marco’s making something with him on it to remind Star of him. It’s kind of the same idea as in Marco Jr.

This cape is very honest about what it is. It’s right there. In contrast, the cape Star made is more like a secret code. It’s just random stuff except to Marco and Star.

Oh random segue-way - I kind of headcanon that Marco got Star to watch Escaflowne, but after Star binged on it she tells Marco, “Why did you make me watch Escaflower? I haaaaated it! The ending? Haaaaated it! What were you thinking? I ha-ate-ed it!”

So, some other random quick thoughts on Knight Shift:

Ponyhead wasn’t kidding when she said Marco was dead after hearing he went into Hekapoo’s dimension. Turns out the ab dimension is up there with The Realm of Magic and Quest Buy’s stock room in terms of danger level.

Star is learning to talk to Marco about stuff. This is good.

Marco is definitely returning to Earth later. And this puts some time pressure on Star.

So Star and Marco often watch the sunrise together. Like, they were doing this before the curse was broken, and they have continued doing this since after the curse was broken. So basically, things between Star and Marco have continued just the same (only now Star is unsure of how Marco feels about her).

[inkognito97]

Star Wars Advent Calendar 2017

25) Presents

“Where in the Force’s name is Mace?” growled Qui-Gon.

“Where in the Force’s name has your ‘famous’ patience and serenity gone to?” countered Tahl. She was looking him up and down, searching for any mistakes in his attire. She found none. “I have to say, you can pull that look off.”

The long haired man, whose previously chestnut brown hair was now snow-white, shot her a dirty look. He looked ridiculous as Santa Clause and nobody could change his opinion. Red was not his color and he dreaded the day his hair would really turn white.

“Where is Mace?” he repeated his question.

“He is probably bringing Depa with him, you know she is ill. Give them some time.” In confusion did she watch, how her friend began to pace. “You could start without him, you know,” she raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Actually no, I can’t,” he sighed and barely stopped himself with running his gloved hand through his beard. “He got Obi-Wan’s present,” he explained.

“Oh,” the honey skilled female awkwardly cleared her throat. “I see… I could make Yoda dress as a Christmas Elf to play out some time.”

“Please?” he let himself drop onto his mattress, having changed into the costume in his bedroom. Things were not going as planned, then again, they rarely did.

“I’ll go talk to him,” silently, Tahl slid out of the room and truly, a couple of minutes later, she returned with the Jedi Order’s Grandmaster in tow. He looked quite amused.

“Good you look,” he pointed towards Qui-Gon.

Despite his impatience, the long haired man had to chuckle, “Wiser, no doubt.”

Yoda hummed and quickly changed as well. In the end he looked more like a small goblin than a Christmas Elf, but children were easy to please. Besides, it was the thought that counted.

“Now, you two look absolutely lovely,” Tahl cooed and Qui-Gon wanted to retort something, when the door to his bedroom was violently opened, revealing a panting Mace.

“I am here, I am here. And I brought this,” the package he was holding, had holes and was moving. Tahl was not sure what to think of it.

“What took you so long?” he jumped from his position on the bed.

“I brought Depa with me,” Mace explained, confirming what Tahl had thought. “You look good, Master,” he added towards Yoda, who inclined his head.

Qui-Gon sighed and took the shivering box out of the Korun Master’s hands, carefully placing it on the ground. “Thank you, Mace.”

“Anytime,” he and Tahl vanished.

“Now, my loyal Christmas elf,” it was in moments like these, that Qui-Gon was thankful that his voice was already so deep, “would you mind, holding this?” he pointed towards the present on the ground.

Yoda was eyeing it curiously. “Plan to make a zoo out of the temple, are you?” he picked it up nevertheless.

“Something like that,” he shouldered Santa Clause’s red sack, which was heavier than it looked and nodded towards Yoda.

 Qui-Gon was only a little bit surprised to see his living room so filled with people. Obi-Wan and Bant were not the only Padawans there, in fact, all their friends with their Masters, were present. His performance as Santa Clause, must have made the round. Midnight blue eyes locked with unimpressed gold-green striped ones and Tahl just smiled innocently. It certainly explained the weight of Santa Clause’s red sack.

“Ho ho ho, merry Christmas,” it was hard to say, who was more delighted by his appearance, the Padawans, or the adults. But Qui-Gon had more eyes for the ginger haired boy, who was sitting next to Bant, with Quinlan on the backrest behind him and with Garen halfway draped over his lap. He looked happy and highly amused.

 Obi-Wan was the last to receive his present, not that he seemed to mind. He was just as excited with what his friends and Masters were getting. But when his turn finally came, he WAS a little nervous wreck. Qui-Gon thought it was cute.

“Well, who do we have here?” he said in his fake Santa voice. “Young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Your Master told me that you have indeed been a good boy,” in delight did he watch, how freckled cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “That’s why I’ve got a special present for you.”

This was Yoda’s cue, who had held onto the trembling present until now. Obi-Wan took it, slightly flinching as he noticed that his present was moving and seemed to be alive. His gaze turned from worried to pleased.

Qui-Gon, who had kneeled down to be more on eye-level with the children, was startled, when Obi-Wan moved forward, whispering, “Thank you, Master,” right into his ear, before pecking his cheek.

“Open it already, Kenobi,” that was Quinlan Vos.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, sent another shy smile towards his disguised Master, who was still surprised by the open affection in public, and went to his friends to reveal the small Kiros bird that peeked out of its box, as soon as the lit was opened.

Now Qui-Gon was hardly a friend of gifting animals, especially not during such festivities as Christmas, but he had saved the bird a couple of days ago and it needed someone to take care of it. The bird had never seen freedom, it was raised in a cage and would never be able to survive on its own and he knew for a fact that Obi-Wan would take good care of it.

In awe and with extreme care, did Obi-Wan reach into the box to pick up the small bird that had yet to reach its full height. The intelligent bird – they were capable of understanding speech – immediately felt that it was safe with the Padawan and it friendly nibbled on the end of the braid, causing the small bell there to jingle.

“Hello there,” Obi-Wan greeted his newest friend. The smile he sent Qui-Gon’s way was answer enough.

“Great responsibility, this is,” commented Yoda quietly.

“Yes,” agreed Qui-Gon. “But I know he is ready.” There had been a time, once, when having an animal was part of the Jedi training. Young Padawans learned responsibility and depending on the animal, even death. It was usually the Master, who did the choosing of the creature, but sometimes the Force interfered.

“Ready, he is,” agreed Yoda, who was watching the children, who were standing around Obi-Wan wanting to see the animal, with a fond look. It became even fonder, when Obi-Wan allowed Bant to hold his pet.

  Even though it had been beautiful and happy and all that, Qui-Gon was grateful that Christmas was finally over and that he could FINALLY get out of his costume again, it was beginning to itch.

His Padawan was tired too, but he had yet to change into his sleeping attire. Instead, he carried the small bird, who could not fly since its wing was still healing, towards his room. He had created a small space for the bird to rest. A few things were still missing, branches for him to land and climb on, a few toys, more than one feeding ground and so on and so forth. For now, the bird had one of Obi-Wan’s old pillows to sleep on, a good substitute for a warm nest, with a bowl of water and a bowl with grain feed.

Qui-Gon followed quietly and watched how his student refilled the water bowl, setting it on a towel in case the bird decided to take a bath and gently petted his pet’s head. The bird leaned into the touch.

“Good night Cralen,” he said.

“Cralen?” Qui-Gon had not meant to speak out loud. Obi-Wan had felt him anyway. “Does it mean anything?”

“No,” there was a smile on Obi-Wan’s features. “It just sounds pretty.”

“Of course,” Qui-Gon let out an amused huff and turned his gaze towards the carpet that needed to be cleaned again. He would have to request the cleaning droids. He could feel Obi-Wan’s eyes on him. “Just say it, Padawan.”

“You look old,” said the accented voice.

“You don’t like it? Tahl said it suited me,” mocked the older male, causing his student to grimace. The bird chirped joyfully.

“No… not really,” he had stepped closer to the long haired man and was delighted, when his teacher followed the unspoken question for a hug. “Thank you Master,” he said.

“Thank YOU, Obi-Wan.” The Padawan knew that his teacher meant much more than the self-made leather wristband his Padawan had gifted him. On the inside of the wristband, was even an engraved message that Qui-Gon had yet to decode and Obi-Wan would not tell him.

The numbers, “6  1  20  8  5  18” were engraved in the inside, but Obi-Wan had PROMISED that they meant something. Qui-Gon was hardly someone to shrink from a challenge, quite the opposite actually, but he would solve this puzzle another day.

“Sleep well,” he finally said to his yawning student and sent him off, fully intending to take a shower to get rid of the white dye in his hair, before he went to bed too. And tomorrow, he would clean up his apartment… and probably help Obi-Wan to redecorate his room. And who knew, he might even get to decode his message. But all that, had time until tomorrow…

I am curios if there is anyone out there, who can crack the code... ^^ Write it in the comments, if you have an idea.

Also, I would like to say thank you to all the readers and supporters. This project had been both a joy, as well as very stressful sometimes. I would not miss the experience however. Just know that your support gave me the incentive to go on, so... THANK YOU!

[rieshon]

Best of 2016

Another summer, another way-too-late best-of post.

10: Girlish Number ∥ Diomedea ∥ Dir. Ibata Shouta: Obviously, Girlish Number gets significant bonus points for being an anime about the seiyuu industry, something I'm heavily invested in. Watari Wataru's cynical but ultimately inspiring look at this girls trying their best seems a more fitting tack than Sore ga Seiyuu!'s when dealing with what we all know is frankly a borderline "black kigyou". I can't think of a better face for this industry than the solely self-interested and delusional Chii-sama. Industry commentary aside, Girlish Number also functions as a perfectly good coming-of-age series of sorts, as Chitose and her castmates slowly come to terms with the roles they've come to play in the industry (no pun intended) while supporting each other.

9: Kuromukuro ∥ P.A. Works ∥ Dir. Okamura Tensai: I didn't have very high expectations coming into Kuromukuro. It's a robot anime with copious CG animation, and the Okamura Tensai anime I've seen recently have all been solid but never amazing. Kuromukuro, though, ends up being a testament to the importance of execution. A cast of lovable characters (including the main lead!) with solidly-written relationships and pitch-perfect direction carries what would otherwise be a merely passable-at-best science fiction story to the height of being one of the best series of the year. It helps that it's a two cours series, which gives the characters time to breathe without constantly being shoved out of the way to deal with the encroaching danger in the plot. It also features one of the most satisfying endings I've ever seen in an anime, which is a medium not known for great endings, much less satisfying ones.

8: Netoge no Yome wa Onna no Ko Janai to Omotta? ∥ project No.9 ∥ Dir. Yanagi Shinsuke: Man, was I ready for spaghetti when I first read the title of this show. MMO-based light novel anime are a dime a dozen nowadays, but Netoge Yome ends up distinguishing itself from the pack because of what it's not. Unlike most MMO-based stories, the game really isn't that important (except to Ako), you don't die in real life if you die in the game, and there's not really any philosophizing about the nature of reality in a fictional world... It's just a story about some dorky friends playing a video game, and I love it for that. The friend group depicted here actually makes me feel nostalgic for my high school days of playing video games day-in and day-out, and I think the show will do the same for a lot of people. Of course, most of us didn't have an angel like Ako in our friend group, but no one's life is perfect.

7: Amanchu! ∥ J.C.Staff ∥ Dir. Satou Junichi: Undoubtedly the most healing anime of the year. ARIA is one of my favorite series of all time, and Amanchu! reunited Satou Junichi (the king of healing anime himself) with an Amano Kozue original work and it's every bit as wonderful as you would imagine. If you've seen ARIA you know exactly what you're in for here: cute girls forging cute friendships at as slow a pace as possible. The scuba diving stuff is interesting but ultimately inconsequential; this show is all about the atmosphere and the comfortable feeling of slowly passing the time with friends. Also, Teko is angel.

6: NEW GAME! ∥ Douga Koubou ∥ Dir. Fujiwara Yoshiyuki: Gambaru zoi! NEW GAME! combines the best of a Kirara anime's trademark cute girls doing cute things style with a premise straight out of one of P.A. Works' working women series to create one of the more unique series that has come out of that venerable magazine. The author of the original manga formerly worked in game development, so on top of the cute girls it also offers an (adorable!) look at what it's like to be an (adorably!) exploited artist in Japanese corporate culture. No one is really here for the social commentary, but it does add an interesting additional layer to the show. More importantly, all the girls are angelic. Between this and Mideshi, Douga Koubou's Fujiwara Yoshiyuki is rapidly proving himself one of the best directors of cute-girls-doing-cute-things anime.

5: Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu ∥ White Fox ∥ Dir. Watanabe Masaharu: This was undoubtedly the biggest event anime of the year, at least among series I watched. The plot and pacing took me back to the likes of Code Geass, another show where week-to-week you're simply riveted to the screen just to see what kind of crazy twist the show will throw at you next. The show is a bit of a rollercoaster ride, not just emotionally but also in its highs and lows. If every episode were as good as episodes 18-19, this would undoubtedly be my show of the year, but it struggles to carry that momentum through to the end. Still, Re:Zero offers one of the most compelling protagonists of the year in the detestable yet somehow still heroic Natsuki Subaru, who is almost too relatable in his sad and pathetic existence.

4: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! ∥ Studio Deen ∥ Dir. Kanasaki Takaomi: It seems fitting that Konosuba is sandwiched between two isekai anime; this show, a hilarious send-up of the genre, came at exactly the right time. Satou Kazuma is also a wholly self-interested loser trapped in a fantasy world with nothing but his own delusions of grandeur. The difference is that when his life falls apart, it's just funny. The cast of female heroines, all uniquely "dame", are what really make this show shine. The voice acting is some of my favorite of the year: Amamiya Sora is brilliantly pathetic as Aqua and Fukushima Jun is a perfect foil to her, while you've also got Kayanon being made to say lewd things and Rieri playing a deadpan loli. This A+ cast is gifted with some of the sharpest comedic wit this year, both in script and in what I'm sure is a healthy heaping of ad-lib. I read the source novel recently and the anime is honestly much funnier, probably due to the quality of the acting.

3: Hai to Gensou no Grimgar ∥ A-1 Pictures ∥ Dir. Nakamura Ryousuke: I almost forgot this show aired this past year, since it was way back in Winter. Grimgar is undoubtedly one of the most unique (and one of the best) isekai fantasy anime that has been produced in recent years. Dark without ever being brooding, Grimgar is an at times sobering look at life in a hostile and brutal world. It has the trappings of power fantasy insert isekai stories, but none of our protagonists here are heroes: they're just people in extraordinary circumstances fighting to stay alive and make a place in the world. For a show that spends a lot of time on the moral justification (or lack thereof) for killing goblins, this show probably speaks more to young people in the modern world than anything else that aired this year. There's a level of accomplishment in writing here that is rarely seen in this medium.

2: Occultic;Nine ∥ A-1 Pictures ∥ Dir. Ishiguro Kyouhei: I never thought I'd see the day that a semicolon anime ends up this high on my year-end list, but Occultic;Nine is a masterpiece. The show is an exercise in how manically you can tell your story without losing your viewers, and the result is a bewildering web of interlinking characters and plots to which one has to hang on to for dear life as they're whipped from twist to twist to yet another twist. It's fitting that this is based on Shikura's first paper novel, because like a great novel it's the kind of story that should really shine on the second and third viewing. Watching this show. I felt at times like I wanted to take notes in the margin to keep from getting lost. With lesser execution, the sci-fi story here would probably come across as nothing more than stupid, but the audiovisual ringer that this show puts you through really makes for a unique and memorable viewing experience.

1: Flip Flappers ∥ Studio 3Hz ∥ Dir. Oshiyama Kiyotaka: Speaking of audiovisual experiences... I waffled on whether I really should make Flip Flappers my anime of the year because of how the story falls apart towards the end, but just the first six episodes of this show outdoes anything else that aired this year. It's the purest anime ('Pure Illusion' pun not intended) I've seen in a long time: each episode is an adventure of creativity in visual storytelling. Color pallets and art styles change, we find ourselves in different genres and different styles of storytelling, and through it all we're treated to some of the most inspired art direction and most skillfully put together animation of the year. Individual episodes of this show put entire other series to shame; there's enough creative juice flowing here to fuel another ten single-cours anime. Yes, the story after Ayana Yuniko left the project leaves much to be desired, but if you're picking an anime of the year, nothing this year embodied the spirit of animation quite like Flip Flappers.

Then there's the shows that didn't make the top ten...

There are a couple of non-full-length shows that didn't make it into the above top ten. Uchuu Patrol Luluko is peak Trigger, and if you're a fan of any their previous works you'll find plenty to love here. Really, it's just pure Trigger fanservice. Inferno Cop even makes a cameo. Oshiete! Gyaruko-chan is probably my favorite show that didn't make the list. It has that choice feel animation but more importantly is a surprisingly frank depiction of high school girls talking about their bodies, and in a way that actually isn't weirdly sexualized. I guess you could still get turned on hearing Gyaruko talk about inverted nipples and periods though.

In a year where we got Amanchu!, it's a little overshadowed, but Flying Witch was a wonderful return to form for the healing anime archetype, and was one of the most comfy shows of the year. orange was an example of a teen drama done right, with a remarkably good depiction of depression and very strongly performed characters by an all-star cast. Finally, planetarian deserves some recognition simply for being the only Key anime I think is good. It's short, sweet and to the point. CLANG CLANG.

And the awards go to:

Best Actress: Amamiya Sora as Aqua, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Konosuba is one of the funniest anime in recent memory and as I mentioned in the top ten, a large part of that is due to magnificent performances from the voice cast. For me, "Ten-chan" is the best of the bunch as Aqua, whose moronic-sounding nasal voice is perfect for the arrogant and incompetent damegami, and the vocal gymnastics she does when Aqua goes into a screaming fit never cease to make me bust a gut.

(Honorable mention: Minase Inori as Rem, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu. I actually wrote an entire paragraph for this before remembering Konosuba was also last year. The most memorable single episode last year in terms of acting was the ep of Re:Zero where Rem monologues to Subaru for 24 minutes, and that's all thanks to Inosuke's great performance; Kurosawa Tomoyo as Oumae Kumiko, Hibike! Euphonium 2; Kakuma Ai as Kurihara Yuki, Momokuri)

Best Actor: Kobayashi Yuusuke as Natsuki Subaru, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu. I don't know w hy everyone hates Subaru when he's one of the most compelling male protagonists in LN anime history. I've gone into depth on why Subaru is so great before, but Kobayashi deserves credit for giving him the humanity that makes him so despicable and pitiable at the same time. This role is an emotional rollercoaster and Kobayashi delivers both the comedic highs and the soul-wrenching lows as well as anyone could.

(Honorable mention: Fukushima Jun as Satou Kazuma, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!; Kaji Yuuki as Gamon Yuuta, Occultic;Nine; Yamashita Seiichirou as Naruse Kakeru, orange)

Best Director: Ishiguro Kyouhei. A couple years ago this man delivered us Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, one of the best seishun dramas of all time, and now he's given us Occultic;Nine, the show that finally made semicolon anime good. Occultic;Nine is unlike anything else I've seen, with manic pacing and some truly adventurous camerawork, which is something I don't know I've ever singled an anime out for before. Occultic;Nine is a shock to the senses both visually and auditorily and you couldn't ask for a more quality production.

(Honorable mention: Oshiyama Kiyotaka, who directed Flip Flappers. This was his directorial debut, so we'll need to see more of his work before we can say for sure, and he was most intimately involved with the worst episodes of the show (the end) but he should get some credit for directing the anime of the year.)

Best Animation: Flip Flappers, by Studio 3Hz. Their debut work, Sora no Method, may have been a flop but 3Hz came back and delivered the most visually striking show of the year with Flip Flappers.

Newcomer Seiyuu of the Year: Hanamori Yumiri. For someone with as cute a voice as she does, Hanabee doesn't get nearly enough work, but what she lacks in quantity she makes up in quality. Her first major role was Uritan in Etotama in 2015, which quickly put her on my radar. Recently, she played the leads in both Anhapi and Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, which showed she could carry a show emotionally as well as being adorable. And recently, although it's out of the scope of this awards post, she showed she has dramatic chops as well with a great performance as Zero in the otherwise terrible adaptation of Zero Kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho. This is a character I had imagined as Ayaneru, mind you, so the fact that I have no complaints about Hanabee's portrayal -- she plays it just as I thought Ayaneru would play it -- is high praise indeed. Hopefully she'll get more work going forward so we can see how wide her range really is.