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Bobby's 2023 Media Wrap-Up

So! Like I said before, this past year I kept a running list of everything I watched, every game I finished, every new album I listened to, etc., and wrote one-paragraph blurbs with my thoughts on every single one. Please enjoy this journey through everything I liked, or didn't like, in 2023, with my favorites of the year listed at the bottom.

(Yes! This is long!!)

Some notes:

I mainly only included things I finished. Exceptions are marked with an asterisk.

I included some YouTube stuff as "TV shows" - mostly particularly long, high effort video essays and documentaries.

I was a bit less adventurous than I'd like to have been this year. Part of this was just that I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with Big Releases I felt obligated to check out, and part of this was just executive dysfunction from burnout. Wait until you see how long it took me to beat Mario Wonder lmao

Yes, I need to read more books. I don't read a lot of books these days. I need to get back to Discworld.

COLOR KEY

Video Games • TV / Web Video  •  Movies  •  Comics  •  Music

January

1/15: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (MSQ) - Very slow at times, the Primal shit is generally extremely lame to me outside of the boss fights themselves, but god if the quality of life improvements over WoW, the JRPG energy, and the fact that it Actually Has A Story carry it pretty hard.

1/18: Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island miniseries - One of the most creative and compelling uses of the Sonic IP… ever? Fantastic little self-contained arc about the struggles of Eggman’s abandoned creations that gracefully weaves between heartfelt optimism and moody horror with some of the best art ever seen in a Sonic comic.

1/18: Mega Man X4 - Glad I finally actually beat this after never even beating any of the Mavericks as a kid! I can see why it’s a lot of peoples’ favorites. The gameplay has very little of that X series bloat and is just fun, especially after getting X’s armor upgrades. (But the story really is a long series of missed opportunities.)

February

2/2: Donks - Felix Colgrave continues to be an exceptional artist. The sound design on this is fantastic and really sells this short as something unique. Had to go back and watch his older stuff again after this.

2/4: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0 - 3.3 MSQ) - I get it now. I get why people say this is just a proper mainline Final Fantasy game built into the framework of an MMO. That shit ruled. Not even walking back the drama in Ul’Dah from the end of ARR can sour me on it because the main storyline was so strong.

2/8: Disneyland's Forgotten Sci-Fi Rock Band - Live From the Space Stage - A nice and honest tribute to a group of artists who could have easily been forgotten. In hindsight this feels like a precursor to Kevin’s Disney Channel jingle video, a tribute to the unsung artists pouring their hearts into “lesser” art for a megacorporation, art that was designed to be transient but sticks with people nonetheless.

2/9: Metroid Prime Remastered* - Not gonna finish because I just played through the Wii version in 2021, but still. Very, very pretty remaster.

2/16: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - It’s more Theatrhythm. What more could I want

2/17: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (anime) - Probably the best part of the anime so far (assuming they continue on to SBR). A near perfect mix of the more structured plot of part 5 with the goofiness of parts 3 and 4 that crescendos into a fantastic, bombastic, emotional, bittersweet ending. The use of footage from the original opening and the new ending set to Roundabout in the finale were perfect, and made me intensely nostalgic for the early days of my JoJo fandom between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.

2/22: Aggretsuko Season 5 - I don’t really know what to make of this one. Once you get past the agonizing initial arc all about Haida where Retsuko has to be his overbearing mommy GF who flips out and starts spying on him when she’s left on read and chides him when he misbehaves, it feels like an improvement over the previous seasons. But I don’t know how much of that is due to the extremely low bar set by season 4. And then the ending is extremely rushed and anticlimactic. They got legally married and the only acknowledgement was a shot of them signing the paperwork in a montage partway through the final episode?????????

2/24: Double Fine PsychOdyssey - God, what a journey the making of this game was. I already loved 2 Player’s past efforts at documenting Double Fine’s process, but this takes it to a whole new level. This feels culturally significant. The depth and honesty with which they depict not just the nitty gritty of making a game, but also the inherent struggles of working on a collaborative creative work for years at a time, is astounding. Not to mention that they were there to capture the shift from office life to remote work as COVID hit. So much of this would have been nightmarishly stressful to watch if I didn’t already know how successful the game was, but that’s just because they really didn’t sugarcoat it. And yet even after all that, it leaves me feeling optimistic about video games as an art form in a way that the constant headlines about cynical live service games don’t. There are still people out there pouring their hearts into making real art, and this is their story. Everyone who plays video games should watch this.

2/25: Cracker Island (Gorillaz) - New Gorillaz albums feel like less of an event these days, but after Humanz it feels like they’re just more chill with the project and their ambitions with it. Every couple years we get some more laid back jams from Damon along with some fun new collabs. Hard to complain. Favorite track: New Gold

2/25: Pool Kids (Pool Kids) - I discovered this band because Derek knows them and was excited when they got a song added to Fortnite through the Bandcamp collab. Always down to find more cool indie rock bands I can vibe with. The mix of dreamy vocals and energetic riffs on some of the tracks here almost fill the Crying-shaped hole in my heart. Almost… Favorite track: Conscious Uncoupling

2/25: Insane in the Rain (insaneintherainmusic) - I thought it was really funny timing when Carlos announced that his first original project would be a jazz fusion album inspired by acts like T-Square and Casiopea right as I was getting into those two specific bands. The final product does not disappoint. Favorite track: Insane in the Rain

2/26: Get Up Sequences Part Two (The Go! Team) - I’ve never been one to believe that a band’s sound has to remain exactly the same forever, but it really does hit you hard that the first two tracks here sound like classic The Go! Team. Their more recent cleaner sound is still here too, though, for a nice mix of old and new. Favorite track: Divebomb

2/28: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Season 1) - Oh my god. Oh my god. I got distracted around the time I was finishing SLARPG, but finally catching up now, wow. My assumption that the seemingly lighter tone of the series compared to the prologue was there to lull us into a false sense of security before twisting the knife when war finally breaks out was spot on. This is peak Gundam.

March

3/4: Pizza Tower - One of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. It transcends its blatant Wario Land inspirations with the sheer speed at which Peppino can move and the way things like the level design, his wall running, and even the hidden ability to do a second lap around the level reward getting into a flow state where you’re just constantly moving. This is the type of game that wants to turn you into a speedrunner. My only real complaint is a few iffy enemy designs that I wish would get patched.

3/6: Bloons TD 6 * - I bought this before bed one night on a nostalgic whim and then the next morning woke up and saw the Steam receipt email on my phone in one of the most “what did I do last night” moments of my life. I like when the monkeys pop the balloons.

3/7: The Book of Boba Fett - I put off finishing this show for a very long time but finally caved upon the release of The Mandalorian season 3. This show spends four episodes failing to make me give a shit about Boba Fett trying to be “the daimyo” and drive the drug trade off of Tatooine, then just gives up and becomes season 2.5 of Mando, which in turn feels like it undercuts the main series. It fails as both its own story and as a spinoff. I know that finishing this after Andor did it no favors, but WHOOF.

3/12: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Some interesting ideas in the first half hinting at a more introspective show, but it’s mostly swept aside in the back half so it can become a generic Star Wars adventure remixing things from A New Hope and Rebels (and apparently Jedi: Fallen Order). Action scenes have zero stakes because you know nothing can happen to any of the returning characters and none of the new ones are particularly interesting. Why there’s a second climax hinging on a Luke Skywalker death fakeout eludes me. Obi-Wan throwing the rocks at Vader is one of the funniest things in Star Wars history. But it was still better than Book of Boba Fett, I guess.

3/19: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar - Wow, cool robot indeed… GaoGaiGar isn’t going to blow anyone away with its writing, but sometimes you just need a really fun monster of the week mecha show with great action and lovably goofy characters. This is a show where like 20% of every episode consists of recycled transformation, combination, and signature attack sequences and I ate it up every time because they look fucking cool as hell. I don’t care. I’d watch Final Fusion another 49 times.

3/21: The Last of Us (HBO) * - Watched the first two episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue because I don’t give a shit about The Last of Us. It’s definitely a well done adaptation, though, even if I know it’s inevitably going to devolve into miserable torture porn with questionable politics if they adapt Part II faithfully. The ending of episode 2 also lines up perfectly with where I stopped in the game in 2013 lmao

3/27: The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse (Folding Ideas) - Another banger from Dan Olson. This time the premise inherently gives him more time to just show off a bunch of stupid ugly bullshit made by crypto guys, which is fun. My main complaint was that I wished he would’ve brought up Second Life more as a point of comparison (a thing I basically always want out of discussion of “the metaverse”), but he at least did touch on it in the last section.

3/31: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - I can’t believe after years of begging for the supporting cast to get more and better material in a Sonic game I got my wish in the form of a freeware murder mystery VN released for April Fools. This kicked ass.

April

4/7: Berserk - Completed Miura’s run and caught up on the chapters that have been released posthumously. It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said about Berserk, universally agreed upon as one of the greats of manga and fantasy fiction as a whole. What begins in its first few volumes as a nihilistic and edgy action comic built to facilitate as much sex and gore as possible quickly evolves into something deeply human and vulnerable and beautiful, both figuratively and in terms of its lavish art. The world sucks and is immeasurably cruel, and you will see that cruelty illustrated in graphic, sickening detail repeatedly throughout the series. (Perhaps a little too often throughout the Golden Age, where it feels like Miura never misses an opportunity to threaten Casca with sexual assault mid-battle.) But the point isn’t to wallow in that misery. It’s the story of a victim of horrific abuse learning to slowly open up to others, having those people he cares about torn away from him in the worst night of his life, hardening himself into a cold killing machine, and then slowly learning to open back up again, even if it means leaving himself vulnerable to more hurt. Anyone who says that the series peaked with the eclipse and went downhill in the “Guts’ JRPG Party” era is missing the point. Guts needed to find new people in his life to care about, to begin to find happiness again. Because no matter what unspeakable things Guts has gone through, it’s still possible for him to heal and to be loved. It takes time, but eventually you stop and realize that life has moved on.

4/8: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe - Skipped it upon release because I didn’t particularly care for the minigame in Triple Deluxe, and I didn’t miss much. It’s fine as a little distraction, but not as a standalone rhythm game with only seven songs. If you don’t bother with the hard modes or chase after high scores this game is 15 minutes long. Oh how I yearn for Kirby to get the Theatrhythm treatment.

4/10: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar FINAL - Eh… It was okay. Lots of cool robot fights, but said fights are stitched together with a mediocre plot that tries too hard to be more “mature” than its unabashedly schlocky kids’ show predecessor. Not crazy about the ending, either, which tries to be a bittersweet farewell closing off the series once and for all while also teasing that maybe there’ll be ANOTHER sequel after the OVA series they literally called “FINAL.” Ah well.

4/11: The Owl House - Sad to see this one go, but it’s hard to imagine them doing a better finale than this, even if they had gotten the six seasons they deserved. I’m not as obsessed with The Owl House as I probably would’ve been had it come out when I was, like, 20, but it’s a really fantastic show for all the reasons people always say. Great characters, great world, great story. I love that this starry-eyed fantasy story about a teenager finding love and a place where she belongs is also set on the rotting corpse of a titan with Hieronymous Bosch-inspired scenery and freaky monsters everywhere. What a great mix. If anything, I just wish I would’ve watched the first season as it aired so I could’ve had more time with it.

4/29: Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version - FINALLY beat this via the new collection, 20 years after playing it as my first Mega Man game. (Technically my first was White, not Blue, but whatever.) There are more annoyances than I remember - lots of really really bad forced backtracking sections where you have to revisit every previous part of the internet, low chip drop rates, some really aggravating bosses like BubbleMan and KingMan, etc. But it’s still a great time overall. It’s Battle Network. In the back half the story gets surprisingly emotional, too. I was always under the assumption that the Hub stuff never came back up much in the story after 1, so I was pleasantly surprised with how relevant it was to the emotional arc of 3.

4/30: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun * - Yeah I’m not playing through the whole thing lmao. I just wanted to play the first couple hours for nostalgia’s sake, and as a baseline for how much better the rest are. Even before getting deep in the game and having to deal with all the shit gated between doing two new game+ playthroughs, it’s immediately obvious how much of a downgrade this one is. Tons of glaring errors and typos all over the script, blander music, a way more boring aesthetic for the internet, and a premise that mostly just recycles the tournament idea from 3.

May

5/14: The Venture Bros. - Glad I finally sat down and watched all of this with Anthony after having seen one (1) episode as a teenager and a bunch of random clips in the years since. Great show. Some jokes in the early seasons haven’t aged gracefully, but what the show grows into over time... man. Hank and Dean go from being the butt of the joke to being characters you actually sympathize with - while still also being funny little goofballs. And the journey Henchman 21 goes on throughout the show. Man. Amazing that a comedy like this could run for 20 years and maintain its level of quality. Can’t wait for the movie.

5/18: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) - Okay yeah I’m now just discovering bands through Fortnite lmao. I can’t complain really, they pick some really great indie artists for the in-game radio stations. Anyway: It’s very easy to win me over with a combination of energetic power pop, catchy guitar riffs, and earnest lyrics like this. One of those albums where three or four tracks in I know I have to buy it. Favorite track: Not Running

5/18: Jump Rope Gazers (The Beths) - Ditto. Favorite track: Dying to Believe

5/18: Expert In A Dying Field (The Beths) - Another good album. (I’m listening to these in release order.) I’ve been a bit slower to warm up to this one, initially thinking it was a little too mellow overall, but it might be my favorite after a few listens. Some real high highs. Interestingly, the lead singer’s New Zealand accent is also coming out more in her singing? Favorite track: Your Side (or maybe Head in the Clouds)

5/19: The Super Mario Bros. Movie - As a Mario fan, I think I enjoyed it? As a movie, less so? It was decent, in spite of feeling like they came up with a list of fun action setpieces first and then wrote the absolute bare minimum possible for the story scenes tying it all together. Full thoughts here. (This is the first movie I’ve seen this year, huh? I really don’t watch a lot of movies.)

5/23: Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out (Gladie) - I feel like I don’t like Gladie as much as I should. Their style of noisy indie rock is very much in my wheelhouse, and I do enjoy listening to them, but I dunno. Maybe it’s that the particular style of vocals makes it more monotonous to me. A good album nonetheless, if not 100% my thing. Favorite track: Nothing

5/24: City Slicker (Ginger Root) - Yes I am still making my way through Bandcamp artists I heard on Fortnite don’t @ me. Any excuse to get me to listen to some cool city pop-inspired funk like this is a good excuse. Favorite track: Loretta

5/24: Rikki (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: Why Try

5/25: Spotlight People (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: The Classic

5/29: Succession - A good dramedy series that increasingly focuses more on the drama than the comedy as it progresses, but it’s hard to complain about that since the drama is so compellingly produced. I enjoyed it. That being said, I kind of rankle at the claims that it’s The Greatest TV Show Of All Time. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. Amazing performances all around. But the show LOVES to spin its wheels, to repeat itself, and to let most of its interesting dramatic developments fizzle out before anything really comes of them, almost as if the show is constantly getting bored with its own ideas. To some extent this is intentional - Logan Roy is the untouchable billionaire, his kids fail at everything (but will nonetheless remain billionaires), and in the long run none of them really give a shit about anything other than their own status. But it’s not like things tend to visibly impact anyone else, either, be they supporting characters or the world at large. Even the Big Scary Election, where the Roy siblings are directly responsible for plunging the nation into chaos, ultimately has zero impact on the finale a mere two episodes later. Certain Other Things do have an impact in the last season, though, allowing things to meaningfully change for the cast and for the show to sit with the ensuing drama, which has stopped me from souring on Succession more. There was finally a payoff for something. But it does still kind of feel like a show that goes in circles until it’s ready to call it quits, even if those circles did contain a lot of great acting and music along the way.

5/29: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - I’d watched the first 12 episodes when they originally released, but I guess the Netflix binge release and the fact that all three “seasons” came out in one year led to me waiting until it finished… and then I just never got around to finishing it. Glad I fixed that! Really fun and stylish cartoon with an art style reminiscent of Teen Titans, a hip hop-filled soundtrack, dynamic fight scenes, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant (mostly anthropomorphic) animals. I’ll admit that at times I do kinda roll my eyes at Kipo’s unshakeable belief that everyone can be friends in a way that I don’t necessarily with similar shows like Steven Universe, and not every joke lands, but I dunno. It’s a kids’ show. That’s to be expected. It doesn’t detract from the overall package for me.

June

6/1: Craig of the Creek (Season 4) - It’s been years and I’m still processing the fact that kids can turn on Cartoon Network and hear Jeff Rosenstock. Anyway! Craig continues to be one of the best cartoons on TV, consistently funny and creative and way more engaging than a show about a bunch of kids LARPing in the woods has any right to be. This season turned into One Piece with the gang effectively hunting down the Poneglyphs in search of a legendary treasure. The kids think it’ll be magic. It isn't. An increasing number of cartoon logic gags aside, this show is firmly set in the real world. Does that make it any less interesting? Hell no. Season 3 turned a game of capture the flag into an all-out five episode war between the heroes and villains, filled with dramatic turnabouts and a climactic guest appearance from Del the Funky Homosapien. I’m sure however they wrap things up in the (sadly shortened) final season, it’ll be great. (Also? I would watch a whole show based on that “what if” episode that jumped forward to everyone’s 20s.)

6/6: Barry - Holy shit, what a show. I ended up binging it in less than a week in a cycle of “okay, just one more episode.” The way this show is able to swing between tones and genres while still feeling like a cohesive whole is truly masterful. It’s a layered character drama, a tragic crime thriller, a farcical comedy, an understated action series, a surrealist morality play, and a scathing satire of Hollywood, all in one. Even within the criminal underworld subplots the show ranges in tone from Breaking Bad to Paddington 2. And it works! While the show naturally gets bleaker over time as it confronts the repercussions of Barry’s murders, it never completely loses sight of its comedic roots. My favorite episode was easily season 2’s “ronny/lily,” a mostly self-contained episode that somehow manages to keep throwing the perfect curveballs to escalate its dark comedy.

6/12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) - Y’all heard of this movie? Pretty good, it turns out. (I’d seen the theatrical cut before, but this was my first time watching the extended edition. I’ve also only seen parts of the other two movies, so it’s time I finally watch all the extended cuts. The Gollum game pushed me to this.)

6/13: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) - give it to us RAW and WRIGGLING

6/17: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) - I’m not crying YOU’RE crying

6/22: Clone High (Season 2) - While the first episode being about “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, a teenager from 2003 being transported to 2023 and putting his foot in his mouth a lot) put a lot of people off, I ended up enjoying the new season of Clone High. The new clones grew on me as the season went on and their roles in the web of teen romance melodrama crystalized, and it made me laugh a lot, and Cleo/Frida is galaxy brained. Also they played one of my favorite Antarctigo Vespucci songs like a minute into the first episode. I don’t think I could really ask for much more.

6/28: The Mandalorian (Season 3) - I'd been watching this weekly but put off the last episode for no real reason. Responses to this season have been all over the place, but my blistering hot take is… it was fine. Is it as good as the first season? Probably not. But Mando no longer needs to carry the whole franchise on its shoulders and set the bar for how good the live action Disney Star Wars shows can be, because Andor exists, and it’s never gonna top Andor. The Mandalorian is free to just be a pulpy space adventure show where Giancarlo Esposito plays a scenery-chewing cartoon villain and a little puppet does wire stunts. These are things Andor cannot and should not do, but that’s Star Wars, baby. It’s delightful. I could watch Grogu get underhand tossed like a sack of flour all day.

July

7/2: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Season 2) - LOVE WINS. (More nuanced take from way later: It definitely feels like a lot of the more messy political conflicts in this show got swept aside by the big final battle where some more easily resolved family conflicts take center stage. I’m not sure the ending is the most satisfying. But also this show only got half the episode count that damn near every other Gundam show ever made got, so that might be a factor here. Idk. Still one of my favorite Gundams.)

7/4: Final Fantasy XVI (watched Anthony play) - I had to write my longest Medium article ever about this one because I was so frustrated

7/10: Home Movies - “Things I like that I’ve never seen in full” has certainly been a recurring theme this year. Home Movies remains an all-time classic of animated comedy that went out on a high note before things got stale or the characters became parodies of themselves. While it’s mostly known for its funny improvised banter, throughout the last season you can really see the arc where Brendon no longer enjoys making movies, yet he feels obligated to keep using them to escape from the real world. In that light, the ending where the nature of their dysfunctional makeshift family is cemented, Brendon’s camera suddenly breaks, and life moves on really does feel like the perfect note to end on. Truly one of the best to ever do it.

7/15: The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - Wow. Just… wow. I had serious doubts about TotK in the months leading up to release due to how close Nintendo was playing their cards to their chest. I didn’t want this to be a Saints Row IV, where the game is fun enough but the recycled map makes it feel like a rehash. Instead, I found a game that made me look at BotW’s map in a whole new light, brimming with so many more things to do and people to meet. Add on a better, more versatile set of tools, more varied dungeons and bosses, and a story that I felt was told somewhat better and we’ve got a real contender for my new favorite Zelda game. It was hard to tear myself away, but as this list shows, it’s been basically the only game I’ve played since it came out.

7/16: Sonic Prime (Season 2) - I liked the parts with Shadow and Chaos Sonic, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that most of this show is just mediocre. More thoughts here.

7/18: We ♥ Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie - “I’m a dog, but I love Katamari Damacy.” Truer words have never been spoken.

7/19: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Pretty good! It didn’t blow me away, but after how bad the Bay movies got I’m just thankful to have a decently cohesive Transformers movie where the human story is okay and I like the bots (although half of them needed more screen time), even if it is just another Hollywood blockbuster about two sides fighting over a macguffin that devolves into a big CGI battle against an army of nameless monsters in the third act. This is basically a mid-tier MCU movie but with Transformers, which won’t do much for most people, but again: the bar was underground.

7/22: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - God DAMN. A phenomenal ending for the series. While I would have loved to see a full final season to get some more one-off episodes in there, this doesn’t feel creatively compromised in any way–either due to the time constraints, or due to a desire to make it more marketable as a movie. It really does feel like they just took their outlines for the canceled final season and gently massaged them into the shape of an 84-minute movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s completely on par with the previous seasons. A hilarious and fitting sendoff for one of the greats of adult animation.

7/23: Beautiful Katamari - This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and am better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that it just doesn't have the same soul without Keita Takahashi's input.

August

8/4: Doom Singer (Chris Farren) - I’ve been waiting so long for Chris and Jeff to do another Antarctigo Vespucci album, but god damn. This is the best of Chris’s solo work, and a contender for his best record, period. Every track’s a banger, with more energy than some of his previous solo work but also a good deal of variety. Favorite tracks: First Place, Cosmic Leash

8/4: Transformers Earthspark (Season 1) - This show had a bit of an uneven start, unsure if it wanted to have the emotional maturity of a more serious action cartoon or a preschool cartoon where the characters have little kid mood swings and outbursts and learn basic lessons. It also felt like it was speedrunning its Wholesome Found Family Dynamic with characters who just met, which didn’t feel earned. While these problems never completely go away (see: the cheap and corny way the otherwise very dark season finale suddenly resolves), the show improves quickly, and the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s so great to have a Transformers cartoon that feels fresh, giving us a post-war setting with a bunch of new characters and new dynamics between the Cybertronians and the humans. The returning characters are also uniformly great as the old veterans overseeing the new generation. (Reformed Megatron! Danny Pudi as Bumblebee! Steve Blum returning as Starscream! Keith David as Grimlock!!!) And those super dynamic action scenes! I can nitpick, but Earthspark’s a ton of fun, and easily the best new Transformers cartoon since Prime and Animated.

8/5: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (remaster) - Everyone who told me this game was a masterpiece was right. I had played the first chapter when it dropped as the demo for the iOS version years ago, but never went further than that until now. What a game. Absolutely incredible through and through. Great story, great twists, great characters, great puzzles, great art direction. Everything comes together so perfectly to form a totally unique, unforgettable package, a top tier video game murder mystery. Everyone should play this, preferably going in as blind as possible.

8/15: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16) - Wow! Recent seasons of Sunny have been kind of up and down, with some interesting experiments (Mac Finds His Pride, the Ireland arc, etc.) paired with some comedic duds. Most of this latest season is standard fare for the series with fewer big creative swings, but it’s just hit after hit in terms of comedy. Not a single dud, whether we’re seeing Mac and Dennis try to start a rental business for inflatable furniture or watching the gang meet Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, believing the entire time that the latter is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle. Even the attempts at topical comedy landed better. Easily the funniest season in years.

8/16: One Piece Film Gold - It’s easy to see why this one has kind of been forgotten in the wake of Stampede and Film Red, which revolve around established fan favorite characters, but this was still pretty fun. Perhaps a little too long, but it’s fun to see the Straw Hats fool around in a giant casino and do a heist. They definitely cranked the fanservice up even more than usual in this one, though, as I probably should have expected for a movie made alongside the anime’s adaptation of Dressrosa.

8/17: One Piece: Stampede - This one goes for a different kind of fanservice. While most One Piece movies are isolated from the ongoing plot and its expanded cast of characters, Stampede instead asks “What if we just put damn near every active character on the same island and had them fight?” The answer: a fun time! It would get old if all of the movies were like this, but after a bunch of movies that are just like “the Straw Hats are gonna land on another new island and fight some more weird guys” it’s fun to see characters like Law and Buggy and Smoker get in on the fun. It’s also nice to get a movie with the Wano era art style, and Usopp surprisingly gets some really good character moments in here.

8/18: One Piece Film Red - This really is the best of the One Piece movies, huh? (Baron Omatsuri is a close second.) It really feels like a change of pace after the last four with the most interesting and emotionally engaging story out of any of them. And even if the events of these movies are never canon, it still feels significant in my understanding of Shanks as a character as we move into the final phase of the manga.

8/21: Pikmin 4 - The opening hour of the game made me really question if they’d changed too much, with all the focus on your new dog unit over your Pikmin and the extremely dull, drawn out dialogue scenes with your new companions back at the base. But once I got into the swing of things I had a blast. This is probably my new favorite Pikmin game. There’s a great mix of activities here to keep things fresh. I also really ended up liking Oatchi’s role as basically your second captain who can also serve as your tank or a rideable mount. The Dandori stuff and nighttime missions in particular show off how useful Oatchi is for your multitasking without necessarily overshadowing the Pikmin.

8/22: Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story - I literally backed this on Kickstarter eight years ago (my name is in the credits!) and then never got around to watching it for no reason. It’s on YouTube now, and Jeff’s got a new album out next week, so now feels like the perfect time to watch it. And man… what a great documentary. Obviously I’m just a fan of the band, but this also really spoke to me as an artist. Jeff wanting to stick to his principles and give out his music for free and play cheap all ages shows, his discomfort over the idea of selling merch, and the struggles that come with not playing the game like that… It's hard. They readily admit that Jeff is an idealist, that people fight him on this stuff, that he’s missed out on some big opportunities because of these stances, and that he’s had to compromise a bit on some of these things over time. But that incredible climax with their final show, including a full opening performance of the slowly building “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” and the closing performance of “Future 86” where the whole audience is singing along as the members of the band are hugging and crying… it’s beautiful. This may have been a band where the members had to go back to their shitty day jobs after every tour because they weren’t selling out arenas, but their art meant something to people, and that makes it all worth it.

8/25: Nimona - I haven’t read the original comic (yet), so I can’t compare them too much, but it’s nonetheless pretty apparent that some things were softened and easy kids’ movie jokes were added by the studio to squeeze this graphic novel for teens into a PG animated movie. Regardless, the emotional throughline hits REALLY hard, particularly the very blatant trans allegory and the climax. (It’s no wonder Disney was afraid of this movie seeing the light of day lmao.) The animation is also very squishy and fun to watch throughout. Great movie.

8/26: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Spider-Verse really has done so much for animation, huh? This one was as good as everyone said. Beautiful use of stylized color and lighting throughout, and every time this movie very conspicuously shifted to different framerates for a flashy fight scene it owned. Very cute and heartwarming story, too, which thankfully gave its second act plenty of time to explore the cast and let them go on their journey, unlike a certain plumber movie that came out a few months later. Also I would let Death [redacted]

8/28: Holocure: Save the Fans! - This isn't really something I can beat, but I've been addicted to Holocure lately. I don't even watch VTubers aside from maybe seeing a funny Korone animation every now and then, this is just a really, really good freeware Vampire Survivors clone with a huge roster of varied characters to pick from.

8/31: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock) - A new album from Jeff is always a major event for me. If there were any worries that he was starting to go soft at 40 (because one of the three singles off this album was a gentle acoustic piece), the frantic opening of this album put those worries to rest. The first two tracks are Jeff screaming out for help as he’s pulled in a million directions by the chaotic state of the world, a theme that becomes the thesis of the album. I’d say it lags slightly in the middle, but overall this is another extremely well-rounded record full of bangers that’s unapologetically Jeff, with possibly my favorite closing track he’s ever done. Favorite tracks: I WANNA BE WRONG, 3 SUMMERS

September

9/3: One Piece (live action, Season 1) - They did it. I can’t believe it, but they did it. While I have my nitpicks (Usopp and Sanji don’t get enough big moments to shine), this is an extremely solid and faithful adaptation of the first few arcs of One Piece with a great cast. For the most part the changes feel smart and logical, and the big emotional beats of the story are all there and executed very well. I doubted it a little in episodes 2-4, where the Orange Town and Syrup Village arcs saw some major changes to shift the action indoors, and the increased focus on the drama in favor of repeating every gag and battle from the manga 1:1 took a bit of getting used to, but by the end I was having a blast. It’s a different take on One Piece, but it still feels like One Piece. Genuinely very excited for season 2.

9/4: Pseudoregalia - A great little N64-style 3D Metroidvania focused on platforming and very satisfying movement. I always love entries in the genre that are less prescriptive in what order you have to tackle areas in, a la Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight, and this one’s great in that regard. While there are a number of new moves to find, most of the map is open to you very early in the game, and smart use of your moveset can allow you to “sequence break” without even realizing it. (You would not believe how long I went without getting the wall run.) I do wish it had a map, but that’s already being patched in.

9/6: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk * - Not a bad game at all, but I quickly remembered how bad I am at skating games, so like… eh? Not sure I have much desire to play past chapter 2. Also the soundtrack is sadly kinda hit or miss for me outside of the obvious Naganuma tunes.

9/9: The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Dorktown) - Jon Bois never misses. Even as someone who doesn’t actively follow sports, Jon Bois is a master storyteller, using graphs and statistics and funny anecdotes to explore these deeply human stories. He can convey why people care so much about these teams, these people, and sports in general, and how our popular sports reflect on American culture. He could tell the story of just about any team or player in any sport and I just know I’ll come out the other side a misty-eyed fan. And what a fascinating cast of characters we have this time, with origin stories for everything from the Hail Mary pass to a Minnesota state supreme court judge to the Griddy. Nine hours well spent.

9/10: Timespinner - A fun and highly polished Metroidvania that maybe doesn’t quite have enough of its own identity in its quest to replicate Symphony of the Night…but also, like, this was pitched as a Symphony throwback on KickStarter in a pre-Bloodstained, pre-Hollow Knight world, so I can’t really blame ‘em! Stopping time to avoid boss attacks is fun, the pixel art is gorgeous, and I liked the dark science fantasy story about warring empires and meddling with time a lot more than I thought I would - lore journal text dumps and all.

9/14: The Decay of Sam & Cat (Quinton Reviews) - All the stuff at the end with Matt Bennett (the actor who played Robbie on Victorious and Sam & Cat) in this was really good and sweet. It’s that kind of thing that makes these videos feel like they’re still worthwhile on some level. But the padding and the things Quinton chooses to spend the colossal runtime on does drive me more and more insane with each passing Nick sitcom video. I don’t know how much longer he can keep this schtick up. I hope he’s able to move on to other things before too terribly long instead of continuing to extend this “miniseries.”

9/19: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - AKA Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 1.5. It’s fun for the same reasons Peter’s first game was fun. I had a good time swinging around New York again in preparation for the sequel, and there’s a lot of cute stuff with Miles becoming Harlem’s neighborhood hero, but WOW did the Underground v. Roxxon conflict fall flat for me.

9/20: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson - I understand so many posts now.

9/25: Spider-Man (2002) (rewatch) - It’s you who’s out, Gobby! OUT OF YOUR MIND!

9/25: Futurama (Season 8) - I was ready to be a hater, recalling the fact that Futurama has already had three “perfect endings” with the show getting a little weaker with every revival. Then I watched the first new episode on a whim and thought it wasn’t bad, so I was like, eh, sure, I’ll watch the rest. Overall Hulurama is hit or miss. There are chuckles to be had, and it sure as hell beats modern Simpsons, but almost every episode is either a belated take on an overplayed Topical Issue (the pandemic, Amazon, cancel culture, etc.) or a direct sequel to an old episode people liked. Or both! It’s also really noticeable that certain voice actors sound way older - Billy West is struggling with the Fry voice in particular, and it hurts his comedic timing. But just when all hope seemed lost after the nigh-incomprehensible toy-themed anthology episode, possibly the worst episode of the entire series… the last episode, where the Planet Express crew explores whether or not the universe could be a simulation, was really, really solid. Great note to end on to make me not regret my time with this season as a whole.

9/26: Spider-Man 2 (2004) (rewatch) - Once the GOAT, always the GOAT.

9/27: Spider-Man 3 (rewatch) - Revisiting this movie for the first time since I saw it in theaters… it’s not bad. It’s fine! It continues to have the heart and sincerity that make the first two movies work. It’s just not as concise with three villains vying for the spotlight, but I also wouldn’t cut any of them, necessarily. I guess Eddie/Venom would be the easiest, but Peter getting the black suit and giving in to his resentment feels too central to cut. (Yes, even with Emo Peter becoming a meme.)

9/28: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, especially since I was never really a fan of the genderbend episodes in the original show. (At the time they mostly just felt like an excuse to crank up the teen romance stuff to 11.) But MAN. This was a fantastic coda to the original series. It made me care about Fionna and Cake and their friends as their own characters separate from their original counterparts, it gave the Simon/Betty arc a much more satisfying (if no less bittersweet) resolution than the original finale had time to do, and it even managed to be a multiverse story that didn’t make me roll my eyes in 2023. A+ all around. Makes me wanna rewatch the original show again. [spoiler: I did]

9/29: Meanwhile (aivi & surasshu) - It’s been a whole decade–they were busy with, you know, all the music in Steven Universe, among other things–but we finally have a new aivi & surasshu album! Their chiptune/piano fusion style is familiar, but they’ve definitely grown as composers in subtle ways. Favorite track: Time Travel

October

10/1: This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) - A lot of the nitty gritty finance law stuff turned into white noise for me, but still, great video. I had no idea that the GameStop stock craze devolved into this bizarre cult that thinks they’re going to crash the global economy and rise from the ashes as the new kings with the value of their GME stocks. Glad this video exists to try and balance out the narrative.

10/5: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon DLC - Good ideas, absurdly frustrating and tedious execution. Full thoughts here.

10/10: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (rewatch) - I didn’t plan this, but very fitting that I would end up rewatching this on 10/10.

10/12: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - ha he! (Seriously though, that finale was a fucking masterpiece. The RTVS crew has an incredible knack for using the framing device of video game livestreams to blur the lines between comedy and horror, or ironic anti-humor and complete sincerity. I’ve never seen anything else like this.)

10/15: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said. The most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen, grounded by some really excellent storytelling about Miles (and now Gwen) that’s probably better than his actual comics. But it also does feel like it’s about to end and then the movie just keeps going like ten times over lmao. Can’t wait to watch this a second time on a better TV.

10/20: Sonic Superstars - A mostly really solid and fun 2D Sonic game that’s unfortunately dragged down by an extremely hodgepodge soundtrack and some overly drawn out boss fights. I spent HOURS trying to beat the final boss of the bonus scenario (which is required for the true ending in this one) before giving up. Really a shame that that’s the note I’m leaving the game on, because I otherwise enjoyed it, but ah well. More thoughts here.

10/27: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Another good Spider-Man game from Insomniac. Liked the story more than the one in Miles Morales, but maybe not as much as the first game. Extensive thoughts here.

10/28: Venom - Was in the mood for more Venom after the game. As expected this was not a very good movie, but the dynamic between Eddie and Venom made it a fun watch. Tom Hardy is constantly about to shit his pants in this movie. It’s great.

10/28: Venom: Let There Be Carnage - I had a way better time with this one. Is this a good movie? No. But it cranks the insanity of the first movie up to 11. Goofy as fuck in an extremely watchable way.

November

11/5: Pluto - An absolutely masterful series that anyone interested in sci-fi needs to watch. The anime adaptation was great, and I immediately understand why people who’ve read the manga speak so highly of it. Really makes me want to get into Astro Boy more, and also read some of Urasawa’s other works.

11/18: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - Wow, just wow. When news of a Scott Pilgrim anime broke I was cautiously curious to see if we’d get a more direct adaptation of the comics, and instead it veered off in the exact opposite direction in the best way possible. This is almost entirely a different story, one that’s in conversation with the previous versions (sometimes in very meta ways), and I think it’s really valuable to see O’Malley revisiting these characters with new things to say about them. The major story divergence gives us a chance to examine the characters from a new angle - particularly Ramona, who’s the real protagonist of this version, and the evil exes, who completely steal the show. This was a great reminder of why I fell in love with this series as a teenager. I now genuinely hope we get more Scott Pilgrim.

11/22: Void Rivals (Issues #1 - #6) - The first arc of the new Robert Kirkman series that kicked off Skybound’s new “Energon Universe” is now complete, and I’m left thinking Void Rivals is… okay? I thought the first issue was a decent (if not particularly original) sci-fi comic with an appealing art style, which just so happens to also briefly have a Transformer in it so there can be a Big Surprise. And the series still hasn’t quite shaken that feeling to me. It’s an okay sci-fi series that arbitrarily dedicates a couple of pages of every issue to something from Transformers, but I’m not really sure what the shared universe stuff adds to Void Rivals, or what Void Rivals adds to Transformers and GI Joe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

11/22: Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland) - Yeah, gotta be honest, I only got halfway through this one. It seems like Kevin just 1) really wanted to push himself creatively and 2) make a love letter to Epcot, and while I respect that, I think it suffers as a historical documentary. It’s Fantasia but for the creation of Epcot. That might be very impressive on a technical level, but it feels more like a piece of Disney propaganda than prior Defunctland videos due to a lack of context and nuance. 

11/24: Aperture Desk Job - A short, sweet, and funny little tech demo for my new Steam Deck set in the Portal universe. More effort was definitely put into this than was strictly necessary.

11/26: ESCHATOS - I am not good at bullet hell games, but I enjoy them from time to time and I really love this one’s FM synth soundtrack, so I picked it up on a whim in the Steam sale. I only beat it on Easy, but still, I had a lot of fun with it! It’s straightforward but very flashy, with the camera dynamically zooming around from set piece to set piece at ridiculous speeds and each level segueing directly into the next. The lack of a powerup system on the main mode in favor of just needing to know when to use your different shot types makes it feel very approachable.

11/27: Lunistice - A great little 3D platformer with a good soundtrack that I had fun hunting down all the secrets in. This is an easy recommendation for fans of games like Kirby or Klonoa - whimsical games set in colorful dream worlds where the underlying story can get a bit more somber. (Although the story in this one is mostly told through mildly cryptic lore dumps, so your mileage there may vary.)

11/28: Spark the Electric Jester 2 - The leap from 2D to 3D here is impressive, but this is very clearly a rough draft for Spark 3. Very, very fun Sonic-style 3D platforming, but the combat is lacking and the storytelling is just kinda bad. More extensive thoughts on this and the above two games here.

December

12/2: Fortnite (Chapter 4) - This was my first full chapter of Fortnite, after having been roped into the game by the siren songs of Zero Build mode and Goku during Chapter 3. This means it’s harder for me to compare this chapter to previous ones, but still, Fortnite remains a genuinely very well made Battle Royale shooter that’s a blast with friends. If I have any complaint about this Chapter, it’s that they would regularly introduce zany ideas and then slowly reel them back in, whether it was the Augment system or the increasingly mundane movement items. It also felt like it was a little too easy to get the perfect loadout in every match, meaning the final showdown would almost always be against players with Slurp Juice and gold shotguns. And I missed the smaller mid-season map updates of Chapter 3. But overall I still had a really good time, and look forward to playing more for the foreseeable future.

12/4: Plagiarism and You(Tube) (HBomberguy) - This will get written off by many as “YouTuber drama,” but this really is an excellent video essay that feels like the kick in the pants that YouTube needs. If video essayists are gonna be a major source of information for so many, then they gotta have standards. I also think it does a good job of highlighting the people that have been plagiarized and trying to drive more attention their way in an attempt to right those wrongs.

12/6: Transformers (Skybound comic) - We only got the first three issues of this in 2023, but I just HAVE to say something about how incredible this series is here. Daniel Warren Johnson is knocking it out of the park. This is the new bar for Transformers. The hand-inked art is extremely dynamic and full of character, and the story is using the familiar beats of G1 Transformers but doing very new things with them. You can tell this from the very first page, but the emotional scene of Optimus accidentally crushing a deer in the forest and realizing how fragile life is on Earth sealed the deal for me. And yet in the very same comics Optimus can do suplexes and clotheslines and lord knows how many other wrestling moves on Decepticons, and it doesn’t feel like tonal whiplash? These comics just fucking rule, and anyone with even the slightest interest in Transformers should be reading them.

12/8: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5) - [spoilers] WWDITS has very much settled into being a status quo show. Every season has its own little arc where one or two things change to keep things interesting, but then everything returns to normal by the end. Guillermo finally becoming a vampire, only to become a human again in the end, might just be the most egregious example of this yet. But also… the show’s still really funny? And I continue to be happy that Kristen Schaal has stuck around as a series regular as the Guide. So it’s hard to complain. I could see the show running out of steam over the next few seasons, but it’s still hitting for me right now.

12/12: Pony Island - Finally got around to this since the trailer for the sequel dropped. I feel like playing this years later in a post-Inscryption world where Pony Island is a known quantity kind of lessens its impact, but still, it’s a fun and funny puzzle game where you try to hack your way out of a possessed arcade machine. I’m not sure I found it particularly scary, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be? The way the game messes with you during the Asmodeus “boss fight” was probably the highlight for me. I also like being able to say things like “The part where you have to not kill Jesus was so hard. I kept getting terrible butterfly patterns.”

12/16: Breaking Bad VR but the AI is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - As always, Wayne and co.’s commitment to the bit is unrivaled. This kind of got interpreted as just a way to troll HLVRAI fans, but so many moments in this genuinely made me laugh out loud.

12/18: Soul of Sovereignty Prelude - As someone who would list Cucumber Quest as a big creative influence, I was naturally very excited for this first chapter of GGDG’s new visual novel. Their mentality of both scaling things back in terms of labor while also going more shamelessly self-indulgent in terms of storytelling after burning out on making webcomics has really spoken to me, and WOW, the end result of that new process of theirs is shaping up to be something really special. The art and music are sparse but extremely evocative, giving you the rough sketch of the world and letting your mind fill in the rest. The story blends literary high fantasy vibes with the style of fantasy seen in ‘90s JRPGs (you can definitely tell this came from an idea for an RPG), but rather than constantly winking at the audience and making self-aware video game references it plays these storytelling ideas extremely sincerely, giving them real dramatic weight while still indulging in fun tropes to their fullest extent. While it’s a far cry from their most famous work with much more mature content, GGDG always excels at creating characters and worlds that immediately grab me. I can’t wait for the rest.

12/18: Barbie - I’m only… what, five months late for the whole Barbenheimer thing? Perfect timing. Anyway! On the one hand, I get the critiques saying that this movie is just a major corporation funding a self-aware feminist critique of their own product as a marketing ploy. And I kinda agree with that. And the movie is a little too long, and I don’t really know what to think of the way the Barbie/Ken conflict plays out. Anthony asked me to summarize what the story ended up being about, and I had no idea what to even say. But also… I did still like the movie? We don’t get a lot of cartoonish, absurdist, fourth wall breaking comedies like this anymore, and this is a good one of those. Also the whole cast is great, the set design is kind of stunning, and the cinematography is consistently appealing. I wouldn’t say it’s a revolutionary work of feminist filmmaking by any stretch, but it’s a good comedy movie.

12/21: Dr. Stone: New World - Man, Dr. Stone is great. I’ve said this many times, but I just love that this series uses all the trappings of shounen that would normally be used to hype up the protagonist learning a new move to instead hype up things like the protagonist building a loom or a hot air balloon. It’s shounen Bill Nye. I didn’t completely love everything about the Treasure Island arc this season, but it all built towards a really fun climax with a lot of satisfying turnabouts where the heroes use their ingenuity to just barely win.

12/23: The History of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out World Records (Summoning Salt) - Truly one of my favorite Summoning Salt videos ever, even with how repetitive Punch-Out can get to watch. It’s just so hard to beat “and that runner… was me.”

12/24: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - What more can be said that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best and most creative 2D Mario game since the ‘90s. The only real flaws are that it’s a little easy, the Search Party stages are annoying in singleplayer, and I wish that every boss prior to the final boss wasn’t just some form of Bowser Jr. fight. But those aren’t nearly enough to drag the whole experience down. It was a blast.

12/24: Do a Powerbomb! - Got this from Anthony as a birthday present. This is the previous series by the creative team currently doing the new Transformers comics I was gushing about a few entries ago. Even with the high bar set by those comics, Do a Powerbomb! exceeded my expectations. Holy shit. An absolutely entrancing fantasy wrestling miniseries full of dynamic, energetic action and tons of heart. These comics where a guy wrestles a giant talking orangutan almost made me cry. Twice. An instant favorite.

12/25: Adventure Time (rewatch) - We ended up finishing our rewatch of Adventure Time (the main series, anyway) on my 30th birthday, which feels appropriate. I already kinda knew this, but this rewatch has truly confirmed that Adventure Time is my favorite TV series of all time. The entire show is even better on a full series rewatch. In hindsight, even parts that annoyed me when they aired end up being important parts of the beautiful tapestry that is this series. The many low points of Finn’s adolescent love life are important stepping stones in his growth as a person, which leaves him in an extremely satisfying place by the end. Jake having kids didn’t get to be a huge status quo change because they grew up instantly, but then they did a bunch of fun episodes about Jake’s relationships with his adult children that deepened him as a character. And most of the big lore questions they kept teasing over the years (“Where’d the humans go?” “Who are Finn’s parents?” “When’s Finn gonna get a robot arm?” etc.) ended up getting satisfying and creative answers, because the show left itself the room to figure those things out later. This is a truly special, one-of-a-kind series, one that lasted nearly 300 episodes and yet still seems like it was over too soon. And yes, I did in fact cry during the final montage, like I knew I would. I will always cherish this show with all of my heart.

12/25: Olive the Other Reindeer (rewatch) - Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid! It was a favorite of mine back then, and while it might not be quite as funny as I remember it’s still very cute, with a 2D/3D hybrid art style that remains very unique and appealing. As an adult I can also appreciate the cast they got for this, with like half the cast of Futurama bolstered by guests like Michael Stipe from REM and The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano.

12/26: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio - Anthony and I capped off our Christmas with the most jolly and festive stop motion movie of all! Jokes aside, man, what a beautiful movie. The animation is immaculate, and we really just don’t get children’s animated films like this anymore. Ones that overtly feature real world politics and religion and so many other dark themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids or sugarcoat things. This one hits hard. We need more movies like this.

12/31: Oppenheimer - This was an interesting one. Despite being three hours, the way that first hour jumps around in time makes it feel like Oppenheimer is constantly being propelled forward through life at a breakneck pace, swept up by the rising tide of nationalism in spite of his personal left wing politics, never really reflecting on what he’s doing until it’s too late. Then when he’s no longer useful to the empire, he’s chewed up and spat out, only to eventually be honored as a national hero as a symbolic gesture. It’s a compelling story. However, I’m a little torn on how certain aspects of history were framed. Does the abstraction of the bombings detract from the true weight of those events, in favor of sympathizing with the man who built the bomb? Or is it clever a way to show how the realities of the war were compartmentalized away by people who were complicit in its most heinous acts of violence? One minute a bunch of physicists are talking theory, thousands of miles away from the theaters of war, and the next they’ve killed 200,000 people. So which is it? Eh, probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. But I liked it overall.

12/31: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe - I’ve been really surprised by how good this rerelease is. It kind of flew under the radar for me. I liked the original game, but at the time it also almost felt like the New Super Mario Bros. of Kirby. It was a straightforward throwback game where you went through a grass world, then a desert world, then a water world, etc., and also they added four player co-op. But returning to this one after the kinda mid Star Allies has made me appreciate just how solid RtDL is as a Kirby game. I really like the updated graphics, too - yes, even the new cel shaded outlines around the characters - even though I didn’t think it looked that great in screenshots. Also the two new copy abilities (Sand and Mecha) are fun, the minigame collection is shockingly fleshed out to the point that they could’ve sold it as a standalone eShop game, the collectible character masks are fun, and the new epilogue mode where you play as Magolor is one of the coolest bonus modes they’ve ever done. This is a top tier Kirby remake any fan of the series should check out.

Ongoing things I followed in 2023 that don't have a blurb:

Halo Infinite multiplayer

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog (main series + specials)

One Piece

Chainsaw Man

My Hero Academia (not caught up)

The JOJOlands (not caught up)

Things I started in 2023 that I still need to finish:

Freedom Planet 2

Hi-Fi Rush

Live A Live

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Picross 3D Round 2

Rhythm Heaven MegaMix

Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Spark the Electric Jester 3

Sonic Dream Team

One Piece (Wano arc, anime)

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 (I’ve already read the Shibuya arc already in the manga, though)

Astro Boy (2003 anime)

Futurama (original run rewatch)

One Piece (manga reread)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee/Ditko era)

Scott Pilgrim series (reread)

And finally... my favorites of 2023!!!

Overall favorite game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Favorite indie game: Pseudoregalia

Games remastered in 2023 that are now among my all-time faves: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, We Love Katamari

Most pleasant surprise in gaming: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Favorite film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Favorite live action show: Barry

Favorite anime: Pluto

Favorite anime written by a Canadian guy and an American guy based on the Canadian guy's old graphic novel series: Scott PIlgrim Takes Off

Favorite live action adaptation of an anime that I still can't believe they didn't fuck up: One Piece

Favorite Western cartoon: Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake

Favorite older cartoon I only got around to watching in its entirety this year: The Venture Bros.

Favorite documentary: Double Fine PsychOdyssey

Favorite semi-improvised semi-scripted absurdist comedy/horror/tragedy Twitch livestream performance art thing: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware finale (wayneradiotv)

Favorite manga: Chainsaw Man

Favorite older manga that I only read this year: Berserk

Favorite Western comic book: Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers

Favorite album: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock)

And that's a wrap!!!!! Happy new year, everyone! Here's to me maybe actually reading a goddamn book this year

[50calmadeuce]

Ch. 17: An Evening At The Hard Deck

Warning: Mention of miscarriage. Some chapters have sex.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Top Gun: Maverick world, trademarked by Paramount Pictures Corporation. I do not claim ownership of the characters and the world that I am borrowing.

The story and situation I am creating are a work of my imagination and I do not ascribe them to official story canon. This work is for entertainment only and is not a part of the storyline.

I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story, but I do hope it gives you happy thoughts.

These stories are my own, so please do not take them and use them for yourself without my permission. If you see them somewhere else, please let me know. :)

Before leaving, you informed Penny's bartender, Jimmy, about your plan to head down to the beach to await Jake's arrival. With that settled, you began your leisurely stroll along the water's edge, savoring the pleasant warmth of the sun and the stunning scenic view. The rhythmic sound of the waves crashing softly against the shore, combined with the gentle caress of the sea breeze, created a serene atmosphere, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the tranquil beauty of the moment.

As you walked, your thoughts naturally drifted towards the possibility of making a life here while Jake was deployed. However, this place was undeniably urban, a far cry from the rural settings where your professional skills as a large animal veterinarian would be in demand. The absence of cows, horses, and other large animals in the cityscape made you question how useful or fulfilled you could be in such an environment. With a sigh, you found yourself weighing the pros and cons of establishing roots in Wisconsin, Texas, or California. Each location offered its own unique set of challenges and opportunities, not just for your career but also for your personal life and your relationship with Jake. The decision loomed large, a complex puzzle of geographical and emotional factors to consider.

Pausing in your tracks, you found yourself gazing out at the expansive ocean stretching endlessly before you. As the wind picked up, a stray piece of hair brushed across your face. Instinctively, you reached up, tucking the rogue strand behind your ear, allowing you an unobstructed view of the horizon. The vastness of the sea, with its rolling waves and the soothing sound they produced, offered a moment of reflection and calm. It was a stark reminder of the wide-open possibilities that lay ahead, both daunting and liberating in equal measure.

As you stood there lost in thought, a male voice suddenly broke the tranquility. "Excuse me, Ma'am. You shouldn't be out here alone," he said, just as arms wrapped around you from behind, bringing an immediate and unexpected closeness. His head positioned itself next to yours, a gesture that was meant to be reassuring but was startling given the surprise. This intimate encounter was a stark contrast to the solitude and introspection of just moments before, shifting the atmosphere completely.

Your initial surprise softened into a smile as you recognized the familiarity of the moment. "Hi, flyboy," you greeted warmly, the affection in your voice unmistakable.

"Hi, darlin'," Jake replied, his voice carrying a blend of affection and relief. Following his greeting, he gently kissed your cheek and then, with a careful motion, turned you around to face him, ensuring that you were now looking directly into each other's eyes. "The squad wants to meet you. They still can't believe I'm married."

Jake's actions and words brought a moment of intimacy amidst the vastness of the beach and the roar of the ocean. His statement about the squad's disbelief at his marital status added a layer of communal intrigue to your personal narrative.

Observing him now in his Navy khaki uniform added a tangible reminder of the life and responsibilities he carried beyond the personal realm you both shared. "That seems to be the story around here," you responded, your voice carrying a hint of amusement mixed with a touch of resignation. It was a nuanced acknowledgment of the unusual circumstances surrounding your relationship—private moments and decisions that had unfolded away from the eyes of the world, now beginning to emerge into the broader context of Jake's life and community.

"Hey. The Navy knew, and that was all that mattered," Jake responded, his tone light yet underscored with sincerity. As he slipped his arms around your waist, a gesture of closeness and comfort, you instinctively placed your arms behind his neck, drawing yourselves closer together.

The kiss you shared was a beautiful amalgamation of passion, gentleness, and sweetness. It was a moment that seemed to pause time itself, allowing the two of you to exist in a world of your own. As the kiss ended and you slightly pulled apart, your foreheads remained touching, a silent exchange of understanding and affection passing between you.

"I guess," you responded softly, the words carrying more than just agreement—a recognition of the complexities and compromises your unique situation demanded.

Eventually, you both stepped back from this intimate embrace, yet the connection remained unbroken as you joined hands. Together, you began walking towards The Hard Deck, your steps in harmony, symbolizing the unity and partnership you shared.

"So, let me get this straight. You've been married to him," Natasha 'Phoenix' Trace said, pointing an incredulous finger towards Jake. "For four years, and we had no idea about it?" Her tone was a mix of surprise and disbelief, echoing the sentiment that seemed to be shared among the group gathered at The Hard Deck. The revelation of your long-standing marriage to Jake, something so significant yet unknown to his closest colleagues, added an air of astonishment to the conversation.

"Yup," you confirmed with a simple affirmation, taking a sip of your water to punctuate the statement.

Phoenix shrugged, a slight smile playing on her lips. "I guess that makes sense on why he was such an ass a lot of the time."

Your laughter followed her comment, a light-hearted acknowledgment of her attempt to make sense of Jake's past behavior.

Phoenix leaned in closer, her curiosity evident in her expression. "How do you deal with him when he gets so cocky?" she asked in a slight whisper, acknowledging the occasional challenge of managing Jake's confidence.

You reciprocated the whisper, sharing your secret with a knowing smile. "Honestly, I just roll my eyes."

Phoenix nodded in understanding, her own expression reflecting a mixture of amusement and agreement. "I can see that," she remarked, acknowledging the simplicity of your approach to handling Jake's occasional bouts of overconfidence. This exchange underscored the bonds of camaraderie and shared experiences within the group, offering a glimpse into the dynamics of navigating relationships amidst the challenges of military life.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Jake asked from the pool table, his tone playfully curious. He couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness seeing how well you were integrating with his squad. His question, light-hearted and tinged with amusement, reflected his contentment in witnessing the budding friendship and understanding developing between you and his closest companions. It was clear that your connection with the group, particularly with Phoenix, added a new layer of familial warmth to the bonds that tied them all together.

"Phoenix was just asking for pointers on how to deal with you when your head goes too far up your ass," you retorted playfully, your words light but pointed, causing a ripple of amusement to spread through the group.

A chorus of "ooo's" echoed around you, the playful burn directed at your husband eliciting reactions ranging from surprise to delight among his squad mates.

"Damn, Hangman. For not knowing about her for four years, she knows you pretty damn well," Mickey 'Fanboy' Garcia chimed in, his comment drawing a round of laughter and nods of agreement from the others. His statement underscored the ironic humor of the situation—despite the squad's long history with Jake, it was clear you had an insightful and profound understanding of him, one that resonated with his friends and highlighted the depth of your connection.

Jake gave you a teasing glance. "She's the expert here," he said with a smirk. Leaning across the pool table, he lined up and executed his shot.

After his turn, you approached the table, only for him to encircle you with his arm, drawing you in for a swift kiss. "Grab me another beer, would you, darlin'?" he asked.

"Sure," you answered, circling back around the pool table.

"Headed to the ladies' room?" Phoenix inquired.

"No, just off to get a beer," you responded.

Phoenix jumped down from her seat. "I'll come with you."

As you both made your way to the bar, Penny caught your eye. "Let me guess, another beer for Hangman?" she said with a knowing look.

"That's right," you confirmed.

Then, turning her attention to Phoenix, she asked, "How about you, Phoenix? Can I get you anything?"

"Yeah, I'll have one too," Phoenix replied.

"Add it to my tab, Penny. Actually," you said, reaching back to retrieve your phone from your pocket and placing it on the bar, "I'm covering the next round."

Penny flashed a smile, walked over, and rang the bell. A wave of cheers and grateful shouts of 'Thank you' echoed throughout the bar.

The unique rules of The Hard Deck brought a smile to your face, though you found them entirely reasonable: 'Disrespect a lady, the Navy, or place your cell phone on my bar, and you're buying a round.' It seemed only fair to treat these pilots to a drink.

Shortly after, Penny returned with your and Phoenix's drinks in hand. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Penny," you both echoed, grateful for her quick service. With your drinks in hand, you made your way back to the group gathered around the pool table.

You passed Jake his beer, and he gave you a quizzical look. "Darlin', did you just buy the whole bar a round?"

"I did," you confirmed with a smile.

He shrugged, a hint of amusement in his expression. "Okay, then."

After delivering Jake his beer, you returned to where Phoenix was seated and began engaging in conversation with her, picking up where you left off or perhaps diving into a new topic of discussion.

Coyote approached Jake right after he completed his pool shot and gave him a nudge. "So, have you mentioned anything to Y/N about Sierra?"

Jake glanced at him before positioning himself for another shot over the pool table. "There's nothing to mention," he replied, focusing on his game as he executed the shot.

"You'd better hope that's true, because look who just walked in." Coyote tilted his beer in the direction of the bar's entrance, indicating someone's arrival.

Jake followed Coyote's gesture, turning his gaze towards the bar's entrance to see who had just walked in.

"Shit," Phoenix muttered, her attention fixed towards the bar.

"What?" you inquired, turning your gaze in the same direction.

There, a tall woman with bronzed skin, her curly hair cascading in a blend of blonde, brown, and red streaks, was making her presence known. Dressed in a blue jean skirt, a white tank top, and sandals, she seemed to navigate the bar with a purpose, her trajectory unmistakably aimed at Jake.

"Did Jake ever mention Sierra to you?" Phoenix asked, turning her gaze back to you, her expression a mix of concern and curiosity.

Meeting her question with a puzzled look, you remained silent.

Taking your silence as an answer, Phoenix said, "I'm going to take that as a no."

"So, who is she?"

"Some girl who was after Jake, wanting more than he was willing to give. He kept turning her down, but she wouldn't let up, fabricating stories about them being an item," Phoenix explained, shedding light on the situation.

"Oh, really?" You responded, your curiosity piqued. Taking a sip of your water, you turned your attention to the unfolding scene as the woman made her way towards your husband. With a hint of anticipation, you leaned back in your chair. "This should be interesting," you mused, ready to observe how the situation would unfold.

Jake straightened up after completing his shot at the pool table, turning to face Sierra as she approached and halted beside him.

"Hiya, Hangman," she greeted, punctuating her words with a pop of her gum.

"Sierra," he acknowledged with a nod, maintaining his composure. Without further engagement, he maneuvered around her to line up his next shot. Unperturbed, Sierra mirrored his movements, continuing to follow him around the table.

As Jake leaned over to take his next shot, Sierra's gaze zeroed in on the wedding ring adorning his finger.

"You're married?" she asked, her tone laced with disbelief, as she snapped her gum.

Completing his shot, Jake straightened up and faced her. "Yes. I've been married for four years," he affirmed, his voice steady.

Sierra, undeterred, reached out to place her hand on Jake's chest, her demeanor shifting to a feigned sweetness. "Is this just to get back at me?" she inquired, looking up at him.

From his peripheral vision, Jake noticed you rising from your chair, alert to the unfolding interaction.

"Y/N. She's not worth it," Phoenix cautioned as she saw you stand, sensing the tension.

"I got this," you assured her confidently, dismissing the concern with a calm resolve. With that, you began making your way towards Jake and Sierra, prepared to handle the situation.

Jake swiftly took Sierra's hand and gently but firmly pushed it away from his chest. "Sierra, I've always been clear with you. I'm not interested in you. I never have been, and I never will be," he stated decisively, making his stance unmistakably clear.

Sierra laughed. "Jake stop. You know that's not true."

Jake's expression hardened, his patience evidently wearing thin. "No, Sierra, it's very true. You need to respect my feelings and my marriage," he responded, his voice firm yet composed, aiming to put an end to any misunderstandings once and for all.

Sierra scoffed, disbelief painting her features. "Your marriage. You've never mentioned it before," she challenged, skepticism lacing her tone. As she went to raise her hand, likely aiming to touch Jake once more in a familiar gesture, he was quicker. Jake reached out, his movements decisive, and firmly stopped her advance.

"Stop, Sierra," Jake said, his voice stern and commanding. The firmness in his tone left no room for misunderstanding. He set a clear boundary, signaling an end to any perceived intimacy or advances from her part.

Your approach didn't go unnoticed, and as you reached their side, Jake gave you a look that mixed relief with a touch of annoyance at the situation. Turning to face Sierra, your presence added weight to Jake's words.

"Can I help you?" You interjected, stepping into the conversation with a poised demeanor.

Sierra sized you up with a quick glance, her expression one of skepticism. "And who might you be?" she asked, her tone edged with curiosity and defiance.

With calm assurance, you responded, "I would be his wife," establishing your relationship to Jake and your presence in the situation.

Sierra's eyebrows shot up, surprise etching her features for a moment before she managed to mask it with a sly smile. "Oh, the wife," she said, dragging out the words as if tasting them for the first time. Sierra turned her attention back to Jake, her demeanor now tinged with accusation. "You really planned this all out?" she queried, her voice carrying a mix of disbelief and indignation, implying a sense of betrayal.

Jake met Sierra's incredulous gaze with a level one of his own. "I didn't plan anything, Sierra, just like I never gave you any indication that I was interested in you," he clarified firmly, hoping to dispel any misconceptions she harbored about their past interactions.

Sierra, still clinging to her disbelief, let out a another scoff, her eyes darting between you and Jake. "Well, this is quite the surprise. Never thought I'd see the day," she muttered under her breath, her tone laced with sarcasm and a hint of bitterness.

"It's not about a day. We've been married for four years now," you chimed in, reinforcing Jake's commitment to you and emphasizing the duration and seriousness of your relationship to Sierra, hoping to underscore the finality of the situation.

"Oh, really? Then why wasn't I ever aware of you?" Sierra challenged, skepticism coloring her tone, seeking to find a crack in your assertion.

Unfazed, you took a step closer, meeting her gaze with unwavering confidence. "That's on a need-to-know basis, and you, quite frankly, don't need to know," you replied, asserting your position while subtly indicating that her involvement in your and Jake's life was neither required nor desired.

Sierra, finally showing signs of relenting, turned her attention back to Jake with one last attempt to salvage her pride. "So, I wasn't spunky enough for you, is that it?" She then shifted her gaze to you, a mix of defiance and resignation in her eyes. "You can have him. I've seen better," she declared, attempting to mask her defeat with indifference. With that, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the confrontation behind.

Jake's face lit up with a smile of pride as he watched Sierra leave. "Darlin', that was great!" he exclaimed, clearly impressed by how you handled the situation.

You, however, kept a stone-faced expression, not ready to share in his relief just yet. "Outside, now," you commanded, making it clear there was still a matter to be addressed between the two of you. Without waiting for a response, you turned and headed towards the door leading to the back patio, leaving no room for argument. Jake, sensing the seriousness in your tone, quickly followed behind you.

Outside, the cool air contrasted with the tension between you as you leaned against the railing, waiting for Jake to reach you.

"Darlin', let me explain," he began, earnestness in his voice.

You turned to face him, the frustration evident. "You could've warned me, Jake."

He sighed, a hint of regret in his expression. "I hadn't seen her in months, thought she had moved on."

"That's not the point, Jake. I've been open with you about my past."

"I know, I know," he rushed to assure you, "but I didn't do anything with her. I never kissed her or anything."

"So, it's back to me again?" Your voice carried a mix of disbelief and hurt, feeling as if the focus was wrongly being shifted onto your actions or past rather than addressing the current issue directly.

"Y/N, I didn't say that," Jake quickly clarified, trying to steer the conversation away from any misinterpretation.

"You didn't have to," you said, the disappointment in your voice clear as you began walking towards the door, distancing yourself from the conversation and the tension.

"Where are you going?" Jake's voice carried a note of concern, unsure of your intentions in the moment.

Pausing, you turned to face him, the complexity of your feelings reflected in your eyes. "I'd say home, but it's not, so I guess back to your place," you replied. The distinction you made between 'home' and 'his place' underscored the unsettled feelings and the need for some resolution or comfort in the wake of the evening's events.

As you reentered the bar, making your way back to where Phoenix was seated, her concern was immediately evident.

"You okay?" she inquired, her eyes searching yours for the truth.

"I'm good. I'm leaving," you managed to say, trying to maintain your composure amidst the swirling emotions.

Without hesitation, Phoenix reached for her phone. "What's your number?" she asked, understanding the importance of staying connected.

After you provided your number, you watched her fingers move quickly over the screen, sending a text to ensure you had a way to reach out.

"If you need anything…" she began, her offer hanging in the air, a testament to her willingness to support you.

Feeling your phone vibrate in your pocket as her text came through, you reached out to give Phoenix a hug, grateful for her immediate show of solidarity and friendship.

"Thanks," you said, pulling away from the embrace. With a heavy heart but a sense of resolve, you made your way to the bar to settle your tab. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Jake reenter from outside. Without another word, you left, stepping into the night, leaving behind the bar, the confrontation, and the unresolved feelings, at least for now.

Tags: @buckysteveloki-me @bellyliveslife @tgmreader @callsign-barbell @86laura11 @dizzybee03 @kmc1989 @guacam011y @nerdgirljen @hookslove1592 @dempy @djs8891

[katiesharms]

heyo! came from ao3 and saw that u were welcoming suggestions for fanboy realizing the hannix situation- but i propose that u switch him out with maverick 👀 unless he’s already included of course. I think it’d be interesting watching from an instructors perspective on how the hannix thing came abt

hey!! i actually did come up with a scenario for fanboy & the whole fic is now written. i wasn't planning on including mav because imo he's kinda clueless and totally would not notice anything, plus i like the structure of the fic a lot already. but! i had a fun lil idea, so here it is:

It takes two years post-Mission for the 12 of them, plus Maverick, to all be in the same place at the same time again. It's not for lack of trying; the group chat that Mav keeps mostly muted is constantly full of proposed dates and failed plans. But eventually, he's able to host a pre-Thanksgiving gathering at his hanger/home.

The aviators filter in throughout the day. Rooster is there first, since he's basically been living there since the mission, but Bob, Fanboy, and Payback show up early as well, having gotten into town the night before. Coyote strolls in a couple hours later with Yale and Harvard on his tail. He immediately requests a beer, or something stronger, after having to deal with them for the whole drive. Halo, Omaha, and Fritz are next, and soon, the only people missing are Phoenix and Hangman.

"Are they coming together?" Maverick asks as he starts firing up the grill.

Rooster looks at him confused. "Yeah, of course, they are," he answers like the question is ridiculous.

Huh, Maverick thinks. He genuinely had no idea they were still together. He'd assumed that their relationship post-Mission was a brief fling, fueled by the adrenaline of their success. He's had his fair share of those.

They show up just as the first burgers are coming off the grill, hands laced together as they walk in.

"Of course, Hangman shows up just in time to eat without having to help," Halo teases.

"Sorry, it's my fault," Phoenix admits. "I took us the wrong way."

The two of them go around greeting everyone as a unit, never separating. Their hands are linked, Hangman's arm around her shoulder, her hand in his back pocket. No matter what, they find a way to stay attached. Huh, Maverick thinks again. Penny is always saying he's a bit oblivious, but he's a little embarrassed that he missed this.

"So what's for dinner?" Hangman asks as they sit down, and then the meal is underway.

After they all eat, the aviators stick around, everyone bouncing off each other, catching up. Maverick finds himself wishing they could do more often.

He's by the cooler of drinks when Phoenix comes up to grab another few beers. As she reaches into the cooler, he notices something shiny glint off her left ring finger.

"Congratulations," he offers, and she looks up at him confused.

"For what?"

"Uh," he says awkwardly, gesturing to her hand.

"Oh!" she exclaims. "Sorry, it's been a few months, so I sometimes forget."

A few months? Maverick blushes, hoping she doesn't think he's rude for not remarking on it sooner.

"Sorry for, ah, missing it." He winces at the awkward phrasing.

"Oh, it's okay. We didn't make a big deal out of it, and Rooster likes to say your social media illiterate."

Mav laughs, "yes, Amelia is trying to teach me TikTok, but I'll be honest, it's a lost cause." The two of them laugh together at that.

"You know," he starts, "when we all first met, I thought it was Bradley you were into."

Phoenix starts positively cackling at that. "Sorry," she ekes out between laughs, "no offense to Rooster, but that's honestly hilarious. I wouldn't touch that mess with a ten-foot pole."

"But you would touch Hangman?" Maverick teases, and Phoenix, to his shock, blushes.

"Unfortunately," she answers and then heads back to the group. She hands Hangman a beer and then slips right into his lap, throwing an arm around his back.

Huh, Maverick thinks once more. Maybe Penny and Amelia are right. He really needs to become more observant on land.

[blackwidownat2814]

For @itsapeterthing, who fell in love with our favorite WSO. Here's some of my faves:

[juanmecanico]

JTS672 TRW APOYO PENDULAR Buick Electra, Buick LeSabre, Buick Lucerne, Buick Park Avenue, Buick Rea Buick Electra: 1985 - 1990, Buick LeSabre: 1985 - 2005, Buick Lucerne: 2006 - 2011, Buick Park Avenue: 1991 - 2005, Buick Reatta: 1988 - 1991, Buick Riviera: 1979 - 1999, Cadillac DeVille: 1985 - 2005, Cadillac DTS: 2006 - 2011, Cadillac Seville: 1986 - 2004, Chevrolet Bel Air: 1958 - 1970, Chevrolet Biscayne: 1958 - 1970, Chevrolet Caprice: 1966 - 1970, Chevrolet Corvette: 1963 - 1982, Chevrolet Impala: 1958 - 1970, Chrysler Cordoba: 1975 - 1976, Chrysler Valiant: 1975 - 1976, Datsun Pickup: 1966 - 1983, Datsun Sakura: 1982 - 1983, Datsun Sedan: 1969 - 1984, Dodge Charger: 1966 - 1972, Dodge Coronet: 1965 - 1972, Dodge Dart: 1973 - 1976, Dodge Ram 50: 1983 - 1993, Ford Falcon: 1960 - 1965, Ford Granada: 1975 - 1980, Ford Maverick: 1975 - 1977, Ford Mustang: 1965 - 1967, Jeep Grand Cherokee: 1993 - 1998, Nissan 200SX: 1977 - 1979, Nissan 240Z: 1970 - 1973, Nissan 260Z: 1974 - 1975, Nissan 280Z: 1975 - 1978, Nissan 510: 1968 - 1973, Nissan 610: 1973 - 1976, Nissan 710: 1974 - 1977, Nissan Ichi Van: 1987 - 1993, Nissan Pickup: 1984 - 1993, Nissan Sakura: 1984 - 1986, Oldsmobile Aurora: 1995 - 2003, Oldsmobile Delta 88: 1988 - 1991, Oldsmobile LSS: 1996 - 1999, Oldsmobile Toronado: 1986 - 1992, Plymouth Barracuda: 1973 - 1974, Plymouth Duster: 1973 - 1976, Plymouth Valiant: 1973 - 1976, Plymouth Volare: 1976 - 1976, Pontiac Bonneville: 1987 - 2005, Toyota Pickup: 1979 - 1994, VAM Classic: 1967 - 1969 Mirar JTS672 TRW APOYO PENDULAR Buick Electra, Buick LeSabre, Buick Lucerne, Buick Park Avenue, Buick Rea

[allthingsfangirl101]

Top Gun - Baby Mav Chapter 17: Decisions and Consequences

Masterlist

"Captian Mitchell is no longer your instructor," Admiral Simpson started. No one agreed with the fact that they forced Maverick out. "And as of today, there are new mission parameters. Time to target is now four minutes. You'll be entering the valley level at a reduced speed. Not to exceed 420 knots."

The trainees knew that if they followed Admiral Simpson's rules and not Maverick's they weren't going to make it home. They looked at each other, all thinking the same thing: they needed Maverick back. Now.

"Sir, won't we be giving their planes time to intercept?" Bob asked, using a surprising amount of courage.

"What are the odds of surviving a head-on collision with a mountain?" Admiral Simpson shot back. "You'll be attacking the target from a higher altitude, level with the north wall. Gonna be a little harder to keep your lase on target, but you will avoid the high-G climb out."

Admiral Bates looked around at the trainees sharing nervous glances.

"We'll be sitting ducks for enemy missiles," Fanboy mumbled to Coyote.

Before anyone could speak up or Admiral Simpson could explain how else he was going to get them killed, the monitor behind him started beeping. The admiral turned around to see the monitor showing an F-18 plane going through the course.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Maverick to Range Control. Entering Point Alpha. Confirm green range."

The group straightened up. They shared smirks and soft laughs.

"Uh, Maverick, Range Control, uh, the green range is confirmed," Range Control said slowly. "I don't see an event scheduled for you, sir."

"Well, we're going anyway."

"We?" Range Control asked. Just then, another F-18 popped up on the screen.

"Oh no," Rooster mumbled. "Please no."

"What?" Hangman asked, kind of already knowing what.

"Who's in that other plane?" Admiral Simpson demanded.

"Setting time to target: two minutes 15 seconds."

Rooster knew that voice.

"Is that. . ." Payback started to ask but didn't finish.

Anger filling him, Admiral Simpson grabbed the nearest walkie. "Lieutenant Phillips, what the hell are you doing up there?!"

"Wait," Coyote said, "did she say 2:15? That's impossible."

"Not for those two," Admiral Bates smirked.

"Final attack point," Maverick said.

"Maverick and Baby Mav inbound," Maddlyn added.

"You know the drill, Baby Mav," Maverick said. "I'll set the laser, you hit the target."

"Easy," Maddlyn laughed. "I'll follow your lead."

"That's why you're my favorite wingman, Baby Mav," he chuckled.

"Not to mention, your daughter," Maddlyn scoffed.

"I demand you return to base, Lieutenant Phillips," Admiral Simpson barked.

"No can do," Maddlyn said calmly. "You think it was easy getting in this thing? Plus, I'm already up here. I'm not going to leave the chance to prove you wrong."

The team didn't bother to hide their laughter at Maddlyn's response. Hangman couldn't help but sink in his chair as he listened to them. He wasn't sure how Maddlyn even got into the plane, but he did know that he was the reason she couldn't get in on her own.

"Maddlyn Phillips. . ."

"Can't talk, Admiral," she interrupted. "Kind of trying to show you and our trainees that your flight plan is stupid."

Things were quiet as Maverick and Maddlyn flew the route. The two went through the flight easily. The tension in the room intensified as the trainees watched Maddlyn and Maverick reach the incline.

"Baby Mav," Maverick said, "we're about to reach the incline."

"Well aware," Maddlyn said, her focus on flying.

"It's just. . . If you need to head back to base, I can finish the flight."

"I'll be fine."

"Mads. . ."

"I got this."

Phoenix glanced over at Rooster who was nervously messing with his hands.

"Popping in three, two, one," Maverick counted off. The two went up and down, soon seeing the target.

"Line it up, Maverick," Maddlyn's voice came through. "I'm right behind you."

"Laser placed," Maverick responded.

Maddlyn lined it up and hit the button once it was ready.

"Bombs away," Maddlyn said as she dropped them. The group held their breaths. The timers topped at .16 seconds right as Maddlyn hit the target.

"Bull's-eye!"

"Holy shit!"

"Ready for incline. . . You sure you're ready, Mads?" Maverick wanted to double-check. The group settled down when they remembered what had to happen next.

"Pulling up," Maddlyn said instead of answering her dad.

The trainees slowly sat back down as the two inclined. Rooster felt like he couldn't breathe as he heard Maddlyn gasping in pain.

"Pull out, Maddlyn," Maverick gasped through his own struggle to breathe.

"I'm fine."

"Come on, Mads," Rooster mumbled. "Bail. No one would think any less of you if you bailed. Please."

"She'll be fine," Phoenix tried to reassure him.

It became clear that she was in pain. For Maddlyn, it felt like someone was sitting on her chest. She tried to slow her breathing, but it was too painful.

"Almost there," Maverick said to his daughter, not Range Control. "Hang in there, kiddo."

It was probably about a minute, but it felt like longer. Maverick let out a sigh of relief when he pulled out of the incline. Maddlyn's sigh wasn't out of relief. It was out of pain.

"On our way back, Range Control," Maverick said.

"Hurry up," Rooster mumbled. "Please. Just get her home safe, Maverick."

* * * * *

Maverick laughed as he jumped out of the plane. When he saw the trainees running toward him, he turned to Maddlyn. His stomach sank when he saw her still in her plane.

He ignored the other celebrating as he ran to her plane. He grabbed the ladder and quickly positioned it. Once he got to the top, everything inside him lurched when he saw the tears streaming down his daughter's face.

"Maddy," he said gently, "are you okay, kiddo?"

"I can't. . ." She stuttered. "I can't do this."

"Maddy, I'm right here. Open the canopy, sweet girl."

"I can't move," she said, her voice getting caught in her throat. "I can't get out." She tried to turn toward her dad but the pain shot up her spine.

"Okay," Maverick said quickly when she let out a sharp gasp of pain. "It's going to be okay. I'm going to get you out of here. First, I need you to open the canopy. Can you do that?"

Maddy slowly nodded. She took a shaky breath before lifting her hand. Maverick watched her hand shake as she found the button. He let out a sigh of relief as the canopy popped open.

"Alright," he said softly. "Good girl. Now, let's get this off of you."

Maverick reached over and gently unhooked her mask from her helmet. "There we go," he whispered as he gently took her helmet off. "Now you can breathe."

"What's wrong?!"

Maverick looked down to see Rooster and Hondo running over. He glanced at his daughter before leaning down and handing Hondo Maddlyn's helmet.

"Maddy can't move," he said under his breath. Rooster started to join him on the ladder, but Maverick stopped him. "Hondo, go get her wheelchair and have them get the infirmary ready. Rooster, I'm gonna need your help getting her down."

"What do I do?" Rooster rushed out.

"Get the taller ladder," Maverick said calmly. "I can barely reach her from this one."

Rooster looked over at Maddlyn in her seat and understood Maverick's plan. He turned and ran toward the other ladder. Once he had it, he wheeled it over to Maverick, who was already on the ground. They switched the ladders so Maverick would be closer to Maddlyn.

Once it was in position, Maverick made his way up the ladder. "Hey, kiddo," he said gently. "I'm right here. So is Rooster. We are going to get you down, okay?"

"Okay," she said shakily.

"Hey," he said softly yet firmly. "We are not going to leave you."

Maverick leaned closer and kissed her forehead. When he pulled away, he instantly unlatched her seatbelt.

"Okay," he said, mentally preparing himself for what he had to do. "Wrap your arm around my shoulders. There you go. And now I'm gonna wrap my arm around your waist and the other one under your legs."

He froze when Maddlyn let out a small whimper. "Listen," he whispered, "this is going to hurt and I'm so sorry, pumpkin, but I promise it will be over soon."

"It's okay," she said through a clenched jaw.

"I'm sorry," Maverick whispered as he lifted her. His heart felt like it was slowly being torn out of his chest as he caused his little girl pain. He gently put her down on the edge of the plane.

"There we go," he sighed as he placed her down. "Now comes the tricky part."

"Great," Maddlyn said, out of breath from the pain going up and down her spine.

"Here's what we are going to do," Maverick started explaining. "First, I'm going to stand you up."

"But. . ."

"I know," he said instantly. "But I promise, princess, I am going to catch you. I will not let you fall."

"Okay," she said under her breath. "I trust you."

"That's my girl," he chuckled. "Once I have you, and I will have you, I'm going to put you on the wing."

"Then what?"

Maverick hated how scared she was. He reached up and tucked a piece of hair that had gotten loose behind her ear.

"Then I am going to help you down and Rooster will catch you."

"Dad, I don't know. . ."

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course," Maddy answered instantly.

"Do you trust Rooster?"

Maddlyn glanced at Rooster who was looking up at her with nothing but worry in his eyes.

"Yes," she whispered. She looked back up at her dad who had an intensely stubborn stare on his face.

"You are not going to fall," he said simply. "I just need you to hold on for a few minutes. When we get you down, and we will, we will immediately take you to the infirmary."

"Okay," Maddy said under her breath. Maverick gently grabbed his daughter's waist and began to slide her off the edge. He wanted to stop when she let out a pained yelp but he forced himself to keep going.

He slowly and carefully moved her so she was leaning all of her weight on him. She was gripping his shoulders tightly as she silently sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Maddlyn," he whispered. He gently lowered her onto the wing. Once she was sitting, she let out a pained yelp.

"I can't. . ." She sobbed. "I'm sorry, Daddy, but I can't."

"It's okay," Maverick said quickly. He climbed onto the wing and squatted next to her. "Let's take a break. Just breathe, Maddy. Breathe."

She leaned to the side, as close to her father as she could get. Maverick closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her. He listened to her pained breathing as she struggled to hold back her sob.

"Okay," she said after a few minutes. "I'm ready."

"Are you sure?"

The two shared a look that Maverick knew meant she wasn't ready. He sighed before standing up and moving behind her.

"Rooster," he instructed, "I'm going to lower her down. You are going to catch her."

"Don't drop me," Maddlyn tried to joke but both Maverick and Rooster saw through to her actual fear.

"I won't," Rooster said seriously. Rooster moved so he was standing below Maddlyn. Maverick and Rooster shared a look before starting to move her. Maddlyn tried incredibly hard to hold back her pain but it kept seeping through.

Maverick lowered her down, directly into Rooster's arms. Just like he promised her, he did not drop her. The second she was down, Rooster swooped her up bridal style. He turned around and slowly lowered her onto her wheelchair that Hondo was eagerly waiting with. When he set her down, Maddlyn let out a pained whimper.

"I'm sorry," Rooster whispered as he knelt in front of her. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. He broke the kiss and looked into her pained eyes. "Let's get you to the infirmary."

"Yes, please," Maddlyn said softly. Rooster stood up and got behind her. Without saying anything else, Rooster pushed Maddlyn to the infirmary. Maverick smiled when she leaned back so her head was against Rooster's stomach. He was about to follow the two when someone called out to him.

"Captain Phillips!"

Maverick turned to see Admiral Bates standing there with his arms folded behind his back.

"A word please, Captain," he said with no emotion and no hint to how he was feeling.

"I should get to my daughter," Maverick tried to say but the Admiral shook his head.

"Now, Captain."

* * * * *

"You have put me in a difficult position, Captain," Admiral Simpson sighed. "On the one hand, you have demonstrated that this mission can be flown. Perhaps the only way it can be survived. On the other hand, you did it by stealing a multimillion-dollar military aircraft and flying it in such a manner that it may never be airworthy again. Two of them, actually. Not to mention the fact that you put your handicapped daughter in danger."

"With all due respect, sir, my daughter wasn't in any danger," Maverick said.

"Iceman is no longer here to protect you," the admiral continued. "I have everything I need to have you court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. So what do I do? Risk the lives of my pilots and perhaps the success of this mission or. . . risk my career by appointing you team leader?"

Maverick was stunned. He honestly expected to be fired.

"Sir. . ." He started to say.

Admiral Bates cut him off. "I think the Admiral's asking a rhetorical question, Captain."

Maverick nodded, fixing his flight coat as he took a step back. "Unfortunately," Admiral Simpson sighed, "we don't have much of a choice. So, Maverick, what do you say?"

"I accept," Maverick said.

"Wonderful. Starting. . ."

"On one condition," Maverick added.

"One condi. . ." Admiral Bates started to say.

"What condition?" Admiral Simpson cut him off.

"I will come back," Maverick said, "but only if you bring my daughter back as well."

"Maverick," Admiral Simpson scoffed, "you can't be serious. I mean. . . Maddlyn was a wonderful pilot but. . . You saw how much pain your little stunt put her in. She can't possibly fly this mission."

"I know that," Maverick said simply. "I meant for you to bring her back in as a consultant. She can still monitor our flight and our progress from her chair."

"You think she'll say yes?"

[mywifeleftme]

220: David Rea // Maverick Child

Maverick Child David Rea 1969, Capitol

Consider today’s review a dinner bell for any sickos out there looking to hear every good country-folk-rock record released between like 1968 and 1972, as there’s a decent chance David Rea’s slipped by you. I’ll be clear up top: you don’t need to get to this one till you’ve listened to every record in that window by the Faces, Gordon Lightfoot, the Burrito Brothers, Little Feat, Jerry Jeff Walker, Delaney & Bonnie, the Dead, Gene Clark etc. etc. But if you’re a true perv for a certain sound, you’ll get to the point where you’re bringing the heavy digging machinery to the crates, becoming a real champion of three specific Garland Jeffreys songs or well-actuallying people about the post-Lou Velvets.

So, use your level of excitement about this run-down as a test for your level of contagion: American folkstyle guitarist who learned his craft from the Reverend Gary Davis and spent a good portion of his life in Canada as a sideman for Lightfoot, Ian & Sylvia, Joni Mitchell (who wrote a song about him) and the like. Had something like two weeks as replacement lead singer/guitarist for Fairport Convention. Best friend of Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi and co-wrote their hit “Mississippi Queen.” First, and by all accounts best, solo album flits between soulful country, very sincere folk, nasty corn-pone blues funk, and rockish stuff. Looks like someone shaved an Ewok to make it look like Warren Zevon.

Oof. You’ve got it that bad eh?

Rea is an undistinguished singer, but he has a likable voice and he’s wise enough not to leave himself on too many ledges that his superb guitar playing can’t scaffold him a way down from. Session guys often like to see one of their own make good, and Rea gets plenty of help from the best: Maverick Child’s credits are full of familiar names from the ranks of Music City’s finest, including guys from the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Nashville A-Team, virtuoso fiddler Vassar Clemons, and even most of Mountain on the closing cover of “Hellhound on My Trail.” Pappalardi also did his buddy a favour and produced the sessions—we should also be so lucky to get such a finely crafted gift from a friend.

Like a lot of records by sidemen, Maverick Child doesn’t have a super strong identity of its own, sounding like a clearing house for vibes Rea picked up while backing up a variety of artists. It’s all over the place, from the poignant progressive country of the title track to an arrangement of Jimmie Rogers’ “Blue Yodel #9” that sounds like acoustic Deep Purple. There’s even a weird folk story song called “Cannibal Christians” that involves sorcery and ruminations on the nature of pagan souls.

The best way I can describe this record’s finest moments is like this: my girlfriend got a little teary-eyed listening to the title track and exclaimed, “It’s cheating to use those chords like that!” Part of getting deeper and deeper into a particular niche is finding that while at a certain point you’ve heard most of the original ideas that niche contains, those ideas have also impressed themselves so deeply on you that you will eventually become moved just by being reminded of them. Rea takes some well-traveled roads, but he knows the ones that will take you home. Most of the time, he gets you there like a pro, with just enough weird twists to keep you interested. I recommend the trip!

220/365

[shesthespinstersimmer]

The youngest Brown (2)

Previous / Next / Beginning

[elegantluminaryllama]

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[storms-mod-blog]

how does each character rea t to belly/breast/butt worship?

Alushy would more than likely enjoy it.

Zero... Well lets just say trying to worship a female's body parts to someone who is a serious Maverick Hunter isn't a good idea. Especially trying to do it in the middle of a battle or something like that.

And Twilight would more than likely get embarrassed about it.

[asenatheoperator]

Christmas Night..

[WARNING GRAMMER NAZIES MIGHT GET CANCER]

It was that time of the year again; Christmas. How much it was a military base and the HQ of S.A.S, Hereford was fully decorated with Christmas decorations. Winter was already here but snow did not showed itself yet, only heavy rain and fog.

Few operators did prepared a party to celebrate the day, at the moment every operator in Rainbow was drinking, eating, singing, having fun and celebrating. Meanwhile the only operator who wasn’t there was Asena. She was busy in her room writing the report of her last mission with Blackbeard in Africa’s another fucked up country; Somalia. While others were having fun she was laying on the couch in her room. Laptop on her lap and a cup of coffee may or may not contain some whiskey on the table next to her. Asena wasn’t at the party with her boyfriend Maverick because for her work always came first, even in holidays… Some effects of the training with strict Turkish Military discipline. So when she and Blackbeard returned the base Asena did a favor, told him to go to the party, let her handle the report. In the end it was his religion’s holiday not hers.

At the middle of her report finally Asena’s door knocked then a familiar ‘Yank’ entered the room with a party cone on his head, holding something on his back. Asena knew who came so she kept her eyes on the screen of her laptop, continue typing the report ‘’You bored already?’’ She asked taking a sip from her coffee, put it back down.

Maverick walked otherside of the couch and kneel down, gently put the gift he brought on the floor. Then he looked down at his girlfriend with a slight smile on his face ‘’It was Marius turn at the karaoke, i had to save myself.’’ He  looked over to the screen ‘’You could have write this tomorrow too you know.’’

‘’Yeaah.’’ Asena looked up to him ‘’But you know my work ethic: Job always comes first.’’ She chuckled ‘’Also now Craig owes me a favor aaand i don’t have to listen Marius’s bad voice or try to stop Taina from killing him.’’ Asena raised herself up a bit to kiss him then get back down ‘’I’m tired too.. You can’t imagine how exhausting it was to operate under the heat of bloody Africa..And dealing with the thugs of a bloody retarded warlord.’’ She said, shaking her head with a sigh, continue typing ‘’In these situations, i hate this planet...It’s bloody winter, be a bit fucking cold eh? Not stay as hell above the goddamn ground.’’

After the kiss and hearing her comment about the air, make him smile more ‘’Good thing is you and Craig quickly completed the mission. It could have been a long one too, you know how much paranoid those warlords can be..’’ Asena raised her cup up in the air, looking at the screen and typing with her other hand ‘’God save the Meghan J. fricking Castellano, thanks to her my trip to hell lasted short.’’ She chuckled, after take another sip from the cup she offered to him ‘’Want a sip? Got my special ingredient in it.’’ Maverick shook his head as no ‘’Nah, i already drink enough alcohol in last two hours. BUT’’ He lean down to grab the gift ‘’I bought you something.’’ He get back up, showed the wrapped box to her. Asena looked up to see the gift ‘’I told you not to buy me a gift babe…You know i don’t like gifts’’ She sighed, because now she had to buy something for him. As you may understand she wasn’t a gift lover type of person, also she was bad at getting gifts to her friends, so in her life she always avoid buying gifts best she can. Asena grabbed her laptop, put it on the table then take the gift, sit up on the couch.

Maverick walked around the couch and sit next to Asena, look at her ‘’I know..But i couldn’t pass this one.’’ When she was going to say something Maverick quickly said ‘’Just open it alright?’’ He pointed the box.

Asena rolled her eyes ‘’Aaalright…’’ She start tearing up the wrapping paper around the box, when she saw the golden box under the paper her eyes opened up a bit in surprise, as she finally tear it up from the middle and see the ‘Jack Daniels no.27 label’ on the golden box, her eyes were fully widen in shock ‘’Siktir..’’ She said. She didn’t expected that. No.27. It was an expensive, special limited made whiskey of the Jack Daniels and it was hard to find. This was the last thing she expected from him.

Maverick looking at his shocked girlfriend his eyebrow raised, keeping the smile on his face ‘’Merry Christmas.’’ 

She opened the box, take the bottle out ‘’Where did you find this?’’ She hold the bottle, looking at him.

He leant back, spread his arms ‘’Well, me and Seamus went to town to buy some drinks for the party. While i was looking around in the Liquor Store, i saw this behind of a few bottles of whiskey. I quickly pull it out and bought it… It was a bit of expensive but i think it’s worth it.’’ 

Now she was in a pretty bad spot, she did not have any gifts for him in fact now she had to buy something equal to this ‘’Y-yeah..’’ Asena said while thinking what she can buy to match this gift…. This was going to be ‘fun’ for her ‘’You know i did not get you a gift.’’

‘’Never expected one.’’ He quickly said ‘’It would be weird to expect a Christmas gift from an Theist.’’ he turned at her, lean over to couch ‘’Are you going to take a sip or look at it all night?’’

‘’Here we go…’’ Asena grabbed the top of the bottle, turned the cap. Soon as she lifted the cap, combined smells of the whiskey flow into her nose ‘’Oh my, it smells damn good.’’ She put the cap on the table then take a sip from the bottle after take few sips she lowered the bottle ‘’It tastes good too. Smooth.’’ She held the bottle towards him ‘’Come on take a sip, i don’t care how much drink you had today...Also you put me in a very bad situation with this gift.’’ Asena said.

Maverick grabbed the bottle ‘’You don’t have to buy me a gift.’’ he take a sip from the bottle ‘’So don’t worry.’’ he looked at the bottle ‘’Also it’s really smooth.’’ he take another sip.

Asena scratched her arms with a yawn then lean against to his chest, take the bottle from his hand ‘’I love you, Yank’’ She take a sip with smile, resting her head to his chest. 

Maverick embraced his girlfriend, he kissed back of her head ‘’I love you too.’’ Looked down at her, thinking about the question in his mind. Was it too early? Or it was the perfect time to ask he wondered. They were couple for half a year, If he asked the question it would be very early and could ruin the things between them. But on the other hand they were doing a job where tomorrow is not guaranteed. 

Maverick sighed, rubbed his eyes, looked out of the window seeing finally snow coming down ‘’Everything alright?’’ Asena asked hearing that troubled sigh, Maverick shook his head with a smile ‘’Yeah, everything is fine..I’m just tired like you are.’’ he answered. When his married operator friends saying asking the question was more harder than a defusing an bomb in middle of the minefield located in a desert, Maverick didn't believed them but now when he was in same situation he realized he was wrong. 

He said ‘Fuck it’ in his mind and give a try, Maverick take a deep breath and looked at her ‘’Hey..Will you be my wife?’’ he asked, it was pretty quick and straight to the point. 

When Asena heard that she was taking a sip which caused her to spit out the whiskey in her mouth with a second shock ‘’Ne?!’’ she coughed and quickly get up, turned around to look at him ‘’Did you just asked me to be your wife?’’ She asked to clarify the question, hoped she heard him wrong. Maverick quickly start scratching back of his head ‘’Yes..No..I mean…. It was just an question’’ he got up from the couch and looked at her ‘’I know what happened to you in past and i can understand if you say no.’’ he said, looking at the shocked woman standing in front of him. Meanwhile Asena didn’t know how to answer, they had a pretty great relationship, both were loving each other, there was no doubt about that. But Asena wasn’t ready to engage with another colleague especially after what happened to her, few years ago. She put down the bottle with a sigh, thinking about what to say. She did not want to say ‘no’ ame time she didn’t wanted to say ‘yes’ Maverick’s question really caught her off-guard. ‘’Look, Erik.. We both love each other. But right now, im not rea--’’ Her sentence interrupted with a sound of a loud crash followed by yelling of Lion and Doc coming from the Mess Hall. Maverick and Asena looked up to the ceiling, Mess Hall was two floor above them but they could hear the sound. Asena looked at him ‘’We’ll talk after this okay.’’ Maverick silently nod then both of them left the room to help others to stop that fight. But when they arrived to Mess Hall they saw the chaos.. All of the operators arguing, Twitch and Montagne trying to stop the Doc and Lion. Asena looked to her side, she saw Caveira leaned back on the wall, drinking a beer, watching the chaos ‘’What happened?’’ Asena asked to Caveira. Cav looked at her ‘’Doc and Olivier started to argue when Eliza tried to stop them Mira made a cheeky comment about Eliza, then they start arguing and things get worse from there.’’ Caveira take a sip from her drink ‘’Now you looking at a giant snowball going down from the Alps.’’ she said. Asena sighed ‘’And you just watching the chaos huh?’’ Asena asked, Caveira nodded with a smile. Maverick crossed her arms ‘’Any ideas to stop this First Lieutenant?’’ he asked to Asena. 

She looked around watching the chaos like Caveira only difference she was actually trying to figure out how to stop this. She needed something big to stop this, a pistol would work but she had no time to grab a pistol from the armory. Asena start thinking about a way to stop them before something really bad happens, she was thinking fast. Suddenly an idea pop up in her head but this was going to change her entire life...Just to keep her friends from murdering each other. 

Asena sighed, looked at Maverick and grabbed his hand before Maverick ask what is he doing, Asena yell her lungs out ‘’HEY! YOU IDIOTS!’’ it caught the attention of the operators for a second. Seeing that Asena raised Maverick’s hand she holding ‘’We are getting fucking married!’’ again Asena yell out. This news caught everyone off-guard including Maverick himself which he whispered ‘’Are we?’’ After a brief of silence, sound of clapping heard in the room. It was Thermite ‘’Congratulations!’’ he said and walked towards them with a huge smile on his face. 

This time Asena rolled down a snowball down the snowy mountain, just like the brawl it also start getting bigger. As the other operators who were arguing and fighting seconds ago stop what they were doing and start congratulating them for the news. Surprisingly Asena’s plan did worked, put a stop to that chaos. While receiving the congrats from their friends Asena and Maverick looked at eachother, it was one of the moments they literally talked with their eyes. Seeing her friends turning into foes in a second made something clear in Asena’s mind; that could have been them too. Saying ‘no’ to his proposal would make things worse for both of them, she did not want to lose Maverick so she had to do this. Asena and Maverick looked at each other with a smile…

Hour later everything was returned back to normal, everyone was talking and having fun while the loud music played on the background. Our fresh engaged couple was beside the alcohol table, watching their friends and having a drink ‘’Are you really want to do this?’’ Maverick asked. Asena take a sip from the plastic cup filled with brunch punch ‘’If i was not ready, i wouldn’t say that right?’’ She looked at him ‘’I’ve made a mistake to start dating with you at the first place...I have no problem to make my mistake worse.’’ She said with a smile. Maverick chuckled and put his arm on her shoulder ‘’Okay then..’’ he looked at the operators start gathering up front of the Christmas tree to get a picture ‘’So, when are we going to have a son?’’ He asked with a joking tone. 

Asena looked at him ‘’Slow down cowboy, we still got a long way ahead of us.’’ She take a step forward, grab his hand again ‘’Also i think you meant daughter, not son.’’ Start walking towards the group ‘’Both works for me..’’ Maverick said following her. 

As Dokkaebi prepared the camera, Maverick and Asena take their place at the middle of the group standing behind the crouching Rook and Twitch. Finally Dokkaebi prepared the machine, as the countdown started she ran back to her spot ‘’Alright people, Say Merry Christmas! In 3….2...1…’’

‘’MERRY CHRISTMAS!’’

[motogpfanpage]

RATING THE RIDERS: 2018 SEASON

MM93 - 10: The unbeatable Marquez’ done it again this year. Focus, aggressive, smart but yet still a burn head, the spaniard is becoming the greatest rider of all time, even though he might never beat Rossi on being the most loved. His ability to add titles to his name like we do pearls on a necklace is incredible to witness even though it could become boring at some point. That’s where his whole new teammate for 2019 comes in play...

VR46 - 5: Not a single win this season is bringing Valentino right back to the worst time of his career: his switch to Ducati. A few years later, the italian bike is a weapon while the M1 never stops loosing ground on her opponents. 

AR42 - 7: A superb end to his 2018 season has push Alex into being rider n*1 for Suzuki. He’ll now have to work harder than ever before as Iannone is out by the window while a shinning new star named Joan Mir is coming in right by the front door. 

DP9 - 5: Let’s all be honest here, the only great thing which happened in 2018 for Danilo was Lorenzo saying “CIAO!” to Ducati so he could (finally) joined his best buddy Desmo Dovi on the big red beast. It’s only for a year though, so you better watch out for your back Petrux...

AD04 - 7,5: Another year, another championship lost for Andrea Dovizioso. The italian, now being Ducati’s main arrow for next year’s title target, is strong and can win multiples wins per season. But as the last two years proved, you need more that having the best bike on the grid to become World Champion. Can 2019 be his year ?

DP26 - 6: Seasons were becoming harder and harder for Dani Pedrosa so it was only fitting for him to call it quits. Yet that doesn’t mean we won’t miss him. Don’t be a stranger, Little Samurai. Come to the paddock many times, work as well as we know you can for KTM. We’ll always be cheering for you in whatever you do. <3

AB19 - 7: Another guy is leaving us. Soldier Bautista will be looking for better and greener grass in World SBK next season with Ducati. All we can wish now is for him to be a real threat to Rea’s crown. If someone can, it’s Bauti!

JL99 - 8,5: The man who is a World Champion and not just a great rider didn’t delivered his best season, yes, but he made another Hollywood comeback that only him can. Switching from 0 wins almost retired and depress to 3 wins, multiple poles and a new shinning deal with the best team in the world was THE story of the season especially as it all happened in just a couple of days. Last year we said life was like a ferris wheel and that Lorenzo would back to glory and so he did.

MV25 - 6: Like his legendary teammate, The Doctor, Maverick went from bad to worst this season. Only one win this year for the multiple times MotoGP Test World Champion is not even disappointing anymore but a total disaster. We now hope that a change as simple as switching from #25 to #12 will finally put Vinales right where everybody expected him to be when he joined Yamaha. Yet, we could not be more unsure of anything else... 

JZ5 - 6: A second season far from being as good as his rookie one, a chance to be a HRC rider thrown to the bin and a new challenge with KTM, a bike far from being good enough yet to challenge for the win: 2018 wasn’t what we expected from Johann Zarco. 

[foxbarcode379]

Candlebox Far Behind Free Mp3

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Candlebox is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington.Since its formation in 1990, the group has released six studio albums, several charting singles, a compilation, and a CD+DVD. Candlebox found immediate success with the release of its self-titled debut album in July 1993. Candlebox featured four singles: 'Change', 'You', 'Far Behind' and 'Cover Me'.

Listen free to Candlebox – Far Behind (Far Behind (edit), Far Behind / Voodoo Child and more). 3 tracks (18:40). "Far Behind" is the third single off Candlebox's eponymous debut album. The song is one of the band's most well known, entering the charts in July 1993 and remaining there until January the following year when it was officially released as a single.

Tracklist: 01. The Goo Goo Dolls – Iris 02. Cher – Believe 03. Diddy, 112, Faith Evans – I’ll Be Missing You 04. Rod Stewart – Have I Told You Lately 05. Alanis Morissette – Ironic 06. Blur – Song 2 07. Pretenders – I’ll Stand By You 08. Big Mountain – Baby, I Love Your Way 09. All Saints – Never Ever (Radio Edit) 10. Duran Duran – Ordinary World 11. Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life 12. Seal – Kiss from a Rose 13. Faith No More – Easy 14. Stone Temple Pilots – Interstate Love Song 15. En Vogue – Don’t Let Go (Love) 16. Simply Red – Stars 17. Deee-Lite – Groove Is In the Heart 18. Tina Turner – I Don’t Wanna Fight (Single Edit) 19. Robin S – Show Me Love 20. The Corrs – What Can I Do 21. Silk – Freak Me 22. Barenaked Ladies – One Week 23. Eternal, BeBe Winans – I Wanna Be the Only One 24. Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack (C & J Street Mix) 25. Tori Amos – Cornflake Girl 26. Candlebox – Far Behind 27. All-4-One – I Swear 28. The Notorious B.I.G. – Hypnotize 29. Jamie Walters – Hold On 30. ZZ Top – Viva Las Vegas 31. Tasmin Archer – Sleeping Satellite 32. Brandy, Monica – The Boy Is Mine (Radio Edit) 33. Spacehog – In the Meantime 34. Hootie And The Blowfish – Only Wanna Be with You 35. Marc Cohn – Walking In Memphis 36. matchbox twenty – Push 37. The Rembrandts – Just the Way It Is, Baby 38. Paula Cole – I Don’t Want to Wait 39. SNoW – Informer 40. Chris Rea – Auberge (Single Version) (Radio Edit) 41. Donna Lewis – I Love You Always Forever 42. Shola Ama – You Might Need Somebody 43. Babylon Zoo – Spaceman 44. MC Lyte – Cold Rock a Party 45. Peter Andre – Mysterious Girl (Radio Edit) 46. New Order – Regret 47. Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You up (Single Version) 48. Carlene Carter – Every Little Thing 49. Cut ‘N’ Move – Give It Up 50. a-ha – Crying In the Rain

MP3 is a digital audio format without digital rights management (DRM) technology. Because our MP3s have no DRM, you can play it on any device that supports MP3, even on your iPod! KBPS stands for kilobits per second and the number of KBPS represents the audio quality of the MP3s. Candlebox was the first successful act on Maverick Records, which went on to sign Alanis Morissette, Deftones and The Prodigy. They found immediate success with the release of their self-titled debut album in July 1993. Download civ 6 mac free. It featured the band's biggest hit songs, 'Far Behind' and 'You', and was certified platinum by the RIAA four times. Candlebox, Now maybe, I didn't mean to treat you bad, But I did it anyway, And now maybe, Some would say your life was sad, But you lived it anyway, And so maybe, Your friends they stand around they watch your crumble, As you falter to the ground, And then someday, Your friends they stand beside as you were flying, Oh you were flying oh so high, But them someday people look.

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Release Name: Various Artist – Iris 90s Retro (2021) Size: 478.70 MB Genre: Pop, Rock, R&B Quality: 320Kbps

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