#part 1 / 2 (?) babeyyyyy

[ladyimaginarium]

the fates already fucked me sideways

gangsta. — kohske. / family tree — ethel cain.

[snailsdraw]

[Start ID: 5 more pages of HLVRAI narrative doodles following Tommy, GMan, and Darnold's interaction at Chuck E Cheese after Black Mesa. Warning for stuttering (in case that sets anyone off).

GMan sighs forcefully: "...Tommy, I would never doubt your capabilities, but are you quite sure there isn't something more worth your time?" Tommy stands firm: "I made the perfect dog in a week, I can do soil in less." GMan looks at him in quiet surprise for a moment, then he sighs again and turns, walking away: "I shall leave the matter in your hands, gentlemen. I believe you'll require some privacy."

"Report back to me when you're done and, oh - do try to be quick." As his footsteps recede, Tommy's confidence seems to wane. "I lied..." he admits. "The research took 5 years, I- I just happened to be working on the final modifications the week he'd come back from a business trip..." "Thank you, Tommy," Darnold says, surprising Tommy. "...it's the least I could do..." Tommy says sadly, turning around, "but Sasha's-" "-going to be just fine!" Darnold finishes his sentence for him, presenting the last sleep potion bauble to Tommy.

Tommy's eyes widen: "Oh! Wh- uh- oh, you still have one after all this time??" "Ye- precisely! But, uhm, I'm gonna need your help..." Darnold says, pulling out his gun fully, and revealing that it isn't a real gun at all. "Y'see, this isn't a gun. Sure it's a tranquiliser gun from-" His voice switches to his tutorial NPC voice " -THE HIT GAME TEAM FORTRESS 2 -" before returning to normal and continuing, "-but it's not gonna make a convincing gun noise. And we need the gun noise for this to work right. So, uh, if you-" "Oh, don't worry Darnold," Tommy says, pulling out his own gun and waving it casually, "I'll take care of this."

Unaware of all this, Gordon is still sitting at the table in the main room while being pelted secretly with blue sweet voice by a skeleton behind him. "Y'know what?" Gordon says, "No...yeah...Yeah...! I've been stressin' all week, I deserve a goddamn break." He picks up a soda can and readies his new prosthetic hand to open it: "Let's take this baby for a test run, huh?" Suddenly, a gunshot goes off and startles him and the skeleton. Gordon screams and immediately whips around, right fist clenched and aimed in the direction of the noise.

Gordon quickly remembers he does not have a gun arm to shoot with anymore and swears: "FUCK." Bubby raises an eyebrow: "Shooting? At a party? Really? Well, that's sort of rude." Dr Coomer puts a hand to his chest and shakes his head: "Oh dear, what are they teaching the kids these days?" "THAT'S SERIOUSLY YOUR CONCERN?? MANNERS??" Gordon yells, searching himself frantically for another weapon, "Oh FUCK, I don't have a gun-" He stops in his tracks when he sees Darnold at the further end of the room, walking towards GMan with something wrapped up in his second labcoat in his hands while Tommy trails after him. That "something" is Sasha, asleep from the potion to fool GMan. /End ID.]

[Click here for previous part] Previous story parts found here: [Part 1.][Part 2.][Part 3.][Part 4.][Part 5.][Part 6.][Part 7.][Part 8.][Part 9.][Part 10.][Part 11.][Part 12.][Part 13.][Part 14.][Part 15.]

YAAAAAY WEEE IT'S DONE. For now. I don't know if I feel like drawing shock troopers :p. It's been 69 + 6 pages babeyyyyy.

[beangirl73047]

PJO/HOO/TOA Fic Recs

Note: I consider Son of Sea Foam to be the greatest pjo fic I've ever read, so even if none other on this list interest you, I think you should try that one.

Son of Sea Foam

“She’ll never claim me,” he whispered. Silena shook her head, eyes wild as she looked around for anyone who could be watching.

“My mother doesn’t remember half of her children as it is,” she said with a note of bitterness. “If you do something to impress her, it won’t matter. Return the bolt in her name. She’ll claim you if you act the part. If you stay unclaimed then they'll figure out what you really are," she said, squeezing his hands tightly. Percy's heart sped up.

"I - I don't know the first thing about Aphrodite-"

"My mother was born of sea foam," Silena cut him off. "And if you're really who I think you are... you are the sea. You can pull this off," she said and touched his cheek. "Get the bolt. Survive," she said. Percy swallowed.

"What if I can't act the part?" He asked. Silena's expression went blank for a moment. Slowly, she slipped off her bracelet and placed it in his hands.

"If you're going to be one of us... you better learn."

Or

AU where Percy has to hide the fact he's a Big Three kid otherwise he'll be killed on the spot. Unfortunately for him, unclaimed kids tend to raise the most suspicion... but he might have found a loophole in the form of Aphrodite.

how to debate with your fellow olympians in a professional manner (a guide by apollo)

Apollo returns to Olympus. Meg McCaffrey's fate is decided.

Gods' Eye View - Book 1: The Hidden Oracle

I tried to keep my face impassive as my little brother hurtled through the air.

It did not pay to show weakness while in the company of other gods. Passion, yes- but not weakness. That’s why Father had called a council meeting, after all. To show us Apollo’s trials, everything my twin would have to suffer through for having dared to oppose him. It was his way of reinforcing his iron grip on us, of showing he still had power, after the debacles and humiliation from the Second Titan War and the Second Giants War - particularly the latter, as Zeus did more to hinder the efforts to combat Gaea than to help. If we’d all done what he’d commanded, we’d be destroyed by now.

Zeus would never admit to that. Not out loud. But he knows we’re all thinking it.

So naturally, my little brother is his scapegoat. ------------

Zeus calls the Council together to watch Apollo's punishment.

No Light in Sight

Apollo has been missing for the past 2000 years

 

"Who's that?" Percy says pointing at the statue in front of him.

Annabeth looks at the statue before answering, "That's Lord Apollo, Patron God of Camp Half-Blood"

The Patron God? "Why haven't we seen him then?" He questions, because surely the patron god the camp would at least make an appearance

"Thats because he went missing 2000 years ago"

Used To Hang My Head Low~ Now I Hear It Loud (We Gon' Burn The Whole House Down)

Day 16: Nymphs and Negligence

Primordials were defeated by titans. Titans were defeated by gods. Why does everyone assume it's the demigods who will destroy Zeus? Everyone overlooks the nature spirits.

They'll learn.

 

Or: Grover notices a few things about Zeus and has some things to say about it. Unfortunately for Zeus, he talks to Apollo.

True Love Is Taking Turns Lying (and Believing)

day 2: growing pains. Saw this and all I could think of was a) Taking Turns by the crane wives and b) REVOLUTION AU OH YEAHH BABEYYYYY

Soooooo here we have Apollo suffering, as we all love, and his family slowly seeing the Real Him (tm)- and maaaaaybe preparing for a revolution.

Maybe.

(Okay yeah. Some of them are definately preparing for a revolution the more they learn about Apollo.)

(*cough* *cough* artemis *cough* *cough*)

One Light, Higher Than The Sun~ Invisible to Some (Until It's Time)

Day 9: The Hour Past Midnight

Send Me Anywhere~ Take Me Out (I'm The Well They're Gonna Drag You Down)

Day 12: Revenge served cold

Was i NOT supposed to write the beginning of another revolution fic in response to that prompt???? well i dont care either way. It's a revolution fic :)

Sunrise

At 10,000 years of age, Apollo falls to Chaos. With the last of his strength, he sends his memories through the fabric of Space-Time.

At 1 day of age, Apollo refuses to let the story be the same as last time.

Vi Va La Revolution.

 

SkyFall: Season 1, Arc 1- The Rising Sun.

In which Apollo lives through his early life, forming alliances and rewriting mythological history while striving to keep his siblings and family safe from threats outside and within their home. Will he succeed? Or will Fate prevail once more?

One thing is for sure, Apollo remembers.

And he will take his vengeance.

Trials of Apollo - New Prophecy

The Oracles have all be restored, Apollo has gotten is immortality back. He appears at camp to visit Meg and his kids, he finds that fate is not yet done with him.

Hello Ocean, My Old Friend

Poseidon keeps getting offerings from Percy’s baby sister. He doesn’t quite know how to feel about this small child vying for his attention…At the very least he would keep Zeus from blowing up whenever her prayers interrupted council meetings.

Or

Rick Riordan gave us Estelle Blofis and I am thrilled. She's going to get Poseidon to attend family events even if every god on Olympus kills her.

Lester Papadopoulus and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Lester wakes up in an alleyway with several broken bones, a mysterious voice ringing in his head, and only a New York Junior's Driver's License as a clue to who he was. Overall, not the best way to start a Quest.

But hey, at least there's this random 12 year old girl to keep him company.

Family doesn't end in blood

Three times Amphitrite saw Percy help sea creatures, Plus the one time Percy needed help

travel youtuber nico + some guy he's dating

nico has a travel youtube blog, and also a crush/boyfriend who tags along sometimes

"You must make your own choice.": Reconstructing Apollo's Journey within Riordan's Narrative

“I was the worst of the gods,” he says, dropping all pretenses as he sings of his failures to the myrmekes. Because I loved too much. Because I felt guilty. Because I kept trying to do more. Because I kept changing my mind.

These are unforgivable sins for a god. That’s what Apollo and all of his divine siblings have been taught. That’s what they’ve all, in time, learned to believe. Good people don’t survive on Olympus.

And Apollo is, above all, a survivor.

So Apollo doesn’t want to believe he’s a good person.

This is incredibly uncharacteristic of me, he makes sure to specify every time he does something kind, every time he finds himself unable to hide his shame or guilt or doubt, to hide how much he cares, well past the point where we start realizing that it is, in fact, perfectly characteristic of him.

the jackson files

Makin’ pancakes @makinbaconpancakes Does anyone know who the fuck Percy Jackson is???

Oranges are spicy @ronaldmcd Whomst?

Makin’ pancakes @makinbaconpancakes Check rachel dares insta story

Oranges are spicy @ronaldmcd k

Oranges are spicy @ronaldmcd Okay somebody find out who this kid is right damn now.

-

Rachel Elizabeth Dare posts a video of Percy on her instagram story. it all just spirals from there.

Mother of Heroes

Hestia is the goddess of offerings. She is the goddess of Home. She is the goddess of flame. She is the eldest child of the titans.

She is tired of hearing the demigods beg for acknowledgement, and dying without it.

So they're hers now.

Dona Eis Requiem

Really. Apollo would need to have words with the Oracle of Delphi. The one time it has him recite a prophecy instead of Rachel, and it predicts the downfall of Zeus. Couldn't it at least wait until he was not in the presence of his father?

Secrets of the Sun

“No, that kid is too similar to me… way too similar... Almost like he’s…” Apollo’s eyes widened.

“Like he’s you from the future?” Persephone finished.

Dionysus asked incredulously, “You don’t seriously think that right? There’s no way you would ever dare to look like that!”

--------------------------

This is literally just a Trials of Apollo reading the books fic. Hope you enjoy!

 

[Discontinued until further notice]

way down we go

Apollo slipped off the ledge and fell into Chaos.

Down and down he went, the void swallowing up all that he is, he was, and he could be. Darkness. Upwards he rose, gold swirling around him, all that could have been.

Apollo tumbled out of his bed with a yelp, the fall to the floor far bigger than he was expecting it to be. The soft carpet nearly gave him a concussion, his mortal body feeling weak and fragile after that fall into Chaos…

Wait. After his fall?

golden eyes, ocean eyes

There was a moment between birth and ascending where a newborn god was vulnerable, the touch of pure immortality still grabbing a hold of them. Immortality, after all, was not a thing to be created or destroyed. It was the concept of unchanging permanence, and one could not be born or dying permanently, forever.

And those who are not gods cannot see a god’s true form without irreparable harm.

The only thing Apollo ever saw was his sister’s true form.

AKA

Blind!Apollo AU, where this changes everything and nothing at all

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

At the end of the Tower of Nero, the big fight with python ends with him losing. But maybe not, because Apollo wakes up to find himself, in his Lester Papadopulous mortal form... in southern California, 2006?!?!?!?! Self-confidence zapped after his failure with the nightmare snake, with no friends or enemies/murderous exes in sight, currently in unknown territory due to recent character development with a different perspective on life, and about half a decade of history regressed. He plans to lie low, and wait this out, while no imminent danger or uncertain perilous fates surround him. This is the past, before his trials, before any of the prophecies meant anything. He should be able to stay of trouble. It's a foolproof plan. Completely. With no flaws. Surely, surely, this time, nothing will go wrong.

He should've remembered what Percy Jackson said about jinxing himself.

[meowthefluffy]

Zombie au links 

A brief summaryof the au before you get started:

   Virgil and Roman were best friends( with a lot of romantic tension)pre apocalypse , but after the zombie outbreak happens Roman gets caught in the crossfire and dies saving Virgil. 

  Virgil tried to move on and ignore his feelings about the whole situation (and his best friend) but when a zombie that looks exactly like his old friend shows up basically on his doorstep, that gets a lot harder.

I put these links in the order they happened chronologically but not in posting order. The art is of mixed quality in this AU since most of the art is a little old. I hope you like it nonetheless!

Meet cute! ( not really)

Your Local Wholesome Cryptid — Here's the next part of the meet cute...

Your Local Wholesome Cryptid — Here’s part 6 of the zombie au babeyyyyy...

Your Local Wholesome Cryptid — Here’s part 7 Of the meet cute comic...

Lab stuff (currently updating this section) 

(Continued in reblog)

[sunlitlemonade]

writing patterns

rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

tagged by the lovely @disniq! <3 thanks for the tag and so so sorry that it took me this long to get to it jsskjdk

1 .hearts and [safe]houses [dick & jason, 5 + 1 thingy, don't think i'll ever post the rest of it 💀]

Jason woke up to the creeping feeling of being watched. 

2. you will be the death of me [dick & jason]

Jason’s eyelids are sluggish as they try to blink open.

3. look out for him & he might look out for you too [duke & jason]

Jason was curled up on the bed, sleeping off last night’s patrol.

4. what do you do for a living? [vigilante edition :)] [social media fic based on gotham vigilantes, crack lol]

In the frame is a man, presumably in his twenties, wearing an oversized sweatshirt that says ‘FLASHLIGHT DICK’ and jeans. 

5. hold me before it gets too cold [dick & jason & damian, mostly jason-centric focusing on his suicidal ideation and trust issues tho, my roman empire]

Some days Jason really did think he was better off dead. 

6. tattooed arms and a beat up car [jayroy babeyyyyy]

Jason felt like the poster child of teenage infatuation as he stole glimpses of Roy in the rearview mirror but he couldn’t stop.

7. close from a safe distance [jaykyle, because i have the range™️]

Jason, for the record, never signed up for this.

8. letters to the wrong address [dick & jason, my roman empire part 2]

Dick: why do i always fuck up

9. a guy and his emotional support squad [oneshot collection of ak!jason & militia ocs set in @scaryscarecrows's universe]

Could Antoine get a break?

10. citrusy sweetness [dick & jason. again. because im very obviously pathetic abt them]

It's the little things.

ok the first three obviously show that recently i've somehow ended up starting my fics with jason waking up/resting. the rest of it is pretty random lol.

no pressure tags: @greeneyesandfingerstripes @shhhenanigans and anyone else who wants to join in!!

[devondespresso]

WIP Wednesday!

Tagged by @stobinesque 💕

THE RULES

In a reblog (or new post w/ rules attached), post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to post!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can’t share from (for example, an event fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. If you tag me in your post, I will send you an ask request!

WIPs

ok so im cheating a little because i don't have many written wips but i do have unfinished projects sitting on my desk! so for those i'll be spending 10 minutes on it in place of writing 3 sentences

1. Claudia Henderson Canon Character Masterlist (written wip)

2. The Steve Henderson AU i might actually finish who knows anything could happen (written wip)

3. Season 3 Dustin Custom Funko Pop Keychain (physical wip)

4. Chrissy Cunningham Custom Funko Pop (physical wip)

5. Måneskin Battle Jacket (physical wip)

SNIPPET

its the Steve Henderson AU babeyyyyy

i feel the need to clarify that im outlining this bad boy right now and making event timelines and highlighting reoccurring themes and shit so the prose is Not Good. This ones an elaboration of a sticky note i wrote before bed one night, reformatted for readability because its literally just a block of text in the document gdskfjadaljfha

(listed right after “Season 2’s very long demodog-fighting tunnel-scampering day”)

STICKY NOTE: “Scene with Claudia and Dustin addressing Dustin lying in season 2, Mews, and their relationship. Probably before [the] hospital [scene]. Started about him disappearing all afternoon [and] segue[s] to Steve helping him and then to helping Steve because he has no one right now.”

Wanting to make sure to add this scene because Dustin's relationship with Claudia is just as if not more important right now than Steve's relationship. This is adding a reasonable and implied scene from canon and using it to establish and expand Dustin and Claudia's relationship by having this confrontation about him lying to her and all these things he's not telling her.

This establishes Claudia's need to know what's going on and how persistent she is with it, which will end up pushing Dustin away to Steve for more than just upside down stuff because of how casual Steve is about everything (like crushes and shit as we see in the train tracks scene in season 2).

Also Dustin's lie in the show is kinda shit anyway like he says he'll stay home and then runs off the whole afternoon??

They're also gonna have to address Mew’s death and Dustin's gonna give a half-truth (maybe Steve gives it since the show can't decide if Dustin is a good liar or not. Or its a cover story decided beforehand? We’ll figure out specifics later) about some rabid dog killing Mews and Dustin hiding it because he didn't know how to explain it without hurt his mother’s feelings and how he got Steve to help track the dog down so it wouldn’t hurt anybody else.

And from here Dustin talks about how cool Steve is and how he got hurt helping him and the party and how he wants to be there for him too (cause Steve is in the hospital for the concussion right now). Maybe Claudia picks up on the wholesome admiration and that's why she gives in or maybe she just agrees to take Dustin to visit him and seeing and meeting Steve makes her decide to take him in. probably a mix of both. Might have to be Dustin's pov if Steves not there but maybe it'll work out so where Steves there for part of it and the rest is implied afterwards at the hospital and days that follow (again we’ll figure it out later)

real quick tagging @loser-jpg @nymime and @elmoshipsbyler absolutely no pressure ofc🕺🪩💃

[gayest-classiclit]

round 2 babeyyyyy

[round 1]

matchups under cut

part AB

Viola/Cesario (Twelfth Night) vs Medea (Greek Mythology)

Grantaire (Les Miserables) vs Enjolras (Les Miserables)

Milady de Winter (The Three Musketeers) vs Mephistopheles (Faust)

Queequeg (Moby Dick) vs Helen of Troy (Greek Mythology)

Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice) vs Jonathan and Mina Harker (Dracula)

Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) vs Arsene Lupin (the Arsene Lupin books)

Gregor Samsa (The Metamorphosis) vs Frankenstein's Monster (Frankenstein)

Therem Harth Ir Em Estraven (The Left Hand of Darkness) vs Winston Smith (1984)

part CD

Quincey Morris (Dracula) vs Annabel Lee (Annabel Lee)

Dorian Gray and Basil Hallward (The Picture of Dorian Gray) vs Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet)

Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo) vs Hamlet (Hamlet)

Robin Hood (assorted folktales) vs Grendel's mother (Beowulf)

Dmitri Razumikhin (Crime and Punishment) vs Captain Hook (Peter Pan)

Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan (The Great Gatsby) vs Irene Adler (the Sherlock Holmes books)

Erik/The Phantom (The Phantom of the Opera) vs Nastasya Filippovna (The Idiot)

Henry Jekyll (The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) vs Anatole Kuragin and Helene Bezukhova (War and Peace)

[slaapkat]

do you have a hal Jordan reading list? Also he's a character that's been around for agesss so I wanted to ask you about your favourite storylines/comic runs with him

WELL it's both a simple and complicated answer. the simple answer: read all of it! the complicated answer: still read all of it but technically not actually :/

1. Green Lantern (1960)

The Beginning. I personally recommend starting from #76 (the beginning of the famed Hard Traveling Heroes arc) and then just reading the whole rest of the run from there, and maybe going back to start from the actual very beginning later. Not that it's bad, per se, just... very notably from the time in both writing and art style and imo takes a little time to get used to. I will admit it's been a couple years since I read this run all the way through so I can't recommend any specific arcs, but as a whole I found it genuinely interesting to read and provides a nice chill way to get comfortable with the lore.

2. Action Comics (1938)

regrettably at the end of his original run gl does get canceled and hal gets booted to having a spot in Action Comics Weekly from #601-635. these are some of my favorites, though! hal's living in hotels, breaks up with arisia, and gets on oprah! a little sillier in places than his original run but overall entertaining and a nice bit of characterization.

INTERLUDE: THE HAL-OLLIE GOOD OL DAYS SPECTACTULAR

-Action Comics Weekly #606

-Green Arrow (1988) #20

-Secret Origins (1990) #50

-Green Arrow (1988) #69

-Green Arrow (1988) #96

YOU WANT THE PAIN OF LOST FRIENDSHIP? THE HURT OF WHAT MAYBE NEVER WAS AND DEFINITELY WILL NEVER BE AGAIN? TRY THIS ON FOR SIZE BABEYYYYY

3. Green Lantern (1990)

the end of acw happens to lead directly and nicely into the 90s gl run. hal's a bit older, a bit more abrasive, and clearly heading somewhere no one wants to go. #1-50 is all hal, and thereafter switches to kyle. i really enjoy this run because if you pay attention, hal's decent into parallax isn't nearly as much of a surprise as you might think. I may be a bit biased due to emerald twilight being one of my favorite arcs of all time, but what can you do.

for more specific recommendations regarding parallax, @ufonaut does have this handy dandy list available which I myself wholeheartedly recommend. It includes Zero Hour as well as Final Night, two major comic events whish are among my absolute favorites as well.

ADDENDUM: Day of Judgment (1999)

here is where hal jordan becomes the spectre. while he doesn't show up until about halfway through, i still find it to be a pretty good read. plus you get this

from here on out hal see's being the spectre solely as a punishment and never truly moves on from that, which contributes to his struggles of accepting his new identity and role.

ADDITIONALLY: I personally find DeMatteis' run on The Spectre to be pretty boring compared to the likes of Ostrander and even Moench, HOWEVER following his demise in Final Night and becoming the Spectre following the events of Day of Judgment, hal's initial period as the spirit of vengeance is.... tumultuous, to say the least. JLA (1997) #35, Green Lantern (1990) #119, and Legends of the DC Universe #33-36 detail that journey spectacularly. hal struggles hard with both becoming the spectre and with the guilt he still carries from parallax. It ultimately culminates in the arc Redemption Lost from JSA (1999) #60-62 in which all those struggles come to a head at once and force hal to give up his attempts at turning the spectre into a spirit of redemption and finally accept his ultimate purpose as the spirit of vengeance.

however! do not fret, as that last story came out in 2004, thus setting the stage for the next part of hal's life.

4. Green Lantern: Rebirth and Green Lantern (2005)

listed together because one is the prequel for the other. yes, I've come to really dislike geoff john and his work in the past year or so, but I unfortunately can't deny that his gl run is. good in places. yes geoff objectively reduces hal to boring space cop and absolves him of all guilt by blaming parallax on a whole separate entity all together. HOWEVER. the main three arcs, Sinestro Corps War (alternating Green Lantern #21–25, #26 and Green Lantern Corps #14–18), Blackest Night (primarily #43-52, but uhhh go here for absolutely everything it's insane), and War of the Green Lanterns (Green Lantern #63-67, Green Lantern Corps #58-60, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8-10). while hal isn't necessarily the main focus in some of these crossover issues, I included them anyhow so you have the full story. if nothing else geoff manages to develop hal and sinestro's relationship EXTREMELY well throughout these arcs, a small favorite of mine being Rage of the Red Lanterns (Green Lantern #28, #36-38) and I regrettably must thank him for that.

5. Green Lantern (2011)

Main focus here is geoff's run, from #1-20. not that vendetti is a bad writer, just..... nothing really interesting happens after geoff leaves, imo. not bad, just not as exciting. hal ended the last run getting kicked out of the glc and has to deal with sinestro getting invited back in. Wrath of the First Lantern is all the more unfortunately probably one of my favorite arcs of all time, a lot of it dealing with how hal and sinestro are sooooo close to being friends yet still on opposite sides of a war. like fellas!!!

FELLAS!!!!!

reading after that is optional, everything in new52 is honestly unreadable and the rest of this run comes pretty close to it.

6. Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (2016)

honestly no real opinion unfortunately. vendetti is one of those writers who feels like he takes no risks and so most of his work comes off as a little too "safe". again, not bad. just. mostly boring. I can't remember anything of real note happening other than the beginning of it coming fresh off the heels of Cullen Bunn's Sinestro run and immediately throwing away and subsequently butchering any and all characterization made there for the sole purpose of making sinestro a one-note villain again.

7. The Green Lantern S1 (2018)/S2(2020)

Starts off great, ends kinda eh. I can appreciate morrison for tying in all the references to the classics but ultimately falls short. Fine for what it is, though. the Blackstars interlude is honestly the best part of it.

8. Green Lantern (2021)

YES it just started YES it's still REALLY good. you may say it's too early to tell but geoffery thorne is already starting to shine. admittedly hal IS taking a back seat to it all BUT I'm hardcore hoping all of thorne's ranting about how much hal sucks when he's not parallax goes. somewhere.

OPTIONAL: Green Lantern: Sleepers is a surprisingly good novel series by Christopher Priest. unfortunately while no digital copies exist (to my immediate knowledge) you can find the audiobook version on youtube here. book three is the one that focuses on hal specifically, but there are interludes in the first two books which include him still. they all can usually be found pretty cheap on thriftbooks and the like if you ever want a physical copy.

sorry this got so long, but unfortunately I'm.... just not a Specific Rec List sort of person. I find a character I like and consume content until there's absolutely nothing left. Here's hoping this at least gives you a good idea of what's in store for each chunk of hal's history. thank you!

[tonightatsix]

I got tagged by @jouglat to do this tag game! thanks bev :)

1. why did you choose your url: I feel like this one is one that people want to know because it’s not immediately obvious but I never get around to it lol…well here it is! you guys know those advertisements tv stations have for their shows and it’s like “today at 9”, “tomorrow at 2”? yeah that’s what my URL is based off of lol I specifically thought of ads for news programs for mine. why is it six? i just thought it had a nice ring to it and hey it applies during the winter so…my original layout had a technical difficulties slide as my header so it was probably more obvious back then

2. any sideblogs? nope! I’ve thought about making ask blogs like the good ol days but it’s always fleeting

3. how long have you been on tumblr: since December 10th, 2020 it looks like…I’ve known about tumblr and browsed it without a blog for longer than that though, I’d say since 2012

4. why did you originally start your blog: to be a part of jackbox tumblr! and to post art, and reblog/like posts that I enjoyed so I could get to them easier

5. why did you choose your icon: jonah with the wavy brown hair is me. i feel it in my soul (plus I just think he’s cute) /lh

6. why did you choose your header: joelnah forever babeyyyyy

7. what’s your post with the most notes: Right now it’s the one with all the wallpapers from the Bring Back MST3K kickstarter campaign that I got from the mst3k index (I’m still disappointed it doesn’t work anymore…)

8. how many mutuals do you have: 44 (not counting other blogs that they have)

9. how many followers do you have: 70

10. how many blogs do you follow: 454

11. have you ever made a shitpost: several lol

12. how many times do you use tumblr a day: depends, I have notifications on for some of my mutuals (so if you see me immediately like/reblog/comment on your post that’s why lol) so probably like maybe 10-20 times usually, mostly just to check on what my mutuals post

13. have you ever fought another blog: no, I block if they bother me a lot

14. how do you feel about “need to reblog” posts: I think if they’re silly enough it’s fine to reblog but I don’t want to cause anyone any stress so I usually don’t do it

15. do you like tag games: yea

16. do you like ask games: yes!

17. which of your mutuals do you think are tumblr famous: I don’t know if any of them are famous in particular - bev said on its post that it has about 1000 followers and that’s a lot more than mine so…

18. do you have a crush on a mutual: my partner is mutuals with me on here but they barely use their tumblr so I doubt they’d mind if I tagged them @snailcruncher (hi rid lol)

19. tags: @solarconnor , @b0n3-h34d , @pencil-amateur , @bencan-t , @ussdefiant , @aviatorcannibal , @bpdraiden , @vinben and anybody who wants to do it!

[sunnetrolls]

:hypereevee:

:DANCIN:

23 1/2 hours start tomorrow which means WVERYONE HAS TO BE FUCKING QUIET BABEYYYYY! im so excited

also cookie day

and finals week

(less excited for that part)

[terminally-karkalicious]

allow me to rant about the only thing that has been in my brain for the past two months and that is doll customizing babeyyyyy

i know there’s a 90% chance that you wont give a Shit about any of this but here we go anyways

SO first you gotta choose a doll. preferably one with a high range of motion to avoid creating new joints or having annoying limitations like not having elbow joints for some fucking reason. what the fuck mattel. give monster high dolls back their ball jointed shoulders and elbow joints. smh

the most common dolls ive seen used as bases are monster high and ever after high. most customs ive seen are highly stylized so the stylized face molds work well for those types of dolls but dolls like barbies are good for when you want a more realistic face-ups.

once you’ve got your base picked out you gotta wipe that bitch’s face off with like. acetone or nail polish remover or something strong like that. you can also use acetone to shrink doll heads which is cool as hell imo. n e way once the face is wiped you gotta chop off the hair and remove the hair plugs from the inside. ive seen this done several ways but the easiest and most common way ive seen is to dunk the head into boiling water for ~30 seconds until it gets squishy and malleable. once you’ve got the head back, you can use pliers (i think tweezers would work in a pinch) to pull out the hair plugs which are kinda icky because theyre covered in glue and other gross shit. ew

now you must decapitate the doll. dunk em back in the boiling water to soften them back up then just tug the head off. the neck pegs look funky and are usually a different color than the body so thats cool ig

once the head’s off, you can start the face-up which is basically just giving the doll a new face using stuff like watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, gouache, and a whole lot of other stuff. hell ive seen people use person makeup on these dolls.

next,,,,, hair. there’s about twenty million ways to do hair from gluing yarn wefts to sewing to rerooting with purchased nylon doll hair or yarn wefts but i’m gonna talk about the most common one ive seen which is rerooting and gluing.

before you can reroot, you need doll hair. which, as i mentioned, can be bought at stores like the doll planet or made at home with yarn in literally any color. have fun with it! make rainbow hair or something idk

to make homemade wefts, you take some acrylic yarn, cut it twice as long as you want the hair to be (keep in mind you can cut and style the hair once it’s been rerooted), fold them in half, and tie it to something sturdy like a wire coat hanger for the next step.

once you’ve got your yarn tied to your hanger, use a pet brush and brush the yarn until it’s wispy and looks like hair. then take a straightening iron and iron the weft flat. then remove from the hanger and boom. hair wefts. ta-da

to reroot the wefts onto the head, use a rerooting tool (which can be as simple as a needle with the eye cut at angle) (just google it please i’m shit at descriptions)) to poke small sections of the hair into the head. you can use the pre-existing rooting holes for your own reroot as they’re usually pretty reliable. to reroot, take a small length of you doll hair (about 10-15 strands), loop it in half, and put the middle of the loop into the reroot tool. poke the end of the tool with the hair on it into the pre-existing hole and remove the tool. the hair *should* stay in and fill up that plug!! also remember to plug thickly at the hairline and part of the hair where it's most noticeable. it doesnt matter as much in the center of the head as that’s not usually visible on the doll. once you’ve rerooted, squeeze in strong glue through the neck hole and squish around the head to make sure it covers all the plugs and secures them in place. then pour hot water onto the head to make the hair lay flat for styling later.

also, you can reroot yarn directly into the head to make thicker, more textured hairstyles. and since the yarn is thicker, you dont need to glue the inside of the head for the hair to stay in place!!

if youre not doing body modifications (which are also cool as hell) then it’s time for clothes but clothes are boring and i like body mods more so i’m gonna rant about them instead

the material ive seen most doll artists use is apoxie sculpt, which is like play doh on steroids. it comes in two parts which you gotta mix together for some reason. why dont they sell it pre-mixed. what was the reason. also once it’s dry it’s super super strong and you can sand it, drill into it, paint it, and all kinds of stuff. very nice and i want some for myself.

you can use hand saws and drills and shit to whack off doll limbs to make stuff like digitigrade legs or new joints. also dont be afraid to use other mismatching doll parts when customizing like heads and bodies and forearms and hands and shit. it literally does not matter if youre gonna recolor the doll anyways so have fun with it. make frankenstein’s doll if youre feeling spicy

accessories my beloved. stuff like tiny beads and clay baubles and shit will literally transform the entire doll plus they’re adorable and multi-purpose

i suppose i must talk about clothes now. ah well. you can find great clothing patterns if youre new to customizing on other customizer’s etsy shops and probably google although those will probably be lower quality than paid pattern pieces. and keep in mind that if it exists as clothing irl, you can likely make it doll-sized. there are literally no limits to your clothing options as long as you can execute your idea.

the once all your components have been made, you can assemble the doll again!! and finally see what all the parts look like together!! very cool 10/10 stars.

ight that wraps up my doll rant. i could really go into more detail on certain parts but thats a whole other rant for a whole other day smh. sorry for fucking flooding your inbox ender ahaha……………. you asked for this

little did you know that dolls have been one of my favorite things since like ever. if i can read a 25 chapter long fanfic i can read this B)

mattel definitely fucked up by completely ruining MH doll designs and just stopping EAH, alot of their profits most likely came from people who collect and customize dolls and by changing MH doll designs/Stopping EAH dolls they 1. most likely lost a small (or big if we're not jus talking people who customize dolls) part of their profit and 2. made it harder for doll customizers to make dolls/get commissions out rather quickly because they probably have to waste more time making joints or learning how to make joints.

EAH/MH dolls (specifically MH dolls) had AMAZING MODELS because there was so much variety with height, face shapes, etc (my favorite molds had to be the short/tall dolls and the cat molds because of the tails) and doll customizers really went all out with enhancing a molds unique features. The only "downside" abt MH dolls is that they (or atleast most)(from what i remember)) had slimmer faces but wider eyes while EAH dolls have wider faces with slimmer smaller which left a canvas for the face and not the eyes (and vice versa for MH dolls)

I've never seen any videos where a barbie is customized (maybe because i absolutely despised barbies at the time) so I'll definitely have to check those out but they seem to be good for realistic makeovers. I've seen like like semi realistic makeovers for EAH/MH dolls that were pretty good too tho (pretty sure mostly EAH dolls since yk MH dolls were used for creature makeovers while most EAH dolls weren't)

yeah i was always amazed by the head shrinking with acetone. honestly i still am?? idunno i have no idea how that chemical bullshit works. Ive seen a few of uh makeovers that just pain over the face (in multiple layers ofcourse) but that's usually when they're painting the entire body a different colour (again usually when they're turning a doll into a funky little baby man). I've also seen a few that just chop the hair off and take out the hair plugs yk without uuh like softening the head or just go straight for the hair plugs after taking off the head (i used to do that it was funny to me??). i always really liked when they used watercolour pencils or just colour pencils in general to draw/sketch on the face cause like wow ur drawing on ur doll without ruining it?? kinda epic maybe even poggers and pogchamp?? oh god my brain is failing wjshsmsj.

Watching them putting the hair back on the doll was, other than the face stuff, was the BEST part for me. Favorite type of hair was iuuuuuh was either thick yarn or brushed out yarn. Literally worship the people that would reroot the hair, theyre the most patience people on this earth!! it's literally insane but i guess that's what happens when you've been doing that for years? you guess kinda get used to it. when they put glue into the head does it just become stiff?? like it's just a clump of dried glue or does it like..hollow out again??

dude you literally cannot convince me most of the supplies used for doll makeovers. APOXIE CLAY LOOKS SO FECKING GOOD. its edible and i will die on that hill. The body mods are literally so amazing!!!!! it's so impressive how theyre able to imagine certain features THEN LIKE ACTUALLY MAKE IT LOOK ACCURATE TO WHAT THEY WANTED TO LOOK LIKE AFTER LIKE ON TRY (or many yk trial and error is very necessary for..everything). Absolutely loved when doll customizers would saw off a dolls legs and use different ones or just completely get rid of the torso to use a different one. it's like uuh that one big guy that's mismatched and sewn together. very cool. The accessories are so fun!! just small little details you seen really need but can add because it's your feckin doll!! I used to be absolutely obsessed over the doll clothes i would find on etsy, so much so that i started sewing shitty shirts and dresses for my uh "customized" dolls (they were absolute HORRORS idk WHY my mom let me feck up my dolls like that).

Thank you for this!! i haven't been able to talk about any of my interests for a while and this just really made me happy!!

Question fer u my fellow MH/EAH enthusiast: what was your favorite MH/EAH movie/episode and doll series. Mine was The fusion dolls (MH obvi) and that MH movie "Haunted" cause we got to know more about Spectra :D

[vectortothehairgel]

How would you rank the KH games from favorite to least favorite?

Hi Anon! Thanks for the ask, sorry it took so long! Here are my rankings: (warning: somewhat arbitrary)  Favorites:  -Kingdom Hearts 2: There’s not much I can say about KH2 that hasn’t already been said: The combat system is lovely, the story is equal parts heartwrenching and lovely, and the soundtrack is straight fire. It also has personal significance to me: before my boyfriend and I started dating, he heard I’d never played this game and drove 40 minutes to my house with his PS4 to make me play it. He would also watch me play it over video chat for hours at a time to see my reactions to things. (I still wasn’t sure he *really* really liked me.) For our anniversary, he got me a music box that plays Dearly Beloved and it’s one of my most treasured possessions.  Rank: 10/10 -Birth By Sleep: I adore the combat system, especially the way you can craft new attacks and spells. The story is well done and answers a lot of questions in a good way. I love the characters, and my classic Disney princesses. It also has Leonard Nimoy, so idk what more this game needs! Rank: 10/10 -Kingdom Hearts 3: I like most of the combat system, but I can’t play it for more than an hour because I get dizzy watching the flowmotion. There doesn’t seem to be too much of an overarching story besides connecting all the plots of the previous 12 games, and I wish they had put more of the story from Re:Mind into the original game. Plus, I didn’t like what they did with Xehanort. He was already a great villain! He didn’t need a redemption arc!! But that’s a separate rant. Also, not enough Jesse-McCartney-talking-to-himself-as-Roxas-and-Ventus action. However, the game is redeemed because a) heartwrenching reunions of characters and b) electric guitar fight themes, babeyyyyy!  Rank: 8/10  -KH 358/2 Days: Ok hear me out, here’s the math on this one:  The story: +8 The combat system: +6 (I don’t like having to play tetris for my abilities, but oh well.)  The Leechgrave: -1000000000000 The effort that was put into giving each org. member ~12 unique weapons, including joke weapons: (plus you can play as Axel and beat up Saix with pizzas): +1000000000000 

Why is everyone so mean?: -5 Overall rank: 7/10 -Union X: The plot is kind of all over the place, but the gameplay is pretty fun. I don’t particularly like that you can work really hard in the game and still get your ass kicked by pay-to-winners, but oh well.  Overall rank: 7/10 -Kingdom Hearts 1: The OG game! ....I’m not that impressed. Sure, it set everything up and has some lovely quotes, but I don’t like all the grinding you have to do for the combat system. Also, fuck Atlantica.  Overall rank: 5/10 -KH DDD: I’ve never actually played it, but from what I’ve read/seen you have to constantly beg it to not randomly switch you from Riku to Sora and back again, which seems like straight up not a good time. I like that they put effort into Lea’s story arc, and I do like the worlds they included! Also, why did they use Sora’s hair from KH1? It makes no sense.  Overall rank: 4/10 -KH 0.2: I’ve never played it, and I’m told there’s a lot of flowmotion in it, so I probably won’t. Based on the cutscenes I’ve watched, it seems like it could have been a 5 minute video instead of a game.  Overall rank: 3/10 -KH Chain of Memories: I spent maybe 20 minutes playing this game before the first Axel fight, whereupon I gave up and took a nap. I don’t enjoy the card system. It’s probably great for some, don’t get me wrong! But it wasn’t fun for me. It’s saved by the characters- Axel and Namine in particular- but this might be one you just watch the cutscenes for.  Overall rank: 3/10  -KH  Dark Road: Why is this a thing? It doesn’t need to be a thing. It doesn’t really add to the overall KH story. We already had a reason for Xehanort to fall to the darkness! Besides, it’s incredibly grindy. Even the new crafting system is grindy. Why do we have to use BP to get everything? Literally the only redeeming quality of it is the “tardy fleetfoot” line.  Overall rank: 0/10  -KH Recoded: I’ve never played it, but I’ve watched the cutscenes, and have determined that you could get all you needed out of the game from the 3-minute Just a Pancake video.  Overall rank: 0/10  As I said, these are pretty arbitrary. I love the series overall- the artwork, the music, the characters- and I’m happy to see some discourse about the merits of the various games. Again, thanks for the ask!! 

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 17

and we’re back!

phew I had to take a hiatus to work on other projects but now that those are done I'm baaaack

god I'm SO fucking excited for this arc, I fucking love it 

OH NO TAILGATE...I almost forgot...this poor little dude

REMAIN IN LIGHT BABEYYYYY!!! I fucking love that title, talking heads is probably my favorite band Ever, and that album is one of my favorites, so when I first saw it here I was super excited lol. it’s such a good title, both for the album and for this arc

tailgate goes right to cyclonus ;_; hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

also...I just love the way milne draws cyclonus, he’s the perfect mix of terrifying and handsome, and also goth

ohhhhh I forgot about the framing device used here, with rodimus in jail later on in this arc, narrating retrospectively 

cybercrosis, add that to this list of amusing robo-puns, as a play on (I'm assuming) necrosis, aka tissue death

oof, ratchet saying that tailgate ‘lived a full life,’ which is fucking brutal because we as the readers know that isn't true :( 

tg is right tho, it seems v uncommon for tfs to die of old age. that's some shit luck right there, espec bc tg is basically a baby who was asleep for 6 million years 

ratchet talking abt pharma and looking at his hands...I See That

ratchets bedside manner leaves a bit to be desired hvbhjdsubfjsd jesus dude

and then there's cyclonus, whos also pretty terrible at being tactful

AUGHHHH and then cyclonus, like the emotionally repressed icon he is, goes and claws his own face up in grief rather than express any emotion to tailgate :( I'm in physical pain thanks

rodimus is like, wait...informing my crew about my actions? lmao? uhh what quest...oh yeah we’re on a quest. yeaaaah whatever man

the portal helllllll yessssssss

poor tg drinking away his impending death

oh man, chromedomes weird fucked up skeleton arm

rodimus hhvbhjaudsfbjaskdf he’s like yeahhhh I'm not even gonna pretend to indulge in democracy, we are GOING thru that giant ass space portal whether you fools like it or not

AND THERES THE MFING MOON BABEYYYY!

luna 1!!!!!! they found the missing moon BY ACCIDENT, fucking iconic 

still cant believe rodimus’s office is HOT PINK with a FLAME DECAL around the door. unreal

awww I love percy 

rodimus, in a shocking show of maturity, admits that rung was correct to be harsh with him about the whole overlord thing 

the squad gettin together ayyyy

rodimus reminding us all that this ISNT just a party ship full of frat boys, people have DIED

when you see tg and realize that that was cyclonus’s request ;_; 

aughhh and cyc saying ‘never hope. hope is a lie.’ that kills me man aughhhh

like, cyclonus clearly doesn't want to deal with the emotions he’s feeling over tg dying so he’s trying to make sure that tg accepts death and doesn't hope for a cure, bc that would hurt cyclonus MORE, and he’s already unused to all these ‘emotions’ n shit

I'm sorry but the MARBs just look so fuckin dorky bvhjakbdfhsf beep beep here comes the dweeb squad!!! lmaoooo

cd being like ‘can’t we just drive’ and perceptor is right there like :| LMAOOOO 

also I love cd saying ‘sometimes I wonder why we even have alt modes’ bc I feel like that's such a witty dig at the fact that in this series about robots that transform into cars, we rarely get to seem them actually DO that

its especially interesting when you consider how important functionism is in this story - alt modes are super important in that context, but we still rarely get to see them. hell, we literally NEVER saw megatrons alt mode, which is still crazy to me

ohhhh man I love that panel where the whole moon lights up, that's just amazing

congratulations, rodimus! it’s....a shitton of babies!

also broooo I ufcking love the fact that you barely even notice that rung ALSO hopped down onto the moon at the same time as rodimus...brilliant

god now I need to go find that ‘am i pragnent?’ video lmaooo

why....why did you have to use the word ‘fertilized,’ jro. why....

cold construction lore time!

do I wanna do my big biology speech here? I'm trying to figure out where it would go best...I think ill save it for later in this arc

god I fucking love brainstorm. his entire little speech about how he ‘went to marches’ for cold construction rights and whatnot is so funny with the added context that he’s an MTO and wasn't even around for that

skids, don't just sit in the spooky oil reservoir, alone, after you just went thru a mysterious portal, you should be more genre savvy than that 

what am I saying, this is the guy who wants his memories back even though he’s been told multiple times that it’ll probably traumatize him to death

brainstorm with the 0.1%er spark [eyes emoji]

I love percy just being horrified at the lack of proper scientific conduct from brainstorm like, all the time

I see the cons have their own edgy, weaponed-up version of the MARBs

MINIMUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love him aughhh I'm so excited for the stuff w/him this arc

also I totally forgot that you’re supposed to see him introduce himself as ‘ambus’ and be like whoa wait is that dominus????? or someone adjacent to him????

skids vs legislators: part 2!

P H A R M A

DR THOT HIMSELF.....back and immediately making a hand pun, with his chainsaw arm displayed in full glory....amazing

cant believe jro named this one ‘the fecund moon,’ which forced me to google what ‘fecund’ means, which led me to go ‘oh good lord jro WHY’ lmao 

I do love that we don't see the ‘part 1 of 5′ til the end - that's a great small reveal that hey, we’re in an arc now!

so there's the end of issue one of remain in light! aughh, I'm so fucking excited for this arc. my first two readthrus this was one of my favorite arcs (my other fav being the time travel arc), and I'm excited to see if its still at the top for me 

I feel like the first time I read thru I like this arc a lot cause I actually understood most of it hbvhadjkfbaksjf unlike all the previous stuff, where I was a bit more confused - at this point I at least had a decent grasp on the characters and relationships, so that helped a lot

also apparently one of the songs of this issue is ‘heaven’ by talking heads which AUghhH that song makes me wanna float in the ocean and look at the stars. idk. also I find it a little ironic that that song isn't off the album remain in light lol

either way I love this issue, strong start to the arc with lots of intrigue and worldbuilding, and clearly some incoming status quo changes...cant wait!!

[luckycheesefoodie321]

Prince of Tennis (2019) meme

I was tagged by @hardworkingprocrastinator aka @rupru-russiaxprussia whom I do believe I ranted with about the Imperial Pair ship, and the unexpected potential of Si Yang x Qi Ying… so thanking you kindly for another excuse to rave about ChinaPuri… sooo uhhh time for some fun times!!

Tagging: I have 0 idea who to tag because we a smaller fandom

Warning: I have not watched or read the original manga/anime soooooo I’m in an even smaller subset of the fandom babeyyyy!!! It has also been a couple months since I watched the show, so there is a strong chance I’ll have forgotten names and situations, and just general thoughts I have... BUT WHATEVER time to rant to the thirteen people who’ve watched ChinaPuri!!!

Questions:

1. Favorite character(s)? 2. Favorite school team(s)? 3. Favorite coach(es)? 4. Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.) 5. Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation? 6. Who do you think enacted their role best? 7. Favorite singles match? 8. Favorite doubles match? 9. Favorite story arc? 10. Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)? 11. What did you like most about the adaptation? 12. What do you think the adaptation could have improved on? 13. Any other thoughts you want to share?

Answers: THIS ISH GETS LONGGGGG SO CUT OFF NOW

1. Favorite character(s)?

MU SI YANG BABEYYYYY!!! I already love a stoic glasses boi, but Mu Si Yang (again not TeniPuri Tezuka, just ChinaPuri Si Yang) may be one of my favourite takes on the stoic glasses boi… like I don’t often enjoy live action versions of anime, especially because the acting is never the best (and granted this one too, had some okay performances) but the guy who plays Mu Si Yang melted my heart… he was the stony-faced serious captain, who could deliver a subtle joke that left you snickering… but he was also the determined, earnest, crazy talented leader with his own hidden struggles who just wanted to take his team and friends as far as they go into competition… which is an essential part of any good sports drama… and he captured it so perfectly… and I love him.. he’s so beautiful too… I would fall in love with him in a heartbeat, and I don’t often say that about characters (like I love them but never in love ya dig?)

Zhou Zhi was a close favourite…basically I just love the two genius senpais…

2. Favorite school team(s)?

Oh god… Yu Feng maybe? We spend the most time with them, they have the most screen time of all the other teams…we have a whole training arc where they’re continuously winning against the struggling to evolve Yu Qing…very reminiscent of the Karasuno-Nekoma rivalry in that they help each other get better… I would’ve loved to see the rivalry/camaraderie develop even more so that when Si Yang leaves, the relief at having this network of tennis friends would’ve been that much more powerful…

Also I really enjoy Xu Ziping’s hustle… I love the story of Yu Feng…they had a shitty coach and had to make a deal to keep winning in order to even remain an official team… and when Yu Qing faced Yu Feng, I really couldn’t tell who I wanted to root for because I knew there was real weight behind every loss for Yu Feng…

After that, maybe No. 6… they’re so chill, they’re not straining for each win and just enjoying their time on the court…and the Old Coach dude was a great character to introduce...

3. Favorite coach(es)?

Maybe No. 6’s coach… I legit can’t remember his name but he oozes skill and experience without all the stress of younger coaches who bend over backwards for success… and while, again, the circumstances surrounding his appearance was a bit waffle-y in execution (which is about par for live action adaptations), I love that he serves as a sage outsider who can assess in three seconds what kind of player Lu Xia is, and what he needs to do to improve… I love me a good wise character who still knows how to inspire people in a fun way but you never, for a second, doubt that what they’re saying is legit advice, even if their mannerisms are goofy…

4. Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.)

Oh I mean…Stretcher Bros for life amirite? They were great…they were just hanging out, trying out.. Huang Jing is kinda jerk-ish, but he’s the starting antagonist who turns out to have a pure heart and a genuine love of the sport (kinda like Tsukishima Kei from Haikyuu!! or the GoMs from Kuroko no Basuke)… and Xiu Wen is such a soft boi who wants to shower in peace without girls being in the locker room…

Put these two besties together forever…and I just love how cuddly they are with each other…no hesitation to hold hands or hug…it’s gooood

5. Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation?

Um…idk who’s an original character??? Again never watched the original anime/read the manga!

SO IMMA CHANGE THIS TO FAVOURITE SHIP!

5.5. Favourite ship? (Get ready my friendsss issa long one)

Si Yang x Qi Ying my friendssss… a super unexpected pairing that came outta nowhere!!! Because the trailer clearly shows (or maybe it doesn’t and I forgot) that Lu Xia and Qi Ying are gonna be THE THING but then we get hit with the surprise senpai-kouhai/team manager ship and I’m like uhhh were you planning this or am I reading into it too much???

Like y’all they were flirting right in the beginning… that whole bit where she stands outside the change rooms and Si Yang confronts her, and she begs him to add Lu Xia to the team (even tho he already did) and he was weirdly teasing her about the roster when he had no reason to, and she was kinda bantering back with him and she fully called him out later on… i was like, umm this is a vibe

They just kept getting thrown together in weird ways…aside from Lu Xia, she’s probably had the most interactions with Si Yang of all the other team members… she’s the only one he calls Xiao~ like the boys in the tennis club have their nicknames like Dachi, Ah Mu, Ah Yan, but only Qi Ying is Xiao Ying!!  he’s not a nickname guy… and maybe if it were a girl/cheerleader thing, you’d think he’d call Peng Xiang, Xiao Xiang BUT NO… only Qi Ying gets called Xiao Ying!!!

AND ANOTHER THING: other than Lu Xia, he’s the only one concerned for Qi Yang, despite what he says, when she gets caught in the rain and gets sick… he fully visits her in her room, and receives the call about her health after they send her to the hospital… he says everyones worried BUT YO they’re straight up just bored and end up having a pillow fight…sooooo can’t be that worried…

AND ONE MORE THING: Qi Ying, I get she’s this weird mascot/team manager figure on their team (even tho she’s meant to be a cheerleader but they never invite Peng Xiang to any of their team dinners or their training camp) BUT WHEN SI YANG RETURNS HOME, THEY SEND IN QI YING TO GREET HIM and they have this whole charming convo where she teases him...and they were chatting as if they always had this banter going on but they’d only talked like 3 or 4 times on screen before then, so there’s this whole relationship she has with the tennis team (not just Lu Xia) that is implied but we don’t really see it! And when she teasingly calls him Captain Si Yang after he returns to China, he had the softest smileeee!!! HE TOTALLY DOES HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR HER!! He didn’t want her to think he wasn’t happy to see her... and then she leads him to their surprise party in the club room and he just keeps saying Xiao Ying…  like damn you keep trying to establish the Lu Xia x Qi Ying ship (and it is a decently strong ship) but Si Yang x Qi Ying is soooo good!

After this Rival Pair, and then Golden Pair - our resident married couple

(POST Here: all the gay faves they didn’t even try to hide)

(POST Here: almost confirmed ships by the end)

6. Who do you think enacted their role best?

I…I think this is obvious… NEXT

Jk… other than Si Yang, I really enjoyed the guy who plays Lu Xia - Peng Yu Chang… he played the typical “stoic, super talented/genius sports idiot” type prolific in sports anime (like Furuya from Daiya no A, Kageyama from Haikyuu!!, Midorima from KnB)… but he was never too stuck in his head, and he was never mean… too often there’ll be a moment where this type of character is played too seriously, gets stuck in their own head, and lashes out at anyone they deem getting in their way, especially when they feel they’re stuck in a rut… which Lu Xia is in, for essentially the entirety of the show, in one form or another…

But PYC played Lu Xia as this mildly cocky, but still incredibly enthusiastic young genius who is looking for the next big challenge so as to further himself, but is so obsessed with this one opponent (his dad), that he can’t see the bigger picture and realise his entire way of playing is a mirror of the very opponent he’s trying to overcome… but even at the height of his stagnation, he’s never mean to Qi Ying, who tries her best to support and encourage him… while he does distance himself from the team, it’s not an active dismissal of their assistance or support… he can play a straight faced comic when embarrassed/discombobulated (like Si Yang when faced with Yan Juice), but also always participates in most of the weird antics his team is up to… and it never feels OOC and thats clearly a result of Peng Yu Chang’s subtle acting…

ALSO PENG YU CHANG IS IN OUR SHINING DAYS, A SUPER UNDERRATED CHINESE FILM THAT HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL TO BE ADAPTED INTO LIKE, A ONE SEASON SHOW AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT

7. Favorite singles match?

Oh pfft… please… PLEASE IS THERE EVEN A QUESTION it was arguably the best match of the whole show, it was what we were all waiting for, a super tension filled, super hyped up match because it features my favourite character, who has simultaneously been promoted as THE BEST PLAYER ON THE TEAM but also super injured and avoiding over-exertion… MU SI YANG…against his personal rival, whom had never tasted defeat before, and subsequently trained like crazy, throwing all of the money at professional players, FOR A YEAR, in order to be ready to face him… JI JING WU

That’s right baby, its the Imperial Pair Match (I do hope I’m using all these nicknames correctly..I just tried to pick them up from the anime/manga to save time writing out their names XD)…

This match is everything you ever want in a match…it’s a gritty, no-holds-barred, all-out, clash-of-titans-style face-off between probably the two most talented players in that whole (province? Prefecture? Idk China regional names) BUT YEAH THESE TWO ARE CLEARLY TOP TIER PLAYERS WHO FINALLY GO HEAD TO HEAD… it’s a year in the making, Ji Jing Wu is in peak physical condition, but Si Yang is not…and yet we see Si Yang powering through the literal agony of an arm injury that threatens complete destruction of not only his tennis career, but his general usage of that arm… and for glory and to bring his team to the national stage, Si Yang lays it all on the line… and he still gives Ji Jing Wu a run for his goddamn money… he matches him hit for hit, and at one point he was even WINNING…and had it not been for his arm, I swear up and down that he would’ve beaten Jingwu…

BUT THAT’S NOT EVEN THE BEST PART… i mean, all sports anime and just shounen anime in general have those moments where the characters are down and out and summoning the power of friendship and determination to their side to go above and beyond the physical limitations of their bodies… NO THE ACTUAL BEST PART WAS JI JINGWU’S RESPONSE TO THE WHOLE SITUATION

The goddamn respect he gave Si Yang.. this is his rival, the only person he’s ever viewed as equal and even superior to his own skills (at least as far as people the same age as him go)… Jingwu wants to beat him so bad… and he’s heard the rumours about Si Yang’s injury, and he even sees for himself how bad the injury is… but as a skilled player who recognises skill himself, he does not do Si Yang the disrespect of going easy on him… what kind of arrogant prick has that kind of nerve to give less than their best to someone who is giving them 120% effort… no, Ji Jingwu doesn’t hesitate to hit back full power, even as he’s yelling at Si Yang to stop before his arm is utterly destroyed… because the last thing any person of talent would want, is to see another person lose such an incredible gift… but even worse than that, have that person realise someone was going easy on them... it was so goddamn beautiful… and when Jingwu grips Si Yang’s hand and raises it high because he and everyone there knows who the real winner of that match is…they all know that they just witnessed something incredible, and he wants everyone in the stands to not only acknowledge it… but remember it…

And then he proceeds to fund Si Yang’s surgery, his flight, his meals, his rehabilitation, AS WELL AS take care of his team… and if that isn’t love, idk what is… like they don’t even disguise the hard core DEDICATION AND LOVE... Jingwu has obsessed over Si Yang for a year and it goddamn shows

Honourable Mention: I really enjoyed Zhou Zi versus the demon child whose eyes go red…we finally get to see Zhou Zi stretch his legs and push himself and I LOVED THAT… like he’s actually trying his best and that’s dope… also the match against the captain of the team his little brother his on… he basically led this cocky motherfucker by the nose for 5 games, pretends to be losing, and then destroys him in the following 7…

OH AND I GOTTA SHOUT OUT MY OTHER GLASSES BOI YAN ZHIMING VERSUS HIS BEST GUY FRIEND FROM YOUTH… that was a beautiful evolution of Ah Yan transcending but also evolving his data tennis against his childhood friend and it feels good ya know?

8. Favorite doubles match?

Oh pfft anything with the Rival Pair… they bicker like cat and dog, but then you put them on the court together, and suddenly their chemistry is through the roof… also Baiyang and Qiao Chen are a stronger couple than Qiao Chen and Yu Xing Zi and that’s the damn tea

(Same two posts for why that tea)

9. Favorite story arc?

Oh man… ummm training arc with Yu Feng was fun but it was definitely beaten out by the “village raises a child” arc when Si Yang leaves, so literally all their previous opponents step up to encourage, train, or otherwise intimidate Yu Qing into giving it their all, improving, and ultimately winning the finals… plus this arc gave so much depth to the network of teams who all have the same aspirations, in the end, and want to push forward the people who beat them to not let their loss be in vain…and that’s pure…

10. Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)?

Yan Juice... especially the first time NEXT

Honourable Mentions: When Lu Xia gets stood up by Xinglong Lu Xia running interference on Qi Ying’s admirer in the final ep When Zhou Bros run into Lu Xia in the dressing rooms Stretcher Bros trying to become Painter Bros

11. What did you like most about the adaptation?

It captured the essence of a good sports anime: power of friendship, ridiculous action sequences of outrageous moves that would never be allowed in real life, determination and guts is all you need to succeed, that all-or-nothing mentality of high schoolers who suddenly have tunnel vision and no future thinking whatsoever, and decide to risk life and limb for one match… plus it kept a charming and comedic beat running throughout, really endeared you to the characters, and their struggles... AND NO ONE WAS MEAN... well I mean Ya Jiuxin was an angry bitter jerk for a hot second, but he ended up being endeared towards the lil fluffball kouhai of his, and we all know he loves Xinglong in his heart of hearts... other characters like Jingwu, or demon child, or Zhou Yu’s captain were cocky or arrogant, but they were never mean to each other, and respected each other’s game play even if they were defeated.. a couple were poor losers, but they didn’t throw a fit or try to get revenge or anything like that... everyone, in general, had some decency to them, and in fact all of Yu Qing was a super nice...sometimes too nice and self-deprecating that you wanted to smack them...

12. What do you think the adaptation could have improved on?

This is mostly just a consequence of live action adaptations of sports anime where they have to condense a whole lot of story that is already condensed from the manga into a palatable show that anyone, not necessarily pre-existing fans of the original source, can enjoy… the story around the characters seemed waffle-y and disjointed… sometimes things would happen but wouldn’t connect smoothly to the next thing that happens… there was this whole implied close relationship between Qi Ying and the team that just was never shown… I would’ve preferred they made her an official manager, so it would make sense that she’d be so close to the team, when for whatever reason, Peng Xiang wasn’t…even tho they’re both cheer captains…

The match sequences were cut down a little too much (tho I get why)… I would have loved that final training arc to be extended, to fully flesh out how discombobulated Yu Qing was when Si Yang had to leave, and how forcefully the other teams picked them up and got them better… so to develop the dynamic between the teams before this would’ve been good, but obviously they can only got the core actors of each team at a time… hence that barbecue scene… but if they’d pulled off something like the Haikyuu!! Tokyo training arc, or even something like in KnB where the teams were thrown together in wacky hijinks or impromptu match situations to develop their camaraderie (and they sorta tried to but nothing really came of the interactions), it would’ve made the final training arc THAT MUCH MORE heartwarming and I would have cried..

13. Any other thoughts you want to share?

I’ve already said enough. The end.

[airsignss]

Get to Know Me Tag Game!

Tagged by: @aboutthatmelancholystorm which thank u fren it has been a minute since I've done one of these

Birthday: October 12th so just a lil bit ago lmao

Zodiac: Libra babeyyyyy

Height: 5′5 1/2″ (yes the half is important to ME)

Last song I listened to: I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye

Hobbies: writing bad fanfic, reading good fanfic, painting my nails, playing God in the one Discord im in, and getting political on twitter

Favorite color: bwue and lellow

Last movie I watched: We Stand Alone Together about the real Easy Company in part for my research and also I just wanted to watch it 

Favorite book: I think the last time I did this game I was reading In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam by Robert McNamara and Brian VanDeMark and could see it becoming a favorite, well it has so yeah, that one 

Dream job: I wanna get my Ph.D. and write a book about foreign policy, national self-image,  and how that shapes how that particular state is viewed internationally. Pretty dry, I know. 

Meaning behind my url: I love Liebgott with my whole ass heart and Liebling means darling which, he is mine but that was taken so I had to tweak it and got lieblinggs. 

 gonna tag (no presh tho): @these-maginot-lines @takeiteasie @baberoeeee @genes-heffron @emilysaysitsdiqi @oniriquex @s-ara-bel @curraheev 

[allofthecaffeine]

3, 10, 17?

Hi hi hi!

3: do you prefer coffee or tea? how do you take it?

Coffee. 100% coffee, all the way. I used to take it really weird, with lots of milk and a spoonful of cocoa powder, but things got tight over lockdown and I mixed things up a little so the milk would go further. Now I take it with a quarter teaspoon of sugar and just a dash of skim milk.

(I had an old stepmum who drank tea like it was oxygen, and I physically cannot stand the smell, so even without my caffeine habits this would be an easy answer lol)

10: would you rather live in a castle or a spaceship?

Aaaaaaaaah this is a hard one. The part of me thats studying to be an archaeologist really really wants to say castle, but the part of me that lives off of 90's sci-fi and owns star-printed everything really really wants to say spaceship. Can I live on a castle-themed spaceship??? Is that an option???

17: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

Okay, so I didn't actually know what a Myer Briggs type was and had to look it up, but I got Logistician with ISTJ-A underneath it. Zodiac-wise I am a Libra (october 3 babeyyyyy) which is a really awkward star sign here in NZ because its also the name of a sanitary care brand, so that was a fun discussion in year 7 lol. I am a very proud Ravenclaw, and am physical proof that not all of us are academically extraordinary at everything (I may have came Proxime Accessit in my graduating class, but I also flunked calculus two years in a row and got into uni on a technicality)

🧡💛💚💙💜💙💚💛🧡

Send me asks! I'm stuck at home with a broken laptop (the screen fell off whoops), no TV and nothing to do until uni starts up in March. Talking to you guys is always really fun, and ask games give me something to think about for awhile whilst also letting me do one of my favourite things; share pointless anecdotes about my life

Link to the ask game is here ⬇️⬇️⬇️