#pose reference and caption are from no more heroes

[ponypaltrail]

unbreakable katana chronicles

[michanvalentine]

🎬 Blooderella: A Bite Before Midnight.✨🎭

🩸✨ COMING SOON ON FANGS & FAME ✨🩸

The favorite magazine of immortal actors, cursed shoes, and fashionably accessorized family trauma.

Trailer #2 exploded across hearts, reactions, and drama… and possibly a couple of nipples (we are not authorized to confirm). Now it's time for you, scandalized audience and tulle-hungry masses, to decide:

Which exclusive content do you want to see first?

🕯️📚 1. THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DALYRIA “I’m not mad. It’s the world that is. Or maybe even the world is a fiction and nothing more.”

The only creature with two neurons actually firing and a steaming mug of peppermint tea (graciously offered by Wyll) in the chaos of Blooderella.

In this gloomy, ironic, and mildly depressed interview: – she shares what it’s like living between Petras and Astarion, – theorizes the whole movie is just a fever dream Gale is having, – and confesses she nearly saw beyond the veil of the set before Cazador sent her to cook rat soup.

#TeamDalyria – for those who’ve ever asked fire for existential advice.

📸🔥 2. THE SHADOW SCANDAL: SHOTS THAT SHOOK EVEN THE INFERNAL REALMS

Certain cast members were caught off-set in poses a little too... intimate. The photos are blurred, filtered, cursed, and mysteriously vanish from phones.

We’re talking: – a bat-makeout backstage, – a cloak shared at midnight, – and a cryptic message etched into a wall: “The prince tasted what he shouldn’t have.”

Who are the protagonists? Is it just a marketing ploy? Or is Gale conjuring gossip as a form of magical defense?

#ShadowScandal – for believers in forbidden flirting… and invisible paparazzi.

🦇📱 3. ASTARION’S NEW VAMPSTAGRAM POST

One photo. A smile too beautiful and too tired. A cloak draped over a body sculpted by life. And by Cazador.

In the caption, Astarion writes: “Being Blooderella isn’t just tulle. It’s trauma. It’s glitter. It’s serving drama with open wounds. And no paycheck.”

The look? That of an accidental hero. The lighting? 3:47 AM soul exhaustion, because after filming he’s still scrubbing the Crimson Palace floors with his tongue. Top liked comments: "I saw you shine, now I see you fall apart. And both states suit you way too well. How annoying." And: "If your nipples could talk, they'd scream for revenge. And maybe also: ‘More silk, less tulle.’"

#SpawnBurnout – for those who suffer in style and scroll through tears.

📣 VOTE NOW!

Write it in the comments, shout it to the moon, carve it into an enchanted goblet:

🔮 #TeamDalyria – for those who seek clarity in the chaos 🕵️ #ShadowScandal – for those craving truth, stolen kisses, and shared cloaks 🦇 #SpawnBurnout – for lovers of aesthetic pain and post-traumatic digital poetry

For any complaints, loss of sanity, or requests for other specific content, please refer to the magnificent True Director Behind the Scenes, Cazador Szarr: Click here!

[midnightmadness98]

The Untold Stories Behind Idols.

Nowadays, fandom and fan culture have steadily gained public attention. Many individuals are interested in how this subculture contributes to society. However, their existence appears to have attracted more public notice than ever in recent years. With the advancement of social media, which acts as a convenient platform for fans to engage with their idols and organize and carry out various events, fans' scope and diversity of activities are expanding.

Fandom technology is evolving as well. The firms behind some of K-top pop's performers are paving the road for a new method to commercialize them. They've created online channels to give K-pop fans the impression that they have direct access to their favorite idols. This access influences how these fans connect with the idol as a kind of friendship, as well as how they interact with other fans.

To be honest, there are excellent admirers of pop celebrities and some who pursue them, give strange presents, and even attempt to abduct them. Generally, fandoms are cheerful and stress-free communities. From setting up on-ground fundraising drives to hosting record-breaking internet events, their devotion to and excitement for supporting their heroes frequently earns our respect. While there is no dispute about their dedication, the cruel fact is that sometimes it is the most fervent admirers that endanger their heroes.

Calling the idols' personal phone numbers, hacking their social media accounts, stalking their idols' group, overcrowding at airports, and, in more extreme cases, camping outside their idols' dorms or houses, installing secret cameras, placing recording, or tracking devices in hotels or in cars, sending disturbing gifts or fan letters (a female fan reportedly sent a love note written in menstrual blood to OK Taecyeon, a member of K-pop group 2PM).

Fans prefer to examine those who engage closely with their celebrities, and dating scandals are the pinnacle of their internet digging. If a K-pop artist, for example, has the same Instagram poses and captions as a person they're close to, or wears similar clothing, this can already spark relationship rumors among fans. Some fans get carried away with their strong feelings and emotions for the artist, causing bouts of jealousy whenever their favorite artists interact with the opposite gender or are involved in a dating scandal.

This is why, for them, it's essential to be aware of one's own limitations as a fan, especially when it comes to personal life. Off-camera/off-stage, respecting their privacy, personal space, relationships, and identity ensures their safety and demonstrates to them that they are more than just entertainment robots for you.

Know where you stand as a supporter. Just though you know their birthdays, allergies, and pets' names doesn't imply you know them. And, if you truly want the best for them, demand adequate security to ensure their safety.

References:

Stitch (2021). K-pop’s fandom platforms are changing what it means to be an idol. [online] The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/22589460/kpop-fan-cafe-weverse-universe-lysn-bts-idol-fandom-group.

‌Jia, B., Li, J. and Ma, J., 2021, December. Transformation of Fan Culture Under the Influence of Social Media. In 2021 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2021) (pp. 2173-2178). Atlantis Press.

[cali-holland]

Under the Mask- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Requested by @musicnotes1: Hey, I'm new to Marvel and so far I absolutely LOVE IT!! Do you think you could do a Tom Holland x reader where Tom Holland shows up at a Comic con as Spiderman and he sees you and it's like the world stops and then the reader comes over asking for a picture and an autograph and he's just a blushing and stuttering mess?

Prompt: At your first Comic Con, you meet the iconic red and blue superhero from Queens, but little do you know who was under that mask.

Word Count: 1500

Warnings: lil bit of swearing

A/N: Welcome to Marvel!!

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

“I can’t believe you’ve never been to a Comic Con before.” Your best friend shook her head at you as she tugged you up to the steps of the convention center.

“I’ve just never been into it until now.” You laughed, following her into the crowded building. “When’s the meet and greet?”

“In an hour, so we’ve got some time to walk around and check some stuff out.” She smiled, happy to be the one introducing you to the world of Comic Con. You paused, looking around in awe at the sea of people surrounding you. Some were dressed to the max in cosplay, others wore merchandise from their favorite comics, and even more sported casual clothing. You fit into the second group, wearing a blue Midtown High hoodie, dawning the logo of Spider-Man: Homecoming across your lower torso. While you were new to being a fan of Marvel, Spider-Man was definitely your favorite and you were only a couple hours away from meeting the one and only Tom Holland. The convention center buzzed with excitement, and you could feel a rush of your own eagerness surge through you, it was going to be a great day.

~~~

“You sure this is a good idea?” Harrison asked as Tom finished pulling on his red and black Spider-Man suit.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Tom replied, grabbing his mask from the side table.

“Walking around Comic Con as Spider-Man in a legitimate suit might not be the safest idea you’ve had.” He raised his eyebrows at his friend, both of them knowing it was true.

“No one will even recognize me.” The brunette insisted as he tugged on his mark. “It’s just giving the fans some fun. Walk around as a Spider-Man cosplayer, take some pictures, tell them all later.”

“Well, I’ll be back here.” Harrison said, bidding his friend farewell as he snuck out of the small backstage room reserved for Tom.

Tom snuck off into the main convention center, proud of his idea. He smiled under the mask, wandering around as fans and fellow cosplayers complimented his really convincing suit. He stopped when his eyes landed on you, and he felt the rest of the convention center fade away around him. You were laughing at something your friend had said; with crinkles by your eyes as you smiled, you were illuminating. His palms grew clammy and his heart began to race as your eyes landed on him. You were too far for him to hear what you said, but judging by how you nudged your friend with a small smile and nodded over to him, he assumed it was something about him. His suspicion was correct as you and your friend started to walk over to him.

“Nice suit.” You said, smile just as bright as before, just as captivating. His heart skipped a beat, and he realized he was taking too long to respond.

“Th-thanks.” He stuttered out, thankful that the mask covered his blush.

“Do you mind if I take a picture with you?” You asked, and he nodded quickly. You stepped beside him and he wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you in to his side. You smiled as your friend took the picture.

“You know I’ve got a hoodie just like that. It looks good on you.” Tom said, feeling a wave of his usual confidence overcome him. With his mask on, he was just a regular Spider-Man friend, talking to a really pretty girl; you had no clue who you were really talking to.

“Thank you. Spider-Man’s my favorite hero. I mean obviously.” You laughed, referring to the fact that you’d asked for a picture with him.

“He’s mine, too. But that’s a given.” He nodded down to his suit.

“Where’d you get it? Or did you make it?” You asked.

‘The costume department for Far From Home’ he thought to himself, before voicing, “One of my friends gave it to me.”

Before you could respond further, your friend cleared her throat behind you and you realized it was time for the line for the meet and greet. You let out a teasing laugh, “Well, I should get going. I’m supposed to be meeting the real Spider-Man shortly.”

“I am the real Spider-Man.” Tom joked, before realizing the weight of your words. You were meeting the real Spider-Man, as in him without a mask or anything to protect the blushing mess he would become. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to properly talk to you at the meet and greet, he spoke up quickly before you left, “Is there any way I could get your number? I’d like to take you out for drinks or- or something some time.” He offered, but it sounded a lot smoother in his head.

“I don’t even know your name.” You laughed lightly, but still gave him your number anyway on one of those Comic Con pamphlets you got at the door. Your friend began to rush you off, insisting that the line would be too long shortly. “My name’s Y/N.”

“Tom.” He replied as your friend dragged you away from him. He let out a sigh of relief- his cover was safe and he had your number now, but he didn’t think you even heard his name.

“Shit.” He exclaimed quietly, realizing that if the line for his meet and greet was starting, then they’d definitely need him there- and not in costume either. Tom hurried back to his room, where he took a quick selfie of him in the suit without the mask on- that’d be posted later. He changed into a t-shirt and jeans, throwing on a baseball cap to hide his messy mask hair.

“How’d it go? Did you get mauled?” Harrison joked, upon seeing his friend has returned.

“No, I’m fine.” Tom laughed. He looked at the small paper you had given him and tucked it into his jeans, trying to hide the obvious blush on his cheeks.

“I know that look. You got a girl’s number, didn’t you?” He asked, in a teasing tone.

“She’s coming to the meet and greet. I could barely talk to her with the mask on, I don’t know how I’m going to handle this.” He adjusted the baseball cap on his head with a small sigh.

“The picture’s like 60 seconds of interactions, tops. And, besides, if you’ve already got her number, then you’ve already got an in.” 

“I’m going to freeze, and then she’s going to think-”

“Hey,” Harrison grabbed his friend’s shoulders, “You are Tom fucking Holland, and you’ve got hundreds of people outside waiting to just take a damn picture with you. Now, you’re going to go out there, and when that girl shows up, you’re not going to freeze, you’re going to talk to her like a real person, up the charm, do whatever. You’ve got her number, just get the girl now.”

“Tom, we’re starting!” His manager beckoned him away.

“Thanks, mate.” He smiled thankfully at Harrison before leaving off to take his pictures.

After taking an obscene amount of pictures, Tom was starting to lose hope that you’d be there. Maybe Andrew Garfield was at the same Comic Con and he just didn’t know. When he felt himself growing tired of the constant stream of pictures (but not of the fans, he never grew tired of doing poses with them and admiring their elaborate outfits), he perked up when your friend entered for her individual picture. Knowing you’d be next, he grew anxious, waiting for you to come in. He let out a nervous breath as you walked in with a timid smile.

“Hello, love.” Tom greeted you, grateful that it came out smooth without a stutter.

“Hi, I’m a big fan.” You smiled.

“Nice hoodie.” He noticed the blush spread across your cheeks.

“I’ve gotten that a lot today.” You laughed. The photographer ushered the two of you to pose for your photo. Stepping into his side, he wrapped an arm around you, just as he had down earlier while dressed as Spider-Man. The moment was all too brief while the photographer quickly snapped the picture.

“Thank you.” Tom smiled at you, his cheeks rosy from your touch.

“No, thank you. You just made my whole year.” You gushed before having to leave.

Tom couldn’t wait for the whole process to be over now that he’d seen you. Once the meet and greet finished, he rushed to text you from his phone, leaving him no time to actually think it through.

‘Hey, this is Spider-Man’ he smiled to himself proudly as he sent the text. While waiting for your reply, he posted the selfie on his story, captioning it ‘had a great time walking around Comic Con today’.

It was long after that before a text came through from you, ‘So you are the real Spider-Man then’.

[anxresi]

I’ve decide to compile each of Chloe’s Instagram photos for posterity...

Complete with my own ‘hilarious’ captions. This post will be updated as more are released. Enjoy. ^__^

Chloe decided to do something nice for a change and allow the peasants a window into her glorious life online. “You’re welcome!!”

Chloe never was one for picking up subtle social cues. Such as: Adrien straining every sinew of his body to escape her kung-fu like grip. “Adrikins has the same color hair as me! IT’S DESTINY!!”

Chloe realized that a hard day being waited on hand-and-foot by all and sundry sure takes it out of you. Poor dear. “Sabrina is SO selfish. She promised she’d be back with my smoothie at least thirty seconds ago!”

Chloe decided her demanding public needed to see a more ‘sensitive’ side of her, so like her father kissing babies on the campaign trail she decided to try something cute with Sabrina. “As long as she thoroughly washes and rinses my shades before returning them!”

Chloe pranced around her room with all the grace and poise of a baby elephant, Nevertheless, she was sure she’d make Prima ballerina easily. After all, all her wage-earning servants had told her so. “Ow! Maybe it would be better if I scattered cushions around everywhere next time...”

Chloe got ready to attend a Ladybug lookalike competition, absolutely positive that her custom-made suit made from only the finest materials would give her a lock on first place. Unfortunately, as an already known practicing superhero, she was instantly disqualified. “My Daddy will hear of this! I’ll sue you... and you... and you in the pram sucking on the lollipop!”

Chloe posed for pics with her favorite alternative rocker enthusically, not quite aware just yet of the horrors unfolding just behind her. Jagged Stone? More like Jagged Teeth. “What do you mean, are those my shoes over ther.... AAAARRGGHHH!!”

Chole saw that Sabrina had done such a great job in cleaning her shades, she decided to give her one of her old hats... which had only been partially chewed by moths. “You’re welcome!”

Chloe found out later that this is what JS was looking despondently at two pics ago, although to be honest even if Fang hadn’t been chowing down on her favorite flats, he probably would’ve still had the same expression. “If you FED that slimy thing once in a while, this never would’ve happened!”

Chloe was most annoyed at having her Miraculous taken away due to ‘identity issues’, so she decided to paint her nails Ladybug colors in a desperate attempt to get the spotted one to reverse her decision by flattery alone. It didn’t work. “She was so unreasonable!”

Chloe received a generous settlement from JS for loss of footwear and mental anguish, and so spent it on a new pair of shoes along with various other essentials. Like designer dresses, expensive jewellery, striped tees... “Sabrina, what are you doing just standing there?! Go and carry something!”

Chloe felt better having restocked her closet with clothes she’d never wear, and so posted a picture of defiance that even a major crisis like this wouldn’t knock her down for long. “All it takes is a limitless credit card, and all my problems are solved!”

Chloe very kindly volunteered to attend a dinner meeting with her father as his plus-one, as long as she chose the entire menu and got to change the conversation when it got too boring. A small price to pay for the pleasure of her company. “Seeing as mother’s never around, I might as well fill in. The sacrifices I make!”

Chloe decided, after seeing how disastrously this innocuous photo had turned out, that it was time for completely new flooring. She could’ve just changed her capris... but if you have the money, why not use it? “WHERE ARE MY LEGS?! It looks like I’m floating like Pollen...!”

Chloe took a few thousand pics of herself as Queen Bee, during her brief but legendary stint in the role. She wishes she could’ve taken more. “I had the style, the beauty, the look... oh, and I might’ve saved a few lives. Not that that’s anything like as important.”

Chloe put a brave face on things, but she was still perturbed that her idol Ladybug refused to let her be Queen Bee again. Unused to not getting her own way, her new tactic was to guilt trip the hero by painting her nails yellow. Was it successful? What do you think? “GGGRRRRR!”

Chloe loved her mom and dad, really she did. She wanted something, they always gave it to her. How could she possibly not appreciate that? “They taught me the most important thing in life is to believe in yourself. And to think of yourself, naturally.”

Chloe was most upset that the selfie she’d spent over an hour preparing for was photobombed by Sabrina, but she soon calmed down. After her bestie had promised to do all her college homework for free, of course. “And do it in cursive, so everybody will know how smart I am.”

Chloe was most amused when she saw Marinette tumble down the stairs in class, and made time to laugh and point at the clumsy baker girl on her way in. An action that would have no negative consequences whatsoever. “Tee-hee, hilarious. Now, back to planning on how I can get Ladybug to return my Miraculous...”

Chloe was not impressed with the servant who’d stuck her pink socks in the wash with Mr Cuddly, thus altering the hue of the much-loved stuffed animal permanently. “Where is she now? To be found in an unemployment queue near you. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you oafs!”

Chloe wrote next to this picture ‘PARIS’S FAVORITE LANDMARK’. And no, she wasn’t referring to the Eiffel Tower. “If it wasn’t for Ladybug’s ability to restore everything after an akuma, this stupid thing would’ve been destroyed a dozen times over!”

Chloe might have found her unique rendition of the ‘Prince Ali’ song from Aladdin hilarious in front of her special guest, but he certainly didn’t. Maybe, lost in translation? “ ‘Brush up your Sunday Salaam’... oh, come on! It’s a classic!”

Chloe felt sad no-one had complimented her for five whole minutes... so she phoned Jean-Something straight away to lavish her with deserved praised. The fact he was thousands of miles away in Barbados taking his one vacation of the year mattered not a jot. “You’ll love me! YOU’RE ALL GONNA LOVE ME!!”

[ifbrd]

Episode Commentary for Wordgirl “Showdown at the Secret Spaceship Hideout”

As requested by an anon, I’m going to do an Episode Commentary (that’s what I’m gonna call them, they need a name so I know what to title the post and have people know what the heck it is) of the WordGirl episode “Showdown at the Secret Spaceship Hideout”

I’m going to apologize in advance for the number of times I say “also” “can we just take a moment to appreciate” “I love that...”  and “Me”

Look at Two Brains Drawings! <3

Me as a villain

This is something I love about this show; they have realistic conversations. This is absolutely a slip-up someone would make if they were having an off day. I make stupid mistakes like this all day every day XD This honestly isn’t my favorite example of this, but it’s a good one none-the-less.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate this very important image of Huggy doing what he does best and rarely gets to do anymore since coming to Earth.

Hey! Wait a minute! 

Well Dr. Two Brains, clearly it works on doubled brained citizens too!

Huggy approves of this crash-land

I have nothing to say about this, it’s just a good bit of dialogue and it must have its moment to shine.

…I have got to start setting reminders for myself like this. Also, I love that she looks at her boots and nods like “yes, yes they are” as if she wasn’t the person who said that in the first place.

And thus, begins an entire episode of Huggy being annoyed and disapproving.

Okay, I’m pretty sure the line was “Change it back” but thanks for trying, I guess. Anyway, I lowkey love this brief tantrum she throws. It reminds us she’s still a kid. She’s a kid taking on adult responsibilities, and moments like this remind us that she’s not perfect, sometimes she just wants to do something for herself and she will still get upset when things go wrong.

I took this screenshot for no other reason than to prove that the line was “Change it back!”

Nothing gets past these two

Do I detect saltiness in that cheese? That was me trying to be clever. (OMG I have Word set to read stuff out loud so I can catch mistakes easier, and idk why but when it said this sentence I LOST IT) Also “often uninvited”—implying that there were a few instances where he did invite her.

LOLLYGAGGERS!!

It’s funny because it’s not the weirdest threat I’ve heard on this show.

You don’t know Wordgirl...at all...

Huggy’s annoyed, but at least he has snacks.

Me doing my homework

We all know Pretty Princess is supposed to represent WordGirl in this episode but let’s acknowledge that the horse is clearly supposed to be Huggy—disapproving of the plan, giving her annoyed looks the entire time, but ultimately doing nothing to stop her from procrastinating.

lol poor Huggy

Amazing, done-before-but-I’ll-never-get-tired-of-hearing-it joke aside, I”m convinced that Huggy already knew what procrastinate means, he just wanted her to define it so she’d realize she’s doing it.

Plan failed.

When I said Pretty Princess was me doing my homework, I meant it.

WordGirl was me watching the Gravity Falls finale. Huggy was my brother watching me watch the Gravity Falls finale.

TBH I just wanted a good shot of this room, but can we appreciate the light coming from the window? Like I feel that there’s no reason to put that much detail into the lighting and they did it anyway. Also, I want to see this window on the outside of the ship.

HE LOOKS AT THE AUDIENCE

I CANT XD

What’s the butterfly room like? Why is there a butterfly room? Why have we never seen this butterfly room because I really want to see the butterfly room!

Me when someone in my family brings home Oreos

Who wants to play spot the episodic easter egg!

This is it. this is my favorite Two Brains line.

Huggy’s been annoyed with her the entire episode because he knew this very thing could happen. He could say “I told you!” he could leap into action, but instead he’s like “I’ve got one last pretzel, just let me finish it…”

Sorry, I didn’t mean to have all this hoo-ha in the screenshot. I thought about retaking it…but you can see the things I want to point out alright so maybe later. I lowkey want to do a separate post on this. Anyway, this is clearly Huggy’s stuff, and the two things I want to point out are the framed picture of Huggy and an unknown superhero on the left, and various pictures and documents on a bulletin board to the right. I wish we had clearer pictures, I’d love to examine them more, but the framed one does certainly imply that Huggy has worked with or at least met other superheroes aside from WordGirl. I’d also really love to know what those documents are.

Villains traipsing through his ship warrants almost no reaction, but you touch his stuff and suddenly you’re messing with the devil!

I love that he’s still willing to take over her hideout just because the henchmen love it, despite the fact that they “haven’t been too helpful”

I’ve got a couple of things to say here: 1. In the second picture: Strike a pose Two Brains! 2. I gotta rant because this is honestly scary to me. He doesn’t remember writing a book. It takes him a second to realize he wrote it, and it probably was seeing his old name that triggered it. He doesn’t recognize the title. Who forgets they wrote a book?? Writing a book is a lloooooooonng process that takes months to years, it takes up a good chunk of your life, there’s no way you’d just forget it. The mouse brain has more control than we’ve realized, it's controlling his memories. That’s literally the only explanation for just blanking out on writing an entire damn book. It took me months to write a children’s book and he basically wrote an entire textbook! That’s not something you’re gonna bust out in a weekend and forget about!

Another rant! She got most of her superhero knowledge from Steven’s book. Not from Huggy like I’d always assumed. I still stand by the idea that Huggy gave her a solid foundation of training to start with, and she learned more on her own through books like these and personal wisdom and experience. But she got most of her knowledge and tactics not from her own superhero based culture, but from a book by a guy who never was (that we know of) and isn’t a superhero himself. She got more wisdom from some guy observing superheroes than her own heritage. This pretty much confirms that Steven was extremely popular in the superhero community, for him to be able to observe and probably interview for reference that many heroes to get that much knowledge.

They made a movie on his book! I wanna see this movie! It’d be like the Krusty Krab training video episode of Spongebob!

And apparently, it was better than the book..

If you listen closely, you can hear the screaming of every Steven Boxleitner fan

Okay sound started to get a little off from the captions at the end here but bear with me.

First of all, have some fabulous concentrating-Dr.-Two-Brains images! Secondly, he’s in WordGirl’s hideout, he should be on high alert, and hearing WordGirl scream “NOW HUGGY!” causes no reaction. He doesn’t even flinch.

It took several tries to get this image, but it was totally worth it!!!

Huggy is validated by The Narrator. I love when The Narrator steps in XD

And Two Brains just glaring at everyone XD

Yet again, Huggy doesn’t approve, yet doesn’t do anything about it and participates in the activity. And boy oh boy would I love to see our disembodied narrator try to play Ping-Pong!

That’s all for this episode! The next one I’m doing is Robot Monkey Showdown! I have no idea when that will be up…but I’m hoping very soon, but I gotta crop all the pictures, (or maybe I won’t? would that be a crime? It would significantly cut down on time...) then type out my comments, then put it all into tumblr.

[dvandom]

Fanfic Script: Squirrel Girl vs. One-Punch Man

The UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL vs. ONE-PUNCH MAN in "Who'd Win?"

PAGE ONE:

Style is black and white manga, after the style of ONE.  Panel layout is dynamic and does not rely on right angles.  Panel 1 is upper right, panel 2 is upper middle inset between panels 1 and 3, panel 4 bursts across from the lower right to the middle left, panel 5 is crammed into the lower left corner.  An editor's note across the top gutter reads, "Manga pages read from right to left," perhaps with a little diagram as seen in a lot of translated manga.  

Panel 1: Medium shot of Saitama, in costume, in a grocery store.  He's switching from looking about to looking down at his hand (use the "two heads and some motion lines" indicator).

Panel 2: Closeup of a coupon, which has obviously had the original Japanese text overwritten with English that doesn't quite follow the proper perspective lines.  "50% Off Hazelnut Spread!  Today Only!"  Some speed lines around the edges of the panel to indicate a sudden zoom of attention.

Panel 3: Over the shoulder shot of Saitama looking down the aisle to see a lone jar of Hazelnut Spread on a nearly empty shelf, with dramatic lighting around it.

THOUGHT BUBBLE 1 (Saitama): "Last one!"

Panel 4: Saitama springs into action, racing down the aisle, which is mostly obscured by speed lines.

Panel 5: Saitama slams into what appears to be a wall of darkness.  His expression is shocked, but not hurt.

SFX: FOOMF!

PAGE TWO:

This page is in the style of the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic, with mostly simple grid layout, clean lines and bold colors.  In the bottom gutter is a faded text footnote, "Done reading this page left to right?  Well, time to switch again!"

Panel 1: Saitama is disentangling himself from the big fluffy (and not at all suspicious or unusual) tail of American tourist Doreen Green.  Saitama is flustered, Doreen is surprised.

SPEECH 1 (Doreen): Oh!

Panel 2: Doreen is getting her tail out of the way.  Saitama is a bit taken aback, because American women with squirrel tails are not something he sees every day, even in City Z.

SPEECH 2 (Doreen): <My apologies, mister superhero!  I hate being the Rude American, even by accident.>*

CAPTION 3: * Translated from rather stilted Japanese learned via an online course.

Panel 3: Doreen is bowing, Saitama is still flustered.

SPEECH 4 (Doreen): <I am Doreen Green, American college student, visiting City Z on vacation, and certainly not a superhero from another reality temporarily stuck here while my friends work on finding a way home.  Nice to meet you!>

SPEECH 5 (Saitama): <Um, hello>*

CAPTION 6: * Translated from native, but flustered, Japanese.

Panel 4: Doreen is drifting into fangirling mode, Saitama is really not comfortable with this situation at all.

SPEECH 7 (Doreen): <Are you a licensed superhero?  I hear they license and rank heroes here, that must make it a lot easier to keep track of than needing to keep a deck of reference cards up to date.>

Panel 5: Saitama is not looking directly at Doreen, and is trying to get out of this situation.

SPEECH 8 (Saitama): <Ah, yes.  I'm called One-Punch Man.  And I should apologize, I was in a hurry and not looking out for other customers.>

SPEECH 9 (Doreen): <Do not worry, I wasn't hurt.  Perhaps I'll see you on the news?  Well, I need to get back to my friends.>

Panel 6: Doreen is walking out of panel to the left, revealing that the shelf is now totally empty.  Saitama also notices this fact.

SPEECH 10 (Doreen): <Farewell!>

BURST 11 (Saitama): !!!

PAGE THREE:

Back to the ONE style.  Panel 1 takes up the top third of the page, panels 2 and 3 split the bottom 2/3 vertically, but the gutters are all slightly askew to give an ominous feeling.

Panel 1: Medium-to-long shot of a small grocery store checkout counter.  Doreen is paying for her groceries, chatting amiably with the clerk.  No speech bubbles or SFX.  A faint aura surrounds the jar of Hazelnut Spread.  A few other customers are present, either in line behind Doreen or leaving with their purchases.

Panel 2: Framed by Doreen's face and shoulder, seeing darkness behind her, but not normal darkness, more of a "cloud of evil" effect.  Saitama's eyes glow in the center of the darkness.

Panel 3: Doreen seen from behind, Saitama's hand reaching in from off-panel towards her shoulder.  Dramatic lighting effects, so it looks like a fight is about to start.

BURST 1 (DOREEN): What--?

PAGE FOUR

Back to Squirrel Girl style.  Also three panels, like an upside-down version of the previous page, but with nice clean vertical and horizontal lines.

Panel 1: Doreen has whirled around, and Saitama is bowing and holding out his coupon.

SPEECH 1 (Saitama): <You might find this helpful, Miss.>

Panel 2: Doreen is beaming and taking the coupon, handing it to the clerk, in a "motion lines between two poses" pose.  Saitama is still bowing.

SPEECH 2 (Doreen): <Thank you very much, One-Punch-san!  I was short on cash and you saved the day!  A true hero!>

Panel 3: Wide shot of city street, with Doreen and Saitama both emerging from the store.  She's smiling and humming happily as she carries a reusable canvas bag with her groceries (it has an acorn symbol on it, so you know she brought it herself), while Saitama leaves empty-handed and somewhat dejected.  Looming in the distance is a giant monster, spitting fire at a building.

CAPTION 3: And thus, without even realizing it, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl defeated the mighty One-Punch Man!

CAPTION 4: Insert title and story credits.  (Writer: Dave Van Domelen.  Artist: ??)

Gutter footnote: Do I smell team-up?  Or is that just burning skyscraper?

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Drama Bomb”

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Alicia Chan, John West

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

More drama for your mamas...and daughters.

The episode begins with the beginning of a school play based on the food pyramid from the 90's, with everyone dressed up as a food item. Not only do we see the return of Robin Snyder in a sort of voiced role, though we never quite get to hear just her voice, we get to see all of our favorite students. And by favorite students, I mean just Barry. Go, Barry, you spinning bowl of chicken noodle soup, you.

Unfortunately, the kid's talents are not showing here, as they're all painfully off-key. Even the last episode that focused on play's idea of Blossom and Jared being the main stars of Townsville Elementary's drama class has seemingly been thrown out, as at least Blossom gets an intentionally bad singing voice as well. Instead, it's Bubbles that's the big star, as she gets to properly sing the big ending song about how treats are good when they're part of a...something. She couldn't figure out the last word in her song, much to the joy of the drama teacher.

A Star Is Blossom still has to be canon, because this episode also features Ms. Moss, the drama teacher that just can't believe she's working with such children. The joke, of course, being that these children are, in fact, children. At least, most of them are obviously children, at least one of them are pretty questionable.

She at least has a good reason for this sudden bout of perfectionism: the stakes have changed. After Buttercup, who is in the play as a T-Bone steak, does the obvious joke with that, she reveals that Citysville's greatest playwrite is coming to this elementary school, and if this play was good, they could go on tour with this amazing play about fruit!

We cut right from the failed rehearsals to the final version of the play, which is, according to a sign gag and not anything in the play itself, The Five Food Groups: A Hero's Journey. Even after watching this episode several times, I'm not sure what the "A Hero's Journey" is supposed to signify. I would guess it's supposed to refer to this plot about the Tomato, played by everyone's favorite brick, in his journey to identify whether he is a fruit or a vegetable, but where does Bubbles' song fit in all of this?

Then again, it's more likely one couldn't even make out what these kids are singing, as they're off-key and can't seem to sing in-time either. Of course, this is all intentional, but it's still bad enough to be hard to listen to. Ms. Moss hopes that Belle Lakes wouldn't notice, maybe possibly giving her a slight break since these are just elementary school students.

That's not the case, as she's bored watching this drivel. Finally, a character I can relate to. But hey, at least that lady right next to her is loving it! Also loving it is good ol' Sitcom Dad, who is taking pictures with this smartphone. You'd think someone who is bad at computers would use some sort of old-timey camera. Good thing the Professor shouldn't fit that description!

This reception doesn't please Ms. Moss at all. If she doesn't do anything quickly, this performance will bomb! That last word gives her an idea.

Ms. Moss continues her affinity with using mystic objects from mystic sources, though this item is a little less fantastic than the play that summons butch viking women. In this case, it's a Drama Bomb that was given to her after she graduated at an academy for master thespians, which, for some unexplained reason, is made up entirely of people in cloaks. When this bomb explodes, it makes anyone caught in the blast 10 times more dramatic!

She happens to have this bomb in a glass case that says "In Case Of Lack of Talent", and I'd say that should have been broken 114 times by now. She calls for a brief intermission, gathering all the students, and then throwing the bomb at them. Covering everything in pink glitter, the bomb's effects appear to be negligible...at least, for a few seconds.

Buttercup: Ugh, what was that?

Blossom: I don't know...it's...

Blossom and Buttercup: Magical!

Ms. Moss quickly comes in to say this is all brilliant, and tells them to go to their places with a really ugly zoom-in to her mouth. No real explanation other than "see, Ms. Moss is cuckoo!", I'm not going to show it, and you're welcome.

Thanks to the power of that Drama Bomb, that opening song from before turns into a big, artsy, and dramatic song in the style of the Cell Block Tango scene from Chicago. The unique coloring, the similar style of the song, and it even goes right down to how the food items in the pyramid looks like they're in jail cells. Honestly, I actually like this choice in visuals.

As for the audio, it's interesting to say the least, if not that memorable or catchy. It's still the same voice actors and voice actresses singing the songs here. I was 100% thinking they were going to pull out some actual singer to dub in for these characters, but it's just the regular actors actually trying to sound good. Less ideal, but less awkward than the alternative.

There is this shot with Blossom and you-know-who embracing that's just randomly in there, even though thankfully this is not a play where Blossom and Jared are the love interests. At least, as far as the viewers can tell, anyway. It does make sense in the play, since it's either two vegetables or a fruit and a vegetable, but I cannot forget all of that baggage from those fantasy scenes from Season 1 and 2.

Belle Lakes starts to get overjoyed at this. That lady right next to her is also still liking this, though the lack of change in her expression is worrying me. And, of course, Sitcom Dad is still sneaking around, taking smartphone pictures. Now that they're supposedly talented now, there's not even a joke here other than the Sitcom Dad creeping out that one guy. I wouldn't blame him.

Blossom and Buttercup are confused, as they can't help themselves but dramatically enter rooms, make dramatic poses, and speak with dramatic lines. Well, Buttercup is just dabbing and speaking as if Bart Simpson got an even worse cold than usual, but I can see what she's trying to do. At least Blossom's Shakespeare-esque lines are fitting here, and she says them relatively well.

Suddenly, the cellphone hotline rings, and Blossom asks what evil besieges the poor Mayor, and...

...it turns out that this episode features Discount Jojo as the villain again, stealing the dome from Town Hall as a decoration! I would say that this continues a streak with episodes with main villains voiced by Roger L. Jackson, but Ms. Moss is a far bigger threat here.

The Puffs attempt to leave, only to be stopped by the power of the Drama Bomb. As Ms. Moss explains, the show must go on, who cares if Townsville becomes a burning crater in the ground. She doesn't exactly say that last line, but she might as well say it.

They don't really turn Discount Jojo's crime spree into a B-plot. We just get this one scene where Jojo is so confused that, no matter how many crimes he makes and how long he makes his laughter, the Powerpuff Girls aren't stopping him. I guess I could see some humor in how Jojo is worried that the usual rhythm of things just isn't happening, it reminds me of that scene from that one episode of Batman: The Animated Series.

Joker: Without Batman, crime has no punchline.

It was done far better there, but I'm not going to hate on the reboot for not living up to those impossibly high standards. No dramatic lines from Jojo here, as much as it would be oddly fitting for this episode, but he does ask what could possibly be so vital that it would prevent the Powerpuff Girls from giving him a slideshow beatdown?

This at least decently transitions to the scene where Blossom dramatically exclaims that it's vital to know if the tomato is a vegetable or not, and even the Tomato does not know. By the way, if you're wondering where the Chicago styling is here, they pretty much forget about it beyond that one scene.

Also pretty much gone is any semblance of a followable plot in this play. I'm not expecting anything Shakespearean to show up in this reboot with or without that Drama Bomb, but there's no real connection between this tomato plot and Bubbles' final song.

Speaking of which, Bubbles is still moping that she can't figure out what that last word in the song is. This scene comes up way too often; it feels more like filler. I could at least appreciate them being over-dramatic, but other than that, it's just "waaah, I can't figure out my liiiines!"

In the end, they say they will do it together...as a whole! This word actually ends up being that word Bubbles was supposed to rhyme with "bowl". I mean, what else could it be? Treats are better than eating coal? You got to pay the troll toll? This show needs some quality control? Would have went with that one.

Essentially singing the same song as her attempt at the end song from the rehearsal scene from the beginning, since it was the only relatively good thing about it, I guess, she finally nails the end song with the help of her sisters. Belle really loved this play, and the uphill rollercoaster with Sitcom Dad still keeps going up without any real conclusion. What does conclude is the spell from the Drama Bomb, signified with some sparkles. The Powerpuff Girls are glad that they're finally free.

However, in the end, Ms. Moss learned absolutely nothing, as she promises to use a drama bomb on every play on this day forward, and then rolls out of the room. How she's going to get more of them will never be explained. The Powerpuff Girls seemingly pay it no mind that future plays might indirectly cause the destruction of Townsville, and decide, now that the show has ended, to finally take on Discount Jojo.

This isn't a bad way to end this episode. Such a old-school beating, not only does it end with a bruised Discount, it even comes with the classic line:

Blossom: Not so fast, Mojo Jojo!

If it actually had Bubbles and Buttercup saying Mojo and Jojo respectively, it would have been perfect, but I shouldn’t compare this show to that show’s impossibly high-to-this-show standards, either. The episode ends with a line that fits in with the rest of the episode, which is more than what I could say about some episodes.

Bubbles: And...scene!

I would have preferred a dramatic line read from Tom Kenny and hearts, but alas.

Does the title fit?

Name of the object, though it does cause drama in pretty much any way I can think of.

How does it stack up?

I'm a little in the middle with this episode. There isn’t much to the episode beyond some dramatic line reads, some better than others. However, it has some nice shots, and the songs, the ones that aren't meant to be terrible, are at least passable. It’s watchable, but I wouldn’t lie and say that yawning playwrite didn’t represent me at some points.

Next, Watch It, did they botch it?

← Checkin' Out ☆ Watch It! →

[meowloudly15]

Stranded: Day 7 - GHOST SPIDER

First | Previous | Next (finally!)

Gwen perched on top of a brick apartment building and watched Brooklyn bustle below. It was 5:30 now, and she had already stopped two muggers and a grand theft auto. She was pleased with herself. However, there was no sign of the mystery spider. She couldn't blame him for hiding away if he knew that he had been spotted.

Did the mystery spider have a spider-sense like she did?

Did Miles have one?

How was Miles faring, anyway? Gwen hoped that he had gotten a handle on his powers.

She started to jog along the rooftops, looking out for any signs of trouble. She didn't want to web-swing any more than she had to, considering how her web-shooters had jammed up. With any luck, she would be able to clean them up tonight. The process of scraping out all the gunk coating the insides and making sure she didn't misplace any mechanisms during reassembly was laborious. Fortunately, Gwen didn't have to clean out her web-shooters very often. Maybe she should start doing it more regularly, though, considering her ordeal earlier this afternoon.

There was something odd about the sidewalk to her left. She leaped down, perched atop a flagpole, and surveyed the scene.

Yup, the sidewalk was cracked, just like the pavement had been when Gwen fell just a few hours ago. It wasn't the same street, though, so something or someone else must have taken a tumble.

She hoped it wasn't a person. Gwen had survived her fall because of superhuman durability and a fair amount of luck. A normal person would break against the ground. It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end.

Pieces of a damaged neon sign were also strewn across the ground. Most of the characters had broken, but two numbers remained intact: a 4 and a 2.

Something glittered on the sidewalk. It was probably part of the sign, but Gwen felt like investigating anyway.

She landed lightly on the street and bent over, inspecting the pavement. Sure enough, the pieces were metallic, a mix of green and gold and silver. It was probably from the sign, although it was concentrated in a very small area.

Eh, it didn't matter. It was interesting and mysterious, but it didn't matter. Here was hoping nobody was injured. Considering the lack of blood, it seemed that nobody had been.

PERSONS TAKING NOTICE

A tall, mustachioed man strode out of the store, broom and dustpan in hand. "Hey, you're that ghost spider from the news!"

Gwen froze.

"You here to help or something? Here, take the dustpan."

Too stunned to protest, Gwen obliged. The man started to sweep debris into the pan.

She had made the news here? That was not a good sign. If anybody figured out that she was the jailbreaking fugitive from last week, she was done for, in costume or out of it.

But then again, she wore a mask for a reason. She was just being paranoid. Regardless, she should figure out what the media knew and thought of her.

Should she be here?

IT DEPENDS

Depends on what? What was she not being told?

Gwen tapped the back of the dustpan against the ground, letting the debris slide to the rear so that more could be swept in.

The shop owner spoke: "So, not much of a talker, ah?"

Gwen didn't respond. Silence was probably her best option, even if it wasn't the most courteous one.

"I get that. Secret identity and all. Nice costume, by the way. Very ghostly, and also very spidery."

Ghostly was not the look Gwen was going for, but it didn't matter.

"Oh, and don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you were here, if you want. I can keep a secret, don't you fret. Never told anyone for years what was up with my sister. 'Course, that ended up being kind of a bad thing, since she ended up in the hospital after a fashion, but it's water under the bridge."

They finished sweeping up the area in front of the shop. Gwen gave the man a salute and swung away as he watched in awe.

He seemed like a nice fellow. A bit odd, perhaps, but nice.

Where to next?

GHOST SPIDER

Gwen tensed up, ready to fight.

She looked around, but there was nobody in the area who appeared to pose a threat.

Was the mystery spider here? Or was it somebody else?

She spotted a television in a store window, playing the news. She leaped to the street and walked over to it. Two newscasters sat in a polished studio, discussing the latest stories.

"... and, fortunately, the chicken was returned to retail. Our next top story is 'The Mysterious Case of the Spidermen'."

The screen transitioned to a collection of photographs of varying quality on a red background. The images depicted numerous figures either leaping between buildings, clinging to walls, or swinging from weblines. She recognised her own costume among them.

"Residents both of New York City and around the world have mourned the untimely death of Spiderman, now known to the public as Peter Parker, but eyewitnesses have reported seeing other spider-like heroes in the Brooklyn and Manhattan metropolitan areas. Five or six new Spidermen have been spotted and named by the superhero enthusiast community."

A slightly fuzzy picture of a figure clad in red, blue, and grey and wearing a long coat slid to the top left corner of the screen. A caption appeared underneath it, reading "Spiderman 2".

"Many have noticed the obvious similarities between not only the costume but the build of this mystery spider and the original Spiderman. Some believe the two to be the same person and think that the funeral was an elaborate ruse."

A clip of people chanting and holding signs saying "SPIDERMAN LIVES" showed up.

"As you can see, some people have been very vocal in their insistence."

A picture of Gwen, clad in her costume and swinging through the forest outside of Alchemax, slid to the top of the screen. Its caption read "Ghost Spider".

"This spider-person's arrival date and gender are hotly debated by the superhero enthusiast community, but most agree that they showed up in New York on the day of Spiderman's alleged death. Based on that coincidence, their colour scheme, and their tendency to show up out of nowhere, the community has dubbed this spider 'Spiderman's Ghost' or 'Ghost Spider'. A small but vocal part of the community believes them to actually be Spiderman's ghost."

GHOST SPIDER

Oh, so the spider-sense was referring to her.

The reporter droned on, now discussing a fellow clad in black and grey, while Gwen let her thoughts roam free.

It was coincidental to the point of being ironic that she thought of herself as a ghost and was now called Ghost Spider. She supposed it was a fitting moniker. Maybe she should adopt it. After all, Spiderwoman wasn't incredibly imaginative. Ghost Spider was all-new, all-different.

Of course, it hammered home the point that Gwen was a ghost. She didn't want to forget that. Considering what she had seen from the other dimension, she wasn't supposed to be alive; at least, she assumed so. And considering that the mystery spider was male and resembled Spider-Pete, it was likely true in other dimensions as well. Maybe she should be dead, but since she was here, she was going to make the most of the time she had before she died for real.

Did her dad know she was missing? Was he freaked out? Was he scared? Was he sad?

No, she didn't want to think about that. Gwen looked around instead, trying to distract herself.

Strangely for a Saturday evening, the street was empty. Snowflakes drifted lazily from the dark clouds above and settled on the asphalt, softening outlines with a thin veneer of white. It was cold, oddly cold for early October, oddly cold considering the warmer weather in the past week.

Was it a side effect of the dimensional collider? She had no way of knowing.

RELATIVE CHAOS

The spider-sense cut through her stream of thought. Gwen sighed and prepared herself for battle. "CHAOS" was never a good sign.

A grey-haired woman turned a corner and walked down the road.

What sort of threat did an older lady pose?

Oh wait; she knew that older lady. That was Peter's aunt. Or mother. Probably aunt.

Mrs. Parker seemed to recognise Gwen instantly. "You're that spider-ghost from the news," she remarked.

Gwen nodded. She wasn't going to deny being a ghost. After a pause, she said, "I'm sorry about your ne-"

ATOMIC DISJUNCTION

"-frick." Gwen spazzed briefly, pressing her hand against the window to stabilise herself.

The woman stifled a chuckle with her hand. "Are you all right, young lady?"

Gwen straightened herself and brusquely brushed the snow off of her head and shoulders. "Yes! Never better! I'm doing juuust fi- augh!" She interrupted her own statement with a startled yell as she spazzed out again and keeled over.

Mrs. Parker strode to her side. "Do you need help? Is there anything I can do for you? A doctor or something?"

Gwen did a kip-up and landed on her feet. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I've got this. I can do it on my own."

"It certainly doesn't look like it, but to each their own. Now, what was it that you were saying about my ne-frick?"

"Nephew. Nephew. I'm sorry about him, Mrs. Parker."

Mrs. Parker nodded and smiled ruefully. "I knew he was going to get hurt one of these days. I just… thinking about it doesn't prepare you for it actually happening."

"I understand."

Mrs. Parker shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Those other spiders, if you see them, tell them I'd love to meet them. I'd love to get to know Peter's… his, uh, replacements. I'll give you my address. Feel free to stop by whenever you need." She searched through her coat pockets and looked up. "Do you have paper?"

Gwen handed Mrs. Parker her notepad and pen. The older lady jotted down an address and handed them back.

"Thank you. I'll try to find the rest of them," Gwen said. She leaped into the air and swung off, eyes open for trouble.

First | Previous | Next (finally!)

[missmyloko]

What’s In a Dance? Part 11

A bit short this week as Christmas preparations are underway ^^

Tora, Tora (とらとら) - Tiger, Tiger

Image courtesy of Moekokome on Instagram. Another ozashiki song for holiday fun time ^^

Lyrics

Senri hashiru yona yabu no naka wo, 千里走るよな藪の中を, From 1,000 Ri out in the middle of the grove, Minasan nozoite gorōji mase. 皆さん覗いてごろうじませ。 Everyone, please take a peek. Kin no hachimaki tasuki ni, 金の鉢巻きたすきに, Wearing a golden headband and cord, Watōnai ga en yaraya to, 和藤内がえんやらやと, Watōnai, with much effort, Toraeshi kedamono wa. 捕らえし獣は。 Has captured a beast. Tora to-ra to-ra tora, とらとーら とーらとら, Tora, tora, tora, tora, Tora to-ra to-ra tora, とらとーら とーらとら, Tora, tora, tora, tora, Tora to-ra to-ra tora! とらとーら とーらとら! Tora, tora, tora, tora!

The Breakdown

While being a very fun game, this song has a great amount of back story that makes it even more fun to enjoy! This song/game is basically a glorified Jankenpon (Rock-Paper-Scissors), where the guest and geimaiko are separated by a screen. By the time the song gets to the “Tora Tora” part they have to choose one of three roles to play: Watōnai, The Hero - Spear Stabbing Pose Watōnai’s Mother, The Old Crone - Hunched Over Pose The Tiger - Crawling Pose Watōnai himself is a legendary historical figure, whose real name was Koxinga/Coxinga (who, you may have guessed by the spelling, was Chinese). His character can be seen in Kabuki and Bunraku plays under the name of Koukusenya Kassen (国性爺合戦), which is the Japanese way of spelling “The Battles of Koxinga.” I won’t go into great detail about him here, but he’s basically a hero. In order to make the game fair one character has to be stronger and weaker to another, so this is where we see the addition of the Tiger, who’s mentioned in the song, and Watōnai’s mother, also known as The Old Crone, who is not. The order of who beats who is as follows: Watōnai defeats The Tiger (a bit obvious) The Tiger beats Watōnai’s Mother (ouch) Watōnai’s Mother beats Watōnai (hehe) The Mother is often referred to as The Old Crone because her pose is that of an old woman who’s leaning on her cane. The refrain of “Tora, Tora” is sung until one side is victorious over the other, with the penalty usually being a shot of alcohol. As for other background information, this song is pretty straightforward, besides one part right at the beginning. A Ri (里) is an antiquated unit of measurement, which was approximately 3.9km (2.4mi) long. So, 1,000 Ri is 3900km (2,400mi), thus telling the listener that it’s a pretty far distance. 

Each Kagai’s Version

Since this isn’t a dance that’s considered an official part of any dance school’s repertoire (just like Kin No Shachihoko), it’s done with the same music and movements in each kagai. To that end, here are a few examples of it being played:

Two Maiko and a Guest This version, featuring Umeraku (梅らく) and Umesaya (梅さや) of Umeno in Kamishichiken, shows the maiko explaining the game to the customer and then acting it out. One Maiko and Many Guests A much longer version, featuring Miena (美恵菜) of Ishihatsu (石初) in Miyagawa Cho, shows the game played again and again with different guests. It also includes captions for what each figure is (sorry, it’s in Japanese), so it’s pretty good to show how this game works. Tanekazu (たね和) is the jikata here who constantly keeps the beat up! A Hangyoku and a Geisha A lively pair from Asakusa in Tokyo, it’s a great way to illustrate how the song and dance don’t change across the country ^^

______________________________________________________________________

The lyrics provided were translated by myself and gathered from multiple sources; I began with a set that a friend had listed, compared it to two other sets (this was one of them), and figured out which made the most sense when written out as some versions just wrote the hiragana versions of a few kanji and it made the meanings a bit more ambiguous to people who are not fluent in Japanese. In the original version some older forms of common kanji were used so I updated them as this may also confuse people.

[taiblogcomics]

Down, Down, and Nearby

Hey there, Toledo, Ohio. Just because we finished a story arc last update doesn’t mean we can’t do more Red Hood and the Outlaws. Gotta make up for lost time, even though I have way more Suicide Squads on the back burner. That’s more the bimonthly vs monthly releases of the issues, though. Even if I kept up and did one a month of each, I’d still have more Suicide Squad on the back burner~

Here’s a cool cover:

See, this is the sort of cover I wish we got more of. Forget those covers of just a bunch of characters posing as a team. A single, effective image that thematically sums up the issue. You probably couldn’t do this every issue, or that’d get boring too, but I find this way more eye-catching than the one from last issue. I would wear this as a T-shirt. Plus you get the effective symbolism of it being a reference to the polybags from the Death of Superman story. This is a good goddamn cover~

We open in a gloomy park, where a person whose face is kept out of frame is reading a newspaper. This newspaper is excellent at providing exposition, as it informs us that the Outlaws are back in Gotham. We can’t just show that with an establishing shot or caption, it needs to be a newspaper headline that informs the characters as well. Anyway, our shadowy figure informs his guest that he broke him out of Arkham for a simple job, and afterwards he’s free to go. The companion agrees, revealing himself as Solomon Grundy in the process. The shadowy figure then departs, telling Grundy to enjoy himself while he’s out there. It’s not a bad establishing scene, I just think the newspaper is some shoddy exposition~

Instead, we rejoin our protagonists (hey, I hear they’re back in Gotham now) caring for Bizarro, who is not doing well. Despite the previous issue ending with a declaration of his death, it seems the big guy is not quite shuffled off from this mortal coil quite yet. Artemis thinks he should be in an actual hospital, but they can’t really do that. First, most hospitals aren’t equipped to do Bizarros, and secondly, they’re also international war criminals now, thanks to their actions in Qurac. Artemis also has the bedside manner of a scorpion, as when Jason tells Bizarro he’s going to be fine if he just hangs in there, she asks why he would lie at a time like this. Ma Gunn (remember her?) asks them to take it outside.

A day later, the pair of them are facing the grim reality. They were told Bizarro had a shelf life from the moment they met him, but it doesn’t make it any easier to see their friend slowly deteriorating in front of them. Artemis is especially upset, since she just saw her friend Akila explode in the last issue. However, they don’t have long to dwell on it, as suddenly Ma Gunn informs them of a news report that’s just come on. Solomon Grundy is rampaging downtown, not five blocks away. The pair run out, and Artemis actually even takes a moment to give Bizarro a gentle kiss before she leaves. Maybe her bedside manner’s not so awful after all.

Grundy’s out tearing up a street fair, so we open on a terrific full-page splash image of Solomon Grundy hefting a dunk tank with a clown in it over his head. Solomon Grundy in this one is one of those incarnations where he can only repeat the “Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday” poem, so Artemis kicks him in the face while shouting her own name too. This is funny, but Jason’s quips about “really, you’re the Solomon Grundy?” are less so. Jason opens fire with both guns, but Grundy just swats him aside before his banter can go on for too long.

Back in their hideout, Ma Gunn is reading a children’s book to Bizarro, who suddenly wakes up and proclaims he has to go help his friends. Yeah, he can hear them from five blocks away. He hears everything, all the time. So he has heard that he’s dying. Ma Gunn warns him that if he knows that, he must also know that if he gets up and leaves now, he won’t make it back. Bizarro simply says that yes, he knows that. But his friends are more important. And he flies off, busting down the wall and knocking over a plot point for later. We won’t worry about that for now.

We return to the battle at the carnival, where it clearly hasn’t been going well for Jason. All his dumb quips and gunfire can’t save him from a super-strong zombie. His helmet’s cracked, and Grundy’s about to piledrive a fire hydrant into his face. But he’s saved in a big two-page splash where Bizarro flies in and decks Grundy in the face. Jason keeps begging Bizarro to stay down, but Bizarro replies “down is opposite of helping”, and punches Grundy one more time, knocking him down. Bizarro then keeps wailing on him, shouting for him to stop hurting his friends. Artemis gets up and puts a hand on his shoulder, asking him to stop and go home. Bizarro replies that he is home, he’s here with his friends. He lays down slowly, and Artemis and Jason support him, thanking him for the save. He asks them for a favour as his eyes go dark, and holds out his little plush Superman doll that Jason gave him. He asks them to take care of “Pup Pup”, and he dies.

They actually give a full page this, no dialogue or anything. Just a blank page of Bizarro’s last moments, with Jason and Artemis kneeling at their friend’s side. The empty space it uses realy makes it feel heavy, it’s good symbolism. Jason stands up, frustratedly beginning to spout ideas to bring him back. A Lazarus pit, or something. Artemis covers Bizarro with his cape, and says what they can do is mourn the passing of a hero. Jason is still trying to come to grips with it, protesting that Bizarro wasn’t just a lump of Kryptonian DNA, he was a friend, struggling (and failing) to get that last word out.

Artemis stoops and picks up Pup Pup, and she and Jason just stand close and quiet for a while. But as they stand mourning, suddenly they notice a presence behind them. A presence with a flowing red cape, floating in the air, and bearing a glowing S-shield. Both of them are struck with electricity, and Lex Luthor, in his full Superman armour, floats down, intrigued by Bizarro’s body in particular.

If every issue of Red Hood was as good as this one, I probably wouldn’t be reviewing it right now. And honestly, the Artemis/Bizarro issues are better than the Starfire/Arsenal  ones ever were. This is a good comic, and I will actually encourage everyone to seek this issue out. Everything from the cover to Jason and Artemis reacting to the ailing Bizarro, to Bizarro’s actual death… Everything just works. Notably, there’s not a single “inner monologue” box in the whole issue. The characters are allowed to just express their feelings out loud, and it works. It’s a melancholy issue, and it comes off way more genuine than any death in Suicide Squad ever has.

And hey, it promises Lex Luthor next time, and in our experience so far, that’s also led to good issues, so I look forward to the next one~

[wazafam]

In case there would ever be any doubt about Dr. Sheldon Cooper's status as a nerd (which is hard enough to even imagine), one would only need to take a look at the shirts he wears on a regular basis. Over the course of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon builds up quite the impressive wardrobe of hundreds of shirts referencing topics ranging from the scientific to rites of science fiction passage to more niche corners of nerd fandom.

RELATED: The Big Bang Theory: 5 Things Season 1 Sheldon Would Hate About Finale Leonard (& 5 He Would Be Proud Of)

Sheldon's personality and emotional maturity in particular might change a lot over the years, but his sartorial style is a relative constant in the ever-changing world of the series. Some shirts are worn more frequently than others, but there are those that stand out as a cut above the rest.

10 D20 - "I Win"

The nerdy pursuits of Sheldon and his group of friends are varied and constantly changing with the times, but one subject matter the guys always come back to is Dungeons & Dragons.

That game gets a cheeky reference in this shirt that Sheldon often wears: a vibrant red t-shirt depicting a D20 dice, also known as an Icosahedron, with a simple, to-the-point caption — "I win." The D20 is one of the most commonly used dice in the gameplay of Dungeons & Dragons, which makes the shirt's reference one that any fellow D&D fan would understand.

9 73

This next shirt gets to the heart of Sheldon's love for the beauty of mathematics and science alike, even when the peculiarities of both fields might not excite others as much as they do him. At first glance, the shirt is both simple and confusing: a blue tee with the number 73 in a circle.

But to understand this shirt's significance, Sheldon perhaps explains it best: "The best number is 73. ... 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th and its mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying — hang onto your hats — 7 and 3. ... In binary, 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001. Exactly the same."

8 Old-Fashioned Locomotive Train

Sheldon Cooper loves many things: routines, physics, flags, sitting in the same spot on the same couch every day. But one of his biggest passions is trains in all their forms.

RELATED: The Big Bang Theory: The 10 Best Comic Book Store Scenes, Ranked

This shirt is yet another simple but perfectly in character design fitting for Sheldon's special interests: a mustard yellow tee featuring an old-fashioned locomotive train, precisely the kind Sheldon probably most wanted to conduct.

7 The Wesley Crushers

This next shirt touches on an incredibly niche area of the nerd world, an incredibly niche area of the series as a whole.

The third season episode "The Wheaton Recurrence" finds Sheldon and friends dueling against his longtime nemesis Wil Wheaton in a bowling tournament. It's during these games that Sheldon comes up with a name for his bowling team, and a shirt to match it: The Wesley Crushers. This is a  reference to Wheaton's Star Trek character and is stamped on the back of a mustard-yellow bowling shirt.

6 The Greatest American Hero

The Big Bang Theory is filled with references to plenty of mainstream nerd fare, whether Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, or countless other options. But sometimes, the series has fun with referencing lesser-known or lasting pieces of popular culture, such as this Sheldon shirt does.

This red tee features the logo of the short-lived 1980s series The Greatest American Hero. Perhaps best remembered for its theme song, "Believe It or Not," the quirky series hasn't quite held up in the pop culture consciousness in the way other superhero shows have.

5 Television Test Pattern Bars

Sheldon's love of television isn't just limited to sci-fi shows, as this frequently worn shirt makes clear. At first glance, it might not be obvious what this design refers to, largely it's more or less obsolete.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that this baby-blue tee features a representation of the classic multi-color television test pattern known as the SMPTE color bars sequence.

4 Evolution of Man and Robot

Sheldon may look down on biology in all its forms, and quite regularly, too, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying a shirt design that humorously depicts the evolution of humans — with a twist.

RELATED: The Big Bang Theory: 10 Relationships That Fans Were Rooting For From The Start (5 That Surprised Everyone)

The red shirt design makes use of the traditional series of human development but takes things one step further as the yellow graphic design concludes with human's technological evolution into a robot.

3 The Vitruvian Superman

Yet another of Sheldon's best shirts perfectly blends his favorite worlds of science, science fiction, and superheroes. Though occasionally hard to distinguish due to the lightness of the print on the dark blue background, this design is an homage to Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

But rather than the traditional depiction of human body proportions, this design includes a crossover with the hero Superman, cape and all, in the pose of the Vitruvian Man.

2 Melting Rubik's Cube

One of the more artistic designs in all of Sheldon's wardrobe, this shirt is also honestly just plain cool to look at it.

Still in keeping with Sheldon's love of all things nerdy, this plain black tee features everyone's favorite brain-twisting toy, the Rubik's cube. But, as can be clearly seen from the vibrant rainbow puddle at the bottom, the Rubik's cube is somehow artfully melting with no clear cause.

1 The Flash

Sheldon Cooper loves many superheroes, but from the beginning of the series, it's clear that he has a true favorite in the Flash. It makes sense, given the Flash's own background as a scientist, and Sheldon's pride in his line of work.

Therefore, it's only natural that perhaps the most iconic shirt to be associated with his character is this simple athletic red tee featuring the traditional logo of the Flash — a yellow lightning bolt emblazed on a white circle background — with white ringed stripes on the sleeves.

NEXT: The Big Bang Theory: Each Main Character's Best & Worst Workplace Decision

The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon's 10 Best T-Shirts, Ranked from https://ift.tt/3czpVtR

[rayadraws]

Hero FB adventures

This is the result of me, @jenny-opm, @shorthairsonic, @dibujos-de-la-orilla and @criscura talking about the concept of our boys (and their friends) using Facebook and what that might lead to... It led to a really fun discussion, so I’ve collected it as points here for anyone curious. It’s about 2.6k long so I’ll put it behind a Read More. Enjoy XD

Dr. Kuseno, being a technical genius, takes to Facebook like a duck to water, having no trouble navigating the site. However, he still acts like a stereotypical grandpa on there - when Genos posts a status along the lines of “Rainy day, perfect for a movie” Kuseno comments with “Indeed my boy, try not to catch a cold and send Saitama my regards. Kuseno.” He occasionally also teases Genos, such as sending him a photo of an electric whisk with the caption “your next upgrade is ready.” (In a misplaced attempt at being kind he tags Saitama in all ads for hair growth treatment he comes across… but at least he also tags him when he finds an unusually good sale)

It is actually thanks for a birthday post from Kuseno that Saitama learns when Genos’ birthday is the first time! He catches the borg sitting and smiling while looking a his phone, which is unusual - usually if he’s on the phone it's something from the HA, which normally has him frowning.

Neither Saitama nor Genos have a lot of friends on FB (to start with, at least). It’s mostly their closest friends such as King and Mumen. Genos also has Metal Bat added, who gives him (good natured) crap on near everything he posts.

Bang is the hopelessly confused Facebook grandpa, struggling to understand how it works. Poor Charanko does his best to help him… “How do I search here?” “You have to go to the search bar… No, that’s where you write your status” “My what?”

Once he does get the hang of it, Bang comments every time someone posts about themselves doing any sort of sporty activity with “Looking good! Ever think about coming by the dojo?” (It gets to the point that FB warns him for posting the same thing over and over and everyone is starting to suspect that his account has been hacked by a virus that just keeps promoting his dojo - poor Charanko is accused of setting it up)

Metal Bat SPAMS FB with videos of Zenko’s piano shows. Everyone knows about her recitals a week in advance because he keeps hyping it up. He also has a soft spot for posting glamour selfies.

Saitama posts a lot of blurry cat photos with no caption and sometimes food pictures. He posts at all kinds of random hours of the day, almost never answers anyone, his photos are low quality and he posts a lot of odd YouTube links.

Genos likes every photo of Saitama and uploads his own - somehow, Saitama always looks far less derpy in Genos’ photos (he’s studied all his best angles).

Genos has no shame and starts liking all photos of Saitama, going through every tag ever - meaning once in a while someone who went to high school with Saitama suddenly gets a like from Demon Cyborg on a photo taken 12 years ago. Unsurprisingly, people are SHOCKED at this and it takes them a while to figure out why - until they notice how he keeps tagging Saitama on his page. This is the only kind of interaction they get online with Demon Cyborg and people start tagging Saitama in photos in the hope of getting response from him. They slyly get photos of him in public and post and tag him in the hope of a response. As long as he’s awake (he’s a heavy sleeper) Genos likes them instantly, unknowingly rewarding his fans for their behaviour.

Genos never accepts friend requests from any non-heroes but Saitama sometimes does because “maybe that name’s familiar idk whatever” and some of Genos’ fangirls manage to befriend him on Facebook, consequently seeing his photos… causing them to just about spontaneously combust - “Did you SEE that photo of Demon Cyborg in an apron?!”

Genos notices this and tells Saitama that he is NOT to post his 124 bedhead pics of Genos to Facebook. Saitama forgets(?) and posts 53 of them anyway before he remembers he wasn’t supposed to. He tries to cheer Genos up - “But look at how many likes and shares they’re getting! This doesn’t even happen with the cat pictures!” Genos is not impressed to see his groggy-ass self on a million message boards (and tells Saitama that “...to be fair, Sensei, sometimes it’s hard to tell if they’re cat pictures.”)

Saitama is enjoying this game (not quite realizing the scope of this all) - sneaks a pair of cat ears on Genos, takes a photo and uploads, enjoying the storm afterwards.

Facebook suggests that Saitama upload a photo album that is just the same photo of Genos doing the dishes at slightly different angles and he’s like “why not” and posts that as well. This is followed up by a little video of him singing quietly and dancing a little while washing the dishes.

One day they come across a group of Demon Cyborg fans on the street who come up to them and ask if Genos could sign their photo books - they’ve printed a bunch of pictures from their FBs, full of like bedhead and apron pics (“Mr. Demon Cyborg sir I LOVED that video of you dancing with the mop!”). Genos can’t even process what’s happening and signs them with a stunned expression, while Sai takes one of the books, looking through it and pointing out his favourites. “Hey, I remember this one! Aw, dude, where’s this shirt? You look nice in it, I haven’t seen it in a while.” (“Mr Demon Cyborg I didn’t know you had feet slippers!” - a small part of Genos dies)

Saitama starts getting bombarded with requests on Facebook. “Get him sleeping!” “Get him laughing!” “Can you get him to pose in that white shirt, maybe with the ripped jeans?”

Saitama starts uploading little videos, such as himself telling Genos a bunch of puns as they go through a store. Eventually he figures out how to cut videos into clips and bombards Genos for two days to get “material”. It does get a bit overwhelming in the end however, so he tells the fans that he can’t take more pictures because his phone ran out of memory. To his despair, this leads to fans sending them shipments of memory cards, cameras and gift cards for even more stuff and it’s all very unnecessary. He even receives a brand new phone from “a fan”.

(The good side is, with all this training he is getting progressively better at taking pictures)

One day, the daily picture he uploads is very sad - just an empty chair with the caption “He’s at repairs” :(

Another day however, Saitama goes to upload a photo of Genos in his apron, but it’s… the wrong apron picture. He accidentally uploads a naughty pic, oops. It’s not the most obviously naughty one, not enough to get them banned from FB (and Genos has no nipples, anyway…) but it’s pretty obviously not meant for the public.

Genos is at first (rightfully) mad at Saitama… until they get like a million really nice apron lingerie sets in the mail. To get back at the other, he uploads a photo of a bare-chested Saitama - not at all prepared for the onslaught of “HOLY SHIT” responses, growing possessive instead of mad when the fans start screaming for more.

Saitama tries to take a good shot of himself but eventually Genos, even through being annoyed, takes the camera from him and gets a good picture. Fans ask for even more and a bewildered Saitama replies with “Um, sure?” uploading a half-naked bathroom selfie, where he’s still wet with a towel wrapped around himself. People go wild. (Genos can’t decide if he wants to delete the picture or share it so it’s on his wall as well. He is… conflicted.) (A less successful picture shows Saitama absolutely ripped, but unfortunately with a prominent double chin, like that time he played video games at the HA - selfies are hard…) (“Mr Saitama, can I request the ripped jeans again, but this time with you wearing them..?”

Unfortunately their shenanigans do not go unnoticed at they get called in to HA’s Public Relations for the umpteenth time. Their attempts at getting the heroes to take it down a few notches is made more difficult by them referring to Amai’s latest “I’m about to have sex” album cover as proof they aren’t out of line.

Amai Mask, in his defence, maintains that his pictures are “classy” and “done professionally”. Saitama responds with gesturing to a photo of Naked Apron Genos frying eggs - “This is classy!”. They continue with pointing out that more than likely, if they stopped, people would complain to the HA and they’d have to explain it was the HA who stopped them in the first place... (And really, the HA shouldn’t complain, Saitama and Genos are earning them so many donations….) "THEY CURED MY CANCER AND WATERED MY CROPS AND BLESSED MY CAT HERE'S MONEY" - “They did what now?!” - the HA representatives don’t even understand what this means but eventually lets it all slide. (The only one who understands the references is their intern managing the official HA twitter, but no one cares about their opinion…)

With all this material, Genos’ fan club is getting a lot more activity than Amai Mask’s, which doesn’t go unnoticed. Amai tries to upload “accidental photos” too in an attempt to become the centre of attention, but they are all obviously fake, such as “I woke up like this” pictures of him with perfect hair and makeup, nothing like Demon Cyborg’s messy hair and squinting eyes.

Amai tries again - “Oh no guys you won't believe this but, i was doing my make up right and omg my cat walked on top of my phone and took this photo of me lol” - someone digs up an old interview where Amai states that he’s allergic to cats (that someone is Genos). He also uploads a photo of a cup from Starbucks which has “To the prettiest guy I’ll see today” written on it and claims he got it (until someone points out that’s a photo from Google).

Meanwhile on Saitama’s FB page, a new video of an unaware Genos twitching in his sleep has just been uploaded, caption “look he’s dreaming shhh”

Saitama just happens to be awake late that evening and passes the time surfing FB, commenting “y’all never go to bed huh” when he sees the immediate responses - given how big Genos’ fanclub is, there’s always someone who’s awake. In fact, this video is more than likely to wake a number of fans up to scream over it. Saitama makes a little livestream showing off their cups as he brews himself some tea (“this is my cup. That one’s Genos’. We found it in a thrift store after he accidentally dropped the last one.” He finishes with showing Genos sleeping again and saying “see he’s sleeping now you all go to bed too”.

One day he posts a still picture of the sleeping borg, with the caption being just “I love him”.

It takes a while, but once the fans understand that their love is real and not changing, some of them start to (not always so) subtly suggest he should propose, such as tagging Saitama whenever a jewellery store has a good offer (they’ve picked up on his love for sales).

One day everything is quiet, then Saitama posts simply “He said yes” (or perhaps it’s just a picture of their hands wearing the rings) and FB EXPLODES. People ask for photos and Saitama replies with “All I got is him ugly crying oil everywhere” and the fans go “POST IT.”

After they’ve gotten engaged things get a bit more quiet, with Saitama just posting the occasional update like “he’s going to marry me” and “he’s going to be my husband”. “I want the date to be on his birthday but that’s too long of a wait” ,“he loves me”.

Fast-forward a bit. It’s been quiet for a while. Genos has barely posted anything but one day Saitama’s FB friends see that he’s been tagged in a picture that turns out to be a photo where Saitama appears to be passed out on the futon, drooling in his sleep and surrounded by empty pizza cartons. Caption “my husband to be”. (The picture completely blows up on FB)

Fans start speculating on their outfits, causing Saitama to sweat - he hadn’t planned that far ahead. He asks for suggestions and they end up covering the entire colour spectrum. He even enquires a little bit to hear if there’s anyone who’s a real actual wedding planner among their fans, it might work out…

In the end, they decide on a small private wedding, but Saitama does suggest he might be able to livestream it. He gives no date or anything to go by, however. In an attempt to keep it hidden, they end up hosting it at the dojo, hoping the stairs might also deter some potential invaders. (Bang is more than happy to host - maybe he can convince some people to join the dojo. The stairs aren’t a problem for the heroes, mostly - King does text Saitama with “I’m here can you pick me up” once he arrives at the bottom whereas Mumen handles them himself - but makes sure to arrive very early so he’ll have time for a shower before the ceremony. Saitama suddenly starts the livestream out of the blue on FB, writing “k its happenin!” and a bunch of fans tune in. (Hopefully Bang won’t hear about the livestream or he’ll start advertising on it, too…)

They get married!!

(Back to where we started - how does Kuseno react to all this FB shenanigans? Well, more than likely he doesn’t spend too much time on FB, but he does check periodically, probably catching at least a couple of the pictures of Genos sleeping and in his apron and whatnot. As always, he replies good naturedly - “glad you’re getting your rest son”.

Kuseno also has a habit of going full-on Geek and writing very long explanations regarding Genos’ body sometimes - such as explaining why he twitches in his sleep, or an explanation on how his cooling systems work in response to someone writing “WAAAHHH WHY IS HE SO COOOL” on one picture. Unfortunately, Kuseno doesn’t realize that his FB is set to friends only, so only Saitama and Genos see these comments…)

Bonus: Saitama occasionally tags Genos in pictures he takes of cheap bootleg Demon Cyborg merch he comes across, disappointing fans hoping to see a new photo of him, only to be met by his asymmetrical poorly painted face on an action figure. “It’s not even official merch…”

Saitama has a habit of buying the especially poorly made ones because “they’re funny”.

One fan asks one day if Demon Cyborg owns any merch and Sai uploads a photo of all the stuff he keeps in the apartment with the caption “And even more stuff at his docs”.

The fans are stunned - but some are also like “ok but where do I get these things?!”

"says he special ordered them or w/e" "oh this other one was from HA" "oh... he says it's out of stock" "he has the stock" ”Maybe if you ask him real nice. Doubt he’ll let go tho he only has like 278 of them” ”...he informs me he has 289”

The fans try to barter with Genos, such as offering to draw a NEW Caped Baldy posted in return for one of those charms. At this point Saitama is starting to wonder why he has to be the bridge between fans wanting Caped Baldy merch and Genos. Genos doesn’t seem to want to talk directly to his fans, but eventually agrees to use Saitama’s account, basically pretending to be him - the fans do eventually get their merch, but are confused as to why Saitama suddenly seems to turn a lot more serious and formal whenever it comes to merch talk (and is that 10 page terms of service really necessary?!) but at least in the end they get a super rare piece of merch not available anywhere else (because Genos bought them all).

[shitz-suji]

A headcanon that nobody asked for

-There are a lot of fan-operated “official” All Might photo blogs/IG accounts online.

-But there is only one legit All Might photo blog/IG account that is actually run by Toshinori himself.

-@IAMHEREAMPM. 

-Toshinori gave up trying to find some version of @AllMightOfficial that wasn’t taken while in the process of making a photo blog/IG account for All Might when he was posing as his own secretary (Vigilantes Chapter 6.6)

-He thought it would be a nice idea if he had his own social media so that he could show people the parts of his life that the news cameras don’t usually capture.

-It’s so obnoxiously him. All caps. A reference to his catchphrase “It’s fine now! For I am here!” and the American convenience store chain AM/PM for whatever reason. And it literally reflects the fact that he is always there to save the day. He thinks it’s pretty great.

-He originally had it as @IAMHEREAM, with the ‘AM’ standing for ‘All Might’, but was worried that people would read it as “I AM HERE AM”.

-Posts video clips of him dead lifting weights and training while in his muscle form from time to time

-There’s also cropped selfies of him and Tsukauchi Naomasa with the captions being lowkey dad jokes like #workinghard #orhardlyworking

-Tsukauchi’s face is always cropped above his smile because it would be a disaster if the public knew the identity of one of All Might’s personal friends.

-The account is also a place for him to sometimes publicly share his excitement for upcoming blockbusters movies

-Posts screenshots from trailers of said upcoming blockbusters with captions that sometimes look like this. It really depends on how excited he is for the movie.

-The bulk of his photo posts are actually pictures of food from when he has the time to go all out on homemade meals that he cooks himself.

-He is very proud of his own cooking and puts the effort in to make it look really aesthetically pleasing.

-Occasional filters if it makes his food look even better

-There are also pictures posts of food from the very few occasions when he treats himself to a drink.

-Tsukauchi shows up in these photos because he was Toshinori’s go-to drinking buddy back then. (His face is still cropped out for personal reasons)

-When Toshinori started teaching at U.A, he started posting a lot more pictures from outings with the other teachers

-Follows the photo blog/IG accounts of his U.A colleagues/hero acquaintances/favorite directors/favorite actors if they have one

-Will not hesitate to drop thoughtful compliment comments on their posts

-His followers are so warm and supportive because there is absolutely nothing to hate about his photo blog/IG account

-When Toshinori retires from the hero scene after chapter 95, there’s an increase in goofy selfies and pictures of staff room antics with the other teachers

-If he ever feels down about being retired, all he needs to do is browse through his posts and read the comments because people are still interested in what he’s doing and how he’s doing because he’s still the #1 hero in their hearts.

-His food posts is usually something he cooked for himself, like this. The caption would probably be #私の料理 (my cooking) #すき焼き (sukiyaki) #夕食ができました (DINNER IS SERVED)

Another BNHA x IG headcanon nobody asked for

Aizawa Shouta (Eraserhead)

Yamada Hizashi (Present Mic)

Kayama Nemuri (Midnight)

[regrettablewritings]

Dios Meme-o! (Rafael Barba Mini-Series, Pt. 6)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 7 Part 8

Frankly, it had to have been when Lucia got involved that Rafael knew things were going too far. Even Carmen of all people was beginning to join in on the fun! (While Rafael really did appreciate the cup of coffee waiting for him when he came into work that morning, but did she really have to include the receipt bearing the name “Abo-guapo”?) And all at once, it appeared that the dam keeping his cohorts in SVU at bay had buckled under pressure – and the typhoon of fresh, new memes.

The initial, unspoken agreement had been to not bring up memes around Rafael or to laugh about them in his presence. But it didn’t take long for Sonny to throw caution straight into the garbage and use the technical loophole of sending him his latest finds (though, always making sure to precede them with at least one contribution to the case). It didn’t take long for the likes of Fin, Rollins, and even Liv every once in a while, to follow suit in some way shape or form.

By the end of the third week of this madness, Rafael swore he’d seen it all: Gifs of him from the press conference, pastel edits (causing him to wonder what the significance of flower crowns even was), more crude comments about his hand veins and midsection pudge, photo compilations of himself in his attire from previous acclaimed cases. Every once in a while, he’d even receive a screenshot wherein somebody had clearly photoshopped themselves into a picture with him. These were interestingly enough some of the images that caused Rafael the most concern, seeing as they weren’t even using decent photos for their apparent intentions: Were they really supposed to look like a power couple, with him so clearly focused on the press and not by their clumsily Photoshopped-in figure standing behind him? They looked more like prosecutor and client than anything.

What, more gifs of him before the press? Wait, these ones had captions edited into them. Oh, hell, what do they say?

           Rafael Barba: I am here to address the rumors that have been circling about. I’ll be  upfront: Yes, (Y/N) and I have been seeing each other. No, we are not dating – we’ve             recently become engaged. I’ve loved her for many years in secrecy, and it shouldn’t be         a crime to want something beautiful in this harsh life –

“Ugh.” Rafael all but retched as he x-ed out of the newest link from Rollins. He glared once more at the message she’d written in the email:

           When were you gonna tell us that you were betrothed, Barba? I’m sure we would’ve  understood the harshness of your life ;).

The lawyer sighed heavily through his nose as he pressed against his forehead. Rollins had given him some crucial information yesterday, so he couldn’t completely hound on her for slacking off. Yet. But god, was his already thin patience eroding at a rapid rate.

By noon, just as he’d calmed down from the eerie feeling of being shipped with other real-life people, another message came through. This time, to his surprise, from Liv.

He rose a brow. No words; just a link. This could’ve gone one of two ways: Bad, or very bad. He knew better than to do anything about the message, and honestly should have just deleted it on site. But alas, curiosity was such a destructive trait of man, enough so as to overwhelm his sense of self-preservation out of grotesque intrigue. With the click of his laptop mouse, Rafael at least had an answer as to which direction this would go down in: It was a Buzzfeed article, so that meant very bad.

“ ‘Check Out the Attorney Everyone Wants to Call’ ” it read. Before he could stop his eyes from searching the page for more info, he found himself reading the embarrassing excuse for an article:

           The NYPD’s specialized squad, the Special Victims Unit, has had more than its fair share of rough roads. But luckily, they have a secret weapon:

Below lay a gif of Rafael stepping up to the podium on that fateful day where his looks would break the Internet. Inside of his own mind, Rafael screamed for gif-Rafael to retreat and run away before it was too late. Obviously, gif-Rafael persisted, over and over in an endless loop that would reset itself the moment he settled himself at the pedestal.

           Meet ADA Rafael Barba. He’s been with the 16th precinct for four years, and he’s   managed to make quite a splash for all of them. But let’s be real, it’s not just his smarts and courtroom prowess that the Internet has been talking about these last couple of days . . .

The next image was a photograph of Rafael mid-speech and even he had to admit: The angling was just right. The lighting and shadows worked together to properly define his profile in such an appealing way. It was a photo capable of damning a man.

           It turns out that ADA Barba is actually one Harvard-educated hottie!

The accompanying picture came from one of Rafael’s previous cases. One wherein his stance atop the courthouse steps looked artistically posed. With one foot still planted on a step higher than the other, briefcase clutched in one hand, suit tailored to fit, eyes looking elsewhere. Amateur modeling photographers would’ve been proud. To anyone else, he would have looked like those grand oil paintings depicting a conquering hero, the gleaming sunlight only serving to further this victorious suggestion. Even the tweet that the image came attached with went as far as to say, “LOOK AT THIS MAJESTIC MF.”

While visually this might have been the case (especially assuming he’d just exited the courthouse after a victorious trial), the reality was more likely that he had been contemplating getting pho for dinner and was trying to remember the name of that one noodle house a couple of blocks away. The article went on:

           No, seriously, if sexiness was a crime, this man would be guilty as charged!

Rafael couldn’t help but lift a brow at this. A law pun? Really? Hadn’t there been enough of those? He scrolled down further, his eyes first catching the image of him being surrounded by the press.

           Because of the nature of his job (and hopefully single personal life), there aren’t too  many photos of him for us to draw on. But don’t worry: The press has given the Internet just enough fodder to work with.

The image of him at arraignment court prior to the prolific AJ Martin case was posted, courtesy of the blue hellhole that was Tumblr. It was taken predominately from behind, given the position of the press at the time but from the way his head was turned, Rafael’s profile was made just noticeable enough for the original poster to freak out: “He could peck my eye out with that nose and I would thank him for it so long as he left me the other eye to still see him with.” The hashtags visible, aside from his name and title, included #dat profile doe, #LAWD, #such a noble nose, and #seriously tho that profile is perf i need to use it as reference for my art project.

Rafael could feel his teeth digging into his lips as they tucked themselves into his mouth. For a split second, he wondered if he was subconsciously trying to swallow himself.

            Some people are drawn to him for his eyes, the article read, offering an example in an enhanced photo of Rafael that managed to capture his eyes just enough to show that they weren’t an expected brown, but an enchanting green. Having been a tweet, the post’s source expressed that Rafael’s eyes “made them weak.”

           Some just can’t get over this guy’s designer duds, it went on. Beneath the text was a small photoset of four pictures: Each one of Rafael, of course, but each one also had him sporting vastly different color themes. In this one, springtime pink accessories stuck out against the darkness of his pinstriped suit. In that one, yet another dark suit . . . But orange was, in the grand scheme, quite the unusual color to be seen on most lawyers. Even in tie form. The third photo had been taken as he was leaving the courthouse, the billowing wind allowing for the yellow streak of his tie to flutter about, as well as to showcase that even his suspenders were brightly colored. And in the fourth one, purple. Everywhere. Maybe not in the charcoal grey of his suit jacket, but definitely in the primary color of his polka dotted tie, the lines running up and down his dress shirt, and the lightly-checkered pattern of his pocket square.

To say that these were mighty unusual colors to be found in the courtroom (and on an attorney for such horrific situations, no less) would be an understatement.

           And others? They’re finding completely different assets to be won over by! (All perfectly wonderful in their own right, of course.)

These “assets”, apparently, were his stomach and hands (surprise, surprise). Or, perhaps more specifically, the pudginess of his stomach and the veins that lined his hands, as suggested not only by Rafael’s own experience, but by the corresponding images for that particular line: Some of the very same posts he’d seen at the very beginning. The post about wanting to slurp up his hand veins, enthusiasm over his tummy-embellishing suspenders . . . It all came rushing back to Rafael with an internal shudder.

But apparently, not all of the images were of him: The next textual segment (But whichever physical attribute people have found themselves drawn to, one thing is for certain: They help make one clean-cut counselor) was followed by the image of a tan, cartoon fist popping out of a yellow sweater sleeve. The tweet it had come from included the words, “When you catch feelings for the perfect man but he’s a goddamn lawyer.” Rafael almost wanted to feel upset by the comment, but there was just too much about it to figure out what all to be peeved with.

Many are willing to risk it all for this Manhattan heartbreaker, the article proclaimed, their evidence coming in the form of a Twitter post stating exactly that. It was a photograph taken at a gala (God, it had to have been long ago, then), and Rafael just happened to be in just enough of the photo for the dapperness of his appearance to pop. In the background, however, was a man (whom Rafael recognized as a judge) with an expression that could easily be mistaken for subtle lusting. Of course, Judge Khachaturian was actually probably looking in Rafael’s general direction and likely at a woman off camera. But the Internet didn’t know that. Or rather, the Internet didn’t care to consider that.

The caption lining the top of the picture stated that “old man finna risk it all for Barba 😂😂😂.” This, of all things, caused Rafael’s mouth to hang open with shock. The idea of his superior (and much older superior at that) lusting after him left a bad taste in his mouth. But with one last line to go . . .

           But don’t worry: We’re sure he can use his smarts to get you out of it.

Simple, yes, but considering all that Rafael had to go through just to get to it, the cocktail of feelings within him was still quite present.

“Oh . . .” Rafael whispered shakily as he watched the gif version of himself raise a hand and retreat from the podium at the press conference. Despite the ridiculousness of the suggestion, his mind screamed at the gif, Now you leave!? His ever hungry but scowling eyes couldn’t help themselves from scanning the comments section below. Lot of Spanish terms being thrown around there by people who probably only knew them from the Latin Lover craze from the early 2000s. Like June Madoff’s comment on how he was such a “precinct papi”, or Barbra Cassahan, with her suburban mom-ness, having the creepy, middle-aged audacity to call him a “papi choulo.” (Which, Rafael thought in his tempered bitterness and attention to the misspell, was probably the most out of her comfort zone she was willing to travel.)

There was also Celia Esposito calling him “Barbaro Barba”, but he really wasn’t sure how comfortable he was being called a badass under such circumstances by a high schooler, creativity behind the nickname be damned.

But then . . . there was Julia “JuJuBean” Parson: “My friend’s sister sat in the gallery during the Jocelyn Paley case where ADA Barba was defending Jocelyn against Adam Cain. Y’all, she said Barba won the case by letting Cain choke him with his motherfucking *belt*!”

And, for the first time since this entire escapade began, Rafael couldn’t help but feel true a hint of pride. After all, it was by letting Cain choke him at all that he was able to convince the jury to plead guilty and send that bastard to jail where he belonged. He was honestly quite pleased with that little daring stunt, considering how worth it it was to experience such a dangerous discomfort. But even more so, he was just glad that someone had looked past the more superficial traits that everyone else was adoring in order to focus on something more important: His job and the crazy things he did to perform it.

. . . But then he read the replies to it: “OMFG” and “choke me, daddy 😩😩😩!” And those were just the ones he could see without clicking “see more replies.”

At that, Rafael’s eyelids practically retreated back into his skull as his eyes popped more than he even knew themselves capable of doing. The loud clap of his laptop being shut closed resonated within the office, followed by huffy breaths of embarrassment. He could feel his face burning. Of all the implied fetishes and kinks he’d seen centering about him, the use of the belt to choke him was an entirely new one, and one that he could very easily proclaim he had no desire to try again.

ENOUGH!!!

A ragged sigh was released into the air as Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose. Probably harder than he even needed to, anyway. He regarded the time ticking by in the corner of his laptop screen. It was still too early to start sipping bourbon like tomorrow was a dream, but not too early to grab a bite and pop a tablet or two of ibuprofen. Not necessarily what he was in the mood for, but it was a start. Anything to get away from his laptop, which he now deep down felt had been completely sullied by now from all the meme trash he had to view upon it.

Grabbing his phone and wallet, he exited his office and made Carmen aware that he was going on his lunch break. As he headed for the elevator, he could’ve sworn that he’d caught a glimpse of the Buzzfeed article on her computer. He fought against the urge to shake his head in somberness: He’d officially lost her; she was too far gone into the rabbit hole to pull her out of it. Exiting the Hogan Place, Rafael felt alone amongst the crowded streets of Manhattan.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/donald-trump-orders-creation-of-national-heroes-garden/

Donald Trump orders creation of 'national heroes' garden

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Media caption“This monument will never be desecrated,” President Trump said at Mount Rushmore

US President Donald Trump has ordered the creation of a “National Garden of American Heroes” to defend what he calls “our great national story” against those who vandalise statues.

His executive order gives a new task force 60 days to present plans, including a location, for the garden.

He insists the new statues must be lifelike, “not abstract or modernist”.

A number of US statues have been pulled down since the police killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd in May.

Monuments linked to the slave-owning Confederacy during the Civil War in America have been especially targeted in the nationwide protests ignited by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

President Trump has defended Confederate symbols as a part of American heritage.

In a speech to mark Independence Day at Mount Rushmore, he condemned the anti-racism protesters who toppled statues.

He said America’s national heritage was being threatened – an emotive appeal for patriotism.

The garden – to be in a place of natural beauty near a city – is to be opened by 4 July 2026, Mr Trump’s executive order says. State authorities and civic organisations are invited to donate statues for it.

President Trump’s choice of historical figures to be commemorated in the garden is likely to be controversial.

The list of “historically significant” Americans includes predictably Founding Fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but also frontiersman Davy Crockett, evangelical Christian preacher Billy Graham, Ronald Reagan and World War Two heroes Douglas MacArthur and George Patton.

There will also be statues of African American civil rights campaigners Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Americans celebrate the French Marquis de Lafayette as a national hero

Controversially, Mr Trump includes non-Americans who “made substantive historical contributions to the discovery, development, or independence of the future United States”.

So the garden can have statues of Christopher Columbus, Junipero Serra and the Marquis de Lafayette.

Columbus and the Spanish Catholic missionary Serra are far from heroic for Native Americans, because their “discoveries” led to the enslavement and exploitation of indigenous people by white colonists.

US must confront its Original Sin to move forward

The stories behind the statues targeted in protests

America’s early economic development also relied on slavery – which makes some of the traditional national heroes dubious for African Americans.

The Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat and military commander, led American troops in key battles against the British in the American Revolution.

Symbolic response to protesters

Donald Trump’s proposed garden offers insight into who the president considers worthy of celebration. There are America’s founders, joined by 19th-Century frontiersmen glorified in old Disney television dramas, World War Two generals and slavery abolitionists.

Republican Party icon Ronald Reagan is the only president from the past 150 years, and Antonin Scalia, whose primary legal legacy is penning scathing conservative dissents to majority opinions, is the only Supreme Court justice. It’s the kind of list that could largely be gleaned from grade-school history books of the 1950s, an era that suffuses the president’s politics of nostalgia for “American greatness”.

In his Mount Rushmore speech, the president lashed out at those he accused of wanting to destroy the nation’s cultural heritage. The garden is his symbolic response. At a time when the president is defending statues that honour Civil War rebels who fought US soldiers, Mr Trump is making an affirmative case for those who he believes embody the US values of patriotism, inspiration and courage. While many Americans are now reviewing US history with a critical eye, the garden would be a glossy tribute to the president’s view of American “exceptionalism”.

It will surely antagonise the president’s critics, who see him as a divisive and ill-suited arbiter of American values. It also portends an autumn presidential campaign of pitched cultural warfare.

What did President Trump say in his speech?

It was a highly symbolic setting for the speech: Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota, features the carved faces of four US presidents, two of whom – George Washington and Thomas Jefferson – were slave-owners.

It also stands on land that was taken from the indigenous Lakota Sioux by the US government in the 1800s.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption President Trump vowed to protect monuments against what he called a “left-wing cultural revolution”

President Trump railed against the “cancel culture” of those who toppled monuments during recent anti-racism protests.

He condemned those who targeted statues as “angry mobs”.

Mr Trump accused protesters of “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children”. “We will not be silenced,” he said.

The president, who has been heavily criticised for his handling of the US coronavirus pandemic, made little reference to the disease that has now claimed almost 130,000 American lives.

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Media captionBlack Americans were still enslaved for 89 years after American “Independence Day”

The US recorded its largest single-day rise in coronavirus infections on Friday, bringing the total to more than 2.5 million – the most of any country.

Masks and social distancing were not mandatory at the Mount Rushmore event, despite warnings by health officials.

Native American groups criticised Mr Trump’s visit for posing a health risk, and for celebrating US independence in an area that is sacred to them.

Many Native Americans do not celebrate Independence Day because they associate it with the colonisation of their tribal homelands and the loss of their cultural freedoms.

More on George Floyd’s death

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Media captionFour numbers that explain impact of George Floyd