#ranking my current interest because i'm a bit weird like that

[grizzlyofthesea]

Attempting to Rank the Songs in Project Diva X

WARNING: LONG POST

I downloaded Project Diva X a couple weeks ago, and I absolutely love it. It has its flaws and quirks, but it's fun. But most importantly...

The song list is phenomenal. It's short and very Miku-biased, even by Project Diva standards, but what we have here is ~quality.~ We have a large variety of musical genres and styles. We have both Vocaloid community staples and new experiments. We have MARETU. You sadly won't find these songs anywhere else in the series (minus Mega Mix+ mods, but I mean in an official capacity), but at least they're here. And do you know what I like to do with my favorite things?

I like to rank them. I don't know why. Weird brain stuff, I guess. But if you want to read the ramblings of a sleep-deprived weirdo, you're in the right place.

Keep in mind, all of these songs are at least decent (around B-tier at minimum) to me. Someone has to be last, but I enjoy listening to all of them and playing through the ones I have.

There are stats at the end for each Cloud/Aura's overall score, too. Now, let's go!

32.) Sharing the World

Miku V3 English is...a bit rough-sounding here. Not nails on a chalkboard, but not the most pleasant thing ever. The concept behind the song is cute, though. Miku is everywhere now, and people are using her (and other vocal synths) to share their feelings with others across the world. That is truly beautiful.

31.) The First Sound

Very simple, and Miku sounds a bit shrill on the highest notes. However, the lyrics are heartfelt and sweet. Also, the Triple Threat version of this song's Extreme chart was my first (and is still my only) Extreme Perfect. I don't know how I got it before the normal one, but I'll take it.

30.) Babylon

I feel like Miku's voice gets a bit lost in the instrumental. I also don't get why there are teeth everywhere. That being said, the shifts in tempo and time signature give this song a truly unique vibe.

29.) Even a Kunoichi Needs Love

Again, Miku and Rin feel a bit drowned out by the instrumental at times, but the fast pace and catchy rhythm elevate this song's standing a bit. And the existence of a Naruto and Sasuke cover in one of Minnemi's cursed UTAU concerts.

28.) LOL - lots of laugh -

Slow and repetitive, but the imagery in the lyrics is creative and vivid. You also definitely get a "whimsical carnival" feeling from the instrumental.

27.) Hand in Hand

Kind of generic as far as Miku songs go, but still catchy and pleasant.

26.) Slow Motion

The premise of the song--contemplating life while sick with a cold--is simply delightful. I'm just not the biggest fan of how Pinocchio-P tunes Miku in certain songs, Slow Motion included. Common World Domination is more to my taste.

25.) Ending Medley - Ultimate Exquisite Rampage

Ow, my wrists. This is a fun, nostalgic tribute to Project Diva entries past, and the choice to begin with Disappearance and end with Intense Voice makes for a touching narrative. The Ura-Omote Lovers remix is pretty cool, too, since it starts off slower than normal and speeds up over time. But again, ow, my wrists.

24.) Name of the Sin

You can't really go wrong with a musical fairytale...unless you cut out a good chunk of the song and scramble the story, but I still like the simple, timeless feel nonetheless. The shades of purple used for Miku's Cantatrice module are gorgeous as well.

23.) Streaming Heart

This isn't my favorite of DECO*27's works, but the instrumental break is awesome--heavy and gritty. The charting during said break's Technical Zone, especially on Extreme, amplifies the intensity and makes it feel extra satisfying.

22.) Love Trial

Simple but (fittingly) cute. The piano and trumpet combine well in the instrumental. Miku's tuning isn't the most dynamic here, but it's not a big issue when the rhythms are getting stuck in my head anyway. The lyrics are also quite fun with their courtroom metaphors. Ace Attorney fandom, I want to see your take on this song.

21.) Elegant Medley ~ Glossy Mixture ~

The strange shifts in tempo make certain parts torture to learn (TECHNICAL ZONES), but man, the Nebula part is pretty. And who doesn't love Sweet Devil? The ending is a bit abrupt, but I also don't know what else could have been done there.

20.) Beginning Medley - Primary Colors

I adore OSTER Project, and the group performance of Miracle Paint at the end is spectacular. Easily the best version of Miracle Paint out there. This medley's low placement on the list is simply a testament to how amazing Project Diva X's song list is.

19.) Lost One's Weeping

Rin feels a bit drowned out during the verses, but as someone with horrible test anxiety, I feel the lyrics. You could even say that the drowned-out vocals fit the theme of overwhelming academic pressure. The heavy electric guitar is perfect for the Cool Cloud, too.

18.) Quirky Medley - Giga Remix

Giga-P makes some good stuff. The choices for Rin and Len's solos were a bit weird, though. I mean, Gigantic OTN is a classic, but the sexual theme for that and "Pincostique" Love just doesn't fit the Quirky vibe in my opinion. However, Childish War is peak.

17.) Raspberry*Monster

The stage is a bit "neon barf sensory overload," but it fits the song's chaotic vibes. The chorus is also memorable thanks to the unique melody and expressive shouts.

16.) Satisfaction

EDM isn't my favorite musical genre, but it really works here. I think it's the combination of the awesome instrumental and kz(livetune)'s tuning really leaning into Miku's nature as an electronic instrument.

15.) Cute Medley - Idol Sounds

A collection of Mitchie M classics in all their peppy, expressive glory is a win in my book. Each song, from Freely Tomorrow to Blooming the Idol, perfectly suits the "J-pop idol" theme of the medley. KAITO should have been there, though. He wanted to learn how to be cute, so he should get to be cute. >:T

14.) Patchwork Staccato

A surprise bit of melancholy for the Cute Cloud, but the change of pace is welcome. Miku's falsetto pushes the limits of her upper range without sounding shrill, which I imagine takes immense patience to get right. Her singing throughout is refreshing, too, somehow coming across as sweet yet cold. And we can't ignore the immersive, quilt-like scenery of the stage. However, the Freddy Fazbear cover is still the best version (thank you again, Minnemi).

13.) Love Song

My mom's favorite simply for the "u-papa" parts (although the way she sings it sounds more like PoPiPo ^^"). And hey, I can't blame her. It's bouncy and sweet. It puts you in a good mood.

12.) Strangers

The way the rhythm changes throughout the song keeps things fresh, and the instrumental is surprisingly captivating. I love the stage, too. The Playstation symbol lights are enticing, but not distracting or intrusive.

11.) Holy Lance Explosion Boy

Why are the dirtiest songs always some of the catchiest? And why is Len used for so many of them? It's still a bop, though. A lot of songs by rerulili are. The Extreme chart is pain, but it's not unfair. It's just very, very crowded and technical. It's satisfying to improve my score here, at any rate.

10.) Solitary Envy

Surprisingly gentle and subdued for the Cool Cloud, but that makes it unique. I also love when Miku is given a lower and softer voice, whether it's her Dark Append or a unique tuning style. The syncopation during the chorus gives it a bit of a playful edge, too.

9.) A Single Red Leaf

A classic, gentle love ballad with a traditional Japanese flair. It may not be the flashiest or feature the most realistic tuning of Luka, but it's simply perfect for the Elegant Cloud. Also, despite being on the slower side, it's not painfully slow like certain other songs in the series (Sakura Rain--).

8.) Humorous Dream of Mrs. Pumpkin

Halloween vibes are always good vibes, and we stan Hachi in this household. I wish the song wasn't so obviously cut off at the end, but I am glad that it's here at all. Also, Halloween Miku supremacy.

7.) Cool Medley - Cyber Rock Jam

The transition from Don't My List Me! to Tengaku is so smooth. Absolutely beautiful. Unhappy Refrain is always a jam, Palette was a splendid surprise (with Luka V4x, too!), and This Messed-Up Wonderful World Exists For Me is an incredible finale. Cyber Rock Jam is easily the best medley in the game.

6.) Calc.

The intense guitar solos interspersed throughout the song really complement the smooth, relaxed melody. They're fundamentally different, yet their differences blend into a beautiful product instead of clashing.

5.) Tale of the Deep-Sea Lily

Again, I enjoy songs with a softer, lower-pitched Miku. This one is bouncy yet gentle, and I'm a total sucker for the nautical theme. Plus, the Sea Lily module makes Miku look a little like GUMI (my absolute favorite Vocaloid).

4.) Urotander, Underhanded Rangers

Hilarious in every single way, from the PV to the Extreme chart. The Chance Time star zooming across the screen sends me every time. KAITO, MEIKO, and Miku make for a nice trio, too. I wish they were used together more often.

3.) Ai Dee

It's a Mitchie M song that features Luka rapping in English, as well as bits in French and Spanish. It has to be in the top 3. The Electronica Anode (Miku) and Electronica Cathode (Luka) modules are some of my favorites in the game, too. What can I say? I'm weak to glowy stuff.

2.) Brain Revolution Girl

MARETU's instrumentals tend to be awesome, and it's no different here. The synth is decidedly electronic in tone, yet dramatic in its note progression. The guitar bit in the middle and the quiet segment immediately after add to the drama by bringing variety. Also, C minor is my favorite key, and C# minor isn't too far behind. I just feel so evil and powerful when I listen to this song. I love it.

1.) Amazing Dolce

It's MEIKO and the Kagamines. It's Hitoshizuku × Yama. It's energetic and jazzy. It even has a huge, dramatic, big band-style brass break in the middle. Need I say more? Actually, yes. The modules. They're super creative and adorable with their food themes. Strawberry Witch (MEIKO) and Pâtissier Gretel (Rin) are simply stunning. Len's Pâtissier Hansel module confused me for a while, but then it clicked when I realized that his motif isn't anything banana-related--it's apple pie. So he's also up there, and all of these ingredients combine to give us the best song in the game.

Now for the Cloud rankings. These are simple averages/means:

1.) Elegant - average of 7.83/32

2.) Cool - average of 11.83/32

3.) Quirky - average of 18.17/32

4.) Cute - average of 18.83/32

5.) Classic - average of 21.5/32

6.) Extra - average of 29.5/32

And here are (hopefully correct) weighted averages to compensate for the outliers in each set:

1.) Elegant - wav of 7.83/32 (Huh. Neat.)

2.) Cool - wav of 13.47/32

3.) Cute - wav of 15.62/32 (What an upset!)

4.) Quirky - wav of 17.56/32

5.) Classic - wav of 22.98/32

6.) Extra - wav of 29.5/32 (Two equidistant data points will do that. :p)

With all that said and done, what do you think? What are your favorite songs not just in X, but in the entire Project Diva series (Mirai counts, too)?

[charlottesbookclub]

General Armitage Hux Headcanons (pt. 2)

okay so to prove that I'm still alive and bc I just feel the need to write, have some of my more unhinged Hux thoughts!!

(headcanons under the cut bc they got long as always)

people have absolutely said this before but I guess I'll just reaffirm my agreement here: Hux for sure has an incredibly detailed hygiene routine that involves both skin and hair care

when he's on the bridge or in meetings, he keeps as still and stoic as possible, but if he's working on something alone in his own quarters, he bounces his leg or taps his stylus against the desk. typically it's just a single repetitive movement, and he's usually unaware he's even doing it (is this bc those are some of my stims and I project too much onto fictional characters?? who's to say, who's to say.......)

okay this one's kinda sad but Armitage genuinely has no real sense of self. his identity has been so wrapped up in the development of the first order that it has become his identity. that and the fact that rank determines so much in the first order have conditioned him to believe that his rank within the order is him, if that makes sense. that's part of the reason he wants the title grand marshal so much; because in his eyes, achieving that title is Hux reaching his fullest potential and - to him - becoming his truest self that he was always destined to be

following off this last one, Hux has no real idea of what he actually likes. when the crew is planetside, his lieutenants might spend their time off shift going to restaurants or bars or even attractions like museums or whatever the space equivalent of an amusement park is. Armitage's life is consumed with work, work, and then more work, so if he has even the slightest bit of free time, he's left in this weird limbo of not knowing what he wants to do, because he doesn't actually know what he likes to do. Br*ndol's abuse, the fact that he grew up a refugee, and just the nature of the first order in general essentially assured that the young Hux never got to develop any interests outside of those that would further the cause of the order. so while he does enjoy engineering and some of the work that he does (not all though - he suffers through the rest because he knows it will help the first order's cause) he genuinely has no idea what his interests are outside of that

again, building off the last one, this is part of the reason that he does work so much. he hates that weird, unsettled feeling of not knowing what to do with himself. and, as a man of efficiency with little time for the consideration of his own emotions, rather than interrogate that strange, hollow feeling further, he just dives back into something he knows: work. also, if he's working, the thoughts and weird feeling go away, so it's a win-win in his opinion

I guess this circles back to the first one a little bit, but when he's had a particularly hard day (or a run-in with Snoke or Kylo), Armitage will allow himself to take a long shower. typically, he just gives himself enough time to clean himself, and he often makes himself take cold showers because he believes it helps invigorate the body or whatever. but on those hard days, he'll turn the heat way up - like, all the way up - and just stand under the nearly-scalding current of water until his pale skin turns bright pink and the refresher is clouded with steam. also, he often cries. not that he acknowledges that though - tears? nah, that's just moisture on his face from the water (also I was thinking about writing an angsty little fic based on this headcanon if people would be interested in that)

okay, so that's all I've got for now, but I hope you enjoyed these (and that they didn't make you too sad). as always, I'd love to know your thoughts on these and any other headcanons or ramblings you'd like to share!

[pilot-posting]

Loading Halo Port Connectivity...

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╰┈─) Pilot Profile Access... Granted

Pilot: Em, MIP 12.A 🏳️‍⚧️

Rank: Corporal

Role: Mechanized functions technician, asset damage prevention.

Mech: Haratora-Zed, Class-X

Age: 18.

Synapse Connctivity: Sensitive. At-risk of addiction or mind-meld.

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heyo! I'm Em, I'm currently writing a short story called "Asynchrosis" in a series of parts here on my Tumblr! Here are links to each individual part in order!

All story parts are tagged under #asynchrosis

Pt.1, Pt.2, Pt.3, Pt.4, Pt.5, 5.5, Pt.6, Pt.7

Links to story related asks!

Srynthetica1 (how does jacking in feel?), Anon1 (who's we? why class-x? how combat?) Anon2 (stim-port size?)

tags, #asynchrosis for Asynchrosis, #ems got mail!! for asks #emersons scrawlings for generally writing posts

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Wait? Who are you?

I'm Em, I'm a very normal trans person who absolutely does not let her weird obsession with what is essentially just robot-fucker v*re infect her every day life. I absolutely do not impulsively buy techwear clothes to cosplay a mech pilot who's a little bit down on her luck and I totally don't want someone to hypnotize me into believing I have cybernetic implants. I, in no way, want someone to dominate me so deeply that they force me to treat them like a pilot treats their handler and I don't want them to clicker train me to be able to force me to obey them.

On another note, my pronouns are IT/she. I use she/her self referentially because it's easy but PLEASE use it/it's for me. "Ohhh but that's degrading" IT'S NOT AND EVEN IF IT WAS I'D LOVE IT.

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DM's and ASK POLICY

I prefer asks! I love answering questions in a way which is productive to furthering the knowledge of everyone who enjoys the work I make! DM's however are HEAVILY encouraged if you want to degrade me, treat me like a whore, stick your fingers in my mouth, or hypnotize me.

Asks can also be horny! Send me horny prompts in asks, tell me how badly you want to be put into synchrosis~

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IS IT HORNY???

They always ask IS it horny not HOW is she horny,

Anyway, yeah! I'm pretty much always able to get into the mood unless I came like under 10 minutes ago. You can do with this information whatever you want.

With that said, what're my do's and don'ts?

DO!

DO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ME IF YOU'RE ALSO A TRANNY, I LOVE MY PEOPLE AND I WILL GLADLY BE AN ACTUAL CUM DUMP FOR Y'ALL

Degrade me

Hypnotize me

Force yourself onto or into me

Cut me, stab me, or perform invasive surgeries to cause me to meld in greater amounts with the perfect machine form I yearn to control

Cum inside me or on me!

Fuck my throat, or keep me under your desk, I have an oral fixation :3

Bind me up, suspend me, gag me, blindfold me, really anything that limits my awareness of myself is actually pretty ok.

Squish/bite/lick my chub

Make me call you names like master or owner.

Make me less person more machine!

DON'T!

Knife/gunplay is fine. Snvff however is unbelievably disturbing.

Gore is fine to the degree that my organs stay mostly in the same place they started, in regards to roleplay.

Don't engage in excessive praise. This sounds really depressing but I'm not used to it and it can cause me to panic!

Don't bring any bodily fluids except for blood, cum, and sweat into roleplay or sexting!! I don't like p*ss and sh*t lmao

Asking me to commit to major lifestyle changes without me expressing my interest beforehand will probably result in me caging up. I like kink lifestyle, but I want to take my own pace.

Do not interact if you find me attractive because I'm trans UNLESS YOU'RE ALSO TRANS.

But yeah I guess all you need to know is I got horny when a Legion first forced my Titan up onto the barrel of it's predator cannon and fired about 400 rounds of 40 mm anti-aircraft grade rounds through the midsection of my Ion in 2016.

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 #6: 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers & 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

You'd be surprised to know- It seems as if we will end this series on exactly 10 blog posts. We've got 6 normal sets left to cover after this, then 4 more that I can only nab online. I didn't think it would go by this fast! Of course, i'll make new posts covering whatever comes out after March as well, though those will most likely be sporadic for a while, with LEGO's tactic of releasing most of their stuff in January and July and whatnot.

LEGO City - 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers

God, this one. You wouldn't think 2 dinky karts would have 99 pieces total, but I suppose it does. It didn't particularly feel that way though. As you possibly could've guessed, both of these builds are close to identical. Why they felt the need to make two seperate manuals for both karts, I have no clue. They are VERY thin.

Thankfully though, I actually do like the designs. I think the colors are more unique than a lot of what City has put out, especially the neon colored one. My personal bias also takes some joy in the small racing car builds in general, I think i've mentioned here before that I was a big Lego Racers kid in the 2000s. Been a bit since i've seen these small wheels that throw me back big time. Still, i'm not sure if this should've been a full set, this could've rather easily been two seperate polybags in my opinion.

LEGO Super Mario - 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

And here we go. Wahoo. Yippee, mamma mia, let's a go. It's LEGO Sup Mama. The franchise I have the most embarrassing feelings for, after all, it's Super Mario Advance 2 that introduced me to non-PC gaming after all. I was never TOO interested in grabbing these sets untill now, but this set may have convinced me to change my mind.

Now there's some odd choices made with the way this one's been packaged. This is the *smallest* box i've yet seen so far, or at least it's among the smallest. And that whiie it's the first box with over 100 pieces contained inside AND has a pretty thick instruction book with 3 sacks included. Weird, makes it seem less significant while it's decently substantial. At least when compared to the frickin' Goomba's Shoe set.

For what it IS though, hoo, this is a nice set. Building these Yoshis was verrry satisfying, they look great and have a good amount of heft. I am not sure if I like the fact I had to effectively do the same thing twice though (sound familiar?). The tree canopy and the egg top it all off to make it remarkably faithful to the funny hoohoo man's franchise, and pleasant to the eye and hands.

...If it wouldn't fall apart so damn easily. I had so much trouble lifting this one into my cabinet cuz the green piece that attaches the platforms together would keep getting loose, and more frustatingly, the Yoshi duo also wouldn't be too stable on their little stand pieces. That does put a bit of a damper on things, though I wouldn't call it a dealbreaker, moreso something you need to be mindful off when holding it in it's entirety.

Current rankings:

Go-Karts and Race Drivers is ultimately decent. It's not something I am dying to do again, I better hope there ain't another car set coming up, though it's got some merit in subtle ways, particularly those aforementioned unique colors. For that, it tops the 'lower tier', aka anything below the Fire Rescue Motorcycle.

Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest (haaaaaaaaa) is certainly the most visually pleasing set, and hey, it's from a franchise I really hold close. I don't think it deserves top marks because of it's fragility and has you build the same thing twice. Gets pretty close though. This is gonna be the new number 4, beating out Mateo's Off-Road Car.

City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Super Mario - 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

DREAMZzz - 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car

Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle

City - 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers

Friends - 42612 Cat Playground Adventure

Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Time to climb back into Kruidvat's walls and get grabby with this new sale they're having. See ya next time!

[mapleleafsunset]

I'm thinking about Leafpool's trial in Squirrelflight's hope again, because whilst it's a stupid concept, it's actually very impactful and sticks in my brain the most from that entire book. I love the way it shows StarClan's hypocrisy, but I do think that it needs a bit of a reworking with what cats are involved in it

Currently the cats who take part are : Tallstar, Bluestar, Yellowfang, Moth Flight, Crookedstar and Littlecloud My first changes would be to remove some cats entirely from this line up, and my first removal would be Crookedstar. He is no reason to be there, no connection to the code that are broken, and no personal connection to the Firestar lineage. Tallstar is removed for the exact same reasons. He doesn't need to be there, there's no emotional beat he can add. For similar reasons I'd remove Littlecloud. He's a medicine cat so does have more ties to the codes broken, however he feels a weird pick especially as he is portrayed as antagonistic, which is entirely against his character. He doesn't seem like someone to want that position of power either, I think it would be nice to see him in StarClan but his involvement in the trial doesn't make sense.

This brings us down to Bluestar, Yellowfang, Moth Flight. Now, we need to add some cats to fill out the ranks again. Which brings us to the question of how they were chosen in the first place, and I'll break this down into two criteria : - High ranking (leader, medicine cat, clan founder) - Would want to be involved If it was just based on how long the cats had been in StarClan and their ties to the code, then the cats holding the trial would be the Clan founders. So there must be an element of cats who have an active interest in the trial get involved. My suggestions for replacement cats are : - Oakstar - Goosefeather - Duststar - Hollyleaf Oakstar is a cat who despises cross clan relationships, and general code breaking. He's a known asshole, who relies on harsh punishments. He seems the sort of cat who wants to involve himself in everyone's business, and would still hold a grudge from the Mapleshade situation. He would be all for sending Leafpool to hell Goosefeather is a bit of a wild card in the situation. I like to imagine that in StarClan he gets himself involved in almost everything. He would flick what side he was on randomly throughout the conversation so no one could really tell what his viewpoint was. Duststar. Duststar is the cat who created the code that bans CrossClan relationships, because cats in his clan died due to their relationships with other clans. However, I believe he'd be all for Leafpool. He's there to contrast Moth Flight who wants to enforce her rule with an iron fist. He understands that Leafpool did wrong, but no one got hurt in the same way he experienced, so in his mind the code is void here. Hollyleaf would not be an official part of the trial, however I think she would barge her way in. I just want to see more of her I'm a big Hollyleaf fan. I think Leafpool would freeze up at seeing her, thinking that Hollyleaf would want to condemn her, but I'd like to give Hollyleaf a chance to properly show her forgiveness after death as well. So we have the line up as In support of Leafpool : Yellowfang, Duststar, Hollyleaf (eventually) Against Leafpool : Duststar, Oakstar, Moth Flight, Bluestar (I LOVE the depiction of her as a hypocrite here. It stays. She is eventually convinced to join the other side but it takes a while) Wild card : Goosefeather (they should ban this man from these meetings) I don't know. I just feel like Tallstar, Crookedstar and Littlecloud have no real emotional stakes in it, when the trial is really a chance for cats to air their own grievances with the code or the way that StarClan functions. It's clear no one cares about Leafpool's situation and only wants to insist on their views, so I feel like we should drag up some old bitter cats to highlight that. The contrast between Duststar and Moth Flight would also be an incredibly fun debate about the harsh nature of the code.

[crancisfrozier]

Re: your previous post, I just have to ask what your FF album rankings are thus far! Also I’m loving that someone else is talking about the band at length, it’s been too quiet in the fandom on here haha

Okay this is such a big question I actually switched from mobile to desktop to answer this so be prepared for a novel here lol. But first of all yea I am so surprised the fandom is so quiet on here? I can almost always depend on Tumblr to have a little group of weirdos blogging about a vague special interest I develop so this is a little jarring! Especially considering I can see the fandom was once big enough that there was fanfiction written for it! Makes me a little sad that I seem to have missed it's heyday, but I'm glad there's still a few people kicking around haha.

(putting this under a read more because it got long wow wtf)

ANYWAY though onto the ranking! Now this list changes rapidly from week to week and sometimes day to day, but here is my current list descending (no pun intended):

Always Ascending

Franz Ferdinand

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions

Tonight

You Could Have It So Much Better

*I adore Sparks and FFS, but since it's a dual release I'm excluding it from the list. However, if I included it I would probably put it between Right Thoughts and Tonight*

I feel like it's controversial to put Always Ascending above, well literally everything, and it's also funny because I use to consider this to be their WORST album, but it has grown on me so so much. I really appreciate that they were trying to do something new and experimental with their music and also I presume make an ode to one of their huge influences (Talking Heads). And throughout it all they continue to stick to (and in this case exceed imo) their thesis of "make girls dance". It's just so fun, y'know? So dance-able! The instrumentation is also EXCEPTIONAL on this album. The guitar licks in "Lazy Boy" are some of my favorite of any recent songs and the sparkly synth beats in Lois Lane are GORGEOUS. It honestly reminds me a lot of what they were trying to do on Tonight, where they stripped back their sound a bit. The focus is more on the drums, the beat, and the bass than the kind of punchy guitar attitude we heard on Franz Ferdinand and YCHISMB, but Ascending just takes it one (or two) steps further.

Now, the above is my list of favorites which is different from what I would consider to be objectively better music. If I was ranking this critically/professionally it would probably be this:

Tonight

Franz Ferdinand

You Could Have It So Much Better

Always Ascending

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action

The thing about both of these lists though is that, for me, there is no bad album on this list. They are literally all cover to cover listens with iconic bangers on every. single. one. What is considered my favorite could change with my mood or how nostalgic I'm feeling that day. My personal theory on these albums though is that people's preferences are going to sway with what they like FF for. If you like them for the punchiness of their first two albums (that was such a hallmark of the post-punk revival) you probably won't like Right Thoughts and you'll probably actively dislike Always Ascending. If you like them when they're doing weird stuff you'll probably like Right Thoughts and Always Ascending much more. Tonight I think is a really good mix of both which is why it's a lot of people's favorites and a good starting point for any new fan if they only know Take Me Out and or/stuff from their debut album.

Btw it's really funny that as I saw this ask and was thinking about it, The Hard Times came out with an article of "All Franz Ferdinand Albums Ranked Worst to Best" that is almost identical to my second ranking but also pretty cruel to AA and RTRWRA :(. They also gave an honorable mention to FFS but said Call Girl was a skippable track (blasphemy). But yea, I just thought that was pretty amusing timing lol.

I really cannot wait until they release a new album because Curious and Billy Goodbye are such absolute bangers (catch me dancing in my kitchen to Curious at least once a week) and if those singles are anything to go on, the next album is going to be AMAZING.

I would also like to give a shoutout to Alex's collab he did with Pip Blom called "Is This Love?" because it's quickly working it's way up my spotify rankings of top tracks since I cannot stop listening to it on repeat, it's just SO GOOD.

Okay I'm so sorry this turned into a thesis about Franz Ferdinand, but I have had a lot of pent up obsession about this and you just gave me a world class excuse to info dump lol. I would be really interested to see your ranking as well and see how we compare! Thank you so much for the ask btw it means a lot! :)

[meimi-haneoka]

Part 1 : Hi! So it is finally revealed that the card Kaito wanted is "Exchange". (1) I can see that “Transfer” is pretty close to it, but how come Kaito also said that “Rewind” is close as well? I couldn't see the connection between Exchange and Rewind 🤔. (2) During the Card's creation, it is weird that Sakura wished to play the Red Queen role to save Akiho. If they never get out of the story, both Alice and Red Queen will have the same fate, so it doesn't matter which role the girls played.

Hiiii, thank you for sending me this extensive ask!! 😁 You raised very interesting points! Let's see them together:

You know, I'm also trying to understand why Kaito said Rewind went close to the Card he wanted Sakura to make, cause it's not immediately understandable like in Transfer's case. We have two options: either Kaito wants to use Exchange in a way that will bring it closer to Rewind's scope, or we should probably look at this "resemblance" as something conceptual. Rewind showed how Syaoran looked in the past, but it didn't reset his conscience and memories. He was still basically his current self in the body of his baby self. Kaito probably needed to rewrite Akiho's story completely, so using a Card like Rewind that only changes the external appearance wouldn't have been enough. (That is also why I had the theory he needed a "Restore" Card). I hope the rest of the climax will shed some light on this matter.

This is a very interesting point. First of all, we have to keep in consideration that Sakura is a selfless girl and also very empathetic, so the pain of her loved ones is her own pain. Reminds me of how she cried her eyes out after that same pool incident that you mentioned, forgetting about what she saw but evidently her body did not forget. If I think back to her lines in the JP version of the infamous scene of chapter 69, you made me realize there might be an added nuance in the ENG version that might (once again) make things confusing for the readers. In the JP text, Sakura literally says: "Akiho-chan..(following) the script of the stage play...she would have stayed in that world forever? Without being able to go back?" See? She doesn't say "what if we never got out of the story" but actually shifts the focus on "following the script of the play": in Naoko's script, probably the Red Queen was destined to stay in that world forever? I have mentioned the "following script" part in my own translation post, but I'm afraid the way I phrased it myself might not have clarified exactly what the Japanese version was implying. Sakura here is stricken with guilt thinking about the script's play, probably because she knows that the Red Queen stays in Clockland forever. As CLAMP purposely hid the rest of the story from the moment Alice meets the Red Queen, we still don't know. But I think, if you consider things from this perspective, it's probably a little bit more clear why she wished for something like that in a moment where her mental state was very weak.

Thank you for empathizing with Kaito and me, too 😁it's nice to know I'm not the only one who's seeing things from both perspectives. I also have a very strong impression that Kaito was driven into a corner, to end up thinking a plan like this. I can't imagine someone like him, aloof and allergic to contact with people, suddenly deciding to mess with other people's life, exposing him to an unwanted amount of interactions and bothersome waste of time. His own reluctance to engage in fights with Sakura and Syaoran themselves shows that he isn't an extreme person per se, but can be driven into that position if he doesn't have other options available. Momo told him, "even with that D-rank magic of yours, you can't stop that book's time". She was referring to the ominous book that resides inside of Akiho. If it was as simple as stopping the book's time, he would've probably done so already. He did, in fact, stop it for a short period of time after the pool incident, but as he said it himself, it was only a "patch" that wasn't meant to last long. Moreover, stopping time would have shaved off his life anyway, leaving Akiho unprotected once he passed away. That was never meant to be a solution. There are things that not even Yuna D. Kaito can do. And removing the book/spell from Akiho is one of those. Despite him being the one who inadvertently caused that ritual to happen. Just imagine how that thought is gnawing at his soul. Therefore, that's why I think when he found Sakura he also found the solution to this problem. Because Sakura is able to create new magics. And among those, maybe a new magic that would be able to remove the spell from Akiho. But alas, as Momo heavily inferred in chapter 50, when he saw what a happy life Sakura lived, surrounded by love, a very powerful emotion got a hold of him and might have changed his plans into something more extreme. I have this impression, we'll see if I was right or not. Seen by Kaito's perspective, if the two girls keep their status quo regarding their magical powers, the exchange would bring the results that you stated above: Sakura would live in the Squid clan, but would not experience any abuse and would be somehow treated decently due to her strong powers. Akiho would still not have powers, but live a life surrounded by love because the Kinomoto family wouldn't care about that. No one would get turned into an artifact and the problem wouldn't even exist to begin with. Maybe, just maybe, Kaito even took into account the fact that Sakura and Syaoran would end up meeting again, seeing the connections between the Squids and the Li clan (and I'm sure hitsuzen would make them meet again alright - only in a "Romeo and Juliet" kind of situation 😅). Of course, this entire reasoning is possible in a state of mind like his, with a past like his, and a view on love and people like his. And completely ignoring that Akiho wants him and her friends to be happy, not someone else's life. I think I am not mad at Kaito's behavior because I still see a wide margin to make things right. He's not unsalvageable, so we'll see how this finale will play things out.

[sea-dukes-assistant]

Of course that I left the Tiara moment for my birthday month, because it's my party and I want to pretend that I can attend one.

Let your immagination run wild.

What are you wearing? OK, I'm gonna need y'all to work with me here, because us enlisted degenerates don't have an equivalent of "white tie," and I'll be damned if I'm not flexing my Big US Navy D*ck Energy at a fancy dinner (also, use your imagination; the cummerbund for my rank would be black, and the buttons would be silver).

Are you married to a royal? Are you married to a politician? Not married to anyone, but Sea Duke and I fuck are relationshipping on the down low and there is nothing you can do about it.

Which family is hosting it? The Brits, for the sake of the attached fic making sense (and Sir would have some pull with respect to me attending in the first place).

When is it happening? 🤷🏼‍♂️ I don't really think about these things. Read the fic if you're dying to know.

Who are you seated next to? (if you pick Princess Michael I am getting worried about your current mental health state) It's finna be weird for me no matter who I'm next to, but ideally I'd be seated across from my emotional support naval officer Sea Duke.

DON'T FORGET TO STICK TO THE FASHIONS OF THE PERIOD (something is telling me that people will get too wild). MY BAD. *unapologetically nests my balls like bald eagle eggs with complete disregard for the space-time continuum*

CW: THERE IS DUDE SEX.

Uniform Kink

“Do you want me to wear it to bed?” he asks, his voice calm despite the offhandedness of the question.

“Huh? What? Wear what?” I hadn’t been paying attention, my thoughts having been occupied with other things, such as the very long list of very raunchy things I wanted to do to him…or receive…when he wore his Royal Navy uniform. It seems I had let my staring linger a bit to long.

“This,” he answers with a slight smirk. “You’ve only been eyeballing me since dinner.”

Oh shit, he had noticed. I usually was better at hiding it, either by using peripheral vision or pretending to be interested in what the guest next to me was saying, staring past them and at him. Everyone had left, the task of tidying up had begun, his wife gone off to get ready for bed (I can’t be certain but I think she winked at us), and it was just the two of us. This was the first time I’d ever wished someone else was in the room, and I’m upset that I didn’t have a reasonable excuse to get myself out of this situation.

My attention now was on my rocks glass, and I absentmindedly swirl what bourbon was left in there, growing more mortified as I felt the familiar sensation of heat gathering at my ears. I take a sip of bourbon, trying to balance between making it look normal and the knee-jerk desire to just knock back what was left back because OH MY GOD THIS ISN’T HAPPENING.

Sea Duke leans a bit closer to me, a smirk on his face. “You know, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it.”

He might not have calmed my mild embarrassment, but he at least made me feel less of a need to fight admitting to it, less…silly. Of course he’d have done that at least once with his wife stop being weird!

The combination of his voice, his increased proximity to me, and the imagery I’ve conjured up in my head had a very immediate effect, one that I very much needed him to attend to.

I take a deep breath and finish off my bourbon. “Yes,” I finally admit as I set the glass down. I can see him smile out of the corner of my eye. “I hate that you do that.” I can’t help but crack smile though, because he’s done it again.

He cocks his head to the side and quizzically asks, “Do what?”

“Get me to admit shit like that.”

“Well it’s either we sort this out now, or I find out on tour, when you’ve made it known to the entire wardroom, standing at attention when no one told you to.” He points at the now obvious bulge in my pants, I assume to ensure I understand the joke.

“Fuck sake!” I laugh at his description and the all too realistic probability that that’d be exactly what would happen.

“You needn’t be embarrassed about it,” he says quietly, and begins nibbling my ear.

As a reflex, I take a deep breath, exhaling out my nose, mentally pushing the anxiety out, a wave of calm taking over.

“I’ll ask again,” he says, a hint of arousal in his voice, “do you want me to wear it to bed?”

“Yes,” I answer, a bit unhappy that that came out a bit more of a moan than I intended.

His mission accomplished, Sea Duke ceases his attention on my ear. “Right,” he states, in typical British fashion, before smacking his hands on his thighs. He stands up and straightens out his uniform.

I stand up as well, awkwardly wondering what to do with my empty glass, and, in his opinion, focused too much on where to put it. He clears his throat in that sort of agitated way that officers tend to do, and I instinctively just set my glass down on the coffee table, swallowing the urge to apologize for my squirrely attention span.

“There are more pressing matters for you to focus on,” he says. I look at him a bit quizzically, as I’m the one with obvious evidence of arousal. Sea Duke sighs, feigning derision. “I’ve been wanting your mouth on my dick all night,” he declares, before turning and walking towards his bedroom.

I follow him, perhaps a bit too eagerly, basking in knowing he can’t get enough of me, just as I can’t get enough of him.

He helps get me stripped down to the waist between quick, almost authoritative kisses, backing me up to the edge of his bed. Once I'm bare-chested, he nudges my shoulder and I sit, the anticipation absolutely killing me.

“I haven't even touched you and you're already hard," he says, smirking at me while he unbuttons the last gold button on his uniform jacket.

There's some embarrassment mixed with my (obvious) arousal, but I try to ignore that as I know that's not his intention. If anything, it probably turns him on a bit; I know it'd be a confidence booster to me!

“That makes me wonder how many times you've gotten yourself off to this." Again, this comes not as a statement but more of that tactic officers use when they want answers, but don't want to ask questions directly. He's definitely turned on though; I can hear it in his voice.

“I neither confirm nor deny that," I tell him. Truth is, I lost count long ago.

“It had to have been substantial, given how eager you were for it the first time."

Ah yes, the first time. That, too, was after a fancy dinner...and he was also in his Royal Navy dress blues that time, too. Damn him and his paying attention to these things. I feel my face get hot, this time unable to keep any embarrassment at bay. Even though I wanted it, and want whateverthisis, I still hadn't fully come to terms with it. However, any level of insecurity was easier to deal with than the crushing weight the repression was starting to have on me, to the point where it physically manifested in constantly feeling like it was literally sitting on my chest.

I feel his right hand on my cheek, and then his thumb in my mouth, opening it for what's to come next. I can't help but watch, a bit mesmerized, as he unzips his trousers with his other hand. I feel my dick twitch as he, with a bit of difficulty, gets his free. Even only partially hard, his size is a bit intimidating. Without hesitation, his thumb disappears, and he pushes himself into my mouth, a sigh escaping him as he does so. Ah, it's going to be that type of night; he's more aroused than he'd admit. Either it's coincidence, or he gets as excited as I do about the decision to stay in uniform. I decide not to ask and chalk it up to coincidence, given it's not a secret that he enjoys having me suck him off (we both do, in fact). The prospect of it being the latter, though, aides in my own trousers getting more tight in the crotch...as if that were possible.

Instinctively, I start working him over, taking a more...exploratory approach, shall we say. I've waited a long time for this to happen, and I'll be damned if I don't take time and enjoy it. Sea Duke is less patient, his typical officers' composure betrayed by his unusually frequent sighs, and soft moans. I shift my focus to the head, alternating between licking and sucking, his noises serving as both encouragement and a distraction against the now uncomfortable bulge in my trousers.

“Christ," he sighs. "You had to have done this before."

I pull away from him, wrapping my right hand around his solid 8 inches. "No, you're still the first. None of that has changed," I explain, looking up at him as I rub my thumb around the head. I guess he figures I've had...experiences...while underway that I've not told him about. By now the insecurity has vanished and I'm feeling damn proud of myself for having gotten him in such a state. Usually, he's the more "together" one and it's me just making a racket and failing to make words. I'm not sure if that fact alone gets him more excited, or if he just really needs to cum, but either way, he is ready.

“On your back. Now." That was an order.

I smirk at him, excited for what's about to happen, and also finally I can get some relief! Just listening to him has got me to being annoyed at my own arousal. I do as he says without hesitation. I reach towards the head of the bed and grab a pillow, fluff it, and place it behind my head. With the level of efficiency one would expect from a German (he'll say he's Greek but let's be real here), I'm unceremoniously stripped down the rest of the way, until I'm bare ass naked. Then, his hand is on me.

“Oh fuck yes," I sighed, grateful to finally have contact.

“Reality better than the fantasy?" Sir asks, eyebrows raised and that damn smirk on his face again.

“Yes sir," I answer, my breath hitching as he gives me a squeeze.

“Mmm, I can tell. I wouldn't even have to touch you, would I?"

Indeed he would not. Sea Duke, Admiral of the Fleet, in his blues, his zipper down, his thick dick out and dripping pre-cum, stroking every inch of me in a slow, easy manner that conflicts with his earlier impatience, was even more than I could have asked for.

“N-no sir," I stutter. My stomach muscles tighten as I try to control myself.

“Right then," he chirps, immediately removing his hand. I whine about that, against my better judgement. He leans over me, and I moan as his dick makes contact with mine. It feels heavy and oddly comforting.

“Do you want me to fuck you?" he asks, his voice low and husky with arousal. I could answer, but he's taken to nibbling on my ear, which combined with the motion of his hips is absolute murder on my nerves. I hate him. I hate him for the way he teases me. I hate it but fuck, do I love it.

“Use your words," he says as he grinds against me, his mouth not leaving my ear.

I moan.

He grinds against me again.

“"YES," I blurt out. "Yes sir...god...fuck..." I gasp, nearly finishing right then.

I feel him slowly start to prep me, and as always, he offers his own unique form of distraction.

“I do hope this is a suitable solution to your problem. We would be at sea for months. I take no issue with it but...I don't need the entire wardroom wanting to moor in my port. Although," he stands back up and removes his fingers, "I couldn't blame them for that. You are rather...eager to please." My dick twitches again at his words.

“I like pleasing you," I say, horny out of my mind.

“Mmm you always do," Sir says, easing himself into me, gentle as always, until his entire length is sheathed. He wraps my legs around his waist and strokes me, lazily, while waiting for me to get comfortable, obviously enjoying himself. All I can do is lean my head back and sigh, basking in the slight stinging mixed with intense pleasure. Fuck he's so good to me.

I buck up into his hand, a signal that he can proceed, and he begins to thrust, slowly at first, until he finds the exact angle he needs.

“"I think I like you best like this," he says, smiling at me as he pulls out, then thrusts back in.

I think I like it best, too.

@yeet-didnt-start-the-fire

[reasonably-annoyed-fog]

what's your ranking on the terminator movies?

Good fucking question thank you

The thing is, in terms of how Good a movie is in its entirety, Terminator 2 is probably the bet one. it's a masterpiece of action cinema, of science fiction, and also of a genre I've coined "Dad Cinema", which I won't be going into now, but when it comes to which Terminator movie I like the most, I have to rank them very differently because I have weird tastes

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) I like the most. Cause I'm gay. There's also so many things about that one that are fun to me personally, I could talk about it for hours, I think it hilarious that they fridged John Connors, I think the characters are fun to watch, I think what they did with the idea of a Terminator stuck in the past without a mission to fulfill anymore is fascinating. Sure they disregarded the time travel rules set up in the previous movies, but they did it to make room for a story that was fresh and different yet also returned to the original themes of the first and second movies. It expands on the themes of state brutality and there's just something so uplifting about the core message: you can kill John Connor but there will always be a John Connor; there will always be a Dani Ramos, there will always be someone who gets up and says No, and this person will not do it because they are a special little boy but because, as G'Kar says in Babylon 5 says: "No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand."

The original Terminator (1984) brings out the 80s horror in a way that just speaks to me. Here the Terminator truly is just this shark like killer. In later movies, it's just not quite the same, and that's probably because in the first one Arnold Schwarzenegger is still, I almost wanna say fresh-faced? There's something about him here where he looks like he spent 30 years in a gym and then walked straight onto set, and a lot of that is probably due to the cool colours of an 80s movie. Like that scene in the club where he walks trough the mass of people looking for Sarah Connor just looks so right.

Terminator 2 (1991) The action. The effects. it's chef's kiss. Mwah. Like Dark Fate, it's a movie that exactly knows what it and the franchise is about. It's a movie about systematic violence and the entire structure of the movie is build around that; The sexual abuse that Sarah suffers in the psych ward, John being stuck in foster care, yet still not safe, and with a future that has been descided for him, Dyson getting shot by the police, the T-1000 wearing a police uniform! Great fucking movie tbh. Ranking these first three is actually incredibly difficult to me cause they in my book achieve full marks.

Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines (2003) is actually the first Terminator movie I ever saw, and I remember not being extremely impressed with it, but I was 14, Kristanna Loken was in it, Claire Danes was in it, that was enough in my book at the time. Also The Current is a great song say what you will.

Terminator Salvation (2009) Like, what is the point, you know? I vaguely remember seeing bits of it. and like, I don't know, didn't even capture me. Didn't catch my interest. I don't remember the movie I just remember Christian Bale yelling at a camera man and then there was also a movie I guess. Maybe at some point I will actually sit down and watch all the movies again and maybe then I will have to rethink my opinion but as far as I am concerned Terminator Salvation is a movie that certainly was made I suppose.

Terminator: Genysis (2015) I did not know of the existence of this movie until today when I sat down to answer this ask and googled "Terminator movies" to get the years of release right. Emilia Clarke is in it? J. K. Simmons is in it?? Matt Smith is in it??? What?? What are you talking about?? The plot synopsis sounds absolutely insane why is everyone shitting on Dark Fate when this movie exists apparently wtf

[cptn-m]

One Piece chapter 1108 review

Ooh, this is actually heating up right when I was expecting Egghead to start winding down and continue cutting off sources of tension. There was a point a year and a bit ago where the question might have been asked, 'why this arc, on this island?' If Oda is rushing to the finale, what does Egghead offer that Elbaf doesn't, and what will it add to contribute to the macro-level plot? Up til now, aside from wrapping up stories for supporting cast members like Bonney and Kuma, it seemed that maybe the main thing here was getting the scientists in the party and setting up more Void Century teases to develop more later. Well I think now we're getting the big thing that made Egghead unskippable.

But first we've got a Jump cover here, the latest in a long line of 'Luffy is about to punch you' covers, now in Gear Five form, and a very relaxed colour spread. Sure, why not give Uta another appearance in the manga. But what's that going on between Reiju and Tashigi? But my favourite thing here is the dapper canines in the portraits in the background. Cute stuff.

Caribou's scene feels like more of a recap than anything. I'm actually surprised to see him and the Blackbeard Pirates again so soon, I would have been satisfied if their time on Egghead wrapped up with the last chapter. Of course, there's no chance they choose not to take him with them, even if Oda leaves it ambiguous.

Now, I'm not a firearms guy. I don't live in one of those countries where you see them regularly. But is it just me or is Augur's form with the rifle really bad here, with the stock all the way out the back. You're meant to use that thing to brance for the recoil, right? So if he pulls the trigger this weird way he's holding it, the whole thing just slips between his arms and goes flying backwards, wouldn't it? I'll accept corrections for anyone who does know guns on this point.

I love getting names for all the vice admirals here. It's the details. Guillotine is still my favourite design of the batch.

The talk about taking back control of the Pacifistas by eliminating Bonney feels odd though. Is that how it works? So a person of equal rank in the hierarchy can't override orders, but the death of the current top dog will let someone lower down cancel their standing orders? Pacifista control is a mess, and for all the ways Egghead has been a breath of fresh air post-Wano, it's complicated contrivances like this that drag it down in the end-of-arc retrospective.

The giants' meetup with Franky's group has some interesting points. First: they don't recognise Franky because his bounty picutre was changed to the Sunny's figurehead. But that's still weird. It can't have been done just to set up this half-second misunderstanding. Franky's ready to square up, making the at this point safe assumption they've come as enemies, which is great from him. We learn that Usopp's been talking about his time with the giants to the crew since Franky joined. You have to assume that kind of offscreen bonding is happening, but it's always nice getting the little confirmations of it.

Glad to see one of the weaponised sea beasts survived. And Bluegrass and Doll manage to look very cool riding it back to Egghead. I wonder if Doll's connection to Saul is setting up a bigger arc or moment for her, or if it's just an excuse to remind casual readers of his name.

Saturn is truly terrifying in his new form. That's fantastic design. Even before Sanji points it out, you can see something is wrong with his eyes. That is one intense stare. And the fact that he doesn't speak once in the whole chapter makes him feel all the more inhuman. What is this man now, if he's still a man at all?

But where did Borsalino go after the last chapter's standoff. Has there been a little offscreen clash with Luffy and Sanji he's just retreated from? Was he forced to get out of the way as demon Saturn stampeded in? I'd rather have seen either of those things than releared what Caribou knows at the start of the chapter. It's not a hard one to explain, but it still feels like a continuity glitch, which is frustrating. It came up during the 'who fed Luffy' discussions in the past week that Luffy's position changes before and after the flashback, last seen in Franky's hands going in, then lying a decent way away from the group with no apparent action taken by him or Franky after. If there was one thing you could absolutely say in the Onigashima battle's favour, it's that it was intricately and carefully mapped. We had the layout of the whole castle and knew where everyone was inside it. No one teleported from one side to another in a single page, they got at least a little bit of offscreen time to travel before popping up somewhere new. The attention to detail was a highlight there, which makes it all the more disappointing that this battle's staging misses beats like this.

I can't help feeling really bad for Vegapunk as he lays dying here. Not because I'm super personally invested in him, but just because it feels so wrong for the character design. He's so goofy and cartoony with the apple head and forever-lolling tongue that he feels like he should be incompatible with blood. This guy should be giving me the tutorial of an edutainment game, not having his guts blasted out. Like a child, or a housepet, the apparent innocence makes it feel even crueller to attack him. (Apparent innocence only, we all know his morality is questionable at best given the horrors he enabled for the World Government.)

Borsalino getting to finish the job is a shock, and yeah, the monitor at the end does make me think the job is finished. Rough, and unexpected. I was better on Kuma's death and Vegapunk's rescue, but it looks like I got it the wrong way around. Luffy's giant transformation is an awesome panel, with just the intensity you want for a moment like this. No notes. I also love the smaller panel of the page showing him from ground level, towering over the buildings. Would love a bigger and more detailed form of that next week please.

And then the stinger. Vegapunk seems to have set up a dead man switch with some big secrets. This is great. Perfect thing for the smartest man in the world to do, especially considering how long he'd been expecting an attempt on his life was coming. And it has the potential to be huge for the world. A turning point. Potentially the start of a war or several. I don't think we're getting the full Void Century here, of course, but it's hard to imagine it playing out without at least one major reveal. And how will the Government respond? With the Buster Call running too slow, will Imu turn the Mother Flame on Egghead, triggering an escape sequence (and maybe cutting the exposition dump short because this is One Piece). The potential for this is huge. Huge.

I'm always happy to be getting three chapters in a row, but I'm so glad this one didn't line up with a break. See you all next week when the bombs drop.

Read on Wordpress!

[somian-audere]

ENTRY XXXIII

Of New Years and New Fears

Happy new year, everyone.

            The holidays had been surprisingly kind to me, got to meet up with a few relatives and for once it wasn’t a complete pain in my behind save for one event that I’ll save for later. Went swimming with two of my cousins. The two were in elementary school, one was in the sixth grade and the other was in fourth grade, I believe? The details got a bit muddled since I was just quietly enjoying my time in the inadequately short swimming pool.

Look, I love swimming okay? It's one of the few cardiovascular exercises that don't make me sweat so much...on the account that I'm already wet from the start.

Back on topic, my cousins were an interesting pair of lads.

            Reminded me of how I was back when I was their age albeit I’d like to believe I was much better behaved than they were. After all, I had to maintain my rank as the ‘most behaved student’ AKA the student that didn’t talk much. Throwaway awards aside, the two had a surprisingly morbid and weird sense of shared humor. Granted, I’m pretty sure everyone’s gone through their hyper edgy, dark humor phase. I knew I did.  I won’t delve into it since a ton of the jokes they said would’ve gotten them canceled on this corner of the internet, besides they’re kids, they’ll figure it out eventually, right?

Yeah, I know, cousin of the year.

            But hey, I’m not their parents, go sue me. I’m not about to lecture kids on why their jokes are offensive, not while I’m laughing along with them. What can I say? My sense of humor is juvenile.

Besides that,

            A ton of my relatives pointed out how big I was getting. Admittedly I’m not sure whether to take that as an insult or a complement, because I had been bulking up thanks to my work-out routine. Another factor to consider is the fact that I have also been getting heavier due to my recent medication. Turns out I had hyperthyroidism, so I had to take meds which may have been contributing to my recent density increase. Truth be told, my body has been getting a bit heavier for my liking and even though my thyroid hormones are reaching normal levels, my sweat levels are still off the charts.

Perhaps I should try a healthier diet for the year.

            But I swear to God, each time I try my family always ends up with more food than we know how to deal with after the holidays and then I have to deal with a ton of the leftovers! I’m never going to get rid of my beer belly at this point.

So that’s two resolutions for the year: Be healthy, and be less sweaty.

            Two things that I have struggled with for years, we’re off to a great start.

Speaking of things that I’ve struggled with.

            This year, I intend to stop pursuing something that’s a bit more personal. A last shot at something before I try something new. I have a plan A and B for it, but the chances of both plans failing are at an all time high. I’m…not sure what I can do if I fail at both things but doing both of them feels like the safest option.

I can’t go into depth about the two plans but I guess I can talk about them discreetly enough.

Plan A.

            I’ve been trying at this one for years. Each attempt has only resulted in marginal improvements, it’s good but not enough—the story of my life summed up in a single statement. I’m not even motivated to try all that much this time, even after months of ‘preparing’ for it. If I succeed in this matter, it feels like I’ll end up in the same place I did months ago. I can’t…I can’t go through that again. But if I fail, then I let a ton of people down. Is that a fair price? My pain for the satisfaction of others?

Plan B.

            This one’s a more recent endeavor—it’s a solid option if I succeed in it given my current circumstances. Scary thing about it is I have no clue as to how it might end up in a few years’ time. I still have debts to pay for the next few years and I’m not sure if it’ll be able to cover that. Furthermore, I have already tried for this and absolutely fumbled the bag. I’m willing to try again for it, if that’s what it takes.

I have never been one for gambling.

            And yet my life has the need to raise the stakes anyways. If you’re afraid that I’m betting my life on two very flimsy options then know that I have a third less concrete but equally flimsy option along the way.

…

Contrary to what everyone knows about me, I am not a very smart person.

            I have no clue what to do with the rest of my life now. And all I can do is come up with elaborate plans to tide the coming storm—trying to find a way to give myself more time to figure things out. But I never do.

And I guess that’s probably the last resolution for this year: Figure things out.

Let’s all have a great 2024.

[pilot-posting]

Loading Halo Port Connectivity...

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╰┈─) Pilot Profile Access... Granted

Pilot: Em, MIP 12.A 🏳️‍⚧️

Rank: Corporal

Role: Mechanized functions technician, asset damage prevention.

Mech: Haratora-Zed, Class-X

Age: 18.

Synapse Connctivity: Sensitive. At-risk of addiction or mind-meld.

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heyo! I'm Em, I'm currently writing a short story called "Asynchrosis" in a series of parts here on my Tumblr! Here are links to each individual part in order!

All story parts are tagged under #asynchrosis

Pt.1, Pt.2, Pt.3, Pt.4, Pt.5

Links to story related asks!

Srynthetica1 (how does jacking in feel?), Anon1 (who's we? why class-x? how combat?)

tags, #asynchrosis for Asynchrosis, #ems got mail!! for asks #emersons scrawlings for generally writing posts

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Wait? Who are you?

I'm Em, I'm a very normal trans person who absolutely does not let her weird obsession with what is essentially just robot-fucker v*re infect her every day life. I absolutely do not impulsively buy techwear clothes to cosplay a mech pilot who's a little bit down on her luck and I totally don't want someone to hypnotize me into believing I have cybernetic implants. I, in no way, want someone to dominate me so deeply that they force me to treat them like a pilot treats their handler and I don't want them to clicker train me to be able to force me to obey them.

On another note, my pronouns are IT/she. I use she/her self referentially because it's easy but PLEASE use it/it's for me. "Ohhh but that's degrading" IT'S NOT AND EVEN IF IT WAS I'D LOVE IT.

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DM's and ASK POLICY

I prefer asks! I love answering questions in a way which is productive to furthering the knowledge of everyone who enjoys the work I make! DM's however are HEAVILY encouraged if you want to degrade me, treat me like a whore, stick your fingers in my mouth, or hypnotize me.

Asks can also be horny! Send me horny prompts in asks, tell me how badly you want to be put into synchrosis~

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IS IT HORNY???

They always ask IS it horny not HOW is she horny,

Anyway, yeah! I'm pretty much always able to get into the mood unless I came like under 10 minutes ago. You can do with this information whatever you want.

With that said, what're my do's and don'ts?

DO!

DO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ME IF YOU'RE ALSO A TRANNY, I LOVE MY PEOPLE AND I WILL GLADLY BE AN ACTUAL CUM DUMP FOR Y'ALL

Degrade me

Hypnotize me

Force yourself onto or into me

Cut me, stab me, or perform invasive surgeries to cause me to meld in greater amounts with the perfect machine form I yearn to control

Cum inside me or on me!

Fuck my throat, or keep me under your desk, I have an oral fixation :3

Bind me up, suspend me, gag me, blindfold me, really anything that limits my awareness of myself is actually pretty ok.

Squish/bite/lick my chub

Make me call you names like master or owner.

Make me less person more machine!

DON'T!

Knife/gunplay is fine. Snvff however is unbelievably disturbing.

Gore is fine to the degree that my organs stay mostly in the same place they started, in regards to roleplay.

Don't engage in excessive praise. This sounds really depressing but I'm not used to it and it can cause me to panic!

Don't bring any bodily fluids except for blood, cum, and sweat into roleplay or sexting!! I don't like p*ss and sh*t lmao

Asking me to commit to major lifestyle changes without me expressing my interest beforehand will probably result in me caging up. I like kink lifestyle, but I want to take my own pace.

Do not interact if you find me attractive because I'm trans UNLESS YOU'RE ALSO TRANS.

But yeah I guess all you need to know is I got horny when a Legion first forced my Titan up onto the barrel of it's predator cannon and fired about 400 rounds of 40 mm anti-aircraft grade rounds through the midsection of my Ion in 2016.

[phoenixyfriend]

Re; Ahsoka and Quinlan being the same age, now I'm picturing Ahsoka, Quinlan, and Rex eventually ending up in a weird sorta thruple where Quinlan comes in and out of the relationship but the door is kinda always open for him? And Rex spends a lot of mornings eyeing the tangle of orange and brown skin on the other side of the bed like he has no idea how he ended up here but he's (mostly) okay with that tbh

Context: Commander Buir in chronological order

YES okay so this is wild to me that people are invested in this but like half the time-travel fics with Ahsoka in the same age-group as Quinlan have me wondering if I should ship them. Let me just. Ho shit.

So, okay, I've explored a lot of possible dynamics but there's something really engaging about how Quinlan, trained as a Shadow before the Sith came back, could react to a War Padawan. Ahsoka isn't really infiltration material yet, she's very much a frontline fighter, but she's got a lot more experience with a kind of consistent dark atmosphere that most Jedi don't. They get exposed to plenty of dark stuff, sure, but not the kind of all-encompassing "this is my life for the last two years" thing that is usually reserved for the long-term field agents like Shadows and Watchmen.

The War Padawans, for all that they were supposed to be just normal Jedi Padawans, were living in the kind of consistently negative environment that's normally experienced by those Knighted Sentinels.

So Ahsoka, while still generally pretty young in these AUs, is a very odd kind of person to be around, because she's spunky and vivacious and snippy and affectionate and snarky and knows how to break every bone in your body from harrowing experience as the only thing standing between death and thousands of brothers.

And Quinlan, I imagine, really likes that about her. She gets it, and she's still an energetic and loving and trying to do her best to be a good person despite everything. He gravitates towards her and she... well, she's not blind. She can tell he's interested. And she's not upset about that.

ANYWAY, ONTO REX

So, Rex is... technically twelve. He hasn't exactly got a whole lot of experience with romance. He is also, up until the point of time-travel, legal property of the Senate and the Jedi Order, which means that Ahsoka, or at least her community, owns him. He was indoctrinated to serve her and that community. She also outranks him, for all that she usually lets him take the lead in the field due to experience. He's older than her physically and maturity-wise, but she's also had a grow-up-faster-than-you-should adolescence, and she has superpowers.

What I'm saying is, the power dynamic is fucked up.

(Unironically I spent hours last night realizing that it balances out a lot more than C*dywan does, which I'm censoring because by god do I not want discourse on this post. I like both ships, and don't want to argue about what's the most problematic. It's Star Wars. The only unproblematic ships are Bail/Breha and Owen/Beru.)

Here's the thing, though, because the main thing people seem to argue here is the age/maturity difference as a problem area:

The age difference in actual time is four years, which is smaller than the two main ships of the franchise (Han/Leia and Padme/Anakin, to be clear). The age difference in maturity is ??? We'll say that the clones started aging normally after they hit twenty, so the age difference in maturity is six years... which is still normal for SW ships.

(This is why I don't have any issues with the ship in a post-O66 context, once they've had a few years to move past the traumas and whatnot. The age stuff all evens out with time, they're a good team, and neither was grooming the other. It's not objectively any more problematic than most SW ships at that point, and I'm okay with that. They deserve to be happy if they want.)

But they get yanked away from all that structure of who owns what, who reports where, who has which rank, who's legally a person in the eyes of the Republic when they end up on Dagobah. Once they've registered when they are, the only remaining complications are:

He grew up in a cultlike environment and was indoctrinated to serve her (but has been replacing that indoctrination with genuine respect and affection for her as a person because they've worked together for two years).

She has superpowers (contextually not a big problem: we see several Force-Sensitive/Non-Sensitive ships that don't consider those powers a complicating element)

He's several years younger than her (canonically less of an issue than it could be: Cut got married and has kids) and has next to no experience with what a normal romance looks like except for hanging out on the edges of whatever the fuck his General has going on with the Senator

She's several years less mature than he is (...something of an issue)

So a lot of this is mostly okay. She feels weird about the fact that she's got more knowledge of romance and all that it entails. He feels weird about the fact that, despite her being older, he looks at her and sees someone that's still a little young, not quite a shiny. Except she is older than him, and he's seen her behead four people in a single move, and they've saved each other's lives more times than either of them can count anymore. He respects her, and the fact that she's babyfaced doesn't change the fact that, in terms of who they are as people and warriors, they're on a level playing field.

She still looks at him and mourns his lost childhood, and he still looks at her and takes a moment to see past the too-big eyes and adolescent proportions.

But they really, really care about each other, and maybe part of them is starting to recognize that there's a bit of a crush before they time-travel, but neither one wants to make a move. There's a lot of baggage on both sides, a lot of "but they're a child" and "but they're (literally vs functionally) below me in the chain of command, I can't take advantage of that" and all that fun stuff. It's the kind of situation where two people circle each other for ages without making a move, because actually making that move is terrifying on account of not knowing whether the other party knows they can say no, on top of the usual "what if it ruins our friendship?" thing.

What happens on Dagobah, though... is very tropey. They're sort of stranded until Ahsoka can fix the ship, and that takes time. The area is also very heavy with the Force, dense and heady with the energy it carries, and it's... actually really not great for Ahsoka. She keeps feeling like she's back on Mortis, and has nightmares from the trigger there, but also keeps hallucinating because she wasn't ready for the thickness of the energy (like Yoda) or still new enough to the Force that she couldn't feel how dense it all was (like Luke). She can't work on the engines as constantly as she'd like to get them out of there, and while Rex is a competent mechanic, he's not as skilled with it as the girl who jumped headfirst into lessons with Anakin.

Rex spends a lot of time holding Ahsoka and wiping her brow with a wet cloth while she's feverish and out of it. Yes we're going full Florence Nightingale romance here, let me have my fun.

They get the communications relay working earlier than the engine, find out the year is wrong, panic a bit. All is well. (It's not, but they're holding it together for now.)

Ahsoka keeps working on the engine when she's lucid. Rex keeps hunting up game and edible plants for them while she does. They cuddle at night, because it's not cold but it is empty of the people they care about, and they kind of want that reassurance of someone they trust and love at their back.

(Morai visits.)

(Daughter shows up in the nightmares, tells Ahsoka that age will not come for her beloved until the time is natural for it. The phrasing is dumb but she does manage to convey that the accelerated aging is no longer an issue, if it even was after they hit adulthood. Ahsoka is relieved.)

And, you know, emotions happen. She takes his hand while they're leaning up against each other. He kisses her forehead while she's having a bad spell. They cook together and tell jokes to keep sane and spar. They hug each other through nightmares and panic attacks. There is much blushing. There is much cuddling.

Once, they kiss.

They break apart, flushing and stammering and being very awkward about the whole thing, and make excuses to leave and panic about the fact that they!! Kissed!!!!!

A couple hours later they find each other again, and have a long and complicated discussion about why they like each other (war makes bedfellows, there's trust and affection and all that fun stuff) and why they're hesitant (age stuff, maturity stuff, prior indoctrination), and make the decision to take it slow. They cuddle, and kiss, and blush a lot because both of them are basically just dumb teens having their first real relationship.

They eventually leave the planet, make it to Coruscant, etc. It takes a bit for anyone except Obi-Wan to realize that something's changed between them. Most people didn't know them before, and Anakin's observation skills are currently at a very low ebb. But they sit together and hold hands, and flirt when they spar, and once or twice people find them kissing (both standard and Keldabe) in a corner while holding hands and then just smiling at each other like loons.

They end up rooming together because nobody has the heart to separate them after hearing about all the war stuff. Like yes attachment's bad, but these two do seem to understand loss of loved ones and recognize that they could lose each other at any time and death is natural and they won't lose their entire shit about it, and if even General Kenobi is anxious as hell about being separated from the people he fought side-by-side with for two years, then maybe it's just... really normal for those two to want each other's company, and everyone can just turn a blind eye to the romance happening.

They share a bed, but they only ever sleep in it. Like, there's some goodnight kisses and cuddles, but everything is very G-rated until they've had time to settle into being true equals instead of just the "well, I guess the power dynamics balance out? Maybe?" of before.

And just... yeah. Rex does not believe that he's in this good of a position whenever he has the time to think about it. He's got a girlfriend! A really pretty, smart, strong, skilled one! Who thinks he's a cool dude! How the fuck did a clone like him manage that? He wasn't even legally a person a year ago, how did he end up in bed with one of the most amazing people he's ever met? He spends multiple nights just staring at her while he tries to fall asleep, asking himself how he got here and just like... marveling at her. She's worth marveling at. He's in love and she's amazing and he has no idea how to handle it at all.

...yeah no I have a lot of feelings now.

[vinnival]

If it’s not too much trouble, could I ask for a madness combat matchup?

Im a biromantic (asexual) female. I’m like 5’6 or something like that. I’m a bit chubby, but my breasts rival Sanfords lol. I’ve got glasses because I’m blind as heck and long brown hair with a weird blonde streak. I’m a nerd, and I love to mess around with computers and technology stuff, and for a while I spent a lot of time studying animatronics like they use at Disneyland. I occasionally hop between interests and recently I was really into cryptozoology and learning about the Mothman and aliens. Writing and baking are currently my main pastimes, and I love baking for others and sharing food. I almost always have music playing and love singing, mainly for my self, but occasionally for other people, and I find it fun to make playlists for people and share the music that I like. I’m a total introvert and I don’t spend a lot of time with others, but when I do I’m usually more outgoing. I’m a total crybaby, and I get emotional about everything. I think that’s it, sorry if this is weird or anything like that, and sorry about sending this at a dumb time, my sleep schedule is weird. Thank you so much!!

Don't ever say sorry about sending things in at wrong times !! I'll never judge, I stayed up till 3 AM last night hehe, as long as you get the proper sleep its okay <3 enjoy!

You got a match! You're matched with...

Auditor!

<3

art credit to @//malewifecombat !!

Everyone wonders how you managed to turn this man into sap

Well, it started with your quaint little job, working as an engineer- you'd just recently gotten it!

You made a moderately big breakthrough in the MAG technology, allowing them to grow even larger in size

Auditor came over to review your work and you just stood there like 🧍‍♀️

You were so tense omg relax bb

He approved of your innovation and he asked you a couple questions

"Are you good with any other types of technology?" Was the one that caught your ear

"Y- ahem- yes! Yes, I love working on robot beings, animatronics, if you will. On a general scale, though? Just robotics!"

He showed no indifference, but you managed to relax for some reason

A couple of days later he reappeared and promoted you to an all-new rank ???

Whoa!!! You had your own special wing???

He promoted you to "Robotic Control", and showed you to a room FILLED with books, tinkering toys, and a cool little area obviously meant for building said robotic stuff.

"You impressed me, newbie. Let me repay the favor."

"Hshs?jdiwh???sksuwu?woouu??u?u?o???" -your brain, probably while crying

You were so happy in there, and all the books were filled with other stuffs you were interested in

Like mysterious cryptids, their myths and it even discussed their supposed anatomy!

He bought you all the best computer parts from out of state and let you build your own computer ,,

Sometimes he would visit you while you worked and you had this weird feeling that he liked you

You were writing a short little story and singing softly to yourself one time, and then the Auditor came in

You nearly threw your book in the air from being scared

"I'm, could you please knock next time, boss?"

He looked like he was about to protest., but hesitated, then nodded. Your brain couldn't comprehend how you did that

A few minutes later you were tinkering on the current project you were working on: a robot grunt

You were hoping it could be altered by the MAG innovation you had

Suddenly, the grunt whirred to life and ran straight at the first target it could see: you

You barely had time to react when your own mf boss YANKED you to his side with lightning speed

He did away with the robot quickly with the spare pistol he had attached to his leg

"Good targeting mechanism, but it needs a little tweaking."

You just stared at him as he held you FLUSH AGAINST HIS SIDE

You stammered out an affirmative

He didn't leave you alone after that, visiting nearly every day

One day he walked in on you actually singing, and eating some brownies

He tried to make a swift exit, forgetting his promise to knock, when-

"It's okay, boss, I can tell when you're coming to see me nowadays."

He did a double-take, and reentered

You offered him a brownie

He loved it

He loves your baking

You bake more

Stonks

He knocked another day to hear sniffles from inside your quarters. You didn't respond, but he still came in- dare he say that he felt worried?

Auditor cautiously approached you and asked what was wrong

You were overthinking about your weight :(

He doesn't deal with individual insecurities in the common grunt, so he was confused on how to help

You just gestured for a hug, and he brought it in

Some instinctual urge inside him told him to whisper sweet nothings and thats what he did

He complimented your body, your personality, he was WAYYY uncomfortable with being so open about his feelings ngl

But he wanted to help you feel better awww

Eventually he closed off with a curt "I love you"

He didn't even regret saying that

You felt safe with him :)

Ohohoho im getting more matchup requests and I must say; I can take story requests/HC requests too 👀 I hope you liked this OP !! Thank you for the ask 💜

[togansweep]

hiii vi! sun & 3h & 7h <33

hiii b! (I always think of you as my cat mutual now btw haha) ty for the ask <3

sun: name 5 things you like about yourself

1. the way my brain works, how I experience things

2. the way I talk, the way I tell stories and talk about stuff

3. my creativity

4. when I really wanna get something done I'm really determined and hard working to make it happen

5. my honesty, especially when I'm working on projects with people they always tell me how they appreciate that I always tell my honest opinion on everything

3h: what are some of the topics you like to talk about the most?

I love talking about tv shows, currently mostly succession (what a surprise), sadly nobody I know irl watches it (except my parents but they didn't like it rip) so whenever I mention it it's kinda like talking into a void. also fictional characters and trying to figure out what the characters I'm obsessed with have in common and what it says about me. discussing fandom culture is always really interesting as well. oh and music! always love to talk about music, especially with my dad (we make our own monthly hit chart every month where we rank our favourite new songs, it's so much fun). also traveling and fun experiences I've had. I love philosophising about shit and making connections between things and analyzing them as well. and those kind of weird conversations where you're just saying weird stuff, the ones with tomgreg energy (like I had with that guy I mentioned in my previous ask). but yeah there's probably more because I really like talking in general haha

7h: what do you consider green flags in a relationship?

when you can both be 100% percent yourself, when you say something really stupid but they still like you. when you can also say "that was really stupid" and they still like you. oh the biggest thing for me is when they go out of their way to spend time with you, this also goes for friendships because I've experienced SO MANY TIMES that all the initiative came from me and that's really exhausting. also just overall when you get the feeling that they're just as much into you as you are into them. they can be a tiny bit obsessive. as a treat. (this is not really a green flag but more something I'd like because then at least you know the interest is mutual)

[haunted-radishes]

Hi.....if you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 favorite characters from MDZS? And your top 5 (or top 3) favorite moments from the novel or the drama? Sorry if you've answered this questions before....Thanks....

Ooh, let's see if I can rank these....

Characters:

Tied for first place for entirely different reasons are Wen Ning and Jin Guangyao. Wen Ning is the character I look at and go "him! I love that guy!" And I like to think he's the character I'm most like. Meanwhile I find Jin Guangyao the most fun to think about, and when I come up with AUs canon divergence scenarios, he's always a key aspect, because he's just so dynamic! also I think he's underappreciated and just a bit uncomfortably relatable

After them, I think I'll have to say the Yunmeng trio. All of them are interesting and fun individually (and maybe I get unnecessarily defensive of Jiang Cheng), but as a unit? Oooooohhhhhh, even better. Their relationships are so beautifully fucked up and so tragically loving.

Rankings are very hard for me, so here's honorable mentions for Wen Qing, Mian Mian, Lan Xichen, Su Minshan, and The Juniors ™

Moments:

This is going to be even harder than ranking the characters...... Also, for all the novel canon I've absorbed through this site, I still have yet to read it, so I'll stick to my favorite show moments.

I think any given Jiang Cheng entrance can take first place (Guanyin temple, "I'm his uncle, any last words?" etc). Have you ever seen a more dramatic and imposing man? I didn't think so. And that's besides their character importance! If I got into them I'd probably ramble meaninglessly, so I'll leave it there.

Another category of moment that just lives in my head is Wen Ning being unnecessarily scary/weird. Greeting Wei Wuxian by hanging upside down in his window! Walking menacingly towards the juniors with a sword! It's just a little quirk that adds flavor to a fairly mild mannered character.

For the aesthetics and drama, how could I not mention Yiling Laozu moments? Be he fresh out of the burial mounds, or condemning the world at Nightless City, there is just something about him. The only man who can match Jiang Cheng's levels of drama.

And! All the signs of love and support in the burial mounds village! From throwing a party to celebrate Wen Ning waking up to planting A-Yuan to Wen Qing challenging Wei Wuxian to grow lotuses, every moment of that arc is just so human, so gentle and loving and down to earth, even in the worst and strangest of times (there's a reason I love that arc enough to theme my blog around it).

And finally, for an actual single moment rather than a category, Mian Mian leaving the Jin sect. Do I need to say anything more?

Anyway, these are my current favorite characters and moments, but I always have different things living in my head, so how might I rank them another day? Who knows? But I had a lot of fun with this!