#tbh with how much shit they had in this finale I'm glad they didn't try to wedge canon buddie in alongside it. it'd have felt so rushed imo

[harrowharkwife]

its so clear sometimes ppl genuinely dont understand what queerbaiting is bcs of how often it gets thrown around.

like ive been through the r i ng e r when it comes to liking queerbaited shps and im shocked ppl somehow think this is the "worst case scenario" or worst thing that could have happened. like yeah was i disapointed but theres defintly been 10000x worse endings for ships(and its not even over yet)

(also if it isnt clear i dont think buddie is queerbait lmao)

god, agreed!

i did not watch the magicians showrunners send hale appleman, a real life gay man, on a months-long press circuit to talk about how proud he was to bring a storyline like eliot/quentin to life on the big screen, and hype up the show for its #diversity and #representation, with FULL KNOWLEDGE that the planned conclusion to the arc was to bury their gays, for people to call THIS queerbaiting.

that finale was stacked with buddie foreshadowing six ways to sunday, imo! and even if it WASN'T, we weren't promised anything. they never use buddie as a promotional tool. and right now, we're sitting right back where we were at the s4 finale- and look how much progress we've made on the buck and eddie front in canon since then!

this show continues to be the same show that i fell in love with. and at the end of the day, that's what matters to me more than any ship.

[saerotonins]

jotaro and boobies

ft. kujo jotaro x gn!reader (headcanons + scenario)

content warnings: 4taro, fluff, jotaro being a cute pookie, suggestive (? but just to be sure), reader has boobs, just some corny shit i decided to write, not beta read

wc: 1127

while i definitely agree that he's a thigh man, he appreciates boobies too!

any size, any kind, his hands WILL fit

sometimes or most of the time it's not even sexual, he just likes to touch them because he likes the feel of them

a free stress ball for him if you will

at this point your bras are useless, what's the point of having them when his hands are RIGHT THERE

would be willing to be your bra if he could tbh

he's kinda obsessed with them and would be glad if you're down to prance around your shared apartment with no top on

on a particularly really stressful day, he just wants to lay his hands on your boobies and call it a day

maybe squish them but not too much

would probably fall asleep while he holds them

the hold he has on them is really comfortable, this man's hands are the perfect cups (hah, see what i did there, ok bye)

jotaro came home later than usual due to some deadlines that he had to catch from office. while this is not unusual, today is particularly draining for him since his research partner decided to be more difficult than they were before.

"you're still awake," was the first thing he said the moment he entered the door. the sight before him is welcoming and cozy. with you sitting comfortably on the couch with your pajamas and socks and the comforter hanging around really made you look inviting. immediately, he somehow felt his shoulders lighten up a bit.

his voice made you look in his direction and he could clearly see how happy you were to finally see him home, safe and sound. these are the mundane things he looks forward to every day. the domesticity makes his heart full and happy, and while he'd be damned to admit it out loud, it's something that he wouldn't trade for the world. 

you stood up and walked up to him to greet him with a chaste kiss on the lips, "welcome home, darling, food's waiting for you in the dining table, come?" jotaro nods to your invitation. you held his hands as you gently guide jotaro towards the dining room. the patter of your sock-clad feet as you walk sounds relaxing, he thinks. 

"the food is a little cold but we can heat it up," you said as you sat, "this is fine, i'm starving," you knew what he said is extremely true since you noticed that he immediately inhaled the food served in front of him. 

jotaro must have noticed that despite being seated with him, you were not eating, "why aren't you eating?" he asked out of concern.

"i already ate a while ago, i just want to make sure you'll have a hearty dinner since you seem tired when you came in," your answer made pause as he chewed his food.

he cannot believe how lucky he got. if he told his teenage self that he would find love that will wait for him until the sun sets and prepare him a meal ready to eat when he comes home, dote on him on the regular and makes him feel special, he would've been beaten up. 

"something wrong, dear?" 

your voice seems to snap jotaro out of his thoughts. he shakes his head and continues on with his dinner.

by bedtime, jotaro settles himself in bed while trying to read a book. while the dinner and shower he had earlier somehow let some tension out, he cannot help but feel like it's not enough. something is still weighing his heart down and he couldn't shake it away even if he tries.

the comfortable silence in your bedroom is suddenly interrupted by your phone.

"what's that?" 

"oh, i'm just watching a drama that i started yesterday," 

jotaro hummed as acknowledgment. while he would like to stay up with you and keep up with your interests, the yawn he let out thinks otherwise. 

"you should sleep now sweetheart, you're pretty tired today, i'll wear my earphones so you won't get bothered," you didn't hear an answer from him, instead, you felt him shift on the bed and put his arms around your waist. a smile was brought up on your face. such a simple gesture yet you know it's jotaro's way of saying that he appreciates you even in his worst days.

a few minutes passed, the silent whirl of your air conditioner enveloped your room. while all is well and cozy, jotaro still couldn't help but feel like something is missing. exhaustion from his body telling him to sleep, the warmth of your body beside his, the early call time that he has to meet tomorrow, yet none of those things were enough to make him fall asleep.

until jotaro had an idea. 

he initially thinks it's stupid but it's worth a try.

while you were focused on the show that you were watching, you felt jotaro poking your shoulders. 

"what's wrong, why aren't you asleep yet?" you asked jotaro while you take your earphones off.

there was a slight pause in the air and you swear you feel the hesitation but opt to let him speak once he's ready.

"can i– can i touch your breast?" jotaro feels his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. he feels like a stupid teenager for asking such a ridiculous request.

while you were shocked to say the least, entertaining a simple request from your beloved shouldn't be a problem

"okay," jotaro could practically hear the amusement on your voice but he couldn't care less. once the green light is given to him, you can feel his calloused yet gentle hands go under your shirt and towards your boobs.

you feel him cup you breast gently, "is this fine?" you gave him a subtle nod. it's actually quite comfortable, you thought. his hands provided warmth and his hold is gentle enough not to hurt you, like his hand is a mold of your bosom.

you can hear jotaro release a sigh of relief in your ear and felt him cuddle closer towards you.

the two of you stayed that way while you continuously watch your show until some time, you felt his hold from your chest loosen, indicating that he finally fell asleep.

you smile at the thought and decided to close your phone and shut your eyes, ready to meet jotaro in your dreams.

ever since that faithful night, jotaro always asks if he could touch your breasts from time to time while you cuddle or take a nap if his day gets too overwhelming for him.

and you couldn't be any happier to oblige to his request.

[restinslices]

Ive seen your Lin Kuei Brothers hc about movie reactions and they re hilarious. I watched Mean Girls the other day and thought about their reaction watching it. I bet Bi-han would stan Regina lol. What do you think?

This is short because tbh I don’t really see them liking it😭. I added a little Drabble cause this took so long.

Although the idea of him being a Regina George stan is conical, I don't really see him enjoying movies like Mean Girls 

I'm not sure what movies he'd like or if he's more of a book guy, but Mean Girls is campy fun about highschool drama. I just don't see him being interested 

I'm not sure any of them would really be interested in it honestly. Mean Girls isn't just a girls movie but these are men who are in their 30s-40s and just don't give me Mean Girl stan. Yk?

I just don't see him liking it at all. He's checked out the entire time and when he's told it's a classic, he doesn't understand why 

It's not the worst movie he's ever seen but it's not his favorite. He'll never go out of his way to see it again 

A party pooper fr 

I don't think he'll be like “this shit is ASS!” because you like the movie but I can see him being like “well it was certainly a movie”

I don't know😭. I wanna say he'd like it, but it doesn't seem like his vibe. I'm sorry 😔

“Did you like it?” You asked once the movie was over. The answer? No. Honestly, halfway through the movie he completely checked out and if you hadn't announced that it ended, he wouldn't have noticed. 

“It was a movie” he answered simply. He went to get up from the couch but you grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. A random spout of strength that contrasted how sad you looked. 

“You didn't like it?” 

“I'm in my 40s”

“So?”

“So, it isn't for me”. Your frown deepened and he couldn't understand why. It was just a movie. He could understand why you liked it. It had childhood memories attached to it. He didn't have any memories attached to it, so to him, it was just a movie. 

“You suck ass” you finally said and crossed your arms. “I'm watching it again”. 

“Have fun with that”. 

I don't think he hates the movie but once again, I just don't see any of them truly appreciating it 

Teenage drama to him just isn't exciting. He's older so when problems arise he starts giving logical answers 

“How does Cady not see that she's also becoming a mean girl?”

Because that's the point of the movie Kuai 

He'll watch it maybe a few times with you if it keeps you happy

In canon he has a wife so I'm sure he knows that sometimes you gotta endure for them

I think his favorite character, if he had to choose, would be maybe Karen because she's just tryna live life based on my memory 

He's glad he understands the references you make now 

So there's positives  

Not his cup of tea but he likes that you like it 

“This is a classic, you say?” Kuai Liang asked. He meant for his tone to come out friendly and curious, but in reality it came out unsure and a little judgmental. Unfortunately for him, you noticed. 

“Shut up! You didn't like it?!” he couldn't understand why you were so surprised. He liked some movies but the movies he liked were nothing like Mean Girls. 

“I didn't say that”

“I cannot believe you. We're gonna watch it again until you like it”. Kuai Liang was tempted to get up and go do literally anything else, but when you snuggled close to his arm, he figured there was no harm in trying again. As long as he was close to his favorite person. 

I can see him being the brother that understands the message the most 

For some reason people debate on who's actually a mean girl. Whether it's Regina, Cady, Janis, ect. 

Tomas can see that multiple characters are mean asf

Now once again, I don't see this being his cup of tea, but hate is too strong of a word 

Dislike is too strong of a word 

The movie is just eh to him. It's just a movie. He won't suffer if he watches it but he'll never choose to watch it on his own

I can see him lying about how much he enjoyed it so he ends up watching it a lot more than he wants to because you keep putting it on 

Even if this isn't his favorite movie, he definitely thinks the first is better than the sequel 

That shit was ass 

Mean Girls is entertaining. The sequel… no❤

He watches it with you because it lets you spend time together. 

Honestly you could put on a shitty booty ass movie like Teen Wolf (2023) and he'd watch it if it kept the two of you together 

“Sooooo… thoughts?” You leaned back in your seat and look over at him with hope and happiness in your eyes. He internally winced. How could he destroy that shimmer in your eyes?

“I loved it!” he lies. His heart swells in his chest when you clap your hands together and give him a toothy grin. By the Elder Gods… you were far too cute for him. Now he certainly couldn't tell you he didn't particularly care for the movie! You'd look so sad. 

“I'm so glad! We should get matching pink shirts! We can wear them on Wednesdays!”. Tomas kept his forced smile on his face. Internally, he wasn't sure what can of worms he opened. All he knew was that it was too late to close it back up. 

“Sounds great” he mumbled. “Maybe we can watch the sequel I've heard about”. Why did he keep talking?

You scoffed. “Sure. I guess we can suffer together”. 

Suffer? Oh boy… 

[bee-named-alex]

OMG. ok so IWTV s2 ep8... Finished it like two minutes ago so here are my thoughts. SPOILERS.

Yeah no there's no way I can wait for like two years for the next season. No fucking way.

This episode was amazing. I don't want to say masterpiece (because I'm sure there are flaws that I'm just not observant enough to see) but it is for sure the word I'm thinking.

Lemme try and go somewhat chronologically.

The start, heartbreaking, the speech "the suit changes nothing" oh my hell. The rocks that's fucked no thank you. Armand saving Louis "again" and Louis not even wanting to be alive. The way he talks about it "My rage was denied, my rage killed..." like he was out of his body and acting on autopilot (like he seems to do a lot actually)

His burning down the theater and killing of Santiago filled me with so much joy. They very much deserved it and omg he got them. He was like an angel of revenge (and he looked angelic too, sorry, no I cannpt be normal, he was gorgeous)

Armand's "I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you" and Louis' "You can't" and yes he cannot but he will try (by erasing your memories i guess lol)

Meeting with Lestat in Magnus' lair hurt. "Here's your death" and the kiss (after not even wanting to be with armand really and just doing it to hurt lestat) and the speech after and we're basically threatning him with loneliness again and it's just so... no words really. Hurtful and tragic for Lestat (especially since he was the one to save him like that's fuckeddd)

Dubai. "That's the end of it" halfway through the episode and their weird happiness like it was obvious something was gonna get fucked and I'm glad it did.

Investigative journalist Daniel Molloy using his powers for good aka making these two vamipires divorce (which he almost did 50 years ago but this time it's on purpose). Love him.

I love how he eases Louis with the little stuff, the discrepancies (that were in the show on purpose they make no mistakes yay), and how with every second Louis doubts everything more and more and how with every second Armand's eyes show a little more fear.

Lestat actually being the one to save Louis wasn't totally unexpected but tbh Armand kinda had me fooled. Not in this really but like I thought he was a passive participant of the trial like he just didn't intervene and not that he was the fucking director??

And now I'm not sure if he just didn't love Louis as much as we thought or if he was actually that much of a coward. Probably the second one tho, given how much he did to secure Louis' love (gaslight, lie, change memories... you know totally normal stuff) and how afraid he is to be losing it now.

Louis fucking Armand up even if it's just a little is great, I have been waiting for it. Go away Armand and think about what you did. (I love you so much but nope rn you're not staying)

And then Louis goes to New Orleans and meets Lestat at his lowest and omg my heart hurts (thank god for "siri pause" it made me laugh)

And their conversation about Louis' turning and Claudia and San Francisco and the hurt and the tears and the little voice cracks and there I was crying too. With every word I wanted to push them together so that they would fucking hug and then they finally did and I know they'll be alright (as alright as one can be in this situation)

Then the tv thing gave me fucking whiplash like lmao. Fictional memoir my ass. Don't you disrespect my boy Daniel like that. Speaking of, Daniel has been turned. OMFG? Like I knew he would eventually and I knew it would be Armand but I didn't expect it now??? And we didn't see it but fingers crossed we get it later.

And there must be something more to it, Armand with his disgust wouldn't turn him just out of anger, so there must've been another reason (Devil's minion or maybe to save his life idk)

Louis in his tower alone (? Lestat is getting ready for tour I hope) and he knows that they are after him. But he owns the night. Powerful shit. He might have a death wish also idk.

I just. Am done. This was something else and there was a lot of it and my mind is still spinning a little.

Everyone who worked on this show deserves the world and the actors even more so and I need the next season like yesterday.

[zroqravity]

no you are literally so right about the patreon thing though

i don't wanna be a hater on my blog so I'm gonna be on anon, but it is genuinely a stupid financial decision.

also like.

why the fuck was the update on patreon only??? if it concerns riptide, their main campaign??? like at least make a community post (they didn't have a problem making community post for merch for an exclusive campaign but they can't talk about hiatus on there??? weird)

also a thing that annoys me is the fact that they still have ads and shit on episodes, they have sponsorships. and it's not weird, every single podcast with a patreon I listen to has that (dndads, which they actually made a reference to once in an intro, naddpod) but they're the only ones that have activity on patreon and NO activity on main feed. it's weird!

and those podcasts manage to have active main campaigns while also having successful patreons! i understand that for the boys it's like a main job and so the pressure to have it pay off is high. but it's just not gonna if they move to patreon completely. it never works! I've seen people try so many times and it never works because patreon just doesn't work like that. it literally advertises itself as a place for exclusive content and it ain't exclusive if it's The Only thing that exists.

anyway I think they should have prioritized getting wanderlust out first (if they make it like the suckening I swear to fucking god I'll explode), THEN doing a patreon mini-campaign and then coming back with riptide. or better yet, posting the mini campaign along with riptide coming back to lure people in. would work on me if patreon wasn't locked away from regionally

they're just managing it all rather poorly tbh. like I get it? they're making money and I would also prioritize that shit, I understand. but at this point some of it just feel disrespectful. like posting the update on patreon of all places (not even fucking twitter???? or smth?)

anyway anyway. sorry for getting all of this off my chest in your askbox I just. most people I follow and/or am mutuals with for jrwi have patreons and i just feel like I can't complain about it. yknow? it's probably just in my head but yeah. you're so right

THE UPDATE THING YEAH I DIDNT KNOW I COULD ACTUALLY WATCH IT FOR FREE FOR QUITE A WHILE! It'd reeallllly weird to only put it on patreon especially when they have posted things of this sort on twitter in the past and at least made a community post abojt it on youtube, I can't think of exactly why they did this honestly but just the fact that they did it makes me suspicious despite there not being anything technically wrong with it and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

also they have ads enabled on patreon stuff?? Yeah that is kinda weird and something I've never thought about before. Also a big fan of dndads here, in my original repay to the ask I actually mentioned them as a podcast who uses their patreon well but decided to delete it.

PATREON IS REGEON LOCKED??!?!@ THAT MAKES IT SO MUCH WORSE NOT ONLY ARE THEY LEAVING OUT FANS RHAT DONT PAY BJT ALSO SOME THAT WOULD PAY BUT JUST HAPPEN TO LIVE IN THE WRONG PLACE??????#@ AND THESE PEOPLE WOUNDNT EVEN BE ABLE TO SEE THE UPDATE

yeah they are handedly this shit very poorly, I'm glad my asks could be somewhere for you to talk about this bc I know how frustrating this is, I'm really glad I finally got the guts to speak more about this bc its something I've had a big problem with for a while and it's really nice to see that it's not actually all in my head and I'm not just being a hater unreasonably like I tent to think i am

Sorry for the late reply, my reply to your other ask will come even later, sorry again o7

[lonewolflink]

hey author! really liking WSC. I was wondering how did you get into itzy? there doesn't seem to be a lot of midzy writers, we need more like you!

hi anon! glad you're enjoying wsc :)

tbh i got into itzy sort of by chance/randomly? bit of a long/weird story lol...

i've listened to kpop on and off for a long time but never really Got Into It in a stan way (when i was in college i definitely had (and still have) a ton of blackpink on my gym playlist, and i always really liked mamamoo, but i wasn't really paying attention to kpop culture at all or any content beyond the music itself). probably the closest i ever got was bigbang, and that was only because of my massive crush on taeyang :P

i'm in the last year of my phd program right now (if i'm able to finish my dissertation by the end of june, i'll defend and graduate in july! dr. link!!), and from what i saw in my time in grad school i knew the last year basically drove every phd student completely insane.

instead of trying to curb that insanity by becoming a mildly functional alcoholic or smoking too much weed i basically decided i'd funnel that insanity into FINALLY trying to understand kpop beyond casually listening to it, like understand the culture and the standom and the whole thing.

i knew i needed to pick a group to stan in order to do that, and i didn't want it to be blackpink even though i like them, since they release music so rarely (lol). so i was like ok you know what i haven't really listened to any kpop after 3rd gen. lemme see what 4th gen has to offer!

none of the 4th gen boy groups really caught my interest in a serious way (though i do really like some songs by stray kids and enhypen), so i turned to 4th gen gg. and like. holy shit 4th gen is literally the girl group golden age???

i was sort of listening around to some of the different 4th gen gg and really enjoying them, trying to find the right one for me, and then itzy's none of my business mv came up on my recommended on youtube, and i'd seen their name around. i clicked and...well. i was hooked.

i watched a bunch of the classic mvs (dalla dalla, wannabe, mafia), that one clip of lia singing can't take my eyes off of you, and like one compilation of OT5 being silly and chaotic. after that it was game over, i knew i'd found my group.

(and also i kinda love an underdog story; i think itzy's supposed "fall off" has been greatly exaggerated and with the overhaul of div 2 employees (...hopefully the marketing team) i am curious to see if they can recapture the 4th gen gg crown)

i wasn't at all expecting to write fic, tbh, especially not for a kpop group! i've actually never done it before, except maybe once when i was 13 and then immediately regretted it because i was bad at it lol. but in one of the most stressful years of my life, it became a really nice creative outlet for me, especially because i don't really have anyone irl to talk to when it comes to kpop and itzy.

in general, i've found midzys to be such a warm, welcoming group, at least here on tumblr and in the comment section on AO3 (i try to stay off twitter as much as possible).

and i didn't realize initially when i first stanned itzy, but turns out the whole jyp fam is really awesome! obviously the company has its issues, like any kpop company, but in general the jyp Vibes are really fun, and i've enjoyed listening more and learning about twice, skz, nmixx, etc.!

since my original goal (i guess?) was to understand the world of kpop, itzy ended up being the perfect group because, well. they have done almost every sub-genre of kpop at some point. they really can do it all! and as a group they've been on top, they've had their name raked through the mud, they've had a member on hiatus (...literally announced right after i decided to stan, RIP), been in a big transition period...

yeah man idk. it's been so interesting and fun to follow their journey, learn a lot about the kpop machine, do some really fun creative writing, give in to the insanity of being a stan, and listen to some really great music along the way. :)

anyway that's how we got here! sorry for the long-winded answer hahaha i guess i could've just said "last year of my phd program, went insane, instead of becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol i decided to become a kpop addict and my drug of choice is itzy" :P

[ddeongies]

.....wow

i mean... what else can i say. this chapter (the whole of choreo au, really) was beautifully written. like it really is just a character study under the guise of smut, and u pull it off so well every time. i love how much emotion is ingrained into everything, their words, their actions, their thoughts, even the narration

the strap bit was so good, i love the specific way you write yeji kind of gnc, especially in these parts. it's so fun (and also makes me look very bigly at succubus au for. reasons).

i also love the little bookending with the first line "ryujin thought she'd prepared herself for hwang yeji. she was wrong" and the last "nothing could have prepared ryujin for hwang yeji", i love when stories come full circle like that. i know we're getting an epilogue chapter but even without it this is still such a perfect place to end this story

on a completely different note. biting yeji's stomach........ im so glad we are all on the same page AGH. i will be normal. she. ohhh the yummy...

-🖤

i'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter/fic!!! 🥰 choreo is definitely as horny as it is... not LOL. it's obviously a smutty fic, but the smut is really there as another device to examine and progress the dynamic and the characters. i honestly didn't know what this fic would turn into when i started writing it tbh... i wanted it to be like kinda toxic kinda angsty sexy ryeji and then i ended up with this! and i'm very happy about it tbh!!

the strap bit was so important as a final scene tbh like it's kind of the definition of choreo. like it's smutty as hell but there's something much deeper (pun not intended) going on there and it hits as hard as it does bc of all the internal shit like... imo it wouldn't be half as hot without the 40k of emotional shit that lead up to it! (i love gnc/Not Cis yeji..... i am also looking bigly as succubus au like can ddeongies just write that already 😭

i'm addicted to bookending in fic. i try to do it in all of them (sometimes in more subtle ways than i did it here) i really really wanted this chapter to feel Final and Complete. like i'm super excited to write the epilogue and i've already got a lot of cute and hot ideas cooking for it :D, but i really didn't want to leave anything hanging after this monster of a chapter. like if i couldn't wrap it up in 20k then LOL

yeah the body worship scene was... a journey to write. like genuinely ask @lonewolflink she was getting so pissed at me bc i literally had just the yummy part to write for maybe like 2 weeks bc i just couldn't do it it was actually so hard it made me feel CRAZY (i have clearly decided to not be normal pls join me)

[broken-clover]

you did it! you finally performed the most holy act of street fighter fandom, watching the really weird and pretty bad live action movie. It's bad in the best ways possible honestly and I'm glad you agree Julia was the best part. Also thank you for giving Ming-Na Wen her dues, people tend to overlook her performance because she too gave this trainwreck more effort then it deserved

Like yes, it's easy to say that the movie is bad, but it's bad in such a myriad of such puzzling ways that calling it 'bad' almost feels like a disservice, weird as that sounds. I think that's why it's so easy to advocate watching it despite knowing how questionable it is, there's so much going on that's hard to describe that it's best to witness it firsthand and experience the chaos

I'm probably gonna make a longer post later once I have a little more time to analyze and organize my thoughts, but I think I can say with relative certainty that the cast in general was one of the highlights. Like, yes, very few of them resemble their canon counterparts, but I felt very few of them gave a half-assed performance. A couple of characters like T Hawk, Cammy and Blanka didn't get to do much, but for the most part I feel like everyone either gave a decent effort or had a few good moments that stood out and I can respect.

I really appreciate Chun-Li being a major character since at the time she had one of the more major ties to Bison, and while I was a little annoyed at the beginning how it seemed she was just gonna be a reporter with a vendetta while Honda and Balrog did the heavy lifting, MASSIVE respect for that literally being part of the narrative, with her playing the part of an overconfident damsel specifically to get Bison's guard down, only to try and beat the shit out of him. Actually I think she's like one of three characters that actually got to physically fight him hand-to-hand? Tbh wish there was a bit more direct interaction between them bc Julia's dramatic hamminess vs Ming-Na Wen's colder, more serious and bitter performance was a really compelling contrast that gave this mostly campy movie a bit more depth and some grounding, bc despite Bison being a power-mad dictator the silliness makes him a little unthreatening before the final sections, so it did really well for his character and the movie's tone to emphasize that this man has directly murdered people and left long-lasting mental scars on their families. Legitimately solid stuff

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

Finally completed Canto IV and I am VIBRATING

Beating Dongrang really relied on me getting good clash luck early, because this try was more of a slow grind barring the time an attack got through and I had so few attacks available that I had to offer Ishmael as sacrifice (which made the friend N-Sinclair snap, thankfully he decided he wanted Dongrang for the sacrifice and not, like, Hong Lu). Kind of underscores how much I dislike the coinflips, tbh; they're a win harder/lose harder mechanic and while I know ProjMoon is trying to fix that, I genuinely don't think it can be—only having a pair of values is just innately way too swingy until you get to like 4-coin attacks.

It's a shame because the fight itself can be interesting in how you have to carefully juggle what gets through in order to keep everyone available to deal with his fat pile of HP quickly, and the story events are great (the final one made me cry, I did not expect to adore Yi Sang when I started this game), it's just soooo swingy to start and that determines the flow of the rest of the fight unless you super fuck up. Which I would mind less, if he didn't have nearly 2k hp in a game where you generally have to expend resources to do over 50. It's just kind of a mostly one-sided slog.

The bit about Dante being immune to memory manipulation is... interesting. Dante themself is such a big mystery and im not sure how to like, process it, especially with that little scene with Damien(sp?) and the shift of their clock. Also I enjoy that "Dante is rude and mad as hell and Faust is politely eliding that from her translations of them" is a dynamic now, makes Faust much more fun since before she was kind of stuck in the ms. exposition zone.

Yi Sang's big moment though. It was so fucking good. I loved all of it, every second of it was the coolest shit on the planet, I'm so glad he got his wings in the end. I wonder if eventually his base Zayin will be updated to reflect that? Or if he'll get a new base Zayin.

Anyway, super excited to see how ProjMoon handles *checks notes* a beach episode with a magic schoolbus reference in the title

[nono-bunny]

Thoghts from watching the ATLA live action!

Episode 4:

Holy shit Iroh and Aang are cellmates this is such a fun scenario!! Gives some strong Crossroads of Destiny vibes, ngl. Also, the crytals look cool!!!

Oh I'm genuinely so glad they didn't just... Move on from Sai working for the Fire Nation, I was genuinely doubtful they were gonna adress it tbh! Now I just need a Sokka and Jet confrontation and I'll be happy, though, that isn't likely to happen unfortunately.

I really do like what they did with Sai and Sokka though- this kinda feels like him starting a pattern of trying to look for replacement father figures tbh, which really fits with how much more visibly he's fixated on being like Hakoda here. It's sad and sweet at the same time, and I'm really interested to see how they'll write Hakoda!

Fuck yes, spy Zuko!!!

Smh kid Bumi isn't crazy enough, is it really THAT hard to find just. A completely unhinged looking kid?? Nah obviously I'm joking, he's cute haha it obviously wouldn't have been possible to have the visual similarities we see in the og so just having his unique laugh to identify him by works!

Idk what was up with Iroh's writing in the first episodes, he felt really foreign to me but over time he genuinely finally starts feeling like Iroh so I'm glad they got into the groove with his writing! He's still a bit too open which feels weird, but he uses more veiled language now while doing it so it works better. Also? I heard they used Leaves From The Vine, but damn it still got me!!

Haha YES, this was genuinely a change I always wanted: Sokka and Katara in the tunnels instead of Aang and Katara!! Not for shipping reasons, because that's gross, but because I always felt it would've been real funny haha

Wait are they fr sending Iroh to face punishment? I was sure he was next to Aang as part of a White Lotus thing or just until Bumi heard he was there!! I'm guessing he... Still doesn't know? I'm guessing this whole thing is a spin on when Iroh gets taken from the hot springs, but Bumi being directly in charge only works if it's all a ploy or if he hasn't been informed that they have the Dragon of the West in captivity- which would be wild!! Unless he's busy constructing puzzles for Aang lmao idk

So like. Given that the siblings are going to the tunnels, Aang is meeting Bumi, and Zuko is rescuing Iroh... I guess we just drop the Jet plot until next season??? Man, what a bummer. That was too short and didn't even hit all the high point of meeting him in the original. Like, they honestly could've had him try to appear and try to atone by trying to help and getting rejected and yelled at, but instead he just confirms his evil plans and is never seen again? Like, literally, what did he even do here? Despite being on screen for longer, his betrayal somehow doesn't seem as impactful because there's no time for Katara to process it last episode, like. Again, I hope to god this is a thing she has to kinda wrestle with a lot next season- I also kinda hope Sokka somehow independently meets him with Aang again and doesn't realize that the guy from the cart is the same guy Katara talked about, and that these two get to have their own Jet disappointment because again!! So far taking Sokka out of the Jet plot is genuinely the biggest issue I have with this show. Katara's arc seems to be headed to the same place albeit in a very different pace, but this is something that would be INCREDIBLY hard to fix. Like? I get it, I understand that what Sokka learns in that episode doesn't have to happen there, but. It's genuinely one of my favorite episodes because of how both of the water tribe siblings get to learn something from interacting with this charming duplicitous guy, and taking out Sokka's growth kinda just? Leaves us with Katara getting betrayed while bottling it up (likely until either they meet again or until Zuko's actions remind her of it- it'll probably also be important with Hama), it kinda just becomes "Katara gets a crush on a bad boy and gets hurt" which? Idk it feels weird, it was presented differently here and she feels much less silly and willfully blind because for the longest time no one tells her to be wary of Jet but. I still don't like how ultimately Jet was just there to disappoint Katara and interact with literally no one else. I mean!! I love Jet, of course I too had a crush on him, he's iconic and important and of course he had to be a part of this, but. Truly, they minimized the hurt he causes so much that I just kinda feel like he might as well not have appeared with how little he ultimately impacted things, at least for right now. I'm really hoping he gets an expanded role next season that helps to make up for how much his appearance was minimized, or that we see this have a tangible impact on Katara, because as it stands... It was just kind of a disappointing cameo appearance rather than something that felt like it needed to be there. Anyway this is all more about last episode but I still held out a bit of hope for it to be resolved better so. To see that Sai and Teo get to face a bit of emotional fallout set up last episode because they get to further the plot, while Jet just vanishes... It sucks, and it hurts, and I hate it. Anyway, onwards, I guess!

Teo has genuinely been changed so much he straight up isn't the same character anymore, and it's... Strange. I don't really like it too much, tbh. He's like, EXTREMELY cynical and eager to fight, and it's such a strange change from a character whose entire purpose originally was to kind of mirror Aang and help nudge him along on his journey. I genuinely can't tell if they just thought that living in a city under constant threat rather than literally amongst the clouds would mean he would kind of have to be different, or if it was an attempt to make him cooler or whatever. Regardless, I don't like it, tbh he kinda pisses me off a bit? He's SO serious and angry all the time and it just. Feels weird when he only resembles his original counterpart through his name and use of a wheelchair. Everything else about him is nowhere to be seen! If you compare his situation to Katara, it might seem similar on the surface- except, Katara is a main character who clearly still has a character arc ahead of her (and also all of her defining traits are still there), while Teo shows up like twice. It's kinda vital that he isn't too complex and keeps his original personality because he doesn't have the same leeway to grow that a main character does, otherwise he risks just becoming someone else entirely... And that's what happened. The thoughtful and cheerful boy with an interest in Air Nomad culture is all but gone, replaced with yet another angry warrior, and? While I get how it's probably more likely for him to become the latter, I also very much miss and lament the loss of the former. Sai is very much the stronger adaptational character of the two, and he's the only one of the two to get to have a real impact on one of the Gaang. It... Sucks.

Lmao Flopsy my beloved what have they done to you?? Guess they ran out of CG budget haha

Oh, this Bumi has a very strange and uncomfortable vibe, so like... Perfect! He was always gonna be hard to translate to live action, and I saw a lot of people dislike how they portray him here, and I kind of get it? He's not very likeable, he feels like kind of a bad ruler and a bit cruel... And that actually tracks? I read the showrunner said he wanted to focus a bit more on how upset Bumi is about Aang disappearing and reappearing in his life, and that underlying anger absolutely comes through. Bumi is... Kind of scary, and as someone that has a rep for being The Crazy King or whatever, I feel like that perfectly fits!

Jet!!!! He's here!! Kinda feels like it might be a dream ngl, it just has that vibe? Or maybe that's just how happy I am to see they didn't abandon him haha. He's... Still only gonna interact with Katara though, isn't he? :(

Uh? So, I'm gonna have to be filled in on when Katara learned physical self defense. It was very cool, but it felt like nothing I've ever seen her to do before. Anyway real cool moment for Katara there overall, it was great! It in particular really stands out against the cartoon in the way she manifests her anger. She's like. Definitely angry here, and it's very clear she's also just once again tempering it and moving on- no time for this, no time for Jet, no time for fighting... And at some point all of those repressed feelings are gonna have to overflow. It was a very cool scene, but it was, once again, sorely lacking Sokka's presence. More than anything, I just. Wish for these two to meet independent of Katara and get to have their own clash. Honestly? I feel like they could potentially catch two birds with one stone by having the Gaang split up earlier next season, specifically, have Suki help them get to Ba Sing Se earlier so get to meet Jet or something. Idk, the idea isn't fully formed, but it definitely feels like the most likely point for them to get to meet and it would make me really happy for everyone to have a bit more interaction with Suki before she formally joins them in the last season. Like? Maybe Jet and Sokka meeting could be Sokka's story in a Tales of Ba Sing Se sort of episode? As much as I love the haiku club... It's almost certainly getting the chop- also, I heard that the biggest and most important plotpoint of that episode already gets revealed in this first season so? It's likely just not gonna happen, or if it does it might just be like, a bonus one for fun idk. Regardless that season has a lot of "filler" that can easily be dropped, and Jet and Sokka meeting feels to important to just. Never happen, and!! I want it so badly, fuck!!

Yo ngl Zuko's helmet do be making him look like Melonlord

Lol prompting a conflicted Zuko with "well? Are you just gonna stand there? What are you gonna do?" Is fucking hysterical

Bumi is fr so pathetic, fucking no one likes his jokes but his the king and having people have to laugh this time is genuinely hilarious. It also makes everything so much more menacing!! I get why people didn't like what they did with him, but I think it's an interesting direction to go with his character and I think they handle it really well. If anything? Having to stick to some of the original characteristics and reusing the jokes really hurt his momentum imo

The Omashu story looks beautiful!! Ngl I don't really understand why they changed it to a lesbian couple? It literally changes nothing, their genders doesn't matter to the story, so I genuinely don't care one way or the other, it's just... A strange choice to make haha

The singing nomads are always fun, though in my ideal Secret Tunnel scenario they go in with Sokka and Katara and annoy the shit out of Sokka. Miss them already. Also, I do miss Dee Bradley Baker- just. In general, but also, can't help but think of him when I see these guys- it's his song after all!

Forgot to comment on Iroh taking the Lotus tile last episode, so I'm happy to see it back in action here! Do kinda wonder how June will track him in the last season without his smelly sandal though haha

Really cool scene with the rock candy!! Obviously the original way it's presented is off the table, and they instead made it into a really beautiful little action scene!

Ngl something about seeing Zuko pick up a White Lotus got me choked up a bit. The hesitation with Zuko between Aang and Iroh didn't really feel like that big a deal here given the different circumstances behind Iroh's capture, I mean? Obviously Zuko was never gonna abandon Iroh after he sacrificed himself, so not going after Aang here wasn't really that much of a sacrifice on his part in comparison, just... Basic decency to return the favor, which kinda lessened the impact and you might as well miss there was even a conflict with how little of the episode he spends thinking of Aang, but. I like it, it's sweet to see their connection here anyway. Definitely does feel like Zuko is a bit too close to redemption at all times during this season though, Iroh is being WAY too obvious about his true allegiances imo, but tbf... I doubt anyone could go into ATLA blind nowadays, and maybe making Iroh more transparent and Zuko more sympathetic is a way to later drop the shoe ever harder during Crossroads of Destiny- like, THAT'S how much of a wrong choice he makes there, it goes against his entire characterization thus far... But the bait Azula used was too alluring. Or something like that, idk, maybe it's just. Tough to write such a beloved character back into his worst version? Idk, I kinda get why people wish he was less obviously on a path to redemption but frankly? I think it's just an Iroh issue again, they really seem to struggle with writing him to appear silly or without depth as the first season kinda necessitates, and his unwavering support and pushing for sure make Zuko a lot less lost here. I wish he got to be a bit more, but again: this show was the first time in a long time, maybe ever, that ATLA managed to make me be afraid of Zuko, so. Idk. Mixed feelings- he's not all sugar here AT ALL, but he definitely still is a bit too much for this point. I genuinely do think that Iroh's ability to reach him and be straight to the point needed to be heavily nerfed tbh, I think that's the main issue with Zuko's appearing too sympathetic here

Okay, so. Genuinely not exaggerating here when I say: Sokka saying he has a hunch stole my breath away, made me choke up, and tears welled up in my eyes. Like! THAT'S how taken off guard I was with them bringing back my favorite underrated Sokka trait: his instincts. The time it took me to write this was enough for me to genuinely just start crying while thinking about it, like. Genuinely I'm so happy and relieved this managed to find its way into the show, I'm. A bit overwhelmed rn and I don't know that I can put my feelings about it into words rn so I'll be back when I have something else to say, for now: I am RIDICULOUSLY happy with this development, it means a lot to me personally.

Wait I'm immediately back: this is strange, right? The initial utter joy blinded me but this is like... The exact opposite of what Sokka initially does in this episode, this is kinda funny lmao

I think I can pretty confidently say by now that Sokka and Katara's relationship is my favorite part of this adaptation. They always bring out both the best and the worst in each other, their scenes are always bot fun and also just... Cathartic to me in a personal way because they always manage to hit everything that feels missing until they go at each other. It's genuinely perfect, I love them so much. Like? Yeah Ian Ousley is possibly a stinky liar, but he and Kiawentiio have a great rapport and work really well as the unique twists of their characters that this LA is going for. I really, really enjoy them.

Istg Sokka in the cave is just spitting out one pop culture reference after another and it's genuinely bizarre

So, Iroh was provoking that guy to let him take out his anger, right? That's genuinely the only way I can read that scene for it to make sense. Sympathizing with the guy wouldn't have helped, he wouldn't care that Iroh knows he was wrong and that he only realized it when he lost someone too, so he just let him vent by playing the bad guy ig? Idk what I think of that scene tbh- Iroh being a hated general is something that needed a bit more fleshing out for Zuko taking the throne to make sense, so I don't hate it, but. It was weird to see Iroh be so obstinate in the face of someone who was clearly hurting because of his actions. The expected Iroh move would have been some wise words any sympathy that leads to bonding and healing, and it felt SO weird that it just. Didn't happen, and yet... At the same time, I kinda got it, and I do really appreciate this scene, even if the characterization feels off in a way- which, tbh, most Iroh scenes do. It wasn't a bad one, it just felt really strange to keep expecting him to do something and for him to just... Not. Iroh is definitely both the same and yet feels really different and I just. I can't get used to him tbh.

The flashback mourning scene immediately after was also nice, although it was a bit funny how Dallas just looked exactly the same age when it should've been more than three years in the past. Once again Zuko is slightly too sympathetic too early, but at this point I kinda think that's just what they're going for- they're doubling down on showing him as misguided and wilfully blind rather than cruel, which is a realization you do come to during the first season of the original to be fair... It's just a lot less subtle about it here, with much less time where you just view Zuko as The Enemy. It's very clearly from very early on that this is also his journey, and as that gives me more Zuko... I don't even necessarily hate it lmao, it's just different. I think that so long as they keep being consistent about why Zuko is still refusing to "turn good" it can work really well, and ig with Azula coming early... They increased the pressure on him from both sides, which is actually kinda interesting and something i didn't realize until literally just now. Honestly I think half of the point of me writing these is just... To help me get my thoughts in order, to help me see the show for itself rather than just as a cut down version of the story, and honestly? So far it's actually working really well in terms of helping me come to terms and appreciating some of the weirder/bigger changes they make. Still the one unforgivable change is no Jet and Sokka confrontation- I'm glad they didn't entirely drop what Sokka learns there, but. I just love that episode so much that it being changed so severely really hurts in a way I can't reasonably reconcile. Everything they did and all the reasons for it makes sense, and it all works really well in the end but. It's still just a terrible personal loss haha

I do think that ultimately Katara was right and said something Sokka needed to hear (he's not his dad) and I don't like how it was brushed under the rug a bit but I guess he's not really ready to confront that quite yet- that'll probably come when he reunites with Hakoda, huh?

Oh my god it's happening again!!! Istg it feels like some characters just. Straight up accidentally exist in the wrong universe- Bumi and Kyoshi both chide Aang for traits he doesn't have here, and he never gets called out for the in the original. Genuinely it feels so bizarre, like these characters come from another world where what they're saying is true. More than ever this show feels like it was made by fans who loved the show so much they wanted to see it be better, and when given the opportunity they just kinda... Went ham on both fixing the flaws while also directly acknowledging and trying to fix them, except it doesn't make sense because they don't exist here. It's so disorienting and, frankly, super funny and personally validating to realize the writers also probably had screaming meltdowns over Aang being a bad main character, and feeling so strong about it that they just had to include it still. It feels like the biggest callout post possible, it's genuinely so funny, and as nonsensical as it is... I love it, and for me it makes the show feel like it was written by like mined people- I get it, y'all, I too would both fix and yell at Aang if given the opportunity! It's genuinely such a mood and so relatable of them, so even if it's kind of a mess... I love it, because I get it.

I think it's a really cute and fun twist to have the crystals not be the way, but rather, the badgermoles. It gives both aspects of the cave a chance to show up, and even though I do kinda wish we got to see a disgruntled Sokka strumming his way out of the cave... This was a really sweet resolution. Also, spending most of the time they're in the cave be in the dark and thus under the light of the crystal made for a much more visually interesting episode than it would be otherwise, while also being a nod to them originally being trapped in crystal in Aang's Bumi Adventure. Tbh THESE are two episodes that work great when separating the cast- Sokka and Katara literally did nothing in Bumi's episode, while Aang being there in Cave of Two Lovers did more harm than good in my humble opinion. As I thought I would, I like Sokka and Katara going through the cave together MUCH more- it allowed for a more organic conflict, had more potential for funny moments (that wasn't really utilized because for the most part this adaptation doesn't really do or seem to get comedy- I mean, the funny Bumi moments absolutely bombed here!), and just... Wasn't Kataang focused, which is always a plus!!

Ngl it's kinda embarrassing how much I cared about Sokka's instincts to the point that it made me THAT emotional- btw I don't like that it wasn't followed up on like originally, here it was just brought up and he turned out to be wrong which sucked a bit- unless the crystals were meant to lead them to the badgermole? Idk, wish this was a stronger through line because now he just looks like a fool- which the original episode made sure he wasn't, that was like, the whole point there!!

Genuinely WHERE was this Bumi in the original show,,,,, Anyway this Bumi fight kinda feels like the first cool earthbending we see, which. Ngl, checks out with the original lmao.

My god do I wish Katara and Sokka were able to actually do anything in the original episode with Bumi after seeing this, this was fantastic!!! I'm tearing up, genuinely, this was fantastic!! It really feels like what Aang could've become originally if he was challenged more. I really do appreciate and feel for Bumi here, and for once in a very long time.... I'm also rooting for Aang. That's genuinely not a small thing to accomplish for me! As much as I think what Bumi is saying here has merit, I also believe that this is an Aang that can learn to mediate and make the hard choices when he must- so long as he considers other perspectives, allows his friends to help him, and does the same for them in return. And for how distant Aang feels from Sokka and Katara right now? I believe they genuinely can and will grow closer to a degree they can be this for each other. This was an awesome moment and. Idk. Having genuine faith in Aang feels so foreign to me at this point, almost novel, and I hope to god they don't squander this later on. Watching this episode was actually so healing? Idk if it was just that it took me like, literal hours because I kept pausing to write a lot here so it felt like a long journey to get here, but. I'm really happy with where things ended up, generally!

Uhhh so. Zuko's lot in life is being on water, is it, Iroh? Lmao I know that's absolutely not what he meant but of course my brain IMMEDIATELY started barking "Zutara! Zutara? ZUTARA!" like a rabid dog- that is MY lot in life. Anyway I do think the two Iroh and Zuko scenes at the end here were probably the best ones of the two of them so far! And closing with Zuko having another "Aang vs Iroh" moment just to cement the message here was probably a wise choice especially given how brief the first one was. This one worked a lot better, and it was also really pretty visually!! Actually, for whatever reason I think this show generally looks the best when it's working with blue tones for whatever reason, and as this episode had a lot of them it was one I was constantly really impressed by visually! The green here was a bit hit or miss, but the blue scenes kinda always look really good!! Actually, Wolf Cove looked cool too, and it was pretty blue as well! Hmm. Something to try and pay attention to from now on and if I do a rewatch ig?

This episode honestly did a much better job at adapting two storylines simultaneously, and it was just... Overall better for the most part than the previous one. Bumi was a bit questionable in that he initally leaned too heavily on his original personality and gags rather than embrace this new version (ironically, the opposite of what they should've done with Teo), but for the most part I like the changes they made here! Iroh remains the shakiest and most immersion breaking part of this show- due to no fault of the actor, by the way, he does a good job, the writing is just really inconsistent with him- but if I ignore how uncanny and ooc at times he feels to me, I did generally like his scenes here and what they were meant to do. Genuinely don't know if Iroh is an issue for other people or if for some reason I'm just fixated on him feeling off tbh? Anyway Katara and Sokka were in top form this episode, as I came to expect from scenes that focus on their bond! It was definitely brought down a bit by having to resolve the weaker previous episode and its weird adapations of Jet, Sai and Teo right at the start but it managed to pick itself back up really well- and the Sokka and Katara fight put a nice little bow on it for now, so I'm relatively satisfied with how they wrapped it up. Still hope for a big Sokka and Jet fight though, and still don't really appreciate what they did with Teo. But the bulk of this episode was great- if not in execution, at least in the ideas it portrayed, so I'm happy enough with it tbh.

This post was, once again, a mess as it's just me writing down my thoughts as they occur to me with very minimal editing, if I bother with it at all, but. Yeah it's pretty funny that I'm constantly just lamenting how they remove something and then they still include it later haha, it's becoming kind of a pattern!

[allylikethecat]

More on the carsickness haha bc it’s such a sweet and like niche hc but also like makes so much sense ?? Also because I’m obsessed w atkh at the moment just like probably everyone else who ever stepped foot into ur tumblr page lol. How do you reckon fictional George ends up finding out about it? Bc obviously this fictional Matty is less of a complainer and more likely to like pretend everything is fine ig? I guess it’s just one of those things that he’d notice when they spend more time together?

ALSO. Since I’m here, and you said send asks so you can’t stop me ;)

I have been slacking on my atkh chapter comments and I realised I was sooo taking them for granted SO

Starting from the chapter where he breaks down at fictional! George’s, OH MY GOD ????? Written to perfection and I cried. I feel like it’s just such a good way for it to all happen but also so devastating?! And they fact that he’s finally realising that he was soo wrong about everything So then I’m super glad that they got some time to like- be happy- even if you’re going to crush that for a bit..

And then the chapter w charli and everything was so sweet. Fictional Carly is really just another mini protector

The SLEEPOVER ???? Was definitely NOT too self indulgent from you I ate it up oh my god.

And then the date oml. I love anything w the horses in tbh it all seems so personal and real. And the blushing oml so sweet.

Hope your team win the hockey game ? If that’s still going?

I am going to start off by apologizing for how long this response is I got very excited about your WONDERFUL ask...

IDK maybe I'm just projecting but like Matty, fictional and IRL just gives me "gets carsick vibes" so like he will be getting carsick in all of my fics lol Also thank you SO MUCH for being obsessed with ATKH because I am also very obsessed with ATKH and I am just so excited and so grateful that people are enjoying it and will to chat with me about it because that is what I want to be doing at all times lol I don't know if Fictional!George is ever explicitly going to find out - but if he does its probably going to be in the sense that they're going somewhere that's further away, Fictional!George is driving as always, and it starts out fine, but maybe they hit some stop and go traffic, and it's just taking forever and Fictional!Matty has gotten quieter and quieter, and he's got his forehead pressed against the window and his eyes squeezed shut and he is breathing really heavily and Fictional!George is like what's wrong you're really pale and Fictional!Matty is just like "I need you to pull over as soon as you can because I am going to throw up" and Fictional!George is like 😮 what shit and is scrambling to try and pull over and is just like in awe of how calm Fictional!Matty is about the entire thing and is like why didn't you say anything! But Fictional!Matty is just like I get carsick it's fine and Fictional!George is like THIS iS NOT FINE HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS and next time they go on a roadtrip he's got like water and ginger ale for him and like anti-nausea lollipops and is READY.

No part of me wants to stop you keep the asks coming this is absolute AMAZING and thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to read All the King's Horses I'm just so extremely grateful for everyone who has given it a chance and who has taken the time to chat with me!!

AHHH I'm so happy that you liked the chapter where they really ~talked~ about Fictional!Matty's history, that was one of the very first chapters I saw like fully formed in my mind when I started outlining this fic! It had moments where it was hard to write, but looking back I am happy with how it came out! Fictional!George is very obsessed with Fictional!Matty and that line between love and hate when it comes to obsession is very thin... but yes! They are going to be happy for a little bit 👀

I LOVE Fictional!Charli SO MUCH she is the MVP and the voice of reason in this fic and Fictional!Carly is a compilation of all the fabulous wealthy women who ride at my barn and have adopted me as their like bonus adult child I love them all so much and am so grateful to them and have had so much fun turning them into Fictional!Carly

HEHE I was so excited about the only one bed thing, that is like one of my FAVORITE things and I was so happy and excited to like full send it lol

YAY! I'm so happy that you enjoyed the date chapter! That was another one that was very self indulgent because I NEEDED to get Pop in there - I had to make some major edits to that chapter because I had accidentally made Pop the main character haha he might be the main character in my life but I was like this fic is about Fictional!Matty and Fictional!George not you Pop lol He retaliated IRL today by getting his third eyelid stuck over his eyeball and absolutely freaking me out because he can never NOT be the center of attention lol I was also really amused by how much Fictional!Matty was blushing - part of me worried it was too much but I was also like this fictional man has hardly had anyone do anything truly nice for him just because, ever, in his life, so he is going to be so anxious and embarrassed about it the entire time.

LITERALLY AS I WAS ABOUT TO START TYPING THAT IT WAS IN OVER TIME AND I WAS HORRIBLY STRESSED MY BOYS DID IT MY FAVORITE PLAYER DAVID PASTRNAK FUCKING SCORED IN OVER TIME HE WON THE GAME FOR US WE ARE GOING TO ROUND TWO OF THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS I CANNOT RIGHT NOW OMG LETS GO MY FAVORITE LIL NOODLE!!!!!

❤️❤️❤️ALLY

[box-dwelling]

I'm becoming slowly open to being a hater of AA5. In that I want to know where the bad stuff starts. Because I actually liked the first case a lot.

Like it's fucking goofy but thats AA baby. The characterisation seems good. Athenas a ton a fun. Phoenix is trying to be the adult desperately but is being vicariously a little shit through Athena while also showing he's incredibly caring and protective for these kids he's acquired, Apollo doing the heroic thing in protecting juniper but being so much of a workoholic he reopens his fucking wounds in the process is in character. The case makes sense especially for a turtoiral where the complexity has to be limited. I like the mood matrix mechanic. The cut scenes are fine. The judge is himself and got a few laughs from me. I was genuinely shocked and worried when Apollo was attacked. Juniper is sweet, Ted isn't the best murderer ever but the tutorial case ones never are (with 2 glaring exceptions where they cheat by having them be the main villain) and the ending hook was interesting as was Athena's PTSD. Like this is around as good if not better than 1-1 and 2-1 imho. Their villians are kinda bland and ted was goofy enough to be fun. I don't like the 3d look but it's tolerable if you meet it where it's at. Like it's good I'm kinda confused where the issue is.

5-2 is feeling weird. I'm glad to see Trucy but she does seem more bland and the 3d design did her very dirty but I'm only at the very beginning.

From what I've heard of from later on Apollo kind of gets too many unpreivously referenced stuff. Which ok but I'm going to be honest that feels like it's maybe more an AA4 issue? Don't get me wrong I loved that game and I love Apollo as a character but there's very little to work with after it. There's the sibling twist which does need addressing (I'm aware they don't) and his mentorship with Kristoph but, I'd Apollo always felt like the one who Kristoph had the least bad infulence on. Like Klavier is a very explicit victim of emotional abuse and Trucy and Phoenix's lives were destroyed by the guy. Apollo while still negatively impacted felt like the one who could get over it the easiest. Then there's his rocky relationship with Phoenix which, like the ending of AA4 kind of implies he started to understand that especially with how he talks about him in court. Does it happen off screen? Yes. The lack of wanting to repeat information after the mason section (objectively a great section) means we never really get his reaction to learning that Phoenix didn't forge evidence and that he didn't give up on the law and was just biding his time. We don't see it but from how he talks during the final trial day it's pretty clear his opinion of him increases a lot when he realised what Phoenix was actually doing and actually going through. I'm actually going to make a post about how I'd fix that tbh. But yeah. I just feel like this game had to build on something with very little left to build on.

[gilly-moon]

[5 Characters & 5 Tags]

Tagged by @harleyshahas (thank you ♡!!!!)

Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts) - KH is the game that got me into video games, and inspired me all the way to getting my current job in game dev, and Riku is at the heart of why I love the games so much. But I had to put Sora too, because one without the other just doesn't work. Without Riku, Sora couldn't have his arc of "I want to be better than Riku" to "I want to be better with Riku". And for Riku, his transition from dark & edgy to chosen keyblade weilder all ties back to how he looked down on Sora, then tried to make up for his mistakes, and finally trusted and loved Sora completely. They complete each other and challenge each other to grow and become better at every turn. Also their reunion in 2 absolutely ruins me every time. Sora crying on his knees will be burned in my brain forever.

Zack Fair (FFVII) - Crisis Core was at one point the only game that would work on my PSP lol. But I didn't need any other games because Zack the puppy was everything to me. Watching him struggle with the morality of being a SOLDIER, all while desperately trying to protect his friends and failing at every turn...that shit hurts, and yet he keeps his smile and honor right up til the end. He is THE sunshine boy of sunshine boys and I could gush about him all day long. His scenes in Advent Children destroy me.

Oikawa Tooru (Haikyuu) - the real blorbo of my heart, the bitch I latched onto and will love to the end of my days. His ability to take even a team of strangers and lead them flawlessly within just a few minutes is so admirable. He knows exactly how to bring out the best in everyone on the court. It hurts me to this day that he never got to wreck Shiratorizawa before he graduated (also that moment where he falls and slips in season 2 uggghhhhh) but jokes on them because he's the one who got an honorable position on an irl team!! I get some people call him an insufferable asshole but thats exactly why I like him! Let characters be insufferable!!!!! Its fun!!!!! And besides, when it comes down to it, he's genuinely a good person who wants everyone on his team to be involved and be their best. Love of my life. No Oikawa haters allowed on my blog.

Pitch Black/Kozmotis Pitchiner (RoTG) - basically since the movie came out I have been ready with a "Pitch did nothing wrong" speech at all times. I feel like I don't even really have to explain this one, I mean....yall get it. You know why we're all still here, loving him and the Guardians to the end of our days. I will say, though - idc if it's book version or movie version, my love for this asshole remains the same.

Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson) - ah, the original blorbo. The queer awakening for so many people even before he was out in the books. This is another "I love him because he's kinda rude" character. His hatred towards other characters is always warranted tbh, because they ostracize him for?? No good reason at all???? No one wants to or tries to be his friend in heros of olympus for the first four books (except Hazel, who practically has to force others to talk to him) and it pisses me off to no end. Percy spent battle of the labyrinth hunting him down, but would he have been so dedicated if he wasn't getting the iris messages??? Doubt it. Anyway. I adore Nico, he deserved better, and I'm so glad he's got a wonderful bf and his own book now. I will never get tired of him and I really hope the tv series goes well so he can finally come to life in live action ♡

Honorable Mentions: Ronan Lynch, Cloud Strife, Roxas, Hiccup Haddock, Sasuke Uchiha, Portgas D. Ace, Killua Zoldyck, Allen Walker, Vlad Masters

I don't rlly talk to many people on here so...if one of my picks was also yours, consider yourself tagged!

[khaleesiofalicante]

The IALS story was everything, Max and David are everything and it couldn't have been more perfectly imperfect than that, it was so them so thank you for this amazing doze of serotonin!🤗

“Not necessarily,” David shakes his head again. “Max, what happened, it didn’t just happen to me. It happened to both of us. Just because our wounds are different, it doesn’t mean we can’t share our pain.”

This line did it for me honestly, because in most of your fanfics, especially LBAF, Max is so obsessed with fixing things for David and helping him that he forgets that whatever's happening affects him too. That's why he can't be Other Max, those things aren't happening to Other Max, he has other stuff to deal with (see what I did there?) , the shit that happens in the current timeline is affecting both of them and they need to start healing and hurting together. That's the dream, I really hope they realize and fix this.

The Jaden content made me remember how much I didn't like him, I was half expecting Lance to show up and start roasting him, and now I can't stop thinking about Lance running into Jaden again, pure ✨️comedy✨️, which also made me wonder Max's reaction if he finds out that David called him? I can see that conversation going pretty bad and then better.

I forgot how much I enjoy David perspective, personally I relate to him a lot as a character, and I've found myself having similar problems or views so I really missed reading his inner thoughts. I also missed him simpimg over Max, that's just adorable.

Like real people do was what I didn't know I needed it was amazing, again it was absolutely brilliant🩷

PS: Was that how you always envisioned this scene going or was it easier for you to write it after all this time? Like when you finished it you had the mentality of Mavid trying to heal but after time passed it was like something cooled down and it was easier to imagine them getting closer?

PPS: People who can't take no for an answer suck and should burn in hell, honestly as someone who has a problem setting certain boundaries, it's so annoying when you have finally mastered the courage to say no and some people just disregard it. Stupid idiots, let's hope they find their lost empathy at some point🌼

Helloooooo.

I'm glad you liked the story. And yes, that's one of my favourite quotes too, because Max is one of those people who forgets about his own pain when his loved ones are hurt and I WANNA SHAKE HIM AND BE LIKE BITCH YOU ARE HURT TOO.

Originally, I wanted David to tell Max that he called Jaden. But it seemed unnecessary tbh - and it would've taken focus away from the real story. So, I decided against it. That man has caused enough drama.

I miss David perspective too :(

It was definitely not easy to write it right after IALS. Like I couldn't even picture it - because it was almost as if they were still healing inside my head. It's like saying 'get well soon' but without the 'soon' part, because I wanted them to take their time. I was willing to wait for them because I knew whenever the story would come to me, I'd be willing to write it. There were certain bits and pieces that I knew would be in this scene, including Max feeling insecurity about his appearance and David reaching out to Jaden, and the whole thing happening randomly, as if their hearts were healed and they didn't know about it and it randomly hit them like 'oh'. I hope that makes sense!

PS - Those people really do suck and there is nothing more despicable than disrespecting consent!

Love you.

[cutemeat]

Speaking of taking it to 11, I'm glad Glenn stood up for not throwing away stereotypes entirely just to be subversive. Ofc it's valuable that Mac's not a gay man stereotype, but as a queer Asian who fits stereotypes, it's sad when tv goes TOTALLY in the opposite direction because they're worried they'll "do a stereotype" (obv there's good, nuanced and bad, harmful versions). There's proud defiance in leaning in sometimes. Do you think RCG worry about "bi Dennis" bc of evil bi stereotypes?

YES, i totally agree!! And it makes perfect sense that he feels that way, cuz Dennis does tend to embody a lot of common queer stereotypes from s1 all the way to s15... Way moreso than Mac ever has, imo. But its not so much that he felt like a plain caricature of those stereotypes (though obviously im not gonna act like in a lot of moments he's not being played up that way lol... 'boys are out tonight huh!?' but even Glenn admitted that was something he didn't want to be included in the episode as his character cuz it was "too broad" LMAO). He still feels like a character that has depth and is well-rounded, including those 'stereotypical' queer traits. So even before Glenn outright said that, it did feel like he had that mentality and I think that's also probably something that's gotten better with maturity lollll. But I was also rlly glad to hear him outright say that too, cuz it is, as you said, commonplace now for writers to keep trying to be "subversive" of stereotypes but that can backfire horribly and just make a lot of characters feel flat or inauthentic. So yeah it was rlly nice to hear that, and esp on the podcast which gets a lot of viewers.

And I do think that RCG are aware that there is a line they have to be be mindful of when it comes to how these characters' overall deviant nature might be perceived as being related to their queerness... Esp in the case of Dennis, and Mac as well. I think this concern was actually somewhat acknowledged in "The Janitor Always Mops Twice" (and tbh I'm surprised I haven't seen more analysis on this?? tho it definitely could've come up and just been purged at some point as a lot of s14 shit ended up being loll) because the way that episode framed not only Dennis, but Mac too, to fit into the "queer-coded villains" noir trope was--again, imo-- an acknowledgment of that. Like, they see the history of that trope in tv/film and how reductive it is. I think that the narrative is deeming that kind of characterization reductive because that episode is not told thru an objective POV, but it's filtered through Charlie's POV, and he clearly has some uh... complex feelings about his best friends' relationship and their respectively ambiguous and not-so-ambiguous sexualities LOL. But also in the past whenever a scene was through Charlie's POV (i.e. his flashback sequence in "Who Got Dee Pregnant?") it's been shown that he has pretty reductive views of the people in his life. Typically narrowing them down to a few traits, or saying shit that is very uh "ooc" (i.e. "yeah. dee inspired me. she said, "you're an awesome janitor, charlie. you can make this whole school slippery." I said, "sure, I'll give it my best shot." then she's, like, "let's be best friends." and I was, like, "sure, I'll give that my best shot, too." so we're best friends now.)... so... yeah. Plus, when you compare that episode's framing to the rest of s14 and that season's overall "oh god we're so afraid of fucking this all up" subtext (Thunder Gun 4, Right to Chop, Big Mo, etc.)... I definitely do think that's definitely a concern of theirs when it comes to that aspect of Dennis' writing as well LOL. and I think even they even sorta admitted to that dragging their feet on addressing Dennis' sexuality/his relationship with Mac as it has been the past couple of seasons in the s15 finale in a very on-the-nose way... ("oh, my god. It looks like he was dragging his feet back here. were you hanging on it?") lmaooo..

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

Girl, chapter ten was so good. All the characters and alliances you added fit so perfectly into the first episode of the show I don’t know how you do it with this many characters. You always create such a immersive atmosphere with all the descriptions of the places, dragons, the food ect.

I love the Royce family so much and I was so glad we saw them together without Daemon throughout this chapter.

Rhaenyra being like “you’re mine, bitch” to Yorick was so fun to read, I think all things considered they have a pretty normal cousin relationship (you know, apart from Nyra feeling like she’s entitled to have him as her male wife).

I felt so much for all the kids in this chapter, I think by creating Yoricks character and making him the age that he is you really managed to draw attention to how fucked up all the relationships in the show are. ( I think the fact that there are literally no male characters that are around the same age as Rhaenyra and Alicent in hotd plays a massive part in how easily the insane age gaps and abusive grooming relationships get overlooked, and even excepted amongst the fans because if you look at the show, there really aren’t any other options for the young female characters that we see . I mean like of course there are, but they are never shown to us and that’s kind of why most people overlook the toxicity of the relationships they form with the older guys in the show)  but by adding in Yorrick, the son of Daemon, Viserys’ younger brother and making him the same age as Rhaenyra and Alicent and Leana really shows how messed up those are.

I think it’s so cool how Rhea and Otto and all the other andal lords and lady’s are really good at managing shit and thinking up alliances and just you know using logic and their brains and then there’s like the legendary Targaryens that keep throwing tantrums and just doing whatever.

Yorick finally stepping up to Daemon without holding back was to die for, I loved that part so much.

And Criston being Otto’s emotional support guard was absolutely hilarious

“I apologize that did not go how you expected, my Lord Hand.”

“It is not your fault, Ser Criston. I just…have to try something else.”

*slaps Criston's helmet like the hood of a used car* This baby can fit so much Hightower emotional support in it!

I'm so jazzed you liked this chapter, it was so fun to write! Ella had her time to shine with the Royces in Family Ties, so Yorick needed that too! I want the relationships to be well established & thought out so it hurts more when everyone is sad about various stuff so that it makes sense as I string us along to various points within the show. Like, somebody has to do that.

And yeah. The age of the twins (and Aemon for that matter, because he's only 3 years older than Aegon) really is making so many of the relationships feel even squickier. I initially chose the age I did for the twins because, like, that logically feels like when Daemon & Rhea would have had kids, but it has wound up serving other purposes as well (giving the Velaryon sibs friends who aren't each other, showing how glaring the age gaps are/that these men are all old enough to be their wives' dad, explore early season stuff).

Yorick & Rhaenyra's relationship, in my head at least, is gonna get so fun & I had such a good time laying those foundations. I only hope I can keep to what's in my brain for how complicated that shit is gonna be (less complicated than the au where Rhea didn't panic & betroth him to Shireen, but still complicated). Tbh, all the relationships are gonna get complicated. But I'm looking forward to it because I love having a ridiculous amount of moving parts like large, interconnected casts & bickering nobles. (Especially bickering nobles who have to use their brains instead of throwing toddler tantrums backed up by sentient nukes--not that that can't be fun on occasion--, the contrast is absolutely delightful)

Finally: the confrontation. I was sooooooo hyped for that. Unbelievably, mega hyped. It is setup for the good good later. Punches are getting thrown (hopefully multiple times, I want to fit in at least 2 fights. Somebody besides Yorbert needs to beat that man's ass). My Son Boy has so much pent up anger & frustration (& sure he's making Cannibal better, but that dragon is also making him worse a little bit), that he needed to finally let it out. Thank God he likes picking the correct targets for his pointed "lmao, no one respects you" missiles.