#the conception of this has made me so sick. seeing the finale trailer was a gamechanger for the ending of this

[koddlet]

the mind electric // a TOH animatic

flash warning!

[muertawrites]

Holy moly whiever came up qith that nerdy unassuming girl is a genius! Would LOVE to see it as Fic, like I am manifesting that s*** right now! :*

Loveeee you btw and your works!

me? u love... me? 🥹 i love u too and just for that u get a fic <33333333

... well. it might not be a fic per say but an extended drabble? we'll see how it turns out. but i've been listening to superfruit by maude latour pretty much on repeat and it reminds me so much of this concept. like i feel like eddie would make her feel exactly like what the song describes. just... floaty. contemplative. happy.

anyway. it's gonna be a sweet one.

warnings: some explicit descriptions of s*x and dr*gs. minors dni.

Small Talk (Eddie Munson x Reader)

(HIS FUCKINF SMILE I AM IN LOVE)

Eddie Munson is like a shot of whiskey. He makes you feel warm. Buzzy. He shatters your inhibitions and makes everything feel easier. More exciting. Even on a lazy summer morning, leaned against the counter in his uncle's trailer, watching him sip a half-full glass of orange juice while he actually reads an article in last month's issue of Playboy, he makes you feel like you're floating.

He glances up at you, smirking fondly when he catches you staring.

"Enjoying the view, sweetheart?" he teases.

You smile, unable to help yourself. He has no idea how beautiful he is.

"Yes," you admit.

---

Your friends hate him. They hate that you're never around because you're always with him, coming home every other night to find three more messages on the answering machine wondering why the hell you waste so much time with him. Why you're acting so weird since meeting him. Why you've let him change you. But you haven't - at least not in the way they think.

Eddie brings out the parts you love most about yourself; parts that before him, you were too afraid to let show. You're sick of small talk with your friends, unable to gush about the things that ignite your passion, that are hard to put into words, that everybody feels but nobody will admit to. Things that Eddie eats up when you spill them out and reciprocates without hesitation.

You've started deleting the messages before you even listen to them.

Steve says you look prettier. Robin agrees. You've been smiling more, wearing clothes that fit you better, not caring as much about your makeup - abandoning it completely most days. You mention wanting to dye your hair and Eddie convinces you to do it, the color strange but suiting you.

Steve says you finally look like you. The you he knows best.

Sex used to scare you. You used to fear the idea of someone seeing your body in full, getting close to the little imperfections you fret over in the mirror. The idea of your desires used to make you feel dirty. Guilty. But intimacy with Eddie is as easy as breathing. You tease each other, spark each other on until you can't handle it anymore with something as simple as a smile. A chaste kiss to your neck. Wearing that dress he likes. Leaning over your car's engine, hair knotted behind his head, trying to figure out what that weird sound was. Everything he does is sexy to you. He adores your body, savoring the feel of your plush thighs against his rough palms, gripping your love handles in the throes of an orgasm, trailing kisses along the stretch marks on your stomach. You never feel bad about the things he does to you - that you do to him - because they're too fun. And you trust him. He makes you feel immensely loved, even when you let him use you for his own pleasure (something you still haven't admitted to him you enjoy more than anything).

You love doing boring things with him. You sit on the sidewalk outside 7-Eleven, sharing a beer or a slushee, listening to a mixtape he made for you just that morning, basking in the heat rising up from the pavement. You share opposite ends of a lounge chair at the public pool, not swimming, but reading in the sunshine and kissing like you're the only ones around. He slips his hand under your tank top and kisses the back of your neck. Everybody stares, wondering how someone they looked over so easily in the past, who avoided any kind of prolonged attention, could be so comfortable sitting in the lap of the town pariah.

One night, Eddie sneaks you in to the pool after closing. You skinny dip and gaze at the stars, pointing out constellations to him and retelling the myths that inspired them. He barely looks up at the sky for how he gazes at you.

Eddie likes to smoke with you. Even though you've never enjoyed getting high, he loves just having the time to spend with you, curled up in the back of his van in a random parking lot, giggling as the weed makes him mellower and mellower. He gets stoned enough that he calls you an angel, a goddess. That you taste better than the Super Fruit gum he chews to keep the stench of cigarettes out of his mouth. You call him a sap. He calls you gorgeous.

Jason Carver buys from him once while you're hanging out together, sneering over at you while you lean against the side of Eddie's van. Eddie tries to keep you out of deals, but Jason approached you, and money is tight. Despite being a literal psychopath, Jason is a big spender.

"You really are sick, you know," he spits at Eddie as he hands over the cash he owes. "Corrupting innocent girls like her."

Eddie glances back at you, sharing a knowing smirk.

"She's not so innocent," he says. "I'm starting to think she might've corrupted me."

Jason makes a comment about how you're a whore, a cheap slut who's only with Eddie because he's the only one who would give you any attention; the only one who would willingly spread her legs for him.

Eddie immediately snaps, punching Jason so hard he breaks his nose. The ensuing fight is vicious. Jason gives you a bloody lip when you force yourself in between them, pinning your arm against Eddie's chest so he doesn't do any worse. You know he can, and he will if it means protecting you.

"Cut the shit, Carver," you threaten. "You don't want your parents to find your body hanging from the tree in their front yard tomorrow morning."

The man laughs bitterly at you.

"That coward wouldn't kill me," he quips.

"Maybe not. But I would."

Suddenly the time you accidentally backed your car into him feels different.

Jason leaves you alone after that. Eddie can't stop leaving sloppy, open-mouthed kisses on your neck as you try to clean his bloody knuckles.

---

Eddie finishes reading, sauntering into the kitchen to place his now empty glass in the sink. He curls his arms around you, giving you a toothy grin as he grips the fabric of his t-shirt that wraps around your curves. You run your hand up his back, and he hums happily into your kiss.

"Stay with me," you whisper.

"Always," he promises.

i'm v extra and i made a mood playlist for this

🌹💀get your eddie fix💀🌹

[amuletrebel]

My Theory for TWST Book 7

WARNING: There are spoilers here for Book 6, so tread lightly.

So we all can see a pattern in how what the main conflict of each book is according to the dorm and by extension which villain the characters are based off of. Leona tried to overthrow Malleus to come out on top, even if it meant seriously injuring him, much like Scar. Jamil tried to get rid of Kalim and be on top for a change, much like Jafaar. Vil tried to succeed Neige and be “the most beautiful”, like the Evil Queen. It’s unlikely that this pattern will break. Which leads us to Malleus, based off Maleficent.

We’ve all seen this image of the Book 7 promo making the rounds, right? Not only that, there were also scenes from the Sleeping Beauty movie, like Prince Philip fighting dragon Maleficent and the spinning wheel. Book 7 may be the one to have scenes that closely parallel the story of Sleeping Beauty.

Near the end of Book 6, we have Malleus contemplating the fragility and limited time of humanity compared to fae like him and Lilia. Lilia has long since made peace with the sorrows of parting in his long life, even though I’m sure he wishes he never had to. But Malleus is of a different mind. When you level up the vignettes on any of his cards, he says this: “You aren’t afraid of me. But I’m starting to become afraid...of losing you...” Malleus is a little more fragile to the concept, probably because he didn’t have anyone that he cared about who didn’t also have an extended lifespan. So he never had to deal with this pain.

Now the probability of experiencing it is slowly dawning on him. And Malleus, being a bit stubborn, wants to prevent such a thing.

I’m sure you all have heard the theory that Malleus is going to put Yuu to sleep in Book 7, likely because, as his first true friend, he’s not ready to let go of them so easily.

Here’s some evidence to support this theory:

In Book 5 and 6, we see Malleus “giving gifts” with his magic. At least to Vil. In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora is given gifts by the three fairies at her royal christening.

The gift of song (Malleus repairs the stage so the group can still perform in the VDC)

The gift of beauty (Malleus restores Vil to his youthful appearance after he aged drastically when saving Grim)

But wait. Aurora didn’t just receive 3 gifts. She received 4. Or rather, 3 gifts and 1 curse.

A curse that she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel when she turns 16 (coincidentally the age of all freshmen here) she’ll fall into a deep sleep for all eternity. This can easily coincide with the things Malleus says in the Book 7 trailer: “Here, a gift from me. 1000 years, they will feel like a moment in a dream.”

Distraught by the the possibility of losing his dear human friend, Malleus decides to put them into a deep sleep where they won’t age or get sick, preserving them so he will never have to feel like he has no one. With Yuu stuck in a deep sleep, he hides them away in the Diasomnia dorm, much like how Aurora was hidden in the tower.

Silver and Sebek stand with bowed heads. They still greatly respect Malleus, but the choices he’s made will likely shake their faith. They can only stand with him and hope what he’s doing will be worth it.

Now onto that final gift. The gift of true love’s kiss that’ll break the curse. I doubt that the gift will go exactly like this. But Malleus would likely not give this gift with his clouded mind. I suspect it’ll be Lilia who will give this gift to Yuu. He knows that what Malleus is doing is insane, but he also knows that the prince is too stubborn to listen to reason.

He hopes Malleus will understand the weight of his actions and undo all this on his own. But if he doesn’t, Lilia’s provided Yuu with a backup plan so they can wake up and escape.

I predict that we’ll be seeing more of the boys’ POVs in this Book. When we get Yuu’s POV, there’s some likelihood that they’ll be traversing a dream world. That might be how they best get in contact with Mickey and piece together all the prophetic dreams they’ve been having.

Yuu will eventually wake up, and when Malleus sees that his plan has crumbled and there really is no stopping Yuu from living and leaving and one day dying, the pain of this realization will be too much to bear, leading to his overblot.

But oh, you thought I was done. Here’s my final theory. I think since it’s the last chapter and Malleus is the strongest character in the game, we’ll have to fight him multiple times. That’s right. MULTIPLE! Malleus isn’t the type to just give up after losing one fight. Remember when we fought Vil but canonically, we couldn’t beat him? That Deuce’s unique magic was the answer? Yeah, it’ll be like that. We won’t be able to officially beat Malleus. Something else is gonna help him come down from it.

[red-akara]

Today really was just a series of unfortunate events.

I’ve been working on a film project conceived last year in a 2 month long creative “club” of sorts. Where you sign up to creatively explore a theme with others in that time. I produced a trailer that my group was really excited about and set a release date for 1-11-23.

Well, up until that point, I got really in my head about self doubt, fear of external opinion, and like “yeah they loved the trailer, what if I don’t deliver?”. Plus navigating filming around my landlady’s upstairs noise. Plus not being super sure of my concept and how I wanted to portray it.

1-11-23 approached quickly, I lost time to being sick with a cold and I made the decision to delay my project to 2-22-23. I needed time to think. To plan. And figure out what the heck I was gonna do.

It took awhile to land on something I was happy to film. It took awhile to be brave and actually pick up the camera. I was still afraid of external opinion, but I had filmed something. That was last week.

Yesterday I had the day off and planned to use the whole day to edit. My landlady usually doesn’t come back home until the evening, so I figured I’d have the quiet I need. Well I woke up late, even more so in my head about the scale of the project, and not sure how to get started. AND she came back in the middle of the afternoon.

I thought I’ve got the next day off, I’ll go to my local library to ensure silence and post the complete video in the evening.

That did not happen. Here’s what did:

1. Discovered that my local library is closed for renovation until spring of 2024.

2. Went to another library and remembered that my computer requires an SD card adapter…which I didn’t bring.

3. Went home to pick up the SD card adapter and called / researched a bunch of libraries near me to see if they had designated quiet areas. They did not.

4. Figured I’d go to Barnes & Noble cause I sorta knew what to expect from the noise level and it was early afternoon. Minor inconvenience - tried to order a London fog (my favorite drink) as a motivation boost. Clerk told me they don’t have the capability to make steamed drinks at the moment. Cool.

5. All footage took an hour to download, a little longer than I expected. In that time, a couple at a table behind me was having a very animated conversation. And a guy decided to sit pretty much right next to me at the bar style tables. I packed up and left shortly after.

6. Anxious to go home if my landlady would be there to make noise and kill my focus, I spent about an hour procrastinating in Michael’s.

7. Finally went home and she wasn’t there, but I was still shocked that the one place I could rely on for quiet would be closed…for a year.

8. Vented to a friend about it all which felt good. Made dinner and was about to get started on the project.

9. Landlady comes back and has been talking with a guest of hers in the living room above me for an hour or so.

…sigh.

[whatyourusherthinks]

Night Swim Review

It's beneath the surface. The saying is beneath the surface, the tagline should be 'Everything You Fear Is Beneath The Surface'. I mean this nitpick is probably the most meaningless nitpick ever, but I had to see this poster almost everyday for a month and I'm right.

Full disclosure, I am extremely picky when it comes to horror. I don't find slashers, ghosts, demonic possession, or gore movies scary usually. But even without that, I think everyone's expectations for Night Swim were low. The trailer was bad, and I think we all know the only movies that come out in January are ones that the corporate overlords have no expectations for (fairly or not). Let me put it this way. Y'know that meme of John Wayne throwing a kid in the river? Our theater put that scene in the preshow for the movie. That kinda set the tone for what people were expecting from this movie. Also that meme is ruined for me now that I have full context if that scene.

What's The Movie About?

A sick former baseball player and his family buy a new house with a pool, which seems to heal the dad but then creepy stuff happens. Because of course it does.

What I Like.

The big thing that stuck out to me was the explanation of what was happening with the pool. I won't spoil, since it's probably the only reason to see the movie, but it was kinda cool. There was also two really neat things that the pool could do, but that's tied into the explanation. I really dug the family dynamic in this movie. There was conflict, but it seemed like regular family conflict and nobody acted too cruel or obnoxious towards one another. (The sister gets kinda bitchy at one point but she makes up for it in the end.) There was a weird pool repair man that made me laugh. I'd hire him. And the editing, while nothing crazy, was pretty good. Shocking considering how bad the editing in the trailer was.

What I Don't Like.

So I liked the explanation of what was happening with the pool, but it fails to explain why the pool does what is doing the way that it is doing it. (If that make sense.) Also there's a plot hole involving a family pet that means the motivation of the villain is a lie or that the explanation is wrong. But hey, what's a horror movie without a villain with arbitrary and inconsistent rules? Now this may be a me thing, but I found the horror sequences in the pool to be more annoying rather that tension-building, although I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps because they are incredibly cliched. Weirdly, the middle of the movie almost becomes a inspirational sports movie when the dad realizes that he's getting better. Hey Night Swim, if I wanted to watch a Kevin Costner baseball movie, I'd go back to drinking bleach. This is absolutely a nitpick, there is a weird relator lady who isn't nearly as funny as the pool repairman but has like four times the amount of screen time. And the ending is so incredibly abrupt that it kind of made me laugh.

Final Summation.

So I learned after watching the movie that apparently it was a short film before Blumhouse bought it and turned it into a full length movie. And while I haven't seen the original, that makes a shit load of sense. The kernel of an idea is there and it's sound, but there's a lot of generic or questionable choices around it. I honestly don't even know if all that is enough for me to reject the movie, since that kernel is really interesting. Well I supposed the appropriate tie breaker for a horror movie is thinking about what scared me in the movie...

Oh. Oh dear.

Yeah the most I jumped in Night Swim was when another guest in the theater coughed. It's simply not scary. I don't even think the PG-13 is to blame, since it's clear that all the stuff that doesn't work in the movies was added to the original concept. That's the unfortunate fate of Night Swim. Maybe it should've been left alone.

[bts-reveries]

expect the unexpected | 19

(images in between and in the end)

Jin had just picked up his two oldest and is now back in his office. It’s been a long day. Having Haneul alone with him was already a hard time but adding two more? He tried his best to maintain his composure as Yeonjun told him the rest of the schedule for today. 

“So right now we have all this paperwork to go through because it has to be sent out today, and then we have to go to a video shoot at 4:30pm. Jungkook should be here soon. Afterwards, when we get back, we have a meeting regarding the promotional photoshoots for the new drama, Save Me, with their Director, Producer, and the seven lead actors.” Yeonjun says. “I heard it’s really good. Kind of confusing actually when I saw the trailer. There’s this seven group of friends and they all make some sort of bad decision in their lives and they.. Well not all of them but I think some of them die? Then come back to life? I don’t know, but one of them is a time traveler I think..” Yeonjun trailed on, looking up as he thought back to the trailer.                              

Although, Jin wasn’t really listening. 

“Dad, what does this word mean?” Minseok asks, pointing to his book. 

“Daddy can we get ice cream in the cafeteria,” Soojin says, holding onto the door knob. 

“Carry meee,” Haneul whines, he’s standing by Jin’s leg, trying to climb onto his dad’s lap.

“Anyways,” Yeonjun says, going back on track. “It should be fun. They’ll be here around 6pm. Which, I understand, is around dinner time, but it was the only available time they had for a meeting. This drama was a big hit on webtoon. It’s good exposure for us for them to use our studio.” 

“Dad!” Minseok called, he’s now standing next to Jin. “Can you help me please? I don’t know this word.”

“DDDAAAAAADDDYY!” Soojin yells. “Can we please get ice cream!”

“Caaarryyy meeeeee!” Haneul screams, bursting into tears. 

Jin drops his head into his hands. “My head. Is going. To ex-plode.”

“Minseok, I’ll help you with your homework, come with me,” Yeonjun says, finally realizing how tired and stressed Jin was. Minseok glances at his dad before walking towards Yeonjun and grabbing onto his hand that he was holding out. Then Soojin came running to Jin’s side, where Minseok was just standing.

“Daddy you’re not listening to me,” Soojin frowns. Jin turns to the side and looks at her. His sweet, precious daughter. The one he can never say no to.

“Soojin it’s cold, you’re going to get sick if you eat ice cream,” Jin calmly says. “And you haven’t even done your homework yet. Go with Minseok and Uncle Yeonjun and do your homework with them.”

Soojin’s lip starts to quiver, “but I just want to eat a little bit. I can do my homework when I’m done…” 

“Soojin, daddy said no. Now go,” Jin says, turning to the side to pick up Haneul. He was still crying his eyes out. Soojin looked down, a big frown on her face and tears started running down her face. Jin was too busy wiping Haneul’s tears away and shushing him that he didn’t know Soojin was crying until he heard her sobbing when she walked away. 

“Soojin,” Jin called out. She didn’t answer, nor did she look back. “Soojinie,” Jin calls again. “Yah, Kim Soojin!”

“w-AHH!” Jin yells, the three, Yeonjun, Minseok, and Soojin all looked back at Jin when they heard him yell.

Yeonjun has never seen him so mad before. 

Jin puts down Haneul and stands up. 

Hot coffee dripped down his suit. His tie and white dress shirt was completely soaked. 

Jin puts both hands on his desk, leaning forward as he sighs. 

Haneul wasn’t done crying, flailing his hand around and started hitting things on the table, grabbing things, causing Jin’s cup of coffee to come flying at his chest. Not to mention, spilling all over the paperwork that had to be done.

“Sir, I have a sweatshirt you can borrow in my bag,” Yeonjun says, standing up immediately to grab his duffle bag. He usually worked out in the gym Jin had a whole floor of in his building. “You can change into it now so you don’t get all sticky,” he says, handing a white sweatshirt to Jin. Jin says a quiet thank you, grabbing the sweatshirt from Yeonjun and placing it on the back of his chair as he took off his blazer, his tie, and his white dress shirt. 

Haneul was still sniffling and he quickly ran to Yeonjun when he made eye contact with his dad. 

“Yeonjun,” Jin says. “Do you have the soft copy for these,” he says, pointing to the sticky mess on his table.

“Yes sir,” Yeonjun says, running over to get his laptop. “I’ll send them to you right now.” Jin sounded awfully calm right now, which scared the kids even more. Minseok was fidgeting with his book as he looked at his dad and Soojin was sitting next to him, playing with her hands. Haneul was standing by the couch, trying to hide. He would take small glances at his dad as he watched him clean up the mess he made.

“And also, we can’t cancel the meeting so just make sure our guests feel welcome when they come here for our meeting. I’ll connect from my laptop because we’ll be going home soon. I’ll continue my work there. You’re in charge here, make sure everyone is in that meeting and please have someone set up a TV in our boardroom so they can all see me when I connect. Umm, yeah, that’s all-- Oh, I won’t be there for the video shoot. We won’t get anything done and will only be a bother if I come with the kids so just go with Jungkook okay?”

“Okay sir.” 

“Kids pack your stuff, we’re going to leave in a bit,” Jin says, going back to cleaning his desk. The kids hurriedly grabbed their things, stuffing it into their backpacks.

Jin wasn’t mad often, but when he was…

He’s definitely scary.

-

“Hello everyone, first of all, thank you all for being here. I apologize that I couldn’t be there with you in person. I really wanted to be there but I am working as both CEO and dad tonight,” Jin says lightheartedly. He watches everyone smile through his laptop. “Second of all, I want to apologize beforehand. My three kids might pop up here and there and interrupt, but I talked to them before this and we should be okay. But just in case,” Jin says, raising his head to see if the kids are nearby. His office had clear doors for him to be able to see the kids.

“Okay, so it looks like the coast is clear,” Jin jokes, we can start our meeting now. Jin nods his head, gesturing for the first person to go ahead and start off the meeting. First they had to talk about the drama and it’s concept so they can have a feel of how they can take the photos. 

“Daddy,” Jin hears from the side. He shuts his eyes, taking a deep breath before moving his head out of frame to see Haneul peeking in the room. “I want to stay with you..” 

Jin mutes his mic before talking to Haneul. 

“Daddy’s in the meeting, can you please go to your brother and sister and wait until I’m done?”

Haneul shakes his head no, walking towards Jin. “I want to stay with youu~” He says, trying to climb onto Jin’s lap yet again.

Jin sighs, pulling Haneul up and placing him on his lap. 

“What do you think, Mr. Kim?” 

Jin’s eyes widened, unmuting himself. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

The director laughs. “We’re thinking of doing one concept as school themed. Since the seven characters will be meeting at school in the drama. Would we be able to do that?”

“Yes, that sounds good. We have school props that we can use for the photoshoots, like desks and the blackboard. Yeonjun show them a picture that we have from a previous photoshoot where we did a school concept.”

“I don’t like that,” Haneul says, causing a few heads to look up. Jin looks down and shushes him. 

“It’s not for you to like,” he says.

-

As the meeting went on, Haneul got bored and began picking at things on the table. 

“Haneul please don’t touch anything,” Jin says, moving Haneul’s hand away from the table and holding onto them.

“What is it Mr. Kim?”

“Oh no sorry, I was talking to my son. Please,” Jin says, moving a hand to gesture to the camera. “Continue.”

After Jin lets go of Haneul’s hands, he immediately slams a hand on the keyboards, shutting it off.

“What did you do!” Jin yells. Trying to turn the laptop back on but it looks like it froze or something because it wasn’t turning on.

“I don’t want to be in the meeting,” Haneul says, watching Jin frantically trying to get his laptop to work. Jin sighs in annoyance, grabbing Haneul and putting him down next to him.

“Then why didn’t you stay with your siblings?” He says. “This is an important meeting Haneul, I was already supposed to be there in person and now I can’t even join--”

“I just want to play--”

“I’m speaking right now,” Jin says to him, turning to look him in the eye. 

“Okay,” Haneul answers quietly. 

“Is that right or not?”

“That’s right.”

“You did something wrong, do you agree?” 

Haneul nods, his lip beginning to quiver and his eyes starting to water. 

“Go stand in the corner, you’re in a time out,” Jin tells him, nodding to the corner of his office. Haneul burst into tears as he ran to the corner where his dad told him to go, holding his face in his hands.

“Stay there until I finish my meeting,” Jin tells him, returning back to his laptop. It still wasn’t turning on. 

Jin runs his hand through his hair, scratching the back of his head. He grabs his phone and texts Yeonjun.

“Haneul shut off my laptop and it’s not turning on. I’ll connect through my phone just give me a few minutes.”

-

expect the unexpected

♡ part nineteen: daddy said no ♡ 

pairings: ceo, dad!jin x interior designer, mom!reader

a/n: the part where jin says “im speaking right now” to “you did something wrong do you agree?” and everything in between was a real convo between him and yoongi when he kept talking while jin was talking😭 i’ll reblog this later with a link lol

edit: actually here it is: 0:39-0:44

taglist: @silentlyimpractical @jillianmarie @waddlebby @cecedrake2217 @ddofa @samros95 @sope-and-shine @joonjoonsmiles @codeinebelle @aianloveseven @Chamchamcham @princessjazzyjazz @notvantaes @casspirit0705 @ramyagovindraj @brinnalaine @ephyra1230 @betysotelo18 @thoughtfultaledreamer @salty-for-suga @cosmicdaylight @dreamcatcherjiah @kookoo-kachoo @justinetingball  @josierosie @jayhope88 @butterflylion @hobiismyhopeu @momma-said-that-it-was-oke @ygbubs @catspancake  @somewhereofftheglobe @strawberryforever25 @rjsmochii @prdshobi @beeeb05 @eatjeanjin @taekookcaneatme @Cheeely14 @kookietsukkie @anpanman-sonyeondan @glitteringcoffeefreak @chocobetterknot @alpaca1612 @ohmy-fandoms @liljooniecutie @Jikachoo @preciouschimine @fan-ati--c @Joondala @httpmuffin @dammit-jjk @jikooksgirl19

TAGLIST IS CLOSED!

to be notified when i post, please turn on my notifications! thank youu~

[kamedani]

FFXIV Yoshi P. Dengeki Interview

On February 6th, Dengeki and a number of Japanese media outlets had an interview event with Yoshi P following the Showcase. Here is the interview Yoshi P had with Dengeki Online as translated by me. The original interview can be found at https://dengekionline.com/articles/66986/

Section 1: Two Concepts for Healers and a New Melee DPS!

Dengeki: Sage was just announced as the new healer job in Final Fantasy XIV. Additionally, you announced that healers will be split into two concepts – pure healers (White Mages and Astrologians) and shield healers (Scholars and Sages). This is where we have our first questions for you. How are you planning on distinguishing pure healers and shield healers moving forward?

Yoshi P: From a balance standpoint, no matter if you play a pure healer or shield healer, we are making it so there won’t be a massive difference in power. Instead, the idea is we want players to have vastly difference experiences in gameplay.

 For example, in the case of Scholar and Sage, the way in which they apply shields will be different. The scholar play style is being able to attack, put up shields, and heal with the help of their fairy. In the case of the sage, their weapon, the noulith, isn’t a pet so the sage’s play style is going to be different. Our concept is that we want the Warriors of Light to experience that difference.

 Dengeki: So since there are going to be shield healers and pure healers, you are going to be splitting healers into two roles?

 Yoshi P: No, there is still going to be just one role for healers. So, of course, no matter what healer you play you can clear content. On the other hand, for difficult content, we feel it is good to have healers be separatable. If it gets confusing to not have a more clear distinction between pure and shield healers, we can revisit it.

 Dengeki: On the same topic, will there be any kind of change to fight balance by making pure healers and shield healers?

 Yoshi P: Up until Patch 5.3 we heard from a lot of players that healers had a fair amount of downtime on their hands. So, from Patch 5.4, we’ve planned for the more difficult content to put out a lot more damage more often. For speed clears we are planning for it to be harder to do with just pure healers or just shield healers.

We plan on continuing to make content with this idea in mind so content will be easier to clear if you bring one pure healer and one shield healer. Also, as I said at the Announcement Showcase, we are going to be changing the algorithm behind the matching systems like Raid Finder as best we can so it will put both healer types in a group.

Dengeki: So, for example, will the limit gauge build up differently if you have double pure healers?

Yoshi P: If we change specifics of how the limit gauge builds, it will have effects on other encounters where limit gauge building is a part of the fight so we have no plans for this kind of change.

Dengeki: With the idea of healers having more specialized roles, are there plans or do something similar to tanks having main tanks and off tanks?

 Yoshi P: Right now we don’t have any plans to make healer sub categories. While, for example, there is a sentiment that paladins are more suited for off tanking, the truth is they can fulfill both roles so we want to do something like this with healers.

 Dengeki: The four tanks are distinct from one another.

 Yoshi P: That’s right. While fulfilling the same role, each job has a different play experience. In the case of DPS jobs, they feel different based on their difficulty to control and different attack abilities.

 Dengeki: Speaking of the new jobs, you said the other new job in addition to sage will be a melee DPS. There are already four melee DPS in the game now. Compared to other jobs types, melee DPS is the most. Please tell us how you came to adding another melee DPS to the game and how will it be balanced with the existing melee DPS.

 Yoshida: When it comes to the amount of jobs types, say for example, in Patch 7.0 we add another tank, that would bring us up to five tanks. Increases in job types is something unavoidable as the game continues.

Furthermore, compared to other roles, a lot of people want to play DPS. Our thinking is adding a new DPS job is a must for an expansion disc so we went with melee DPS this time. At the current moment, dragoon is the only job that uses maiming gear so the new melee job will use it as well.

 Dengeki: On the topic of melee DPS, recent difficult content seems to be going in a direction that makes things more difficult for melee DPS. What are your thoughts about this?

 Yoshi P: We are aware of this on the development side. This is a dilemma shared by many long running MMOs. If you add a lot of mechanics to an encounter, that encounter becomes more difficult for classes that require movement and positionals.

 We are currently looking at each job’s skills and making adjustments accordingly. And we are, of course, making sure to balance it so ranged DPS won’t always have the easier time.

 Dengeki: Continuing our discussion of battle content, you said that you will be removing belts from the game. Will you be adding the stats lost from belts to other gear to compensate?

 Yoshi P: Belts and accessories tend to have lower stats on them so removing belts won’t have a very large effect. Still, we are working on moving stats so you won’t feel any change to your game experience. You don’t need to worry about it. You may, however, feel like something is a bit different after the numbers crunch we are going to do.

Speaking of belts, after what I said at the showcase about materia affixed to belts, I got a message from the development team saying that they are going to take care of the materia too. So, from Patch 6.0, you can go to a calamity salvager and collect any recoverable materia that was in your belts. Players won’t have to do any preparation in advance.

 Dengeki: After belts become no longer equippable, will we still be able to turn them in for seals or desynthesize them?

 Yoshi P: That will be unchanged. The only change there will be is we will add a description like “Once thought to protect adventurers’ waists” to the item description. (laughs)

 Section 2: Endwalker’s Main Color is Platinum!

 Dengeki: Next we’d like to talk to you about the logo for the new expansion. All previous expansions’ logos have been pretty clear in what they were trying to convey. This time, however, the logo feels more mysterious with elements like that thing that looks like a monolith on the left side of the logo. Please tell us about the concept for this logo and the ideas that went into it.

 Yoshi P: I can’t go into too many specifics on the logo so instead let me speak about the concept Mr. Amano made for us based on conversations I had with him. I spoke with him about everything we had done throughout the course of this Hydaelyn and Zodiark story and the theme of finding hope in despair.

 I first spoke with him in the real world meta sense of launching A Realm Reborn out of the despair of 1.0’s release. I also spoke with him in the in game main scenario story sense of finding hope in the despair of the end times and what is to come. I think the nuiance came through in this logo.

 Dengeki: So you are saying, the meaning of the logo will become more clear after having played the game.

 Yoshi P: I think you will have moments of thinking “OH! So THAT is what that means.” after having played. The only other thing I can say at this point is about the planet in the background. Is it the moon? Is it the planet Hydaelyn? You will find some of these answers as you play the story for 5.5.

 Dengeki: The title screens of each expansion until now has had one main color as its theme. What is the color for this expansion?

 Yoshi P: The color as I explained to the development team is platinum. The difference is a very small nuiance but the color is not white. I told them the concept of the red moon and explained that the theme color was neither the darkness of night nor the white of the morning. I told them the color is the golden color that illuminates someone’s face in that brief moment when the light first hits them.

 I could see on the faces of the development team that I was asking them to do the impossible again. Nevertheless, the logo is neither gold nor yellow. It sits on that fine line between both. It represents the final glimmer of light between the new dawn of A Realm Reborn and the darkness of night of Shadowbringers.

 Shadowbringers opened in a world without night. For this expansion we want to make something similar to surprise players. We are using the platinum theme as the base for some color adjustments for this expansion. So, if you remember all of this, you may be surprised when you see it in the story. (laughs)

 Dengeki: In the teaser trailer the Warrior of Light is now a paladin as his main job. Why is that?

 Yoshi P: To tell the truth, I agonized over what to make his main job. As everyone already knows I am a contrarian and I like to turn the story upside down and look at things from that different perspective to surprise the players.

 In Shadowbringers, for example, we started development with me coming up with the initial concept that players were probably getting sick of being called “Warriors of Light,” and “heroes” and instead would do away with the light and regain the darkness as Warriors of Darkness.

 This time, when we decided to write the final chapter of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story, as is the case in all classic Final Fantasy games, I thought about the idea of hope. I thought about the desire I and many people have to carry hope as well as the desire to abandon hope. When I thought about who would be standing on the front line and shouldering all of that, I thought of a paladin.

 With that image rolling around in my head, I made the decision. Endwalker is going to be a title similar in scale to and on par with the ending story of any title in the Final Fantasy series.

 Dengeki: We may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves here but are we safe in assuming paladin will get some cool new skill to go along with all this? (laughs)

 Yoshi P: Since paladin already has Passage of Arms it is going to be hard to come up with a skill that surpasses it. Even still, every job is getting new skills players have been wanting. They’re going to be flashy and cool so as to make you like your job even more. We will do our best to meet your expectations.

 Dengeki: Let’s talk about new game experiences next. So far there have been new things added to the game like flying and swimming. Will there be something else like that?

 Yoshi P: Endwalker is made to give players the feeling of experiencing the thrilling last chapter in the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline on the scale to rival any other RPG. We are focused on giving players the ability to have this experience as their characters in the game world. To that end we don’t feel some new movement mechanic is necessary. We are creating an adventure that will take you through the air and under the sea.

 That’s one reason. The second reason is well… forgive me! I am out of ideas! (laughs) In this game we’re going to the moon and the development team first asked me if we should add in zero gravity. But that would be no different than swimming. You would jump once and just not land on the ground! (laughs)

 This game already has all the different modes of movement you would find in an MMO so if we forced something else in, it would be tedious. Still, if you have an interesting idea, please let me know and I’ll consider it. (laughs)

 Dengeki: Continuing with that idea, what kind of experiences can we look forward to on the moon?

 Yoshi P: For starters there are questions like what is the moon, what is going on on the other side and beneath the surface? (laughs) To be honest, I’ve been into astronomy for the past year or so and I saw two theories on the formation of Earth’s moon.

 So in response to some of these open-ended questions, this expansion will be about writing a story about the moon specific to our world. The moon in our story is a combination of concepts from the development team, the moon in the real world, and some things we made up. I hope you pay attention to it.

 Oh yeah, to any concerned Warriors of Light that may be out there worrying if there is an atmosphere on the moon, please relax. (laughs) That is explained in the story as well so please look forward to it.

 Dengeki: The music is a part of the experience that can’t be forgotten and it seems like Soken pulled out all the stops for the theme this time. What did you ask of him when making the soundtrack to this game?

 Yoshi P: I asked him to consider that even though this is the climax of the story, every single song cannot be a moving epic masterpiece. I asked him to make songs to match what was going on in the story at the time.

 To both Soken and myself, the main theme of Shadowbringers was quite invocative. The theme of the Crystal Tower is woven into it to give it that Final Fantasy feeling. But even if you take it out, it can stand as an unconventional Final Fantasy title by itself.

 Many of our players really liked that song so it gave us a lot of confidence. Taking a step forward from this point, I told him to make something that expresses the grand finale to the first adventure of our 14th Final Fantasy. Soken kept telling me what a busy schedule he has but he’s been working really hard and I hope everyone looks forward to the music in this game.

 Section 3: New Content and More Challenging Existing Content

 Dengeki: Now we’d like to ask you about the current game. Patch 5.0 introduced the Trust System and players have been enjoying using it. At the latest Live Letter you told us that in addition to Estinien joining the Trust System, new features are going to be added. Please tell us some specific things waiting for us.

 Yoshi P: After we launched the Trust System, many players started asking us to expand it to 8-man duties and past content. We, of course, want to make the Trust System work with all of our content for our players to enjoy.

 However, the Trust System requires specific programming for each dungeon so each character acts in a way you would expect them to. This costs a lot to do. So, we are currently exploring ways to make it work across more content.

 Right now I cannot give many more specifics about the Trust System such as when more will be coming. Please be assured we are working to find a way to expand it. All of the 6,0 dungeons, for example, will be playable with the Trust System. So, at the very least, there won’t be any issues with those dungeons so you can go into them with the Scions. Players who like to solo content can be assured of that.

 Dengeki: We are also interested in being able to do things at a relaxed place on the deserted islands. Will players actually be able to mount up and sell things to each other? Isn’t there a chance this content will ultimately benefit players who play the most?

 Yoshi P: We are making the deserted island content to be relaxed living content players can enjoy at their own pace without competing with others. I can’t say competition amongst players will never happen but there will be plenty of opportunity to enjoy playing by yourself with reduced interaction with others.

 We want to make it an area where you create and grow your own things and use them to collect rewards. Players can do things at their own pace without having to worry about other players affecting their progress. We are making something for players who even want to do farming without worrying about difficulty.

 You can think of it as a somewhere to spend time in a place you love with your favorite minions or even enjoy raising animals you brought to the island with you.

 Dengeki: Please tell us as much as you can about the new smaller scale PvP mode.

 Yoshi P: We are making content with new rules and maps as all new content. In our current PvP system, healers shoulder a lot of the burden. Wins and losses heavily rely on the healers so because of this huge responsibility, healers are in short supply and matching is quite difficult.

 The new PvP content is going to be less strict where any job can participate. We are making a role free system where each job will have some means of healing itself.

 Dengeki: So it is something more like The Feast than Frontlines?

 Yoshi P: If I had to choose, it is more like The Feast but in this mode you don’t just get points by defeating opposing players. We are adding more ways to get points like capture the flag to make more casual maps and a more casual playstyle. We are also making ranked and free modes that players can use to collect PvP rewards.

 Also, like I said at the Showcase, we are working on a system where the rewards will include things players are going to want other than just gear. I will have more information about this at the next PLL.

 Dengeki: There have been many posts on the official forums from PvPers who want PvP to be balanced separately for both large group PvP and smaller group PvP. Can they expect to see that in this upcoming content?

 Yoshi P: We are planning on implementing job balance adjustments along side small scale PvP. We are also currently discussing if we are going to keep The Feast as well but we haven’t reached a decision. But there is a high chance The Feast will get shut down.

 This is because we want to focus on fixing any issues with this new content based on player feedback. If we have The Feast running at the same time, it will split our resources so we would like to avoid that.

 Dengeki: In the middle of the latest Live Letter the topic of Hildibrand came up. When can we expect to see him next?

 Yoshi P: We actually saw him briefly in The Heroes’ Gauntlet in Shadowbringers so he must have somehow wound up there after we saw him last him in Stormblood. (laughs) The Hildibrand story had become kinda tedious so we took a break with it in Shadowbringers.

 We don’t plan on ending it, however. Hildibrand is a beloved character in our world and many people want to see his tale continue. Our development team has also recharged their batteries so we are going to provide players with something. Please look forward to his return.

 Dengeki: With the new expansion there is going to be a graphical upgrade to the game. Is there also going to be a change in the minimum PC requirements?

 Yoshi P: No, we are working hard on the PS5 version to make it look as good as possible but since this is going to be the final chapter in the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline, we decided not to make any major changes.

 I want to update the graphics engine at some point since the amount of data used has gotten quite great over these ten years. Also, we want to rebuild the data access system to support 4K graphical textures.

 Players have also told us they want their mounts to feel more alive but for that to work we will need to do a graphical overhaul. We are, of course, doing this little by little.

 Please remember that we work on schedules planned years at a time. We were able to fix some of our data center issues on this schedule over a long period of time fitting in work where we could. So, when it comes to updated graphics, it is something we want to do but don’t have much free time. It is quite a challenge to do as well so please be patient.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #360

“we are the ones that wanna play  /  always wanna go, but you never wanna stay”

"Crawling" or "In The End?" I want to say "Crawling," but I really can't be sure. Both are bomb. Is your window open? No. Monsters Inc. or Shrek? Shrek, my man. What did you last hear that made your jaw drop? Jason's mom died. What is the longest shower or bath you have ever taken? I remember as kids, Nicole and I would sometimes play 'til Mom made us finish because the water was cold by then. As an adult, idk about my longest shower. Do you have a preference of chocolate? Yeah, milk chocolate. Is there anyone you’d like to hug right now? Yeah. Could you ever picture someone writing a biography about you? Definitely not. Do you have a clock in your room? No. Do you shut off the computer when you’re done using it? No, I just close it. Do you usually catch a cold during the winter? No. I just about never get sick. Are you a good multi-tasker? NOOOOOOOOOOO. Do you know any deaf people? If so, is it easy or difficult to have conversations with them? No. Is there a door knocker on your front door? No. Were you ever into Pokémon? Bitch I still am. Do you drink a lot of water? Sigh, no. I'm definitely better than I used to be, though; once upon a time, I literally never drank it unless I was extremely hot and dehydrated. Nowadays, it's usually after I finish my soda for the day that I then only drink water, normally around one full tall cup of it. Do you like fireworks? They're beautiful, but I'm personally against them out of respect for veterans suffering from PTSD as well as animals, because I'm not exactly interested in traumatizing them, either. Is respect given or earned with you? It's given, the way I think it should be. Are you “in the closet” about anything? No. Are you missing any teeth? No. Do you like scrapbooking? I've never gotten into it and am not really interested in doing so. What was or will be your first tattoo? It's a semicolon butterfly on my right wrist. Sometimes I've thought about getting it covered with a cooler design but the same concept; it was literally from Google, and I'm very much not into "sharing" tattoo designs with probably thousands of other people. But, I still think it really is cute, and it's just very special to me as my first, so idk. Do you have any tattoos dedicated to someone special? I have one written in Sara's handwriting inside a heart, and my "ohana" tattoo that I am 100% getting covered was dedicated to my former best friend Colleen. I've talked before about why "ohana" has never really resonated with me, and I just don't like it anymore at all. Thank God it's small. Do you like ghost stories? Oh HELL yeah, lay 'em on me. What was your favorite movie as a kid? The Lion King. Some things never change, ha. Do you own a lot of cookbooks? Mom has looooots, but never uses any. I think her mom gave them to her, so she just keeps 'em. What’s your father’s handwriting like? It looks like every other man's handwriting I've ever seen lol. All the letters are capitalized. Did you wash your hair last time you showered? I wash my hair every time I shower. I have to with it naturally being so oily. What does your shampoo smell like? Coconut. Do you listen to Guns N' Roses? Not a lot, but yeah. They've got some bangers. I actually want "Sweet Child O' Mine" to be the father/daughter dance at my wedding. Have you ever been a bridesmaid? Yeah, at my sister's wedding. What was the last video game that you beat? I replayed Silent Hill 2 a long time ago. Have you ever hyperventilated? Yep. Do you talk in your sleep? I scream in my sleep. Nightmares/terrors are a blast. Whose house did you last sleep over? Sara's. Have you ever been cut by scissors? No. Do you like peaches? It's odd, I like canned sliced peaches, but the actual, full fruit, I don't. I love peach flavored juice, though. Do you enjoy being surrounded by neighbors, or would you be more comfortable someplace secluded? Take me back to the middle of nowhere, please. I'm really not digging being in an actual neighborhood. Is there any sibling rivalry between you and your siblings, if you have any? Not at all. Do you usually root for the good guys or the bad guys? Ha, the baddies... Are you allowed to have pets at your house? We're allowed to have what we currently own and then maybe one dog if Mom finally finds one. Have you ever lived in a trailer park? No. Is there anyone that you know through the internet that you would feel comfortable meeting in person? There's quite a few, actually! Have you ever had a dream involving characters from a game/movie/television show? Yeah. What’s the last thing you wrote down? My signature, I think? Do you remember any phone numbers from years ago that now belong to someone you don’t know? No. Have you ever found something strange in your mailbox? No. Who was the last relative that came to visit you? My half-sister and her husband. Does your bedding all match? Not currently. Are you more comfortable with having short hair or long hair? SHORT. Are you interested in fantasy movies/shows? That's my preference. Have you ever gone whale-watching? No, but that'd be dope. What is something that you have a large amount of? Meerkat plushies. Who is it that you’re in love with? Nobody. Have you ever gotten love and infatuation confused? No. Do you have a steady income? No. Do you take your medications in the morning or at night? Both. Have you ever bought a YouTuber’s merch? No, I wish. :( Do you think oatmeal tastes better when made with water or milk? MILK. I don't eat it with water. When was the last time you ran into someone that you didn’t want to see? Idk. Have you ever tried vlogging, and if yes, did you stick with it? Noooo, I'm completely disinterested in doing that myself. If you go to church, what is your favorite thing about it? I don't go. Even as a kid when Mom made me, I hated it. ^and what is your least favorite thing about it? N/A What do you do for exercise? I don't. .-. I want a pool SO badly to swim and strengthen my legs without having to worry about sweating or collapsing, though. Mom says we don't have space, but we definitely do. Not a lot, but enough. Do you have a birthmark? If yes, what color is it? Yeah, it's just a bit darker than the rest of my skin. Do you need to lose weight? Yes. My sister, Mom, and I very recently started a Weight Watchers subscription and we're all working our asses off to stick to it. Ash has already lost like, 12 pounds (she started before Mom and me), so I'm kinda hopeful. Have you ever had a cat? Growing up, after we took in a stray female, we ended up with a fucking empire of cats, literally around three dozen, I'd say. They were all outdoors, too, and not fixed because we couldn't afford it, so tomcats would come around and, y'know, make matters worse. Eventually, animal control took them all and I was DEVASTATED, but looking back, I understand it was necessary. Anyway, I have one cat now. Indoors and fixed and the prince of my world, haha. Have you ever had a dog? We've had a few. I was born with my dad having a collie named Trigger, but I don't remember her at all; she died of old age I believe when I was very young. Then we briefly had a pup named Angel, but she died due to that disease some puppies just have. We didn't get another dog until Teddy, who was my Christmas present, and he was put to sleep only last year, rest my baby's soul. We also had Dale, Cali, Delilah, and Bentley. Have you ever any other kind of animal? A LOT. I'm probably going to forget some, but we've had hamsters, rats, snakes, fish, a turtle, two lizards, gerbils, guinea pigs... just a lot. Animals have always been very important in my life. Have you ever had a pet rock? HA, yeah. I didn't take it seriously at all, but I had one. When was the last time you painted something? Not since my Painting course in my final college attempt. Do you have any disabilities? Not in the traditional sense, no. My social anxiety though is at such a severity that it majorly infringes upon my ability to do a LOT of things, though. What are five of your favorite stores at the mall? I couldn't name five. Just Hot Topic and Spencer's, really. What season do you want to get married in? AUTUMN. The actual dream situation would be to get married in the snow in a black dress, like can you IMAGINE the pictures, but realistically, it'd be in the fall to avoid the biting cold. Has anyone ever spread lies about you? Yeah. Anything special planned for today? Nope. Blue or green? Blue. How much older/younger than you was the person you lost your virginity to? He's two years older than me. Do you still care for that person? Very much. Can you completely annihilate the first Mario game in less than an hour? I haven't even played the first game. I've never really been into the games to begin with. Did you make it all the way through the Oregon Trail game? Yes! I was OOOOOBSESSEEEEEED as a kid. I would usually play it after school when my mom was an assistant teacher and was finishing up her work for the day. Have you ever contemplated climbing a water tower? Uh, no. Those kind of people got some wanderlust levels that I ain't got, haha. If you have a Facebook, when was the last time you changed your profile picture? It's been a few months. Would you ever marry someone who was lower class? Um, yes? You can deny it all you want, but answering "no" is pretty much the same as saying you'd marry for money. Is there a guy you wish you hadn’t let slip away? ugh Which do you prefer: English or math? English, by light years. Who is a singer that has given you chills? David Draiman's voice in the Disturbed cover of "Sound of Silence" is fucking haunting. Greatest cover of all time. Do you watch America’s Got Talent? I did when Sharon was a judge. Do you think you could win America’s Got Talent? Hell no. What act would you perform in a talent show? uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Have you ever practiced yoga? Yes. I used to be BANGIN at it. What is your favorite thing to buy at the Farmer’s Market? Fruit! Do you get carsickness? No. What color is the rim of your full-length mirror? Black. What is your state’s bird (if you live in the US)? Cardinal. Which style of wedding dress is your favorite? I'm a sucker for ballgown dresses. Do you enjoy editing videos? I used to love it, for many many years. Now, I just don't have the dedication or motivation to. Do you enjoy editing photos? Yes. If you gave birth, do you think you would want it filmed? Um, absolutely not. I would have NO desire to look back on me shrieking my lungs out and essentially dying. I handle abdominal pain very poorly, so I've got a goooood feeling that if I actually wanted to have kids, I'd be that woman screeching like a banshee.

[stry-someone-to-remember-you]

Plan(ed) to Have Something Ready, By The Ball Drop &/or Tomorrow!!! If Everything Works out...

Hey Everyone, 

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!!

Wow, this is the second message without any art added or anything... LOL... Seems odd really to do this without having something up by now... By the way, yes the current avatar pic is related to the comic as you’ll come see soon. It’s and early sketch so some kinks aren’t worked out in the current image. But it was the one I was ready to have when I made this blog so there was at least something...

So as you probably can see by this title, I do plan on having something posted... I just don’t know to what extent. Due to some family drama, and continually piling on work I wasn’t able to get my Christmas Pic out to you guys, which was just a static scene with a few of the characters to get us started here. But... well family got in the way, continually decorating till Christmas day... a lot of things going on, bickering (though we all love each other) it’s just... you know life. I fully expected this as well, which is why I promised something before New Years, but didn’t specify as to what.

I postponed that idea to be released today or tomorrow, after seeing how I was completely unable to get to the work by Christmas Eve. But, by the looks of the progress I made on it and my families continually need of me till we get some things done in this house (that always has something to be done in it... LOL, at least things are coming fairly together).  So lets just say, I may not have anything out by tomorrow. But with hopes I want to have something out. So We’ll see. I could release early the character sketches. But I want to keep this blog clean as possible, so I feel releasing the character profiles, cards and blogs together prior to the Prologue, would fit better and keep this page having a cleaner look to it at the start.

 Maybe even by midnight tomorrow PST I could have something... But that again depends. I need to clean stuff for the internet/cable guy and I’m seriously allergic to dust... So the next few days I may be in an almost sickly comatose state regardless of the precautions I take. If dust gets kicked into the air at all and isn’t properly vacuumed up, than I’m often sick for days... I feel like all I’ve been doing the whole month is cleaning or working story wise on this comic... Mostly cleaning if you ask me, but at least after Saturday things should be more relaxed and I can have a better work schedule planned out. So yeah, that’s my life...

But DIDNT’ WAN TO LEAVE YOU HANGING with this Negative Nancy Talk ;D ;P ;D lol....

I want to tell you what I have so far:

I have the Christmas Image at least with the basic building blocks to complete it. Like I’ve drawn where I want things, but not detailed anything... So that’s why it may be a day or so... Technically its a Happy Holidays and New Years piece, but with the Christmas Tree in it I have the habit of calling it such...

I may have plans to detail it a bit more then I plan on having the comic, but that also depends on things. I may just leave it in the same style and not fully decked out to make it easier to finish...

~Several Characters for the beginning have their final forms created. These are major characters that will be scene in the prologue. I’m just having to figure out out little things with background characters in some instances.

~The prologue is almost completely written out. I had a change of heart a week ago on some things and had to change it around, which is why the written format for the prologue isn’t complete as it initially was. I just felt some things didn’t fit, so I added and took away some things so it flows better and also works both fanfiction wise for the story, but easily mixes for the Ask AU... I also have at least the beginning portion of the Intro script written, the parts unaffected by the changes. However, parts of the intro will be written out, depending on the questions you ask the characters in this prologue so these portions I’m leaving open on purpose. It’s the plot driven portions I’m mentioning that I’ve changed slightly. ;) I have fun plans for the prologue. Remember this story has a clear direction I’m taking it with plot. But the Ask portion will be a part of it, I have such a fun way of Ask’s being tied into the plot driven story, and it will change depending on the context, person and setting which makes this really fun to plan out. 

                   -With that said, here’s an early heads up, that for Ask Questions, I will allow any sort of asks, but if it has potential to spoil a part of the story, then I won’t answer it. Alongside this, I’ll allow Anon magic to a small degree. I won’t include Asks that like spoil something for a character, or tell the character where someone is, give away what someone else is doing to another character, etc... Unless it may fit the context, but generally I won’t use these types of asks. I will allow Anons to appear occasionally rather then just be unseen voices, as I have fun ways of incorporating Anons into the story that also works with different points in the plot. I will accept things like... say a dog or cat to appear for ex. amount of asks. I already know who they’ll be and have been planning out their designs, but I may draw the line at other animals (e.g. horses, fish, racoons, squirrels, lizards, etc.) Although, I do really love rabbits, I chose to make it concise to just two animals that if asked could appear. It’s not because I can’t draw them but I don’t want things getting out of hand. Types of anon magic I’m not going to use if put in the Ask portion, are things like giving people certain powers or items that may completely effect the tone or plot of the story, accept maybe if I did a non-canon AU to this au for fun one day. I will go more in depth in the general rules later. In no way is this to discourage anyone from asking such things. I may set reminders at times if I get to much of something. But, in general I’ll do what I can to make this a fun Ask blog all the same.

~The Larger Summary, I promised like a trailer would be in the comic form I have rendered the Script for, and have two slides so far drawn out, just not completed. (for the time I didn’t have around the Holidays compared to normally I actually surprised myself with this)

~The story itself is really coming together, I already have a starting and stopping point (which I had prior to this blog) as it will have several Acts and Arcs, some which have greatly changed and take on new depth since the point I started this blog. The themes and story in general are drawn out pretty well.  I don’t have all the chapters I’d want fully written. As I have my plan, but I also want to get the prologue in first, just to see if there’s anything I should change with my concept. It’s just a precaution, something I’ve learned well when taking on something new. So I don’t have things that are written in stone and hard to change if the form I’m hoping to take doesn’t work out and needs to be retooled or something. But these are minor and shouldn’t change the overall scope and plot I’m taking this story on either.

~I’ve created several of the character bios, many in fact are already written in true Henry Stickmin fashion. But as I took inspiration to make this into a AU as well, I will possibly make both the bio cards and show a static shot of the characters alongside it or something... It’s an idea, but I want this to also be the easier comic. But, considering that I’ll always have a static shot I use as reference for any character I make, this is what makes this more realistic to occur as well. ~I’ve nearly drawn out all the characters for the intro portion. And already know how I’ll handle Anon’s in the story. In the Prologue itself, I’ll actually have you Anon’s being referenced as audience members in a conference of sorts. Think of it like those conferences when a new Apple or Microsoft product is first advertised as something new to the news conference, those big rotunda’s where someone's being interviewed and presenting the hot new item. Think of the opening to the prologue being something like this scenario. So the questions directed at the character in there, who... *cough* I will introduce later after I fully render both their character profile and have their character bio(s) fully done. Which considering how fun and easy it’s been to do this so far shouldn’t be to long now... Although to keep from getting questions to soon on them, I may hold off on posting the Characters and Bio’s till I have that Intro/Trailer completed... I’m still considering which to do first actually. But top on my list out of all of these is having my cover art for the top completed. That’s something I admit though I have the layout I have hardly started on and should focus on first.

~I’m also taking close looks at how to properly make the rules for this group. When I posts either the Character Bios, Holiday Pic, OR the Trailer Comic... Maye even just the cover art... Then I will try to have out an official Rules list. The one I have on the group posts is just general stuff... But I’m reconsidering some rules I already wrote... Basically keep things family friendly, be kind an courteous, nothing vulgar or disturbing. 

I may change this from a PG-13 comic to maybe PG-15. I’ve realized recently, there are some points that some characters do swear... sometimes more then once. I’m not someone who talks with vulgarity myself, but I sure can write characters with it.... Let’s just say I’m going to see if in those scenes I might just bleep out words and see if the dialogue still comes through. But, I dunno... LUCKILY, we don’t have to worry about many of those scenes till way further into this comic. So lucky for either of us, this isn’t a major concern at the moment. And on the plus side it’s not the crudest words I could have chosen so... it may still work as a PG-13 work... I’ll make this decision soon as possible. 

Another reason for the sudden change, came as I realized as the story goes, and even in early chapters there will be scenes where blood is shown and physical mortal danger and peril is experienced by the characters. I do have heavy theming sometimes, later on it may seem constantly about. As this story is heavily Drama/Mystery and some suspense based. As the story progresses it will become less Drama/Mystery and more based around the drama/suspense itself. This will obviously be some more intense scenes that showing less blood would allow me to make PG-13, however I also don’t want to undercut the certain tones using representations of a mortal wound would bring. I also want to look at things like these future scenes realistically. Which is why I’m mostly considering changing this story to a PG-15 or at least more certain I am. I just don’t want people shocked that I’m doing this. I don’t feel this story will be R, there was a time where I heavily considered it. But for once I decided no, I didn’t want that. I just didn’t want to open the door for scenes I didn’t intend to have in this story. There will be heavy themes that my have TW for some people. But I didn’t want some TW’s  that having a R rated story could potentially have. I mean certain themes people are free to write fanfictions for, and depending on the content can make art for. But again this will be family friendly group... As You can see I’m considering more then a little here when it comes to the official rules. These details will be followed up on the official rules post.

~~~~~~

Now I apologize for the length.

The structure of this and the previous Authors Notes will probably fall under their own category for length. I’ll work to make sure posts in the future won’t be so long and hard to read. It is early morning for me when I woke to write this, and I found once much of the day passed that I still wanted to include the stuff I did into this update.

I have more to tell you, but I think this post has spurned the energy in me out. Anything that I missed in this post, I’ll try to remember to update in the next post (hopefully after I get some art on here). What I can’t do at the moment is promise dates right now till I’m more certain of schedule to work on this or can promise that my general allergies won’t cause me to delay this at all. But I can confirm that I should have several things coming out this next month, including the comic Prologue I hope. Depending on the traction the comic and fanfic gets, I may try to work on it quickly, or take my time with it. I may do a mix of both as my perfectionist self won’t let me just shoot something out without giving it my all first. I’m shushing that side slightly so this comic will be easier on me then the more detailed one I have planned. All the same, I’m planning to work on this one more at the moment till I can get an idea of my work flow. Sometimes the easiest route of work is better for planning, rather then diving head first into the deep end right away. You don’t learn to swim by jumping head first into the ocean. Piece of advice that it took years for me to learn myself ;). Anyways, I figured since I did promise something hopefully by today or tomorrow, I’d give you a formal update... Also... Well I can’t promise that updates won’t be like this in the future. I’ll try to keep them concise. But as people who know me, well have learned when it comes to personally talking I tend to write or talk out epistle. So... When I give updates, I may have lengthy ones... I’ll try my best to keep this side of me out of updates, if I can help it. Anyways Happy New Years Everyone!!! I hope everyone's Christmas and Holidays were extra special, despite the state of the world!!! 

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE AND DAY!!! Sincerely, <3 (Mod) Sweet Heart Blaze

[semi-imaginary-place]

I started watching deca-dence

1: oh what was that called. there’s a name for this tech aesthetic.... also the city is floating on monster goo which is also their energy resource... is that really a good design?????? why is there open access to the monster goo i mean those kids are totally going to fall in. Oh boss dude’s a super secret agent thing. lots of reveals this ep. That action sequence at the end was really cool but wow i do not like those squishing sound effects. also, of all the livestock to raise, why cows??? per pound of protein, cows are horribly inefficient especially when land and resources like water are scare.

2. We have a post apocalyptic society and they kept bagpipes of all things??? I’ve noticed this in fiction and perhaps this is true of real life but sustained conflict coincides with the glorification of the warrior/soldier social class. oh god and now the creators are doing a post moderist take, yay capitalism. this is a good take on the isekai “transported to a game world”/mmo lightnovel genre (see past post). what makes something “real” I was playing of a ttrpg around that concept... mikey’s got all the flags to die horrifically and be part of kaburagi’s tragic backstory. lol kaburagi got turned into a mod. There’s also something dehumanizing and horrifying in managing a society like this all to maintain the status quo. so let’s see if I have this straight, the remnants of capitalism made deca-dence and then a bunch of little robot people who are incentivized via a game system to destroy the squishy monsters. the city design makes sense now it wasn’t made with things like safety or efficiency or any regard for the residents in mind, it was made to look cool. Living in a fuel tank is exactly the type of bullshit to expect from a videogame.

3: kurenai has the vibes of that one cool npc that the the main character out grows to show how strong you’ve become. (the trope is rife with misogyny. who was the one that talked about it? ... femfreq?), wonder what the show will do with it. good job deconstructing the instant expert trope. lit. unregulated capitalism. what is corporations replaced government but for little cyborg people. curious about this minato guy. the 175 years until decommission or whatever makes me wonder how long all of this has been going on. on the screen with the eurasia bubble, were other structures, so i wonder whats happening elsewhere in the world.

4. the game trailer style shots.... the juxtaposition of the tankers discussing battle strategy for a life or death situation, with the cyborgs excited for the next raid event and talking about the game’s story is real good. its a revolving door of mood whiplash. oof dramatic irony since the entertainment corp also seems to control gadoll numbers. Why do none of the Power wear armor? oh right aesthetics and game logic, i answered my own question. I was thinking about this for a little while but kaburagi really does have the set up to be an isekai/mmo light novel protag so I’m really glade we have natsume as well. If done improperly her character type can get kind of annoying, the show did a good job of humanizing her which is important since so much of the disconnect between a game world and a lived reality hinges on her. why isn’t altitude sickness a problem for anyone?

5. yikes. saved twice within the first 10 minutes. maybe dont charge in there natsume. and it was the cool lady too! oh shit limit release. now the stakes are up. isnt kaburagi totally going to get his little head chopped off and the his little green battery extracted.

...

...

...

6. I’ve always had a soft spot for the struggle against the inevitable and unmovable. i was wondering how they were managing the squishies population. just where is this lake? what weird ass hazing system has kaburagi ended up in... is this the slow part of the anime? where they save up frames for the finale?

7. i just realized that kaburagi purposefully chose dog faced characters twice in a row. like he can choose to look like whatever he wants and he good, i feel comfortable looking like this. good for him. How did they punch a hole in the wal anyways, mechanically? with gadoll? We’ve see that they can either change the projection surrounding deca-dence, or actually have full control of all material int he bubble. oh kabu-san you are finally starting to think. but its not the gadoll that are the root of the problem, its the deca-dence system. btw since cyborgs run on the green juice which i think is made from gadolls??? how does kabu plan on fueling everyone. he hasn’t thought about it has he. of course the gadoll have a kill switch. do the tankers have one...?

8. a setup episode. my heart was racing during the avatar retrieval part, so much tension. jill is great. not sure why kaburagi doesnt just tell natsume whats going on. i do think it’d be a shock and a lot to take in just like when the gadoll reset on the mountain, but it’d make coordinating much easier. as is taking her along while not telling her whats going on doesnt feel right. also the green slanty eyed cyborgs given me bad vibes from the start, after all he’s the one that told mikey about removing the limiter. I’m kinda sad we only have 12 episodes so we have to enter the finale already. i would have loved to see the tanker teams, natsume and fei, and minato and kaburagi relationships fleshed out.

9. YEAH YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD HER EARLIER. so she would have time to process all that world shaking information not in the middle of the operation when it could cost her her life! also doesn’t this mean all the cyborgs still alive are now trapped in the waste disposal place.

10. i totally forgot about that tunnel. that said it looks kinda fragile, how’d it survive the explosion? And how did the robo crew get a hideout?? jill is amazing. she’s like a wizard. Natsume just doesn’t get a break, no ones explained to her the cyborg-avatar thing. I’m too invested in this show to analyze anything.

11. holy shit i wonder what the last few episodes were going to be about. they’re going to black hole the whole place. also we can finally hear pipopi! I thought it a bit funny pruple nose seemed to be taking advice for them but really eh was taking orders? so minato did the tremendously stupid thing of logging out and then hopping on a shuttle to get from orbit to deca-dence so he could talk to kaburagi face to face. even if they take out the gadoll, that doesn’t stop the deca0dence system from having a kill switch on the bubble.

12. POMDOROSA DID THE END SCENE ART. it really is 7 degrees of separation, they have a tumblr here. right as the natsume flashbacks started, I knew what was going to happen. Was it really safe inside the drill thing?? ah whatever. Kaburagi really went all out and busted himself huh. He probably didn’t actually need to use so much force that it’d break decadence. ah I’m rambling. I binged watched this show in 1 day. i started tearing up at the natsume flahsbacks... I dont remember what i just watched it was pure experience. I do wonder whats happening on other continents.. Jill! I can’t believe it took you 3 years to organize your files and find kaburagi’s backup! well i mean its realistic but still.

Deca-Dence is very good, like not even talking about the thematic stuff the execution in both animation and writing are both really good.

[murfeelee]

TS4 Werewolves - Rant Alert

I got this one comment that sent me off on a whole tangent, so I decided to reply to it separately.

slade-the-neko replied to your photoset “The Wolves:This world is slowing down How can I fight it? How can I?...”

Dang Murf, that's very impressive! Really makes me wish Sims 4 had werewolves. I'll definitely try porting the Skyrim model to TS4 if they ever add them.                    

Y’all know TS4 is my trigger -- wtF is EA even doing over there? That Tiny Living Stuff Pack was a JOKE, like....seriously? o_O For as much money as they’re swindling y’all for TS4, EA’s Sims team is creatively BANKRUPT. ZERO innovation, intuition or inspiration.

EA just takes popular concepts/crazes like the Tiny House Movement, Baby Yoda, and Harry Potter, and waters it down to the barest of minimums: tiny homes with huge AF Murphy beds instead of bunk beds or convertible futons/sofa-beds; a decorative Baby Yoda you can’t even interact with; no school of magic sims can go to (and no magic for kids YET). I’m so tired of them!

People keep comparing RoM to TS1′s Makin Magic, and I keep going WHERE? I said in my initial trailer reaction for RoM that it made zero frikkin sense for the RoM magic land to have that perma-nighttime full moon, without even bothering to have werewolves in the so-called realm of magic.

RoM would’ve been the PERFECT chance to add werewolves. What better way to have a magical pack than to also introduce werewolves as the local denizens of Glimmerbrook’s forests. Missed opportunity, EA. (－‸ლ) 

They could’ve added a werewolf household living in the woods, that your sim either befriends or gets bitten by, so your sim goes to the Magical Realm to either find a cure for lycanthropy (for the werewolves or for THEMSELVES if they’re bitten and are gonna turn in a couple days), or wolfsbane poisoning if one of the wolves is made sick by the brand new harvestable Wolfsbane *cough cough!* (Wolfsbane comes in the Vampires GP, but they could‘ve totally made more types of Wild Wolfsbane, Yellow Aconite, Purple Monkshood, etc.).

Either one would give your sim a REAL impetus and incentive to go learn magic and talk to the RoM residents and mess with potions & alchermy. Which is another reason I said (I’ve BEEN saying) I wanted HEDGE WITCHES, who could do HERBOLOGY. U_U

The RoM Game Pack NEEDED to be its own Expansion -- it wasn’t a realm at all; it was a Diagon Alley ripoff and everybody knew it. HELLO, EA! Part of worldbuilding is creating a EFFING STORY that gives your game a FRIKKIN PURPOSE. EA didn’t go the distance at all; they did the mere basics of adding magic to TS4, with a lot of style but not much substance. But ironically they did the same with the mermaids, which did get their own EP, and everyone agrees that TS4′s Island Living was worse than TS3′s Island Paradise, so wtf. (－‸ლ) 

But I doubt werewolves would get their own Game Pack like the Vampires & Spellcasters -- EA would do Faeries/Elves before wolves, I suspect, cuz faeries are in a sense easier. Wings, mushrooms & flowers, glittery magic, LOTR-esque art nouveau inspired furniture, etc -- everyone knows the standard faery.

But if TS4 werewolves got a pack all to themselves it would force EA to effing give a crap about lycan culture & lore, and the complexities of things like pack dynamics (alphas, betas, omegas, etc), moon cycles, transformations, lupine physiology & locomotion; diet & hunting (adding new flora & fauna), etc.

While heavy in gameplay expansion, with werewolf-specific abilities, interactions & animations, what other stuff could you stuff into a werewolf stuff pack? Y'all saw how in TS3 the Supernatural EP didn’t give wolves a single bloody thing other than their CAS stuff -- for build/buy mode wolves got ZILCH. We didn’t get busted furniture or shattered windows or blood splatters or more fur patterns -- NOTHING. Everything in build/buy mode was for witches & faeries--all wolves could do was tear the crap up with their claws.

And even their CAS stuff was lackluster - no hairy skins, makeup or tails, but we got body hair & face sliders, claws, fangs, etc.

I like TS1's werewolf design from Makin Magic the most, since their heads/skins looked like wolves.

TS2′s was the biggest downgrade in terms of the LOOK of werewolves, in that it was just a skin.

If EA does do wolves for TS4, I’d hope they make it so the werewolves look like effing WOLVES. At least let them turn into animals, like the ones in TS2 PETS. (WHY TF was TS2 the only time Sims had ACTUAL magical pets!? >_< TS3 has dogs! TS4 has dogs! DO IT ALREADY.)

Considering the cartoony PG13 angle EA insists on keeping TS4, I don’t imagine they’d EVER make wolves look like @camkitty2​’s amazing werewolf mod at MTS:

And certainly not the scary Skyrim werewolves that I converted.

Or even the ones from EA’s other property, Dragon Age (which are effing ugly, IMO).

(The ugly anthropomorphic bipedal version, btw, not the more wolf-like version.)

TBH, If TS4 did werewolves at all I BET YOU MONOPOLY MONEY the template EA’d use would be a lot like Bigby Wolf’s design from the Wolf Among Us video game:

Bigby goes through 4 phases, from man to gradually being an actual wolf in his 4th phase/Final Form. His 3rd phase has a face that not really wolf-like so much as Jekyll/Hyde; beastly enough that you pretty much know Oh that’s a werewolf they’re doing, without it actually looking like any animal.

It’s big and scary with muscles & claws & hair, but cartoony enough that it’s not drastically different from a regular sim. EA’s wack enough to pull something like that, rather than going the extra mile to give us the kind of Skyrim-esque werewolves many simmers want.

Or the full-shift magical WOLF that I personally want.

Don’t get me wrong; Bigby has a great design for Wolf Among Us, made by AA developers Telltale (who do The Walking Dead video games). But Electronic fArts is a AAA developer, with billion dollar budgets, massive teams & bookoo resources. But by god EA’s the laziest AAA company around; just the kind of twats to do AA level work with AAA finances, as we’ve seen in TS4 and TS3.

Bigby’s 2nd phase is basically what TS3 did for werewolves, with the scrunched up brow/nose, pointed ears, hairier face, etc.

This kind of werewolf design is fine, but it leaves A LOT to be desired, especially if it’s the only form you see in certain werewolf franchises. It reminds me too much of how Teen Wolf makes werewolves -- basically as hairier vampires from Buffy (which makes sense). But come on EA, go the distance; go FULL WOLF SHIFT or go home.

In Eastern Europe werewolves ARE vampires/witches -- they’re connected to nature magic, druids & wicca, neopaganism, etc: magic runes & symbols, stones & metals, scyring, bonfire festivals (having Celtic holidays would be so cool!), enchanted woods & nemetons & ley lines, the effect of moonlight on water #TuckEverlasting style, shamanistic sacred animal totemic power and such. Tap into that tribalistic Slavic, Norse & Celtic lore on werewolves, EA, you effing COWards!

In TS1′s Makin Magic and TS3′s Supernatural, witches and werewolves came in the same pack, and had gameplay elements tied to each other -- in TS1 it’s the Beauty & the Beast charm that magical sims can use, and in TS3 werewolves can be used as witches’ assistants to Gather harvestables/collectables used in alchemy potions. So for TS4, having werewolves in RoM would’ve made SO MUCH sense. Hell, they could’ve fit into the Vampire GP, too -- why was wolfsbane even IN that pack? o_O

So if TS4 adds werewolves, I hope they add something NEW to the lifestate, and do more research into other portrayals & iterations of werewolves.

Everyone knows about Norse Berserkers (were-bears), but less attention is given to the Wolves of Odin, the Ulfhednar/Ulfhedinn (werewolves). A lot of Nordic neopagans are into them nowadays.

A werewolf GP would make it so EA would have to flesh out werewolves -- if they live in the woods, give them woodland build/buy mode CC. Let them live OFF THE GRID as technophobic naturists, cuz electronics like tvs, PCs & radios hurt their sensitive eyes & ears. They could be more modern, sure, but it would be so much cooler to have sims who only use well water and hot springs and compost toilets and woodfire ovens.

Bring back hobbies/skills like bone/woodcarving, gem cutting, basket weaving & looms, soap/candle-making, pottery, horticulture, tree-cutting/tree-hugging, animal husbandry (could you imagine werewolf shepherds? XD), sparring, (arm) wrestling, boxing, hunting, bird watching and more. Basically: fullblown medieval-rustic hunting lodge aesthetics: animal pelts, antlers, mounted taxidermy, COME ON, EA, stop being boring!

[misstrashchan]

The Man With Two Souls, Pt. 2

Okay, so this ended up being a fucking long part 2 to my previous meta post. There was a lot I wanted to get down, and if it doesn't make sense or you don't agree with it, that's fine, I'd just be happy if you read it. Now I can rest until the finale comes and beats me up.

So, there's a few more Salem and Adam parallels to start off with like

(8) Having the same reaction to hearing someone mention Blake and Oz and the possibility of them getting the upper hand against them

(9) Chronologically after this happens (we see Adam destroy the throne room in Volume 6 episode 2, but we see him lose his mask at the end of the Adam trailer) deciding to go after Blake on his own while Salem creates the winged Beringel grimm and plans to go to Atlas herself, presumably to go after Oscar/Ozpin so he doesn't get in the way of her plans (as well as Ruby since she clearly needs her as well)

"If you want something done right, you do it yourself" - Volume 6 Chapter 13

(10) Adam and Salem telling Blake and Oz about how they're going to destroy them and those around them

"The ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute. Which is why I will focus all of my effort to snuff it out. How does it feel? Knowing that all your time and effort has been for nothing. That your guardians have failed you. That everything you've built will be torn down before your very eyes."

"So you send your guardians, your huntsman and huntresses. And when they fail and you turn to your smaller soul, know that you send her to the same pitiful demise. This is the beginning of the end, Ozpin. And I can't wait to watch you burn." - Salem, Volume 3 Chapter 12

"What you want is impossible! But I understand. Because all I want is you, Blake. And as I set out and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love. Starting with her." - Adam, Volume 3 Chapter 11

(11) Salem and Adam's perception of Oz and Blake affecting their perspective of themselves... and the audience.

Okay, this one's honestly kind of weird. For so, so long there were a lot of people who bought into the idea that Ozpin was secretly evil or somehow worse than Salem, or that he'd done something terrible and unforgivable to Salem. I fully admit, I was one of those people. I mean, I didn't think he was evil, but the way Salem talked to him at the end of volume 3, listening to the song Divide, I thought, he must have done something bad to Salem, right? How could she hate him so much otherwise?

And the worst thing he did... was leave her. When he couldn't go along with being a genocidal dictator of the whole world alongside Salem, and didn't want their children to be a part of that either.

And as for Adam, he tells Blake that she hurt him more than anybody because she left him.

"All sorts of people hurt me in all sorts of different ways. But no one hurt me quite like you, Blake. You didn't leave scars. You just left me alone." - Adam, Volume 6 Chapter 12

And Salem would also have been hurt from Ozma trying to leave her. Especially when you think about her backstory, how she was kept isolated in a tower, and instead of finding freedom in the outside world, found it in Ozma. And then he died, and she was alone again. And then the Gods destroyed humanity, and Salem is left alone one again for god knows how long.

"Once again, Salem was alone." - Volume 6 Chapter 3

And weirdly, similar to Ozpin there were people who bought into Adam's false perception of Blake too. That Blake is somehow the one who hurt Adam more than he hurt her (which is, completely insane).

And Salem and Adam want Oz and Blake to feel that way. To be paralyzed with self hatred and doubt, to be stuck in the past, and feel as if everything is their fault. That Salem and Adam are their responsibility, at first to save them, and then to stop them.

You see it with Adam's gaslighting, trying to paint her as an unfaithful coward. And I mean, just listen to the song Divide. The whole song is Salem trying to make out Ozpin to be the villain, that she's killing people but the real murderer is him for trying to give people hope, even if it was hope based on a desperate lie.

"It was you who ended their lives! Made them to dig their own graves! With your dark, sick, cruel design, convinced them their world could be saved." - Divide

And there were a lot of people convinced by Salem's song Divide that Ozpin was far worse than he really was, to the point it was surprising that he hadn't wronged Salem in some way like most people were expecting.

And Adam tries to make Blake believe that she's a coward, that she's selfish and weak, that running away from her problems is all she knows how to do.

And for a long while, Blake believed he was right. That she was toxic to the people around her, that she made things worse for them. And there were some people in the fandom who thought that she really was this toxic person.

It's actually kind of scary, but Salem and Adam managed to manipulate not only Blake and Oz's perception of themselves, but also the audience as well in how they saw them.

I don't doubt for a moment this is going to extend to Oscar as well if she meets him, that she'll likely try to convince him that he's just Ozpin and that he, Oscar, doesn't matter, and he'll fail and make the same mistakes as their past lives. Which undoubtedly parts of the fandom are going to take Salem's false perception of Oscar to heart as well and believe her.

Which brings me to move on from Blake's parallels with her first "soul" and Ozpin, to her second "soul" and Oscar.

Now Blake alluding to the Man with Two Souls is metaphorical, while in Oscar's case it's very literal, and it's no coincidence she's the one who first introduces us to the concept to us with the book she's reading during the Shining Beacon.

"...It's about a man with two souls. Each fighting for control over his body"

(It's important to note that the conflict between the two souls is not one of Good vs Evil)

Blake's conflict of her two metaphorical souls fighting for control, is the false perception Adam had of Blake and who she used to be with him, her past that she can't escape, and the struggle for her smaller, more honest soul, trying to define herself and decide who she wants to be. And for Oscar, he's struggling to define himself and decide who he wants to be, because of the merge with Ozpin, and that his past will become Oscar's too.

Both of them want to do the right thing and rise to their challenges, but it seems like such an impossible task to them that they're afraid to meet it.

"I'm... scared. I'm more scared than I've ever been. Than I ever thought was possible. I always knew I wanted to be more than a farmhand. But this? Who would ask for this?" - Oscar, Volume 5 Chapter 5

"I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsman and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy what will I... How can I undo so many years of hate?" - Blake, Volume 2, Chapter 10

But the person who sees Blake's "other soul" the person she's truly capable of being, who she really is, even when she can't herself, is Yang.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. You're not one to back down from a challenge Blake." - Yang, Volume 2 Chapter 10

And the one who sees Oscar and who he's capable of being even when he can't himself, is Ruby.

"Hey Oscar? I know this isn't going to be easy. But the fact that you're trying says a lot about you. You're braver than you think." - Ruby, Volume 5 Chapter 5

Blake and Oscar are also the first people we see Yang and Ruby open up to about their past trauma. The difference between the two being that in the Burning the Candle scene Yang is more willing to be vulnerable around Blake, to let her guard down and open up to her about her abandonment issues and how they've affected her.

Because as a more emotionally mature character she understands she needs to do that in order to properly relate to Blake so she can offer her support. She gets frustrated however when Blake still refuses her support, and so she has to give her a push to accept it.

Ruby, however, isn't as emotionally mature as Yang, and doesn't find it easy to let down her guard and talk about her emotions. Her mentality being described as "I don't have time for my emotions, I've got to make sure everybody else is okay" - RWBY Rewind: Ruby Rose Rewinds With Us

She feels like she constantly needs to be a pillar of strength and support for everyone around her as a leader. She has a hard time opening up about her own feelings and being vulnerable around others. For her, it seems much more natural to internalize those feelings rather than face them head on. As a leader, she feels she isn't supposed to show fear or doubt. If she admits how she's hurting or how scared she is, she'd be afraid of those around her losing faith.

Ironically, it's Ozpin's words of advice to her that enforce this mentality

"But if you aren't constantly performing at your best, what reason do you give others to follow you?"

So even though only a minute ago Oscar saw that Ruby was clearly upset over something (being reminded of Penny's death)

Ruby then goes on to act like nothing's wrong when she then attempts to reassure Oscar. And it feels like a performance, and though Ruby genuinely does want to reassure him, it comes across as insincere to him. He's frustrated because Ruby isn't being honest about how she's feeling, and is only concerned with his feelings.

So in the Dojo scene we have Oscar start to push Ruby past that flawed mentality that Ozpin enforced, to be more honest about how she's feeling, to talk about how the Fall of Beacon and the loss of Phyrra and Penny affected her, how she's afraid of Salem killing people she cares about, and that she'd kill anyone regardless.

And with both Ruby and Yang opening up about their past experiences they can relate to Blake and Oscar's own fears, doubts and insecurities. Blake's need for answers and Oscar's fear of the fight with Salem, and Yang's need for answers and Ruby's fear of the fight with Salem.

"I told you! I'm not telling you to stop! I haven't. To this day I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me. But I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process what good are we?" - Yang, Volume 2 Chapter 6

"I am scared! But not just for me. What happened at Beacon shows that Salem doesn't care if you're standing against her or not. She'll kill anybody. And that, scares me most of all. Phyrra... Penny... I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt. That I didn't think about them every day since I lost them. That I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too. No matter how dangerous it was. So that's what I choose to do. To keep moving forward." - Ruby, Volume 5 Chapter 5

And by demonstrating their own resolve, as well as their belief in the kind of people Blake and Oscar are capable of being that inspires them to be that person.

"I'm. Not. Running."

"You. Will." - Blake and Adam, Volume 3 Chapter 11

"She made a choice. To put others before herself. And so do I."

"Then you've chosen death." - Oscar and Hazel, Volume 5 Chapter 12

There's also Blake expressing her doubt in Yang during volume 3 after she attacked Mecury, causing Yang to question her own judgement.

She compares it to how Adam used to attack people, and of course she knows Yang wouldn't do something like that without good reason, but she can't but feel like the situation is very familiar. And Blake knows Yang isn't Adam, and makes it clear that she's decided to trust Yang.

"I want to trust you. I will trust you." - Volume 3 Chapter 8

But despite that, Blake's words do still weigh on her mind even when she's alone, where Qrow comes to talk to her about what happened and reassure her, and then they end up talking about her mum.

And then with Ruby in volume 7, Oscar expresses his doubt in Ruby in her decision to lie and hide the truth from Ironwood, comparing it to how Ozpin did the same to them, which, similar to Yang, causes Ruby to question her own judgement. And obviously he knows Ruby isn't Ozpin, that she probably had a good reason for lying. But again, the situation just feels so familiar.

But ultimately he decides to put his trust in Ruby, even before Ironwood.

"I do believe in you. But not only you." - Volume 7 Chapter 7

And by episode 9 they're both on the same page in deciding to choose the truth over fear. (if only James could have stayed on that page too)

Similarly to Yang, we see Ruby alone in episode 4 of volume 7, and you can tell Oscar's words are still weighing on her mind, as Qrow comes over to talk to her and she asks him if she is like Ozpin, and he reassures her that she's not, and then they end up talking about her mother.

Okay, so I'm going to go out on a limb here, and you can call me out on my bullshit if you like, but I'm making a prediction (like, 12 hours from the finale, but hey, it might happen later in the series for all I know)

If we're going full in on the parallels here, remember how Yang lost an arm trying to protect Blake from Adam, and afterwards Blake ends up leaving Yang like Raven, believing she'd be better off without her?

And how Salem is on her way to Atlas after hearing Ozpin had reincarnated, the foreshadowing for Ruby losing an eye and them bringing up her trauma around Summer in Chapter 11?

On top of her wanting Ruby alive?

I'm gonna guess Ruby loses an eye trying to protect Oscar, and then afterwards either Oscar or Ruby tries to sacrifice and give themselves up to Salem, except it ends up being a hollow sacrifice like Summer's

"I didn't have a choice I did what I had to do I made a sacrifice but forced a bigger sacrifice on you!" - Red like Roses Part 2

Because Salem would end up taking both of them either way. I actually can't imagine a scenario where she doesn't, because she needs both of them. But one of them has a worse fate, a "bigger sacrifice" in store for them when they reach Evernight (which I'm still thinking is Ruby)

[thunderquack]

How Dew You Dewey That?

Dewey Duck’s best friend was Launchpad McQuack. Being the middle child and starved for the same attention and recognition as his elder and younger siblings, he loved hanging out with someone who had the same energy and sense of adventure as he did, even if that guy happened to be thirty-one years old. He never treated him like some ‘dumb kid’, he was his friend.

But things are different now. Launchpad found himself in a loving relationship with superfan-turned-actor-turned-superhero Drake Mallard, and he was spending less time with him. He was going on dates and doing all kinds of gross relationship stuff Dewey couldn’t wrap his head around. It freaked him out. And then along came the adopted daughter Gosalyn, and now he’s ten times more careful than he used to be. But seeing the happy family made him think about more than being replaced, and he has a few questions he wants to ask.

It took a while to get over it.

It might’ve taken less time to get over it if Gosalyn hadn’t been relentlessly teasing Dewey on Whiffle Boy Rewritten, or if there wasn’t a notable change in Launchpad’s response to his adventurous requests. ‘Oh, mom said we can go’ wasn’t cutting it anymore, Launchpad started wanting to ask her upfront, and that usually turned into the big ol’ devastating no. As if Della would allow him to go flying alone with Launchpad of all people. He’d stomp off in betrayal every single time.

Parenthood changed his best friend for sure, and falling in love changed him too, and sometimes he’d wonder why Launchpad had to go and find the love of his life. Why couldn’t they have stayed the most eligible bachelors in all the land forever? Launchpad always said Drake brings out the best in him, but all Dewey could see was someone who forgot what the meaning of fun was. Was that what love was all about? Changing for the other person? Count him out of that, he was a star in his own right already, he didn’t need anyone else to bring out the best in him. And we was way too threatened by that concept anyway.

He was bitter for weeks until Drake caught on to how he was probably feeling and told his husband it’d be best to talk to him, and the pilot pulled the kid aside for just that.

“Hey, Dewster.”

The kid had his arms crossed, back turned to the taller. He looks up at him with a furrowed brow, suspicious of what his intentions could be after blowing him off all this time. Finally, he answers. “Sorry, Launchpad. I actually can’t hang out with Gosalyn today. I’m way too busy.” His tone stings bitter, mocking of what he’s been hearing for the last month in the most childish way.

The redhead rubs the back of his neck with a large hand and sighs light, there’s a smile playing on his beak. Drake told him to expect this. “Not askin’ you to do that, buddy.”

“Oh. So then what do you want?” He shifts his position, legs crossing and chin resting in his hands.

Launchpad adjusted his cap and let his gaze fall around the room. Eye contact during tense moments was difficult, even if the person he was comforting was a ten-year old. He chose to focus on his folded hands instead. “Look, I know what you’re thinking. Big Bro LP’s too busy for me--”

“Yeah, that’s ‘cause you ALWAYS are?”

“-- And ya think he doesn’t care about you anymore.” His head lifted to look at him.

Dewey’s beak presses into a tight line, looking at the ground. He didn’t wanna admit it to himself let alone to Launchpad, but it sure felt that way. Seeing the second most active kid only to his daughter he knew silence himself was enough of an answer.

“That’s not true.”

“But you changed!” Is his quick retort. “Ever since you started dating him and adopted her, it’s like you’re a completely different Launchpad! You turned all careful and busy. And you started wanting mom to tell you if I’m allowed to do something which is totally unfair because my word is SO trustable--”

“Dewey.” He winces having to interject, but he does listen to the triplet’s words. To be honest, Launchpad hadn’t really noticed or put that much thought into how he was maturing and growing. Sometimes you make changes to yourself without realizing it, if the right people enter your life. Having learnt from Della, and becoming a parent in his own right, he was a lot safer in his flying and making sure Dewey actually had permission to do something dangerous before going on a whim. He imagined how he’d feel if he learned Gos ran off with someone and almost got herself hurt; and it was terrifying, tough as she was. Back then, he didn’t know how Donald or Della would’ve felt. But he does now. He has his own family now, and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to protect them. Little changes entered his personality to reflect that.

Launchpad shuffles in his seat and nods once. “Families and relationships aren’t easy, Dewey. And it’s a lot more than just the fun stuff too.” He recalls in the back of his mind a few rough patches he and Drake had to get over before communication came more easily to them. “I mean just look at your mom and Louie right now. There’s a lot of effort and time that goes into this stuff, and I really have to work hard at it. y’know?” Hand falls on the smaller duck’s shoulder, and his growing smile is inviting. Eyes crinkle with the fondness of a big brother “But that doesn’t mean I lost sight of everyone who’s important to me. And especially not my best buddy.”

The blue one remains unsatisfied, although the latter words bring a more relaxed expression to his face. “I just don’t get it. What’s the point of dating and romance and all this junk if it just distracts and changes you? Do you even wanna change in the first place?” The bitterness in his tone had been replaced with a frustrated curiosity, Launchpad shrugged in response.

“If you just meet the right people, you don’t even notice it.” And his thoughts drift fondly to Drake, and how he helped him through and with so many things he used to find unthinkable. Nothing felt impossible with him by his side, and it was amazing to think that all it took was the uncanny events of a botched movie for everything to make sense. The sun shone brighter ever since the two walked out of that studio’s wreckage together. “You can learn a lot about yourself. Ya think you got it all figured out and then bam, someone comes along and it makes way more sense than you ever thought it would. And all they gotta do is try to high-kick you in their trailer.”

Dewey blinked.

“...Buuuut hey, you’re just a kid, you don’t gotta worry about this stuff right now.” Launchpad unfolds his legs and stretches them out, standing wobbly on his feet and rolling out a kink in his back from the uncomfortable position he stuck himself in. “What you should worry about is how you’re gonna be able to eat all the ice cream we’re gonna go get today and not get sick in the limo. Again.”

The talk was over then, and Launchpad took Dewey anywhere (reasonable) that he wanted to go for the better half of the day. He appreciated the restrictions and didn’t complain, knowing how much Launchpad’s new life and attitude meant to him and his family. But besides that, who could complain with a belly-busting amount of sundaes and hot fudge? It was the most fun he’d gotten to have in weeks where all the attention was on him. A middle child’s dream day.

It’s on the limo drive back to the mountain, sun setting over the horizon and the stars starting to twinkle in the sky, that Dewey catches one in his eyes and finds himself thinking about what his own future family might be like. He’s tried before, and it all comes up fuzzy and confusing no matter what angle he tackles the scenario from. He chalked it down to his age, no person out there being cool enough to compete with him, any silly excuse under the sky that gets him out of freaking out about it.

Dewey remembers passersby, usually older women with clutch purses and thick coats of perfume, who would stop Uncle Donald in corner stores and parks to oogle over having three perfect identical boys. They’d say things like Oh, how handsome! They’re going to be such a catch with the ladies, teasing them about if they have a girlfriend and everything else you’d expect a small-minded grandmother to say. If the others were as bothered as him, they were good at hiding it, but Dewey couldn’t wrap his head around how the words made his skin crawl. 

Did he have to be with a girl?

And the answer was clearly no. Because here he sat with his best friend forever who was married to another man, adopted a kid with another man; And it still didn’t make anything or his own predicament less confusing. Girls? Guys? It hurt his head, and the pressure of having to just pick one (Girls being forced by the aforementioned elders) made his blood freeze to ice.

“Earth to Dewster?”

Launchpad’s voice breaks his stream of thought, he sinks back into his seat with a sigh.

“Ya got a brain freeze there, buddy? Or is somethin’ on your mind?”

Instead of beating around the bush, Dewey opts for dew-ing what he does best; And that’s getting down to gathering answers and solving mysteries. His voice grows stern, demanding. “How did you know Drake was the one? And you’ve dated girls before too, right? How do you just pick?”

The pilot, taken a bit aback by the sudden interrogation, laughs in surprise. He squints in thought for a moment or two, and then shrugs his shoulders. “I dunno.”

“Ha! So y-- Wait, what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wh-- But, Launchpad? You’ve dated SO many people and so many things! How did you figure all this out?” He was standing on his seat now to try and be at eye-level with a man who was watching the road, he gestures a hand to try and sit him back down.

“I dunno, dude. I just kinda did. The heart wants what it wants.” Another shrug. It lacks malicious or mocking intent, and was simply to convey that things just sort of fell into Launchpad’s lap. He’d already talked about how Drake understood him, made him a better person. How he got there was an experience that was hard to explain, and the lack of a puzzle-solving answer almost offends the triplet.

He wants to protest, wants to put up a fight and demand an answer, but he’s ultimately defeated from the gross amount of foods the two chowed down on. He sinks back into his seat and crosses his arms, head turning towards the window. “What if the heart doesn’t know what it wants?” Comes out in the smallest of grumbles, but LP doesn’t miss it. In fact, Launchpad checks the rearview mirror to make sure the roads are clear enough for him to slow down. They’re pretty empty leading up to the manor, so he does. 

“Is that what all this is about, Dewster?”

“No. Yes. Kinda? Ugh, probably.” A frustrated sigh, he buries his face in his hands. “You seem to got it all figured out with Drake and Gos. Mom’s got her cool alien girlfriend, Uncle Donald has Daisy. You guys just know where it’s all headed and I don’t even know if I like girls or guys. I’m like, totally expected to like girls too because every old woman I meet asks if I have a girlfriend and I hate it.”

There’s a tinge of familiarity in the taller’s chest, thinking back to being Dewey’s age and struggling to figure himself out. His mother and father were supportive in every way they could be, but it wasn’t as if they really understood. Having a talk like this would’ve meant the world to him, and he decides he’s going to do his best.

He puts the limo into park in the manor’s garage, and turns to face the child.

“Dewey, you really don’t have to have it all figured out yet, you know that right?” The smile on his beak is resonating to his feelings, and he chooses to keep his voice stern and comforting. “Look at how much older all the people you just mentioned are. There’s absolutely no pressure to know who or what you like right now. And hey, if you feel one way, and the day after decide you feel another way? That’s perfectly okay. You have your whole life to figure yourself out, buddy. Don’t let anyone try to plan it for you.”

Tears had started to well in the shorter’s eyes, a shapeless weight in his chest being lifted off of his heart and it beating a little softer. The words were so simple, almost too easy, but they were everything he had been needing to hear. He unbuckles his seatbelt and moves to wrap his arms around Launchpad’s neck in a hug, and he’s barely able to connect them. The pilot pats his back and returns it with a beam.

“And hey, if you ever need someone to talk to about it, I’ll always be right here for ya. Not right here as in the limo? ‘Cause I leave the limo a lot actually, and I don’t live in the garage anymore, but--”

“Yeah no, I know what you mean, dude... Thank you.”

[venus-says]

Healin’ Good Precure Episode 01

I'm feeling really good about this.

The time has finally come, Healin' Good Precure is among us and I couldn't be more happy about it! I watched this episode twice and my liking for this season just kept growing and growing, I know it's very early to say this (there are at least more 46 episodes for me to change my mind) but I really am in love with this season already.

I believe this is my first time covering a first episode on its own and I don't really know how to do this so if it seems like I keep going back and it seems that I'm just running in circles please bear with me. XD

I think to begin with I'll take the obvious things out of the way and first talk about the OP, the ED, the transformation, and the attack before going into my opinions of the episode itself.

This is gonna sound repetitive but I LOVE THE OPENING AND THE ENDING. More so the ending than the opening, but I love them both, they are very strong on the visual side.

What I like about the OP is that it's a pretty soothing yet energetic song that fits perfectly with the Healin' Good atmosphere, I also love the visuals they look very beautiful, very fun, I got a very light-hearted vibe from the shots of the girls in their civilian lives, and it made me feel like I already know these character for a long time and I really care about them. I'm gonna be a little controversial here and say that the part people liked the most of the OP is actually my least favorite... I know it's a beautiful work of animation and it does look amazing but I wish it was more concentrated on the action scenes, they could've done the overlay on another section of it IMHO. It doesn't ruin it though, I still like this op quite a lot. Also, I saw some people comparing it to Star Twinkle's opening song but I think it's an unfair comparison seeing how different both seasons look, I know in the end it comes to personal preference but I think the Healin' Good opening is perfect for it in the way it is just how Star Twinkle's opening was perfect for it seeing how it was a more quirky and fun season.

Talking about the Ending, the CGI there looks awesome but I do think the camera movements are a bit too hectic, I think they were aiming at something more dynamic, and it does feel like that, but I feel like it's kinda hard to keep track of the dance moves at some parts. But I think the song is so good and the shots are so beautiful it's kinda forgivable this small confusion. I thought precure couldn't top PaPePiPu Romantic and Please tell me...! Twinkle but I was wrong and I'm already hooked on Miracle Link Ring on a way I wasn't expecting to be.

Now going into the stock footage stuff, I love Grace's transformation and attack. I've seen people complaining about how short both the transformation and the attack are but to me that's not a problem, I know we came from a season where the transformation was very big and there was a lot of scenes and everything, but I usually like shorter transformations more, they have a certain charm to me that long transformation sequences usually don't have. One thing I really like about this one is when the white coat appears kinda like a cape and it wraps it around to create the main outfit, I think that a very nice detail and it's also a part of the cure's designs we missed noticing, their vest is actually simulating a doctor's coat and that's very cool to me!

Talking about the attack, it was way simpler than I expected it to be, which on itself isn't really a problem, Leo pointed on his reaction video that it looks like this attack is more easy to be used outside the stock footage sequences which can be quite interesting for the action portion and I agree with that, I also like the ode to Floral Power Fortissimo with the beam punching a whole in the MOTW and taking the Element fairy like a flower heart, and I love the final shot with Grace facing backward and saying "take care", I always love when precure does something like this, but if I didn't say I'm a bit disappointed I'd be lying, I wish it was a bit more detailed.

With the formalities out of the way let's get into the episode itself.

To start things off I really like this city, it seemed like an unusual setting from the descriptions we had, but I like how this is kinda like a touristic/spa city with all those places for different kinds of treatment and the hot springs and all, it makes a lot of sense Nodoka's parents would eventually move to this city.

Speaking of Nodoka herself, she's a real sweetheart. From the trailers we got it seemed like she'd be more of the calm type but she's actually quite energetic and she's more than ready to help other people when they need, she's very pure. And it's very comprehensible that she was this way since she was bed-tied for quite a long time (I assume), I don't know if this was in her profile and I missed this detailed but I was really shocked when they cut to that flashback and she was in a hospital bed, I think this is the first time precure has done something like this for a main cure and it really intrigues me to see how they gonna use this as part of Nodoka's development.

We got to see Hinata and Chiyuu in this episode as well and while their participation was really short I think it was enough to make a good first impression of who they are. Hinata was WAY MORE energetic than I was expecting, I love her, I also love how she broke the tradition and for the first time (I believe) the lead cure bumped heads with another character that wasn't a fairy XD I'm so excited to see more of her. The Chiyuu interaction was very unexpected as well, I knew Chiyuu was athletic and all but she seemed very calm and polite and I thought her first contact with Nodoka wouldn't be in the midst of her training, so I really like that this was our first impression of her to kinda set her apart of her blue comrades of this franchise.

The fairies this time around are quite interesting, they're full of personality and I think they'll be a great addition to this cast. Rabbirin I think will be the fairy that will be harder to connect with, not because she's a bad character but because I sense some level of stubbornness on her that can be a little annoying at times, you know seeing how keen she was on how her partner SHOULD be and seeing that she refused Nodoka's help until the last moment didn't do a huge favor on her likeability but I'm interested in seeing how they will develop her character. Pegitan was the least fleshed out of the fairies and I hope that this was like that because of his shy personality rather than the show overlooking him. Nyatoran also didn't do a lot but since he's more of an outspoken extrovert he left more of an impression on me than Pegitan did and I'm quite liking him, I hope they don't screw his character because I don't wanna hate on the good cat boy. Surprisingly enough, I think Latte was the one that was left behind the most even though she's the main mascot, maybe it's just me but she didn't really leave that much of an impression on me like the other healing animals did (and yes, I'll call her Latte until we see another merch with her name romanized to confirm if Rate is the correct pronunciation or if it was just a fluke).

The villain, Daruizen, didn't leave much of an impression too because he didn't do a lot, he summoned the MOTW and taunted Rabbirin but other than that he didn't do much, we also don't know what his evil team is or what their goals are so I don't really know what to think of him yet. Though I really like the summoning sequence and the concept that the MOTW is a little virus or germ that infects the Element spirit making nature sick, I'm really excited to see what they can do with it during the season.

I think my biggest criticism of this episode is how short the fight was. I was really enjoying the episode through and through, Nodoka's introduction was cool, the scene in the Healing Garden was interesting, I loved when they drew the parallel between Nodoka and Rabbirin at the beginning and then before the action started they drew another parallel between Nodoka and Daruizen with them saying the same phrase with different intonations and meanings, I was really apprehensive seeing the fairies trying to stand up against the villains and that moment where Rabbirin gets trapped under that tree and everything, but then Nodoka transformed and it kinda killed my mood because the fight was short and Rabbirin kinda narrated everything and that took me off from the experience a bit, I think this fight should've lasted longer and only be concluded in the next episode, especially to show more of Rabbirin not trusting Nodoka's abilities to have a good basis for the next episode.

But despite all of this I still had a very good time with this episode, I think this is will become one of my favorite first episodes of the franchise and I'm more than ready to follow this team through this year and I'm very hopeful that this will be a good season (I hope I don't bite my tongue on a few months XD). What are your thoughts on this episode? Let me know in the comments. I'll see you all in the next time. Healin' Goodbye~

[whenimaunicorn]

Imagine Bobo discovering your nipples are pierced

Bobo Del Rey x female!Reader

CW: dubcon nipple play

You almost think you’re imagining at first, a sudden tug at your left nipple. It feels just like when your barbell piercing gets caught on something for a second, but when you look down, nothing is touching you. You’re just standing there, near Bobo Del Rey’s trailer at the center of the park, trying to look intimidating as you back up Wynonna and Dolls while they use their warrant to search for incriminating evidence.

Bobo got his ass pulled out of the trailer almost immediately, after running his foul mouth enough to piss Wynonna off. Now he’s waiting out here in the sun with you and a few other badges, sitting forward with his elbows resting on his knees and feigning boredom. But you see the fingers of his right hand tap-tap-tapping against his left. He’s antsy. Worked up about something. And hopefully, Black Badge was about to find it.

The strange sensation in your nipple repeats itself, this time on your right. You reach up and rub your fingers over your piercing, reassuring yourself that everything is normal. Bobo’s looking in your direction, so you drop your hand quickly. You don’t want to look like a freak, just feeling yourself up in public. Especially not while he’s looking.

Bobo smiles. He’s smiled at you like this before; charming, like he knows some secrets he’d love to let you in on, if only you’d give him some of your time.

Arrogant bastard. You stand up straighter, cross your arms under your chest and do your best to look like a badass not worth fucking with. Sure, he managed to steal a kiss from you that one time, and your whole body still fizzes with pleasure when you remember the feel of being pressed up against him, but you are strong, and you are a Good Guy, and you are not letting Bobo Del Rey compromise you again.

Another tingle at your nipples. This time both at once, and this time it lasts longer. It almost feels like the barbells are spinning? But that makes no sense. You bite your lip and shift on your feet until the strange sensation passes.

“Something bothering you, Deputy?” Bobo calls over. He’s about twenty feet away from your position; easy to keep an eye on but not close enough for comfortable conversation.

“I could ask you the same thing,” you retort. “You know, Bobo, things will go a lot easier if you tell us now, what you’ve got hidden in there.” You tip your shoulder at the trailer behind you. “Before we find it ourselves.”

“Nothing to find.” His tone is too smug. Maybe he already moved it, whatever it is that Wynonna thinks he has. “But I’ll take a moment and think. I do hear it always feels better to get a few things off your chest.”

He sits back, and at that exact moment another tugging comes at your nipples. Left, right, one, two, like someone has grasped the metal ball on the side of each one and flicked them in turn. It’s hard not to gasp; you turn away from Bobo and look at the ground so that you can focus solely on this bewildering sensation.

You lift your crossed arms high, pretending you’re cold but actually just trying to use the backs of your hands to soothe your nipples. So when that odd tickle comes again, you are able to feel that both metal bars really are twisting, by themselves, underneath your clothes.

Mashing your arms against your tits can’t stop it from happening. If anything, it only makes the sensation feel stronger, and more maddeningly impossible.

When you look at Bobo at you there’s a wide smirk on his face. That. Bastard. Only just now do you remember what spooky revenant power he seems to have, the ability to move things with his mind. He tilts his head, gives you a lascivious look, and tugs both bars evenly, straight out from your chest, with nothing but a flick of his fingers.

The intensity is absolutely perfect, stimulating you with only a hint of pain. Without even touching you, Bobo has created the exact sensation that was the reason you got these piercings in the first place. He can see the way your mouth falls open, the way heat rushes to your face.

He does it again.

You hear Dolls comes stomping down the rusty metal stair of the trailer at your back. “This the only trailer that’s yours?” your boss asks Bobo brusquely. “Maybe you’ve got a shed around back?”

Bobo spreads his hands wide. Your piercings come with the gesture, though he drops them before it hurts. “What you see is what you get, Deputy Marshall.”

“Is that so?” Dolls sounds skeptical, and frustrated. “Because if you’re lying to me, it would be a direct violation of—"

You stop paying attention to Dolls’ words as the tweaks come again, almost painful now. You swallow a moan, and can’t do anything about but stare at Bobo’s face and plead for mercy. Heat is pooling between your legs, and you really wish your boss wasn’t standing right next to you now.

Dolls is still talking, some angry rant by the sound of it, as Bobo tilts his head at you and makes your piercings fucking vibrate while his eyes gleam. You’re not going be able to take much more of this; you grit your teeth and feel your legs getting weak under the teasing waves of restless pleasure tearing through your body as you stare back at that bastard.

Dolls’ voice raises in pitch, cutting through your staredown. “Are you even listening to me, Mr. Del Rey?” His eyes follow Bobo’s, finding you as their target.

“I apologize, Deputy Marshall,” Bobo says, voice dripping with false courtesy. He drops his mental hold on your piercings, though not without one final tug that makes you flinch and hug your arms tight over your chest. “It’s just that your deputy over there has the most captivating beauty. I just get lost in her eyes. As well as her other… assets.”

Dolls looks even angrier as Bobo’s eyes drop from your face down to your chest, licking his lips like a total horndog. “Watch it, Bobo,” your boss warns.

“She looks a little under the weather, actually,” Bobo continues. He flicks his hand wide, and you flinch at the gesture, expecting to feel another tug at your nipples. But it doesn’t come. “My trailer is open,” he says, and you realize he was just pointing at the door, “if she needs to lie down for a little while. Don’t worry, Deputy Marshall, I’ll take good care of her.”

Dolls actually growls at Bobo before turning to you and examining your face. There’s no way to hide your unsettlement, but he probably can’t interpret what flavor of torment Bobo is putting you through. “What did you do to her?” Dolls demands, whirling back to face the villain.

Bobo puts his empty hands up. “I haven’t touched her. Been sitting right over here the whole time.”

Dolls looks back at you. “Did he do something to you?”

There is no way in hell you are going to explain what’s going on right now, not with Bobo sitting there smugly, and not with armed revenants, and several more of your coworkers, watching the whole exchange closely. “No,” you reply, shaking your head bravely. Bobo can’t resist plucking at your nipples one more damned time, but you hold it together under Dolls’ level gaze. “I think I ate something bad. It might be about to catch up with me. Permission to go wait in the vehicle?”

Dolls’ eyes soften just a little in sympathy. “Granted. We’re finishing up here anyway.”

You nod at Dolls and move toward the exit.

Bobo thinks he’s so fucking funny. His grin ignites once more as he sets those barbells spinning, but now that all the attention is on you, you’re done giving him a reaction. The trailer park gate is just a few hundred yards behind Bobo’s head. You’re determined to keep your dignity until you make it there.

You walk right past the villain, refusing to skirt around him, needing to make it clear you’re not unnerved by him in any way.

When you get close, Bobo raises his hand like he wants you to stop and talk to him. “One last thing, Deputy.” You’re close enough to touch but he doesn’t grab you; that earns enough goodwill for you to actually stop. You’re mindful to keep a polite distance from his body, with so many eyes on you. But Bobo’s telekinetic fuckery yanks at the underwire in your bra, pulling you to bend over close so he can speak right into your ear.

“If you’re still wearing those cute, convenient little things in your tits the next time you come down here, I’ll know that you like me.” You try to pull away, but your bra tugs you in closer. Bobo even dares to run a finger under your jaw as he purrs deeper into your ear, “And just imagine, if you were pierced a little further south…”

He lets you rush away then, followed by his throaty chuckle. You put your hand over your mouth so you can pretend that whatever he said only made you feel sick.

Notes: credit for this spectacular concept goes to @equalstrashflavoredtrash of the ever-devious and dirty mind. Bobo taglist is open:  @allsharingonebreath, @demoncrypt1066, @writingfromasgard, @that-was-not-supposed-to-happen, @peachieowl @savismith

[jupitermelichios]

Rise of Skywalker Spoiler Free Reactions

Just skip this post if you’re not interested!

.

.

.

Okay, technical stuff first, since there’s no risk of any spoilers there. (This isn’t going to be kind, so I’m going to start by admitting that I probably wouldn’t be as harsh on the technical elements if I’d liked the plot more, but I certainly wouldn’t be being kind to it even if I really loved the story)

Holy shit that was a technically incompetent film. The camera work and editing were more reminiscent of Michael Bay at his worse than something you’d expect from Disney’s flagship franchise. Keeping track of where characters are in the world, in relation to one another, in relation to anything except the camera, is completely impossible in places, and usually the places that really matter! 

There’s a lot of shaky cam but rarely in the places shaky cam should be used (there’s multiple continuous steady shots shot using shaky cam for example, but it mostly isn’t used for running and chasing sequences) and even when the camera’s actually on a tripod it swoops around so much it made me a bit motion sick. Baz Lurnham would think this was too frenetic. The frame composition is at least okay (which shouldn’t even be in question for a film with a budget like this, but apparently this is what $300,000,000 gets you now).

The big dramatic light-sabre duel (not a spoiler, you knew there was going to be at least one!) is actually boring. This is the franchise that made Qui Gon vs Darth Maul exciting, and Darth Maul was functionally a non-character. This was with established characters and stakes, characters I was invested in, and I was so fucking bored, and that was all down to the soundtrack and editing not doing what they were supposed to. It kept doing that Michael Bay thing of shooting every little detail as though it was super important so your brain doesn’t know what to focus on and remember, but to give Michael Bay his dues his fight scenes are at least not boring, just incomprehensible. I’m honestly not entirely sure what went wrong with this - Joel Schumacher could honestly have shot this better, and he could definitely have edited it better!

Speaking of the music, Star Wars is probably better known for its music than just about anything else. It’s iconic. It’s hummable. It’s really fucking memorable. Yeah, they decided they should break from tradition here, The soundtrack is fine, if it wasn’t a Star Wars film I wouldn’t think anything of it (bar one moment when it’s super unclear if the music is diagetic or non-diagetic and it looks like a load of bad guys are singing opera, and it’s really funny) but this is Star Wars. At the very least, I expect to hear some of the iconic Star Wars music from films past, especially given how many original trilogy characters are in this movie, but no. It’s just generic film score, and that’s super weird.

Oh complement time, the sound balancing is good, which is really nice to see in a big budget blockbuster with this many explosions! I could hear the dialogue but the loud bits weren’t painful. Good job David Accord, senior sound editor.

The CG is mostly fine with a one notable exception that anyone who’s seen some of the other recent Star Wars movies will be expecting. There’s a couple of moments where I’m sure they’re actually using puppets rather than CG for smaller aliens, but it was always on the edge of shots and never for long enough to be certain.

The lighting is hit and miss, but when it misses it misses really hard. There’s a reason there’s an official epilepsy warning for this film, and it’s applicable to about a quarter of the run-time honestly. 

Costume design, what were you doing on this? Seriously. I think we all had mental imagines of what the Knights of Ren would look like when we finally got a proper look at them, and I don’t think any of us were expecting what they actually went with, especially in terms of their weapons. They looked like they’d wondered in from a completely different franchise!

Despite that, there is some really cool bits of design in this... none of which we see for more than a couple of seconds. An ice world which characters visit briefly near the beginning is a really awesome bit of design, and we cut away from the wide shot of it so quickly it honestly felt like a mistake? It’s really weird. And the desert bazaar caterpillar-track thing that I don’t know the name for is also a really great bit of very star wars-y design, that once again we only see for a second! It’s so weird, it’s like they’re ashamed of the cool designs. The red storm troopers from all the trailers, I really like them! I like that they’re distinctly First Order rather than Empire, it’s a nice bit of visual distinction. They’re barely in it. There’s some other troops in cool red armour we see briefly. They’re also barely in it.

Okay, I think that’s everything I had to say about the micro elements and direction, some super mild plot spoilers (on the ‘this actor is in the film who wasn’t in the last one’ level only) to follow so I’m putting them behind a cut

 There’s a cameo in this for someone who’s age suggests he’s in the original trilogy, and I genuinely have no idea who he is! If anyone knows (and no, I’m not talking about Billy D Williams) please let me know!

This film introduces two characters as though we’re supposed to already know who they are. A background resistance dude played by Dominic Monoghan - he’s not important, just a general background dude who occasionally exposits some stuff - and a First Order general played by Richard E Grant. The film is 100% convinced we know who they are. And I, as someone who rewatched TLJ only a month ago, am 100% convinced we do not. There’s a droid they do that with as well, and then later they have a dramatic reveal as to who it is, so they know we don’t know and they still introduce it that way! It’s not a big problem, it didn’t stop me from following the story, it’s just weird.

The ‘first gay character’ is exactly as weaksauce as we were all expecting, although I will say they did at least survive to the end of the film.

This is the biggest waste of Billy D Williams since the 1989 Batman movie.

They introduce so many new characters and concepts that there just isn’t time to allow the existing stuff to really shine, and about half of the new stuff could easily have been cut.

If I had to sum up this film’s script in one word it would be ‘non-committal’. I presume in response to the TLJ backlash, they’re trying so hard to please everyone that they basically end up pleasing no one because they won’t make firm statements on anything more controversial than ‘sith bad’.

Mostly my take away from this is that I remain 100% committed to my belief that Darth Traya is the only worthwhile organic in the Star Wars universe (and she’s not even canon anymore). “I see the chance to turn away from [the force’s] will, and that is what pleases me” may be the most intelligent thing any force user has ever said.