#the whole party sequence is ridiculous

[littlefeltsparrow]

There’s this running theme of Feyre forgiving those who have wronged her, while Rhysand aggressively asserts that he will never forgive them.

We see this with Nesta and Lucien, and the whole song and dance of Rhysand refusing to forgive those who hurt Feyre or those he perceived to have hurt Feyre can be understood as a kind of fantasy. I’ve said it before, but Rhysand’s aggression towards individuals who harmed Feyre appeals to a desire to be defended by a much stronger party against an enemy you were once powerless against (all while never having to ask them and in many cases, disavowing such a reaction)

Readers who relate to Feyre can take pleasure in seeing the ones who harmed her (according to the text) be punished through becoming dominated by her new powerful and devoted protectors. Making them feel guilty for their actions, making them submit to her through force or intimidation to engage in a kind of indulgent performance of self-flagellation. We see this with the hike Nesta is forced to go on, the purpose of this hike is not for her self-actualization, but for the pleasure of seeing her in intense emotional and physical pain. The wish fulfillment narrative takes pleasure in watching her grovel for Feyre’s forgiveness, which is why it goes back on the sisters relationship development multiple times. Maas just can’t help herself.

For Rhysand, the most powerful High Lord in all the land and being impossibly powerful, flatters the reader through his aggressive defending of Feyre. Feyre who was once her family’s mule (in ACOTAR’s ridiculous and drawn out sequence of indulgent suffering porn) can magnanimously forgive her sisters for their past mistakes, while also having them punished whilst disavowing that very punishment. This is especially apparent with Nesta, the frequent subject of Rhysand’s ire, who is disproportionately punished for her past wrongdoings.

I recognize it, but I really can’t buy into the pleasure of the wish fulfillment in the story because I don’t think that Nesta or Lucien ever deserved the harsh treatment they got. Their past actions weren’t bad enough to justify such horrendously cruel treatment and intimidation on the part of the IC. This breaks the illusion and makes me dislike the IC and Feysand.

[mvrtaiswriting]

So excited for the writing event!!! Can I please request drunk prompt #7 with Zoro or Kid? I think it would be super funny for either of them to be really awkward the next morning after drunkenly kissing someone. Or maybe the reader drunkenly kissed *them* and now they don't know if she actually likes them or not.

Eustass Kid x prompt 7 (drunk prompts) - “did i… did we kiss last night?"

HELLO HELLO! thanks for requesting this i love this psycho bitch so much. hope this meets your expectations eheh this was slightly longer than others cause you know i love my characters to overthink everything just like me <333 enjoy!!

gender neutral reader | 913 words.

reblogs, likes, and comments are appreciated ♡ if you enjoy my works, click here to read more or buy me a coffee. -> from this event.

The softness of the blankets was gentle against your skin as you woke up from one of the best nights of sleep you ever had. That, if only the terrible headache that held you hostage in your bed would disappear. Even the tiniest glimpse of light filtering through the curtains was too much to bear - it only made your headache worst. Yet, there wasn't the tiniest residue of energy in your body for you to get up and block out the sun - so you laid in bed, throwing your blanket over your head and waiting for the pain to go away.

Enjoying the quietness of the ship, you closed your eyes trying to remember what had happened the night before - memories of the party came to you in a blur. They flashed before your eyes in a confusing sequences, making it hard to distinguish what really happened from what might have been just a dream. You didn't even remember how you made it to bed - the last thing you remembered was laying against your captain's shoulder, probably too drunk to sit still in your own place.

Yet there was something more to it, a memory that you couldn't quite grasp - a memory that felt more like a feeling, a phantom sensation still washing all over your body. It wasn't the nausea, nor the terrible headache; it was different, it was better.

Grazing your fingers against your lips, memories from the night before became clearer - did you dream it like all those times before? Was it all on your head? Or did you really kiss Eustass Kidd? These questions pounded your head as a subtle anxiety settles into your heart - the room around you starts to spin again, but this time not because of the alcohol. The idea of confessing your feelings to Kidd, to your captain, sent you spiralling - it was only a crush, after all.

Right?

Wrong. It wasn't only a crush - it was shivers down your spine every time his strong hands laid on your shoulders, it was your heart running faster every time he'd fight against an enemy, it was you melting into a stupid puddle every time he'd call you brat or some other stupid nicknames that you really should have minded but never did.

Forcing yourself out of bed, you dragged your body to the kitchen. The insufferable headache you woke up to was now gone, and you definitely needed a good meal and some water. You almost forgot about the whole kiss thing when you heard familiar footsteps made their way to the kitchen. Your fight or flight response was activated immediately, quickly slamming the door of the fridge and ready to leave the room before he could catch you.

"Took your sweet time to get up, uh?"

Kid roared from behind you, making you jump, a small laugh leaving his mouth making him less intimidating. Yet, you could feel his body almost pressed against yours, his taller figure towering you and making you feel ridiculously small even without having to look at him. Nodding in response, you were quick to move away from his trap, taking a few steps back.

"Yes, I.." you stumbled on your words, scratching the back of your head, panic quickly settling into your chest as you try to come up with something.

"Drank too much. I know."

Kidd cut you off, an unusual reassuring smile forming on his lips as he took a bottle of water from the fridge, throwing it at you.

"Don't even know how I made it to bed."

"Anything else you don't remember?"

Kidd asked. What you heard, however, was more similar to the sound of a ticking bomb about to explode.

"Don't think so." You chuckled, praying you were right - that there was nothing else to remember from the night before, that you didn't stupidly spread on top of him and slurred god knows what to him. Kidd only nodded in response, looking somewhat disappointed - there were no jokes, no sarcastic remarks, no angsty comment. Just an uncomfortable silence and an expression that you couldn't quite decipher.

"Kidd?" you called, causing him to turn towards you once again. He only raised an eyebrow in response, waiting for you to continue

"Did I.. did we kiss last night?"

You finally blurted out, your words rolling off your tongue before you could think it all through. Kidd's features immediately softened, his usual cockiness coming back to surface.

"What if we did?", he barked back, staring up and down at you.

Crossing his arms across his chest, he laid against the doorframe of the kitchen as the most annoying smirk appeared on his face - this was fun, seeing you blushing like a teenager without being able to look at him.

"I don't know. Sorry, stupid question."

You tried to brush it off, faking a smile and waving him goodbye - you just wanted to run, wash off the horrible wave of embarrassment and just forget about the whole thing. Kidd, however, was not really thinking about letting you go. His hands were quick to grab your wrist, pulling you closer to him. In a fraction of seconds he had you trapped in his embrace, your body pressed against his muscular chest.

"Want to give it another try?" he whispered, one of his hands already cupping your cheek whilst the one lazily slid down to the small of your back.

"If it wasn't that memorable, I must make up for it."

[jungle-angel]

Two Numbskulls and a Kitchen (Bob Floyd x Reader)

Summary: It's clearly a bad idea for Bob and his dad to have free reign of your kitchen......or is it?

"Alright hon, you want a hot coffee or something?" Irene asked you.

"Nah, I've gotta keep drinking water," you told her. "If I drink any kind of coffee, baby girl won't sleep at all."

Irene laughed. "She's not even here yet and she's already causing havoc."

You enjoyed the ride home with your mother-in-law, your unborn daughter kicking up a storm in your belly and the two of you laughing at what kind of trouble Auggie and Patrick were causing at Jake's house. The music coming from the bluetooth speaker in the truck was suddenly interrupted by a call from Bob, a rather unusual occurrence at this hour.

"Hey Bob," you answered.

"Hey is momma driving?"

"Yeah I'm driving, why?" Irene asked.

"Um.......we um......we've got a bit of a problem."

You and your mother-in-law gave each other "the look."

"What the hell did you two do?" Irene asked.

"Momma....."

"Don't you 'momma' me buster," Irene told him sternly. "What did you two do in that kitchen?"

Bob didn't answer. The only sound was Joe in the background loudly telling him something indiscernible.

"We'll be home in ten," you told him.

"Gotcha sweetie, love you."

"Love you too."

You hung up and one look at your mother-in-law told you it was a bad idea to laugh. "I'm gonna kill those two when we get home," Irene mumbled.

You snorted and laughed.

When you pulled into the driveway, Irene helped you out of the truck, the both of you carrying the last minute Thanksgiving supplies into the house. You didn't smell anything burning which was a good sign, but the sight of Joe with his hand wrapped in a dish towel said otherwise.

"Oh what did you do?" Irene questioned. "What did you do?!"

"Baby I can explain," Joe answered, trying not to laugh.

"Joseph Lowell Floyd....."

"Ya'll can look at your son's phone and see the evidence," Joe chuckled.

Irene held out her hand and Bob immediately gave her his phone. She scrolled through the camera roll to find photo after photo of Bob and Joe screwing around in the kitchen. The one of Joe in a hockey mask wielding a butcher knife and Bob playing dead was worthy enough for next year's Halloween party, but the one of them in Reagan's surgical gear and taking out the turkey guts had her going wide-eyed.

"This still doesn't explain how you sliced your finger," she said.

"Keep going you'll find it," Bob told her.

Sure enough there it was, the quickly snapped sequence of photos that told the whole story.

"Un.....believable," Irene groaned.

You, Bob and Joe couldn't help but laugh. "You still love me baby?" Joe asked her.

"Joe, I love you to death but this is getting ridiculous," Irene answered.

"So does that mean I still get nookie tonight?" Joe asked.

"Yeah but your balls will be busted by the time I'm done with you," Irene chuckled.

You and Bob both let out loud disgusted groans. The last thing you wanted to imagine was your in-laws doing the dirty in the little basement apartment they shared.

Irene drove Joe to the emergency room, leaving you both home alone, curled up on the couch and watching one of the Charlie Brown specials. "Babes?" he said.

"Hmm?"

"Remind me never to let my dad get into the beer in the back of the fridge," Bob chuckled.

"That's what this was about?" you laughed.

"Two for the chefs, one for the dish," Bob answered.

You snuggled into Bob, your head resting on his chest and relaxing into his warmth as his hand came to rest on your bump. This certainly would be a memorable Thanksgiving, if anything else.

[ingravinoveritas]

nightingalecottage replied to your post "Then:…”

It’s the sequence of the events for me. GT made an inappropriate post about her kid’s bday as an excuse to brag about her sex life. The next day MS goes unleashed on xitter, with 4 posts revolving around DT, starting with liking that beautiful half naked aziracrow art and then the “i set david on fire fairly regularly” tweet. He doesn’t feel the need to brag, but he isn’t subtle. People can read this however they like, but…

The astonishing thing is that Michael's streak on Twitter (I'm sorry, I can't call it X or Xitter, it's too ridiculous) has continued today. He replied to an Aziraphale/Crowley fanart this evening, and he also responded to this:

And there were a lot of things happening this weekend (as we saw in this post from @invisibleicewands), so the fact that he again chose to focus on David seems very telling.

This all becomes even more intriguing when you realize that he was in London this weekend, so very possibly could have been in attendance at Birdie's birthday party, which also adds some interesting potential implications to Georgia's Insta post/Michael's "I set David on fire regularly." And if he is set to remain in London for the next month or so rehearsing to play Aneurin Bevan on the West End, then regularly seems like it could take on a whole other, more literal meaning.

What you said really sums it up, though: That unlike Georgia, Michael doesn't feel the need to brag, but he's definitely not subtle about things, either. So taking all of this together--the events of the past few days, knowing Michael is London, and the probability of him seeing David--it definitely does make it difficult to not see all of this as euphemisms/coded expressions for whatever is actually going on. I guess we'll just have to see if Michael keeps tweeting/replying to tweets about David. I'm betting he does...

[bugsbenefit]

to this day i'm stuck on the s1 scene where the party is in the woods looking for Will and we get a fake out finding-El moment that's the most bizarre thing they could have gone for

they're walking, Dustin is complaining, then leaf rustling starts and Mike keeps telling the others to shut up and asking if they heard that. then he whips around and almost shoves Dustin over (lmao)

and then we get the shot to show us what made the sound Mike and we heard which is... (drumroll please)

NOTHING !

great. the boys aren't impressed either

maybe Mike's craziness just set in earlier than we thought- but no wait there's the sound again

and it's Mike again who turns to it first, doing a full 180 and now almost knocking Lucas over this time (lmao again, poor guy), who even puts his hands up when he stumbles back

but we get another reaction shot and this time it is... EL!

just. this whole scene. it's never explained but has some weird implications. it's not like this was an easy mix up. the original noise didn't come from somewhere *near* El it was in the completely opposite direction

the leaves rustle once. it stops when we're looking in the general area. and then we hear leaves rustling for a second time it's now coming from behind them

not only would it obviously be ridiculous for El to run circles around them or use her powers to make some leaves rustle somewhere else since she's clearly not trying to hide from the party, she also wouldn't have time to change the direction she came at them from since they're whipping around so fast. so that's for sure not what's going on here

and it's also not like this is just establishing that Mike has incredibly poor directional hearing since he's the one to respond to both the rustlings. very surely turning in the first direction before then switching it around and turning in the other one to see El. neither are hesitant. and both turns are also shot in a way where we the viewer expects something to be shown. the fact that there's empty forest the first time is WEIRD

so to me there's two possible things that could be going on here:

1.) it's somehow Will in the UD causing this. Joyce waking up having a vision of Will still has the possible implication that it could really have been Will reaching out to her, and Mike is able to pick up on El's presence in the void in s2 without her touching him or speaking a word. so some overlap between the different "dimensions"? "worlds"? whatever seems to be possible for sure

or 2.) it somehow relates to the time theme ST has going on that we still haven't gotten insight into. be it some alternate timeline, timeloop, etc concept. but i find it hard to theorize about the actual execution of the time theme since there really isn't much to tell us how it could eventually play into the story besides having Henry's ongoing plotline with the grandfather clock and various references to time and clocks

the overall implication of that shot sequence is that there is or should have been something there, it's not at all shot like a normal character reveal fake out. it doesn't build El's arrival, even the boys seem confused when they're checking out the empty forest. but there's also no way an actual person was there since the boys would have seen them

i just wanna know what they're implying here so bad

[utilitycaster]

From all the TTRPG shows you've watched so far, do you have any favourite player character builds, or builds that you think were especially well suited to the campaign/setting that the character was in?

You'd have to narrow this down - there's a lot (I stopped keeping my massive spreadsheet of character races and classes in actual play updated bc it was getting ridiculous but it's at over 100) so I'm just going to call out a few players who consistently hit this mark in everything they do.

Surprising no one, Emily Axford. Truly one of the biggest reasons why I get annoyed at the "haha Emily will DESTROY this DM" is that Emily has an incredibly good eye towards party composition and collaboration with DMs while also pulling off some wild multiclasses. This serves her in NADDPod especially, since they're a small party and everyone needs to be versatile. I will say that while I love Callie's build and think it mechanically works very well and made sense for her background in Mothership, it feels like it needs more in-story explanation that we haven't quite gotten to, but I also trust that we will.

Surprising no one with taste, Travis Willingham. Even in cases where we know it was off-the-cuff (Grog) he did a lot of work establishing why Grog was the class he was and how he felt about it; and in cases where it was pre-planned, the amount of backstory and mechanics work he does before and during the story is admirable to the point of ridiculousness (updating Chet's backstory to accommodate what Matt said in a flashback sequence? bananas). His multiclass choices always fit both the base build and the story admirably, and always fit a niche within the party that is very much needed, and the choice to play someone like Cerrit in Calamity or Fjord in general would put him here on their strength alone.

Again surprising no one, Aabria Iyengar; DMs make the best players. Capable of some great optimization (Deanna, Laerryn, whatever the hell Antiope had going on) or just playing a character with a simple build but with a strong understanding of the setting (Myrtle the Bitch; Suvi). Really, Suvi alone puts her here in that Aabria maybe more than anyone (though she might be tied with Emily Axford) understands wizards and understands that your character is a part of the DM's worldbuilding and needs to reflect that, while also serving as your contribution to that world.

And finally, Lou Wilson. He often does fairly simple builds - Nydas and late-game Fabian are the only ones with significant multiclassing beyond barbarian/fighter level dips - but he always knows precisely what his character is here to do from the start and why, can adapt on a dime, and he has a fantastic eye for subclass choice.

Honorable mentions:

Zac Oyama tends not to go for incredibly complex mechanics, but he has a great understanding of building a character who fits into the world in a way that both reflects and expands upon it, and has a great sense of subtlety, restraint, negative space, and comedic timing. (I've been meaning to make a negative space/comedic timing post but honestly just watch Zac and Travis.)

Grouping Taliesin Jaffe and Siobhan Thompson together because they are both very strong mechanically and not afraid of a wild min-maxed triple multiclass on occasion, but more specifically because they've both made at least one character I really did not vibe with and also absolutely could not fault in any way other than "not my thing, personally." Related to that, both of them bring an "I'm a generous and skilled player and I don't really give a fuck what the audience thinks" vibe that I (the audience) respects the hell out of.

Jake Hurwitz is the rare player who 100% knows his wheelhouse and embraces it whole-heartedly, and he puts in the character and setting work to keep it interesting.

Justin McElroy is mechanically competent but nothing impressive, but he absolutely thinks about his characters and the setting and how they fit together in a deep and interesting way and which sets him apart in TAZ. Kind of with Jake in that he 100% writes what he knows; I think this kind of player is underrated and having played with some, they shouldn't be.

And on the rare chances Brennan Lee Mulligan gets to play, not only is he min-maxed to the hilt but he always is working with the DM in a truly admirable way, even as he builds a little guy who cannot roll below a 25 deception or who has somehow managed to get sneak attack twice per round or something wild like that.

[user-needs-new-hyperfixation]

So Sherlock and Liam have presumably been apart for months while Sherlock traveled, right? (It’s not like he was hopping flights all over Asia and Europe, even with trains as an option I assume travel would have been a comparatively long-ass process at the time.)

Post dinner party, imagine a sitcom-esque sequence where they’re desperately trying to have some reunion sex - or hell, even just do a little snogging - but every time they get within two feet of each other another character c*ckblocks them. 

Louis is orchestrating this by sending people on little tasks to wherever they are every time he catches them sneaking away. They’re always at the Exports building because Louis and especially Albert are practically holding William hostage, needing to be certain that’s he’s really home and okay.

And Sherlock and Liam can’t even come up with some ridiculous story to give them an excuse to be alone. This is an extended family where faking kidnappings and deaths is standard; everyone would see right through it.

Finally Liam snaps and announces to the whole Universal Exports household over breakfast, “I am going to 221B. Do not follow me, do not spy on me. I am going to have sex with my husband and I will come back when I damn well feel like it,” and just stomps out.

Bond fishes out several banknotes and hands them to an ever-so-slightly smirking Louis.

[dimensionalspades]

So on my Durge playthrough I ended up deciding to get Minthara and Halsin, which has led to the most funny sequence of events.

Firstly, I successfully got things to Minthara being temporarily hostile, knocked her out, woohoo.

I decided to loot her, which includes taking her underwear, which I did not know would leave her 100% naked (my first playthrough I skipped looting her for some reason??). So I tried putting her underwear back on her unconscious ass, didn't work, still naked. So I just ran away and did some stuff then long rested.

Which means that when I came back, I forgot she'd been knocked out, and now a still very naked Minthara is absolutely ready and willing to throw mega hands, she nearly kills Astarion with fists and nudist rage alone. Knocked her out again and sprinted out.

Cut to Act 2 where she is in front of like a full crowd, still very naked. Cutsene doesn't even acknowledge this, thank god. Go through the whole thing to get her freed, come to find out her stuff is in her inventory but nothing tells her to put her clothes back on so she's just been running around with her underwear in her hands but not on her body. Finally get her to camp and because of how the game handles having both Halsin and Minthara, she is now, again, still naked, hiding behind Halsin so he just looks like her massive druid bodyguard and the camp companions thing won't load her so I can't get clothing on her until I go and kick Halsin out of the party to get her in and FINALLY put clothing on her.

I just want y'all to see this ridiculous ass screenshot because loading into camp and seeing this was like the culmination of all the naked antics LARIAN AND MINTHARA I'M SORRY

cw: full frontal drow nudity

[knickynoo]

Back to the Future: The Animated Series, s02ep09 “Hill Valley Brown Out"

Previous episodes linked here.

In this episode: Clara and Doc's dynamic continues to upset me, the townsfolk can't decide if they love Doc or want to banish him from Hill Valley, and a reference to a '90s show makes me do ten minutes of research.

The opening sequence with Doc is super quick and not particularly interesting, so I'm going to skip it and get right to the cartoon.

The citizens of Hill Valley are preparing for the annual Founders' Day celebration, which is a thing that I know about from watching Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons, lol. Both of those shows had Founders' Day episodes as well. We see a statue dedicated to the founder of Hill Valley with a plaque that reads, "The Old Pioneer and His Mule Standing on a Hill."

We then go to the Brown home, where the family is very busy preparing for the festival. Jules and Verne are hard at work making a papier-mâché mule, Clara is putting together a handmade costume, and Doc has been put in charge of the food booth. Unfortunately, Doc is being his typical bumbling cartoon self, and he ends up making a mess of things in the house. Clara, as usual, is angry and annoyed at him and sends him out of the house with these parting words:

If you read the post for the previous episode, you'll recall Clara and Doc flipping out at each other and having a major fight, and they've been unkind to each other in other episodes as well. It's particularly prevalent with Clara, who seems to have this whole "I married an idiot" thing going on??

I do not like it. Always amazed at how little these characters resemble the ones from the movies sometimes. Clara is often framed as the nagging, long-suffering wife, Doc is so ridiculously goofy and incompetent at times that it's a little much even for a cartoon, and Marty is just Some Generic 90's Cartoon Guy that they slapped the name Marty McFly on and called it a day.

This series could have been good. It could have been so good. Alas.

Anyway, Doc goes off to the garage, where he soon gets a phone call. It's the sheriff, calling to remind Doc not to partake in any "monkey business" prior to the Founders' Day celebration. Doc assures the man that all will go smoothly.

As soon as he hangs up the phone, Doc gets a visit from Biff who asks to borrow some chairs for a party he's throwing. While he's there, Doc sees it as the perfect opportunity to test out his invention for the town celebration: a machine that cooks and serves 1,000 hot dogs per hour.

As expected, the machine malfunctions and ends up covering Biff in the food (as well as slapping him). Doc makes up for it by loaning Biff a bunch of his specialized folding chairs. After Biff leaves, Doc attempts to clean the machine using "super sudsy soap" he's invented. Does it work as it's supposed to? Of course not. This guy invented several fully functional time machines, but he's yet to invent anything in the cartoon that actually functions properly.

The soap is SO SUDSY that it flows out of the garage and into the house, where Clara is busy fixing her costume and muttering angrily to herself about her husband. As she does so, she mentions Doc's full name, and it's at that point that I discovered Lathrop isn't pronounced "lah-throp" like I'd thought all these years; it's pronounced "lay-throp." I don't know why this bothers me, but it does. It doesn't look like it should be pronounced like that.

Clara, absolutely fed up with Doc's shenanigans, gets into the DeLorean and tells him that she's taking the boys into town for the tractor pull contest. Jules and Verne are utterly delighted and seemingly oblivious to the fact that their family is one step away from crumbling.

As she pulls out of the driveway, Clara says, "And find a new lab, or you'll have to find a new family!"

HELLO??? I know married couples fight but. What is happening with these two?? This is ridiculous behavior.

Doc takes his invention over to the McFly house, hoping to use their garage as his workspace. We've never seen the McFly home in the cartoon before!

The outlets in the garage don't have enough voltage for Doc's power tools, but he decides it's a good idea to tap directly into the nearby transformer to get the power he needs. He proceeds to cause the entire town's electricity to go out.

The next day, Clara is harassed and then chased by an angry mob of protestors outside the grocery store, and Verne is tormented on the playground by kids who are singing a taunting song about Doc.

Later on, as Doc sits in the yard with Einstein and wonders if he'll be allowed back inside the house tonight (Clara had kicked him out), his wife and the boys appear and shut down that possibility real quick.

Yes, she's making him eat dog food. Also, why does he have a dog bowl, and why does it say "Doc" rather than "Emmett"? WHO PUNCHED MY BOY JULES IN THE EYE??

Doc believes he has a solution to restore electricity to the city, and he heads off to gather supplies. While walking in town, he's picked up by the sheriff, who drives him to the city limit, tosses him out of the car, and tells him not to show his face in Hill Valley again.

Things are not looking good for our pal Doc.

He quickly finds a loophole, though! Doc sneaks over to the McFly house, explains to Marty that the sheriff said not to show his face, and then shows off his new disguise.

As confident as Doc is, the disguise doesn't work all that well. A worker at the hardware store recognizes him instantly, and all I got to say is...how? That does not look remotely like Doc. This plan should have worked. Back at the garage, Marty offers to go pick up whatever Doc needs, but Doc says Marty going to the hardware store would look suspicious.

He eventually finds a way to get his supplies and is able to build a giant generator that runs off of water, wind, sunlight, and moonlight.

It works, the town gets power back, and the sheriff welcomes Doc back to the town. Back at the Brown home, Clara is relieved to have the power back, as she'd been busy using an exercise bike to power the TV.

Side note: She says, "What I go through so we won't miss Northern Exposure." This led me to then look up what that was, and I discovered it was a popular show in the 1990s. The imdb page lists this as the synopsis: "A city doctor is forced to work in the remote Alaskan town of Cicely, where he encounters peculiar locals, including a former NASA astronaut, as he adjusts to small-town life."

And right away, my brain went, "That just sounds like Doc Hollywood but in Alaska."

So, I fell down some additional rabbit holes and found several articles and message boards of people also discussing this connection. Doc Hollywood premiered a little over a year after Northern Exposure did, but some people mentioned that the show might have been inspired by the 1979 book called "What? Dead Again?" Doc Hollywood is based off of.

So, basically, it might have happened like this...

Ok, I need to get my train of thought back onto the tracks because that distracted me for several minutes.

Clara welcomes Doc back with a hug, and the townspeople declare Doc a hero.

The happiness doesn't last too long, though. The power is back, but Doc later discovers that there's no way to turn anything off. Every light and appliance in the entire town has become permanently on. A mob forms to run Doc out of town. Again. Before they do that, they decide to try to shut the generator down. Biff pours soda on it, which shorts the device out.

We get a brief shot of the local movie theater, which is playing Back to the Future. (this can be seen in a past episode as well)

Everything around town starts exploding. Lampposts, traffic lights, etc. It's a disaster. The very people who were ten seconds away from driving the Brown family out of town then beg Doc to help. He springs into action, shuts down the machine, and the angry mob goes back to cheering for him.

What a wild ride this episode is.

We cut to the Founders' Day celebration, where Jules, Verne, and Marty are grumpy since the destruction of the generator means the town has fallen back into not having electricity. The boys complain that all the fun parts of the fair need power (bumper cars, rock concert, etc). An old man then approaches and tells them that the original Founders' Day didn't have electricity either, and they still had fun. Marty concludes that they can still enjoy the day by participating in other activities like the citizens did back in the day.

Btw, the old guy looks just like the guy from the statue shown in the beginning.

After his inspirational speech, the old man asks Clara to take him back home in that "fancy carriage," which confirms that Clara had gone back in time to get him so that he could offer the town some encouragement. This brings us to the end of the cartoon.

We return to Real Doc, who, long story short, ends up accidentally opening the water reservoir gates on the Hoover Dam. Don't worry, he fixes it right away. All is well.

This feels like the longest post I've done for this show so far. It took forever to watch the episode and type it up. Though that may be due in part to me getting sidetracked by the Doc Hollywood thing.

Definitely not one of my favorite episodes. I'm so tired of Clara being mean to Doc and acting like she doesn't love him. I hope the next episode is better. I'm not even going to look up the summary because I want to just go into it without any background.

If you managed to read this whole thing, this is for you.

[bengiyo]

My School President Ep 3 Stray Thoughts

This show is giving me everything I wanted folks to get out of Lovesick the series. Last week we switched to Tinn's perspective and learned that he's just a nerd suffering from benign neglect that fell in love with a pretty boy with a nice voice that was kind to him once. We also learned that Tinn has unsuccessfully attempted to confess his feelings repeatedly for years. I love Tinn.

Now, after spending a whole episode anonymously helping the music club procure replacement instruments, he's committed himself officially to seeing Gun succeed in this competition in the hopes that maybe they'll date.

Gemini and Mark are fun together. Tinn is such a simp and it's endearing.

"When did he get here?" - "A while ago."

I like the scale of the villain of the current principal. She wants to cancel troublesome clubs, and I think demanding that slacker students perform academically isn't necessarily an unreasonable request of students who want permission to represent the school in a public competition.

We should be seriously concerned that the school building has a termite intrusion.

Holy hell they're so dense.

These marble tables are giving me Make It Right flashbacks.

Tinn's fantasies being consistently ruined by reality is actually such an important subversive creative choice. As fun and adorable as this all is, I'm glad young viewers are being subtly reminded that your fantasies will not always align with reality. Tiw reminding Tinn to focus on helping his crush is *chef's kiss*.

I love Tiw with my entire being. We haven't had a wingman this committed in a long time. He might be a winner for the NAMGOONG BEST BOY AWARD for 2022. I'm glad the rest of the music club affirmed that Tinn is a good tutor, but Gun has specific challenges with math.

I also like the fantasy sequences not only because they reveal how ridiculous and adorable Tinn is, it allows Gemini and Fourth to have more fun interactions before they get together.

Okay, but I actually think it's awesome that Tinn's parents still are attracted to each other and can express that in front of Tinn. That Tinn only laughs about it means this is normal for him.

This apartment does seem very nice.

Not sure why they don't just share the bed.

And now we're ballroom dancing. Tinn's going to implode.

Did Tiw suggest he watch Bad Buddy to flirt, and then diss Ohm and Nanon to highlight Mark (his actor) while the Bad Buddy intro theme played? Yes he did, and I am losing it.

Scrubb is actually good, so I totally get the fantasy about "Close."

They always seem to have fun with these Canon ads.

Tinn's dad is the hero we needed when we needed him.

I'm all for baby gays being delusional about their crushes, but not when it comes to knife safety.

I do like the joke about how silly "baby is a messy eater" is as a trope.

They all passed! I wonder if we'll get a side couple out of Tiw?

Fourth is really charming. Gun's appeal is plain in this pool scene.

Hey, Tinn's first attempt at flirtation! He didn't cover it with a "just kidding" either.

One of the benefits of the last episode was showing that Gun isn't totally oblivious if someone is making active choices. So, when Gun suggests that Tinn join him on the bed, I can't help but wonder if that's a bit of curiosity from the poolside hint of a confession and the nervousness about dancing.

I love this dancing fantasy. Really a lovely sequence.

Well well well, looks like Gun is starting to fall, too.

Ahh, it's time for third party complications next week.

[mikuni14]

Laws of Attraction Ep 5

I had a short city break (I ate a lot of yummy food and saw 3 cats, one was very talkative, so of course it was great). That's why after returning I had to catch up quickly and watch LoA, the BMF final ep and the first ep of Only Friends right away.

LoA did not disappoint again and provided the best entertainment. I liked everything:

how we get glimpses of Charn as Tinn's future boyfriend, the way he's sulky and whiny, high maintenance, unpredictable (the bed scene when Charn, after weeks of heavy flirting and openly proposing sex, when it might finally happen, he just falls asleep lol)

again, the show takes all the possible corny themes and tropes of romance/soap opera/action series and makes great use of them in a way that I always like and doesn't give a second hand embarassment, BECAUSE:

unforced, truly romantic scenes that brings blushes and pure joy

cheap special effects 👌, exaggerated action scenes and fighting scenes 👌, Charn schemining against Vit and then the sequence of events when we see him doing it 👌, the death of the villain crushed by the bookshelf 👌👌 - WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE HERE

"you can do anything to me", a sentence that always works for me because it's both hot and a lovely proof of trust, obviously appears in this excellent series, it's surprisingly said by Tinn, which is actually great

in general, Tinn accepting everything that happens between him and Charn, accepting Charn and his flirting, just taking it in without hesitation, without hiding from Charn and his own needs, him being so confident and flirting back, being so wonderfully open to Charn - I just can't, both of them are awesome 🤩

I love how the drama intertwines serious scenes and conversations with complete fuckery 😄 We have Tinn and Charn having one of their famous arguments about morality, justice, existence in society, or Charn in one of his crazy tirades about power and money being called out by Rose, there are touching scenes of Tinn and Grandma remembering Tonkhao... and then there are scenes of Tinn and Charn just being themselves and ridiculous and the most fake fire ever. This series is gold

talking about Tonkhao, I really like that the series constantly reminds us of her and that she is treated with respect as a victim. Very often the victim in crime dramas is just "a tool" for the plot, is treated instrumentally, not like a once-living person, which never fails to annoy me. Fortunately, Tonkhao is still remembered in LoA, and the scene with Tinn remembering her and guarding her memory was very touching

I really like Charn's relationship with Rose, they act like real siblings, with all the silly and petty fights, but Rose also has no problem reprimanding Charn, popping his little bubbles of self-satisfaction and also worrying about him, especially in the scenes where Charn is triggered by his traumatic memories

I know Charn is a dick, but as someone who is interested in politics, I have to say that he's sort of right about not wanting to bring the senator to justice. I mean, how many politicians do you know who actually went to jail for the criminal things they did?

Tanthai must be going crazy in his head and his heart. Until now he was an abused kid who relieved his traumas by drinking, partying and being an annoying brat, now he is starting to be dragged down by a string of innocent people being killed and it's sort of about him and it's obvious how badly it affects him. Thee, who is desperately trying to make everything as it was before, must finally gets his shit together, because Tanthai simply won't last long like this

I'm offended because there seems to be a lot of stuff going on off-screen, like an almost-kiss in Tinn's room and a whole-ass date! I want to see it! The public has a right to know! 😤

LoA is so good. And am I seeing right 👀?Is the next episode a traditional "going to the beach/tree planting" episode? Woohoo! 🥳

[vampirevatican]

She Wolf

"SOS! she's in disguise, and she wants to move. restrictions aren't ever fun, are they? well, in some cases they can be exhilarating!"

pairing - zen/hyun ryu x black! reader/mc

genre/tags - MDNI, long-standing friendships, long-term relationship, after-story tings, guard dog and pretty privilege, slightly chubby reader(?), smut-fluff, rope bondage/shibari, foreplay, aftercare

summary - it was “ladies night” and for once you wanted to let your hair down. you work so hard, and the world asks too much of you on the daily anyways. what's wrong with getting a bit wild and loose?

notes - 2.3k words, no i can not stop thinking of a dance sequence with this man and him falling head over heels with me because of it,(🦗🦗🦗). anyway it is two songs in one, she wants to move and she wolf because both music videos have wolf imagery that connects to a woman 💕

It wasn't like hosting the parties was a lot. You had so much help from the RFA with gathering guests, Saeyoung would pitch in on changing the emailing code so things could go smoother and Jaehee would always pitch in to organize stuff whenever she had spare time. You couldn't complain about your role, but having Zen as your guard dog could get very draining at times. 'Darling, you know how I'm a bit possessive. I can't help it when you look so beautiful, I don't want other guys getting any ideas.' Sometimes it was endearing but at other points, it got on your nerves. At one point Jumin pointed out that he could relate to Zen and compared you to Elizabeth! Not like being compared to a pampered cat wasn't too far off but the similarities were enough to make you push for a change in pace. That's why tonight, you were going out.

You told Zen that it was Ladies' Night, you were heading out to a small café for a book club, and told him not to wait up. That was enough to make him curious, but he didn't jump to ask you a hundred questions. After all he knows that you are capable and you wouldn't lie to him, right?

Going into the chatrooms he vented some of his frustrations and; as usual, the mischievous Saeyoung was quick to offer to come over and monitor what she was doing. He had turned it down at first, reasoning that it was weird and just wrong to not trust his girlfriend of four years. However, as it started to get later at night he got worried, and your 'don't wait up' held a new meaning with each passing hour. He had gone back into the rooms to just ask Saeyoung instead of coming over and dealing with his ridiculous doorbell. In the midst of waiting for a response, he bickered with Jumin if it was an invasion of privacy or just looking out for her safety.

Upon hearing that you seemed to be at a club he had abandoned the chatroom in an instant. He sped off to your location on his motorcycle, the whole time his mind raced with what you'd be up to. You wouldn't leave him, you never expressed any displeasure in your relationship, but what on earth were you doing out at almost two in the morning clubbing?! He should've noticed your shoes, the purse you had, the way your hair was done, how you seemed to try and cover up exactly what you were wearing out. On top of that, if you did plan to find another guy how was he going to win you back? Pulling up to the club he took notice of how it wasn't too big or too small, the line outside seemed short and there was a bouncer so it seemed like you were safe in choices so far. Luckily it was easy enough for him to get in, with his stardom status and all, and that's when he saw you.

You were enjoying yourself. A couple of drinks, but not enough to get you drunk. Dancing on the dancefloor and steering away from any guys that tried to shoot their shot. You'd show them pictures of you and Zen together, or open the chatroom momentarily. You didn't think that he'd come looking for you, or that you stressed him so much with just one night out. "Zenny!" you greeted him and promptly leaned on him in a hug. He looked like he was trying to be upset but failing. "Aw, Zen, come on have some fun with me for a little bit." He didn't answer, just picked you up and started to carry you out as you protested and just wanted to have some fun. "Oh we'll have fun, just wait til we get back home." That kept you quiet. Holding onto him, while you rode on the back of his motorcycle.

Arriving back home, he still carried you and only put you down once you were in the living room. "What. on earth. were you thinking?" Here it comes, a huge tirade about how you worried him sick, if you were seeing another man if he didn't please you enough, what he did wrong. In the midst of his spiraling, you held his face and called his name in the sweetest voice, "Hyun," He stopped as his red eyes met your brown ones. "I would never cheat on you or leave you. You've always made me happy and I love you so much." You reassured him and his once serious to shocked expression, now, became soft. "Then... why did you lie to me, why did you leave without telling me where you were going, you know how-" He had sat down in front of you on the coffee table now. "Yes, I know and that's why I didn't tell you. You always worry about men messing with me, despite me being capable on my own. I know you and Jumin don't... agree on everything, but he's kind of right with how you've been treating me." If this came from anyone else he'd be stubborn and continue to deny it, but after tonight, he could only stare into your eyes. Giving him a kiss on the forehead you pulled him into a hug, both of you now lying on the couch. His head rested on your chest as you patted his head. "Zenny, you know I love you dearly. It's just that, I've been feeling kind of stuck recently. I would've gone to the club with you but, I'd have to stay by your side and if I was on the dance floor you'd be trying to cover every side of me. In fact, I wouldn't even be able to wear what I really wanted," You gesture to your clothes with one hand and he sits up. "without you trying to cover me up more." You sit up as well and kiss him on the lips, "I know you want to protect me, but I need to be free." You say, finishing your own little speech and he just holds you close in his arms. "Darling, I'm so sorry. I can be very clingy and too possessive at times, but for you, I'll try to stop that." You smirk, looking up at him. "Or you could place those feelings somewhere else?"

He was confused at first til you kissed him again, but this time sliding your tongue into his mouth and pulling him back down. When your legs instantly wrapped around his waist, he knew exactly what you were up to. Wrapping his arms around your back he lifts you up and carries you to the bedroom. When you break the kiss he seems to pout but it's replaced with heavier breathing as he feels your lips on his neck. He sits down with you on the bed, his hands on your waist as he tries to keep cool but struggles with restraint and pure desire.

"Darling, this is very unfair, it's torture." He took a breath against the shell of your ear, "You can’t just be rolling your hips like that when I’m trying to keep it together."

You laughed a little as you kissed and licked at his neck, whispering in his ear. "You don't have to keep it together," You tell him and caress his chest, "I want to see all sides of you, Zenny. The same way you see all sides of me." Locking eyes again you feel how hard he is, and notice how his body shudders as you grind against him. You've been here with him before but it was never intense. As much as he would speak of 'the beast', and how corny you thought it was, you had yet to see him fully unleashed.

Holding you close, he scoots the both of you a bit more from the edge of the bed to the headboard. His body tensed at the feeling of your relentless grinding, combined with the onslaught of your love bites and kisses to his neck. Zen lets out a slight growl, gripping your ass and rubbing your sides. His hands go under your short red dress and you stop. Lifting your arms to help him with taking off your clothes then he does the same when you take off his shirt. Crawling off of his lap as he takes off his pants, you reach for the drawer on the headboard. "Zenny," you coo to him, waving around a soft cotton rope. Setting it to your side as you sat on your calves in the bed, reaching out to him. He stood in front of you, placing a hand on your cheek as you looked up at him.

“Sweetheart…” That’s all he can say, his voice full of desperation and need, despite still trying to not 'release the beast'. "Before you say anything, this is what I meant by placing those restrictions... somewhere else." You have a devilish grin as you start to slowly unravel the rope. He sighs, how could he say no to that face. Pulling you up with one hand, taking your spot on the side of the bed, he said "Show me where you want me to tie you, baby" and began to tie the intricate knots.

You watched him the whole time. The rope goes over your chest, waist, and thighs. He took the time to make sure they were tight, but not too tight. Leaving kisses and bite marks along the way. It took a moment but when he finished he double-checked with you. "Do they feel right? Good?" He asked you, his eyes meeting yours and smiling seeing you nod and look over the ropes yourself. It felt constricting but comfortable, almost like a tight hug.

As you turned around he admired your body, the way the rope caressed your body, how in certain parts you seemed to spill over the ropes. He pulled you close to him, fingers slipping under the ropes and gripping you as he did. "This is only for me..." He muttered into your skin with kisses to your tummy, hands roaming over your body. "All yours," you echo his sentiment, holding the sides of his face as you crawl back into his lap. You would've picked back up where you left off, but the look in those red eyes made you freeze. Switch positions, you're laid out on the bed with him hovering over you. Noticing he's still hard your hand slides down but he grabs your wrists and raises them above your head. "Ah, ah, ah darling." He kisses your neck and whispers in your ear, reaching down and running two fingers up and down your slit. Earning a whine and hips slightly raising for more pressure. He always sought to have you absolutely soaked and pleading for more, you didn't expect any different, though this time his voice held a dominance that subdued you almost instantly.

"Zen, please... I..." You could barely speak with how he worked your clit between two fingers, and then slid those fingers in one by one. "Mh, I know," He huskily whispers, "You're already so wet, babe." Whining and raising your hips more from the stroke of his fingers he chuckled and continued his onslaught to your neck, "Good girl, but you want more. Don't you?" He asked quickly sliding his fingers out. You whined and nodded vigorously. He kisses your forehead and has you sit up with him before he changes positions again. "Ride me however you want babe." He offered, smiling as you climbed on top of him and you placed his hands on the rope by your hips. He grips it, "I want your control, but only like this Zenny." You lean forward, a hand disappearing between each other, and kiss him again as you position him at your entrance and press back. As he slides into you he breaks the kiss, letting out a low and husky moan. “Oh, god…” His eyes are staring into yours for a second before they roll back in his head as if he’s going to faint.

Taking a moment of slowly rocking back and forth, your head nestled into the crook of his neck and shoulder. He kept his hands gripped onto the rope, moving you back and forth. "More," you groaned into his ear between kisses and moans. Zen was quick to oblige. Your ass slapped his upper thighs and as he hit a deeper spot you sat up. He had stopped, but you kept rocking back and forth. Whining and placing your hands over his as you lifted yourself off and back onto him, struggling to get the same pace. He props up his legs and thrusts into you, much to your pleasure as the moaning and whines grow louder. Not being able to sit up anymore, your body flops against him as he continues to move you with the rope. "Such a good girl..." He says between grunts and kisses to your face. "Taking all of it, rough and soft... Just the way you like it huh?" He was teasing you but he wasn't wrong and you were engulfed in pleasure.

A few breaks and positions later, finishing with you lying on your chest, he pulls out and quickly starts to untie the knots. Placing kisses on them. "Was that good, darling? The rope didn't hurt right?" He asked. Looking up at him with a blissed out expression he just smiled down at you and started to kiss your face all over again. You simply giggled in response and kissed him back whenever his kisses reached your lips. Scooping you up in his arms, he carries you to the bathroom to clean you up. "I promise, the only restriction you'll have is when we're in the bedroom." He winks at you and you lean up to kiss his cheek, "Thank you, Zenny. I love you." You say, weakly wrapping your arms around him and he returns the affection. "I love you too, darling."

[greyias]

Farewell Act 2

After a boss fight that went far smoother and quicker than it should have, it is time to bid a farewell to these lands of darkness, and move on to the final portion of the game. I am only sad because I'm approaching the end and my precious Tadfools' adventure will be coming to a close.

(Shhh. Shhh. Everything Rosymorn Monastery totally counts for this list. Let's call it Act 1.5, because the game kept insisting that I was somehow irrevocably altering things by heading there. So it counts.)

In the spirit of tradition, before we finally reach the big city, let us reflect on the good times in ze middle:

Gale breaking my heart this entire act ♥

Swindling a researcher into taking an owlbear egg instead of a Githyanki egg (that is currently being nursemaided back at camp). Feeling guilty about the consequences of said action and trying to distract her with song while Astarion steals it back. This fails miserably.

Astarion and Ari teaming up to steal from the rudest eagles in Faerun

Ari nearly blowing up Githyanki mountain by impulsively grabbing a mace. For a puzzle she had already solved and had everything needed to do properly

Ari and Astarion splitting the party in the midst of madly fleeing for their lives from angry githyanki in order to grafitti Vlaakith's portrait as revenge for making Lae'zel cry

Alternatively, what happens if you fail a dexterity check on vandalizing Vlaakith's portrait

Gale's awkward attempts at communicating how hot he found it when Ari kicked shadow ass

Honestly? Getting jumped by the five million shadow creatures who nearly one-shotted poor Ari in a single round, because it meant the rest of the party had to get extremely creative in order to save her (including the squishiest Gale misty stepping right into heart of danger as he was the one who could get to her fastest throw a potion on her)

Accidentally breaking Wyll's heart because Ari really wanted to dance

Just poor Wyll in general getting shot down constantly. Poor guy, you'll find love at some point

Me wasting an entire Sunday because I got so offended the game locked me out of a fashionable and useful armor because I looted a chest 48 hours before a patch that fixed it, I decided to temporarily install mods to get it back. Resulting in me accidentally deleting the data folder of the game and having to reinstall the whole game

Everything about their adventure in the House of Healing

Also the entire Waning Moon Experience, including Toilet Skeleton

The most talkative door in the land

Ari shoving her hand into a writhing mass of tentacles, dislocating her shoulder in the process

The most ridiculous series of events leading up to the Gale romance scene. Ari still has a dislocated shoulder this entire time

Ari's lute playing is better than ogre sex. Apparently.

Getting banned from the Emerald Enclave by the two druid jerks because Ari dared to innocently pick up a book owned by literally no one

Gauntlet of Shar Anvil Chorus

The Spider Incident

A patch 3 bug making it so that Ari and Astarion have all of their important conversations while never making eye contact, as if they're crossing their arms and shouting supportive statements over their shoulders. A++ adds to the Frienemy Dynamic they have going on

Accidentally squishing Astarion with an elevator like Wile E Coyote. It really was an accident I swear.

The Shadowfell sequence was so epic and well done. Nothing funny about it, just very well executed all around.

Gortash's creepy collection of brains

Ari being so persuasive, she talked a devil into just going back to the hells rather than deal with her

Ari being so persuasive she made Ketheric Thorm feel bad enough about his actions that he just yeeted himself into a pit of acid

Captain Planet-style summoning The Absolute to get ready for her Bachelorette Party

Aylin and Isobel, my god, they're precious and I love them with my whole heart

Alfira asking Ari to do a duet to cheer up the kids, and just a perfect way to end this darkest of acts

Goodbye Act 2, your mood whiplash threw me for a loop. Somehow despite that, you provided almost as many crazy shenanigans as Act 1. I forgot to document half of them, and probably forgot to list even more. Despite all your gloomdark, you brought much laughter and goodtimes. And now... the Tadfools must head to their final destination.

[kygerbearr]

What's the worst game you've ever played?

it is hard to really gauge what the worst game I've ever played was, but there are definitely some games I consider to genuinely be bad. none of them are really all that interesting takes so don't expect much

persona 5 - I really, really dislike this game and genuinely think its game design is bad. visually it's amazing, but they lock game changing mechanics like party switching behind social links that I just had no interest in doing, and no one should be punished that hard for not doing optional content. horrible game design. also the story bored me to tears. the villain is so half-assed and character assassinated in the later half of the game that I felt insulted that they took so much time from me. the only redeeming quality of that game is its aesthetics, soundtrack and some of the characters, otherwise it's mediocre garbage and there are so many better RPGs to play. also persona 3 clears it

genshin impact - I don't hate it because it's anime or because it's gacha and I played it from launch all the way until the second half of inazuma when they released itto, but the way they handle content in that game is horrible. the units they released had horrendous kits overshadowed by whoever was running the meta. the hype for new units was completely gone, and building your team was fucking miserable because you need to gather bugs for 3 hours which also take 48+ real life hours to respawn. also everyone in that game is fucking white and its so annoying and I fucking hate it

the peak of my enjoyment out of genshin impact was liyue as a whole since it was actually a beautiful area with some slight amount of authenticity to traditional chinese culture, language, and topography. but the story of the game is so unbelievably fucking boring, the gameplay is not interesting, the new characters end up sucking and it's just a ridiculously unfun timesink. fuck genshin impact

maplestory - i have nothing to say about it. just trust me

yakuza 3 - holy shit I have never been more unsatisfied with the gameplay and story of a yakuza game. this actually made me want to drop the series entirely because I didn't find it fun or interesting whatsoever, the game is incredibly unbalanced, combat is so clunky and gross, the only saving grace is that okinawa is cool to look at. i didn't do any of the side stories because I just did not enjoy the gameplay, I finished this game and felt exhausted when I was done with it. the yakuza series is deeply deeply worth it, but please play this on the lowest difficulty and just bumrush the story.

tloz: wind waker - one of my hotter takes is that wind waker really isn't that good, admittedly I did play the gamecube version but what the wii u version changed doesn't completely turn it into a good game. my biggest issue with this game is that the overworld is genuinely empty and exploration feels pointless since the only side content you can do has unsatisfying rewards that don't make the game much better. the hint system they use for that game is fucking stupid, dungeon design takes a nosedive after the first 2 dungeons, items you get in dungeons have next to no use outside of those dungeons, and the final sequence being a boss gauntlet is one of the laziest cop-outs for the zelda series. I desperately wanted to like the game, so I played it 1 and a half times and that was enough to tell me that it wasn't that good.

ty the tasmanian tiger - i really wanted to love this game! but the level design got lazy and became a slog trying to collect everything, the boss design was very much not interesting and it just really couldn't hold my attention. I've gone back to this game 3 different times trying to see if I'd change my opinion but I play through half of the game and just end up realizing I don't like it and don't want to play it. it's just kind of sad

paper mario 64 - I won't call it one of the worst games I've played, but it's on this list because I beat the game and realized I didn't have any fun. the combat is really basic and boring, some of the areas are just kind of boring, it just felt really boring. the final battle? boring. there is nothing interesting about this game and I had more fun playing the randomizer than the actual game

tsukihime - this is not a game. this is a visual novel, but it's on the list because I genuinely fucking hate this game. it has the worst most annoying protagonist inner monologue ever, I liked the characters in it because of Melty Blood and ended up hating most of them by the time I finished tsukihime. I WILL be replaying it once the official english version of the remake drops in which case I will type a much longer winded review of it but I don't think anyone who likes tsukihime read it, or if they did and still like it, are not a good person. "just because they like the media doesn't mean they approve of it" cool don't care shiki tohno is a dogshit protagonist and wants to bang his sister bye

thats just scratching the surface and its just off the top of my head, other honorable mentions include final fantasy 15, final fantasy 10, glover, dragon ball z legacy of goku, super metroid (will not elaborate)

[silent-partner-412]

i have almost nothing but glowing praise for the end sequence of xenoblade 2. it is basically phenomenal across the board, i adore all the cutscenes and character moments and it’s far and away the xenoblade ending that feels most satisfying as a conclusion (honestly satisfying is too soft a word for it, it’s probably one of the best ending sections of any game i’ve ever played).

HOWEVER… the final boss of this game from a gameplay standpoint is terrible. utter garbage. the fact that he can spend a large majority of the fight sitting back where you can’t hit him is ridiculous. the fact that he can use moves that can wipe your entire party WHILE in a state where you can’t do anything to fight back is ridiculous. the fight ends up being practically rng, if he just happens to decide to sit back and use his fuck you moves, tough luck. it’s an absolute waste of the incredible combat of this game, and even more disappointing cuz its fucking MALOS man!! it’s by far the final boss character i’m most invested in out of any of these games (not that zanza and z are much competition but still), and they waste him with shitty boss design like this. it’s so so unfortunate, and it’s a blemish on what is otherwise a whole other level of a gaming experience with this end game.

[denimbex1986]

The wonderfully zany Spice Girls scene from Doctor Who's 60th anniversary is more than just a hilarious diversion - it redeems a mistake from Russell T Davies' original stint as showrunner. With David Tennant's bi-generation, the debut of Ncuti Gatwa, and a mystery hand picking up the Master's gold tooth, "The Giggle" is not short on talking points. Perhaps even more memorable than those moments, however, is Neil Patrick Harris' Toymaker dancing through UNIT headquarters and miming along to the Spice Girls' "Spice Up Your Life." Despite bearing zero relation to the plot, this eccentric sequence is the moment the two disparate worlds of Doctor Who and 1990s pop become one.

Across Doctor Who's three 60th anniversary specials, as well as footage from 2023's Christmas episode, it has become plainly clear that Russell T Davies is working with a far broader creative license than he was in 2005. Adapting an obscure comic story for "The Star Beast," the wacky Not-things, the not-so-subtle right-wing critique woven throughout "The Giggle," the inappropriately catchy Goblin Song - all examples of how RTD is now free to take Doctor Who down even more imaginative routes. The Toymaker dancing to the Spice Girls serves as further proof, but is very similar to a trick the showrunner tried and failed to pull back in 2007.

The Toymaker's Spice Girls Scene Is Similar To A Master Moment From Doctor Who Season 3

Watching the Toymaker prance around UNIT's control room doing his best Geri Halliwell impression brings back memories of the Master from Doctor Who season 3's "The Sound of Drums." As the climax beckoned, John Simm's villain had already bested the Doctor and summoned the Toclafane, putting domination of Earth firmly within his grasp. To celebrate, the Master launched "Voodoo Child" on his iPod - probably, this was the late 2000s - and floated around the bridge of his airship with his wife joining in.

Not drawing a parallel between the Master's "Voodoo Child" and the Toymaker's "Spice Up Your Life" is very difficult. Both sequences put sinister villains in silly musical situations, and both moments come when the antagonist's victory is imminent. The two scenes are each designed to be deliberately jarring, breaking a tense and suspenseful atmosphere with music, humor, and ill-timed joviality. The biggest difference between the Master's musical mishap and the Toymaker's number leading into Doctor Who's big 60th anniversary ending, however, is how well each version executes the idea.

Doctor Who's Wild Toymaker Scene Is Much Better Than The Master's "Voodoo Child"

The Master peacock-ing to "Voodoo Child" in 2007 felt unintentionally stilted. By shouting "here come the drums" with his hand aloft to trigger the electro-tinged beat, the villain looked like the most jaded DJ in Ibiza. John Simm then seemed undecided about whether to dance or not, while Lucy Saxon shuffled in the background like the only sober person at an office Christmas party. The song choice suggested Russell T Davies was going for something overblown, unexpected, and showy, but without truly embracing the ridiculousness of the situation, it came across more cringe than cool. The Master turning off the ship's stereo system came as a welcome relief.

If "Voodoo Child" was just an awkward wannabe, Doctor Who's "The Giggle" gets the concept right. Rather than settling for half-measures, the Toymaker goes the whole way, dancing and lip-syncing for what feels like half a song before finally disappearing as suddenly as he arrived. With petals, balloons, and multiple characters joining in whether they want to or not, the sheer audacity and ambition of the scene makes it work. In the case of "The Giggle," there is no such thing as "too much," but the song choice also helps. Whereas "Voodoo Child" was a little too trendy to be the sonic backdrop of such a cheesy scene, "Spice Up Your Life" finds the perfect blend of nostalgic and ostentatious.

Curiously, Russell T Davies doesn't have a monopoly on giving Doctor Who villains musical interludes. During "The Power of the Doctor," Chris Chibnall's final episode as showrunner, Sacha Dhawan's Master thrust his hips to "Rasputin" as a confused Jodie Whittaker watched on. This was an improvement on the Master's past attempt from "The Sound of Drums." The music fit the mood far better, and Dhawan committed wholly to the silliness, but the scene was woven between shots of other characters doing important story things - almost as if Doctor Who was afraid to focus squarely on the Master's moves. Needless to say, the Toymaker's routine in "The Giggle" fixes that issue.

Doctor Who Achieved The Impossible - It Made The Spice Girls Scary

The real genius of Doctor Who's "Spice Up Your Life" scene lies not in how it finally gets a villainous musical moment right after 13 years of trying, but in how the dance manages to be both funny and deeply unsettling. The key moment comes when David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor desperately tries to stop UNIT soldiers attacking the celestial villain, then sorrowfully tells Kate Stewart, "They're dead, I'm sorry." The Toymaker casually slamming Kate into a wall and Shirley's horror at seeing a colleague's face burned into a yellow ball also contribute to the undercurrent of horror hiding beneath the comedy.

If "Voodoo Child" and "Rasputin" were ridiculous scenes designed to undercut the severity of the predicament the Doctor was in, "Spice Up Your Life" does the opposite. Look past Neil Patrick Harris' slick dancing and elastic expressions, and the Spice Girls sequence is, at its core, a reminder that humanity is powerless before the Toymaker. To this otherworldly Doctor Who entity, mortals are nothing more than props in a dance routine. Such a dark underlying message ensures that no matter how camp or theatrical the Toymaker gets, his evil edge never dulls in the slightest.'