#this makes him a little bit hilarious character adorable as f and allows you to feel something relatable :D

[losername02]

Repostober: Day 4

[bitter-sweet-coffee]

Hello it is I, answering your call for basic human interaction. Rank the chaotix by your favorite members 🔫

hehehe i've been WAITING for this one!! i can't wait to get roasted but I stand by my choice:

1. Espio. my boy. my baby. my kin AND comfort from when i first got into sonic in the early 2000's where i saw a purple detective ninja chameleon and then proceeded to fall in love. espio is so op and underrated i don't understand why more people don't love him. yeah he's just as serious and skilled as someone like shadow, but he also lives with two goofballs so we know he's not always stoic. that and his humour in the anime is fucking HILARIOUS anyways this is an espio stan account

2. Charmy, my BEELOVED. holy shit i love charmy and have defended his right to exist since the dark age of sonic. "he's annoying" HE IS A CHILD and look i hate kids, if i had to deal with an irl charmy i'd commit die, but him! he's a cute little bee who is so goddamn funny and i love his idolization of shadow, it leads for some adorable headcanons of him having another big brother 🥺

3. Ray: now look i KNOW that at least one person here is going to be confused but he was a chaotix member during the pre-super genesis wave SO HE COUNTS, OKAY? i have always had a soft spot for ray because of his loyalty and total adoration of mighty (his brother aaaa) but also his stuttering made me less worried about my stutter that i've since worked through (most of the time), but it was really comforting for younger me

4. Vector, but he would have been much lower if i didn't recently have a moment of spiritual peace when rewatching the metarex arc as an adult. growing up, vector was probably my most hated sonic character besides maybe julie-su (getting to that later) because of his treatment of espio. like, the only sane member. it was played as a joke and thanks to idw espio actually gets some acknowledgment, but i have a feeling i projected my own trauma of not being allowed to speak or have opinions onto espio and thus hated vector as the one doing it. yeah charmy did it too but he's a child not the fucking LEADER, but yeah now seeing a croc my age take care of an edgy teen and a 6 year old on his own while still following his dream is really impressive and something i could never do. i'm sorry for hating you all these years vector i love you 🥺💚

5. Heavy. I DONT KNOW WHY LOOK if it weren't for my vector development this friend would be higher, have y'all SEEN HEAVY? They're a friend, who is perfectly huggable and kind and INVULNERABLE so you can hug him forever. i want to see more heavy content okay???

6. Bomb, just a bit lower than their partner. he just, fucking, blows up as a defense mechanism? aka, destroys their whole body and then reforms once again??? BOMB IS SO COOL STOP SLEEPING ON THEM I STG—

7. Mighty. back in the day, him and espio sorta butted heads. the chameleon was more hotheaded back in the day and mighty, a well known pacifist, didn't take too kindly to that! and all i can remember is little me getting hyper-defensive of my boy again, even if mighty is hardly a chaotix member these days. sorry mighty, i think you are lovely, i just don't f/w pacifists or people who try to mess with espio, but i still like you!

-8. JULIE FUCKING SU. god i fucking hate her so much she makes my skin crawl. she doesn't deserve an explanation just fuck her and her stupid fucking existence in the comics

characters not included: saffron because that plot was atrocious and i pretend they didn't do that to charmy, and knuckles because he technically IS a chaotix but he's more team sonic and it would be unfair to include him here, ranked against my fave team (one of em anyways)

sorry if you didn't want archie! i had to include mighty anyways and that means ray belongs too, which leaves perfect room to roast julie su hehe

[carriagelamp]

April l was apparently the month for me to revisit some children’s authors who are steeped in controversy at the moment. So here’s my hot (well, lukewarm) takes on issues that absolutely do not need a single other person talking about them. Also some actual good books that I read this month!

Badger in the Basement

The Animal Ark books are a childhood classic — though I recently found out that apparently there’s a difference between American and British publications, and the American versions didn’t include a lot of actual COOL animals which is… bizarre. As a Canadian stuck in the middle of this, this nonsense drives me nuts. This one was about the main character, the daughter of pair of vets, trying to protect a local badger sett from men wanting to participate in badger digging and baiting. These books are always feel-good, and it was a nice single-day-read while I waited for a library book to come in.

Chi’s Sweet Home

The cutest manga series about the misadventures of a little kitten, Chi, who has been adopted by a loving family. I’ve never bothered to read them in order, but apparently this time I stumbled across the last in the series -- whoops! Still, stood on it’s own pretty easily, and it was a fun read! Things get tense when the family realize that they may have found Chi’s original home… and may have to give up Chi forever.

Earth Before Us: Dinosaur Empire!

This was an odd graphic novel, I feel like I’m not sure who the target audience was exactly. It was a nonfiction comic done in a Magic School Bus style, with the purpose of teaching current, up-to-date facts about the animals that lived in the Mesozoic Era. If you’re into dinosaurs, you’ll probably enjoy this! The art is absolutely adorable, I love the dinosaur illustrations, and I learnt some really neat facts. That being said, the pages are really dense, and there’s a lot of info crammed in… some of it will probably go way over a child’s head without specific additional teaching or a very strong personal interest. But that being said, a dinosaur obsessed kid is still probably going to really dig this… as would a dinosaur obsessed adult. It wasn’t my cup of tea exactly but I’m sure it is someone’s.

assorted Dr Seuss Books

I love these types of controversies because it means getting to listen to every moron who has never had an opinion on Dr Seuss ever start generating a mile of them out of the aether. So many people are so mad about the six books that are getting retired and I bet most of them haven’t even read them. These are not the friggin Cat In The Hat or The Lorax or even the likes of Yertle The Turtle. I was raised by a grade one teacher, was a voracious reader who loved Dr Seuss, and wrote my university thesis on children’s literature, and I still only knew two of the six books on that list. So by all means, if you want to write an essay explaining why those specific books are worth clinging to, feel free, but if you haven’t even heard of them maybe it’s not a big deal. *grumble*

Anyway, my grousing aside, it gave me the urge to reread a bunch of Seuss books, including the two retiring books I personally knew: McElligot’s Pool and To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. I do still enjoy both, especially McElligot’s Pool which always sparked my imagination, but it’s obvious why they’re being retired and I personally think it’s the right choice. There’s so much good kidlit out there, we can survive without these.

Goodbye, My Rose Garden

A f/f romance manga, fairly standard fair though cute if you’re looking for some historical angst, pretty dresses, and mutual pining. A young Japanese woman moves to England in the hopes of meeting a writer (Mr Frank) who she has long admired. Along the way she is employed by an enigmatic woman with plenty of money, rumours, and melancholy following her. I’ll be honest, uncut romance isn’t really my genre, but I’ll probably still try to the second book to see if the story picks up.

From The Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary

It’s no secret that I’ve been on a Hogan’s Heroes kick. This is the autobiography of Roberty Clary, who plays my favourite character in the show, Louis Lebeau. And holy shit what a life this man has had. He was a Jew growing up in France before the start of the war, and who was one of many children taken away from his family and sent off to the concentration camps in Germany. This was an amazing, intense, inspiring, and heartbreaking read… it has Clary’s voice all over it, and it tells everything from the charming childhood he had, to the horrors of the concentration camps, the brutality of survival, and then about his exciting journey into the entertainment industry afterwards. It’s an experience, would recommend if you’re a fan of the show.

The Ickabog

The second controversial author I read this month. Originally I was going to give Rowling’s new book a miss, given everything that’s been going on over the past few years, but in the end my curiosity got the better of me. Politics aside, it was a fun read! Not groundbreaking, but enjoyable enough and written in an interesting style. It didn’t read the same as a lot of modern kidlit, it felt more like a cross between a classic fairytale and a Dahl book. Perhaps a bit like Despereaux. It tells the tale of how an idyllic country gradually falls into ruin through the ignorance, inaction, and greed, and how a supposedly fictional monster hides the very real, human monsters at the heart of the country. It was cute and pleasant and I’m glad I decided to get it from the library, though for anyone who is choosing not to engage for political reasons: you aren’t missing anything major.

Franklin In The Dark

A Canadian classic. I don’t think there’s a single person my age who hasn’t read or been read a pile of these books, and the nostalgia is so comforting. I found this on Youtube and listened to someone read it to me, and honestly 10/10 would recommend for a calm evening.

The big reason I decided to seek this one out though, was because I finally got to the M*A*S*H episode that inspired this entire series! In the episode C*A*V*E, in which Hawkeye is freaking out over his claustrophia while the camp is forced to take shelter in a nearby cave during some intense shelling, he mentions that if he had been born a turtle he would have been afraid of his own shell, and that the other turtles would make fun of him cause he’d be forced to walk around in his underwear. And so this first story about a young turtle who’s afraid to sleep in his own shell and drags it around behind him. So if you were ever curious, Franklin the Turtle is in fact named after Dr Benjamin Franklin Pierce. (this is also why the French version is named Benjamin!)

Wolves of the Beyond: Lone Wolf

I loved the Guardians of Ga’Hoole books as a kid but I never read the Wolves of the Beyond series. This first book was an interesting read, Lasky does a great job creating worlds and societies for the animals that inhabit them. Lone Wolf is about a deformed wolf cub who was abandoned in the wilderness to die. And he would have, if a desperate mother bear, who had recently had her only cub killed, hadn’t stumbled across him and saved him, vowing to raise him as her own...

Petals

A “silent” graphic novel. It has beautiful artwork and is told entirely through pictures, no text at all. It’s loves and heart-wrenching, though it left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied… I felt like there should have been more. Still, a neat story.

The Southern Book Club‘s Guide To Slaying Vampires

What a banger of a novel!! I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s about a group of suburban mothers in the ‘80s who form a book club out of a shared need for community and a love of grisly true crime novels. But when a strange drifter appears in town and starts setting down roots… and when children begin disappearing… these women need to band together to confront the horrors that have invaded their neighbourhood, and face down not only a terrifying monster among them but the patriarchal system that allows it to flourish. To quote the preface:

“Because vampires are the original serial killers, stripped of everything that makes us human — they have no friends, no family, no roots, no children. All they have is hunger. They eat and eat but they’re never full. With this book, I wanted to pit a man freed from all responsibilities but his appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom.    As you’ll see, it’s not a fair fight.“

The Weirn Books: Be Wary of the Silent Woods

I love Chmakova’s graphic novels, though I’ve only ever read her slice-of-life middle grade series before. This one is pure fantasy and very fun. It’s about two cousin “weirns” — witches with demon familiars — who attend the local night school. Things get strange though when an ominous figure appears outside the old, abandoned school house deep in the Silent Woods, and begins tempting children down its path…

I’m very much looking forward to word of a second book and was honestly kind of surprised that I haven’t heard more about this book given how popular her other series is. This has all the same charm and quirks but for those of us who prefer stories based in fantasy rather than reality.

And A Bonus...

For some masochistic reason I got a Garfield book out of the library. Jeez, if I didn’t love these as a kid, I found them absolutely laugh out loud hilarious, and now I just don’t see it anymore. But here I will share the one strip in the book that actually made me laugh

[autumnblogs]

Day 41: Caliborn: Enter

https://homestuck.com/story/4956 It’s pretty natural that Dirk’s move on Jake is going to put a strain on Jane’s friendship with him, even if he hasn’t made it yet; I think it definitely gives some insight into Jane that she reacts the way that she does. Not exactly a graceful loser, and in a way that is really pretty passive-aggressive.

She’s not as open and honest as Jade is; as the Prospit Dreamers go, in general, she’s really pretty guarded.

More after the Break

https://homestuck.com/story/4961

The AR, I feel like, gives us a pretty good look into who Dirk is, and while we already know that he impulsively jumps to the first solution he can think of, we can see through the shades that he tends to advise people to do the same things that he does.

Dirk is an extremely headstrong guy, and while he’s both very intelligent, and would really like to be a Puppetmaster, he can’t help but let his personality shine through his puppets; and he can’t help but let his first inclination determine his course of action. He’s him, after all. Why would he question his own judgement?

A bit like how Kermit the Frog is really just Jim Henson the Frog.

https://homestuck.com/story/4962

So what is a Juju?

Juju is a word which comes from French, and means plaything. It is a term that has been used to characterize the Folk Magic and/or Folk Religion of the people of West Africa, in much the same way that Totem has been, or that Fetish has been. In a nutshell, Juju can mean both Spiritual Power (as Mana), and an Object of Spiritual Power (as an Amulet) - the physical manifestation of the thing, and the thing itself are the same, in this sense.

The God and the Idol are the same - at least, they are to the external viewer. While it should be clear that this is a reductive view of it, the fact of the matter is that, a central part of a lot of religious practice in general is to treat the image of a thing, and the thing itself, as though they are the same; and we see this sort of image-based performance all throughout homestuck, through symbols, and rituals, especially where they are empty signifiers - symbols and rituals that have been emptied of their original meaning, and are now practiced only for their own sake.

Following the rules actually doesn’t seem to pay all that much in the world of Homestuck, and almost universally leads to disaster - which in no small part appears to be because the creator of the rules is Lord English.

https://homestuck.com/story/4965

I think it’s pretty interesting that Caliborn’s conception of smut is something as tame as fluffy hand-holding and caressing. While on the one hand, we can just say “Cherubs think it’s taboo because they can only enjoy Caliginous romance” I think we can also associate it with the relatively sexless nature of Homestuck, beyond how horny the characters are, and a few oblique references (which is not a bad thing; it’s about teenagers). In spite of all of the suggestive language and content, there is no possibility of consummation in Homestuck, or even until well after the end of Homestuck, because Caliborn’s vision of intimacy is a sexless one.

https://homestuck.com/story/4967

This takes a turn for the fucked up at the end. I mean, it’s all fucked up to begin with, but it’s such a non-sequitur.

https://homestuck.com/story/4968

Caliborn uses consumption related metaphors and imagery in relation to smut. Aside from jokes about Vore, what’s the significance of that? That the intention of Caliborn and Calliope is to comment on the fandom of Homestuck itself (continuing the identification of the Characters with the Audience that we discussed yesterday) is not really a secret to anyone. How does Caliborn view engaging with Homestuck, and how does he therefore view engaging with Andrew? His view is Hegemonistic and Predatory. From his point of view, the universe he inhabits is full of things to be consumed; objects to absorb, break down into the parts of themselves that make him more powerful, and the parts that can be discarded.

https://homestuck.com/story/4970

I really never get tired of Caliborn, he’s so awful.

https://homestuck.com/story/4971

His conception of human romance is one where he conceives of women as essentially objects of gratification; woman on woman is allowed, I suspect, for much the same reason that it is often rationalized that f*tanari porn isn’t gay; how could jackin’ it to two women be gay?

The idea of women as actors who exist for reasons other than to gratify men, and other than to gratify Caliborn in particular does not occur to him.

Obviously, men don’t exist to gratify each other. That’d be too mutualistic.

https://homestuck.com/story/4981

The Interplay of Sex and Violence.

As long as this sequence is pretty much over;

Why does Caliborn want to play a game? I think the answer is in line with the overall theme of Homestuck. Cultural transmission.

In his book Homo Ludens Dutch historian Johan Huizinga discusses the nature of Play as an element of cultural transmission, and as a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for the generation of culture.

What this means in a nutshell is; Games aren’t the only thing that is necessary for culture to be created, but they are necessary for culture to be created. Can’t have culture without games. A big part of this is because games serve as a stage for human beings to symbolically and ritualistically practice the activities that, as a member fo their culture, they will one day have to perform in order to survive.

This is why games like Tag, and Hide and Seek are the oldest in the world; humans are persistence predators, we hunt down our prey by just not giving the fuck up.

Caliborn’s game is Irony and Porn; insincerity, reproductive activity, etc. and gaming is intrinsically competitive to him; he uses his game as a form of power over Dirk Strider, the power to make him suffer, although since he’s such a dweeb, he’s pretty bad at making him suffer.

https://homestuck.com/story/4986

Meenah likes games too, but her enjoyment of them seems to be a lot more authentic, sincere - as opposed to being a form of power for her to hold over her enemies, her little word-games, with her fish-puns, are a source of legitimate joy to her, and the fact that Aranea will engage her in them creates friendship between the two of them.

https://homestuck.com/story/5027

All this may not have a whole lot of substance to it (I’m making posts at this point almost 40 pages apart), but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of worth. Homestuck has plenty of pathos, and in spite of the fact that Andrew adores making fun of us for caring about these characters, I do actually care about all of these characters.

They sure have come a long way.

https://homestuck.com/story/5083

As Roxy is ostensibly the stealth leader of her session, we should generally be willing to accept her takes as gospel in a way that we don’t take other characters’ (at least to a certain extent). We just got done talking about how important rules are to the cherubs, and to Caliborn explicitly - we should take heed of the fact that Roxy is very willing to throw caution to the wind and abandon the rules.

Rules in Paradox Space are largely harmful restrictions to be worked around, rather than auspicious maxims to adhere to.

https://homestuck.com/story/5071

Caliborn is a serial forced memer. We’ve already talked oodles and oodles about symbols and rituals and empty signifiers; what is a forced meme except for an empty signifier? An attempt by a malicious third party to turn a meaningless set of pictures and words into a symbol, a symbol that signifies nothing other than itself, and commands the attention and adherence of people in the culture? Rules for the sake of rules. Memes for the sake of memes.

https://homestuck.com/story/5089

Roxy’s anxious babbling is just so much like Dave’s, it’s hilarious. Their language less so.

https://homestuck.com/story/5092

The answer to what a ball’s topspin is, by the way, if you didn’t already know is

an English.

https://homestuck.com/story/5099

Why does Calliope want to be a Troll so badly?

The answer is that she doesn’t want to be a Cherub.

Why doesn’t she want to be a Cherub?

That question could probably keep me up all night, but I think I have an answer right away. Cherubs are arbitrarily powerful, and Calliope does not want to be a Cherub. She wants to be anything other than a Cherub. I can kind of relate to that, even as a human being. After all, there aren’t cherubs and trolls around, even though they are conceivable. Of all of the things we know for sure that consciously exist in our own universe, humans are the most powerful things we know exist for sure. I’d spend a lot to not be one; power, after all, makes us more inhuman.

https://homestuck.com/story/5116

Since I can’t pass up an opportunity to comment on the metanarrative indulgence of the second half, let’s pause to appreciate the term MacGuffin; in a nutshell, an object which exists to be desired. Its only purpose in the story is for someone to want it.

https://homestuck.com/story/5217

The fact that Dirk is conscious of the internal head-goings-on of Brain Ghost Dirk, and is therefore, to some extent cognizant of the head-goings-on of Jake English just opens up so many questions that I still don’t really have an answer to.

https://homestuck.com/story/5238

I rag on Dirk a lot for being a piece of shit.

But man, he is so cool.

https://homestuck.com/story/5246

This entire awful romantic escapade has been created by the Auto-responder, and while Dave has been complicit in it, he is not the puppetmaster behind it. Sound familiar?

https://homestuck.com/story/5252

This flash is just so delightful to me.

It’s the first time Roxy has ever touched another living human being and look how delighted she is.

LOOK HOW HAPPY SHE IS.

https://homestuck.com/story/5261

Now that we know who Lord English is, we have an opportunity to get to know him a little more as a person. Aside from his absurd commitment to puzzle-murders, his strange relationship with romance and sexuality, and his awful and perfunctory craftsmanship, here’s the most important thing to understand about him;

He will always destroy something irreplaceable if it means he can acquire more power.

[tuff-and-fluff-archives]

bro do roadhog and reaper for the character list thingie :0 (,,,,,and um,,,,maybe lúcio too 👀👀👀) —kai

@kaiiiii-exe ​ Aaaa thank u for the ask!! And you bet I’m doing all three :3

Roadhog 🐷

favorite thing about them: He big. And scary. But for real, Mako has a really intimidating presence and honestly he still kind of terrifies me, but in like a cool way where I feel like he’d be super chill once ya get to know him.

least favorite thing about them: We know so little about him!! His past, his motivations, we don’t even know what his face looks like! (I’m actually kind of ok with not knowing what he looks like cuz I understand why they’re doing it, but still, I JUST WANT MORE LORE PLZZZ)

favorite line: “Everyone has a plan, ‘til they get punched in the mouth.”

brOTP: JUNKRAT AND ROADHOG BFFS FOREVER

OTP: Roadie and his lil Pachimari plushies... now that’s true love... (real talk I don’t ship a lot of canon pairings 😅 But honestly I’ve been hoping to find someone that has Roadhog as an f/o and Junkrat as platonic, and the MOMENT I find you you’ll be my best friend FOR LIFE)

nOTP: Can’t really think of any, I guess the ship with Zarya cuz it doesn’t make any sense to me (also roadrat just barely misses the notp, I don’t hate it but I will avoid it for obvious reasons)

random headcanon: I know this is a pretty popular headcanon but I believe that Roadhog has asthma!

unpopular opinion: Roadhog is definitely not a completely sane and level-headed person; of course next to Junkrat anyone looks normal, but he’s not this silent, stoic man of few words; he’s talkative and not afraid to say what he thinks, and he’s probably just as unhinged as Junkrat, just in a different way.

song i associate with them: “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” by AC/DC!

favorite picture of them: That Spanish wanted poster where they just thought he was an actual pig man... Hilarious.

Reaper 💀

Honestly I love that his voice actor also voices Bloo from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends AND Lord Hater from Wander Over Yonder.

Listen I know it’s his whole thing, but he’s just a little bit too edgy. Like to a silly degree.

His karaoke lines are just too good. “Give me a faster beat. If one person shouts out a request kill the music. / What are you looking at? I don't sing. I will not.”

Idk if this is a brotp but I really like the relationship him and McCree have, that kinda reluctant father figure dynamic is rly nice -w-

OTP is absolutely Reaper x @sosoftandsweet ​ YALL ARE ADORABLE

Reaper x Mercy is kinda silly... like I get why, but why??

random headcanon

I actually wouldn’t mind if he never went back to Overwatch or being a good guy. His story is one of tragedy, not redemption, and that’s what makes his character so interesting.

Honestly the song “Jesus Wept” by Sia has that really melancholy quality that fits him pretty well.

OF COURSE I GOTTA GO WITH THE SHRUG

Lucio 🐸

Ok there’s SO MUCH to like about Lucio, but I love how positive and cheery he always is, he’s such a happy funky dude!!

I cannot think of anything to dislike about him. He’s that pure and good.

Honestly fave line is when he’s nanoboosted and he just yells “BOOSTIOOOOOO” like wow that’s a mood m8

The Lucio- D. va- Junkrat brot3 is just... so good

OTP IS ABSOLUTELY LUCIO X YOU 💖 KAICIO IS MY OTP FOR LIFE

Honestly boom.box for... obvious reasons... (I don’t hate it or anything it’s just... ships wif my mans makes me MAD)

This one’s for u Kai... Lucio’s perfect date with you is taking you out skating and helping you learn! Even if you struggle a lot, he’ll hold you to make sure you never fall and praise you once you start moving without his help! 💖

I think Lucio should be allowed to be sad more often. Ok maybe not sad, but he’s been thru a lot and needs a little break to let his emotions out.

Any Bruno Mars song tbh, especially 24K Magic tho.

Honestly at the end of his “In the Groove” highlight intro when he spins the disc and looks at the camera... I feel like I just saw an angel

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG // CHAPTERS 10 + 11

we had a week of peace and now we’re gonna get annihilated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have no clue how long this liveblog may end up but hell and high water i’m combining them both

she tore the jade pendant from her neck and flung it into the darkness.

let’s give a warm welcome, to sadness,

i’m very excited for all-new cinder content hhhhhhh if u havent gathered by now I Love This Bitch and I Love Her Many Problems so im thankful for this gift 😞

Cinder was a ruin, her pride carved and served like slabs of meat.

i can FEEL diesel n kc rly patting themselves on the back for every bit of wet meat they can toss at me!!!!!!!!!! U HEAR THAT I CAN FEEL U!!!!!!!!!!! but also i still love this shit w/ all my heart!!!!!!!!!! IM NEVER GONNA STOP SAYIN IT

She had never looked at Glynda’s files.

im so sorry cinder baby but that whole thing? is still HILARIOUS oh my GOD i cannot believe you fucked up that badly. u shoved yr entire head into a beartrap. u absolutely crapped yr pants on that one. yr gonna be thinking abt that on yr deathbed,

/looks at the chapter title again

hhhhhhhh im. so pumped. its gonna be hard to talk abt most of this w/o doing a million fingerguns a minute but i’m gonna try my best

Cinder approached the mirror and touched its silvered face with black-tipped claws,

I SAID IM GONNA TRY MY BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was iron barbs beneath the nail bed, glowing coals underfoot, the singular capacity to do harm. She was a beast, armed with fang and claw and a deep, dark void where her compassion should have laid, and she was dressed for dinner.

HHHHHH god YES THIS IS THE CINDER IM THIRSTY FOR............ i literally cannot say anything that isnt a massive 👈😎👈 but AAAAAAA

like im reading thru this and i cant cherry-pick lines this whole bit? is SO GOOD...  kc n diesel are Yet Again obliterating me w/ their mastery of the narrative style of offal hunt and i just love all of this i rly wish i could explain how offal hunt is EXACTLY MY BRAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F U C K

The final touch on her mastercraft disaster: the four sawed-off horn stumps which grew among her silver-streaked hair.

HOOOO B O I i am. Losin it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE HER HORNS.......... CINDR...............

Wretchedly, she wondered: did Glynda even respect her now?

any other villain: my plan didnt work and im mad >:( cinder fall: my plan didnt work and now im mad but also mostly sad :(

CINDER’S TRYING HER BEST GOD.......... i literally hate how the remaster has made her So Soft, Actually... I BELIEVE IN U CINDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE U!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO YR BEST

Every part of her was hot and hollow. She was sick with loathing.

i LOVE HER.... CINDER I HOPE U KNO THAT YR LOVED... god tho i dont like how SAD I AM RN... cinder’s so small and the world is so big and wants 2 Shit On Her blease

honestly like. im rly- LOOK I SAID THIS BEFORE BUT. this is why im rly lovin the new cinder content because in the first version we only got glimpses of her internal machinations and now we’re in full-blown Always Sad territory and everything is suffering :)

She blinked. Her double did not.

‘well’, thought murphy. ‘that’s terrifying.’

she’d only survived thanks to a keen instinct for danger, cultivated during her tenuous teenage years.

i NEED. I NEED. CINDER BACKSTORY. all these lil nuggets dont constitute a meal! I WANT A BIG MAC AND FRIES. WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS BABY DOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also again. the body horror of offal hunt? peak content. Im Lovin It

its getting harder to divine what is and what is not a 👈😎👈 because we got bits sprinkled around and theres only rly a spoiler potential if u glue em all together so im still being extra careful and the answer is blared in everyones faces so this whole kondor scene will go uncommented unless some Bullshit Happens which it will, so,

When she had become so invested in Glynda’s approval? When had a desire to be recognized as something inhuman, something ferocious, something black and terrible and capable of keeping up with Glynda Fucking Goodwitch turned into this?

oh! oh! i have the answer! i do! i know the answer! it’s you a lesbian,

The spectres of her youth haunted this city, owl-eyed children and fox-eared teens. They’d been a second sort of family, the only kind she’d had within these walls, and she’d wondered what had become of them in the past decades, but…

It was too sentimental, and she wasn’t meant to be a creature of sentiment.

oh boy okay wow

okay so actually this bit made me cry??? fuck OFF im losing it!!!!!!!! LET HER BE SENTIMENTAL!!!! LET HER HAVE PPL TO CARE ABT!!!!!!!!!! IM LITERALLY CRYING IM GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!

She would go barefoot from this point on, her heels clutched at her side. When she left the hotel room to steal into the night, she promised herself not to look back.

im sorry im just. so sad rn. i havent cried over a fic in YEARS and we still have another chapter ago i hate this SO MUCH..............

here comes chapter 11 

if i cry even once more im going to stab!!!!!! im not sure what BUT ILL STAB!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even without his wings, the Manticore would easily have been twice the size of any of the other Grimm, far outstripping them in sheer bulk.

HATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HATI HATI HATI

holy shit we actually get to see him this time!!!!!!!!!!! WE GET TO SEE THIS LEGENDARY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS CHONCC,

also hes a manticore now which is, Radical, may i just say, and just a little bit sexy,

The effortless grace in each move betrayed power most Grimm would not live to achieve. Once he stood, he had to dip his head low to meet her eye to eye. His canines were the length of her forearm.

if u werent here for the remaster? we never even SAW hati but now hes here, hes Big, and rly thats all that matters,

Like a child who’d been allowed to lie and lie until at last they’d strangled themself in the web they’d spun, Cinder couldn’t speak. Could only wait on his verdict.

every single one of cinder’s inherent themes is killing me and this business w/ family? stop. im dying. this is rude

The scant space between them popped and cracked like an sparking flame, warm and effervescent, and this time, Cinder lingered, hugging Hati close.

IF I CRY ONCE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MEAN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF U ASSHOLES MAKE ME CRY ONCE MORE I WILL DOXX YOU,

aaaaaaaaaaaaaah im loving this content i rly dont have words for it dhjfgsdfgjh i just, rly like the words, and the order theyre in, and i honestly keep forgetting to liveblog it cause i just wanna READ EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tempting as it was—as it always had been, ever since she’d left the relative safety of the wastes and learned what happened to scraggly-limbed teens with horns and fangs and gleaming eyes—

with every chapter i desperately have 2 kno more abt baby cinder i HAVE to know i am so. UNBEARABLY CURIOUS... baby cinder what happened... what happened 2 u....

A lantern’s glow warmed her, bleeding into the darkness leeching at them both. It was a gentle gold across her skin, and like an answering signal from a distant outpost, Cinder saw a flush of light through the dark fur lining Hati’s throat, as though flames licked at his insides.

i forgot. that cinder glows like that when she feels Loved or full of pride and you know what i dont like these chapters. they were made to hurt me and i Dont Like That (im mclovin it)

From the safety of Hati’s neck, she found it easier—after all this time, he was still her bastion.

WHEN YOU REALISE? THAT YR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES?? STOP,

For a regular person, the machine would be able to draw out short bursts of power, the likes of which no Semblance could ever channel. The taxation would eventually destroy the soul so deeply, so thoroughly, as to leave it empty for good.

For a Witch? For—

the fact. she cut herself off before she could think ‘for glynda’. has me on the FLOOR. this bit is just So Much i dont like it

Glynda Goodwitch would not abandon this hunt. Cinder knew it, had read it from her palms like an open book—Glynda Goodwitch did not know how to stop. If it had been anyone else on Remnant, they might never return, might never pull themselves back into action after today—but Glynda did not have a shred of self-preservation.

me, knocking against cinder’s head: u kno for someone w/ so many schemes in yr brain yr pretty dumb and gay, huh,

firstly let’s talk abt cinder’s “””””””””””””””””””self-preservation””””””””””””””””””” instin-- whats that? not found? yes

[Glynda’s] eyes were empty, hungry, insatiable.

i feel like ive read this line before! lets jump back a chapter--

In [Cinder’s] eyes, there was a subtle, endless hunger.

WAKE UP CINDER SHE’S YR SOULMATE!!!!!!!!!!! THE COFFEE’S READY U CAN SMELL THE BACON FROM HERE WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a fluid leap, they were in the air, the ground quickly shrinking beneath them. Pressing her face against his neck to shield herself from the wind, she closed her eyes and prepared herself for what was to come, trusting Hati to deliver her safely.

that said i ADORE my boy hati is literally the best part of offal hunt kc and diesel do not interact,

He was frozen in horrific anticipation, like watching an imminent tragedy and being absolutely helpless to stop it. Like all the tension was mixed with grief and hopeless, futile fear.

when will offal hunt be nice to me. when will any of these characters get to be happy. hello. im full of sadness.

The sound was like a saw working back and forth, but resonating inside her head, rattling every tooth in her jaw, deafening to her ears.

im literally gritting my teeth at this i can hear it in my own head and its Very Bad!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

okay god i can barely handle to quote anything more this bit is hurting ME so lets swiftly move on before I Die

Cinder closed her weary eyes, sinking into sleep like a shallow grave.

BE NICE TO HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BE NICE TO HER JUST THIS ONCE, PLEASE, IM BEGGING YOU,

They only knew death, only ever sought death; fangs and claws slicked with blood, magic rending meat and marrow apart, and everywhere that choking, scalding heat, spilled blood like magma, like the core of a planet.

hmm... that seems like a 👈😎👈 ~reference~

They were all alert, ears pricked, hackles raised like Hati’s. They all fixed on the same spot, somewhere beyond the darkness of the cave opening, and though she could barely think, she knew:

She was out of time. The Witch was here.

oh no.

okay so THATS CHAPTERS 10 AND 11! i only cried ONCE and u kno what thats. a Victory. these two chapters were VERY GOOD i rly loved em and i can tell new readers r gonna have a blast w/ this shit!!!!!!!!!! meanwhile i, a veteran reader, am full of peril,

terrible.

[badbtsfanficreviews]

Hiiii…  *has lost all will in life since the porn ban on this hell site*

The Sobi and Taekook Agenda

by min kassi

(ps. don’t send hate to the author)

Take me laser tagging and then push me into a corner and kiss me. Then shoot me and walk away.

Aw how adorable.

HOSEOK POV

So, i’m not really sure if that’s like acceptable and all but i’m not really sure how I feel about this “[CHARACTER’S NAME] POV”.

I can't believe Yoongi-hyung is already 24! It feels like soon enough he'll be leaving to do his military service, I don't want him to leave.

Me too bitch, the fuck?

He had wanted to stay home for his birthday, but I somehow persuaded him into letting us go and play laser tag to celebrate. I don't know why, but he always seems more, lenient, with me.-

That’s because he’s whipped

-He's never missed an opportunity to snap at the other members, fans trying to call him Yoongrumps, Grandpa Yoons, and the dad of the group, but he always is different towards me.

Ah, come on. Yoongrumps? That man is a f**king softie.

Oh well, I can't wait to play laser tag! Our schedules are so crowded with the Wings tour and our comeback, that it's nice to get a break to celebrate moments like this.

~TIME SKIP~

You do know that you can work the time skip in the text right?

We were hanging out in one of the party rooms, closing the door so we could take off our masks.

Masks??? You guys wear masks???? What??

The ceiling was lined with helium balloons, but one of them ended up sinking down. We decided to have fun by passing the balloon back and forth. After a while, it was running low on helium, so we just sucked the rest out and messed around with our high voices.

Playing with helium is on my bucket list.

Eventually, after eating some food and drinking some soda, one of the staff members came to give us the tutorial for the game.-

*imitating James Charles* Hi Sisters! Today i’m giving a tutorial on how to play this game called lasertag!

- Our first round was a "free for all", so we were all on our own.

Everyone playing individually is called “free for all”? Oh well, i’m assuming the person has gone to laser tag and knows this shit better than me.

We all put on our vests, grabbed our guns, and headed into the waiting room. All of our guns had different names on them. Jungkook had The Ape, Taehyung had Gremlin, Jimin had Spyder, Namjoon had Commando, I had Blindside, Yoongi-hyung had Vampire, and Jin-hyung had KingKong.

B*tch it’s King Kong. (Why do all guns have different names?)

We all stood there in the waiting room while the staff member explained the type of game this one was, our vests and guns flashing red and blue.

There are different types of games? The vests flashes in different colours? Wow i’m learning a lot.

After the rules were explained, she pressed a button, a large buzz erupted from the speakers, and the game began.

We had 10 seconds with our shields on to hide and prepare. After 10 seconds, my shield turned off My heart was drumming against my chest, the room silent except for the occasional vibration of shot vests. I stuck my head out a window, and nearly got shot by Tae.-

No shade but when writing a story you don’t really use someone’s nickname unless that person is going in a spiral about the person and saying a lot of different names associating them but that’s none of my business.

- I quickly went and shot him and Jungkook at the same time while I ducked to find a different hiding spot. Can't stay here too long.

No you can’t this is a war zone, you gotta keep your head in the game.

YOONGI POV

I'm glad I allowed Hoseok to drag us here. It was so much fun playing. I was at a good angle to get Jin-hyung and Namjoon, so I fired quick shots at their backs and waited to shoot them again. It was hilarious watching their confusion because they couldn't see me.

I guess that I should have been given Blindside.

You just said you shot two people succesfully without them even knowing you did and you’re saying you should have been given another gun? Yoongi can you be a little more grateful?

The 15 minutes went by quicklyl (since the grammar so far has been decent i’ll let you off the hook with this one), and the first game was over before we knew it, We signed out, taking off our vests. Hoseok was smiling like a horse-

Oh my god really? I thought he smiled like the f**king sun like the sweet cinnamon roll he is.

-, and the youngest two were laughing their heads off.

The scores were revealed: I was first, Taehyung was second, and Jungkook was third. I won.

Yeah I think we all got the clue.

We were all cheering as we relaxed before the next game.

~TIME SKIP~

For the last F**KING time you can work that in the TEXT

Hoseok and I switched guns this time.

YOU GOT IN FIRST PLACE WITH VAMPIRE HOW DARE YOU.

This round we were playing teams, we managed to persuade manager- nim to play so the teams were even.

My team was Jungkook, Jimin, Jin-hyung, and l. The other team was manager-nim, Hoseok, Namjoon, and Taehyung.

I don’t really understand the korean mushed together with english in fanfics, especially when they’re set in like America or other parts of the world that isn’t South Korea and uses the whole formal stuff.

We were told the new rules, and the game begun.

Rules: Vampire is the coolest, rules r dum, loudest scream wins, betrayal is 4 bad bitches only.

Luckily, Namjoon kept doing "friendly fire"-

What the f**k is even friendly fire.

- to Taehyung, so their team lost a lot of points. I caught Namjoon as usual, but nobody dared to shoot at manager-nim, He didn't try to shoot at any of us either, so it was fair.

Screw the Korean society system, when you’re in lasertag all of you are starved dogs.

Another 15 minutes passed, and the game was over. Unsurprising, we won by a landslide, Jungkook and I shooting the most. Hoseok and Taehyung shot the most for their teams, but it wasn't enough to declare them victorious.

Until the next game.

DUN DUN DUN.

~TIME SKIP~

FOR THE LAST F**KING TIME-

"The next game is Stealth. This is another free for all, but it's going to be different. The only time your vest will light up is if you've been hit. Now, it's going to be a bit darker in there, so be careful" the staff member informed.

"Alliance?" I offered my hand to Hoseok.

"Alliance," Hoseok smiled, shaking my hand.

Little did we know that we'd be separated the second the game began.

"What the hell? My vest is still lit up," Namjoon shouted.

We all noted that ours all were still lit up also. A minute later, the staff member walked down the center aisle, green lights on her vest, announcing an error with the system. The next game will be stealth.

If it’s the name of the game maybe capitalize that S you communist.

Hoseok ducked to where I was hiding. I initially shot him before realizing who it was. We both went and shot the staff member before she left, laughing at her look of annoyance.

We went through the rest of the game together, and ended up tying for first.

Stealth would be our final game.

~TIME SKIP~

Stealth did work this time. Hoseok and I didn't alliance this time, so I thought that I'd have some fun with it.

I could see his outline, he was running passed, and I took my chance.

He was running passed?

HOSEOK POV

I shot 4 of them at once, then darted to make my escape while they weren't able to shoot. I was running towards the far corner partition, until someone grabbed my shoulders and pinned me against the wall.

Oh seksi ;)

I was about to scream, but I felt a pair of lips meet mine in the darkness. I felt my chest vibrate as the figure walked away.

Pick up your call Yoongi it’s Hoseok’s heart calling you.

I checked my gun.

Tagged by Blindside

Yoongi kissed me.

YOONGI POV

I silenced his scream by kissing him. Not long after he started kissing me back, I shot him and walked away.

His chest lit up, and I couldn't hide my smirk.

Don’t worry the dark does it for you.

I won the game.

Congrats Grandpa, your first win after all these years of backpains.

I don’t really know guys, apart from the “TIME SKIP” and “HOSEOK POV” and the subtle belief of stereotypes I don’t really know. Also, for some reason first point of views in fanfics really rubs me the wrong way? Don’t know the reason for that, it’s unknown.

I was listening to Dja Dja by Aya Nakamura when giving this fanfic a review.

[blackgwenstacy]

‘tis the season (to be merry)

[shows up five days late with starbucks and a gay fanfic] hey y’all merry chrysler

Happy holidays to @connorstolll !! I was your secret santa for @pjosecretsanta2k17. I hope you enjoy your Solangelo college au <3

word count: 2,200

summary: Will Solace is a little in love with his roommate, and holiday party shenanigans only confirm that he’s a lot in love with his roommate.

warnings: alcohol use, a few f-bombs, and STEM major roasts

There’s a certain feeling one gets after taking their very last final of the semester. A freeing feeling, like the entire world has been lifted off their shoulders and each anxiety-ridden thought suddenly flees from their mind.

Will hasn’t felt this relieved since before the semester started. After those stressful weeks, he wants nothing more than to spend his break sleeping, eating, and binge watching Netflix.

And pining after his roommate. His dorky, adorable, oblivious ass roommate.

Will’s had somewhat of a crush on his college roommate, Nico di Angelo, for the past six months. They’ve roomed together for a year now, but it took some time for Will not to be intimidated by Nico’s dark features, brooding expression, and his infinite knowledge on the secrets of the universe.

Once Will had grown used to all of that, however, boy was he gone.

It’s not like Nico seemed to notice any difference in the way Will was acting toward him. It was quite ironic to Will, especially because Nico was the one who  loved to rip characters apart and analyze their every word and action. Watching any movie with Nico was one hell of a psychoanalysis.

Then again, Will could be a bit more. . . expressive about his affections. But it’s not like he was letting every opportunity to admit how he feels slip through his fingers, allowing himself to suffer in silence.

(That was exactly what he was doing.)

“Hey,” he calls out upon entering his dorm, stuffing his lanyard into his backpack and tossing it at the foot of his bed. As much as he’d like to sleep forever, he told Travis he would attend he and his brother’s party tonight, so he ought to get ready for that. 

“Hey,” Nico responds. He’s in bed, occupied with a rather thick looking book, an empty mug of coffee resting on the nightstand next to him. Will frowns, already knowing Nico was hardly going to pay him any attention, hyper focused on whatever literature he was studying. “How was the Physics exam?”

“Physiology. Anatomy and Physiology.”

“That’s not the same thing?”

“I’m just glad it’s over.” Will plops onto the stiff mattress of his dormitory bed, removing his boots and peeling off his socks. “I thought you were finished with assignments?”

Nico doesn’t look up from the book. “I am.”

“Then why are you reading—” Will gets up, crosses the short distance between their beds and bends over slightly to glance at the book cover, “—Canterbury Tales?”

Nico still doesn’t pay Will any mind, adjusting his thick-rimmed glasses. Will struggles to ignore how adorable Nico looks with them on. “I’m taking English Lit next semester— ”

“Oh my god.”

“Did you know J.K. Rowling got inspiration for the Tale of the Three Brothers from the Pardoner’s Tale?”

Will did not know that, and actually thinks it’s pretty cool, but he’s still in disbelief of the fact that Nico was still studying, even after all of his finals.

“Aren’t you tired of reading?”

“Me, the English major, tired of reading? Preposterous.”

“Don’t you want to do something fun?”

Nico drops the heavy book in his lap, taking on a defensive tone. “I think literature is very fun, thank you.”

“Okay,” says Will, “and action potentials are as great as Disney World to me, but even I want nothing to do with them after talking all those exams.”

“You, the STEM major, want nothing to do with action potentials?”

Will chokes back his laugh. He want’s Nico to take him seriously, his sarcasm be damned.

“Take a break, man.” 

Nico frowns, taking off his glasses, and Will tries not to look disappointed.

“I don’t know,” Nico sighs. He crawls across his bed and shoves Canterbury Tales into his overflowing bookshelf kept at the foot of it. “It feels weird. Like, I keep thinking there’s something I should be doing.”

“What you should be doing,” Will starts, “is rewarding yourself for surviving Hell Week.” He drops the bomb. “The Stolls are having a holiday party tonight. You should come with me.“

Nico looks the opposite of intrigued. “No, thanks.”

“Come on, Nico,” Will stresses, “You haven’t left the residence hall in two weeks. You’ve only left this dorm room to take your finals.”

“I think having to evacuate last week because Leo started a fire in the communal kitchen counts as me leaving the residence hall.”

Will rolls his eyes. He knows Nico doesn’t have much of a party personality, but some of Nico’s friends would be there. It would be good to catch up with them and get some human interaction.

“It’ll be crowded, and noisy,” Nico objects. “Did you know noise is one of life’s most common stressors?”

Will hums, and quips, “So is loneliness.”

Nico glares at him. “You know, when I decided not to request a different roommate next semester, it’s because I thought there wasn’t any way you could possibly get more irritating.”

Will ignores the jab. “Are you sure it’s not because you love me?”

Nico amusedly raises one of his eyebrows.

“Fine,” Will relents. “I’ll go by myself. Alone. Even though loneliness is one of life’s most common stressors—“

“You are the biggest Drama Queen,” says Nico.

“Says you.“

Nico rolls his eyes, standing up. “Fine, I’ll go. But not for long, I’m already mentally exhausted.”

“Okay, cool,” Will says calmly, though on the inside he was dancing on flowers and rainbows. He gathers up his toiletries and his towel. “We’d better shower. It starts at seven.”

“You better not use my fucking stall, Solace, I swear to god.”

Will doesn’t know what he was expecting when Nico agreed to go to the Stoll’s party with him. Perhaps he thought Nico would spend the whole time sitting quietly, keeping to himself and counting the minutes until it would be over. Maybe he thought the festive atmosphere would warm Nico’s heart like his smile did to Will’s cheeks, and he would confess his love to Will after the two shared a cliche kiss under the mistletoe.

Whatever he was expecting, it definitely wasn’t this.

“And since we’ve no place to goooo, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,” Nico sings, or slurs rather, along with Dean Martin’s suave voice. His face falls. “I can’t believe Jon Snow died.”

“He came back,” Will reminds him.

Nico’s face lights up, and so does Will’s heart. “Woah, you’re right.”

They sit next to each other on a raggedy green sofa in the Stoll’s apartment. There’s music playing in the background, the playlist going back and forth between traditional Christmas songs and whatever’s on the Hot 100 this week. There’s a few dozen people that are here, most of them Will knew by association. They’ve only been here an hour and Nico’s on his third cup of eggnog.

“I’ve been thinking,“ Nico starts, “when I was a kid they made us pick grass and put it in a box under the tree for the camels to eat on Three Kings Day and when I was a kid I didn’t question it but now I’m not a kid and camels don’t eat grass. Wait—do they?”

Will isn’t sure if he’s amused or concerned by how many conjunctions Nico just used in one sentence. Nico has a conniption every time Will uses a comma in an unnecessary place when they text.

“—They live in the desert. There’s no grass in the desert. Wait—is there?”

Nico doesn’t indulge in alcohol very often. Not that Will has ever seen, at least. He wonders if he usually sings Christmas carols and talks about camels when he’s drunk.

He watches as Nico scowls and peers curiously into his red cup. “I think there’s something in this eggnog.”

“Yes. Rum. I told you that before you drank it.”

Nico’s eyebrows raise, far enough for his bangs to hide them, blinks with wide eyes. “Oh shit.”

Then he shrugs, and downs the rest of the spiked drink. Unbelievable.

Will snorts. “You’re going to regret that.”

Nico grins mischievously. “Me, the college student with an existential crisis, having regrets?” he says, looking about the room. His eyebrows fly into his hair again. “Does Percy have samosas?”

Nico stumbles to his feet, and disregards Will as he chases down Percy for some of his samosas.

Well, at least Nico wasn’t miserable, Will thinks. He was enjoying himself, sort of. This could’ve been worse.

Will sits through a horribly rehearsed, yet hilariously iconic Mean Girl’s Jingle Bell Rock reenactment by Leo, Piper, Percy, and Jason, and a marshmallow eating contest between Cecil and Lou Ellen. It’s been twenty minutes and Nico still hasn’t returned. Will hopes he’s not throwing up eggnog and samosas in the bathroom right now.

He waits five more minutes before getting up to go look, passing a couple passionately making out under the mistletoe in the hallway. He checks the bathroom, which happens to be empty, and unwillingly checks the two bedrooms, which are not so empty. He hopes the Stolls change their sheets before they crash later.

Having no luck thus far, Will ventures into the kitchen. Maybe Nico’s judgement wasn’t totally impaired and he decided to find some water to flush his system. Or he was looking for more eggnog.

“Hey, Will,” a familiar voice says. Connor Stoll, sitting atop the kitchen island, grins down at him. He has a red solo cup in one hand, the other rests around the shoulders of his boyfriend, Mitchell. He raises his cup. “Eggnog?”

Will shakes his head. “I’m good.”

“DD?” Mitchell asks.

“Well, I guess so now.”

Mitchell raises a pierced eyebrow.

“I came with Nico. He’s kind of tipsy.”

“It’s Grandma Stoll’s famous holiday eggnog,” says Connor, raising his cup in praise. “Pure fuel.”

“Hey, have either of you seen him? I’ve been looking for him for half an hour—“

“Found him,” Mitchell smirks, pointing with his cup. Next to him Connor bursts out in rambunctious laughter.

“Oh, yeah, he’s feeling merry, all right!”

Will spins around, and — Oh. Oh.

Nico was dancing rather uncoordinatedly in the middle of the living room, surrounded by a dozen people, an Ariana Grande song blaring from the speakers. Everyone whoops as the dark-haired boy gyrates his hips on an offbeat.

Will lets out a bark of laughter, unbelieving of what he was witnessing.

“Strip tease!” a voice that sounds suspiciously like Leo yells.

Nico smirks at the suggestion, but doesn’t move to take off his clothing. That is, until, he catches Will’s eye in the crowd of people.

He sends Will a wink, and begins to pull off his sweater. Will can feel his stomach flip, his face heating up.

There are hoots and hollers, and people scramble to pull out their phones. It only seems to egg Nico on more. Will thinks there’s a bit too much liquid courage pumping through his veins.

He. . . should probably stop this. Nico would be mortified in the morning if Will let him give all their classmates a drunken strip-tease.

Nico’s stripping doesn’t advance very far, however, because his sweater promptly gets stuck over his head. Everyone roars with laughter, Nico’s giggles muffled by the knitted fabric.

Will grows anxious at all the phones recording tonight’s events. There was no way Nico wanted to be the center of everyone’s social media attention. He pushes his way through the crowd, grabbing at Nico. “O-kay!”

He pulls the drunken man away from the limelight, into a less crowded hallway.

Nico speaks from inside his sweater. “Will, is that you?”

“Yes.”

“I’m stuck.”

Will laughs fondly. “I see that. Here.”

Will helps Nico pull his sweater back down. Nico huffs and ruffles his hair, looking flustered.

“I think,” says Will, fixing Nico’s bird nest hair, “you’ve had too much eggnog.”

Nico hiccups in response.

“We should probably go back to the residence hall,” Will suggests, and Nico nods exaggeratedly in agreement.  His brown eyes catch on something above them.

“What?” Will asks, and follows Nico’s eyes. Oh.

A mistletoe, in all it’s holly jolly glory, hangs mockingly right above them.

Yeah, they’re not doing that.

“That’s so cliche,” Nico comments, squinting at the fake branch.

“I agree,” says Will. He grabs Nico by the shoulders, spins him around so he can guide him. “Let’s go.”

It took nearly an hour to get Nico back to their dorm. Will struggled with guiding the stumbling man all the way to his car, then had to drive slower than usual due to Nico’s complaints of motion sickness. And as much as he adored Nico, he would still kick his ass for throwing up eggnog and samosas inside of his car.

“Oh, you are going to hate me tomorrow,” Will says to Nico, tapping through the stories on his Snapchat feed. There were various clips of Nico’s clumsy performance tonight. Hysterical as it was, Will felt slightly embarrassed for him.

Nico looks over from where Will had tucked him into his bed. “Enough to change my roommate request?”

Will laughs at Nico for the hundredth time tonight. “I hope not.”

“It’s okay,” Nico yawns before continuing, “you’re a STEM major and I still haven’t requested a new roommate. You could be in league with the First Order and I still wouldn’t request a new roommate.”

Will snorts. He wasn’t sure how Nico could be intoxicated and still manage to be a fucking nerd.

Will puts his phone to sleep, setting it down on his nightstand. He turns in his bed to face Nico. “Why’s that?”

“You said it yourself,” says Nico. Will stares at him for a long time, not quite sure what he meant. Nico smiles at him, and turns in his bed. “Merry Christmas, Will.”

Christmas wasn’t for another week. Nonetheless, Will smiles fondly, and turns off his lamp. He lies down and indulges in the butterflies that warm his stomach. They match the fluttering of his heart.

“Merry Christmas, Nico.”

the Ariana Grande song Nico was dancing to was Wit It This Christmas LMAO

[charleecat-bat]

Fandom Meme

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Uuuh, well, lemme think, for fantoms that aren’t sonic stuff, I enjoy Retsuko and Haida because adorable. Angus and Gregg from NITW is too adorable for it’s own good. 

Sonic wise, well, I’m not strong on my ships but they’re are some I do think about or do think are matching, I think Shade and Knuckles are a good match, I enjoy Espio and Tikal, especially in my canon. 

I do love Locke and Luger a lot though, since I can see them working in my canon, but other then that, I’m not huge on ships so eh. 

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Locke and Luger, mainly because they were related but then with some fanart and talking with friends of mine, especially @terraqua111, I started to like it and my friends had a point that they were too distantly related for it to matter anymore. She also showed me Lien-Da and Xenin which I liked. 

I also didn’t consider Locke to be paired with anyone else before Luger, then I saw @lockewat‘s ship, Chuck and Locke... and I thought it was quite suiting as well. 

Two other ones are Vanilla and Big because that was so adorable and that would be such a peaceful relationship good god it’s what they’d both need, so many picnics for dates. and @motobugg did some work on Rouge and Wave which I have never considered and I immediately thought... damn that would actually work a lot. XD Also Shadamy at some points due to a friends artwork and Shadow would be balanced from Amy’s personality that he would need.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will. I’ve never been big on Julie-Su and Knuckles, in the comics it felt kind of forced to me, same with Sonic and Sally, that I don’t see them suiting each other at all. 

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Ummm, I don’t know, I can’t think of one. 

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh, I don’t know. 

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

Sonic fandom. XDD Been in that for around 8-9 years. Since I was 9 or 10 years old. 

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

I think it would’ve just been Shade and Knuckles. lol Again ships aren’t my life. 

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Mainly ongoing stuff, I know it started with games, so I guess games? But I enjoy shows/series as well. 

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Ummmm... not that I know of. 

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

Animal Crossing? I didn’t start playing the phone game until I saw people talking and reblogging stuff about it, then I tried it. 

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Well, in Steven Universe, a lot of the character have great arcs, that who their true opinions and colours, like how Amethyst had self-hating habits, Pearl didn’t think she was worth much, and seeing Peridot’s growing into a whole different gem, it’s really cool.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

I’ll go with um... Lars from Steven Universe, I didn’t like him much as a character at first, but I could understand his insecurity and being unsure on how to act and how to show himself, and being scared to show his true colours... but now he’s showing his own worth and letting himself be who he is with the Off-colours, which I can genuinely appreciate about him, he’s much better as a character now. 

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Can I say the entire brotherhood? XD I would love that like you wouldn’t believe. 

N - Name three things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

Just more Brotherhood content in general, uuuummm more monster-related AU’s? I don’t know, maybe more merchandise too? I don’t know I’m not all that demanding about content. o-o I’m terrible at this. 

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

All the Way (Jacksepticeye fan song) is the one that came up on shuffle, and it reminded me of Hawking, at least my version. I could imagine he would listen to this to motivate himself or something like that. 

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

...Trying not to say Monster AU for any sort of fandom CRAP TOO LATE-

But what about a Shape of Water-esque AU? 

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

I haven’t really abandoned any fandom? o-O R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

When they’re not a couple and they’re just best friends, Locke and Luger I guess, they act like big dorks. I don't know, I don’t think about relationships much besides family ones. 

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

Hmm, well, I feel while Locke doesn’t know what his main sexuality is right now, he’d feel he’d be in writing (sexuality)/Asexual, as he never really had sexual feelings, he only had sex in order to have his son, and he honestly never liked it all that much. 

I also have a head canon that Steppenwolf is afraid of humiliation, or just making a fool of himself in social situations (he’s got a very well hidden social anxiety), so if he saw a bunch of people staring at him and whispering to each other, he’d instantly become worried about what he did. 

Another head canon is that I love to imagine Sabre can swordfight very well, and the person who taught him is surprisingly Tobor. As he was very good with a sword and shield combo back in the day (before his injuries). 

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

That Steppenwolf is a werewolf okay not really, I’m not really about strong head canons that I would ‘die defending’. I just like the thought of him being one because it’d be ironic for his name... and it’s just with me for so long man. 

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Steppenwolf (Sonic Fandom I guess)- I still don't fully understand why I liked him, I simply did but nowadays I just find the character I made him an extremely interesting character and every time I’ve wrote something or drawn something to try and cheer myself up, it made me feel he’d be a very strong, protective and oddly supportive in his own way. I’m not sure. I’m weird. 

Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe Fandom)- I just want her to be happy, I find her really interesting, her powers are really cool and I just want to know how things turn out for her, it just sucks that she tends to disappear for long periods of time. 

Angus (Night in the Woods)-He’s a bit underrated but he’s just so cute to me, especially with how others draw him, I love his character and I feel bad for him when he takes about his abusive childhood and issues growing up that made him who he is today, made me want to give him a big hug. 

V - Which character do you relate to most?

Well, I feel I can relate to Angus at a few points, always feeling like I have to be the responsible one, being usually quiet and wanting to hide in corners in parties (and your friend that you stick to is your corner in those situations), 

I also feel I can relate to Retsuko from Aggretsuko, always trying to keep calm and from losing my temper, also Mister Ton kind of reminds me of my dad at some points... and he can piss me off just as much as he does with Retsuko so yeah. 

Part of me also feels like I relate to my version of Rembrandt, he’s an artist, he deals with a lot of emotional issues, he’s insecure about his body size/weight, very motherly/fatherly and protective. 

I dunno. 

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

Annoying characters that think they’re full of themselves and practically perfect while thinking everyone else is below them and everyone is unworthy of their ‘greatness’... or mary-sues. 

Or just a needlessly dramatic moments or moments of anger and arguments that don’t need to happen. 

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Kind of the big strong protective one with a heart of gold and is very loving whether they show it or not, or big ass ones who are strong as hell but are really just gentle giants.

And probably monsters stuff like werewolves or stuff but sometimes that can backfire and become annoying. 

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

Team Fortress 2 is one, have a few friends who like that game while I don’t like it much anymore for personal reasons, some horror fandoms like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Little Nightmares all of that. Idk

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

Umm... I always strive to make my Guardians unique in different situations, hell, I imagined they were in certain AU’s or in certain video game situations, like a fighting game, I’d like imagining like ‘finishing moves’ they’d have or the type of weapons they’d have, or even simple stuff like hobbies or favourite foods. Just stuff like that... and I will try everything in my power to be unique, like in my Gem AU, wanted all the gems to be different and at the least unique, and the same with the Monster AU, only Thunder and Steppe’s are the same but they have a difference. 

Okay that’s enough. ^^; This was really difficult surprisingly. 

[bentenharuki]

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So while looking at my favorite episode in Haikyuu anime this past week (in Italy, Man-Ga channel on Sky is broadcasting Haikyuu Season 2), I felt the urge to dissect a bit of the things that in Haikyuu gets so often mistaken regarding Kageyama. And Oikawa. And generally, a ton of dynamics that become highlighted especially in season two of the anime.

I chose to make a little video out of the parts of the manga which are matching Episode 6 (TEMPO/Timing) and I isolated the parts with The Lord Kags and Oikawa as their relationship is the single most pushing element in all of Kageyama’s development as a player up until he meets Atsumu and Sakusa in the manga (because of course, finally meeting with potential PEERS in his career would ignite a ton of reverberating effects for such a perceptive player such as Kageyama is).

I LOVED dearly all about episode 6 immediately, much like I have loved the manga parts (which are better, and more defined though, hence my choice to use them as material here).

First of all, the epiphany of the interaction between what shall be two rivals and enemies, which immediately looks nothing like it.

When Kageyama meets by accident Oikawa, he immediately relies on him for advice.

Why?

Because there is NO ONE Kageyama looks up beside Oikawa, until he will meet Sakusa and the likes.

NO ONE. Of course he interacts with his Karasuno teammates and respects his senpais there (he does, especially the third years) but they treat him already like he is better than them (he IS) and they ask him about deep strategy details right off the bat (it’s Kageyama suggesting first Hinata as a decoy, mind you!) so it’s not like he can ask them much beside some needed team dynamics outlooks.

In Kageyama’s mind, Oikawa is STILL his senpai to look up to, where things about the practical parts of the volley game concern.

This may shock the naives unless one doesn’t accept that the infamous and way exaggerated episode of the slapping at Kitagawa isn’t anything which has shocked Tobio AT ALL. He eats quietly after it. He isn’t affected at all by what has happened.

Oikawa was the one all shocked, NOT Kageyama.

This because the emotional one between the two IS OIKAWA, who is immature and weak and scared in front of his kouhai’s presence, NOT the opposite. But he becomes all calm and reflective and sharp and on point when is about volley advice, because he feels THERE he can still teach and be above Kageyama, although minimally, for a little while more. This because Oikawa has always gotten a team and a coach behind him, unlike Kageyama who had no teammates and also NO coach at Kitagawa, being the coach a fool unable to guide him at all, feeling his overwhelming talent as a reason in itself to let him run free (idiocy: especially the most talented need a guide, to not being left alone with their talent, which is useless if not controlled).

This all is still clear even in this episode.

What wounded Kageyama at Kitagawa WASN’T Oikawa.

It was Kunimi, Kindaichi and the rest’ abandonment of him, unexplained, cruel and cold.

And it’s not like kageyama is not aware of all that.

He is.

Kageyama is very open, honest and straightforward and also VERY intelligent.

When Tsukishima first teases and mocks him about what made him break at Kitagawa, Kageyama as the King and special soul he is DOESN’T deny it hurt him. He states it clearly.

No shame, no sugar coating (which SHOCKS Tsukishima, because he thought he could easily wound Kageyama saying those things), just the truth.

Kageyama is the STRONGEST character in Haikyuu, and it makes me vomit when people depict him any differently.

He is a Kingly and High Above Everyone BEAST.

Nothing delicate or weak about him.

NOTHING.

So during this episode, Kageyama speaks and almost imposes to Oikawa to answer him, with that adorable (to me it is very adorable) Kingly attitude he has where if he wants something, he gotta fight to obtain it, no failure allowed.

Oikawa complies… why?

Why giving his future (almost contemporary) nemesis the final key to surpass him (which he will do invariably by the end of the season?)

Because in a twisted way, Oikawa is BOUND to Kageyama.

His existence is the push for him, too.

Oikawa thrives because he feels he has to face a kraken who’s going to eat him alive, and that makes him able to polish his skills and work on himself the most.

Their reciprocal growth is interconnected, and in a subliminal level, they BOTH understand this.

Not only.

Their interactions are completely devoid of any fakery.

When they speak, they can tell one another EXACTLY what they think, and when one of the two tries not to, the other asks for complete truth, GETTING IT.

It’s extraordinary, and it’s the deepest bond Kageyama has in the whole saga.

He is forced to stay with Hinata.

They are teammates after all.

But the way he seeks for Oikawa… that is HIS CHOICE. He could have met him in this episode and let him go as Oikawa was trying to make it happen: but Kageyama DOESN’T. He can’t miss the opportunity. He WANTS to have Oikawa’s advice. He NEEDS it.

He looks up to the one he thinks can help him, because he admires greatly Oikawa.

Always.

There is NEVER anything clearer in Haikyuu than the utmost consideration Kageyama has for Oikawa, which is hilarious giving how SCARED and unable to keep his cool with him Oikawa is.

Oikawa is a very intelligent person (the smartest one in the saga along Tsukishima) but he is also very sensitive and fragile and with not much concept of himself (unlike Kageyama, who has complete dominance over his own being, and doesn’t despise any part of himself, just like the super cool one he is), which brings him swinging moods and reactions when with Kageyama, trying to be condescending the most, but failing (in this specific episode, his mask crumbles thanks to his nephew TAKERU, whose faces at Oikawa are ME in the whole of this episode).

In the end though, everything that Oikawa says constitutes the push and the inspiration Kageyama imposes himself to follow from there on.

Kageyama won’t be a coward; he will try to see things from another perspective; he will reimagine all his approach at tossing once again.

NOT FOR HINATA, Hinata is the outcome, not the starting point. He will because he has to master all about volley, and since Oikawa says to him what he should do, he, believing Oikawa KNOWS, will TRY to follow that input he has been given.

It’s ALL on volley.

For Kageyama, volley is the only thing that matters.

What amazes me, is that Kageyama is ZERO self considerate.

While people often can’t see it, and this also makes me mad, Kageyama tries always to get better and never feels satisfied.

Anyone else would get offended by Oikawa’s words, being called coward, and back to dictatorship.

Anyone else would stand on their own ground, blind and deaf to the accusation, especially if aware of their own worth as Kageyama anyway is.

Kageyama?

He thinks first if he actually COULD IMPROVE.

This will also be what he will do when Hinata will accuse him of having backtracked on trying the toss (as usual, with arrogance and zero tact). Kageyama will immediately question himself HONESTLY, and being strong and cool, the fact he may have won’t break his spirit (like it would if he were a weak person), on the opposite, it will push him further ON and ON.

This is amazing.

These are all reasons for which I love Kageyama so much.

He is a perfect character, so strong, so willful, so determined and pure in his targeting towards unbound greatness.

Kageyama is the quintessential sport master.

That’s why people unaware of sports really can’t get him.

Another part of the episode focuses on who has the command of attack in volleyball.

This is another thing that needs to be explained to the poor minds trying to understand things they have no handiness in.

When in the episode Oikawa, Ukai senior and others say that during attacks (or in this case, better, QUICKS) the INITIATIVE is belonging to the spiker, they state the TRUTH.

What they won’t explain (and what tons of light people involved in Haikyuu won’t understand, because they have no actual fondness no direct experience of the sport Haikyuu itself is based on ) is that what is prerogative and final choice ONLY of the setter is WHICH ATTACKER WILL BE USED. 

This makes the setter the ruler on a court. Let’s try to explain to the light headed: if a setter has more than an option to use in attack, he will choose which attack to execute. So, while the initiative for an attack belongs to the spiker, it’s all but decided if THAT will be the attack effectively used.

When there is always ruckus on how “connected” Kageyama and Hinata are, people tend to forget that options for The Lord Kags aren’t that many, especially with the starter form of Karasuno team, before many of them will improve a bit, giving Kageyama more actual options.

But I always say to those blabbing about “connection” this: WHAT IF KAGEYAMA COULD USE PEOPLE LIKE BOKUTO or Ushijima? Do you REALLY think he would keep using Hinata? You dream.

No matter how fictionally fast and jumping the midget becomes (and that REALLY is a work of superpower fantasy, hence my calling of him Boku No Hero Karasuno), point is Hinata still light & scrawny. His shortness and lack of weight makes him having ZERO power. No matter how fast one can be, people will catch up to velocity in volleyball. So you have to have POWERFUL people on your team. People whose height PLUS weight can translate into a mattering attack, an attack infused with power which derives from height plus weight (and technique plus jump). Hinata has just the jump (an irrational one, but let’s let him have that).

In no real team where Kageyama could have different options with talented and mighty spikers someone like Hinata could survive.

That’s why Furudate has to fool people with the so called “connection”, making Kageyama being “drawn” at Hinata (it happens a lot of times in the manga to have Kageyama reflect on how Hinata forced him in a way to toss to him).

It’s the only (irrational and irrealistic in real volley life) way such a midget could be the protagonist of the saga. By FORCING the only one able to make something worthy out of him bound to him (forcefully).

This is why I am SO disappointed at Furudate, who started good on real volley premises and now is progressively fading into a realm of superpower and untrue projectivity.

But let’s get back to scratch.

In this episode, it’s stated more than once that given Hinata’s inabilities in pretty much everything, poor Kageyama HAS TO IMPROVE in the sense to give the midget opportunity to “fight on his own” (how IRONIC… it’s not really on its own this way it is?) poor genius prodigy kid has to FORCEDLY create from nothing.. hear me now… a STOPPING TOSS to allow the midget to spike it.

Whenever I get bombed with the “oh so cute moment” (NAH) where Kageyama visualizes five Hinatas to set his magical toss right, I cringe at the comments saying “Look, he only does it thinking about Hinata!” like it is some sort of super tied connection between the two.

IT IS NOT: Kageyama visualizes only Hinata because ONLY HINATA IS SO WEAK to need such a toss tailored at him.

People with more qualities than just his jump would spike another type of toss, and in fact, as Karasuno progresses as a team, this becomes all the more true. The only one needing “special care” is Hinata, but just because that’s the only way for him to achieve results (always on the Lord’s back).

Ah, and don’t get fooled. From now on it will be clear this special stopping toss is in itself a STAGGERING PHENOMENAL move. Every other setter at any level will simply say that’s a thing ONLY Kageyama can do that perfectly well.

When Akaashi and Bokuto witness it in the camp, and Bokuto asks flat out to Keiji to do the same for him, Akaashi simply states the regular, namely that HE CAN’T DO IT. He can’t, because Kageyama is at another level of capacity compared to him (or anyone else, probably save Sakusa).

So, The Lord Kags keeps being awesome and do the amazing things only he could because it’s his call, to be the best.

He doesn’t do it FOR HINATA.

That’s the consequence of another input, not the first one.

Kageyama does it because it’s a challenge for him as a setter, to manage that special toss. He does it because Ukai believes he can. He does, to show Oikawa that he can give the midget THE BEST TOSS ever, something only he could.

He does it because if he can THINK of something, he - like the monster champion prodigy he is - will try to DO IT, no matter how extraordinary it could seem to others.

Because Kageyama has learnt how the setter gives people their chance at 100% potential, (he has learnt it from Oikawa’s existence, Ushijima’s words on him, and got PUSHED by that to SURPASS that, thing that he ACHIEVES already creating the stopping toss, as that isn’t simply to give somebody his 100% potential, but MORE than it, given that the sole 100% of Hinata wouldn’t suffice, words of both Ukais, to perfect the special move), so he wants to challenge himself and give Hinata a chance.

That chance ISN’T because he has who knows what special link to Hinata.

It is because, given his limits, Hinata is the only spiker who NEEDS something special just tailored on him to perform.

And that is a setter’s responsibility to achieve.

Kageyama BLEEDS to achieve that.

What pisses me off greatly is that such a phenomenal efforts is simply unseen by ordeals of lightheaded “Haikyuu fans” (call them midget and unbelievable hero’s fans, not volley fans for sure…), while it is clear how much Kags is versed in getting something incredible done.

I also always laugh at how they think he is “emotionless”. He is COOL, which isn’t emotionless. Being cool is a way to deal with emotions too.

Just look how he reacts when he can’t immediately get the toss right with Yachi.

He gets all raging, but then, being a natural champion who understands how freaking out won’t help him reach his targets, he just breathes in and resets that disappointment to start it over again.

And when, along Takeda sensei, he GETS the toss, does he stop there?

NO WAY, he pushes on because he knows in sports the effort never ends.

You are a prodigy?

It ends even later, because people will ask you to do impossible things’ and you will oblige because YOUR LIFE IS THAT SPORT YOU LOVE.

Another point.

This REALLY makes me angry a lot.

In the subsequent episodes of this toss saga, one of the stupidest parts is when Yachi and her pea-sized brain calls Hinata’s expectations about the toss “the showing of a King”.

It is, in the sense the obnoxious midget has asked to obtain something, and he later gets it as he demanded to.

This is EXACTLY what has taunted Kageyama’s back in middle school. To ask people something he thought they could perform, and getting ostracized for it.

Now tell me: if Hinata does EXACTLY the same this round of events, what makes his “kingly attitude” in there a GOOD thing people are enthusiast of, and on the reverse that same thing had made Kageyama a pariah in his old days?

WHAT?

Because the only difference in those two attitudes is that while Kageyama couldn’t obtain a thing from his Kitagawa teammates, because they were not at his level to perform what he wanted, in this case Hinata gets his wish BECAUSE KAGEYAMA’S ABILITY IS FROM ANOTHER GALAXY, not because Hinata’s attitude was anything different than what Kags’ showed in Kitagawa.

But Hinata is cute and so sweet and he’s short and he gets through so much to succeed so let’s hype him, while Kageyama, well, Kageyama is a genius so we can’t really get him therefore let’s assume he is just a strange freak and blame him when we can.

I HATE THAT.

Kageyama is volleyball perfection and he is surrounded by a bunch of scrubs and he has to endure so much to be what he has to be, and he should be shown tapestries of rose petals just for existing to be walked over, not having to stand a loud redhead midget trying to exploit him without mercy (this is what Hinata mostly does) and with ZERO manners at that, while getting pity because he so unsocial and needs to learn how to communicate with teammates who mostly are not on his spectrum at all.

Kageyama doesn’t need to learn to communicate.

He needs just to practice volley and find channels to express his visions there, he needs to be socially skilled to relate to his teammates, but not at any point he needs to be social to have them as friends, this unless he’d like to have them there too.

Does he? We don’t know and so far there is NOTHING which tells us he considers any of Karasuno people more than teammates or acolytes.

And, just to be clear...To be super social isn’t forcedly a desirable skill.

Some people are social, some people are not.

What does make more social people better?

NOTHING.

They may be in need of being social because otherwise they couldn’t deal with the world themselves?

Some of them may need to be social because their weaknesses can be hidden in large numbers gatherings?

They like it because they can find people to use better being social, rather than not?

I mean, being social in itself ISN’t either a positive or a negative.

It is a trait, much like having eyes of a color rather than another.

Kageyama needs to improve his social skills for VOLLEY?

Yes, that’s right, and he tries. He tries hard at that, and it is the MAIN reason he looks up to Oikawa, because he has that ability naturally with the Seijou team, and Kageyama longs to try and get better at that.

But does he need to become a super frilly individual in life, too?

NOT AT ALL.

His coldness and perceptivity and single minded focus are awesome.

They make him so unique and regal and elegant and distant, he oozes charm that way.

A social Kageyama in life could be almost irking, for all we know.

And in no way better than the way he is now.

NOT A SINGLE WAY.

So, that’s it.

My rant’s done.

Somehow I felt like to write this will satisfy me for a longer time than originally intended.

The world doesn’t deserve Lord Kageyama’s perfection.

It’s just not worthy of so much, right?

;)

[thellamaduo]

Full Review of Hamilton Saturday July 15th Evening Show

Full main cast except for Voltaire on as Hercules/Madison for his second show ever(!)  Also Brian d’Arcy James’ second to last show

(For comparison: I have seen the OBC and the New Admin live. If there is footage out there of a questionable legality, I've seen that too. )

- Alysha is incredible as Peggy/Maria, but then she always is. I think she's only grown into the roles. Someone, I think her, effed up the entrance to The Schuyler Sisters though and that threw 'em off a little bit. Very high energy Schuyler Sisters though, just barely on the rails at the end. No cringe from Lexi or Mandy at her "AND PEGGY" though, which is a moment I love. They don't have the chemistry of the original girls, but I've yet to see a trio that does.

Her Maria is probably my favourite of the ones I've seen. She plays Maria very desperate and kinda shy, but with a sultry vibrato through the whole thing. It feels a lot like Hamilton is projecting the sexiness onto her. James Reynolds was too over the top imo and that took away from it a bit. She does not play like she's in love with Hamilton. She looks at Hamilton and James with the same lost, hurt expression, like she was hoping for Hamilton to save her and then realises that he won't. There's a moment at the end I love, where James exits and he slaps his leg for her to follow him. She starts to go, stops, and looks at Hamilton like she's waiting for him to say something. He's not even paying attention any more, and her face falls just a little before she follows James.

As a sidenote, LOVE the Maria wig she's got. Suits really well.

Mandy - VERY different than when I saw her in January. Night and day, and not for the better I think. In January I adored her reserved but quick-thinking Angelica, who turned into an avenging angel in the reynolds pamphlet. I called her "An unstoppable force meeting an object that thought it was unmovable but is not getting the heck out of the way." It was thrilling, wonderfully so.

I enjoyed her a lot less this time. Still talented, still a valid interpretation of the character, imo, just one I liked less. Had more in common with Karen in Chicago in terms of mannerisms, down to the extra riff in Satisfied. Overall, less reserve and more aggression. This Angelica didn't feel like she had a connection with Alexander. Not a true one. She is very aggressive in their conversation, it felt like a battle. And it is played like Angelica is being defensive because that's what she does, but he can keep up with her so she's impressed, rather than Renee's where she's reserved and polite and something about him just rocks her whole worldview.

Overall it feels like this connection they have and their relationship and how much she's attracted to him, it's all in her head. And she knows it's all in her head, and she likes it there because it's safer to just be like "Ah yes hot boy, I will go off by myself and use him for masturbation fodder but I don't actually need him" rather than Renee's or Mandy's original take, which was much more "This great tragedy of what could have been, but I would not allow it"

Different take. I prefer Angelicas with a lot of natural reserve, so I was not a fan of this direction change. Especially when, without the establishment of the connection with Alex, the confrontation in The Reynolds Pamphlet didn't have as much bite. Not a bad performance by any means, just a note on how she played it.

Lexi - She's grown a lot since January. In Jan I called her a 'discount Pippa', whereas this time I felt like she's really grown into a distinct Eliza. I do prefer Pippa's emotional beats, but I much preferred Lexi this time around. Lexi's Eliza is far more sophisticated than Pippa's, less shy and nervous. It played well into Javi's more nervous Ham, and they made a really cute couple. Lots of chemistry. Pippa's line "Elizabeth Schuyler, it's a pleasure to meet you" she's in a deep and abrupt curtsy, she's not even looking at him, she looks very flustered and butterflies-in-stomach, whereas Lexi is a lot more settled and flirty.

I was less happy with her reaction to Philip getting shot - it was not as raw and desperate as Pippa's, and her hand was not placed as well to really make a Moment out of her jerking it away from Hamilton. Had I not known that's what it was, I probably would have read it as her just moving her hand. Her Burn was a highlight though, so throaty and raw. Pippa's Burn really feels like she's sadly reflecting on events, there's some distance and composure. Lexi's Burn feels like she found out about it two hours ago and is still in the throws of grief and processing her hurt. Finale was fine. I cried, but I credit that more to the writing of the show than anything Lexi was doing. It's hard not to react to "Can I show you what I'm proudest of??"

Javi - The champion. One of the big reasons to come down to NYC was to see Javier in the role, as I got an understudy in January (Jevon, who was still new to the role and not more than serviceable). I loved Javi. Loved him. I name him equal to Lin, and I know many prefer one or another but I would be hard pressed to choose. They both felt like they came from the same understanding of the character, just expressed in different ways because they are different people.

What stood out to me for Javier was how much LIFE he brought to Hamilton. You really felt his joy and the feeling of wanting to grab life by the horns. It provided a nice contrast to the bite of anger and the emotions of Hurricane. I would not, overall, call him the 'sexy' Hamilton? While he had great chemistry with Eliza, Maria, and Laurens, he plays more as charming and endearing than sexy. It's not a bad thing. I loved the intimacy between Lexi and Javi, they ramped it up a notch from Pippa/Lin.

One bit stuck out to me, when meeting Eliza, when Eliza goes "Elizabeth Schuyler, it's a pleasure to meet you" he clearly does not know who she is. He jumps up immediately, straightens his jacket, and goes "Schuyler?!" surprised and suddenly nervous when he learns who she is.

I loved his "Can I buy you a drink?" "That would be nice" because it was the "That would be nice" of "I am a poor student I have been drinking just water to save money"; just a little bit embarrassed but powering through because he really really wants a drink, whereas Lin is a lot more "! A friend!"

if I had to pick at something, I much preferred Lin's It's Quiet Uptown. Javi doesn't seem quite as desperate - I don't think I could ever forget Lin's searching look out over the audience as he sang "that never used to happen before" and Javi doesn't shatter to quite the same degree when Eliza takes his hand. But his Hurricane makes up for it, my god. The storm of emotion, that crescendo to "I wrote my own deliverance" where his voice nearly broke with the emotion of it. When Javier says "I couldn't seem to die" you really feel the weight behind his words. This man has been through so much, and he puts it all into those moments.

In contrast, his final monologue is quiet. Very reflective. Lin still felt desperate, like he was trying to find a way out but couldn't see one. Javier felt like he'd decided he was going to die the moment the song started, and he was instead choosing the reflect on the weight of his life. While I miss the little hitch of breath right before his last words, I was intrigued with this portrayal and how it made me feel.

Brandon as Burr - also much improved from January, having toned down his antics a lot. It works a lot better when he picks a few moments to really make a punch - one being during "curruption's such an old song we can sing along in harmony" speech he looks directly at the audience and mouths "What the f**k" to hilarious result. Wait For It was a little static, but that number is one of the hardest to do onstage and I find is often so. What was genuinely weird was the fact that the choreography for Room Where It Happens was noticeably different on multiple moments, including taking out the part where Burr rests his feet on the table for 'you don't get a say in what they trade away". No idea why. I still feel like his Burr never reached the distinct character choices of Leslie, Syndey Harcourt, or Joshua Henry, and I'm excited to see Breaker in the role.

It was Brian d'Arcy James' second to last show. He is definitely the most subtle of the Kings I've seen, maybe too much so. I'd call it a matter of taste. My preference is Groff's, with Rory being a little too over the top and Brian being not quite over the top enough.

James Monroe Igleheart is one I was excited to see. His Lafayette was not great - the accent is better than Seth Stewart, but I can't say much more than that. His Jefferson, though, is wonderful. Hits that line between fun and menacing that is the most important part of the character. He peacocked differently than Daveed - less bouncing more eyebrow smoothing - but it worked fine. He didn't steal the show as much as Daveed does, but he did a great job and was super kind at the stagedoor. Great guy.

We saw Voltaire's second show on as Hercules/Madison, and I was quite impressed. He's been with the company a long time, it's nice to see him moving up. Loved how he played everything. It is not a role I am super fussy over, but I could find no fault in him. Played it a lot like Oak.

And finally, Laurens. Laurens is my favourite character, and I am very fussy about how he's portrayed. I was absolutely blown away by Anthony Lee Medina's Laurens. He had all the anger, life, and tragedy I look for. I had to admit, at intermission, that I may even prefer him to the wonderful Anthony Ramos (Historical accuracy beats that beautiful crooning tenor, drat). So many little character moments that established his character in a little amount of stage time. There were a lot of moments when you saw the angry burning in Laurens, the ferocity of a man who didn't use a gun in battle because he preferred to stab people with a sword. Definitely the first Laurens/Hamilton pairing where I felt that while Hamilton was ferocious, Laurens had the shorter temper.

Contrast that with the beautiful look of uncertainty in The Story of Tonight, right at the beginning. It turns his first lines, "Raise a glass to freedom" into a reflection, something he's trying to puzzle out for himself rather than Anthony's declaration. (Though I am not sure I'm sold on the placement of uncertainty here, as it sort of undercuts Hamiltons' later "No matter what they tell you" quietly to himself.)

Javi and Medina took pains to establish that Laurens and Hamilton had a relationship that was distinct from the rest of the group - separate little moments, extra touches, ect. It can be read as romantic or platonic, either way it really brings home the tragedy of Laurens' death.

Super cute Philip too - funny in parts without going over the top, as I felt Jordan Fisher drifted into. Really played Philip as youthful and everything that goes into that. It really does feel like Philip is young, a foolish because he is young, all pumped up on indignation.

I will also note that, despite complaining backstage and at the stagedoor of being tired as hell and sore all over, Medina had the most energy out of anyone on that stage. It was seriously impressive.

Overall the show was a delight, as always. I saw it through the cancellation line again, this time centre orch row F. Perfect for up close views, you can see every detail of their faces (including who was wearing a lacefront) though I preferred the full show view when I sat row J. F was just on the edge of too close, and got overwhelming. The cast stands up fine, and does a great job. I am planning to see it again when I’m in town in January, and I’m delighted that Medina should still be there. 

[spinnerprincess]

so i’m catching up on doctor who, after ditching the show at the end of s7 because i just couldn’t stand moffat’s bullshit anymore

i return to it with no less patience for his bullshit, but caring less makes me less angry about it, which is nice

and so, here is my doctor who series 8 review. 

rating: ��💜💜🖤🖤

I like clara and I like capaldi’s doctor and I hate most of the writing

the last four episodes are marginally better and just barely managed to drag the rating up to 3/5 instead of 2/5

here are some episode reviews if you care or if you just like hearing me complain (it is mostly complaining so don’t bother reading if that’s going to bother you) (no seriously don’t)

they are minorly spoilery but mostly just vague

episode 1: deep breath 

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤 

the restaurant scene was the best part and the only scene really worth a shoutout. well built up to, suspense was grand. everything else was bland or confusing.

capaldi’s a fun doctor. clara is a good companion. the veil scene with clara and vastra was okay. the boyfriend thing was a little tiring since that whole gimmick always seems to have been based off moffat’s perception of all women finding the doctor attractive on some level, but sure. 

jenny and vastra continue to be delightful half the time and treated as if power imbalance in a relationship is a mere quirk and not serious concern the other half of the time (bonus points for this treatment in a wlw relationship). strax’s quirks have long worn thin. 

i already hate how “crazy” missy is. took two seconds. nice. 

episode 2: into the dalek

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

very entertaining premise. execution was acceptable. the twist at the ending does a good job of setting up for the doctor’s personal struggle of the season. however, I find that personal struggle very boring. lots of creativity was put into the structure of the dalek, very fun. 

cold open was very confusing. 

also already getting the impression that this series is going to gloss over the very real problems veterans have. when will people learn you can want to improve life for veterans while condemning the battles that forged them. 

might recommend.

episode 3: robot of sherwood

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤

clara looked fantastic in that dress. the doctor’s pissing contest with robin hood was hilarious. the arrow shooting at the end was adorable.

entertaining, boppy. no real negatives, but no real positives either. kind of a snoozefest.

episode 4: listen

rating: 💜🖤🖤🖤🖤

an episode that might otherwise have been a promising 2/5 or maybe even 3/5 receives 1/5 for the last few minutes alone. 

as usual, moffat likes to break rules like “we can’t go to gallifrey’s history anymore it’s timelocked” on a whim, and by on a whim, I mean, because if he goes to gallifrey’s distant past, he can make it so his characters are somehow the most important people of all time, because they teach the doctor important life-long lessons, isn’t clara amazing, wow, the companion who knows the doctor the most, the one who told him not to fear monsters under the bed. 

it’s the smuggest bullshit i’ve ever seen and i’m so fucking done with this man’s insistence on his characters being the most important to the doctor. he consistently shows no respect to the companions and people that have come before his and it’s infinitely frustrating.

also the entire premise was apparently “the doctor is afraid of the dark” which is just an exhausting reveal for all the drama it puts us through to get there. especially since all the elements of horror are 100% recycled moffat bullshit: corner of your eye (cracks in time), monster under the bed (girl in the fireplace), don’t look at it (blink in reverse), like... so, so painfully rehashed

the date with danny itself was kind of cute but clara’s interactions with orson and rupert pink were awkward at best.

skip it. save yourself

episode 5: time heist

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

honestly with personal bias this one should be a 4/5, but again, that’s personal bias. I mean, come on. space bank heist. what’s not to love. i’m a sucker for a good ocean’s eleven.

good scary moments, good puzzles, interesting characters, fun times.

the architect reveal was obvious but it was a funny reveal the way they did it so who cares. the reason for the heist was a little cliche too but still very good. nothing outstanding, but good job.

would recommend. 

episode 6: the caretaker

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤

I liked courtney. good kid.

the doctor was very in character and vain with the whole adrian thing but there was imo a slightly racist undertone of him presuming clara’s boyfriend was adrian, who looks like matt smith, over danny, a black dude, that made the whole thing kind of uncomfortable. 

the fact that disdain for pe teachers is never questioned was annoying too. even if i personally think so, it’s really irritating to see math elevated as somehow better than pe, inherently.

i spent most of this episode mildly annoyed. i do like clara though.

episode 7: kill the moon

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤

an otherwise enjoyable episode, this one is brought down by the fact that all the main players towards the end are women, and as usual with moffat’s era, the doctor never seems to respect or listen to them when it really counts. 

this used to be a show I loved because the doctor picked up ordinary women and showed them extraordinary things, and more importantly, showed them that they could be extraordinary too. now it’s a show about extraordinary women trying to live ordinary lives while a man shows them extraordinary things but insists on treating them like mundane, ordinary beings. 

I really hope chibnall doesn’t continue this trend.

i suspect we’re meant to empathize with clara at the end, but disagree with her, but like honestly, tell him the fuck off clara. I mean, he won’t learn from it, because moffat’s doctor never does, but tell him the fuck off anyway.

episode 8: mummy on the orient express

rating: 💜💜💜🖤��

pretty good. brought down, as usual, by the doctor’s personal struggle of the season, but pretty good. 

great build-up, good suspense, fun mystery. good atmosphere. unsatisfying to have no answers about the perpetrator. zero memorable characters, which is the biggest reason it rang dull, imo. 

clara wears the flapper look extremely well. it’s pretty sad when clara’s outfit is a highlight of an episode, though.

might recommend.

episode 9: flatline

rating: 💜💜💜💜🖤

I enjoyed an episode of doctor who!!!!!! will wonders never cease!!

the only bad part of this episode was the last minute or two where they touched upon the doctor’s "am I a good man” pity festival and gave us another glimpse at missy. 

everything else: fantastic. moral struggles! intense and frightening scenes! fascinating new ideas! neat special effects! the most thrilling new doctor who enemy I’ve seen in ages! clara being absolutely outstanding - moreover, finding out that she is outstanding! fantastic solution at the end! memorable characters who I rooted for!

that was a thrill from start to finish and the first time all season I’ve really, actually, truly remembered why I used to love the show. 

would recommend for sure!!

episode 10: in the forest of the night

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

pretty touching, and actually hit most of the emotional beats it was aiming for! that surprised me.

loved the concept behind the trees. appreciated maebh’s story for the most part. cute to have the kids from the school interacting with the doctor.

still not sure what the point of danny is? I like him and he and clara have their sweet moments but it’s hard not to feel like every writer writes him differently, and like him saying “I don’t care what the truth is I just don’t want to be lied to” rings false because every time she has told him the truth it’s been a problem.

also: so exhausted by the idea that danny, as clara’s boyfriend, has any say over how clara’s allowed to spend her time, or who she chooses to spend it with. 

that’s not danny’s fault I don’t think he’s intended to be read as controlling I think the writers are misogynistic little shits.

episode 11: dark water

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

I went into this one preparing to loathe it and as it turns out I was mostly wrong!

this would have been 4/5, except that only since missy’s a girl they have the gall to make her relationship with the doctor tread on explicitly romantic territory? uh-huh. seriously that kiss scene was awful and moffat’s “surprise kisses where one participant is extremely uncomfortable” strikes again. 

let the doctor kiss men, you fucking cowards.

but... masterful plan, pardon the bad joke. saw the twist when they went into the elevator, of course, and internally screamed. can’t believe I recognized the stinger, but I did. very well done, very well set up, very emotional. 

seriously if it weren’t for the fact that missy and her “romance” and her “craziness” represents everything I fucking despise about doctor who’s recent treatment of women, I’d say this was a damn good episode. what a shame.

episode 12: death in heaven 

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

it was good but a large part of the reason I feel so good after watching it is just the fact that I probably won’t have to deal with so much irritating “blah blah soldiers suck” drivel and the whole “am I a good man?” pity fest from the doctor if I watch s9.

another large good part is the shoutout at the end to lethbridge-stewart, that was sorely needed tbh. about time. 

missy was well acted, but I’m still so fed up with the boring het treatment of it all. hey quick questions: why would time lords give a fuck about gender roles or gender orientation as more than weird, antiquated quirks? for that matter why do they even acknowledge the existence of a gender binary half the time? i’ll never know.

good choices include the plot and its resolution. laughing forever at doctor who’s insistence on upgrading their villains to make them somehow scarier all the time, but at least they had a plot reason for it too. also, clara’s bit about feeling special. that’s something I’ve thought was missing from doctor who for a long time, and to see it in a form I can almost believe was a breath of fresh air.

boring choices include setting up as if this episode is going to be all about clara being a total badass, only for it to last all of three seconds. which isn’t to say that clara wasn’t or isn’t a badass so much as, “boy do I love watching an episode where she spends nearly all of it upset and having no lines though.” hint: I do not.

mediocre choices include the characters chosen to be killed off. not like I expected better, of course. please, if you’re listening, let bill come out of her adventures with the doctor alright. people who don’t fit in moffat’s box of tricks so rarely do. 

i’ll watch the christmas special some other time. i sense another bad one coming on. 

s8 sucked but I liked some parts of it! wonder how s9 is.

[jillmckenzie1]

My Name Is

Director Zack Snyder has thoughts. During a charity event screening of his films Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, he was asked about the depiction of Batman. Specifically, the depiction that the Caped Crusader was awfully, well…homicidal. During the film, Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight straight-up mows down crooks with cunningly hidden machine guns in the Batmobile and decimates goons in a brutal warehouse battle. It’s all a bit much.

Snyder responded with the immortal quote, “Someone says to me: Batman killed a guy. I’m like, ‘F**k, really? Wake the f**k up.” It’s not surprising that the guy who made 300 and who is a noted devotee of Ayn Rand would make a superhero movie with an almost complete lack of a light touch. Snyder directed Man of Steel, the film that kicked off the DC Expanded Universe as a direct competitor to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One could say his films are gritty, dark,* and his aesthetic set the tone of the universe initially.

You know what? That’s okay, provided you’re telling the right story with the right characters. The superhero genre is wildly malleable, and a character like Batman can work with a darker-toned story. That shouldn’t be the default tone, though. Superman doesn’t need to be grimdark. Ever. The good news is that the pendulum is swinging the other way and the films of the DCEU are lightening up.

Wonder Woman had a clever sense of humor. Aquaman had crazy set pieces involving armored seahorses. While the films of the MCU are often criticized for having interchangeable tones, the DCEU seems to be going in a more director-focused direction. That’s a smart move, and we’re seeing more evidence of that with the newest installment, Shazam!

The holiday season can be a bummer. 14-year-old Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is acutely aware of that. He’s been in and out of foster care for years in Philadelphia, and he’s developed a reputation for being a touch troublesome. Can you blame him, though? As a young child, he was separated from his mother, and he’s got a list of all the Batsons located in the area. Billy knows she’s out there somewhere.

His search is interrupted when he’s placed into a foster home run by the kindly Rosa Vasquez (Marta Milans) and Victor Vasquez (Cooper Andrews). They have five other foster kids, all of them welcoming and warm. Billy particularly clicks with Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), a sarcastic fan of the new heroes that have been coming out of the woodwork. In a nice touch, Freddy even owns a crumpled bullet fired at Superman. The bullet even has a certificate of authenticity.

Then…things get weird. While bullies are hassling Freddy, Billy steps in. They give chase and Billy escapes on the subway. Only everyone else on the train disappears. The train arrives at the Rock of Eternity, the lair of the Wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsou). The magician needs help. He’s looking for someone to transfer his power to, someone pure of heart. Billy fits the bill.

With a crack of thunder, Billy is transformed into a hilariously swole superhero (Zachary Levi) with a vast array of abilities.** He’ll need them, since the embittered Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) is out there. Sivana had his own encounter with the Wizard, and he’s on a quest to release the Seven Deadly Sins upon the world. Like you do.

If Shazam! were a household pet, it would be an adorable Labrador retriever. This dog is friendly, a little crazy, and just wants to love you all the time. He wants to go for miles-long walks. He wants to play fetch for hours. When you stagger home, exhausted, and you just want 15 minutes of peace, the dog jumps on you continuously, almost saying, “OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU SO MUCH LET’S GO FOR A HIKE IN THE FOOTHILLS AND CHASE SQUIRRELS AND DO DOGGY THINGS COME ON GET UP GET UP GET UP.”

That’s not to say I disliked it. While director David F. Sandberg has made a film that feels incredibly long at times, it’s always punctuated with a great deal of humor, heart, and some full-on horror occasionally.*** The film feels like a throwback to the output of 1980’s Spielberg and Zemeckis, where it occasionally is just gory enough for kids to feel like they’re getting away with something watching it.

Long stretches of the screenplay by Henry Gayden are very funny, particularly the second act. After Billy has gotten his powers, he doesn’t immediately start fighting crime and protecting the good citizens of Philadelphia. He and Freddy try to buy beer. He fires lightning out of his fingers to charge the cellphones of passersby. He becomes an online sensation by just screwing around with his powers. I think the average teenager would behave in much the same way, and I liked that. There’s some smart writing on display mocking the tropes of superhero cinema, but the script has real heart when necessary.

Let’s also take a moment to direct praise at the script for a positive portrayal of the foster system. For years in movies, foster homes have been depicted as hellholes populated by people who are dismissive at best and as demonic at worst. The reality is that the vast majority of foster parents are people who genuinely want to help kids who have caught a tough break. For a major blockbuster to push this concept is a wonderful thing.

I liked the cast, and it’s always a treat to see Mark Strong lean into playing a villainous maniac. As Billy, Asher Angel is a quiet center to the madness going on around him. As his grown-up alter ego, Zachary Levi’s Shazam is perfect. He’s brimming over with that jumpy Labrador retriever energy, and he believably shifts from enthusiastic to a little selfish to embracing the mantle of responsibility. I would have liked for the two of them to have had performances that were in sync a little bit more, so you could feel like this was two sides of the same person.

With all that, I was impressed to see Jack Dylan Grazer walk away with the entire movie. His Freddy is legitimately witty, a kid who uses his wit as a shield to protect himself from a frequently hostile world. Playing that balance without coming off as bitter is not easy, and Grazer allows his sadness and fear to peek out.

Superhero comics were originally aimed at kids. It’s refreshing to me to see a superhero movie that remembers that, leans heavily into the adolescent wish fulfillment, and isn’t obnoxiously self-serious. Shazam! is a rarity: a family movie that the entire family can genuinely enjoy without having seen two dozen other movies first.

  *One could also say that his films sometimes try way too hard.

**The good people at Wikipedia tell me that Shazam is actually an acronym, and Billy gains the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. Thanks, Wikipedia!

***Tonally, I kept thinking Shazam! feels like Gremlins. Dollops of goofy comedy, then some fairly intense and gnarly stuff takes place. You’ll probably notice this with the Seven Deadly Sins creatures, or when Sivana kills a guy by throwing him out of a skyscraper.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/my-name-is/

[ghezalplusmovies]

[Credit: 20th Century Fox]

[48]

Logan follows an older and weary Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as he is tasked with transporting a young girl (Dafne Keen) to a sanctuary as she is pursued by dark forces. The film also stars Sir Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook and Richard E. Grant and is directed by James Mangold (Walk The Line, The Wolverine)

My Thoughts On The Story And Characters

Logan is truly an emotional rollercoaster of a film and I enjoyed every single moment I was on the ride. Firstly, it is the realization that this would be the last time we would ever see the fabulous Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (yes, unless he makes an appearance in Deadpool 2) after seeing him portray the character for 17 years! The subsequent reasonings are the film manages to have you chuckling aloud one moment and then finding yourself trying to hold back tears the next. It was a strange experience that genuinely simulated what a coaster feels like… The need to brace yourself for what is coming next and the intense feeling of elation when you overcome that hurdle.

| Deadpool (2016) Review |

‘X-Men’ (2000) Credit: 20th Century Fox

‘Logan’ (2017) Credit: 20th Century Fox

How is this man possible?!

There are many that hold the X-Men near and dear to their hearts and although I have seen the films, I’m not one of those that fawn over the mutants. I thoroughly enjoyed the Fassbender and McAvoy films and it has been literal centuries since I watched the original films from the early 2000s. Having a base understanding of who Wolverine is and the relationship he shares with Stewart’s Charles Xavier will certainly enhance your experience, however you don’t need to know every single thing about this universe in order to enjoy Logan. The acting all around is incredible and the key relationship that consists of Logan, Xavier and Laura/X-23 is easily my favourite aspect of the entire film. We already know the chemistry that exists with Jackman and Stewart because of their years working on the X-Men together and seeing these two heavyweights interact with Laura, who is portrayed absolutely brilliantly by Dafne Keen, will pull every single heart string you have despite the fact that she has never appeared in the franchise.

So darn adorable [Credit: 20th Century Fox]

The integration of the R-rating is executed perfectly. There was no excessive gore or violence that made me think, “well that was unnecessary!” Every stab through the face and layman amputation served its purpose and was actually showcased which made the action sequences essentially flawless. None of those bullshit quick cuts or shaky cam (lookin’ at you, 2016’s Jason Bourne!) that make you want Wolverine to come through the screen and put you out of your misery. Whenever the adamantium claws came out, shit went down and seeing the tag team work was just spectacular! People also swore a ton and I fucking relished in that shit, dude. I am one that truly doesn’t care about profamity so frankly, the more f-bombs Captain Picard says, the better!

Keen is nothing short of incredible ‘Logan’ [Credit: 20th Century Fox]

‘… I Shed A Tear Or Five Throughout The Watch’

The story is seemingly predictable at times and one or two lapses in logic occur but because it is crafted so wonderfully, these instances don’t really bug you because you want to see what they encounter next. You want it to finish at whatever happy moment occurs because you care so deeply for these guys, I had no idea I would feel as connected to these characters as I did but I shed a tear or five throughout the watch. I enjoyed the secondary characters and thought they served the plot progression well and Holbrook portrayed the long lost villainy Skywalker cousin serviceably, I wondered if I wanted to learn more about his backstory but realized the mystery that surrounds him works better for this film. Although if I had to fault him, I did feel like his character was kind of evil for the sake of being evil. I actually enjoyed Richard E. Grant’s character a bit more and would’ve liked to see him be more of the focal point.

The inclusion of humour was one of the biggest surprises I experienced in Logan. I really didn’t expect to laugh as much as I did but I think it was because of the R-rating that allowed itself to open up and expand its humourous horizons to a more adult audience… The ones that find it hilarious when a frustrated old man tells a little girl to “shut the fuck up” kind of thing, you know? Every character had their own respective humour incorporated into them so when they did or said something funny, it felt natural to the character… We all know a character or two in film who aren’t funny at all but their movie wants you believe they are so they just throw as much shit at the wall as they can to see what works and 9 times out 10, it doesn’t work. Logan‘s humour is incorporated logically and was oh so enjoyable.

How Were The Other Aspects Of ‘Logan’?

Logan isn’t your run-of-the-mill superhero/comic book flick. It is very much a character-driven drama that doesn’t rely on flashy superpowers or bombastic action sequences to tell its story. Quite the contrary, really. Director Mangold, who previously helmed the Academy Award-winning Walk The Line, must have taken cues from his Johnny Cash biopic because it is focused solely on the life of Logan and how the few relationships he has affects his overall being. Seeing him gradually learning how to interact with Laura and how much he genuinely loves Xavier – without having to tell him – it is such a treat to watch a “superhero” film that doesn’t need the explosions or superficial turmoil to create tension.

[Credit: 20th Century Fox]

The way lighting is used is also fantastic; although the film is incredibly sullen during certain instances, the lighting in the frame places emphasis on the character’s face while the dark surrounds them. Logan is a beautiful-looking film and there are definitely a ton of moments I would want to have on my computer as an HD screensaver I can use to stare at while I bawl uncontrollably.

If you’re looking for a spectacular send-off of everyone’s mutant that has a little bit of a Western feel mixed with some fantastically bad-ass action sequences and a touch of heart wrenching devastation, please check out Logan.

… And make sure to bring your children ;)

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Logan receives 4.5/5 Matt Damon heads

pssst…

Logan (2017): Hugh Jackman Ends His 17 Year Relationship With The Wolverine With A Crushing Bang (Review) Logan follows an older and weary Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as he is tasked with transporting a young girl (