#underutilized. but when they hit they hit GOOD

[aroaceleovaldez]

non-exhaustive list of canon powers Nico di Angelo either has shown or is heavily implied to have:

Shadow-travel

Manipulation of shadows/darkness (also possibly use of shadows as a pocket-dimension a la Magicians using the Duat in The Kane Chronicles)

Becoming intangible/shadows

Complete control over skeletons/bones (dead or alive, including summoning, reanimation, and/or changing shape of them) and being able to sense their presence

Summoning, reanimating, commanding, and dispelling the dead/undead (Skeletons, zombies, ghosts, etc & varieties) and being able to sense their presence

Ability to understand/communicate with the dead/undead and potentially other beings of the Underworld

Inherent complete comprehension of Latin

Ability to perceive the usually unperceivable/possibly look upon a deity’s true form without repercussion (at least moreso than the average demigod, though possibly is restricted to chthonic beings) (ex: Tartarus, potentially also interacting with his parents, etc)

Interacting tangibly with ghosts (implied to be a Ghost King thing rather than a Hades/Pluto thing)

Partial or complete immunity to different effects of the Underworld/things within (can consume food/drink of or in the Underworld without repercussions, effects from the Lethe wear off over time instead of being permanent like usual for mortals, etc)

Astral projection/”Walking in dreams”

Dream manipulation and projection (Sending dreams to others, etc.) (presumably includes sharing/projecting dreams with others) alongside inflicting sleep upon others even from a distance.

Illusions

Manipulation of emotions/aura that inflicts specific emotions on others (ex.: radiating fear/death onto enemies)

Projection of emotions and memories onto others (can be so forceful it causes physical damage like a shockwave)

Geokinesis (all forms but also specifically generating black marble) (presumably also specialized control over precious gemstones & non-paper currency)

Temperature manipulation (seemingly only lowering temperature)/creating frost)

Control/manipulation of souls, including living beings (ex: ripping out Bryce Lawrence’s soul)

Perceiving/reading/judging of souls (most likely also a Ghost King thing over Hades/Pluto thing, but possibly both)

Converting living into dead/undead, aka instakill (ex: disintegrating monsters to bone with one touch)

Lowering or manipulation of own vitals (breathing, heart rate, etc)

Death Trance/pseudo-hibernation (possibly also general control over states of consciousness at least for self, in combo with control over vitals & dreams)

Sensing death (impending or when it occurs, sometimes receiving dreams/visions of it occurring)

Able to sense other children of Hades/Pluto (potentially also other chthonic beings in general/able to identify based on sense alone) and also just living beings in general, such as mortals (possibly via souls).

Improved navigation underground/in the Underworld and ability to traverse restricted or normally unnavigable parts of the Underworld

Enhanced strength/abilities when in the Underworld

Inherently unnaturally quiet (possibly able to silence sound on a designated target)

Hiding/shielding self from being perceived (seemingly related to shadows/silence)

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

update i saw the mario movie !! it was cute actually

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

I’ve been simping over your ‘human’ Nomicon design since it came out in Ninja-November. If you have any headcanons about them, would you please share?

ah, a fellow monster/eldritch horror enjoyer I see! thank you! <3 tbh that Nomicon design was like an one day revelation, because while I love all the human!Nomi designs I've seen over the years (and there are some banger ones, man), it hit me that we as a fandom really underutilize all the uncanny aspects Nomi possesses. So ye. I do have a couple hc.

Nomicon is an entity that doesn't have its own face and voice.

Whenever Nomicon talks to Randy it uses proxies in form of art/images/drawings/scribbles/writings. It gives strangely non-verbal vibes for something so cryptically eloquent! And whenever it does use a voice, its voice of the First Ninja (or more accurately his VA xD) , its first owner/wielder. When it uses a face, its usually the static/unmoving marble-like faces of Art or silly pen scribbles - both of which hold that uncanny valley look of something that looks human but really isn't. Not to mention the fact that it once literally stole Randy's face/body to teach him a lesson.

I like to think that Nomicon has a library of faces/visages/voices it can take on, but all of them are creepily unsettling because - what would a book know about how to be human? It's face moves wrong, the eyes are too wide open, its body is creepily still, the voice uses inflections like its copying someone else (and sometimes voice warbles and changes/overlaps with other voices because it has so many).

All of it gives these fae/cryptid vibes of creatures that steal voices/faces to trick people, but in this case Nomicon collects those faces/voices from its owners along with their memories (which is another messed up thing we collectively forget is very creepy lol).

Nomicon is an entity that doesn't have a body, and most importantly - hands.

The reason I gave Nomicon so many shadow hands is because, well, Nomicon is a book. Hands hold those books, so the hands are very important to Nomi. All those shadow hands? Are memories of all the hands that held it (mostly previous Ninjas, but also the Creep and some others). It remembers everyone who held it.

The fit- the hat and the cape are kind of obvious, it look like center of the cover and the cape looks like covers on either side with pages underneath. The weirdest addition I made - is the spaghetti noodle-doodle 'hair'.

It constantly fascinates me that Nomicon, besides the Greek Key/9 motif, has those sort of concentration circles that are also present during Mask/Suit transformation. It gave me thought of sort of weird halos i guess?? Which adds to creepy vibe, but in this case its biblically accurate angel / holy deity type of vibes.

Nomicon has very basic understanding of humanity.

For all the experiences/memories/personalities it was created from and it absorbed over the years, human things are a rather alien concept for the book. It's the reason Nomicon is so bad at its timing whenever it buzzes Randy. It just doesnt care that you are at school Randy, its trying to teach you how to be a better ninja!!! In some sense, it absorbed the most prevalent quality of First Ninja - the dedication to duty, the whole reason for its existence - to serve Ninjas to be the best they can. So, such human/mortal things as good grades/video games/a good nights sleep are very nebulous concepts to it.

Less of a hc but more of an observation/gripe but-

COME ON ITS NAME??? Ninjanomicon as in Ninjanecronomicon??? Because lets be honest its not just a book/guide for Ninjas its a book full of DEAD NINJAS??? LIKE??? In some sense all previous Ninjas, when they go through Ultimate Lesson, 'die' in the real world (because they are no longer Ninjas) and are preserved in Nomicon. And First is like deadass dead? (Plop plop too lol). So I feel like there should be more creepiness about that.

Anyway thats basically most of it, and sorry for silly doodles but i cant really draw creepy stuff xD

[karmanun]

So I just finished TDP S6…

I have a LOT of thoughts but the one I really can’t get out of my head is just how they came back around with the bad guys. By which I mean, my biggest complaint the last couple seasons is how the show severely underutilizes it villains (think how they went through the whole trouble of rebranding it “The Mystery of Aaravos” and then Aaravos had barely any screen time) but MY GOD they’re such good villains, BY WHICH I MEAN, genuinely bad people but in a frighteningly understandable way.

This definitely applies to Aaravos and Viren: Aaravos was a father who couldn’t save his daughter and I definitely don’t blame him for being out for blood after, well, THAT. Viren’s story looks like a fantasy tale of thrones and dark wizards, but at its core is a story of how divorce pulled a family apart.

But in my personal opinion Claudia is the best example of this. It really hit me when she asks Aaravos what she should do just where her spiral into darkness was born from. It wasn’t out of maliciousness or apathy, we can see that in the kitten scene and in her relationship with Terry, but out of fear. She developed a fear of making choices from her parents’ separation, and now she chases guidance to an unhealthy degree. She will make the choice that others have pushed her towards even if she KNOWS it’s not the right thing to do because that fear got blown of out proportion to an unhealthy degree. It obviously does not absolve her of anything but it’s so refreshing to see in a villain because of how HUMAN it is.

And you know it’s just going to get worse now that she’s got Aaravos to look up to as her new father figure…

[againsttheskull]

feel like robot whumpers are very underutilized !

+ constant pressure of surveillance. whumpees are not only constantly monitored, but robot whumper has unique insight into their micro expressions, heartrate, nervous tics, and so on

+ whumpees seen as just a statistic, a part of a checklist. sadism has nothing to do with it. it’s all routine.

+ no opportunity for bargaining or begging. robot whumper has as little control over their own actions as the whumpee

+ makes for a really good reluctant whumper. they physically cannot disobey their programming. they’d have to follow through, even if it means hurting someone they care about

+ android whumpers, being made of metal, tend to hit very hard. they often injure more than they intended to, more than they know.

+ additionally, little if any touch sensitivity. can’t tell when they are grabbing or choking too hard.

[iamthecomet]

Imperfection

[Kinktober Day 15 - Aftercare] Yeah I'm jumping ahead of myself, don't look at me like that.

Just over 900 words Dewther aftercare (with a touch of angst), below the cut. Not posted on AO3 yet (or edited) because I want things to get posted in order.

Dew whines when Aether pulls away. A quiet sound, pulled from somewhere deep in his chest as Aether slips free of Dew’s body and leans back on his haunches to survey the damage.

Dew’s eyes are closed, body boneless against Aether’s flannel sheets. Aether watches his fingers clench and release in the comforter. Still riding some part of his pleasure. Blush still bright on his cheeks, only just starting to fade where it bled down to his chest. 

Aether watches Dew’s chest. The easy rise and fall of it as he comes down. He’s a mess. Collarbone riddled with bruises. Hair mussed. Nipples swollen and abused. Cum slick on his belly and between his legs. 

Aether can’t help but touch him there. Gently. A soft probe of his fingers against swollen stretched skin. Dew hisses. Eyes cracking open as Aether dips the tips of his fingers inside the still twitching ring of muscle. 

Dew cocks an eyebrow–a question he’s too far gone to ask.

“Just making sure you keep your promise,” Aether says softly. Bracing one hand on Dew’s thigh while he pushes his cum back into Dew’s body with two fingers. Dew moans, lets out a shaking breath. “You don’t want to spill any do you?” 

Dew shakes his head. Eyes still vacant, glassy. Aether indulges himself for another moment. Just a handful of more seconds of feeling the silky glide of Dew’s body. But then Dew whines for real and he knows it’s over. That pleasure has started to morph over into discomfort. 

He leans back on his heels and finds Dew looking at him. Copper eyes narrowed to tired slits.

“I’m so sticky.” 

“Yeah,” Aether drags his fingers through the mess on Dew’s stomach. “You are. You want help?” 

Dew nods without hesitation. A testament to how deep he’d gone. Dew doesn’t always ask for help. Sometimes disappears immediately after a scene to shower, to clean himself up, to put himself back together in private. Then he’ll come back, warm and smelling like tea tree, and curl into Aether’s arms. Ready then for praise, and comfort, and the love Aether wishes Dew would accept more often. 

Aether doesn’t let Dew think too much more about it–if he does he might change his mind. And Aether wants to help. Finds this kind of aftercare almost as rewarding as the actual sex. It’s important to him to know Dew is ok. And Dew being so fiercely private about his thoughts makes that hard. 

Aether stands. He gathers the little ghoul in his arms. Dew growls in protest but doesn’t fight, doesn’t wiggle. Doesn’t tell Aether to put him the fuck down. He just leans his head against Aether’s collarbone. Tucks his face into Aether’s neck. Aether hears his sharp inhale as Dew smells him. Clings to him. 

Aether lets him down once they’re in the bathroom next to his underutilized claw foot tub. Dew hisses as his feet hit the cold tile but that’s it. He sways on his feet a little and Aether wonders if maybe he pushed Dew too far–dropped him too low. 

He fills the tub and tries not to dwell on it. The room fills the steam, and the heady scent of lavender. 

“You first,” Dew mumbles, he points at the tub. Aether listens, slipping into the water and holdin a hand out for Dew as he settles his back against the cold porcelain. Dew climbs in, he settles between Aether’s legs, back to Aether’s chest. Aether feels the way his body melts as he sinks in. Water digging at sex sore muscles, soothing bruises and bites. Dew hums happily, nuzzling back on Aether. 

Aether’s heart seizes. He drags his fingers through Dew’s hair, gently working knots free. 

“Feel good?” 

Dew nods, hums an affirmative. 

“You’re always so good for me. You know that right?” 

Dew shrugs. He seems enamored with his fingers, wiggling them under the water and watching the way the light hits them. Aether bumps Dew’s head with his, gently. Just enough to let Dew know he’s serious. That he wants Dew to pay attention. 

“I could be better,” Dew says finally. 

Aether kisses the top of his head, he wraps two big arms around Dew’s middle and holds him tight against his body. Worry creeps in, digs under Aether’s skin. “Dew–” 

“I’m not dropping.” Dew says like he can read Aether’s mind. ”Don’t worry. I just could always be better.” 

“You don’t have to be,” Aether whispers into Dew’s hair and Dew nods like he understands. Aether isn’t sure he does. Dew might not be dropping, but he’s in his head anyway. Replaying the things he could have done differently. Things that might have made Aether happier. And that’s just as bad. “You don’t have to be perfect. I don’t want you to be perfect.”

“You should.” 

“No, I shouldn’t,” Aether counters, firm. He wishes Dew would turn around, that he could look him in the eyes and tell him how important this is. Wishes he had the words to prove to Dew that he is worthy of worship and love because of his imperfections and not in spite of them. Instead, all he does is shake his head hard. “It would be boring if you were perfect all the time.” 

“You think?” 

“I know.”

Dew sighs, Aether feels more of his tension leave. Without looking at his face, Aether can’t tell of it’s just Dew trying to end the conversation–or if it’s genuine. Dew turns his head, presses a handful of quick kisses to Aether’s jaw.  

“Thanks, Aeth.” 

[supernaturalconvert]

If I may

One criticism of Walker this season (for me) , has been that it has started to focus too much on other characters instead of Cordell ~ sometimes even outside of the core Walker family.

I am sorry but the strength of the show is Cordell and Jared. For whatever reason too much focus has been placed on other characters who can be a hit or miss depending on which character the focus is on and who they are interacting with.

Some actors like Kale have definitely grown as actors and also as characters but others I feel have not been fleshed out well this season.

For instance Abby and Bonham have barely been given anything to work with. Same is the case with Liam, like what is literally going on with him? When S4 was going to kick off, I very much expected there to be a conflict between Liam and Cordell about the break in since Stella confided in Liam and not Cordell. That would have led to a lot of angst apart from the obvious break in storyline along side the Jackal. Keegan and Jared have amazing chemistry and are seriously able to pull angst together which would have even given a solid arc to Bon & Abby as well. Right now everyone is underutilized and nothing seems cohesive.

Right now we have storyline that's trying to do too much in too little time (particularly in the last two episodes that aired). I feel the focus of the last episode should have been on Cordell getting kidnapped and the whole rescue operation. They should have given us clues and make these situation more edge of the seat.

The show has changed massively from S1 and I don't think in a good way in some aspects.

Let me know if you guys agree.

[respectthepetty]

I'm gracing you inbox again, Pet, because I saw colours and of course thought of you...

Ploy's Yearbook finished this week and whilst I don't think it was necessarily colour-coded (there are a lot of characters and I didn't put much effort into tracking visual patterns) I wanted to share this moment of deliciousness at the end:

Do you see it? I'm sure you see it... (the blinding light of yellow love and the deep purple and the piiiiiiink 😍).

Anyway, the series was a generally okay het offering which mostly showed that the women at GMMTV need more opportunities to shine. But what it did do very well was the period representation (like, actual talk of bleeding), Joong looking like a whole-ass meal in the last scene (seriously, I think you'll want to go see that, it's a bit too blurry to screenshot), and the woman popping the question for once! (oops 🤭 spoilers, I guess).

#I wish there was a way of adding tags to an ask #so that I could leave a sort of post script ramble #maybe this will have to do #there isn't really any point to this ask #just that I wanted to say hi and that I thought of you #💛💙

*warning* This is going to turn into a

Cupid's Last Wish Appreciation Post

"Do you see it? I'm sure you see it…"

I thought twice about using the above image because it comes across a bit hostile, but any chance I get to insert a Big Dragon moment into the conversation, I'm taking it! Also . . .

Hopefully, we ALLLLLL see that pink = 💕love💕even when it's for the het couple (when the only het couple I've ever cheered for was this one, which oddly enough, also included Namtan).

So maybe I'm just really rooting for Namtan and the other ladies because I'm already seated for her and Film to hit me with that Blinding Light of Love in Pluto.

You already know that I agree with you that GMMTV underutilizes its women, but since I gave Namtan some love, let me turn to Earth while I give some love to Cupid's Last Wish for having good period-rep as Korn clutched every kind of tampon and pad

For his body-swapping not-yet-boyfriend!

And not only did the man buy all the pads and tampons, he bought pain relievers and chocolate based on the staff's recommendations. THEN, he gave his guy a warm water bottle to help with his cramps and held him all night!

And that as AFTER he hugged his man when he was having a breakdown about his body betraying him.

Not only did Korn exhibit the highest level of emotional intelligence every second of that show, in this specific moment, he stopped the vehicle, asked Win what was wrong, and actually took in what Win was saying without dismissing it. Then, he got out of the car, went around to hug Win properly, apologized, and waited until Win hugged him back.

I have my grudges against this show (THAT DAMN MOTHER!!!!!), but Korn was the greenest of all green flags and the way he handled his future boyfriend's period should be held up as the standard.

But one of the writers of the show was Pong who also wrote the screenplay for Cooking Crush and Only Boo! which are two shows I think epitomize care and comfort between partners.

So now that I've gone on a tangent about partners actively taking care of each other, I hope you are enjoying seeing your flowers growing and not stressing too much over things beyond your control. I also want to let you know that I thought of you when I realized Domundi played me and instead of giving me a Pink Person in Your Sky, gave me a Yellow Yal, so I'm getting another Blue x Yellow pair.

But for some *reason*, I'm less petty about it.

I hope you find comfort in that. 💙💛

[hrodvitnon]

Just got out of my first viewing (spoilers so tag accordingly)

Yeah that was the most ridiculous shit ive ever seen and i had a blast lmfao.

--

To get the few negatives out of the way: Syclla and Tiamat got COOKED. That's crazy. Especially Tiamat. I had no idea she was in the movie and like choked on popcorn when they said her name. First onscreen appearance and she dies in like 3 seconds... sucks to be her. But honestly... this is probably one of those moments where Fan Content messes with the perception of a canon thing, at least for me. It hurts a lot more because of the emotional attachment from stuff like Ozymandias's story, Shamhat, and other adjacent stuff. If I had never seen those and watched her die I'd probably think "oh she had a cool design, but whatever". But yeah, my only serious complaint is her being shafted and I don't even really think I can call it objective because there was definitely an attachment there.

Ok besides that this might be my new personal favorite Monsterverse. Could be recency bias but I don't think so. Every human is at the very least entertaining. Everything Trapper did in this movie made me crack up, hearing Bernie say the words 'Discord chat' and 'Ghidorahstan64' (i stg this was a callout of some kind) onscreen gave me terminal whiplash, and although Jia and Andrew's story was sorta surface level, it was still endearing. I'd rather have a good human storyline, sure, but if we can't have that I'll settle for entertaining.

Here I thought Suko was gonna be an annoying marketing ploy to sell toys... I physically snorted in the theatre when Kong slammed him into that one ape. MVP of the film lmao. Mothra was... also there. Yeah, it really shows that she was a last minute addition. But DAMN she sent Godzilla ROLLING with a single attack. Speaking of, I don't think the Tia-Zilla form was as underutilized as I've heard people say it was. Especially that new Atomic Breath effect. Holy eargasm.

Oh man though, Shimo and Skar are fantastic. Skar hits the same beat as like a Celestial Dragon or Vladimir Harkonnen with way more grace than I would've expected from a big monkey. They go shockingly dark with his treatment of the ape-slaves and Shimo... especially with that female ape insinuation.

Holy shit poor Shimo, man. I honestly thought the Skar controlling her aspect would be kinda downplayed and just regular mind control, not genuine torture of some kind. I love that they let her have characterization by resisting him at every chance she gets, and that the pain control isn't always active (i'm assuming that's the insinuation of keeping her all chained and behind magma, it depowers and restrains her when Skar's not actively using her), further insinuating she gets merciful breaks from hellish enslavement only to be yanked back into it whenever Skar needs something turned into a popsicle. I think my favorite moment in the film is right after Suko shatters the crystal and the light blue luminescence fades to reveal her actual eyes for the first time. Eyes are used throughout the film to show subtle humanizing features, like Godzilla falling asleep in Rome, Kong's wide eyes when he sees his kin, and shock when Shimo realizes she's free. Having her eyes glowing the whole film makes her seem way more monstrous and inhuman, so when that suddenly goes away she starts getting framed as just an animal. Also her eyes are pretty. Also, I lied, that wasn't my favorite part of the film. My favorite part was Kong giving her chin scratches and that cute half-hug. This needs to be normalized. He needs to hug Godzilla next film. I will pay someone a king's ransom for this to happen. Final little detail, I like that Kong doesn't do his final roar from on her back but standing next to her, on the same level as all the other apes. He doesn't look to elevate himself over her or everyone else like Skar did, which is a great touch.

Also also also: Think it's time for a Doug solo film where he tries to steal all the Titans' food. Make it happen Legendary.

Much agreement here! I'd love for a solo Mothra MonsterVerse film to really capitalize on her lore and give her stuff to do (without dying at the end preferably); maybe establish some connection between the Chen family and Jia. Also, I need a little shot of Mothra going to visit Godzilla while he's sleeping in the Colosseum and just cuddle up to the big lug.

Andrews and Jia were a welcome breath of fresh air after GvK reversed Mark's characterization and Madison became... that. There was still some slight tension between Jia not feeling like she belongs and Andrews wanting to do right by her, even if it means possibly giving her up, only for Jia to go "you're my mom, you're my home, stop being dramatic". You love to see it.

Adding to the Doug solo film idea... Shimo adopts him because he's cute and she thinks his shenanigans are hilarious. Let us have fun wholesome times!

[frankiebirds]

hii!! 11 + 17 for the ask game!!! :))

salty ask game

these got long so they're under the cut. thank you for the ask!!

11. is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? why?

I can't really think of any off the top of my head but two close answers:

i don't understand the hatred towards jordan todd. at all. not because i like her but because i truly can't imagine feeling that strongly about a character who was in eight episodes. i also really liked her inclusion for how it reminded the audience "hey the BAU is Not Normal. they are largely desensitized to the things they see (not that they're unaffected, not at all, but they deal). here's how a normal person would react." i'll probably write a whole thing about it when i get to her introduction but i think her character served a really good purpose

nathan harris. he's not hated or even disliked, but a lot of the fic about him has him coming back as an unsub (not that that isn't a compelling and plausible premise!) but i like to think that nathan goes on to lead a relatively normal life. a lot of the time, especially when it comes to the more sympathetic unsubs, the audience and the characters are thinking "if only someone had intervened before it got to this point..." and nathan is a little underutilized in fic as an example of that intervention succeeding, if that makes sense? i also really like his character for how he put reid into a role he doesn't get often, as the one providing guidance and support for a younger character. if nathan came back as an unsub, that would just put reid into the victim role, which he is unfortunately very familiar with. i just think his dynamic with reid as it is in the episode is far more interesting than him becoming a killer. (again: i have no problem with those fics. ive read several! im not complaining about their presence, just the lack of the opposite, if that makes sense?)

SORRY i know i didnt really answer the question :(( i didnt just want to say "no" because thats a boring answer so you get these vaguely connected ramblings instead

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

TW DRUG ABUSE

i know this is a very basic and unsurprising opinion in the cm fandom but i really wish we'd gotten a real addiction arc for reid. he just kind of...stops using offscreen? it felt a little like the writers realised they had no idea how to write a character dealing with opioid addiction and just went "nvm he's better now <3" it just felt very noncommittal and underwhelming.

this is dark, but i would especially have loved to see reid hitting rock bottom. there are only so many option for that that wouldnt make him keeping his job...highly unrealistic, but one that comes to mind is him going on a full-on bender. i think that specifically could have really worked because they would still be able to relegate most of his drug use to the implied/offscreen, both for the purpose of time (because the A-plot is always the case) and to avoid getting too graphic with it, which i think may have been a concern.

now im specifically picturing an episode starting with reid picking up the phone to hotch telling him they have a case. he doesnt look Well, and when he hangs up, we get a wide shot of where he is and it becomes obvious what happened the night/weekend before. maybe it becomes apparent he doesn't even remember most of it. i think that would really fuck with him—it would fuck with anyone, but especially reid. that would be a good opportunity for ethan, too. he implied he had a problem with alcohol in 2x18 and i would have liked to see him help as someone who Got It at least a little bit.

[sirfrogsworth]

Just got back from the movie. The theater was in the middle of this hipster village type deal. Trendy shops and a wine bar.

I walked into the Alamo Drafthouse and the people at the front just kinda looked at me as I walked by. I had my ticket ready on my phone, but no one scanned it or looked at it. I don't know if it is always like that, but maybe next time I should try not buying a ticket and see what happens.

The large format fancy theater was as far away from the entrance as possible. I should have brought my cane. But I made it okay. It was indeed large and fancy. The seats were very comfortable and had electric reclining. There was also a button to summon a waiter which felt very high tech. And he would duck down super low as he walked in front of everyone. He looked like a penguin scurrying along. I ordered a pizza and it showed up just in time for the movie. It was pretty tasty.

The video quality was fine. I honestly didn't see a huge difference with the 4K laser projector, but the large screen was nice. I might be spoiled by my fancy HDR, 2000 nit TV. Projection just can't do that.

The front audio was much better than the last theater. Very clear voices. But the bass was a little boomy. Unfortunately I think they calibrate the audio for when there are more people there. 100+ humans in a space add a lot of absorption and diffusion. But there were maybe 8 people total and there wasn't anything to suck up the bass.

The Atmos was not even noticeable except in one or two scenes. That was disappointing. Atmos was one of the main reasons I chose that theater. I don't know if they skipped getting a Dolby calibrator or something. The side speakers were audible, but the ceiling speakers never made themselves known. Not even in the thunderstorm scene.

The ceilings were extremely high, so I'm wondering if the speakers were just too far away. Inverse square law would dictate they would need a lot of power and volume to cover that distance. This is probably why Dolby officially certifies theaters and this wasn't one of them.

This is what a front speaker in a theater looks like. There are usually at least 3 of them. Bigger spaces might do an array of 6--all behind the screen.

That is 7 feet tall, 200 pounds, and takes 3000 watts of power.

And you'll usually have 3 of these dual 18" subwoofers.

These beasts require 4000 watts of power and are also 200 pounds.

A typical theater Atmos speaker is like this.

About 30 inches tall and handles 350 watts.

All of those speakers have to cover about the same distance. Meaning the ceiling speakers were at a major size and power disadvantage.

So I think the theater was too big and too tall for Atmos to work effectively. You probably have to trade off a big screen or good sound. I'm going to try an official Dolby theater next time to see the difference.

The movie itself was okay. Maybe a 6 out of 10. A few good laughs, some fun action, but the humor was very hit and miss.

Now, I'm not just saying this because they are a creep, but Ezra is just... a lot. They do their funny jokey thing and it gets old very fast. It was okay when they were a side character, but when they are leading a movie, it fizzles. And then there is a second Ezra in the movie and they do the funny jokey thing turned up to 11.

Way too much Ezra.

But then Michael Keaton enters and he's just fantastic. I got such a rush of nostalgia from the 1989 Batman. That was probably my favorite movie for a good 3 years. 8 year old me was so happy to see my first Batman again. They even forced him to do some super cringe fanservice lines--and he nailed them.

He was like, "I'm going to take this bullshit line and make it awesome. Because I'm the goddamn Batman."

And Sasha Calle as Supergirl was also excellent. Though she was very underutilized. But if they can keep her, I think she could be a fan favorite.

The big complaint about The Flash has been the CGI. And I would say 75% of the CGI was great. There was a reveal of the Batwing that looked stunning. Supergirl flying was great. The vehicles were great. All of the invisible effects like backgrounds and set extensions were flawless. There was a big car chase that looked decent. There were plenty of top notch VFX in this movie. And I think the artists should be proud of those.

The stuff that didn't work was mostly just because the situations were unrealistic or the art direction was poorly done or they just didn't spend enough time polishing the effect.

When they animated Micheal Keaton doing jumpy flippy ninja moves, it didn't sell perfectly. And the speed and power of the Kryptonions was not nearly as well done as in Man of Steel.

But I know why people said the CGI was terrible. Though I don't actually think it was the CGI that was bad. I'm pretty sure they just made a poor aesthetic choice. Flash goes into the Speedforce and they cleary wanted to make it trippy and otherworldly. I don't think they were going for photorealism. I think they intentionally wanted everything to be in the uncanny valley. Unfortunately the style they chose looked more like a video game.

They were trying to do a Dr. Strange type effect and it just didn't work. It ended up being more... Lawnmower Man.

The only truly terrible effects were CG renders of people they couldn't get to do proper cameos because they were fired or were dead. Usually you need a 3D scan to do a CG double and it's hard to do that on dead people. The best was Admiral Tarkin in Rogue One, but they spent months and months on that.

CG Henry Cavill was probably the worst effect in the entire film and I'm guessing that really pissed people off.

The Flash running also looked bad, but that was 100% because Ezra Miller runs like a goof.

I have no idea why they run like that, but it looks so dumb and ruins the speed effect. Like, if you took them out and put someone running normally into the effect, it would have looked super neat.

And the only other VFX that didn't quite work was these slow motion falling babies. They looked photorealistic, but something about animating a falling baby in slow motion did not look right. Again, I don't think this was bad CGI. I think it was just a visual that was impossible to make realistic.

I know that sounds like a lot of bad effects, but that was every bad effect out of 2000+ total. Maybe 15 shots out of those 2000 were memorably bad. But the bad shots are always the most memorable and I guess that is why you don't hear folks talking about all of the flawless ones.

If you do see this movie and you haven't heard Kevin Smith's Superman story, you definitely should watch that first. Because the best gag in the movie will go over your head otherwise.

Sooooo, yeah... that was my night at the movies. On the drive there I got to see the Arch and downtown and it was beautiful. And on the drive home, Google decided to take me through every spooky ass neighborhood in St. Louis at midnight.

FUN!

[generalluxun]

you think that if Zoe didn’t exist which I believe she is unnecessary. You think Aurore the girl whose Stormy Weather should have became the bee miraculous holder ? I feel like she is so underutilized and we could have another blonde with an attitude. Since Astruc is bent on making Chloe a spawn of the devil.

Yeah, in terms of narrative use Auore could everything Zoé does. Zoe *could* have had more uses but she hasn't been sent down that path and I feel like they've shut a lot of them out. I can't see her being part of a Chloé narrative anymore. She's never shown she cares about Chloé at all past what she said when she was lying to Chloé in Queen Banana.

It's a shame honestly. Zoé had potential, now she's just another generally good kid who has/had a crush on Marinette. You can't swing a Cat in the ML without hitting one of those

[cvbullshit]

Can we get more "What if {insert Sans} was in the Bad Sanses?" things because that concept is so underrated and underutilized, especially when people think it means that the Sans willingly joined.

Like, let me run over some concepts of this.

Idea 1: Classic.

Not only can this be an actual strategic move but also can lead to Bad Sanses x Classic, especially toxic versions because I need me some toxic DarkHumor/ClassMare.

But literally one of the Bad Sanses can have the idea to kidnap Classic and use him as not only a hostage but a shield. Because Classic is important af to everything and while doing shit could backfire in the Bad Sanses faces, it would still be fucking bad for everything. I'm also seeing it going back and forth on Error stealing Classic to use the exact strategy for his whole thing and the Bad Sanses trying to steal him back. Classic will just be having it rough as hell in this.

Idea 2: Lust

The idea of Lust being a info giver all because the Bad Sanses are holding something over his head fucking hits hard, because he doesn't wanna be involved in this but, because of whatever they have going on to keep this a thing, he has to do it. He can offer to be an ally of the Star/Good Sanses but secretly be giving away information or secretly leading them to traps.

Bonus points for if it becomes sort of a Color and Killer situation between Lust and Dust and/or Horror.

Idea 3: Flowey!Possession

...HOW HAS NO ONE THOUGHT OF DOING THIS BEFORE, LITERALLY NIGHTMARE CAN JUST HOLD FLOWEY'S KILL OR BE KILLED MOTTO AGAINST HIM AND USE THAT TO CONVINCE OR MAKE HIM JOIN THE GROUP- Would it pose complications as at least one of the members would hate Flowey and/or feel pity for Sans? Yes but that would make it SPICY. And Flowey would probably grow to resent the group and plan to backstab them, THE SPICY DRAMA!!!

Idea 4: Motherfuckin I N K

Speaking of spicy drama- UGHHH I have seen people attempt to do this but they make the reasoning and story such ass. Ink is chaotic neutral, at most he would care about Error destroying the AUs, not really what Nightmare is doing because Nightmare forming the bad Sanses at most causes a few issues with monsters in AUs dying from the other three, Nightmare is still technically doing what his AU created him to do, it's still following the story just with added shit.

Literally, literally, Ink can be part of both the Stars/Good and the Bad Sanses, all both sides need to do is help him when he needs help dealing with Error. That's it. And neither side know Ink is helping them until Ink forgets and screws up, revealing to one side that he was working for the other. When questioned about it, he can just say what tf he was doing and one side drops him, which I more of see being the Good Sanses because I doubt Nightmare would forfeit Ink's help when Ink was being genuine, as much as he can be, in helping both sides as long as he got what he wanted out of it, Ink never said he was going to stop helping either side.

And these are ideas I came up on the spot.

WE NEED MORE OF THIS!!

[aimportantdragoncollector]

AU where Trio holders lives and acting Pro heroes that regularly picking up interns from UA. But being chaotic them, that always leads to completion of who got best intern

I'm always delighted to see my favorite trio get an AU where they can be happy!

1. Just to make this an extra happy AU, the trio defeated AFO way back in the dawn of the age of quirks. AFO gave Yoichi immortality as a last jab, saying they would continue their battle later. Alas AFO didn't realize the immortality would get duplicated inside One for All and make his brothers' annoying boyfriends immortal too. AFO laid low planning to try to take over Japan again later, got amnesia, married Inko Midoriya, and had a kid. He's currently living life as a genuinely ordinary salaryman who loves comics.

2. Japan is just a lot happier overall without AFO's bad influence. The trio worked together to stop the HPSC from getting too corrupt. They are extremely famous as Japan's three greatest heroes. Yoichi is famous as a quirkless hero, All Might also became a quirkless hero, and quirkless discrimination never took off as a result. Izuku and Katsuki never stopped being friends. Third most has One for All, though the trio passes it around sometimes.

3. Yoichi snatched Izuku up right away as his intern because Izuku is also going to become a quirkless hero. Yoichi has no idea that Izuku is his nephew. How could he, when Hisashi Midoriya doesn't even know himself? But they still hit it off right away. Yoichi brags about Izuku to anyone who will listen. Shouto Todoroki has a million conspiracies, his favorite is that Yoichi is a time-traveling older version of Izuku.

4. Second picks Hitoshi Shinsou as his intern. Hitoshi is pretty surprised about this. However Second knows a lot about turning a weak quirk into a weapon and working underground instead of in the spotlight. He has a lot of ideas about how to help Hitoshi reach his full potential. The only issue is that Hitoshi loves stray cats and keeps bringing them back to the agency, and Second refuses to admit he is scared of cats.

5. Third picks Mezo Shoji as his intern because 1. His quirk is criminally underutilized; and 2. he's clearly dealing with a lot of trauma from quirk discrimination. As someone who grew up during the dawn of the age of quirks, Third can sympathize a lot. He helps Mezo stop hiding his face and his scars.

6. Of course, in addition to being good mentors, these three are all insanely competitive. So they keep contriving to run into each other on the job and show off their interns. Izuku and Mezo are very embarrassed, especially Izuku because Yoichi keeps doting on him. Hitoshi embraces the competition and decides both are his rivals.

7. After a certain "incident" leads to an explosion of whip cream in town square (don't ask) Nezu calls in the three and warns them that if they don't tone it down, they will lose their interns. Yoichi cries for an hour at the prospect of being separated from Izuku.

8. The three do tone it down: at least until the next Sports Festival when they go nuts cheering on their protegees with giant banners, megaphones, and even a blimp. At this point even Hitoshi is embarrassed.

9. Yoichi finally finds out that Izuku is his nephew when he runs into Hisashi at the Sports Festival. There is pandemonium. The three greatest heroes tackled a random civilian! After realizing about the amnesia, Yoichi covers it up claiming that he mistook Hisashi for someone else. He'd rather his older brother never get his memories back.

10. Shouto Todoroki publishes a completely accurate theory online about Hisashi being All for One, but no one believes him. Perhaps partly because he still thinks Yoichi is a time-traveling Izuku.

(All of these asks are free to use in my Three Weeks of Trioholders event.)

[lets-try-some-writing]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love❤ (No pressure to answer if you don't want to) Have a great day!

Oh wow! Thank you! I wasn't expecting this but it was quite the pleasant surprise!

I do a bit of everything writing now, so I will link a fic for every type of reader I can imagine! I've been at this for nearly a year now, so I have a bit of a collection of fics.

Hunger Pains - An angsty mess delving into the seemingly highly underutilized aspect of the great war, that being the energon shortages. There are two endings to this fic, and fun fact! It was the first fic I ever wrote that I felt was actually good!

Grant Me This At Least - My first fic in a larger series and the introduction to around fifteen other associated works! I recommend this one not because it stands on its own, but because it leads into a far larger universe with copious amounts of worldbuilding. So if its ever a long night and you are looking for a read, I offer this.

Whispers in the Dark - Part of the AU for the fic listed directly above, this was my first ever actual ship centric fic. I usually stick to platonic or familial relationships, but I have preferences too and this is a bitter-sweet thing for those of you who like that.

The Many Lives of Optimus Prime - My first longform fic that is still in progress and planned to go on for a LONG time yet. This is a drawn out story which, as said in the title, follows Op during his various reincarnations and worldbuilds while still keeping to canon. I am very very proud of this fic.

To Serve His Will - My take on Shattered Glass. This has not been updated in MONTHS but once the inspiration hits me I am sure I will get back to it. I was in a weird mood writing this one, but its a fun read if you like blurred lines!

Its been a ton of fun writing fics and I hope to continue doing so for a long time yet! I will be sure to spread the love around!

[ninjagirlstar5]

Hello local Teruya enjoyer, mind if i ask why he's one of your favorite characters? As in, what made you so love the little guy turned big guy in sequel so much?

Oh boy. That's kinda hard to answer actually as I essentially worked backwards when I saw Teruya's character. As in, I heard about SDRA2 (and eventually DRA) through WeebyNewz's livestreams, looked at fanfics on AO3, and got to know Teruya's character through there before eventually jumping right in to writing him for my (shipping) project. As a result, my interpretation of him was far from perfect as I knew the broad strokes of his character and his role in both games but didn't know the little details until I went back to really consume DRA and SDRA2's story by actually listening/watching the streams or even playing the game myself. I'm going through SDRA2 right now with a Discord mutual, but it's been put on hold due to college. But since I'm essentially done with my spring semester now (all I have left is a critique for Printmaking but that class is pretty chill thanks to my professor so I'm not worried about it), I'm hoping we'll be able to pick that back up soon-ish. It'll depend on our schedules.

Anyways, back to the question as to why I love Teruya...I've essentially built up an image of him in my head thanks to my many on-the-fly headcanons and what I researched about him. But when I started watching DRA, I noticed he was a sweet, funny but flawed kid that can snap pretty easily at others and can get quite emotional while also taking part in bad actions that get others hurt just to benefit himself (hiding food for himself and plotting to murder Haruhiko being some of them), and being a hypocrite on top of that. But that didn't make me hate him or anything, but made me love him more as he's far from a perfect character, let alone a perfect person. Teruya lashing out, arguing with others, and just struggling to keep up in the killing game, even when he decides to better himself and take after Haruhiko and follow Satsuki's parting words, makes him a very interesting and nuanced character! I loved watching him caring about Yuki in Chapter 5 by checking in on him and being supportive, even when he falls for the obvious framing of Mikako by Monokuma. He still makes mistakes, but the little actions he does for others can make him a good friend that deeply cares. And the way he wondered why Fake!Yuki/Utsuro and Akane just...let them go, even when he agreed with Kinjo and Rei that they were awful, perhaps even evil people, that line made me go, "OH, his feelings are complicated" and that kind of nuance is SO juicy. The feeling of knowing this person has wronged you in a horrible way that you have every right to not only hold them accountable but cut them out of your life but you still miss them anyways because you loved them and the memories you've made with them despite everything? Good shit, more of this please. I like that Teruya has just a slightly different opinion than Rei and Kinjo's, even though he still agrees with them in the end and rightfully so. And I like seeing his slightly more mature personality while still having a few of his quirks and interests in SDRA2 as he felt a little more like an adult version of himself. Teruya is sooo interesting to dig into and analyze that I have a hard time organizing all of my thoughts on the fly but basically, I love him in DRA and SDRA2 and coming up with headcanons for him before, after, and in-between the stories. He's such a fun but sad character when you really think about it.

...Even if it will always annoy me on how underutilized he was in SDRA2. If he was just used a little more smartly and given much more care like in DRA, I feel like his death would've hit much, much harder, even with repeated viewings. Which is a shame cause I do think I can see where LINUJ was trying to go with Teruya, that Teruya was meant to be a character that did his best to help the SDRA2 cast despite being stuck in the killing game together and preventing history from repeating itself, only to be met with repeated failures despite trying to do everything right this time. And was unfortunately put into a position where he had no choice but to die lest the worst case scenario played out, all due to Mikado's plotting, Kinjo's choices, and Rei's mistakes. (They all played a role in it but all of them have different levels of responsibility for it, with Mikado being the biggest one since he's, you know, his murderer and turned Teruya's avatar into a firewall in the first place, but Teruya probably would've have been put into that situation if Kinjo just didn't use him as bait or if they simply had more time for Rei to make another escape code for Teruya to use for himself in case things go south - and that's assuming he was able to prioritize escaping despite witnessing Rei's supposed death.) But unfortunately, as much as I love Teruya, all I can remember from his role in SDRA2 is that he spouted hope platitudes in Chapter 2, started dipping out of the group in Chapter 3 (and it seems like I won't be able to COMPLETE HIS FTEs ACCORDING TO THE WIKI'S GUIDE ON HIS AVAILABILITY GODDAMMIT-), went CrAzYYyy in Chapter 4, and then just disappears and DIES in Chapter 5 and it isn't until Chapter 6 that we learned that Teruya purposely ate the poisoned food to destroy the firewall inside of him, trying to sacrifice himself and hoping it'll give the Kisaragi Foundation the time they'll need to get the rest of the cast out, never finding out that Kinjo hired Syobai to act as a double agent and that he used him and Rei as bait to try and distract Mikado from ever finding out about Syobai's double agent status. I feel as though Teruya was stripped of most of his nuances from DRA, and that frustrates me because I want him to be utilized more in SDRA2! I want to care about his relationship with the cast! I want him to be his own person with his own opinions, even when he agrees with and even looks up to Rei and Kinjo! I want him to have more moments of characterization and hear his stories about the Kisaragi Foundation and his reflection on his past instead of being hit with the amnesia plot point (which I feel did more harm to his character)! I want him to be the mediator of the group, like how he supposedly acted out that role back in the Kisaragi Foundation between Rei and Kinjo according to LINUJ in his concept art! And another reason why I don't like how Teruya is handled in Chapter 4 the more I think about it in hindsight, is that I felt as though LINUJ was trying to have him be like Kinjo. And I! Don't! Like that! Even if Teruya's beliefs started to become warped due to following Kinjo's leadership over the years and may have rose-tinted glasses in his belief in him, I still don't like how LINUJ handled him in Chapter 4! Because I don't want a Kinjo 2.0 that you can get at the dollar store, I want Teruya fucking Otori!!!

...anyways. My issues with how Teruya was handled in SDRA2 aside, I love him a lot. But I'll admit, a lot of that comes from my own interpretation of his character and how much depth I gave him from what I learned of him. And honestly, that's one of the fun parts of fandom: digging into a character to the point that you're probably overanalyzing them but you kinda don't care because it's so much fun to add even more depth to a character you love. He's my blorbo, my scrunkly, my fucked up lil guy turned fucked up big boi, and I can hurt and comfort him however I want.