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simowis · 1 year

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Monthly nonsense 23.10

I wish that I could erase my own memories. So I could relive his episodes, fall in love with him again, and then enjoy all of Javik's fanart again, including mine.

He just wanted to go back to his stasis bin, he didn't want to wake up at this time at all ... Of course he wanted to go back to his cycle more, even if it was just to die with his people together.

His eyes are like amber. Beautiful gold. Secreted by the organism, represents the sediment of time.

One only has to think carefully about his situation to be overwhelmed by his despair to the Marian Trench, never to surface in this lifetime. It's too much, too heavy, too big, too intense, too hard to escape.

His race is the opposite of loneliness, he can never become capable of enjoying it.

Does he ever really care about himself in this cycle? Beyond the basic necessities of life in his way.

Shepard's teammates work for him, but also get a lot of help from Shepard. Identity, status, planetary domination, and even a reconciliation with feud in centuries. Did Javik need anything? Vengeance? Bring him to fight? Nothing more.

And he didn't ask for anything except to go citidal once.

Because of loving him, I don't mind at all that he may reads me. Instead, thanks to his gift of touch sensing, misunderstandings become almost impossible. Seriously, What kind of awful things would be afraid of him to read ? Or on the flip side, how many nightmares has he not seen?

Wish I could hold him tight, even if it's just to help him share a little bit of his despair.

Want to drown in his golden eyes…

Since Javik's time, children have been taken into the military. If so, their scientific talents in the Protheans would have broken down at an early age. Can we assume that each of their scientists lived quite long? After all, there were no new bloodlines to join them.

Javik and I are watching the ongoing war and he's got a lot to say about it.

As this is a bit of a special day for me today, I wondered if Protheans had birthdays and if their society had such anniversaries, but sadly it was all too luxurious for Javik's time, I feel sorry for him, it would be nice to have the day he woke up from stasis as a second birthday, I said, but he would probably prefer it to be the anniversary of his race's death.

Is human like some kind of fox in Javik's vision? Furry, restless, cunning, always stinky——like all kinds of primitives in this cycle, but maybe somewhat cute ?

Rethinking the possible ideology of the Protheans, they are unlikely to be Social Darwinists, that is too radical, and Javik says they were 'once' barbaric, but that is stupid; and they would also uplift the 'primitive races' to make them 'join' their own society. Social Darwinists are less likely to elevate potential competitors, and more likely to destroy them. I still tend to think of them as realists. They should have transformed their society into a militaristic one in the 20,000 years they were at war with the Metacon, just like the body produces a lot of white blood cells when you're sick, but they didn't put aside their other studies, at least astronomy and biology, and they got even more hammered in the art of war.

I wish he could live more vividly in my mind.

Social Darwinism is a value that Javik used to soothe his spirit when his race was on the brink of extinction. Otherwise, he would not have been able to face such a tragic end.

why did he use the word “joined”？ What’s sex meanings in prothean’s culture? Is the word means two minds will become one when they having sex?

"My people are in a desperate situation with no help in sight, we are forced to take up arms to defend ourselves, no one else can help us." Javik said to me. After observing recent conflicts, both of us agree with this view. Destiny is not a handout. It is something you have to struggle for, with the cost of much blood and countless lives.

I can't help thinking about the way Prothean empathy actually manifests: tactile perception equals empathy, they don't need words or body movements to show these things, they just touch. That's what makes them seem calm and impassive, cold in their words. While I was witnessing the brutality of the war through videos, and my empathy was almost depressing me, Javik reached out his hand…

I asked Javik if I could have a bit of a break from him. I want to read more stories and play more games …… He said you've always been able to do that. I'm just pissed off ……

I love vampire Javik !

Maybe it's the graphicness of the video, the fact that it's happening, that drowned my empathy… it's really not easy to take, and I'm even starting to think that too much empathy is a weakness. Only drawing him gives me peace, I understand that he's seen too many of these things, how does he manage to be calm about it all?

Realise that I am courting Javik.

Wish he can be my family…

Protheans have such flat heads, what shape is their brain? The amount of information they process quickly and routinely is enough to burn a human brain, so their brains must be very advanced in processing information. Maybe they have multiple brains in parallel to process information? Javik, do you have any picture about your people's bodies? (I have the feeling that I'm becoming more and more like Liana or Mortin …）

I have witnessed my people's war through his four eyes, which he is now witnessing through mine. Reality and tales are tangling together. The blood and life on both sides is real.

#monthly nonsense

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billerak · 8 months

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So I recently finished The Magnus Archives and it seems to be a light fixation (not hyperfixation quite yet but it could become one with time, probably after I inevitably re-listen to the whole show), which means I must somehow talk about it.

Of course, the main thing I've been thinking about is actually the fears. So I've decided I'm gonna rank them exclusively on a scale of "do not vibe" to "kinda vibe."

None of them are true vibes, of course. That's the point. But you know. Purely personal preferences too, of course.

So, let us begin.

15) The Corruption/The Crawling Rot Yeah I do 100% do NOT vibe with this shit. I hate filth and sickness and while I don't hate bugs I do hate it if they get into my goddamn food. The stories of The Corruption always fucking sicken me.

14) The Desolation/The Lightless Flame I... don't like the idea of burning alive. That's about it really. Nevermind all the other horrible things this particular fear represents. Don't think it would take me, though: Don't have a lot of connections or things to live for. If anything I'd maybe become an acolyte? Hypothetically speaking I would love to commit some arson against people (on minecraft).

13) The Buried/Too Close I Cannot Breathe If this was just claustrophobia it'd probably be higher up. I kinda like enclosed spaces, and I've liked the few times in my life I've been underground. That being said, fuck the asphyxiation part of this. Or the actually being trapped part. Swallowing dirt or mud flowing into your lungs or being trapped in a box that keeps you like a contortionist? Fuck right off mate.

12) The Slaughter/Butchery I have some experience with gratuitous violence. I wouldn't want to experience it again. Also, From the River to the Sea. Fuck Israel and zionists.

11) The Spiral/It Is Not What It Is So, episode 100 kinda seems to imply having ADHD actually makes you more resistant to the spiral, which I find funny cuz I have it, but... yeah, the idea of my mind lying to me is actually very present in my life. Also, The Distortion was The Backrooms before it was popular.

10) The Stranger/I Do Not Know You Kinda keeping in line with the previous one, I do tend to stay away from strangers and I've always found mannequins to be creepy. I feel like the uncanny valley is why I've hated 3d games trying to be realistic for so long. Nevermind that I care a lot about my identity. The part where they take who you are from you is... among the most psychologically scary things in the show. This could be a bit higher on the list if not for the part where they take your skin and stick you in wax.

9) The Eye/It Knows You We all have secrets we don't want found out, and I am actually a bit paranoid myself. Probably has to do with my self esteem issues. I hate knowing that there's probably nobody judging me as harsh as I do myself, and yet... Yeah, it's a doozy. Hot take tho: I find the eye statements to be mostly underwhelming? I don't think they ever fully manage to grasp the fear of being judged.

8) The Flesh/Viscera I find this one scary because I find it appealing. I find the idea of shaping my body with something like the boneturner to be something I'd fall into with my strange sense of identity. Also the first appearance of this fear lives rent free on my mind, though I think the reason it's scary is how disgusting it is? And that could probably fall closer to the rot?

7)The End/Death Fun fact: I made my peace with death when I was like... 12. I laid in bed one night, realizing the inevitability of my own mortality, and I cried for a while about it. Then I realized... if I can't do anything about it, then why stress over it? We all die. Of course, I don't want to die. I don't want my loved ones to die. It's something I am kind of afraid of, but it's not something I despise, so it gets the middle spot on this list.

6) The Extinction/The Terrible Change We live in a generation where this fear will probably come to be. That's the scariest part of it, I think. I don't expect I'll live to see my 40's tbh. Whether it's global warming or a nuke that takes me (or unrelated health issues), I am certain humanity will end by its own hand, and it's sad. Probably won't get to mars either. (certainly not with the long rat)

5) The Web/The Spider I'm not afraid of spiders, but I hate manipulation. That being said the way it's presented in the show is not that scary. Either it's a spider controlling you to torture you, or you're part of a scheme so big you don't even realize it 'till the end. Maybe I don't find it that scary because I've never been subject to the type of manipulation others have.

4) The Hunt/The Everchase I don't like the idea of being hunted or hunting, don't get me wrong... But I also don't find it particularly scary. Police brutality is a bitch. ACAB. I guess it makes more sense for animals to be scared of it tho. Not a lot of thoughts on this one, save to say the hunt statement in season 5 was probably my favorite? Idk I really liked it.

3)The Dark/Forever Blind I'm still kinda scared of the dark, but mostly because I'm afraid I'll step on something and it'll hurt. I stopped believing in ghosts many years ago and weird sounds in my house are about on the same level of scariness whether it's light or dark. Really, the only thing that doesn't push this farther up the list is that I don't like the idea of becoming blind. The kids episode during season 5 was fucked up tho.

2) The Vast This was kind of in the run to be 1, but they do mention they get hungry a few times during the statements about the Vast so I don't like that. Honestly, I find none of the fears this manifests as that scary. Whether it be the sky, the ocean, or the void of space. Also I grow excited when I think about the insignificance of human life in the scale of things, rather than fearful.

1) The Lonely/Forsaken I'm an introvert. Do I need to say much more? Ofc I have family and friends and stuff, and I love discussing things with people... but The Lonely's stories never seemed that bad to me. I figure if I were to get taken by it (I wouldn't, ofc, as it's not something I'm particularly afraid of) I'd be far better off than most people. Yes, I know, kinda funny that the 3 that went on the daedalus are the ones I found least scary lmao.

Took like an hour to write this, but... yeah, I think I needed to get my thoughts out there. Don't take most of the middle spots too seriously tho, they can probably be interchangable depending on my mood. Only top and bottom 3 are fixed in place.

#The Magnus Archives #The Magnus Archives Spoilers

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spearxwind · 3 years

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jshdfjkd MAN. idk if you’re saying that just in general or about my comic specifically, the dragons in extinction are actually significantly smaller than all my other dragon ocs, I had to make them small to be manageable with the story x)

but other than that yeah dragons mean AND huge and its ok that theyre huge because they have human forms they can be gremlins in. send tweet

ive never heard of it, it looks super fucking cool though! sadly I dont think id have any people to play it with 😔

i’ve seen a playthrough! i really really love the first act, and while i enjoy the later acts I think the story is too weird/disjointed. it takes such a strange turn for no reason, I think it would have been better to develop leshy and the cabin more and that part of the lore in general. I’d like to play myself if there was an act 1 only edition perhaps but the missed story potential got me like :|

hello!! sorry this took so long to answer. unfortunately no, there really isnt a place where you can read about my ocs in a concise way. I’ve tried to maintain character pages but i just end up not updating them for months or years at a time because its a hassle, and I only really post frequently about three or four of my ocs.

I have a tag that’s ‘#oc ref sheet’ where you could start to look at some of them with some basic info (obviously the more recent ones will be the accurate ones, i dont bother removing the old sheets from the tags) but other than that yeah, you have to sift through tags :’) im sorry

recommended that you look through tags on desktop though, tumblr likes to show posts in non chronological order for some reason

you fool he could snake through the plinko

i dont hate it with a passion, havent even seen any episoded or anything i just think its fucking annoying. like i see how it can be good but i cant stand the main characters or their voices

“but alex thats the whole point” ok. its still annoying tho.

oh dude HELL yes!! aerial death rolls?? thats so sick. I love this guy already, you have a good day too and rock on 🤘

#ask #anon #ask dump #sorry some of these took a few days. im gonna be honest. i have been playing games the last few days until i pass out at night #coping unhealthily <3

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captainstarkky · 3 years

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What do you think marriage means to myul Mang? The way he keeps pressing for it, you'd think he cares about a piece of paper and ring that says theyre hitched. Is it his fondness for contracts? Or maybe I'm overreading this and it turns out myul Mang is just a traditional softie underneath all that smirk and stony glares😅😅

Hello CHINGU!

Don't worry, you're not overreading and overthinking anything.

And I can't believe that I actually forgot to mention this in even one of my posts; and this is a nice question, actually. Because he did press on that issue for 2 episodes.

This is just my opinion but 'no'. Myul Mang is not after the ring, the paper or anything that has something to do with marriage per se. Even sex. He isn't after all those things.

Instead, what he is after is Tak Dong Kyung herself. Well, in a sense, he's quite a softie inside after all.

It was probably because Tak Dong Kyung was the first human person who showed him warmth and a place. She was the first person who made him realize that even him has a place in the world. That even someone who's nothing like him has someone. That someone is Tak Dong Kyung.

But even before that, he was really just playing around. His smirks and stony glares are for fun (Episode 1-4); it's interesting for him. But he was probably just another bad case of falling as a result of playing hard.

Now for my hypotheses:

It's psychological. Myul Mang is someone born in the middle of light and darkness. He is doom, himself. He even said it himself - 'people want him, people hate him, and some even fear him'. It's because he is the personification of Doom. He does not know the importance of feelings - and he doesn't care. And that probably was the reason why he closed himself to everyone. It made him hate is pathetic self. When Tak Dong Kyung came, it's like a whole new world opened up. Everything was new. And he was mesmerized how this new world made him feel warmth. And just like that, he attached himself to Tak Dong Kyung. And you know when children attaches themselves - oftentimes, they don't want to be separated. Do you recall the reason why he chose to sacrifice himself for Tak Dong Kyung? Remember that it's because he isn't human? He's Myul Mang, unlike humans, he can't feel anything for anyone ever again. And that, he fell in love for someone like Tak Dong Kyung. A human who's his exact opposite. So one question: If you're in love with someone, wouldn't you want to keep that person to yourself? If your answer is a big 'YES', then it's just the same with Myul Mang. Even if they don't have enough time, he wanted Tak Dong Kyung by his side. And he wanted to keep that forever. He wanted to hold on to that slight shine of light that she brought to his life, even in his last moments. Because without her light, he's nothing but a dust in the world. Isn't that sweet?

Because he doesn't want the feeling to disappear. Myul Mang is doom himself. It's in his line of work to make something disappear. And it's quite obvious that he knew that even the feeling for Dong Kyung for him will. He knew that. And that's when he realized the greatest irony he couldn't even imagine he would know: Even if everything disappears, there are things that won't. These things won't disappear if they're remembered and cared enough. Just like traditions, it won't disappear if someone is still practicing that tradition. And words won't disappear if it's used. That even though they'll be brought to extinction; things have a way to stay. And one way is to stay with someone - someone who really cares. That someone for him is Dong Kyung. It's funny but he was acting like humans. He was desperate enough to keep the feelings in his chest burning.

Memory. He started his rambles about marriage the moment he made his mind up: the moment he accepted his own fate and his future sacrifice. But we knew he's immortal. So even if he do disappear, he'd be somewhere ... somewhere. And in that somewhere, I supposed that there's no Tak Dong Kyung. He won't be able to touch her, hug her, or even see her. He knew that. So at least, he wanted to create memories. Memories that could probably suffice his long journey alone.

But why marriage though?

Marriage, in some cultures, is one of the most sacred and respected unions. It is not just for the papers and legal documents, it's a psychological contract that you will love your partner for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health - only death do you part.

He knew that. And strangely, he also knew about everything about it.

WHY?!

Didn't I tell you? Everything disappears. Once a married couple divorces one another, then their marriage disappears.

And because he knew it and how important and respected it is for humans, he used it. He wanted to be with her that he even used a very sacred proposal to the person he loves - even though he knew that it will soon disappear - he will soon disappear.

And I don't know about you, but I find it really sweet.

I hope I was able to answer your question, lol. And this one is for Episode 14 only ok? I think he only presses the marriage thing in that episode anyway. Since Episode 14 is really the time when he really feels strongly attached to Dongkyung - after experiencing losing her from his memory for 1 episode.

PS. And Marriage for Myul Mang is Dongkyung itself. Since it’s the culmination of all his feelings for her added together. It should be Dongkyung.

#doom at your service #tvn doom at your service #kim saram #seo in guk #seo in-guk #kdrama #kdrama rambles #kdrama opinions #park bo young #park bo-young #tvn

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ask-the-barkerverse · 4 years

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MLP Headcanon Dump

Just realized that I never bothered to post this on here. Heads up, this is a VERY long post.

Svengallop's parents are Charity Kindheart and Bracer Britches. The two had a brief affair, but never officially dated and Sven was an accident. Charity loved her son, but passed away due to illness when he was a teenager, so Sven was sent to live with his father who never wanted him. This has a lot to do with Svengallop's attitude as an adult.

All pure blooded draconequui are able to become pregnant or impregnate a partner, regardless of gender.

Wind Rider is a womanizer and serial adulterer with several illegitimate children, including Helia, Lighting Dust and Cloudy Daze among others.

There are some ponies who eat meat, such as fish, pork and chicken (eating beef and venison would be considered immoral since bovines and deer in Equestria are sentient). It's not particularly common and is actually considered gross by the majority, not unlike humans who eat insects. Equestria also has plenty of vegan alternatives that exist in our world, such as tofu and artificial meat.

The comic arc "Siege of the Crystal Empire" was actually just a fanfic written by Mina the dragon.

Tree Hugger is a member of the Hooffield Family. She ran away from home as a teen because she was sick of the constant fighting with the McColts. After running away she ended up joining a hippie commune, which is how she became the mare she is today.

Ocellus is the daughter of Queen Chrysalis. She will be queen of Thorax's hive after he is gone.

It is a tradition in Equestria for nurses to add 'heart' to the end of their names once they graduate nursing school. For example, Nurse Redheart's birth name is Redlove and Nurse Sweetheart is Sweetcream. This is in honor of Nurse Cureheart, the nurse credited for curing Celestia's broken heart after Luna's banishment.

The baby brother Hoops mentions in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" is actually Spiral Notepad, who is now a trans filly.

Yaks speak Equestrian (aka English) so badly only because they have their own language and Equestrian is foreign to them.

The Kirin are thought to be the result of Asian unicorns interbreeding with dragons, but this has never been proven.

Derpy Hooves and Dinky Doo are mother and daughter, with Dinky having been born to Derpy when she was still in her teens. (I know it's an old headcanon, but I'll always have a soft spot for it.)

Quibble Pants is a natural blonde.

Derpy Hooves' real name is Ditzy Doo. "Derpy" was a childhood nickname that just kinda stuck.

Derpy has an eye condition called strabismus, hence the crooked eyes.

Crackle is a pseudodragon, a species of lizard that disguise themselves as dragons. Despite having twice as many limbs and gems growing out of them, they are accepted by dragons as one of their own.

Flash Sentry and Spearhead are brothers and are both descended from a pony that escaped the Crystal Empire during King Sombra's reign.

Sunset Shimmer and Sunburst are cousins.

Discord created Poison Joke.

Toe Tapper and Torch Song are the parents of Coco Pommel.

Hoity Toity is part mule, hence the long ears.

Celestia was born with an all-pink mane and tail and would have gained more shades of orange and yellow as she grew, but she instead gained hues of green and blue when she took over Luna's duty of raising the moon after Nightmare Moon's banishment.

Wind Sprint's original father died in a sports-related accident, which is why Clear Sky found comfort and common ground with Quibble Pants who was able to distract her from sports for a while. Unfortunately, as we all know from the episode, this had no effect on Wind Sprint's persistent love for sports.

Celestia was technically the first pony who managed to pull off a sonic rainboom, but it wasn't the same as Rainbow Dash's since she lacked the colors of a proper rainbow. Over time it was forgotten, but Celestia's "rainboom" was the basis of the sonic rainboom being a myth in the first place.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack's respective families are both descended from the children of Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie.

Orchard Blossom is an actual Apple family member that Big Mac was impersonating in "Brotherhooves Social".

Rainbow Blaze (the rainbow-maned stallion from "Games Ponies Play" who was confirmed is not Rainbow Dash's father) is Rainbow Dash's older brother.

The final alternate future seen in "The Cutie Remark-Part 2" where Equestria is nothing but an apocalyptic wasteland is a result of Daybreaker coming to life and burning everything to the ground into pure ash. It got so bad that it ultimately left Daybreaker with no kingdom to rule anymore. (As horrifying as it sounds, the dirt that Twilight and Starlight were standing on in that scene included the ashes of hundreds of dead ponies.)

Pear Butter and Bright Mac were killed by Timberwolves on a day trip. Sadly, Granny Smith considers herself responsible for this as she forgot to warn them about the Timberwolves that day. As a result, this is also why Applejack is so good at fighting them off.

Due to their godlike status, Celestia and Luna are the only immortal alicorns. Ordinary royalty like Twilight Sparkle, Cadance, and Flurry Heart have longer lifespans than normal ponies but can still die of old age.

Screwball is the daughter of Nurse Sweetheart and her eyes only become swirly when she's exposed to Poison Joke. The effect it has on her is that it makes her see weird stuff and she used to be addicted to it, but ended up quitting altogether as the last time she used it (around the time Discord returned) caused her to see some pretty nightmarish imagery.

The episode "Yakety Sax" was just a bad fever dream Pinkie Pie had after eating too much Yak cuisine one day.

All the changelings in Thorax's hive are siblings born from the same queen. Changelings do not interbreed with members of their own hive, though they may form family units with their siblings and adopt grubs to raise, hence the family of changelings Ocellus was seen with in "Hearths Warming Club".

Whoa Nelly's real name is Jelly Nelly Bean. Her large size is the result of a very rare pituitary disorder.

Fluttershy's human world counterpart is a vegan.

Aunt and Uncle Orange are both parental figures to Babs Seed. Whether they're her biological or adoptive parents in still unknown.

The hippocampus (aka the seaponies from the 2017 movie) once existed as a separate race, but are believed to have been driven to extinction because of the Sirens, who destroyed their homes, depleted their food sources, and even directly preyed on them. This was of course before Queen Novo fled into the sea and formed the seaponies we know from the 2017 movie.

Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood had Scootaloo later in life as they didn't really plan to have a foal, hence why they're such thoughtless parents.

Mane Allgood is actually a cousin of Daring Do.

Bulk Biceps is Featherweight's biological father. He was formerly married to an abusive, neglectful, and alcoholic wife, resulting in a divorce and Bulk and Featherweight moving to Ponyville and leaving her for good.

Cheese Sandwich is the younger brother of Marine Sandwich. The real reason he ran away from home and stumbled into Ponyville by chance is because he wanted to get away from his psychotic older sister. (Based off of this.)

Cheese Sandwich and Mudbriar are cousins.

Limestone Pie's talent is mixing drinks.

Burnt Oak is the father of the pony versions of Timber Spruce and Gloriosa Daisy.

Rumble is a trans colt.

Granny Smith's real name is Maria Ann Smith, or "Annie Smith" for short.

Fluttershy is the oldest of the Man Six, while Pinkie Pie is the youngest.

Trixie's full name is actually Bellatrix Lulamoon. She prefers to go by Trixie as it's easier to remember.

Tempest Shadow didn't receive her cutie mark until she was an adult, AFTER the events of the MLP movie where she started using her horn to make fireworks.

The draconequus were once a race of creatures that went to war against ponykind after their prince (aka Discord) was turned to stone. The war resulted in many of them being wiped out and it's currently unknown if any besides Discord still exist today.

Kirin shed and regrow their horns once a year, similar to deer antlers. Shed kirin horns make a powerful ingredient in potions.

#just wanted to let people know this blog isn't dead #my little pony friendship is magic #mlp: fim #world buliding #headcanon #death mention tw #drug mention tw #barkerverse

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watchathon · 4 years

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Book 3, Chapter 13: The Firebending Masters

In case you’re finding this post just by browsing the tags I’ve used for this post, this is the Watchathon, a blog where I’m hoping to watch an episode of a TV show every weekday, with a short blog post where I write down my thoughts as I watch. Each new thought starts with a hyphen and a bolded first word.

- Like so. Now that the introductions are over with, here’s my thoughts on The Firebending Masters:

- I like that “Hello, Zuko here” is part of the “previously on Avatar” section.

- It’s nice to see Zuko teaching Aang about Firebending.

- It’s common for redeemed villains to become weaker once they’re with the good guys, but Zuko’s taking it to a whole new level.

- I’ll never get sick of Aang using outdated Fire Nation slang from a century ago.

- I like how Zuko walks up to the group to tell them how he’s “lost [his] stuff” and Toph immediately defends herself and says that it wasn’t her. Makes me think that Toph has made a habit of stealing other people’s stuff before this.

- “I bet it’s because I changed sides!” Wow, Zuko’s even self-aware about it too. Has he been reading TV Tropes?

- Here I thought that Sokka was the mundane member of the Gaang. But as it turns out, he actually has teleportation powers.

- Nice to see Zuko’s character development in action. In this case, rejecting the idea of relying on rage and hate to fuel his Bending, even if he were to redirect that rage towards someone more deserving of it.

- I like getting this backstory for Toph and how she learned to use Earthbending as an extension of herself from the original Earthbenders, the Badger Moles.

- Makes sense that Zuko would imagine Appa to be much faster, seeing as he was always chasing the Gaang down, and they always escaped from him.

- Maybe it’s just me, but this wall at the Sun Warrior ruins looks kinda like it spells “APPA” but the first “P” is backwards.

- Fire Lord Sozin gets worse all the time, doesn’t he? First we knew him as the person who started the war, then we find out he left Avatar Roku to die, now we learn that he’s responsible for the extinction of dragons.

- It’s so nice to see Zuko smile, even if it’s from a pretty backhanded compliment.

- I think these statues might’ve been made to teach the fusion dance, rather than Firebending.

- Glue exists in the universe of Avatar, confirmed!

- “Well, what do you think we should do?” *beat* “Think about our place in the universe?” This is exactly my sense of humor, and I love it!

- I like the explanation that fire isn’t just destruction, it’s also life. It gives us our first glimpse at the original form of Firebending before the Fire Nation corrupted it into a tool of destruction fueled by rage.

- “You can do it. I know you can. You're a talented kid.” Again, character development for Zuko. Even just at the beginning of this season, he probably would’ve snapped at Aang to hurry up. Now, he’s able to keep calm and give sincere encouragement. Plus, it’s just really wholesome and it gives me a warm feeling in my heart.

- I like that the masters who will teach Zuko and Aang are the last dragons. They truly are learning the original form of Firebending, from before any humans even had the chance to change it.

- This scene of the judgement from the masters always sends a chill down my spine. It’s so gorgeous, so unique, and so absolutely unforgettable.

- Though, uh, I gotta say... I’m pretty surprised that Zukaang isn’t the fandom’s most popular ship. Considering there’s an iconic scene of them dancing before being surrounded by a spiral of rainbow fire. And Aang keeps calling Zuko “hotman.”

- I’m glad to know that Iroh was deemed worthy and given the secret of the original form of Firebending, only lying about slaying the last dragons for their own protection.

#TV #Avatar The Last Airbender #ATLA #Book 3: Fire #The Firebending Masters #Zuko #Aang #Toph Beifong #Sokka #Fire Lord Sozin #Iroh

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histeetharenotsoft · 4 years

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what up thots I'm scoring the tma merch designs

I know y'all are probably sick of hearing about it at this point but I'm still super frustrated because this is my comfort media and I want to give them money! so here we go

also yes I know my scoring is kinda wack I just didnt want to give them all 0-2/10

(cw trypophobia, scopophobia, body horror, gore, general horror)

the buried

I've already made a post about my feeling on this one but I will summarise: why is he jacked. why does he look like a fnaf reject. why is the focus of the horror on him and not the claustrophobia part

2/10 this man Does Not eat enough dirt

the corruption

ew. this one looks more flesh than corruption. why are there eyes in its mouth?? at least it makes me say ew, which means it conveys the corruption vibes at least a tiny bit

3/10 needs more bugs

the dark

looks like something out of Alien. this is one of the designs I prefer, just still not as merch. if you said to me "fear of the dark", this is Not a design I'd come up with. give us some lightbulb or moon imagery, at the very least! and apparently they gave the artist detailed descriptions of the fears? this is why you get artists who've listened to your show

3/10 skulls and tentacles look too end

the desolation

I mean. that sure is a representation of death. this looks like edgy fanart of a cartoon villain. wish it was more actually end-themed though

what the fuck is this.

0/10 no

the end

4/10 oliver would be disappointed

the extinction

now this one is the fnaf reject. like I'm absolutely sure I saw the whole "wires coming out of headlight eyes" thing on one of their robots. and ugh the extinction had so much potential! like does anyone remember that seagull from the recent s5 episode? you could go for that kind of vibe, with something familiar thats warped and twisted by Something We Caused. idk. also with the skulls and tentacle-looking wires, it looks kinda end

5/10 I get motorbike vibes?

the eye

ok so I like this as horror art. it feels like a bloodborne creature, and i say that in a nice way. but for the eye, the ceaseless watcher, the beholding? absolutely not. this one looks like the corruption design; tell me it doesn't look like the flesh hive.

3/10 my boy jon did not go through Everything for this shit

the flesh

okay! we've got a design that conveys the base concept of the fear! that sure is some body horror right there. still wouldn't wear it on a t-shirt Ever. and you can put this on baby clothing!

6/10 why is it slimy though

the hunt

look. i don't care about the hunt. I just don't vibe with it. so I'm almost indifferent about this one. it doesn't feel very hunt, but I mean, could be worse?

3/10 needs more wolves maybe idk

the lonely

no!! the people are melting into each other thats the exact Opposite of being alone!!!

1/10 looks too stranger as well

the rest will go in a reblog because we've hit the picture limit

#rq merch #tma merch #the magnus archives #rusty quill

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thestruidora · 4 years

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Landslide

The Avengers (MCU) Fanfiction

Rating: Explicit

WARNINGS: This story will contain but it’ll not be limited to explicit 18+ content including Obsessive Behavior, Smut, Shower Sex, Edging, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Fluff, Oral Sex, thigh riding, Dirty Talk, Praise Kink, Jealousy, Possessive Behavior, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Dominance, Submission, Knotting, Scenting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Rutting, Rut Sickness

Category: F/M

Pairings: Steve Rogers/Reader, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov

Summary: Steve was never quite sure if he truly was an alpha. Genetically he should be, coming from a long line of alpha males. But due to the several health conditions in his youth, his poorly functioning body never presented. But now, because of the serum reacting to his true designation, a terrible case of rut sickness takes hold of the super soldier, threatening his life. Being a beta, Natasha can’t offer him what he needs, and since omegas are rarer today then ever, she is forced to hire a foreign girl to tend to Steve during these desperate times.

Chapter One

Language Barrier

It strikes first in March.

In the beginning it wasn’t as much of a problem as it was an annoyance. It started out as a tiny itch under his skin that he just couldn’t seem to be able to scratch. He would feel hot under his leather jacket even while driving his bike at the highest speed acceptable. His vision would get blurry and his breathing heaver, reminding him of his long forgotten asthma attacks.

Even working was proving to be a difficult task on it’s own.

The lighting from Tony’s office would become unbearably bright all of the sudden, and the smell of his fellow SHIELD agents would soon start to taste foul in his mouth during a simple elevator trip. But what really did him in was the repulsive growl that he let out when Bucky stopped by one weekend.

It flared from his chest all the way to his vocal cords, turning into a vibration that he had never emitted before but felt familiar all the same. Like it had came from an instinctual part of himself that he wasn’t even aware he possessed.

“Wow, buddy, are you ok?” Unconsciously Bucky knew not to get to close, examining the way his friend puffed out his shoulders in an uncharacteristic show of dominance.

“Steve, what’s going on?” Natasha, who had accompanied Bucky on his visit, seemed unaffected by their exchange, coming right up to the distressed blonde and putting a hand on his arm.

“He...” Steve begin to answer, his attention flickering between the threatening male presence in his apartment and the calming redhead looking up at him gently.

“He what?” She asked.

“He’s stinking up the whole place.”

At the time he said it, it sounded like the most natural way to phrase it. But now, sitting in Banner’s lab, picking up on the underwhelming sterilized scent of cleanliness of the place and feeling the now common headache getting stronger, he wasn’t so sure.

“So, what do you think has been triggering this episodes?” Bruce had an all-knowing look about him, fixing the frame of his glasses to his face before pulling a thermometer from his coat’s pocket and sticking in Steve’s mouth.

“Anger, mostly. But I’m not even sure what I’m angry about. Lately every small thing can set me off.” Steve kept the device on the inside of his left cheek while answering.

The blue and white room had a soothing effect on the super soldier, making him think back to the patterns of his reactions to other people and the elements surrounding them, even though now in front of Bruce he was as stable as ever.

“He hasn’t been feeling his best for a while now, hence the anger. I still think he's got the flue.” Natasha said from the chair close by, watching Bruce work on Steve attentively.

“I wish it was this simple.” Dr. Banner frowned after removing the thermometer from Steve’s mouth. “Your body temperature it’s running extremely high.”

“I feel fine.” He shrugged.

“Yeah, for now, in this sterile facility talking to two betas. The minute you get a whiff of an alpha your hormonal charge it’s gonna go haywire.”

“What does that mean?” Natasha questioned.

“It means that the serum has amplified Steve’s designation as an alpha, which had been lying dormant during his youth because his body couldn’t take the presentation. Now, his going into rut, and a mean looking one at that.”

“So that’s it? He just needs to get laid?” The russian spy laughed, noticing a blush taking over Steve’s cheeks. “I kind saw that coming.”

“Again, not that simple. A rut can take up to ten days in cases like this, with the alpha needing continuous…” Bruce fixed his glasses once more, coughing mildly. “Release… from, hum, a compatible match, that this.”

“Match?” Steve’s mind was spinning. His hands were getting sweaty and he felt like hyperventilating.

Ever since he was found in the ice he hadn’t had the best experiences at dating in the twenty first century, let alone finding a compatible match.

To be honest, at this point, he had given up on that aspect of his life, understanding that the purpose of his existence was to protect and salve as many people as he could as Captain America.

And… that was pretty much it.

But clearly his body didn’t seem to be on the same page.

“Well, in our current culture, omegas are almost extinct and alphas themselves are becoming fewer in number when compared to the beta population. Now days, there are rut apps, and pheromone based perfumes made to replicate omega’s natural scents for moments such as these… When, once a year, an unmated alpha ‘needs to get laid’.” Bruce made air quotes with his fingers, ignoring Natasha’s chuckle. “But what that serum did when it came in contact with that particular code in your biology, the one that had failed to present in the passed, was put it under a magnifying glass strong enough to force those mating instincts to emerge.”

“Banner, I just love how you can say so much without actually saying jack shit.” Agent Romanoff jumped out of her chair, coming closer to the doctor, her stoic expression returning with full force. “What exactly does he need?”

“Hum…” Bruce trawled off, gulping with the tension that had suddenly taken over the lab. “He needs an omega.”

Chapter Two

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arce-elliot · 3 years

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Magnus Archives - First Impressions (151-175)

We’re almost there, gang. Out of the Lonely and into the Eyepocalypse we go! Blah blah I had 75% of the series spoiled and am jotting down my thoughts, you know the drill.

EP 151 (Big Picture): - OH SIMON??? - okay okay Simon's kinda funny, you go you funky little sky grandpa - Martin Tell Her The TRUTH EP 152 (A Gravedigger's Envy): - oooh another ancient one - hey that's terrifying wtf - can someone please comfort jonny boy good lord EP 153 (Love Bombing): - Idk why the cult ones freak me out, maybe because cults are real? - oh god what's gonna happen to that dog - I literally just made my dinner with white wine vinegar that's a little old are you sHITTING ME - GIRL GET OUT OF THERE WHILE YOU HAVE A CHANCE YOU KNOW SOMETHING'S OFF - AYYY THE HUNTIN' GANG - tbh it was weird that they helped him even though they knew he wasn't human actually - DAISY!!!!! - Jon can you chill w/ the sass if you're not gonna help - Okay I'm gay but Daisy Growl Hot - Two dying monsters trying to reconcile their humanity, this is sad I hate it here EP 154 (Bloody Mary): - oh god it's This Episode I've been dreading it poor Eric - g o d Gertrude sounds so upset - I would die for Eric - "Eric I'm gonna count to ten and you're gonna tELL ME HOW YOU QUIT" - I'm already crying good god - "he needed me" o w - MARTIN GOT TO SAY FUCK!!!!! - O U C H - i am so upset FUCK this podcast - the catalogue of the dead is just the Delano-Keay family album EP 155 (Cost of Living): - CALL HER OUT JON - Tova, to this doctor's heart: it's free real estate - A FUCKING C H I L D?????? - ah yes, some more DIY surgery, who needs doctors when you have knives? EP 156 (Reflection): - ayyyy adelard how are ya - oh fun flesh time - oh? extinction? - also that was gross what the fuck - M A R T I N EP 157 (Rotten Core): - go save Martin before I cry - ADELARD!!! - ah no, I'm gonna miss this dude he was kinda cool - this hits different in corona times - okay this is actually pretty gross wtf - Martin's lonely because he chose to be, Jon is lonely because everyone hates him, poetic cinema EP 158 (Panopticon): - Ah Shit Here We Fucking Go - OH WHAT THE FUCK NOT!SASHA???? - AYYYYY THERE'S JONAH MAGNUS WELCOME HOME RAT BASTARD - uh oh bye bye Gertrude Time - mom and dad are fighting to be Martin's favorite parent lmao - no not the promise :C - Martin is the brain cell, he really just played both these men like kazoos - gdi Peter give me my boy back EP 159 (The Last): - hi I am Sad - Marto blease just go with the tired eyeball man - "i see you" MY B O Y S EP 160 (The Eye Opens) - oh lord here we go - at least we get some Jonmartin conversation - Monologue Time! - Jon: can I just say, from the bottom of my heart...my bad EP 161 (Dwelling): - welcome to the apocalypse bitches - FINALLY i've been waiting for these tapes for my entire life - TIMMMMMM! SASHAAAAA! - Elias being a normal person is unsettling - ALL THE EYE JOKES gdi I refuse to simp for eyeball man - THE JARRING "ARCHIVIST" I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD - "If I wish for all of you to go away do you think it'll work?" well it worked on Tim and Sasha - Elias: I'm a cool boss, I can drink wine - the image of Jon just huddled on the couch with a bag of tapes and listening to them over and over is so sad - sorry Gertrude no Sasha, just a sad little man - thank u for the powerpoint Gertrude - JON DON'T SNAP - i love them so much your honor EP 162 (Cosy Cabin): - GERRY GERRY GERRY - okay Gertrude and Gerry are adorable I love goth boy and his badass grandma - Gerry, ever the pragmatist: but what about TAXES gertrude - Tim and Sasha interacting is the sweetest thing ;_; - oh this is AFTER the hookup lmao - OH WAIT Sasha canonically knew about Danny??? I didn't know that oof - Oh Jon's getting a phone call I suppose - Jon's trying so hard to be dramatic and Martin's like "okay bitch grab ur backpack and lets go" EP 163 (In The Trenches): - "Tell everybooooody I'm ooon my waaay, new frieeends and new plaaaaces to seeeee" - YESSS LET MARTIN CURSE OVER THE GUNSHOTS AND BAGPIPES - "Martin can you stand over there and cover your ears while I cast Eldritch Ramble" EP 164 (The Sick Village): - another one that hits different in corona times - I hate the word soupy - what in the midsommar - if you can't find your own statements, DIY your own - Martin: fuck u Jon, Helen's my friend now - Martin: can I get an Uber, can I PLEASE get an Uber EP 165 (Revolutions): - this is my friend's favorite episode so I'm excited - oh circus music gross - THE RHYMINGGGGG OH I LOVE THIS - my arms are sore from happy stimming at this audio oh my god - SHUT UP JON IT WAS A GOOD POEM - GET HER ASS JON - is that our first "Ceaseless Watcher"?? I think it was! - Jon: Level Up! - Martin: that's hot EP 166 (The Worms): - HELL YES JON SAID FUCK - oh worm? - Martin answer your damn phone - awww Martin don't doubt yourself :C EP 167 (Curiousity): - Fiona: lmao watch this -passes out- - oh I didn't realize Eric was one of the OGs, their conversations make more sense now - Michael :c - Gertrude you got played like a fiddle damn EP 168 (Roots): - jealous Martin lmao - Jon just tell him why you woke up that would probably solve this - As someone who also freaks out about every little twinge this episode felt targeted EP 169 (Fire Escape): - desolation time? desolation time. can't wait to walk through hell - so aside from Smirke's 14 we have the 3 additional fears: the Extinction, the Scotland, and the Landlord - oh this one is terrifiyng i love it - OOOOH the "jons" slowly fading in was really clever - G O D martin sounds so defeated poor boy EP 170 (Recollection): - Martin finding tape recorders is the cutest thing - Oh fuck are we in the Lonely oh shit - this is so disconcerting i love it - someone get this man a better chair EP 171 (The Gardener): - Martin: damn that's a lot of bones - oh not THIS dude again I can barely understand him oh my GOD - well that was interesting EP 172 (Strung Out): - oh web? - oh this is sad shit - I think this is one of the worst domains yet for me personally this sounds like hell - g o d the web makes my brain hurt blease Jonny I'm stupid EP 173 (Night Night): - oh dark? - oh so the darkness is just the apocalypse daycare? nice - oh and this tween runs it, nice - Jon: are you SURE you want me to kill this middle schooler? - wow this is depressing EP 174 (The Great Beast): - oh hunt? - oh vast? lmao that's what i get for assumptions - Martin just wants to kill a man is that too much to ask someone give him a gun EP 175 (Epoch): - ex...tinct...ion? - “Peter was right” no FUCK YOU I refuse to give Peter any credit LOOK ADELARD WAS RIGHT, Adelard Decker laid the BLUEPRINT - poor Jon he's gettin these hard-hitting google searches - Basira and Daisy?????? OH WAIT THAT MEANS OH NO

#the magnus archives #magnus archives #tma

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thebibliomancer · 4 years

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Song of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 12

Song of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because I guess we’re going to Ha’rar now? Unless Kylan finds something super cool in that book he checked out from the Aughra Library.

Last times in book: Kylan, Naia, Tavra, and Gurjin visited Aughra on High Hill to enlist her help in warning all Gelfling about the Skeksis. She’s less than helpful. But she does let Kylan take a random book he picked up.

Chapter 12

Kylan reads a fun story about a flute, Gurjin splits the party

The disappointed Gelfs stop to camp and Kylan reads the heck out of the book. He reads so hard that he decides to write just for a change of pace.

To give his mind a break, he prepared his own scrolls and worked on the day’s record, recalling as many details as he could before the memories faded. In his journal, the memory of the orrery could be preserved forever. Their journey there could be smoothed over. Their interaction with Aughra could be just a stumble on their path to ultimate success. All it would take were more chapters to show that this dark disappointment was not the end, but just some dimmer part in the middle. Maybe it was better that way.

No, Kylan decided mid-etching, it is better. No maybes about it.

And so he wrote it into the diary that way to make sure that any future readers would understand it to be so.

Good attitude, Kylan!

Disappointing episodes in your life just contrast more with the cool stuff, clearly.

That said, I wonder what happens to Kylan’s journal when all is said and done in these books. That’d be a good loose end to pick up.

Naia and Gurjin head off in opposite directions to go catch dinner, because sibling rivalry.

Kylan gets back to book and Tavra makes small talk while tying up a laundry line super good.

“Found anything yet? I’ve never seen a Gelfling read so studiously, even among those who could.”

“I’ll probably never be a warrior like everyone else in my clan, but I might as well hone the few skills I have.”

Kylan tries to follow suit by praising her sweet knot tying skills but she just agrees that she has skills with which to pay the bills and then wanders off into the wood, leaving Kylan alone at the campsite.

As the suns set, Kylan continues reading the old book. Which is a disorganized experience. The book is all jumbled up with little apparent rhyme or reason. It’ll jump from recording a feast at a village to a detailed study of the biology of a suri-wing including diagrams. And its in several languages, of which Gelfling is just one.

But Kylan finds a passage that at least puts a name to the writer.

Mother forgot my name today.

I had to remind her: “Raunip. Raunip, Mother!”

I cried, “The name you gave me!”

How could she forget?”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Raunip!

Aughra’s son!

Talk about drawing stuff from Creation Myths!

I think most people reading this post know his deal and also maybe its going to be a plot twist in this book where his journal has become a hot topic.

She has been consumed with the heavens. The heavens, and the shard, buried deep underground. She will not admit that neither above nor below will heal this sickness. Only we of Thra can be the antidote; and to heal our world, we must purge it of those outsiders who have taken our heart captive.

Good ol’ Raunip and his pretty xenophobic tendencies actually.

Kylan gets so into reading the book that he forgets that he was reading it for a reason. But he comes to a passage that brings him to his sense.

“The song of the Heart of Thra can sing the hollow bone from the bell-bird wing.”

That is so close to a title drop. Its just super close.

The passage talks about a Gelfling called Gyr the Song Teller who crafted a firca (a forked flute, like the one Jen has) from the forked bone of a bell-bird’s wing. Then Gyr the Song Teller played on this firca in the Caves of Grot.

Playing this special firca caused the words to every song Gyr knew to be dream-etched across the walls. And the Grottan Gelfling protected the songs, and the other lore of the Gelfling people.

Hey, keepers of the lore isn’t a bad clan hat to have!

The story smacks of the fantastical to Kylan since dream-etching is a painstaking and slow process and the bell-birds long extinct. He considers that the story is a mythologization of the invention of writing.

But what if it were real?

He feels like it could be real.

He decides to tell Naia about this. It could be the random hope they were hoping for.

After dark, Naia and Gurjin return, and have a fish measuring contest. Since Tavra is still gone, Kylan shows Naia and Gurjin the story.

“It was used to do a hundred dream-etchings at once in the Caves of Grot. Gyr the Song Teller did it just by playing the firca. The music echoes through the cave and etched the words on all the stone it touched.”

“Is this a song, or truth?” Naia asked. “If it’s true... Kylan, could you use such a thing to write our warning about the Skeksis? We wouldn’t have to do it one message at a time, we could do so many at once. So many the Skeksis wouldn’t be able to stop every one.”

Isn’t there still the problem of most Gelfling being illiterate? I guess maybe you could do it in pictures. I’m pretty sure dream-etching can do pictures.

That said, the firca of Gyr the Song Teller is a pretty cool magic artifact for the setting, huh?

Cool bard from ages ago made a flute out of a bird and it lets you write multiple things at a time. It’s not the one ring of power or Mjolnir but it feels like it fits well with the setting.

The book says the firca was left with the Grottan and there’s an entrance to the Caves of Grot not too far from where they are. Its a pretty convenient thing, really.

Although Gurjin is wondering whether the Grottan are even still around.

They’re even more reclusive than the Drenchen, and are practically considered a myth themselves.

There’s no solid evidence that the firca (or the Grottan) are real but Kylan decides to trust his gut like Naia taught him.

“It’s possible the bone firca doesn’t actually exist, but maybe Aughra knows better. Maybe she sent the book with us for that reason... Or maybe it has nothing to do with Aughra. Either way, I just have the feeling that we should go. I wish i had more proof, but the feeling is all I have.”

Naia agrees that they should go.

So I guess Naia isn’t going to Ha’rar after all! She may never go there at this rate, ha.

This is putting me in mind of playing a game like Skyrim and just getting way sidetracked with all the sidequests. Can’t go to the throat of the world, there’s a magic flute in a cave, you understand.

Anyway, Naia and Gurjin have come to another decision as well.

They’re going to split the party!

Dangit, I like having Gurjin around!

But Naia raises the point that if the Skeksis are going to be coming after them both for their twin goo, there’s no sense in making it easier for them by having them in the same place. She just wants Kylan’s opinion on it.

Kaylan [sic] felt touched that she sought his opinion at all, even if he hardly knew what the say after being ambushed with their bold plan.

Kylan asks where Gurjin would go and Naia says he’d go back to the Sog where he can hide with family and recover with Momdra Laesid’s super healing. And not stated but the Skeksis have pretty much never been to the Sog and probably won’t start now if they can help it.

It’s hard to traverse on foot, as Tavra found out.

Plus also, if the Skeksis are chasing after Rian, they’ll be heading to Ha’rar, pretty much the opposite direction of the Sog.

And Gurjin’s familiar enough with the Dark Wood that he can travel through it and avoid the Skeksis. Naia will even send Neech with him to help him out.

Good plan, twins!

Kinda bummed still that we’re losing Gurjin and Neech to this good plan.

For a while, I thought it was going to be a rad journey with Rian, Naia, and Kylan. Then Rian ditched and Tavra and Gurjin showed up. Now its going to be Naia, Tavra, and Kylan which is also a hilarious grouping.

The reason why they don’t want Tavra to know is that she’s going to kick up such a fuss. But if Gurjin is gone before she knows it, she’ll have to choose between chasing Gurjin or chasing Rian and Rian is going to Ha’rar where Tavra wants to go too.

“She’ll be mad we didn’t have her approval, but I think you’re right, and maybe she’ll understand once it’s done. If Gurjin can get back to Sog, then at least someone will have made contact with the Drenchen.”

Gurjin and Naia nodded in unison.

“I’ll leave tonight, when it’s my watch,” he said. He extended his hand, and Kylan took it. “It was very good to meet you, Kylan the Song Teller. I’m glad my sister met you.”

Aww!

And hey, good additional point! Gurjin can start spreading some truth treason against the Skeksis.

Great plan, twins!

Tavra returns and Kylan feels nervous having to keep all these secrets from her but feels more like its her he’s nervous about more than the lying or obfuscation. There’s something just off about her and Kylan hopes that there’s some cure in Ha’rar for what the Skeksis did to her.

*cough* spiders

Anyway.

... she sat on the far side of the fire and began weaving her damp hair into a braid. In the firelight, her single earring cast sparkles on her pale neck, and Kylan wished he could find the right words to untangle whatever caused the animosity radiating from her. If only there were a song that could touch her heart, the way one had touched Rian’s -- but not every problem could be solved with a song.

Lies.

Also, earring still making me super suspicious.

Kylan anxieties himself to sleep worrying whether the future truly is immutable and whether Tavra will arrest them for treason for letting Gurjin sneak off but is woken up by Gurjin putting a hand on his shoulder and dreamfasting with him before he sneaks away.

Until we meet again, brother Kylan. Be safe.

Awwwwwwwww! Best friends!

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #Song of the Dark Crystal #liveblog #Kylan #Naia #Tavra #Gurjin

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odanurr87 · 3 years

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My thoughts on... Scripting Your Destiny

Release date: March 16, 2021

Episodes: 10

Available on: Viki

Summary: Every human is born with a book that records each moment of their life and that we call destiny. Shin Ho Yoon is one of the many deities in charge of writing those books, known among the gods for his meticulous approach to his work. For his latest project, the destiny of the mortal Jeong Ba Reum, he intends to write a masterpiece, a perfect destiny, pairing him with his first love, Go Che Gyeong, a scriptwriter for successful, if over-the-top, makjangs like Marriage Pact and Sky Cash. However, when Che Gyeong doesn't fall for the fateful encounter that he wrote, he decides to take matters into his own hands and bluntly approaches her to find out how to get her to fall in love. As the two begin to develop feelings for each other, the perfect destiny envisioned for Ba Reum threatens to disappear and a new destiny between a god and a mortal begins to emerge. But can a god of destiny write his own fate?

Rewatch meter: Medium

WARNING: Spoilers beyond this point.

Characters

From left to right: Park Sang Nam as Shin Myeong; Ki Do Hoon as Shin Ho Yoon; Jeon So Nee as Go Che Gyeong; Kim Woo Seok as Jeong Ba Reum; and Gal So Won as Samshin.

Overall, I liked the leads and most of the supporting characters. As far as the leads are concerned, I think Ki Do Hoon was able to deliver a good performance of what a god of destiny might, or perhaps should, be like: standoffish, emotionless, uninterested in the mortal realm beyond the scope of his duties. As such, Shin Ho Yoon feels the more godly of the different deities in the show, what is curious considering he's probably one of the youngest gods of destiny, what is explained through his cycle of rebirth. I wish the writer and the actor had made full use of this cycle by having the character of Shin Ho Yoon grow more emotionless as a result, what would explain why he's different from other gods. Perhaps this was intended, but if so, the results are mixed. You can see he was more impulsive in the beginning of his cycle as a god of destiny than he was, say, at the beginning of the show. However, the last incarnation we're shown of Ho Yoon, in Episode 10, appears to be more upbeat than any of his previous ones, a fact that could've been used to feed into the notion that something has changed (more on that later) and that's why he's having fun at the expense of the "newbies."

Jeon So Nee as Go Che Gyeong was very good throughout, standing out from her male counterpart, perhaps due to the nature of her character that allowed her to show more range. I never found her to be over-the-top, and she was able to pull off the comedic and emotional scenes very well. She also passed off as a high-schooler better than Ki Do Hoon, despite the fact that she's five years his senior, but I guess that's the power of female hairstyles! My only complaint about her character is that I wish she had been a little more creative writing her own fate. I mean, she is a talented scriptwriter that even a god stole from.

Park Sang Nam's Shin Myeong had good chemistry with Ki Do Hoon's Shin Ho Yoon, echoing the Goblin-Reaper duo from Goblin, what should come as no surprise as writer Kim Eun Sook is a producer for this show. They even paid homage to that iconic walking scene in the first episode. Unlike Ho Yoon, Myeong comes across as less devoted to his duties and more lazy. He himself admits to a disapproving Samshin that he copy-pastes destinies, but also makes an interesting point about only writing main events so that humans can fill in the gaps themselves. I'll let you decide whether this is really his intention or just an attempt to placate Samshin's anger. Consequently, his transition from a somewhat lazy god to a more serious one towards the end of the show was unexpected, but I guess it stands to reason given his worries about Ho Yoon, plus one shouldn't forget he's actually the older god. I do believe the show wasted an incredible opportunity to have Shin Myeong be the linchpin of our story.

Ho Yoon shields precious Samshin from Myeong's words on how to passionately express love.

As for the characters of Jeong Ba Reum and Samshin, I can say the former was functional to the plot and gets immediately sidelined once that function is completed, while the latter definitely stole every scene she was in (and she's 14!). I would've loved to have seen more of her, even though I feel her arc was a little disconnected from the overall storyline and could've been tied better if the last episode had gone in a different direction.

Execution

What if that something are meteorites?

The show has a lot of fun making fun of kdrama tropes, either through Che Gyeong's job as a scriptwriter or through the gods of destiny themselves, who take turns between being writers and viewers when coming up with the destinies of mortals. When Ho Yoon is having trouble understanding "the depth within humans which is beyond divine comprehension" (aka love), Myeong steps in to give him some advice on how "For love to happen you need to isolate them," stranding the pair in an island somewhere and having them stay in an inn with only one room available. Other gems from Shin Myeong include, "They got rained on, they're cold, their clothes are soaked. If they start a fire, we're 90% there." and "A woman always falls for a man who takes care of her when she's sick. Under one condition. He has to be good-looking." If you ask me, I think Myeong has been watching too many kdramas. Unfortunately for him, so has Che Gyeong, who makes her living writing them.

Are they gods or kdrama fans?

As you can see, there's a lot of comedy to be found in the gods' numerous, and failed, attempts to get Ba Reum and Che Gyeong together. However, as I mentioned before, the character of Ba Reum is mostly functional. We learn little to nothing of who he is, how his life has been, what his dreams are, what is a bit off considering he's supposed to be Ho Yoon's "masterpiece." With Ho Yoon and Che Gyeong slowly starting to get closer, as the former tries his best to understand the nebulous concept of love, Ba Reum falls into the background, what isn't really much of a shame as he doesn't contribute a whole lot in the second half of the show, to the point he could've been taken out completely with slight rewrites here and there.

The writing is similarly flimsy when it comes to the rules of the universe. For instance, early on it is stated that whatever gets written on a fate book cannot be erased, and yet when a character accidentally spills coffee on his fate book the ink on the page vanishes as if it were Voldemort's diary (there is also another instance of writing mysteriously vanishing that isn't explained). In another case, it is stated that anyone who knew a certain character got their memories of that character erased, yet one (very secondary) character still seems to be able to recall everything. These sort of plot contrivances are odd in that they are unnecessary and could've been worked around with relative ease.

It means we have a problem, that's what it means.

Another, more important, mystery that doesn't get explained is how Ho Yoon is able to "resurrect" multiple times. One of the rules of the universe states that any god who interferes with mortals, beyond the scope of their duties, and develops feelings for them, gets the Thanos treatment. However, it is eventually revealed that Shin Ho Yoon got the boot several times for this and yet was able to return every single time, with his memories erased. No explanation is provided for this and, instead, the show suggests, in the last scene of the last episode, that this is the case for all gods, as we see a couple of them return from extinction.

Personally, I feel there was a lot of potential left untapped here and this relates directly to my comment on how Shin Myeong should've been the linchpin of the entire story. If you'll recall the web drama One More Time, the reason why the male lead was stuck in a time loop was because of a contradiction that arose in the terms of the contract made between the female lead and the Grim Reaper. In a similar vein, I think the show could've suggested that Myeong first met Ho Yoon as a human kid and maybe wrote for him a fate that implied him falling in love or something similar. However, the human Ho Yoon died before that fate could occur and so became the god of destiny Shin Ho Yoon, destined to continuously "resurrect" until he could embrace his fate. A loophole such as this one could've neatly explained Ho Yoon's rebirth cycle.

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The ending itself was a little underwhelming and it's easy to understand why, as it it suggested that Ho Yoon and Che Gyeong are stuck in an endless loop of the former falling in love with the latter and vanishing, with Che Gyeong being the only one able to remember all of their interactions. As fates go, it's rather depressing so it doesn't really jibe well when the show's upbeat main theme starts playing at the end. When I did my episode recaps for the show I suggested that, with some rewrites, we could've made Episode 9 the series finale and the show would've been better for it. How?

Imagine at some point in the show both characters remember everything, perhaps at that wind/lamb farm where Che Gyeong desperately calls out for Ho Yoon who, instead of running to her, walks away out of fear of vanishing for good this time. I would've planted seeds throughout the show suggesting Ho Yoon is developing emotions yet isn't vanishing from some inexplicable reason, and there are already some seeds of this in place. Perhaps he has a talk with Myeong about how strange that is and decides to see how far he can take it. The show would end as Episode 9 did, with Ho Yoon returning to Che Gyeong and asking for a caramel macchiato, the most expensive item. They both smile at the reference to their past encounter and we cut to credits with the main theme playing in the background. Ho Yoon's actions could serve to inspire other gods of destiny to try and write their own fates, like how Samshin (even though she's not a god of destiny) follows in his footsteps and decides to attend school.

Music

If you've read any of my reviews, you know that, usually, all of my recommended shows are accompanied by a soundtrack that not only has good music in it but that is used at the right time. This show has some very good tracks that stand out from their more atmospheric counterparts, such as Lee So Jung's "Skyline" (the show's main theme), Jeong Sewoon's "Time Machine," and Yongmin Ryu's "Chaotic." As far as instrumentals tracks are concerned, the obvious standout bar none is "The Deity of Fate." Other instrumental tracks aren't bad but they just can't hold a candle to this magical piece by Yongmin Ryu that has traces of Hotel del Luna's excellent soundtrack.

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A couple of examples that prove how these tracks are expertly used include the end of Episode 7, that shows us how Ho Yoon and Che Gyeong first met through a flashback, with "The Deity of Fate" followed by "Skyline," and another scene in Episode 9, where Ho Yoon recalls his past and we see a quick transition between different days at Che Gyeong's coffee shop as she serves him a caramel macchiato, with "Time Machine" playing in the background. However, in the same way Ho Yoon conjures up a magenta pink moon to distract Che Gyeong, I do believe the show sometimes relies on such scenes to divert your attention from some of its plot holes or inconsistencies, hoping their beauty and poetic nature will thwart any deeper analysis that it might not withstand. It's up to you to decide whether you can let it slide or not.

Conclusions

In short, Scripting your Destiny is a fun show that doesn't take itself too seriously and that successfully creates a universe and characters I'd love to see more of, while trying to convey a timeless love story that has elements of One More Time, Goblin, and Angel's Last Mission: Love. I don't believe it succeeds in this respect, certainly nowhere close to the OTPs in any of those shows, in no small part because Shin Ho Yoon never makes that transition from deity to boyfriend that is present in shows like Goblin and Angel's Last Mission: Love. The romance between Shin Ho Yoon and Go Che Gyeong is one that looks good on paper and should've translated better to the screen. Having said that, their interactions are quite fun to watch and one could certainly envision a future where the two become a couple, provided Ho Yoon somehow manages to stop getting lobotomized. It's a shame but the series finale makes it lose several points as it doesn't make the most of the show's premise or message.

Would I recommend it? If you've watched and enjoyed the other shows I mentioned, yes, absolutely. Despite its flaws, which can be considered relatively minor to an extent (this is a web drama after all), Scripting your Destiny is still a much better investment than many kdramas and at a fraction of their time, and the comedy value of seeing how it makes fun of kdrama tropes again and again cannot be discounted. You're bound to have a good laugh for sure. Additionally, it features some gorgeous and creative (look at that last picture!) VFX-enhanced sets that rival fantasy dramas like Tale of the Nine-Tailed, which definitely had a larger budget and tried to recapture some of that Goblin magic but couldn't. And if you haven't watched the shows I mentioned watch this one anyway so we can have more good web or mini dramas (Handmade Love is an excellent one that runs the length of a movie) that give kdramas a run for their money. Until the next one!

#kdrama #scripting your destiny #kim eun sook #ki do hoon #jeon so nee #eun sun soo #park sang nam #gal so won #kim woo seok #review #kdramas

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webtable · 4 years

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there’s a lot of potential for the extinction, which frustrates me a bit, because outside of 065 (which is only a possible extinction episode) i’ve never been super scared of one of its possible statements (since 157 doesn’t really... count, and 144 was just... fun?).

rambling below the cut, there’s really no point to most of this.

technology, catastrophe, and doomsday stuff are scary things, but trying to get those last two and make them effective is hard. i am scared of the idea of the world ending, but like the vast episodes, it’s difficult to express the things that you’re going for. feeling insignificant is easier, but trying to translate vast-related things like space phobias (not just agoraphobia, i could go on an entire rant about agoraphobia being about avoidance + public situations and not open spaces) in podcast form is tough. just like how making people actually realize the world has ended/is ending is tough, in a slightly different way.

people have a hard time wrapping their head around the end of the world when they’re actually expecting it, when they aren’t, it’s... even less likely they’ll be able to.

the reason that the technology ones hit better is literally because it’s a lot more familiar. it’s on a much smaller scale. thinking about the end of humanity is a lot more manageable when you think about it in terms of... things most people are going to be able comprehend. sergey ushanka going through catastrophic changes trying to link his mind and his computer only to be very wrong in how that’s going to feel and work (even though he’s somewhat successful) is... scary and a lot easier to make sense of than the threat of a nuclear bomb even if there’s no way it would happen in real life.

so sick of all these extinction statements about garbage please i want to hear about the polybius cabinet... 2!!! or found footage that effects the reality around you or a computer virus (like iloveyou) that can be hard to contain. you could literally. link it to real life extinction threats through tech. jonny please

#the extinction #ughghgh jonny please. please listen 2 me #we literally have things called 'computer viruses' and you haven't used them i could scream #rambling #shhh #not maintagging it's not worth it

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duhragonball · 5 years

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The 10 Best Episodes of Dragon Ball and DBZ

Back in October I wrote up a list of the ten worst episodes of Dragon Ball, and I always meant to go back and do a ten best list to go with it. Well it’s the last Sunday of the year and I got nothing better to do, so I’m gonna knock that out today.

Honestly, I’m not sure which one of these was tougher to do. The main reason I made a worst list was because I noticed a small handful of episodes I just didn’t like, and I realized that even with a show I like this much, there had to be at least ten stinkers, so I liked the challenge of picking them out. On the other hand, picking the ten best episodes is like finding really good pieces of hay in an awesome haystack. And I’m a horse, so I’m already super-into hay. This analogy is getting tortured, so I’ll just move on.

Honorable Mention: Dragon Ball Z Episode 125.

I think the fandom has unanimously agreed that this is the all-time best episode of Dragon Ball, but it didn’t feel right putting it in my list. I don’t know if that’s because I sincerely believe it’s the 11th best episode, or because I just don’t want a predictable choice taking up space on my list. That’s how Dragon Ball rolls sometimes. Past a point, you can’t tell if you’re liking something ironically, or just plain liking it.

Without question, this is the all-time best filler episode. We all know the tale: Goku and Piccolo are busy training for the upcoming Androids battle, but Chi-Chi is sick of them not helping around the house, so she wants them to take driver’s ed so they can drive her to the grocery once in a while. Well, mostly Goku, but Piccolo somehow gets roped into it too. Honestly, I don’t think he really needed to go through with this. He pouts like Chi-Chi made him do this somehow, but she was clearly only interested in getting Goku licensed up. I think he just sort of invited himself into this situation because he wanted to feel like part of the family.

Anyway, the boys dress up in stupid/awesome civilian clothes, and somehow manage to be great at driving and terrible at driving at the same time. It’s a very zen kind of show. Also there’s a smidgen of Vegebul goodness, and Icarus shows up for no apparent reason, so there’s something for everyone.

10. Dragon Ball Z Episode 120

This the one where Future Trunks kills Mecha Frieza. There’s no shortage of fans who think reviving Frieza in the 2010′s was worth it, but for my money, nothing they do with the character can possibly top his (first) death scene.

Leading up to this episode, everyone just assumed that Goku killed Frieza on Namek, but he survived, got rebuilt as a cyborg, and invaded Earth for revenge. The implication is that Goku will have to fight an even stronger version of his greatest foe, except he’s nowhere to be found, and no one else stands a chance of holding the line until Goku can arrive.

But then the story ups the ante again by having a totally new character show up, turn Super Saiyan, and shrug off Frieza’s attacks like they’re nothing. When he finally attacks Frieza, he whips out a cool-looking ki blast, and that turns out to just be a feint. No, his real attack is a simple swing of an ordinary sword, which cuts Frieza in half like he’s made out of butter.

Meanwhile, all the major characters are standing on the sidelines wondering what the hell is going on here. There’s a Super Saiyan besides Goku? Aren’t all the Saiyans extinct? Where did this new guy come from, and how did he even know to be here?

It’s a brilliant episode, because it serves as a coda to the menace of Frieza that loomed large over the previous 119 episodes of Z, and it also serves as a prelude to the next 75 episodes, which promises a crisis far beyond anything that’s come before. But it also works as a stand-alone story. Frieza’s body tells the story of why he wants revenge on the Super Saiyan, and when Trunks reveals that there’s more than one Super Saiyan, he completely self-destructs. He goes from the tyrant of the universe to just another corpse in a matter of minutes. It’s amazing to watch.

9. Dragon Ball Episode 67

Strictly speaking, Goku’s assault on the Red Ribbon Army base is three episodes, so maybe it’s gauche to include one and not the others, but this one is the climax of the Red Ribbon’s downfall, so I think it stands out.

By this point, Goku’s already entered the RRA headquarters, and is just having his way with the place. Episode 66 was full of guys trying to shoot him, but he just kicks all their asses and moves on. Staff Officer Black has finally realized what they should have accepted from the beginning: that Goku is too strong for them to defeat by force. But Commander Red can’t quite bring himself to give up the fight. Maybe it’s because so much of his identity is tied into the Red Ribbon’s supposed invincibility, or he just can’t fathom how a small boy can do all these things.

I think what really hurts his pride is when his soldiers start deserting en masse. Before, he could keep them in line because of the Red Ribbon’s fearsome reputation, but that’s over now, whether he believes it or not. When Colonel Violet loots his treasure vault, not even bothering to disable the security cameras, he has to know that it’s all over.

Then we find out that he only wanted the Dragon Balls so that he could make a wish to become taller, and Black is horrified. He wasted all those lives and resources for something as petty and selfish as that? What makes this episode so great is how the world around them is crashing down, and they’re arguing over a plan that’ll never happen anyway. And Red absolutely doesn’t get why Black would think his wish was stupid. He’s like “Um, you need to check your tall privilege?” And Black shoots him in the face because he’s just done.

But this episode’s not done, because once Red is out of the picture, Black sort of loses it and tries to fight Goku for possession of the Dragon Balls. It’s really amazing character development, because Black was the calm, collected center of the Red Ribbon Army, but then he just flips out, forgetting all the lessons his comrades learned the hard way. The lure of the Dragon Balls is just too seductive for him to give up.

Also, Colonel Violet is super cute.

8. Dragon Ball Z Episode 135

A few episodes before this one, Vegeta debuted his own Super Saiyan transformation, and kicked the shit out of Android 19. It was a big deal, because up to that point, Goku and Trunks were the only Super Saiyans, implying that jerks like Vegeta couldn’t do it. It was also a big deal because it was assumed up to that point that the androids might just be unbeatable, and Vegeta clobbered one of them in a single episode.

But that episode didn’t make the list, because this one is far more important. Here, Vegeta tries to press his luck by challenging the even stronger Android 18, even though everyone else tries to tell him this is a terrible idea. What follows is one of the coolest fights in the series, and the best classic Dragon Ball battle to feature a woman. For a while it looks pretty even, but then 18 reveals she was hustling Vegeta the whole time, and defeats him with no trouble at all.

Why is this such a big moment? For one thing, it’s the next step in deconstructing the Super Saiyan Legend. Vegeta had already proven that you don’t have to be a good person to turn into a Super Saiyan, and that it’s not just a once-in-a-millennium thing. Here, he proves that Super Saiyans aren’t as invincible as he liked to believe. We’d already seen Goku lose to Android 19, but he was sick at the time. Trunks was no match for he androids in his own timeline, but those battles had happened off-screen. This is a much more visceral demonstration. You’ve got the Saiyan Prince, in perfect health, fresh as a daisy, comfortably transformed, and it doesn’t do him a damn bit of good. 18 breaks his arm like it’s not even hard.

For Vegeta, this was a big deal, because it finally cemented the fact that there is no finish line. From his first appearance, he seemed convinced that he could become the supreme being in his universe, simply by killing Frieza, becoming immortal, or transforming into a Super Saiyan. Here, he thinks he’s finally pulled it off, only to lose even more decisively than ever before.

7. Dragon Ball Episode 99

I debated whether to go with this one or Episode 101, where Tien finally beats Goku to win the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, but I think this episode deserves the nod. The Goku/Tien championship bout spanned several episodes, but this is the one where Tien finally decides that he’d rather win the title than avenge Tao Pai Pai.

Let me back up a bit here. Goku (seemingly) killed Tao in a prior episode, and Tao was the brother of the Crane Hermit, Tien’s master. So going into this fight, Tien was planning to defeat Goku, win the championship, and then kill Goku in front of the live audience, just to get that extra bit of revenge. But once the fight actually got rolling, Tien began to develop a begrudging respect for Goku’s talent, and then this episode happens, where Tien starts winning, and Goku accuses him of cheating. Tien doesn’t know what he’s talking about at first, until he realizes that the Crane Hermit is using Chiaotzu’s psychic powers to paralyze Goku at key moments.

Once he figures it out, he tells them to stop, since he wants to prove his own superiority, but Crane just wants Goku to die, title or no title. He orders Tien to stop clowning and kill Goku at once, but Tien refuses, and turns his back on the life of an assassin. Chiaotzu does the same, since he was enjoying the match before all the interference started. Crane flips out, but Roshi Kamehameha’s him out of the stadium, allowing Tien and Goku to finally fight without any outside interference.

Tien’s first order of business is to let Goku have a bunch of free shots, in order to make up for all the hits Tien got in while Chiaotzu was cheating. Then he grows four arms, because he still wants to kick Goku’s ass, even if he doesn’t hate him anymore.

Tien’s reform isn’t unique in the series, but I think his particular transformation is very neatly accomplished, inside this one episode, during a single epic battle. Like so many other characters, he figures out that revenge, power, and bloodlust are hollow pursuits compared to the thrill of pushing your own limits through the sacred art of gonzo anime violence. Being a bad guy isn’t just morally shameful, it’s downright boring. Piccolo and Vegeta would eventually learn the same lesson, but it never gets spelled out quite as eloquently as it does in this episode. Also, Launch tries to kill Chiaotzu with a giant cartoon mallet.

6. Dragon Ball Episode 147

On the other hand, you’ve got this episode from the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, where Piccolo doesn’t learn a damned thing, except how to take an epic beating.

This episode is just wall-to-wall nuts. Piccolo blows up the entire city where the tournament is being held, and that’s just for openers. Tien uses his Ki-ko-ho to make a foxhole for the others to hide in, and Launch kicks Kami into it when he doesn’t jump in right away.

Piccolo’s city-busting blast was intended to finish off Goku, but it doesn’t even scratch the lovable bastard, and it just gives Goku and opening to pound the ever-loving crap out of Big Green. Goku just goes sickhouse on him, in one of the most satisfying and well-animated sequences in the whole series. And to add insult to injury, he continues to play by the tournament rules. Once he has Piccolo laid out where the ring used to be, he asks for a ten count.

And that turns out to be a huge mistake, as Piccolo has enough juice left to zap him with a mouth blast at the last second. The attack leaves a baseball-sized hole in Goku’s pec, and Piccolo just starts stomping on the wound. Worse, he’s still strong enough that no one else can come to Goku’s rescue.

And then, just when Goku looks to be finished, he gets back up anyway, still looking to win this battle. Is he overconfident or just stupid? Neither actually, as he has the whole fight under control, as the next episode reveals.

5. Dragon Ball Z Episode 281

Oh mannnn, this episode ruuuules. One of my pet peeves with this fandom is people crapping on the Buu Saga, simply for coming at the tail end of this franchise. It’s bullshit, just like how Star Wars purists act like Empire Strikes Back is the best movie ever made and Return of the Jedi is a cinematic bowel movement. They’re both good, you just lost interest before the series ended.

The Buu arc isn’t my favorite, but it’s balls-to-the-wall awesome, and when I was making this list I had a hard time picking a favorite episode from the Kid Buu fight. It’s just such a beautiful battle, packed with story and character development. I can’t blame viewers for getting burnt out on Dragon Ball if they watched the preceding 433 episodes first, but to say these episodes are bad is just flat-out wrong.

Anyway, I went with 281, which features the tail end of Goku’s solo effort against Kid Buu. Vegeta steps into give Goku a pep talk, and Goku admits that he can’t gather enough power to blow Buu away. To do that, he’ll need a full minute to charge his ki, and Vegeta offers to buy him that minute, even though he’s weaker than Goku and doesn’t stand a chance against Buu by himself.

What follows is a solid ten minutes of Vegeta getting clobbered, but he keeps getting back up and forcing himself to find new ways to play for time. He doesn’t try to beat Buu, because he knows he can’t. Instead, he keeps him busy, and psyches him out so he won’t bother Goku while he charges up.

What makes this work is that it’s the counterpoint to Episode 133, seen earlier on this list. Then, Vegeta thought his Super Saiyan form made him a guaranteed winner. Now, he’s using Super Saiyan 2 in a desperate bid to just hold the line until an even stronger fighter can make his own last-ditch effort to win. Vegeta’s fighting for a chance at victory, and it’s a slim chance at that. One of my favorite things about this episode is how tragic it is. By Episode 282, it becomes clear that Goku’s plan was never going to work, so Vegeta’s efforts were in vain. But he doesn’t seem to mind much, because at least he got to throw down against Kid Buu and see exactly how long he could hold out.

4. Dragon Ball Z Episode 184

This is the one where Gohan finally snaps and turns into a Super Saiyan 2, but when you put it like that, it seems so pedestrian.

From his first appearance in Episode 1 of DBZ, Gohan was shown to have hidden potential, which was gradually brought out over the course of the series. By the time the Cell Games rolled around, it was sort of implied that he had finally realized that full potential. Goku trained him to be a Super Saiyan like himself, and how much higher could he possibly get than that?

But Goku’s secret plan was for Gohan to fight Cell, and if he got in a pinch, Gohan would then tap into the same hidden potential he used to turn the tables on the Saiyans and Frieza. Goku’s theory was that if he trained Gohan to be a Super Saiyan, then any power boost Gohan experienced during the fight would rachet him up to an even higher level never seen before.

This suited Cell just fine, so he pooped out an army of mini-Cells to torture the Z-Fighters until Gohan’s rage pushed him into this higher level. And that’s what this episode is all about, except it doesn’t really work. The Cell Juniors clobber the heroes from pillar to post, but Gohan doesn’t change, and he doesn’t know how to make himself change. Then Android 16 has an idea to talk him through it, and he convinces Mr. Satan to toss his severed head over to Gohan to he can make his speech. Cell stomps on 16′s head in an impulsive act of cruelty, and then then “Unmei no Hi - Tmasahii Vs. Tamashii” starts playing.

This is a huge moment in the series, not only because of the advent of Super Saiyan 2 and the turning of the tide in the Cell Games, but also because it marks the fufillment of the promise of Gohan’s character. We all knew he would become something great, and now it finally comes into focus.

But this episode also gets high marks for how all the other characters are handled. Goku’s “foolproof” plan collapses, and he’s forced to apologize while they all get beaten down; Android 16 sacrifices himself after already losing his body; Mr. Satan does what little he can, proving that he’s more than just a gloryhound; and Cell seems to have second thoughts once he finally gets a glimpse at Gohan’s hidden power.

3. Dragon Ball Z Episode 94

Maybe it would make more sense to pick the episode where Goku turns Super Saiyan for the first time, but I think the false-finish that precedes it deserves the spot. I’ll try to explain.

There’s really three things going on in this one. First, Goku’s trying to assemble a Spirit Bomb powerful enough to kill Frieza. In the previous episode, Frieza finally noticed what he was up to, and he decided to kill Goku before he could use the bomb. But the bomb still isn’t big enough, so Goku needs more time.

Second, Piccolo has jumped in to keep Frieza busy long enough for Goku to get the time he needs. Much of this episode is Frieza beating up on a defenseless Piccolo, and then Krillin and Gohan jump in too. It’s just awesome seeing all these guys throw everything they can into this effort.

Third, there’s a filler subplot featuring the dead Z-Fighters on King Kai’s planet fighting the dead Ginyu Force members. It’s goofy, and kind of inconsequential, but it’s fun. I just like seeing the whole gang getting to worth together in the same episode.

So when Goku finally deploys the Spirit Bomb and Frieza finds himself overwhelmed, it really feels like a team effort. King Kai reports that Frieza’s been beaten, and this inspires Yamcha and the others to put the Ginyus away for keeps. On Namek, only Krillin and Gohan are left standing after the Spirit Bomb explodes, and they wonder if Goku and Piccolo could have survived.

I won’t sugar-coat it, a lot of DBZ episodes go pretty light on plot points. So when you get one like this, with so many things going on all at once, and so many characters joining in, and so much suspense and drama, it really clicks. This would have been a brilliant finale to the Frieza Saga, and the icing on the cake is that it’s all for naught. Frieza’s fine in the next episode, which is all-the-more frustrating because of how satisfying this episode was.

2. Dragon Ball Z Episode 179

Huh, I got a lot of Androids/Cell episodes on this list. It’s almost like the Androids/Cell arc is the best one and it rules over all. Nah, that can’t be it.

This is the high-water mark of the Goku/Cell fight, which the whole series had been building to since Cell was first introduced some thirty-odd episodes earlier. Here’s the new big-bad final boss, the next Frieza, essentially, so naturally it’s going to be up to Goku to put him down in a 19-episode brawl. Only that’s not what happens. Goku goes into the Cell Games admitting that he’s no match for Cell, but he wants to fight the guy anyway. No one understands what he’s planning, but he seems pretty upbeat for a guy who expects to lose.

The fight itself only goes four episodes. The first is a feeling-out process, the second is mostly Cell showboating, but in this third episode, they really go at it. The animation is beautifully handled by Keisuke Masunaga. He’d supervised a handful of episodes before this, but this one is the first action-heavy episode, truly serving as a demonstration of what he could do.

Plotwise, there isn’t a whole lot to say. The battle goes pretty evenly here, and the main appeal is that all the other characters are still trying to figure out what Goku’s strategy is. He said he couldn’t win, and yet he’s hanging in there with Cell, so what’s the deal? You might think Goku’s aiming to win on a technicality, using Cell’s own rules against him, except Cell enjoys the fight so much that he blows up his own ring to prevent any chance of an out-of-bounds finish. From here, the Cell Games can only end by surrender or death.

So then Goku goes up into the air and tries a Kamehameha, similar to the one Cell used earlier in the battle. Cell thinks it’s a bluff, since he knows he can dodge it, and from that steep an angle, Goku would just end up hitting the Earth and destroying it. But Goku doesn’t blink, and just when Cell isn’t sure what’s going to happen, Goku teleports right in front of him and unloads the Kamehameha into his face at pointblank range.

It’s another false finish. Cell survives, but he has to grow back his head and arms first. But for a moment, it looks like this was Goku’s big plan. He knew he couldn’t outpower Cell, so he out-finessed him by using the Instant Transmission to get past his guard. And you know, if the ring hadn’t been destroyed, maybe this would have worked. Goku could have tossed Cell’s decaptitated body out of bounds and Cell would have regenerated to find himself outside the ring. I always wonder what he would have done in that scenario. I mean, Cell’s kind of a sore loser, but he seems to respect clever ploys, and the tournament was his idea.

Anyway, Cell rules, this episode is wall-to-wall action, and the Warp Kamehameha is the best move in Budokai 2.

1. Dragon Ball Z Episode 31

Personally, I find the Saiyans Saga to be slightly overrated, but dammit, this episode has just about everything. I’d go so far as to say that when people praise the Saiyans Saga, they’re really only thinking back to this one episode, or maybe five of the best episodes that include this one.

Here’s the deal: Vegeta has invaded Earth and all of the Z-Fighters are dead or badly hurt. Only Goku is left to stop this guy, and he’s armed with the Kai-o-ken technique, a power multiplier as effective as it is risky. King Kai warned Goku never to go beyond a double Kai-o-ken, because anything more than that could cripple his own body. But he tried that in the previous episode, and Vegeta laughed it off. So in this episode, Goku reluctantly goes for a Kai-o-ken times three.

And for a few glorious minutes, Vegeta gets completely wrecked. Goku just picks him apart with hit after hit after hit. It’s enough to humble Vegeta and it’s enough to draw blood, but it doesn’t actually put the guy down. Instead, Vegeta becomes so outraged that he flips out and tries to destroy the entire planet with his finisher, the Galick Gun. This leaves no choice for Goku to keep using the Kai-o-ken times three, and he’s gotta fire a Kamehameha to block Vegeta’s shot.

And when that turns out to be too weak to push back Vegeta’s attack, Goku is forced to turn it up even higher and use a four times Kai-o-ken. So now we’re beyond anything King Kai had imagined when he taught him the technique. It works, and Goku manages to shoot Vegeta into space, but his body is terribly banged up from the effort.

Which is a real shame, because Vegeta manages to save himself from being blasted into space, and he’s still got enough juice to pull his own trump card: turning into a giant ape! Saiyans need a full moon to do this, and Piccolo helpfully destroyed the moon before Vegteta’s arrival, but that doesn’t matter, because Vegeta can make his own artificial moonlight with a special ki technique! So the episode ends with an exhausted Goku staring at a hundred-foot tall Vegeta-ape.

And hopefully I’ve made my point. You’ve got three big BIG moments in the series here. Goku’s Kai-o-ken X3 offensive against Vegeta was what made their rivalry. Before that, Vegeta never came close to sweating Goku, and afterward, every time Vegeta thought back on their battle, this was the part he remembered. The Galick Gun/Kamehameha beam struggle was an iconic moment all by itself, and it’s the standard by which all other beam struggles are judged. And then you’ve got Vegeta using the fake moon trick and turning into a giant ape, setting the stage for the final leg of the battle. Any one of these things would earn a spot on this list, but DBZ #31 has all three. It’s gotta take the top spot. It’s just gotta.

There’s a lot of really great episodes I didn’t cover. I’m a big fan of the Pikkon episodes, and the one where 16 fights Cell is a personal fave, and the Vegito episodes are awesome too. But there’s only so much room at the top. I bet I could have a completely different list in a couple years’ time. In conclusion, Dragon Ball fucking rules.

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #top ten best episodes #frieza #goku #piccolo #trunks #vegeta #cell #perfect cell #gohan #majin buu #tien #android 18 #commander red #staff officer black

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hellyeahomeland · 4 years

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“The English Teacher”: an HYH recap

This mindfuck of an episode picks up about a day or so after last week’s episode. Carrie is being held in a “subbasement” (a basement in the basement?) at Langley and has started to disassociate a bit. I would too! This reality is fucked!

Anyway, a nice lawyer man comes to retrieve her and does a bit of plot exposition:

Saul hired him to represent Carrie at the preliminary hearing.

Saul arranged for Carrie’s release and also paid the bond.

Saul is letting Carrie stay at his house!

Basically Saul is being the coolest he’s been re: Carrie in like seven years.

There was a car bomb at the Afghan/Pakistani border that killed a whole special ops crew and injured one CIA officer named Jenna Bragg, who was sent back to the US out of an abundance of caution. Oh, and Jenna was called to testify against Carrie at the hearing.

Don’t fucking talk to anyone until the hearing, especially not a specific person who’s meant to testify against you, capiche?

In the West Wing, things are messy as hell. Evil Spawn John Zabel is arguing that Pakistan was behind the suicide bomb and that’s yet another reason to invade. Saul argues it was just Haqqani; after all Pakistan lost some guys too. Zabel is all, “IT’S THEIR FUCKING COUNTRY” and says Linus should resign. Mandy starts swearing at Hugh Saul starts swearing at Zabel, he’s really fucking mad. Linus envisions new ways to get swallowed whole. Maybe dinosaurs will come back from extinction? It’s just a massive screaming match—actually very entertaining—and Saul’s big solution is “backchannel talks,” and Zabel’s brain nearly short circuits at the suggestion of diplomacy instead of military invasion. Hayes just looks like he’d rather be literally any fucking place doing any fucking thing except this.

Carrie is settling into Saul’s very lovely DC home when Saul arrives, worn and weary from his no good very bad day. Although it can’t possibly have been worse than Carrie’s, which is saying something. Carrie makes her first move, pokes around a bit about the Russian asset. Saul flatly denies it, then pours himself a drink (same). He eyes a bookcase full of old, leather-bound red books and then—

It’s 1986 in East Berlin. A young Saul, played by BEN SAVAGE (that’s right, it’s CORY MATTHEWS), who does bear a striking resemblance to Mandy Patinkin, walks into a bookstore and picks up one of those same, old red books from the display. He heads into the back of the store and then a young woman enters and cocks a pistol in his direction. He brings his hands up in surrender.

The next day at Walter Reed Hospital, Carrie defies all good legal advice and pays a visit to Jenna, who’s being discharged.

Jenna: OH MY FUCKING GOD, LOSE MY NUMBER. Carrie: Ok I know you’re furious with me, just know you join a very large and enthusiastic club on that front. But please listen to me. Jenna: Furious? Dude, that special ops crew is all dead. That’s on you. Carrie: It’s horrible, I know. But a suicide bomber did that. Not me, and not you. Jenna: You’re delusional. Carrie: You join another very large and enthusiastic club in that position, but just hear me out! You have nothing to do for the next two minutes while you wait for your Uber. Jenna: Not if I speed walk! Carrie: I found the black box. Do you even care what was on it? Probs not, but I’ll just keep talking. The president’s helicopter was not shot down! It was mechanical failure. Jenna: Hm… that is interesting. So where is it now? Carrie: That hot Russian guy stole it from me. Jenna: OH MY FUCKING GOD YOU ARE A MESS. Carrie: I just need a few days to get it back. I know you’re supposed to testify and I truly don’t give two fucks what you say to them, but if you could just wait a week that would be awesome. Jenna: Well, what’s your plan? Carrie: They offered me a trade. But I can’t really say much more than that. Jenna: What is with you spies and your secrets? Carrie: Ok fine. Saul has an asset high up in the Kremlin. I need to find out who it is. Jenna: Good fucking luck getting onto a Langley computer. Not that you’d know how to use it. Carrie: [loaded silence] Jenna: OH MY GOD. I’m tattling to Saul.

And Jenna does book it straight to Saul’s office but has to wait a bit because Saul’s on the phone with Tasneem, who is in New York City at the UN and remains maximum pissed. From the time her plane took off to when it landed the US moved more troops right along their border. Saul says some things about how everyone in the US is crazy and it’s all very ~prescient~ but he thinks if they can just take out Jalal, Hayes and Zabel might back down. Tasneem once again claims they have no idea where he is. Saul asks for a target, any plausible coordinates. Tasneem agrees.

Enter Jenna. She is very prepared to expose just how big of a crazy person Carrie is when Saul is like, “hold up, little lady, it’s all true.” He’s taking this “back up Carrie at all costs” thing to a whole new level. He says that, no matter her mistakes, Carrie never loses sight of the bigger picture. Everything she does is in service of that. The tribunal will attempt to get Jenna to contribute to whatever bullshit charges they come up with, but Jenna needs to do like Carrie: decide what matters. Decide what kind of person she is.

Later, Carrie is at the arraignment, and the judge starts listing off charges. It’s pretty bad. Treason, accessory to murder, etc. She starts to have a tiny panic attack in the courtroom and thankfully holds her vomit for the restroom. There, she’s approached by a prim-looking woman named Charlotte Benson, “a friend of Yevgeny’s.” (Eagle-eyed viewers will recognize her from last season with Ivan.) Carrie’s like, “fuck that guy and fuck you too” but Charlotte is unfazed, hands her her card, and says they have resources. All you have to do is call.

In the simultaneously most and least surprising event of the season, at the tribunal, Jenna decides what type of person she is and it’s the type with a mind of her own. She gets about four seconds into the thing before she bolts.

At the White House, Zabel reveals that—whadya know!—the Pakistanis did know where Jalal was. At least, they said they do. They just provided coordinates and everyone’s in the situation room waiting to pull the trigger. Saul hurries down and watches as they bomb the entire compound. “Fuck yeah!” Hayes exclaims as everyone applauds, definitely 100% sure they just killed Jalal. Saul makes a beeline for the exit and tells Linus he’s going to New York.

Later, Jenna is waiting for Carrie at Saul’s with a folder full of information. It’s about the exfiltration that Carrie mentioned that went south. The man attended a KGB language school but he spooked and Saul had to get him out quickly. Minefields and shit. He’s been in Pennsylvania in Witness Protection ever since. So he can’t be Saul’s asset but maybe he knows who is.

Jenna: You sure you want to betray Saul? Carrie: I’m 100% sure I want to do the opposite of that, but I have no choice. Jenna: You’re right, I guess. But I’m done with all this shit. Carrie: “Done”? Never heard of it. Jenna: I’m through with this, the CIA, all of it. Carrie: Wait, so you finally used your brain and that’s the decision you came to? You don’t have the thrill of having figured something out? You don’t feel a physical and emotional high? Jenna: Uh no?? I feel sick to my stomach about the special ops team. That comes down on me. And whoever this asset is will be tortured too. That’s my big picture. I’ve tried to see it your way, but I can’t. I just don’t believe it anymore. Carrie: Believe what? Jenna/Quinn’s ghost: That anything justifies the damage we do.

Carrie ruminates on that for about 2.4 seconds before she’s on to the next thing, which is a road trip to Pennsylvania. She arrives in her librarian cosplay, hair in a ponytail, eyeglasses, the whole shebang. She’s at the house of Saul’s old asset, the one who’s in Witness Protection. She introduces herself as Heather Frith (great fake name) and says she works as an archiver for the CIA’s Chief Historian, which is a job just fake-sounding enough to probably be real. She wants details about what happened with his exfiltration, details that aren’t in the file. He is suspicious at first, but she calls his bluff, and he takes her out to his garage to relive the story.

He describes Saul then as something of a hero. He had everything in the exfiltration down like clockwork. When one of the mines exploded, he literally carried him over the border. Carrie asks what happened to the rest of the cadets in his class, and he says they were all killed for failing to prevent his defection. She spots a woman in an old photograph then. He didn’t know her name, she just went by Comrade Instructor. She was their English teacher. Then Carrie eyes an old red book. He explains it was their method for arranging a meeting. You move the book from the right to the left side of the display window. “Very Saul. He liked the old ways. Things hidden in plain sight.”

…Which makes for a nice segue to New York City. Saul’s at UN headquarters, where Pakistan has requested a vote against the US for being general dicks and warmongers. Saul then pulls a Quinn in “Q&A” (or maybe a Carrie in “Tin Man Is Down”) and makes a huge scene at the meeting, screaming at the Russian delegation about the flight recorder. An older blonde woman translates for the delegation as he shouts. Resident hottie Scott Ryan escorts Saul out and the Russians have a powwow within earshot of said woman. What was all that about a flight recorder? One of them says Yevgeny Gromov is running an operation and leaves it at that. Cue that woman later in a rare bookstore. She eyes another of those old red leather-bound editions.

We flashback again to 1986. That woman in the bookstore is the woman holding Saul at gunpoint. She is the English teacher at the language school. She is disgusted at what happened to her students—put up against a wall and shot—and wants to take the place of Saul’s asset. Saul feigns ignorance and says she must be confusing him with someone else.

The next five minutes are a masterpiece. Back at Saul’s house in present day, Carrie finally takes an interest in his unique collection of old red books. She flips through them and notes that each has a date on the inside front cover. 11.14.2009. 3.14.95. 3.5.1987. She lines them up in the living room, by year, next to significant events in the ongoing Russian/American intelligence battle. Chernobyl cover-up in 1986. Gorbachev coup in 1989. Aldrich Ames in 1993. Robert Hanssen in 2000. Crimea in 2014. Active measures in the 2016 election.

In his NY hotel room, Saul has a book delivery for one Professor Rabinow. Send it right up.

Carrie surveys her makeshift timeline. She picks up the next book, Vanity Fair. The subtitle on the inside reads “A NOVEL WITHOUT A HERO,” in case the audience had any doubts. She picks up another and notices the Russian spelling of “Moscow” on the inside back cover. She begins flipping through others in the timeline looking for the same tag. No, no, no, yes. She smiles that same knowing, exhilarated smile. It really is like a high. She whittles the Moscow books down to just eight now.

Saul gets his package, which is—whoulda thunk?!—an old red book, and takes it into the bathroom. Carrie examines one of the books, flipping through the pages. She checks the back cover—maybe something hidden in the lining?—but no luck.

Saul flips this new book upside down, brings the covers up in a ‘V’ to expose a space on the spine. In his living room, Carrie does the same thing. There it is: an opening, just small enough for a message. Carrie exhales, eyes wide, at the discovery. Delicately Saul retrieves a small piece of paper and holds it up to the light. He reads: “THE PRICE HAS ALREADY BEEN ASKED. IT’S YEVGENY GROMOV’S PLAY.”

A middle-aged Ben Savage playing a young Saul Berenson walks through the streets of Berlin late at night before he’s accosted by some Soviets requesting his papers. They think he’s CIA. He gets a few punches in (yes, Saul!) before running down a dead-end alley. All of a sudden he hears gunshots, braces for injury. But it’s the men who’ve been shot, and by the English teacher Anna. “Do you trust me now?” she says.

In present day, Saul stands silently in his hotel room, contemplating this new knowledge. Carrie’s lied to him about Yevgeny, that much he knows. But what else has she kept from him?

Carrie also has new knowledge, and she’s taking it straight to Yevgeny. Charlotte Benson drives her to a huge, empty mansion to speak with him.

Charlotte: Empty for two years. Owners are asking too much. Carrie: Hey, just like our show!

Charlotte leads her to a room and computer where Yevgeny is waiting on a video conference. Carrie is not at all pleased to see her Russian boyfriend.

She says that the asset exists. Yevgeny is the opposite of enthusiastic. Saul probably recruited her in East Berlin in 1986. She knows how they communicate. “How?” Yevgeny asks. “That’s not how this works,” Carrie replies, trying to maintain the upper hand for as long as possible. Yevgeny asks for a name. Carrie doesn’t have it but can get it if he provides some KGB records. She needs some stuff from the language school, but Yevgeny explains it’s all lost, burned by the “freedom lovers” after the Berlin Wall came down. They’ve gone down this road before, did Carrie really think she was the first to figure out that connection?

Carrie gets frustrated and nearly walks out of the meeting when Yevgeny reminds her of the stakes at play: America and Pakistan on the literal brink of full-scale war.

Yevgeny: Besides, you haven’t done everything you can. Carrie: Meaning what? Yevgeny: Take out Saul. That will neutralize the asset. Carrie: Saul has a legacy plan. If he goes, he has a plan to pass the asset onto someone else. Yevgeny: Yes, exactly. And that someone else is … Carrie: [mind blown] Yevgeny: …you. Carrie: You… you played me. You knew it would come to this. How long have you been planning this? Do you derive extra special pleasure from fucking with me? Yevgeny: I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but like you said, you tried everything.

He tells her to do it—to kill Saul. Her eyes fill with tears as she shuts the computer and walks out. The lights go black behind her.

#homeland #an hyh recap #the english teacher #*#by: sara

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