halloweenreaper

Latest Posts by halloweenreaper

I may not word this right, but I like that Apothecary Diaries doesn't reduce any of the female characters to just victims. In so many stories that involve sex work, it seems like the women are victims first and characters second. As if their character is made completely around the fact that they've had this experience and that dictates everything about what they do and think in the story. And while Apothecary Diaries certainly doesn't shy away from the dark side/trama that can come from that line of work, it does do a good job at acknowledging that none of the characters are really defined by it or shamed for it in the story for that matter.

Season 4 of Tower of God will be interesting as far as lore building goes. Because Baam's been told about his parents multiple times. Data Edahn specifically told him about V. Cha told him about Arlene. And while Data Edahn probably only knew early V, Cha would've known Arlene (or heard of her) during the Great War. Baam has an idea as to who his parents are. What kind of people they were. So, I'm wondering how much of his interactions with V is going to contradict/reinforce the image Baam has of them in his head.

If Chuuya had his original ability to strengthen anyone else's ability by touching them, I wonder if his and Dazai’s abilities would cancel out on contact (making Dazai vulnerable to others abilities and Chuuya unable to strengthen abilities) or if it would cause a singularity by making a constant feedback loop. It's a very unstoppable meets immovable object scenario.

@radiant-7 No historical proof?! Yasuke was a real living, breathing person! He was alive in the 1500s and is famously the first Black samurai! A literal five second Google search will tell you that. How can you have a problem with the creators being historically accurate with what he is most famous for?

Yasuke (Assassin's Creed Shadows)

See, with all the antiblack racism we've been put through over this man's sheer existence, is proof enough that he's excellent Black character design. Everyone rise and give Yasuke a standing ovation right NEOW-

Okay, so in the Traumerei Amizu flashback, it's implied that the only people to enter the room where Traumerei had shut himself in after Amizu announced that she was leaving were other members of the 10 family heads. Somehow, I doubt he was close to anyone else given his reclusive nature. If that is the case, then who the fuck is he?

There's only three family heads we haven't seen in any capacity. Ari Han, Bloodmadder, and Tperie. We can rule out Ari since he probably looks similar to his cousin, Arie Hon (personally, I think SIU should have leaned into the closeness of their names and just made them twins). That leaves Bloodmadder and Tperie. I'm leaning toward Tperie because of all the eyes. What's all your thoughts on it?

Also, just the Emperor casually outing Jinshi as not actually being a eunuch just to tease him about his crush on Maomao.

Okay, I just caught up on Apothecary Diaries, and while this show always has dark themes (and is quite frankly a masterclass in how they can be handled), the ending of s2e33 was ... Damn. I mean, talk about a taste of your own medicine.

One thing I find hilarious in Tower of God is that our first real look at Zahard and V are so vastly different. They're both images from when they were younger (Zahard via his data doppelganger in s2e284 and V from Traumerei's flashback in s3e213). But like, this is their first full reveal side by side.

I know other images of Zahard do have him looking a lot better than this initial one, but like V's initial image is literally a thirst trap. Like, I'm ace, and even I can get why Arlene would be more attracted to V than Zahard. That race was kinda finished before it started if you get what I mean.

On another note, was it really necessary for that to be our first look at Baam’s father, SIU? Was it really?

I like the saying, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." Especially when it comes to creative things. While AI is fine in some regards. I'll admit that I used AI to write cover letters when I was applying for jobs because those are the absolute bane of my existence. And even then, I had to check it over and edit what it wrote. But with things like creative writing and art, there's just naturally a human element to it that a mechine can't replicate. Art comes from who you are and how you see the world. It's an expression of you. AI can't do that. And besides that, what we have isn't really AI. It's machine learning. Pattern recognition. It can note common elements and remix them into something that on the surface looks like art, but there's no deeper meaning. There's no happy little accidents.

I think we get so caught up in this world where there's always some end goal, and everything seems to demand 110% out of you all the time. But that's not what art is. You can half ass art, and it's still art. It doesn't even need to be profound. In fact, art is a lot like being alive. It's never going to be perfect. And that's fine. For me, I don't write to make something perfect or profound. The highest level of praise I can get is seeing someone react to my work. Laughing. Crying. Anything.

We've used art to say "we were here" since humans started humaning. And handing that off to something as cold as a pattern recognition software just feels disingenuous. I'd rather see a handprint smacked against a wall than some cold amalgamation spit out by something that will never understand what it made. Half ass your art. Be bad at it. It's not about being the best anyway. It's about saying you were here. You were alive. That you had thoughts and feelings. And that's worth something. Even if it is done poorly.

I know that Baam’s supposed to be like 5'10" 5'11" (according to the wiki and assuming my math is right), but seeing how small he is next to any of the other characters and how excited he got when Jinsung suggested that he grew when they reunited during the Nest Arc just reads (to me) that he's not that tall. Maybe it's my 5'1" ass having a skewed idea of what tall is, but I'd put him at like 5'7" if even. He's a head shorter than most characters. He's a little guy.

Exy is the bastardized child of lacrosse and hockey that's been left unsupervised just a bit too long.

Okay so having went to my first lacrosse game as a non-sports person, I finally fully understand how exy got that popular. First of all lacrosse is already extremely entertaining on it's own, but you’re telling me it’s not just lacrosse, but it’s a contact sport, there’s a plexiglass wall that balls can ricochet off of, they are wearing like full uniform guard because it’s that violent yet they can run around as if their gear weighs nothing, AND IT’S CO-ED?!

Sign me the fuck up are you kidding me.

“Perfect timing! Arlene, Zahard, who’s your non-human hear me out character?”

The Thirteen Great Warriors have some downtime on their climb up the Tower and end up on the topic of their "hear me out" characters.

(All answers were found on Reddit and I am now scarred for life.)

One thing that is not utilized enough in Baam/Khun fics is the fact that Baam is generally shown a back sleeper that straight up does not move in his sleep while Khun tends to be shown more as a side sleeper and not only moves quite a bit but is also cannonically a blanket hog. If they were to sleep together, Baam is being used as the human pillow and may or may not end up with blankets and/or bruises from being kicked.

I understand that you can get burnt out from anything, but there's something ... hollow? about being burned out on what you love. Like, I get that I need to step away from writing sometimes. That I need this burnout period to recharge. But I hate the numbness that comes with it. How bloody unproductive I feel. I can't focus. I can't do anything. I feel like a tiger pacing the length of its cage up and down. Up and down. Over and over. I know there's a point where the bucket is empty, and you gotta let it refill before you can proactively use it, but I hate waiting around for that spark to come back to life. Ya know?

I know Kaz gets a lot of shit for calling Inej and investment in Six of Crows, but if you take into account the culture he grew up in, it's actually really sweet. Hear me out. When you acknowledge just how important commerce is in Kerch, and particularly Ketterdam, it adds a lot more meaning behind the seemingly throwaway line. Commerce is more than just financial in that culture. It's spiritual. This is a place where the main god is Ghezen, the god of industry and commerce. Their main church is literally called the Church of Barter. Saying someone is an investment in a culture like that would have way deeper implications than simply a surface level business transaction. It's someone you'd want to take care of and protect. Someone you'd want to see succeed and keep close enough to reap the benefit from that success. Someone you'd put time and effort into. It wouldn't be surprising if marriage or having children would be considered an investment in that culture because, to them, it wouldn't cheapen the emotional value of these things but highlight just how important those relationships are. It's not surprising that this goes over Inej's head (and most of the other characters' heads) because she's not from that culture. But for someone who is, it would show just how important his relationship to her is to him. Especially considering he says this while he's putting himself in danger (and probaby a lot of pain considering his leg) just to save her and keep her safe.

"Mindset of a ruler." Proceeds to be completely whipped for Baam.

Take their relationship as platonic or romantic; he's still whipped either way.

TOWER OF GOD - Khun Aguero Agnes -

"I will not be ruled. I make my own rules. That is the mindset of a ruler."

I mean, good thing the food can't kill him twice. Right? 🤣

Xie Lian would have one of those ‘making my husbands lunch/dinner’ channels and the comments would be full of people unsure of he’s genuinely that bad of a cook or is slowly trying to kill his husband.

Blue Thryssa after the events of Season 3: Are you fucking kidding me?! Seriously?! Anything else?!

Alternatively: Welcome to our monthly meet-up. Looks like we have some new fucking members.

Neil is the epitome of that "god has let me live another day and I'm about to make it everybody's problem" meme.

So, i was doing some research for my fic, Dead Ringer, (don't ask) and ... da fuck you mean the Yakuza got busted for trafficing nuclear material in New York?! Like, I know January was nuts, but I'm surprised that slipped right by unnoticed.

I have a slight fascination in names and their meanings/historical context of how they're structured, and as far as the Perfect Court goes, there are a few fun facts about them that add an interesting layer to their backstories. We know Riko taking Jean’s middle name "Yves" was intentional and significant in signifying his lack of identity in the Nest. But Riko and Kevin also have (possibly unintentional) significants in their names as well.

For Riko, in Western cultures, we generally think of "Rico," the masculine Spanish/Italian name meaning "king" or "ruler," but in Japanese, the name "Riko" is traditionally a feminine name meaning "jasmine child" or "loyal child" depending on the characters used to spell it.

In Kevin’s case, it's a missing middle name, which is actually a bit more significant than Jean missing his. In Europe, middle names became a thing because of the high population prior to the Black Plague. (Multiple Johns or Marys could be distinguished by their middle name.) But, in Celtic regions, the belief in not telling people your middle name was associated with the fae. If they ask for your name and you don't give them your middle, then they don't have your "true name," and you're safe. As Kevin's mom was Irish, she definitely would have given him one as it's a normal practice. But by the Moriyamas removing it, it strips him of some of his cultural heritage.

Take this information and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. I just think it's an interesting thing to point out.

I know we make fun of Kevin and Neil’s habit of thinking only of exy right after something traumatic happens (Seth's death, Neil's focus on his racket after Andrew’s attack, the bloody happy birthday jr.). But I think some people overlook that it's a trauma response and a very well written one at that. It's a form of disassociation that, on the outside, looks very dismissive, disconnected, or irrelevant from what's actually happening. Both of them turn to exy because it's mentally a safe place for them, and focusing on it is their brain's way of feeling a little in control of the situation.

I know it probably won't be the case, but I would love it if, in Tower of God, Arlene is revealed to be a very caring and doting mom to Baam. Like, she can be bat shit crazy and will destroy you for looking at her wrong, but when it comes to Baam, I would love it if she was a caring parent with a legitimate reason for not being around (improsioned or something like that). One, because he deserves a good parent. And two, it would be an interesting character dynamic given that every other parent in the story is competing for the worst parent of the year award.

I think it would be adorable if Jeremy started playing songs with French lyrics in them to make Jean feel more at home. Or if Jeremy secretly learned French to surprise Jean. Either scenario would be cute.

“I was minding my own business, taking advantage of the hot springs around here, and that little fucker inked me!”

Or one of the many shenanigans that happened while the Thirteen Great Warriors were climbing the Tower.

So, the anime I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time is hilarious. Only two episodes have been dubbed on CrunchyRoll (I'm too lazy for sub, sue me), but as an adult who's worked in customer service and had to pull double shifts and deal with shitty customers, it's pretty good so far. I highly recommend it.

I generally try to keep this account to Fandom stuff, but I don't really have anywhere else to rant about this. So, it's going on here.

In regards to the TikTok Little Red Book protest going on; I do want to point out that the reactions from the Americans about seemingly mundane stuff that should be obvious is actually pretty normal for Americans that are experiencing life outside of the U.S. for the first time. We're so used to the fucked up parts of our country that it's easy to forget how bad it is. That the idea of something like Universal Healthcare, for example, isn't some revolutionary thing but the norm in most places. It's like living with chronic pain or an abusive family. You know it's not right, but it's your normal. That's what you know, and you're so busy managing it that fixing it seems so far out of reach that it's barely worth thinking about. So you grit your teeth and act like you're fine because it's normal. Because if it's not normal, well...

I do love seeing the connections and interactions this is causing, though. It's what the internet was made for. What all these social media platforms were made for. I've moved a lot, lived in a lot of places, and I've found that people are the same wherever you go. Mild tweaks here and there, but humans are humans. And I love seeing people realize that.

I do hope something good comes from this protest. And make no mistake, that's what this is. A protest built on spite. In fact, it kind of reminds me of the Boston Tea Party (albite with less property damage). It wasn't about the tea in the same way this isn't about TikTok. They're both a result of the people feeling ignored by their government and actively giving Big Brother the middle finger.

But i am glad that, the very least, people are making connections that, under any other circumstance, may never have happened. It's a lovely thing to see, and i hope something good comes from all of it.

I love any Atsushi hc where he has cat-like behavior. It's so adorable to see fanart of him doing the cat rub thing/head butt against other characters, but i would also like to see more tiger specific traits. Like they have "flexible spines" which gives them a wide range of movement compared to other big cats, their salive has antiseptic properties, they love water, and their canines have pressure-sensitive nerves to know where to bite their prey. All of which would be interesting in a fic, i think.

Happy New Year, my lovelies! Lets see what fuckery we can get into this year.

Perhaps I'm wrong (and am too lazy to go back through the whole manga to check), but i think there's only one time in Tower of God where Baam compliments someone's appearance and that's the first time he sees Ren's male form (s3e144 of the webtoon) when they're fighting. No comment on their female form or any of the women in the story, for that matter (as far as memory serves). But sure, lets tell someone their male form looks good while they're actively trying to kill you (not that Baam felt threatened at all) when you've shown zero interest in the fem presenting potential suiters you're surrounded by. Later, he even looks like the most confused person in the room when he hears Endorsi call him her boyfriend. I'm just saying, seems pretty gay to me.